hey guys welcome back to my channel we
have a special guest I'm Michaela if you
didn't know we've been friends for ages
like literally 1,000 literally 1,000
years we're here together in Japan and
we thought of something we wanted to
talk about with you it's actually
something I'm really passionate about
and I think Michaela will be too because
we both lived in the countryside area of
Japan yeah and we both love it we love
it so today we're going to talk about
ten reasons why we think you shouldn't
go to Tokyo or Osaka or Kyoto the three
top places that everybody goes to first
when they go to Japan and instead we
think you should go to some really cool
cities in the countryside
number one tourism is booming and a lot
of people are going to the same places
when you are looking for information and
trying to figure out where to go when
you visit Tokyo very popular tourist
spots they're gonna show up on
TripAdvisor they're gonna show up on
like CNN's top ten list
in Japan yeah the thing is everybody
else was looking at those lists and
you'll find when you actually go places
they're gonna be crowded with so many
other tourists that it really dims dolls
the experience really does yeah ten
years ago Kyoto was amazing I had such a
like chill Japanese Koreans yeah like an
you felt like how you probably are
imagining Kyoto to feel like but if you
go there nowadays there are so many
tourists just walking down the streets
and out all the sightseeing spots and it
doesn't feel like Japan anymore the name
of that bamboo forest that everyone will
Shh your mom yeah people say that you
have to get up like super early if you
want to get a photo there with no people
in it but like everybody's marady trying
to get that same Instagram photo of like
oh this is me Anna you know sorry Boris
don't and it's a really
hi it's a spooky to read at all you
could come to a place like where we are
right now we're in Kochi in koku we just
drove past a big bamboo field no people
yeah we could go down there and take a
beautiful photo and have a really nice
experience and the other day we were on
a beautiful river oh my god you guys and
Charlotte was like look at my tits
cigarette and looking at photos that was
worth like pose quick there's no people
take it now there were no people it was
just that we were on the river we were
canoeing we were hanging area to herself
and it was so beautiful and it was just
quiet serene scenery and rich Charlotte
even said she was like why aren't there
more people out here this is awesome why
aren't there any people I know one out
here enjoying this think there's places
like that all over Japan
try something new just go to some random
city that you've never heard about just
go there and I bet you will have an
amazing experience Japan is gorgeous
okay
point number two it's amazingly
beautiful and you won't find that in the
big cities like even Kyoto like they do
have the bamboo forests and stuff again
all the people ruin it and it almost
feels like it's made for tourism and
when you get there you kind of feel like
you're being sold so yeah if you can
travel outside of the big cities you'll
find that nice races like this naturally
occurring and then like that nobody
knows about when you get out of the big
cities you lose a lot of the air
pollution as well so the air is it's
nice it feels like counter that better
actually there's some places here to
feel a lot like can read the sky like
you can see the stars which is something
really rare for Japan I have friends
from Tokyo that would come to Canada for
a homestay and they'd be like whoa whoa
whoa wait so people in the cities like
they don't even know stars exist but
when you go into the countryside you
have this huge sky full of stars were
actually supposed to do star watching
tonight but it was clouds a little
cloudy
but when the clouds are there the sky is
just amazing reason number three so I
used to live up in northern Japan and II
watched a Prefecture I was there for
three years and I feel very lucky but
that was my case because lots of people
start out in Tokyo but my first japan
experience was like in the real japan
like out in a rice field on a farm and
everybody there was so kind to me
insanely kind I didn't speak much
Japanese at the time I didn't know
anything about Japan it was my first
time like I had studied it but you know
actual Japanese culture and stuff I'd
never experienced it before and
everybody was really willing to help me
and I think that's something that you
don't find as much in the big cities
they're kind of frustrated with for I
feel like they switch into like an
automatic mode where they're like may I
take your order and then like they're
like they're just going through the
motions right not really communicating
with you're just saying what they have
to say like they do speak English but
yeah not like I really want to help you
you're not really connecting with them
like you're just going through the
motions even this time here in human
culture anyone's been so sweet and I
find like everybody has their own
personality which is really fun I did
some fish cutting today oh the guy was
hilarious
yeah no time for yeah just like
I love concentrate and do better I
didn't even have time to like react dude
it was just like talking to me and
Japanese like assuming that I understood
everything that you was saying and point
number four yeah people don't speak as
much English here don't think of that as
a bad thing it's actually a really
awesome thing because that is how you
improve your Japanese you will learn so
much people will be like more patient
with you here yeah and that's also like
a great way to improve your language
skills just from like interacting with
people who take the time to speak with
you and try to figure out what your
needs are and you you want to learn
because you want to be able to connect
with these people more because they're
so fun and when you want to be all that
good conversation with them it's also
encouraged it's a great part of the
travel experience to be able to take
home a bit of knowledge come to the
country that you visit like even if you
don't speak Japanese fluently like if
you go back to say Canada or May
and you're like I learned - i'ma say I
learned like how to order something in
Japanese or I learned how to say how do
you got the gozaimasu or something like
so out in the countryside you have lots
more eternity so much to do that number
five local foods when you go out to the
countryside in Japan all the different
areas have their made suit or like
famous food more famous like product of
the area it's really cool because every
time I go on a trip like I we go and let
the trips together yeah work and there's
always like one food in the area but
they're super proud of and they like put
that ingredient into all of them like to
their soups main dishes mm-hmm so here
in Kochi that ingredient is oh no D no
no D it's type of seaweed we eaten
probably four different meals somehow
incorporated on or D oh my god even
everything it was amazing and you
wouldn't experience that if you didn't
go out to these little you know
countryside areas mmm and tried their
local dishes
all right reason number six unlike the
busy city is when you go out into the
countryside you get to experience the
wildlife in Japan and this is kind of
really cool there are animals here that
I haven't seen you know like in yeah
we've got like bears squirrel mountain
sheep mountain goats here in Japan it's
like monkey monkeys you know why all the
monkeys yeah boring yeah wild boars
I've got like these weasel raccoon
things that live near my house I've
never seen one of those but I've seen
people post pictures not really things
like the storm drain that's really we
like diversity but they're like big
giant cats but they've got long noses
that's awesome butterflies actually I
feel a better place here that I don't
see in Canada oh and Tocco game so I was
just gonna my room yesterday I was at my
hotel there was one on the wall at first
I was a spider that's like a but
then I realized it was it was super cute
I love it okay there so yeah and they
eat all the bugs so many cute little
animals that I never got to experience
well what else
Nikita's how do you feel I really like
some except one landed in my hair once
and that was terrifying because
it was really loud it was like here and
I thought I was gonna die they scream
they're like we're crazy like it's part
of the experience
it is number seven it's cheaper just in
general things are a lot cheaper out in
the countryside rent is cheaper public
transportation is cheaper food is
cheaper everything we stayed at an
amazing hotel last night you know how
much that condo around $200 a night for
and we had like.we hostage areas room in
the hotel dollar we got our own private
outdoor bath man see 100 bucks a night I
thought it was gonna be like I don't
know 800 dollars or something cuz in
Tokyo like Hakone or something yeah
easily pay that much for a really nice
traditional Japanese hotel so oh here in
Shikoku 200 bucks
incredible and it's really easy to get
to these areas I think one of the
reasons people don't go out into the
countryside is because they have this
image that traveling here will be very
difficult but we took direct flight oh
yeah direct flight Tokyo to the airport
here yeah so you can fly from the really
big cities directly here really easily
on that note there's also a campaign
here in Kochi where if you fly yeah and
you're a visitor you you actually get
money it's not money and gift cards but
they're basically get $100 in gift cards
just for visiting coaching I think
Khomeni except on bookstores we used
ours at a gift shop yeah morning to buy
to buy souvenirs and you said you still
have gift cards left oh yeah you can use
them best way for you so they're really
trying to encourage tourism in these
areas because they don't get much and
that's really sad like I'm really bummed
but people don't come to these places
they're missing especially the best part
of Japan yeah like these people out here
are like ready to except for it are
there actually because they are on the
news and stuff it'll say like the
tourism that all-time high and
everyone's like okay what can we do to
welcome foreigners but right unless you
guys have like the courage to come out
here yeah all the preparation they do is
for nothing yeah yeah genuinely excited
to see us and to see us here happy about
visiting their area and you can have
that same hospitable experience yeah
yeah number 8 the lifestyle does the
general lifestyle and the attitude of
everybody is very different in the
countryside you'll notice that people
are more relaxed
and it's like they're enjoying life a
lot more okay they're not lining up to
get on trains no not cramming into
crowded tree no they're not like running
from appointment to appointment rush to
get to work would you really feel like a
lot in Tokyo I lived in Tokyo also for
three years I really have a good feel
for how the city is and I think that's
really the one thing that I dislike the
most about it was how like rushed and
just unhappy everybody looks all the
time kind of depressing everyone's
working overtime they're working long
hours and I don't know like it even when
that's not your lifestyle even when
you're just on the train to go out for
lunch with your friends it kind of
affects you because everybody's down
just like the mood yeah yeah entirely
falling asleep on the train yeah you
feel bad for getting drunk and falling
asleep in train stations yeah getting
rid of all the way that way and like you
have to watch that and be like oh here
everybody we what do we do yes we went
canoeing and you know and those guys
were working they were at work but they
loved their job our job was to like to
put GoPros on earth on herself and they
loved yeah they were so happy and like
the guy helping with the fish today like
he was hilarious I don't know everybody
just seems to really be enjoying life
and they have like a more of a sense of
humor they've got time that's probably
why they take time to communicate and
like they're not as short with you like
they're just they're happy to have a
conversation yeah it's nice it really
affects your mood as well so that's one
of the I think that's probably the main
reason that I enjoy the countryside so
much the culture in the countryside I'm
in every city in every Prefecture in
every rural town has its own unique
cultural aspect and there are some
traditions and events and yeah absent
festivals that you would never know
about if you didn't right cuz you never
hear about them other than Tokyo are
super famous so lots people know about
those ones they draw a lots of visitors
and
there's also just if you go out to local
communities everybody's got their own
traditions every neighborhood even
neighborhood like Summerfest yes I love
those are the best one mine everybody
knows each other and it's such a small
like Italian category yeah and they do
like Bon Odori yeah join them and stop
at a 95 even like historical you know
monuments or like historical figures are
different and like the history that each
place in Japan holds it's like
significant to them yeah and you don't
really know it's significant until you
go there and learn about it and then
you're like oh like this is really
important to these people I didn't know
that right I find it's very niche in a
way that like there are dialects across
Japan yeah people mean Japanese in
definitely intense across Japan and
sometimes you go to these remote towns
in the countryside and people have the
thickest accent and it doesn't even
sound like Japanese and that sounds
intimidating to some people but it's fun
it's they're not incapable they're not
incapable of speaking like real Japanese
they can speak they can speak clearly if
you're worried yeah they could but
hearing different dialects and like
learning how the language has evolved in
like different places in Japan is so
interesting everything everything is
different and when it comes to like
nature mm-hm
I find it's actually very impressive how
many outdoor sports and like experiences
they have here and that's actually point
number 10 that we want to get into yeah
finally outdoor experiences nothing I
really missed when I lived in Tokyo they
do have stuff like Mount chuckle which
is really beautiful in the fall but
again lots of tourists but here like
canoeing and the SUP oh my god we had so
much fun yeah like whale watching yeah
stuff like that I really miss outdoorsy
stuff maybe it's because I'm Canadian
yeah but I really missed that when I was
living in the city mm-hmm and it's
really cool that I can experience that
as well as like traditional Japanese
culture and there's just so much going
on in the countryside I feel like you
have lots more choices for activities no
matter what person you another thing is
something for everyone the thing is like
you're not brought down by distractions
like arcades or cut
okay all right you've been like bars and
restaurants right like Nomi hood right
like they do exist but there's so many
other things to do yeah there's like you
don't like resort to that yes so many
other cool things you actually have to
go outside and make your own fun if you
can drive you can actually literally
just go anywhere and if you're really
lucky you're gonna find places that
nobody's discovered yet or you could
just bike click lots of Japanese people
do if you can't drive but you like my
bike everywhere it's great exercise yes
amazing because you can see you can you
can really take in the breathtaking
views here like you guys just down like
the everyday road though turns into like
an amazing experience because this is so
gorgeous yesterday we were actually at
this River with this really cool bridge
it was awesome
yeah the Ching Kobashi Ching cover and
it's like cold like a sunken bridge it
is so low to the river he has when it
swells and it floods the water will flow
over it yeah so it won't like get washed
away I actually found out that in Chi
month oh they have Ching Kobashi cycling
tourists no we're like you can like ride
your bike like you can like vibe like
and like go and discover all these
little ah she's really fun yeah
guys that's ten reason why me and
Makayla think that you should go to
cities outside of like the big main ones
and everybody goes to yeah when you
visit Japan or when you move here this
is an applies to both just visiting here
or living here I highly recommend living
in the countryside in Japan so if say
you apply for like the jet program and
they put you like out in the middle of
nowhere don't be sad but you're far away
from Tokyo it's probably gonna turn out
to be a good thing it'll be a great
except if you don't like it you can
eventually move it yeah you totally
could make the most of it I think you'll
be in the end I think you'll be very
happy that you were put in a countryside
area so I hope we inspired you to check
out the countryside I really I feel like
it's my my one passion is to inspire you
guys to check out the Japanese
countryside I hope I hope our videos do
that Michaela makes some amazing videos
I do as well so go check out her channel
I will link her down below thanks so
much for watching please give this video
a like if you enjoyed it and would like
to see more videos like this and I'll
see you guys soon bye
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