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got in the car this morning drove until
the road stopped
and at the end of the road
there's this little path
sounds like it leads down to water
so i figured we'd give it a shot looks
like there actually used to be a road
here like this part is paved and there's
a sketchy little bridge
i'm sure it's safe enough to cross let's
give it a shot
moss and vine covered trees and the
bamboo in the background this is a nice
little spot i've been living out closer
to nature lately but i haven't had a
chance to come out and explore the area
i'm living in
at all and i finally got a nice day so
that's what we're doing today
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this is a really nice spot actually i'm
kind of regretting not bringing
a towel or bathing suit or something and
i'm pretty sure that this is the end of
the line because not much
further i can go without actually
submersing myself in the water which i
will be coming back to do but for now
there's a lot more to see and explore
today so
let's go explore
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in the mountains of kirishima in
southern kyushu right now i've been
living here on and off since spring
and every single time
that i've come here
the weather has been atrocious just
nothing but rain kirishima actually
means the island of fog it's not an
island it's kind of on the mainland of
kyushu
but the fog part holds up it is
constantly foggy
i
was barely when i went down there was
blue skies and things are already it's
not all bad though the weather here
being that unpredictable also has its
upsides because it changes every 10
minutes but i'm just so glad to be back
out in nature again we spent so much of
last year exploring and hiking i was
originally gonna do a hike today but i
figured rather than googling for cool
places to hike which i'm sure this area
has a lot of like going out and finally
exploring the area while it's not
raining fingers crossed because the sky
is getting worse would be a pretty good
way to spend the day
also different car than the last time i
was down here this one's manual
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i got a text from one of my buddies who
lived in the area and i just said norm i
know a weird spot for you
and
in true tokyo lens fashion seems like we
have a lot of stairs
his message said just follow the stairs
and had a winking face so that is
exactly
what we're gonna do this is pretty much
exactly how i wanna spend today it seems
to break off
into yet another
set of stairs
which one is it
i know i know this might be the wrong
choice but these ones are all wide and
well kept and these ones
are narrow
and over it just feels like this
this is where the adventure is so
i have 100
make the right choice here
and i can actually see
something up there
not sure what it is yet but
let's keep going admittedly
these stairs
may not be
in the best condition
they're fine they're fine see
look
there's the pathway we're on
leads
to the exact same place
i have achieved
absolutely nothing
super curious as to what we've got here
though
so the few stairs down
it looks like
we're almost there
what
have we here
the sign says it's a cave and a group
known as the kumaso used to live in here
apparently
it did not and what that's a cave it
doesn't look like a cave
how is this a k it just ends
does that count as a cave
let's go take a peek
there's actually wait a
minute oh my
oh and it's cold too it's so dark
what
what okay we're gonna need lights
what is this
what
what are we looking at here
it's got stairs
it looks like there's lights
here
did i miss something is there like a
light switch at the entrance or
something
why didn't okay
let's see
if we can't find
where
some kind of light switch would be
i don't
see anything over here
that makes sense also this seems totally
safe with the water coming down on it
that's cool
okay here we go
oh yeah it's all lit up now
that looks
absolutely ridiculous what is this
what is this
is kind of bonkers i'm really glad that
i found the lights but why
why is it painted it feels like somebody
painted the walls of their minecraft or
something it's cool in here apparently
there's a second
cave as well but the entrance to it is
closed off but this
like this just what
in the world i'm super curious as to
when
all of this was done like the paint
itself looks really fresh and really new
but you see japan has a lot of really
weird touristy spaces or attractions and
a lot of them actually popped up in the
80s when japan was going through the
bubble and people needed to create
expenses otherwise they had been taxed
up the wazoo so a lot of them just
created these tourist attractions and
just dumped it that's why there are so
many
really weird old beat up run-down or
abandoned tourist attractions in japan a
lot of those popped up in the 80s either
way let's keep moving this was a a neat
little experience
kind of make sure we shut this off why
is it under the water though i just
you know i just i don't want to tuck
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the cave was moderately interesting
these stairs by the way get a solid six
let's say seven out of ten they're nice
stairs but they're very very
inconsistent in heights
and do not let the cloud and shade
deceive you today
is a beautiful and humid
35 degree day here
in the shade
it does nothing there's this waterfall
that i always fly over and it looked
really tiny from above but as i was
driving by it actually looks like it's
much bigger what is
it's like
huts and whatnot here i have no idea if
this even leave this should lead to the
waterfall there's nothing else around
here i swear i'm not even trying to find
abandoned places right now this
has just become
something that naturally happens
on tokyo lens that's the top of the
waterfall yep i don't want to be
following it there's got to be a vantage
point that actually shows the waterfall
do love the little signs though it's
dangerous
let's not go in here
kyushu power company with their
little logo yeah
you don't want to be going in there
all right
let's see if we cannot find the vantage
point
so what do we got here
cocky
are these persimmons
i think there's another walkway down
here
should be fun because they have walking
sticks
can you see that dragonfly on the
mushroom
will i be able to get him
this path isn't too bad at all when you
live somewhere for a while you have a
collection of little places that you
like to kind of call your own often just
built over time
as you live that tokyo is like that for
me i know so many hidden nooks and
crannies in tokyo and it's because i've
spent time
doing stuff
like this do you do this though when you
move out to a new area or even in your
own area do you explore the area and try
to find your own hidden little spots
that like this has a whole walkway and
pathway it's obviously not a hidden spot
but more often than not the hidden spots
branch out from places like this things
that just the locals know it's the
locals who'll often teach you the
coolest stuff
and
the path goes into direct i'm gonna walk
towards the waterfall it's getting to
meet and talk to the locals in these
areas
that gives you the the gems the real
hidden stun
there you go
that is a much better view
just as i go to leave from across the
river i could hear somebody hiking with
bear bells which means that there are
definitely some good hiking paths around
here we found something we have found
something to come back and explore in
fact even just here
along the river
there's
actually quite a bit of area to
explore
i thought it was going to rain there for
a minute but things are looking
okay
let's get going
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quick stop out at kirishima jingu one of
the major shrines out in this area and
this entire pond is filled with tadpoles
and those cicadas are so incredibly loud
i stumbled across this shrine well
seriously so loud while doing
a road trip a couple weeks maybe month
or two ago i don't know it'll be up and
the giant tori get that giant tori gate
it just caught my eyes and i didn't have
a chance to swing through and check it
out so i wanted to take a quick peek
today but it's gonna have to be a really
quick peek like not like waterfall quick
like actually quick because there's
still at least
one more place that i want to show you
before the day ends today and that one
has a little bit of a time limit on it
seems like there's actually quite a lot
going on in this area i might have to
come back and do an entire tokyo lens
explorer video on it but for now let's
check out the shrine get under the tree
cover
and it's super dark
we get out here
and now it's cloudy when i started
walking through at that end it was sunny
but this
is
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i feel like it's more about the area
around the entire complex so i think one
day we're gonna have to come back and do
a full walk through for tokyo lens
explorer and check out the entire area
but before it gets too late in the day
there is one more place that i really
really want to take you guys
this one i already know and might be my
favorite
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all right so this here
this is one of my favorite spots
and let me show you why
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this is the approach to the airport and
on a nice sunny day
all of these sunflowers are all happy
and facing i was actually hoping that we
would get the sunflowers staring up at
the sky today but they're all kind of
drooping down inside so this is super
nerdy but this is the runway lighting
system for runway 3-4 at kagoshima
airport so when the winds are right
planes will be coming down
just overhead here
i love it so much i come out here pretty
much any day that i can and enjoy the
planes coming in and the sun going down
i know this doesn't really count as a
new exploration spot since i come here
so often but i also just really wanted
to bring you guys here
because
plane spotted
this lady drove up to me and she said if
it's sunflowers you're after there are
much nicer sunflowers down the road and
that's exactly what i mean it's the
people in the area you don't even have
to approach them half the time they will
approach you and share stuff and it's
collections of little moments like that
compounded over time that give you the
experience in an area because now i know
now i know if i drive down that way a
little bit we'll get nicer sunflowers
and i absolutely love it you don't
always have to have the courage to speak
to them like she was just driving by i
made eye contact i smiled she stopped
the car and she talked to me and we got
another plane coming in
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imagine how much would suck to be
standing in here completely alone and
suddenly the lights turned
son of a