It looks amazing, it looks so so fresh!
The world's smallest beer!
No no no no no! I'm so big!
The only thing better than driving through the countryside is driving through the countryside with cheap sunglasses
and an Ice Coffee and today I have both of those things so I'm in a good mood!
For many people when they think of Japan
they think Japan equals Tokyo
But that's simply isn't the case for me the best part about Japan is out here in the countryside
On my recent journey producing videos for the Odigo travel website around North Japan
my journey took me back to the place that I had called home for the past 3 years
The town of Sakata in Yamagata Prefecture
The food is so fresh, the people are so friendly
and the scenery is absolutely stunning!
And I wanna hopefully show you all 3
and drink Ice Coffee!
My first stop was to check on my friends Yuki and Yuto
who had recently converted an old town house into a stylish travel hostel
where I planned to stay during my trip!
And you may remember Yuki as he was one of my friends who I had nearly poisoned with marmite the last year
Hey Yuto! Long time no see!
Welcome to Shonai Base
How are you?
I'm good I'm good
Marmite Guy Chris!
Yuki! Good to see you!
How are you?
I'm good I'm good!
How about you Chris?
Very good!
But very hot!!
Okay cool, can you show me around?
The first room?
How many rooms?
Three!
Three
Like....Hawaii
This is Hawaii!
I like it! Oh dear..
What?? Toilet?
Why??
It's see through!
There's no door!
Open style!
Open style?
Japanese traditional style
I'm lying...I'm lying!
Public space
Or party room!
Party room?
How many people can you fit in here?
15 people
Yaaay party!
Marmite good!!
Marmite party!
Whatever that would entail
Second Room
Oooh cool!!
I like this!
Very modern
This is very comfortable sofa!
Demonstration!
Very good!
Sofa is good!
You heard it here first
And....Star Wars tissues
You like Star Wars?
Of course!
Who's your favorite character?
Obi Wan Kenobi!
Obi Wan Kenobi?
Why?
Very strong Jedi Knight
And....
....I don't know..
A broom!!
This is very important item
Is that Harry Potter?
Yeaah
Harry Potter's Item
I learned British English very well right?
Oh yeah
Harry Potter
Next room
Ohhh wow! Wow!
This is my favorite room
Look at the ceiling
It's like....bamboo....bamboo ceiling
Like a Japanese garden, like a garden style
Zen yeah zen garden
Very nice very nice! This is my favorite room
The kitchen!
We have Marmite
Of course
No Marmite
The tiny beer!
The world's smallest beer
No no no no no no I'm so big!
Regular size
Regular size!
I'm Big Man!
Very deep bathtub
It is deep isn't it
The deepest bath I've ever seen
Why?
This style for the bath?
Big Man
Why did you start a hostel?
It's really random
I want to come foreign country many people in Sakata
Sakata's hotel are very expensive!!
What kind of people do you want coming here?
Travelers, students, and business man
Everybody!
Please come to Shonai Base!! Yeaaah
Please come!!
Thanks guys!
After the most enjoyable tour of a hostel I think I've ever had
I headed on down to the fish harbour to grab a bite to eat at the fish market
The benefit of living next to the sea
Some incredibly fresh fish
This is fatty tuna
on some rice
And it looks amazing it looks so so fresh
Oh yeah!!
That's fantastic!
I lived here 3 years and I never came here for lunch or ate anything I don't know why
It's probably a good thing I didn't know about it
Otherwise I would've been here quite a lot
I decided to walk off lunch by taking a stroll
around town
And drinking more ice-coffee
One of the best things about the countryside is you have the temples all to yourself
but one of the coolest things is just walking around rural Japan
taking in the streets and the architecture
You often feel like you're in some kind of film set
Particularly when you're in Sakata because it actually was one
This lovely looking building is actually a little bit famous in Japan
It featured prominently in an Oscar winning film from 2008 called Departures
I saw the film and loved it back in 2012
before I even knew I was moving to Japan so
when I found out that I was just randomly being placed to work as an English teacher in this remote town
where the movie was filmed, I was pretty surprised
And it's quite a cool twist of fate to be able to walk up the street and feel like I was on the film set
But yeah, highly recommend checking out the film Departures!
So right here on the side of this building there used to be a big drawing of a naked woman
it always surprised me so much to see it there
so I always put it in the videos
But unfortunately they've covered it up and the reason they've covered it up is because
next month the Emperor himself is coming right here to Sakata
Uh no not that Emperor
The actual real life Japanese Emperor
He's coming here and that's pretty cool!
But it's a real shame they had to do that
That was a really good picture
Although it makes sense I guess
If you've got the Emperor coming to your town
That's the last thing you want him to see
...I think
Yeah, no it is!
So this is my favorite shop in Sakata and I've never set foot in it once
And the reason I love it is because I've driven past the Chicken Food Shop about 500 times
and I still don't know whether it's a chicken food shop that sells Chicken for Chickens
or a Chicken Food Shop that sells Chicken for humans
But I'm excited by the ambiguity of not knowing what lies within
And....I never want to find out
So this is my favorite spot in Sakata and it's a few miles up the coast
But basically in the 1800s a Zen buddhist raised some money and then came up here
to the coast and carved 16 Buddhas into the rocks
And they're still here today
Here's one of them
And I like the way he's just sort of sat here
next to his accumulated pile of wealth
It's just relaxing sitting here
looking out across the Sea of Japan
and thinking of what might lie beyond the horizon
Well.....
...North Korea
Probably not that good then
But....yeah it's beautiful
My favorite spot probably in Japan
But I hope you've enjoyed the video
And I hope you want to come and visit the countryside yourself
maybe even Sakata someday
And you can sit here next to this Buddha looking out towards North Korea!
If you like fresh tuna, temples all to yourself, amazing scenery and tiny beers from Yuki's fridge
Sakata is THE place to visit!
To see where I visited on my trip as well as other places that I've visited in the area
You can find the details on the Odigo travel website in the description box below
And to see more of my travels around North Japan with Odigo
You can also find the link to the full playlist of videos down below
Many thanks for watching guys, I'll see you next time!
Kind man! Kind man!
He's a kind man
I'm Marmite man!
Brilliant
Brilliant!