OK I'm going now then!!!
See you later, Loretta! Ok, bye!!!
Welcome back to the hidden, beautiful countryside vibes of Tokyo, that you never knew were in Tokyo!
Last time we were in Shibamata
but today we are in a new part of the Katsushika area
which is full of beautiful nature, rivers, distant trains going by
and a slower pace than you might be used to in the city.
As you can see behind me I have another trusty bike buddy
and unlike before this one is all manual. I'm doing it all by my own power today.
I rented this bike from the rental cycle up the hill over there, which you can use only on the weekends.
There are lots of other places nearby, like the cool hostel that I'll show you later
where you can rent some bikes and get into the countryside vibes.
So enough chit chat. Let's go!
I'm standing out here in the middle of the Edo River.
Have you ever heard the joke about learning to say Tokyo and Edo in Japanese?
How do you say "I went to Tokyo" in Japanese paste tense? The answer is "I went to Edo!"
Haha, I feel like we are in Tokyo's past tense. I feel like this is completely where we are today.
Today we are standing on the edge of Tokyo.
Behind me is the very last piece of land before the Edo River and all the way over here now is Chiba.
This is the pier where you ride for the Yagiri no Watashi
which is a completely edo-esque, retro, original service that was handed down over years.
There's actually still doing it here, and the only job is to ferry people across from Edo (Tokyo), over to the other side, to Chiba.
Yagiri no Watashi!
There's our man now!
It seems kind of hard to steer?
I'm just making a face to make it look hard! Hehe.
It's actually really easy.
No harder than a bike.
This wonderful squeak you're hearing
is chosen as one of hte best 100 Soundscapes in Japan.
Ah... how nice...
Edogawa river was the state border some 400 years ago
Back then, the only way into Edo was via a checkpoint
The Kanamachi Checkpoint on the old Mito Kaido Road
but they allowed farmers with land on both sides
to use boats like this to ferry back and forth freely.
There were about 15 spots like this on Edogawa
and Yagiri no Watashi is one of them.
Was there a cost to ferry this way?
When I was a kind it was only 10 yen
Then it went up to about 20 yen.
In the Tora-san movies, was it like 100 yen?
In the movies there's a scene showing it was only 30 yen.
Thank you so much! Thank YOU!
Hey guys, ready for a little cycling break?
I found a nice little spot here in the woods, so I figured we could take a little break.
In my last video you may have seen but I actually picked up some snacks from the Haikara Yokocho retro store.
They had some candy so I got some dagashi snacks.
This one's pudding. Puchi pudding!
And a little drink for the road,
this one is a mini cola, or at least looks like it, but it's actually a candy.
And a senbei...sauce senbei,
Which I'm pretty sure I've crushed by now.
Let's just sit back, enjoy the view and have a snack.
OK here we go, the retro flavor!
Don't worry, it may be a retro candy but the flavor is still fresh.
Can you see the expire date? It's still safe. Only retro in spirit.
Ahahah, they're completely broken! It's OK, the flavor's still there I'm sure.
Alright, sauce is ACQUIRED.
It's like an ice cream cone flavor from the senbei cracker,
but hte suace takes like yakisoba.
It says umai na! Umai na! I agree.
This sauce is addicting. The senbei are vehicles for flavor.
Puchi pudding! It's bite-sized.
Oooo, here we go! Ohh, it's really pudding! Can you see this! Jiggly jiggly jiggly!
Mmmm, oh my gosh that's really good!
Why did I eat it so fast?! It's gone!! That was so good?! Lipsmacking good. It's supposed to be pudding flavor but it tastes like a coconut, caramel, vanilla yummy bite.
Let's wash it all down with some coke!
SO you may have heard from the various sounds around me
but there are people playing music, walking their dogs and having picnics!
Where we are here in the middle of Mizumoto Park is a huge wid eopen space where you can do any type of recreation
but there are also these beautiful trees when you bike or walk through.
I almost forgot I was in Japan.
When you cycle in and go passed the first body of water
you are immediately hit by this wonderfully earthy, bark, fresh smell.
Hey guys, welcome back.
Welcome to Tateishi! This is a different area that has the same retro vibe but a new taste.
Literally a different taste that you can enjoy all night long.
For night life and after hours this is where you wan tot be if you want retro, real, old school Japan with great flavor.
I have a special place to show you, so let's go check it out!
So what's with the tomato in your oden?
Want the real story?
Yes please.
I saw a show about a shop selling tomatoes in their oden.
My parents run a street stand for oden stew
but every oden shop has a unique soup base, right?
I thought I could use tomato to make my own unique flavor.
and people went crazy for it!
Once tourists are able to visit Japan again
what's the one thing they should try at your pub?
You HAVE to try my oden!!
You may like it, you may hate it!
But this is the real Japan I want you to try.
Well guys, that's it for my adventure here in Tateishi
In the past two videos we got to see a whole new city flair, that wasn't really city at all.
There's delicious food
and really nice people who made my visit here absolutely amazing.
It's really convenient on the Keisei Lines if you're own your way from Narita or Haneda
but more importantly if you want to stay and enjoy the vibes and nightlife,
there's a new hostel that opened just a few years back.
It has a really cool vibe to it. I checked it out and it has very modern, branded, cool rooms that you can stay in.
and on the 4th floor they have Artist Rooms that were designed by Japanese and Foreign artists
who put the Shibamata art feel and vibe into different room concepts.
The manager is super nice and from what I saw there is a whole host of people coming from across the world.
The place where I rented a bike today is usually open on the weekends
but if you stay at the hostel you can rent the bikes there,
get around and enjoy not just the Shibamata area, but the park as well!
I'll leave some information in a link below if you want to check it out, and if you hvae any questions feel free to leave a comment.