[Music]
- Y'know what, all good road trips kick off with a morning snack,
and fortunately, Japan has a multitude of tasty, traditional options.
[Music]
In my defence, Japan doesn't have a lot of drive-thru options outside of
McDonald's, Starbucks and MOS Burger.
Sadly, drive-thru sushi hasn't really taken off yet.
They do exist, but they're few and far between.
Umm.
I'm tryna eat my lunch, but y'know when someone stares at you
and it just puts you off your food.
What's he doing?
Incredibly rude.
Fun fact: in Japan, the unnerving mascot of McDonald's isn't called Ronald McDonald
because that would be a little bit tricky to say - quite literally, 'Ronarudo Makudonarudo'
which, is a tongue twister unto itself.
No, they went for a much easier option, because in Japan, Ronald McDonald is called...
'Donald McDonald'!
Donald McDonald.
Apparently that's easier to say.
I would love to have been at that marketing meeting when they thought that up,
but there you have it, Donald McDonald.
Which, coincidentally, is also going to be the name of my first-born son.
[Music]
- Honestly, when you're driving through an area as beautiful as this,
all negative emotions just melt away,
and you're left with a deep appreciation for just... existence, really.
... And admittedly, a sense of regret for not bringing my bloody sunglasses.
Today I'm taking you on an all-expenses-paid road trip across north Japan
in my brand-new, second-hand Honda Fit.
Despite driving in Japan for 8 years now, I haven't had a car for the last 5,
so I'm absolutely delighted to once again have the gift of freedom.
I'll get onto why I finally got a car, and why I got this model in a minute.
We're actually gonna drive to visit my good friend Natsuki in the other side of Japan,
and I'm gonna show off my new car.
We're gonna drive through some incredible places, and along the way,
I'll talk a bit about the key differences between driving back home in the UK
and driving in Japan, as well as my own good and bad experiences on the road.
Honestly, the only thing we're missing right now is a nice soundtrack to fit the majestic setting.
Let's see what's on the radio.
[An upbeat 'Arigato' song plays]
Yeah.
There's a reason we keep the radio switched off here.
[Music]
So why did I finally buy a new car, and why a Honda Fit?
Well, for the first three years living in Japan, I did have a car,
and I love driving more than anything.
Driving around here kept me sane during tough times.
Many of my happiest memories are just driving through the mountains,
not quite knowing really where I'm going, hoping that I'm not gonna get eaten by bears.
[Upbeat music]
[dunnnnnn]
[Upbeat music, but faster this time, as Chris screeches his car away]
But then, I moved to Sendai City of a million people, great public transport,
and traffic jams beyond your wildest dreams.
And not only did I find I didn't really need a car due to public transport,
but I quickly discovered I didn't particularly like driving there either.
Auurrghh...
However, since getting rid of that car 5 years ago now,
I've always felt like there's been something missing.
The best places in Japan, particularly in north Japan where we are now,
are the places you can't really access with public transport - the rugged coastline,
mysterious mountain ranges, and sleepy villages that explorers have yet to discover.
So that is the real reason I bought the car - to reignite that lost spirit of adventure,
and to show you guys bits of Japan you wouldn't normally see.
... Also I was getting fed up carrying the shopping bags home.
Nobody deserves to carry their shopping home on foot.
Auugghh...
But what about the car itself?
It might not be a Tesla, like all the good Youtubers drive these days,
but as someone who's used to driving rundown cars from the 1990s,
this car is nothing short of absolute luxury for me.
The last car that I owned was a Toyota Starlet that was brand new
in 1996.
It came into my possession in 2013 when the former owner - good friend of mine -
decided it was cheaper to give it to me than it was to just scrap it.
And it was a lot of fun to drive over the years. It was a manual transmission -
most cars in Japan, over 90% that are sold these days, are automatic.
But given its age, it wasn't without its downsides.
For example, I quickly discovered that the car's air conditioning wasn't working.
Not only that, but the windows didn't work either on occasion,
which is a terrible, terrible combination given that in the summer,
Japan turns into one great big fucking oven.
So to sit in a car made sometime in the last decade, with windows that go not only down,
but also up,
is luxury beyond my wildest dreams.
Very exciting. Look at that. It goes down, and it goes up.
Amazing.
And because this car's a hybrid, which are all the rage in Japan,
it is disgustingly economical.
You can get 85 miles per gallon, meaning I only have to fill up the car
once every thousand years.
I think if I did live in the UK, I might've bought something a little bit more fun to drive,
but in Japan, people aren't very ostentatious when it comes to buying cars,
and aesthetics and appearances tend to take a back seat.
Which is why it's not uncommon here to see cars
that look like they've been conceived by Homer Simpson.
In the west, cars are much more than a tool to get us from A to B -
they're a status symbol, right?
People don't buy Range Rovers just to stuff in all their whole-food shopping.
They buy it because it's a declaration to the world that 'I am the winner,
and if you have the misfortune of colliding with me,
you better have a good insurance policy'.
And sure, while you can buy BMWs, Mercedes, Audi's in Japan, people just don't.
They are quite rare in comparison to Europe or the US.
Domestic manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan run the show.
But I've enjoyed driving this car the past three months.
I look forward to putting it to the test in some upcoming road trips.
Right then.
It's time we hit the road.
Oh, and, before I forget,
I did have some optional extras put in by Honda. Check this out.
Hehhh... Sneaky Honda.
How cool is that?
Oh, and there's a power outlet for charging your phone.
Though obviously we won't be pushing the big red button any time soon.
... Lest we get stuck behind some Range Rovers.
Right then.
Power on, bit of food for the road of course-
Actually, there is one last thing worth showing you before we go.
It's in the back, and it's—
Oh.
Oh fu—
[explosion]
Ohh. Uhh...
Ohh dear...
[Music]
- So it's worth pointing out that when you buy a car in Japan,
there's an extra step in the proceedings
that I only discovered a few weeks ago when I bought this car.
When buying a car, you need to not only prove that you have a parking space at your residence,
but also that your parking space is big enough for the car.
And to do that, the local police need to come round to your apartment
with a tape measure no less, and measure the car parking space.
I was in and out of the dealership in about an hour, but that process
of having the police come over and measure my space,
took about two weeks.
To be honest, I never actually saw the police turn up with a tape measure
because... they're magic.
Either that, or I just missed them.
So bear that in mind, if you are buying a car in Japan,
you can't just walk in and buy a car, and drive off into the sunset.
On the upside, they do drive on the left side of the road here,
or as I like to call it, the correct side of the road.
Two historic reasons being: number 1, the samurai used to walk on the left
because they had their swords on their left.
And the second reason, which is less romantic, is the British turned up in the 1800s
and helped the Japanese build their first railroad which were on the left as well.
And this is great if you're getting a Japanese driving license, as there's no practical test.
While I was walking in and out of the test centre,
my North American friends had to do some repetitive nightmarish obstacle course.
In fact, there was only one question they asked me on the day I got my Japanese driver's license,
The examiner sat me down and asked,
'On the day you received your UK driver's license, did you receive it in the mail?'
And I said, 'Yes, yes I did.'
And he said, 'Brilliant, here's your Japanese driver's license.'
And that was the level of hardship that I faced getting my Japanese driver's license.
[Music]
- So, how are Japanese drivers on the road?
Well, with 4.1 fatalities per 100,000 people,
it puts Japan firmly between the UK and the US,
so it is a very safe country to drive in.
And whilst the number of fatalities on the road have been going down in the last decade,
for one demographic, it's actually been going up.
Over 65s make up over 50% of the fatalities on the road.
Because Japan has one of the world's oldest populations, this isn't surprising.
To offset this problem, the Japanese government's actually taken some fairly
bold, bizarre and radical measures over the years.
For example, Aichi Prefecture announced that elderly drivers that handed over their license
would get 15% discount on local ramen restaurants.
Discount ramen. If ever there was a brilliant incentive to get rid of your driver's license.
[Music]
So, just stopped off at a convenience store, 7-11,
to stretch my legs, have a little bit of a break.
If you ever feel a bit tired while you're driving around Japan,
every single convenience store in the country has a fridge, typically near the entrance,
filled to the brim with energy jelly, and premium-looking energy drinks
served up like bottles of medicine, like this one here,
which is essentially just Red Bull in disguise.
But it comes in a nice glass bottle, so it must be better than Red Bull.
As for me, I drink exclusively: Bikkle!
Mm! Bikkle!
Uh, to be fair, I've never tried Bikkle. So this is quite exciting.
I haven't been this excited since I saw a poster last week
for a children's summer camp, known only as 'Crack School'.
[dunnn]
Crack School.
I know where I'm sending my imaginary children next summer.
Right then. Let's Bikkle.
Mm...
Ohh.
Oh god.
It's like sour milk.
Why is this a drink?
Why is this...
I mean, it looks like sour milk.
That was the giveaway, wasn't it?
Looks like it...
and it tastes like it...
Sour milk.
Don't drink Bikkle.
That's going on the floor.
Let's not talk of Bikkle again.
Forget about that.
[Music]
Now, if you are coming to Japan for the first time over a two-week period,
I could understand why you might be a bit reluctant to rent a car,
particularly with a cost of about ¥8,000 a day, or ¥45,000 a week on average.
And if you're coming to Japan for the first time
and visiting cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka,
do you need a car to get around?
No, not really.
Public transport in all those cities is second to none.
However, if you do wanna go off the beaten path a little bit
and do something a bit more unique, renting a car will unlock a lot of potential.
For example, if I look at a list of my top 10 favourite spots in Japan,
6 of them require a car to actually get to them.
Or a bicycle, if you're feeling a bit more ambitious.
[Music]
- So for the more adventurous traveller, Japan is an amazing place to drive.
Check this out.
I've just come down a little dirt track in the middle of nowhere,
and I've come across this beautiful river
... and this abandoned cafe, that looks like it's been reclaimed by nature more recently.
So let's go and check it out.
Japan has a lot of abandoned buildings known as 'haikyo'.
In the 1980s, the economy boomed - everyone had money to spare,
and they built restaurants, hotels, shops throughout the countryside.
And then when the economy came down in the 90's and the population started to drop,
they all began to close.
And that is why today, the countryside is littered with places like this.
Wow.
[Sudden noise]
Judging by a lot of the things in there, it can't be that old.
This is probably somewhere between 5-6 years old, 'cause I...
I think I remember that design of C.C. Lemon from like 7 or 8 years ago.
It looks like there's a lot of stuff still in there.
There's fans, pots, kettles, green tea...
The netting's seen better days, but it looks like everything's still inside actually.
Wah.
That would've been a great jump-scare moment.
... Why do I get the impression this is quickly gonna turn into a found-footage horror film?
If I make the wrong move or I make a misstep,
particularly down these degraded concrete steps,
I'm gonna use the power of imagination and speculate what happened here.
Ooh, shit...
F— Why didn't... Why didn't I just stay in the car?
Alright, so.
If you look at the front of this cafe, the front bit has been seemingly swept away, right?
The tree's collapsed.
We are next to a river that is gushing pretty heavily right now.
And on the drive down here there was a sign saying,
'Be careful, the river has a tendency to overflow'.
So what I think happened is the river burst its banks and washed away the front of the cafe.
However, I don't think that's the reason that the cafe's abandoned.
You can see there's a bridge here that looks quite old, probably built in the 1980s,
but what you can't see is, over that hill, there's a big highway that has been more recently-built.
And I think that highway diverted a lot of traffic that used to take this bridge.
Thus, people didn't come down here anymore, thus the cafe had no business,
and that's why it closed.
And that is why I am the world's greatest detective.
... Even though it's painfully obvious what happened here.
And now, to celebrate,
I'm gonna get eaten by bears.
[Music]
There you have it. Another benefit to driving in Japan.
You, too, can briefly become the world's most
underwhelming detective.
Haikyo are pretty common though.
Just earlier on, we drove past a huge, degraded, forgotten hotel,
that in hindsight, would've been more interesting than the cafe.
Uhh. I don't know...
I don't know why I didn't film it.
To be honest...
Uhh...
There is something quite rewarding about finding haikyo, though.
It's that idea of piecing together a story -
the idea of discovering something that's supposed to be forgotten.
Perhaps above all though, it just feels at-odds with Japan,
a country where everything has its place,
a country where there's scarcely any litter to be found.
And yet you turn a corner, and you come across a degraded hotel,
a run-down cafe, a forgotten tunnel.
It feels like something of a contradiction.
- I'm really hoping Natsuki approves of this car,
otherwise this entire journey won't have been worth it.
He did message me earlier and let me know that he's got some beers ready.
He's sitting on the beach waiting, so I'm looking forward to that.
It's important to point out - having a drink and then getting in a car in Japan isn't a thing.
It's not like the UK where you can have a beer or a glass of wine
and then get behind the wheel of a car.
If you so much as sniff a glass of wine and get behind the wheel of a car in Japan,
you could be at a great risk of losing your job, getting deported, and thrown off a bridge.
So don't do it.
However, Japan does have a very unique service
to help people still go out and drink and have fun
and then come back in the comfort of their own vehicle.
And this wonderful service is called 'daikou'.
Say you wanna go to a restaurant or a bar with some friends/work colleagues and have a drink.
You go to the restaurant in your car, park up, drink yourself to oblivion,
and then when the time comes to go home, you call up the daikou people,
and two people will come in one car.
One of them will take your keys and drive you home in your own car,
and the daikou car will follow behind your car
and pick up the driver once he's taken you back home.
It's an ingenious concept, and it is quite surreal,
sitting in the back of your car, completely inebriated, being driven by a stranger.
It's also really great in the countryside where there's not much public transport,
so it's kept the economies going in smaller towns and communities.
That being said, we're not gonna be using daikou today,
because the beach where we're meeting Natsuki is very close to the town.
It's within stumbling distance.
[Music]
Well guys, it's been quite the drive across north Japan. We've seen and done a fair bit.
I'm absolutely shattered, but we've just arrived on the west coast,
and here is Natsuki sitting quietly on the beach,
enjoying his cigarette, as you'd expect.
[Honk!]
Hah!
Hello!
It's been a while since we last saw each other because of the whole... virus situation.
How you doing?
This is the new car.
It's very quite, yeah.
Hybrid.
- Honda, Honda
Honda.
What?
No, it's not a Te—...
[sigh]
Auughh...
Like a knife...
It's not a— No, it's not a Tesla.
- No Tesla... - This is a Honda Fit, Natsuki!
A Honda Fit!
Hybrid! [chuckle]
Hybrid!?
Why are you laughing at my hybrid?
This is a good car.
- Good car...
Yes. It-
It looks nice.
Good for the... environment.
It's good for the environment.
I care
about the environment.
Nice guy.
What you got? Beer?
- A beer!
Eyyyy.
Finally.
Finally! This journey was worth it.
Getting ridiculed for my car...
- There's two kinds of beer.
Two kinds of beer?
Because you're a driver...
Yeah?
No alcohol.
Me to alchohol!
Non-alcoholic beer...
Yeah?
Brilliant. [dunnnnn]
Yeah, finished.
I'm not! I'm not driving anymore.
So you've got me non-alcoholic beer, even though I'm not driving for the rest of the day...
Ahhhh.
- Come on, then. Let's go and... - Keep on drive!
Let's go and drink this...
non-alcoholic beer...
I'm really glad I-
Really glad I drove here today.
What a great place to meet.
On a beach in the rain.
Ohh, yeah, really great...
Thanks, Natsuki.
Cheers!
To alcoholic beer... Yeah...
Not really.
It's like bitter, carbonated water.
There's like, no beer flavour.
Rubbing it in my face.
And on that note, guys, I think we'll end it there.
Many thanks for watching this driving across Japan episode.
If you have any more questions about what it's like to drive across the country,
let me know in the comments below,
and I'll try and answer as many questions as I can.
For more behind-the-scenes stuff, check out the Abroad in Japan Patreon,
but for now, no matter where you might be out there in the big, wide world
many thanks for watching Abroad in Japan, and we'll see you next time to do it all over again.
Next time?
Next drive!
Next time...
you can drive!
No...
I can't drive.
Why?
Beers.
Natsuki's insurance policy if you're not driving... just drink beer.
Drink alcoholic beer.
Hahaha!
You heard it here first.