Hello and welcome
To my new series of Japan videos
Today I'm going to show you what it's like flying from the UK to Tokyo
Then at the end
I'll give you a preview
Of what's coming up this series
It's going to be really different
And a completely new side of Japan
And I can't wait to show you
We're starting off at the airport in Paris
And what better way
To start your Japan trip than with sushi!
We're on the way to Japan!
At the moment we're in Paris
At Charles de Gaulle Airport
We've got a couple of hours hanging around here
We flew from Birmingham to Paris this morning
If we look really bad
It's because we were up at half three this morning
So next we're going to fly
From Paris to Tokyo Narita
We're flying with Air France
It's the first time I've flown with them
We got some pretty good prices on the flights actually
They had a sale on
I'm not sure if this time of year is any cheaper
It's a winter trip
And we're going to Hokkaido for the first time
First we're going to spend a couple of days in Tokyo
Then we're going to get the bullet train up to Hokkaido
To Hakodate
Which is the end of the bullet train line
That's going to take abut 4 hours
Then after exploring Hakodate
We're going to go to Sapporo
For the Sapporo Snow Festival
Where they make all the ice sculptures
It's going to be minus 10 degrees
Which seemed like a good idea when we booked it
In the summer heatwave
But I'm not sure about it now!
I'm sure it'll be good anyway
Then after that
We're going to get the bullet train back down
Before we go back to Tokyo
We're going to stop over at Sendai
And go to Matsushima
Which is supposed to be one of the top 3 scenic places in Japan
And then we're flying back from Haneda Airport
I'm going to be making videos about everything we do
They're going to be out every Thursday
The flight from Paris to Tokyo
Is about 12 hours
About the same as from the UK
Somehow changing flights in France
Doesn't make it any shorter
But the benefit of flying indirect
Is it's usually cheaper
Chicken... basquez?
Whatever that is...
This is the chicken meal
Phil gets chocolate pudding
Don't you get one?
I get crumble
But chocolate pudding's vegetarian, so-
The crumble is nice though
It's got a cinnamon flavour
If you're vegetarian or on a special diet
They always bring your meal out first
So you get yours before everyone else
My meal was kind of weird
I'm not sure what it was supposed to be
It was like mashed up vegetables and lentils
That were curry flavour
With broccoli on the top
You get some weird options for plane food sometimes
When you check the estimated time of arrival
And there's still 9 hours left to go
We really do need to get some sleep
Because when we arrive in Tokyo
It's going to be 9am in the morning
So we'll have a full day
So - got to sleep on the flight!
The best thing you can bring with you on the flight
Is noise cancelling headphones
The headphones they give you aren't that good
And it's so loud on the plane
So even if you're not watching anything
You can have them in to block out some of the flight noise
They've just given out the customs forms
To everyone on the plane
Now I don't know about for other countries
But if you're from the UK
This is all you need to do as your visa
You don't need to apply for anything else beforehand
They just gave these out to everyone on the plane
So you fill it in
And give it to the people atcustoms when you get there
This one you need to fill in one per person
It's just got your name, date of birth
Why you're going to Japan
Your flight number
How long you're going to stay
And the address of where you're staying in Japan
And there's a few questions to answer
Have you ever been deported
Or been convicted of a crime
This other one, you have to fill in one per family
It's just got your details: your flight number,
Your passport number
And then it asks you
If you're bringing in any restricted items
I don't have any gold bullion on me
Do have more than 1 million yen
Unfortunately not
I could buy a lot of gachapon with that
Do you have any unaccompanied articles
On the back it's got the prohibited & restricted items
Which includes -
Crocodiles!
So if you're bringing crocodiles to Japan
This is the box you need to tick
Here's my breakfast
I've got quite a mixture of things
I've got some hash browns
Mushrooms & tomato
Fruit
A roll
Something?
A brownie?
And a yoghurt
Phil's got...
Question mark?
That's spinach
And eggs maybe?
Could be
We've arrived!
And this is how bad I look after a long haul flight
We just went through customs
There wasn't a long queue or anything
We picked up our bags
Everything was fine
There were some dogs going round
Checking for drugs & explosives & things
And it's lovely & sunny in Tokyo
So we're going to pick up some things
And get into the city
Our hotel check-in time's at 3 o'clock
Right now it's about half twelve
And they wouldn't let us check in early
They never do
But they did keep our suitcases for us
So we can come back later
It's actually really nice to not be walking around with the suitcases now
So we've just grabbed some drinks & something to eat
For energy
We're feeling a bit low on it at the moment
Phil's got a beef onigiri
First time I've ever had a beef one
I normally have either plain or fish ones
I figured, beef might be quite nice
I've got my favourite cheap drink
From the 7-Eleven
Yuzu lemon
It's actually really nice
And it's only 93 yen
Now onigiri rice balls used to be a mystery if you couldn't read Japanese
But they've started putting english on the labels
At 7-Eleven
And I'm guessing
As it gets closer to the Olympics
The other convenience stores might follow suit
That's actually pretty nice
I thought it was going to be just chunks of beef
But it's got
I don't know what sauce that is, it's not soy sauce
It's a bit sweeter
Teriyaki?
Yes, I think it might be
Next we're probably going to go over to Yanesen
And have a look round
Before we can check into our hotel
And try & stay awake to a reasonable time
To acclimatise to the time change
You've got to be a bit careful about jet lag, right?
Because we've arrived here at all times of day
LIke really early in the morning and quite late at night
And we always think, we're going to land early in the morning
And get loads of stuff done
But it's really difficult
Because you're too tired
Before we've always landed later in the day
So we've just got something to eat then gone to sleep really
And it seemed like a good idea to have a whole day
For the first day
But we do feel pretty tired at the moment
But I want to make the most of it anyway
Finally here's a preview
Of what's coming up
Over the next few months
There's new videos every Thursday
If you want to subscribe
We'll be going to some less known places in Tokyo
As well as all my favourites
I couldn't go there without going to Harajuku & Akihabara
Also the Digital Art Museum
In Odaiba
Which is amazing
Then we're going north to Hokkaido
To the Sapporo Snow Festival
And Japan's winter wonderland
And we'll be going back down through Tohoku
To one of Japan's most beautiful bays
With over 200 tiny islands
Next week we'll be starting off with a less well known place in Tokyo
Where I got so many amazing photos
I'll see you on Thursday