went out to get these party crackers for
today
and literally just finished paying at
the register when i got
this tweet that that seemed like a much
better idea so
so here we are today we're celebrating
this channel
just hit 200 000 subscribers
exciting when the channel hit 100 000 a
few months back i
kind of snuck it in at the end of the
video didn't make a big deal about it
the timing
didn't feel right but i think we
collectively deserve to celebrate
from road trips to documentaries to
weird
at-home projects we've done a lot over
the past couple of months
so we're gonna celebrate today and kick
back with a nice
relaxing q a
cheers for today's q a i turned to
twitter and i got a lot of this we are
going to cover this today it feels like
feels like it's an appropriate time
let's jump into the questions
what was the most horrifying experience
you've had while exploring
rural japan what is the scariest moment
that you've had
whilst traveling good questions actually
a recent one a few months back i was
doing a camping project that took us
down some deteriorating
mountain roads without guardrails by the
way
to a campsite that was filled with bear
and bore warnings pretty much everywhere
we went now
we downplayed it in the video but there
were actually typhoon warnings for that
very night and by the time that we
arrived it was too late to turn back
and had those typhoons done any damage
to the road or knock trees onto the road
we would not have been able
to get out of there and the rest of the
project would have been we would have
been stuck there
without signal we had zero
signal now we were fully prepared to
hike down the mountain the next day if
we had to but
luckily it didn't come to that and i
almost forgot my friend lillian
co-founded this company that sources
care packages from local farmers and
producers
here in japan and i asked her a while
back
if she would send me one of their their
care packages
and she did and it arrived today and so
as we do
this q a i hope you don't mind i'm going
to be taking a peek at this
our next question is a good one it's do
you have something in japan that you
dislike
also where in japan would you suggest a
first time
traveler to go to somewhere with no big
crowds
okay responding to the first one about
something i dislike in japan
definitely i think that moving countries
isn't all that different from
moving cities or moving homes in the
sense that
there's always gonna be something that
you miss or that you
liked better from the other place
if that makes it if you've ever moved
homes you'll know what i mean there's
definitely something that you miss from
your old home or your old area or
neighborhood or something i used to
focus a lot on the things that i didn't
like wasn't healthy
i wasn't happy it's one of the reasons i
started tokyo lens to spend more time
searching out and sharing the stuff that
i do like and now i'm so busy doing that
that the other stuff just
feels inconsequential by comparison and
travel spots are obviously going to be
super subjective from person to person
but i
feel like you cannot go wrong with the
post towns along the nagasendo
trail like not ijuku and samagojuku
they're just
doesn't matter the time of day the
weather anything they are
beautiful i highly recommend what
country other than japan would you most
like to explore no time limit on how
long it takes
australia hands down i have always loved
it we were invited back
in 2019 it is still one of my favorite
memories and
two of my favorite videos to this day
and now i often think of
what it would be like to move there
someday maybe best advice for traveling
around japan with
a shellfish allergy okay so most
packages in japan will clearly
say ebby or cunni on them as it's a
moderately common
allergy here in japan too so if you're
shopping
look for that on the package or if
you're going out to a restaurant there's
also the option of wearing this
super fashionable my allergy t-shirt or
just copy the text that i've put in the
description box below for you and
make your own card maybe circle off your
allergies i definitely recommend doing
your research and knowing the words
so that you know what to look for but
it's usually clearly marked
quick break i haven't even looked inside
yet
okay oh wow okay
so each one of these items is going to
be locally sourced from all around japan
it has its own
story its own recipes and everything
i'm gonna try these mixed yatsuhashi as
we look at the next question
so are you still into the car scene is
there a particular reason for it other
than the crash
well i definitely miss my s14
and the old days of drifting and hanging
out with the crew
i don't miss the cost it was an
expensive endeavor and with cars
sometimes it just feels like you're
throwing money against a wall
but yes i am still very much into
japanese car culture now i'm in a much
more
passive way i'd say even a passenger if
you will i still do go out for a late
night run every now and then but now
every spare moment
i have goes into the chummy set and
actually one of the questions was
are you still working with the kinky
ladies
if you're new i've spent the last couple
of years traveling the world with
two of japan's top shamisen players and
while travel may be on hold right now
we still work together regularly in fact
lately we're filming and editing for the
girls online
shamisen lessons that they're all doing
i will link it down below
if you are interested
yatsuhashi are really good if you've
never had one they're from
kyoto and if i'm not mistaken
kyoto and it's got the whole little
backstory
of the producer and everything like that
lillian i really like what you're doing
with this
i really look like there's a map that
shows where each one of them are from
i'm sorry if i get this part wrong but i
believe they send out a different
package every single month
and i'll just have one more speaking of
food though
when you're on one of your road trips
what is your go-to convenience store
snack
and drink combo all he eats
is chicken bunch of eggs
and another egg protein
pretty much every road trip is the same
it's chicken eggs and vegetable juice i
like to
like to try to stay healthy while i'm on
the road what is your favorite
flavor of coffee for just
basic coffee i love kilimanjaro coffee
but i have
quite the coffee collection thanks to
some amazing people who keep
sending me coffee thank you guys thank
you but my
absolute personal favorite has got to be
the banana nut cream from kawaii coffee
just mix in a tiny bit just a tiny bit
with any other coffee and it's just
it's amazing it's amazing can you find
good
maple syrup in japan i mean good maple
syrup not the and
i'm assuming this means like the the
mass-produced ant jemima
type stuff because that's not really
maple syrup and the answer is yes
yes you can especially in some of the
international supermarkets in tokyo you
can get everything from maple syrup to
peanut butter tim tams some cereals but
some are a little weird like
fruit loops exists in japan but
they're called unicorn froot loops but
the things i
can't get in japan and tend to miss the
most are swedish fish
and sour patch kids i am perpetually out
of both
and now now i want to snack you know i'm
gonna put this over here
i'm gonna try these out these are the
yuzu senbei
and as i do this do you have any daily
rituals or habits you've built up that
keep you in a positive and motivated
mood there's no real
magical solution to keep you positive
and motivated for me it's push-ups and
water
every single morning and before bed even
if i'm on the road or
if i'm not feeling great i try to stick
to it the goal is just the consistency
above everything just staying consistent
you're not always going to be motivated
but you can
always stay consistent
i love yuzu and i've never had a yuzu
senbei so i
can't wait for the next video always
enjoy your content when can we
expect more podcasts
the podcast so right after talking about
consistency too i
probably could have planned that better
now since shortly after the at-home show
the tokyo lens podcast has
been on a bit of a hiatus mostly due to
scheduling in non-stop
construction out there it's just it's
been non-stop for
months straight even this is being
filmed at a really weird time
but it will be coming back hopefully
soon
who is your favorite youtuber to watch
you ever seen this guy uncle roger he
just character it's not the name of his
channel
imagine if you go to japanese restaurant
and you ask for noodle
and the chef gives you instant noodle
that is what this guy is doing this guy
is i i just i love his humor style i
really do tell you uncle roger if you
ever find yourself in tokyo
drop me a line i won't cook for you but
i'd love to hang out
tokyo lens when you travel to japan
do they do background checks upon
arrival
at the airport
what moving on
do you play video games and if you do
what games do you play
and has it gotten you through all of
this you know not
nearly as much as i did before i started
youtube i would definitely say that
creating and sharing is one of the
things that's helped get me through this
it's kept me busy it's kept me sane
i do love me some n64 whenever i get the
chance i'm talking goldeneye
star fox you name it i also sneak in a
little bit of portal and mirror's edge
on the pc
every now and then but n64
i've got a limited time and i've got to
choose it it's gonna be the n64
once things reopen will you be doing the
photography tours with moment
travel again for 2020 my friends over at
moment asked me if i would host
photography adventures or photography
tours here in japan and
it's moment of course i said yes i will
and
well that that clearly didn't happen so
the answer is
yes as soon as things open up i have a
very exciting photo adventure planned
for
us and on that note there are actually
quite a few camera and gear related
questions as well so i'm thinking of
just doing an entirely separate piece
for that
if that's something that you're
interested in let me know down below and
with that i guess we
we are we are on to the big one the how
long do you plan on staying
in japan or do you ever get a little
homesick or feel like you want to go
back
to canada you know i've seen this
question coming up
more and more frequently lately and i
always kind of avoid addressing it
because it's
difficult to give a definitive answer of
any sort
okay first i love japan and in so many
ways i feel like my journey here is
just beginning but i'd literally never
stop missing my family and friends
back in canada ever and obviously this
past year hasn't made things any better
at all i don't even know the next time
that i'll be able to go back and visit
them
but as for how long i will live in japan
i'll say this much i will continue
living here until it
no longer makes sense to do so which
kind of feels like a non-answer but
honestly
i have no immediate plans whatsoever of
leaving japan i love living here and i
love sharing
my life here so i will continue living
here for as long as that is true or
until life inevitably pulls me in some
direction that i never
could have possibly imagined and
everything changes it is a really
difficult one to answer though i can
honestly see myself
potentially living here forever but
again again i think if the last year or
so has proven
anything is that we we never know we
honestly never know
what life is gonna throw at us so okay i
think we can squeeze in one more
how often do you meet your fans
every single chance that i hit from
shamisen performances to meetups in
japan
or canada or skateboarding through the
night in brisbane australia
or even in italy it's honestly just a
lot of fun to hang out and get to know
each other
obviously that's probably not happening
anytime soon but for those who do want
to get to know each other a little bit
better i do have a
discord available for most of my patreon
tiers and i love hanging out there
whenever i get the chance
so consider yourself officially invited
if that's the kind of thing that you're
into and i just realized i've only had
one glass of this so far so i'm gonna go
ahead and pour myself another one
also you definitely didn't notice but
this is actually a dragon ball shirt
that's
that's goku right there thank you so
much for 200k for making all of this
possible if you have any camera or tech
questions leave them down below i've
i've used a camera or two before another
huge thank you to lilly and answer her
co-founder aki for
sending me out this box i really
appreciate it and you guys know
you know i will see you again real soon
actually you know what i'm gonna call
lillian
[Music]
hey
okay so not only not only
did we get a discount code which i'm
gonna leave down below but
lillian has also said that she's willing
to just give away a february box to one
person in the comments so if you are
interested let me know in the comments
section down below just just say that
you're interested in winning the
care package in the next week or two i
will pick a
winner we'll send it out to you again
thank you guys so much so much for
joining
i'll see you again real soon
[Music]
i also realized i haven't done this yet
that was not that was not pleasant
wasn't even anything
it was empty no streamers no sparkles
just just the noise
ah see you guys soon
you