ready yeah one two three oh my god no no oh no oh we can't do that
look at the river this is really sad i don't know what to say
have you ever gotten a ferris wheel and then instantly regretted it on a windy day this
is so precarious but the saving grace is the amazing view of the akashi kaikyo bridge one of
the largest suspension bridges in the entire world the thing that taints the atmosphere
somewhat is we are joined unfortunately by hi it's connor and this is wacky weekend lucky weekend
so once a month for one weekend conor and i meet up for a wacky weekend somewhere
around japan for this month i thought i would complete my ultimate task of visiting all 47
prefectures in japan i've got just two i've yet to visit i'm richard uh takashima and kochi both
in shikoku island where we're about to go into and now i do want to celebrate this momentous
occasion you've essentially completed japan so i have arranged some special accommodation just
the finest accommodation i could find why am i very cynical and why there's nothing
to worry about this is good it's literally gonna be something [ __ ] like i don't know
it's something that's gonna be an experience the cheapest hotel no no no no no not at all i'm very
excited i don't trust you connor but either way i want to get out this down ferris wheel like
if you move like you can see the whole thing i don't know why i did that i was very scared before
so now that i'm here i don't really feel like it was that difficult to get to is
there a reason why you haven't exported because i'm your driver
to be honest yeah like that's the thing like shikoku is pretty tough to get to
you need like three or four days in a car and that's why i've never been to tokushima and
kochi before they're pretty inaccessible i also think i haven't really heard much about it well
they're incredibly rural like tokushima is famous for being pretty much empty or devoid of feet
one of the places we're going to go to is a great symbol of that but when the first place i want to
take you today on this trip is a bridge that looks like it's straight out of indiana jones remember
you see the temple of doom yeah of course the bridge goes over yeah there's that [ __ ] where
is it why was it safe it can't be safe i mean in normal weather conditions it'd be great
but unfortunately there's a typhoon this week i've had a weather warning for the past three days on
my phone warning me about rains in this area but of course no road trip would be complete without
the perfect road trip so don't do it don't do it what the [ __ ] i don't want to do this road
no volcano i love it
and so as we head deep into the mountains of takashima and the incoming storm makes short
work of the blue skies connor and i arrive at our first destination a 150 foot rope bridge
precariously hanging over a disturbingly ferocious river
what is that look at that the bridge we can't cross that that's a set piece in an action movie
that you know the bridge you cut when the bad guys are chasing you so they all fall down but for the
bridge you actually go across in normal everyday life do we have to go on it yes yes he did
oh no we can't do that look at it oh my god thirteen road bridges once spanned the ear valley
but today only three survive one of which is the kazura rope ridge suspended 45 feet over the river
and made using five tons of vines which need to be replaced every three years it's as visually
striking as it is unsettling i never got a chance to use my engineering degree while i was doing
youtube but i feel qualified enough to tell you this is not a material that we made bridges out of
i do not feel safe with this this is terrifying these are just twigs they found on the ground what
are we doing i don't want to do this i've watched a couple cross it for the last 20 minutes very
slowly and methodically struggle their way over it the water below looks absolutely ridiculous like
it's the most ferocious water i think i've ever seen
you're dead near that you're immediately dead notice how every single person crossing the
bridge is clutching onto it for dear life they're so terrified even take one step on the bridge and
so with the river below about to break its banks and a violent thunderstorm in the clouds above
against my better judgment we begin to cross the bridge and quickly regret it oh it's so slippery
oh my god the gaps are massive look at this i can put my whole foot through
that's not good that's not good that's a no that's so
dangerous how is this a tourist attraction this is a death trap coming
i'm not playing this up for the camera this is actually terrifying
come on chris what's the problem look at the river i'm like the heaviest person
that's ever come on this bridge i am worried it's big mouth isn't it
the gaps get bigger
it's like it's because i'm holding the umbrella oh [ __ ] off look at that
even if it wasn't the rainiest day in 200 years this would have been scary the fact the water
looks like that like if you fall in you're dead do you think you can survive that no no
while conor speed runs the bridge like crash bandicoot
meanwhile i can't take my eyes off the water transfixed on the alarming river rapids below
hurry up we get over the bridge no no no [ __ ] go i'm stuck
he's done it he survived the bridge legitimately one of the scariest things i've done in japan oh
my god the rain the water the wind how do you feel chris i want to get in the car i want to go home
man that's scary there's literally nothing stopping you from falling in
with your leg there's there's nothing it's so dangerous i feel alive hey eight out of ten
after being spiritually reborn on a treacherous rope bridge connor and i seek shelter deeper
into the valley at a rather unique place in fact unique is an understatement because here
in chicago's most isolated valley lies the village of nagaro a place where the
human population is outnumbered ten to one by eerily life-like scarecrows 350 of them
so we've been driving through some of the worst rain i've ever seen
how do we turn the corner i'm not happy about this chris i want to go home i thought they were
like villagers i thought they were like locals who were just sitting at the side of the road
it's the first of the scarecrows there's two in a wheelchair one standing one's just falling over
it's quite creepy because we just passed uh some construction being done and i thought there was
just two employees just uh doing some construction but they were just scarecrows it was really creepy
literally all the roads are closed we really shouldn't stay a lot we
are actually going to get stuck in the middle of nowhere with these scarecrows
as we slowly make our way into nagoro without a single human being in sight
we gradually begin to appreciate the sheer scale of the village's scarecrow population
what is this great what is this
oh
oh my god i don't like this chris you don't like this no i do not yeah
oh no i'm not going in there i'm not going in there look at it get in
like if there was like eight i'd be like oh that's kind of cool but there's like
80. i don't like this can we go now
the story of nagaro is one that you'll hear across japan that of a dying village on the brink of
extinction japan's population is shrinking fast today the population stands at 126 million but in
just 30 years time it's forecast to drop below 100 million and it's out here in rural japan where the
effects are being felt the most nagara once had 300 residents that called the village home today