A Journey In Japan | Ep1: Tokyo to Kyoto

[Music] Japan is a fascinating land of contrasts from the ancient traditions and temples to the modern technology in transport spend all my money on a trip right now a mate James and I are going to be travelling there for the very first time giving ourselves one month to explore this beautiful country yeah just can't wait to get there and start experiencing Japan stimulus overload I don't know where welcome to Japan welcome to Japan I love that enthusiasm mg here they're super happy to see you the bowing super polite ready for your first full of change variants we are in Shibu onsen to see the snow monkeys today with small Kyoto and bikes you have to directly if you're a foodie you'd love this place you know massive foodies but we're still gonna have to give some of the things here a try what is it oh of the platform so much fun there was a couple of things I wasn't expecting to do in Japan what was called a pirate ship that's what we were waiting for [Music] [Music] [Music] Japan's one of those countries where it's never been a case of if I'll go there it's just been a case of when and I think the reason is taking so long to get round to go in there is because you know it's not really on the classic Asian backpacking trail partly because there's geographical location but also has this reputation of being really expensive hopefully I submit we can bust on this trip but it's still a country I've always wanted to go to because ever since I was a kid Japan just have been presented this like this frontier of futuristic technology would you mean like all the best stuff is made in Japan so we're finally gonna be gone there and I'm gonna be traveling with James again and we've been talking about doing Japan for a while and we nearly went in the summer actually he's just our schedules in quite a line and then I think was in September James said right he's gonna go to Japan January to go snowboarding for two months and I was like but I want to go to Japan so I'm going with him so that's the reason we go to January is because James wants to go snowboarding and he's gonna be there for two months I'm gonna be there just for one because we're gonna fly out together travel around for a month and then when I fly home he's gonna go snowboarding for a month and the reason I'm not going snowboarding with him is one I can't really afford it right now - I suck at snowboarding and threatt it's my shoulders still going through physio after dislocating it skydiving in the summer doing a sport where I'll be falling over all the time it doesn't seem like the best idea I was having a thought Cal actually what you should be a spokesperson for is like travel insurance now the last trip we did together was in the Philippines and the problem we had on that trip was we tried to squeeze in too much because it takes so long to get anywhere in the Philippines we spent most of our time just tired and exhausted from trying to get from one island to another so I was kind of cautious with out when I started planning this trip around Japan but of course Japan has the best infrastructure in the world so I'll starting to look at like distances and how long it takes to get from here to here it's like oh it's just two hours just get on the bullet train you can get there so what that gives us is a lot of freedom to go anywhere we want [Music] so from what I've read the classic tourist stops for a short trip to Japan are like Tokyo Mount Fuji Kyoto and or Oshima and I'm sure we'll get to all of those although I don't know in which order yet and then I asked on my Facebook group and on Instagram like who's been to Japan and what suggestions have you got so now we've got all these tips and ideas for ever of different things around the country to check out so we've booked the Japan Rail Pass for three weeks which basically gives us access to the entire country but ultimately for me this trip really isn't about list ticking I just want to experience some of the new side of Japan and hopefully experience from the older side of Japan and I don't know how easy or challenging this trips gonna be I don't know how difficult the language barrier is gonna be I have no idea what the back packing seems like there but it's nice it's just nice not knowing what we're gonna get ourselves into but I will mention one last thing it's a couple weeks I've have been exactly five years since we set off to do our hk2 my nine-month round-the-world trip and now you know we're a little older for him why's it but it's still essentially the same thing it's just the two of us traveling with one camera capturing our journeys we've gone explore our new country so yeah I can't wait we're heading to Heathrow first thing in the morning and find out as Japan [Music] from Heathrow we first had to get a three and a half hour flight out to Helsinki in Finland then had enough time for a quick couple of pints before boarding the plane to Tokyo this flight was going to be nine and a half hours and our main goal was to try and at least get some sleep before we arrived in Japan the next morning so we're off to a good start we've literally just walked through security and immigration I come out and James been interviewed on Japanese straightaway why did you come to your back TV Tokyo tongue little simpleness gave the YouTube channel little plug as well so Carl makes travel documentaries not for YouTube one of James's goals and ambitions for his trip our hostel was located in the way no district of Tokyo it since we arrived at 11 a.m. or couldn't check in until 3:00 we decide to explore the neighboring area of a Saxon Saxa features the Sensoji temple an ancient Buddhist temple that's the oldest in all of Tokyo dating back to the seventh century and apparently it's one of the most visited spiritual sites in all of the world tracting over 30 million visitors each year problem with a start the trip is you get on the plane and you're super excited like yes Japan let's go then you get off the plane and you see pretty exhausted from a jet lag so your minds like let's go where your body's like no chance it's basically meant we spent the afternoon wandering around like zombies but after a few hours of sleep walking around we finally got to check in to our hostel and freshen up this is our hostel and in terms of hospital beds you cannot ask for anything better than this we have privacy can a towel rack clothes rack security lock yeah personal plug lamp I mean you can ask for even but if there's a fire problem is we have to do some kind of die hard maneuver where you supposed to attach some rope and kind of abseil down somehow link and rope on there dodging the electric wires we're in a hospital bed gasm getting a free drink for the evening which is great but then I asked him what was his trick they have behind the bar what is this what have we got here we're sake weight sake so every year like 20 or 30 Japanese people died because of the was this why'd you make [ __ ] with yes why what is that they say like I'll either be a poisonous make the dark or like the finish very good okay you see mg yeah that's what we're gonna have our first sake of Japan and we're going all in with a snake in Philippines are we in sake well wonder what we signed up for you [Laughter] look like I'll give him a kiss before you oh you sip them though right you don't realize you can't leave him hanging okay he's like I'll give it a look I'll be waiting it for ages for someone's come and kiss me you can't let him die no sneaking your first kiss of Japan tasty it's nice yeah I mean try a little bit of kick to it I'm not much of a spirit person but a lot better than my fault my Snickers like you snake bite and black bee one's better actually be one spear really do you don't want to give them a kiss as well are you did [Laughter] pretty much a plain you don't have a few days exploring Tokyo to start off our trip so we were keen to get up the next morning and start exploring to town unfortunately jet lag had other plans I say that's like what going out to plan for today it's um it's three o'clock we're heading to Shinjuku which is one of Tokyo's main business entertainment and shopping districts this is a lot more what we had in mind when we thought of Tokyo rather than the chill that area where Stadium Shinjuku features countless different bars restaurants a red-light district if you're into that sort of thing but even a restaurant with a robot show however you have to book tickets in advance to go there since we were getting hungry you just picked another place at random to get some food it's our first Japanese restaurant we have no idea what we're doing we're just trying to hang it most Auto beer so we did that before the staff recommended meat selection actually explain to me what these three meats are but I absolutely understand what it meant it's good to have no one to blame but myself [Music] everyone loves sticky balls am I supposed to pick what he's a little we weren't allowed to film inside the samurai museum but we could take as many pictures as we liked and the guided tour the samurai were elite military class of soldiers and officials they existed for over a thousand years in Japan up until 1868 within that time their roles changed and were more varied and complex than perhaps our cliched Western depiction of them but essentially word samurai means one who serves and it followed a strict code of conduct known as Bushido or the way of the warrior all right we have just done the samurai museum we've got to try on the samurai costumes as well as learning all about it that was awesome so I definitely recommend coming doing it and now we're gonna get drunk we've got Aziz so that's all we need to get drunk you were heading to Golden gai popular nightlife spot in Shinjuku is comprised of two hundred tiny little bars crammed into six narrow alleyways and whose Yoshi make we're meeting KC we met two years ago in Honduras in Utila [Music] you gonna drink it like a cat [Music] so this is golden guy which is everyone recommend school for night out here in Tokyo cool little straight lost a little tiny bar is gonna be here about ten people in that was a weird question is it full of people like this can see now different bars have different deals on because sometime you have to pay a cover charge although you often get snacks with that a sudden meters came for free international tourists are no charge no charge no tax wondering all a hundred happy should be going thing is even if you're coming to bar this and it's empty and dead there so smaller they'll just be filled up at busted in no time [Applause] [Music] so what I love about travelling is meeting the locals where you from ah sites whereabouts you know so it's good interacting with them and getting their local experience and what's happening this bull [Music] [Music] [Laughter] what are you calling it I have died he goes that's so satisfying it fills me up someone yeah I skiing [Laughter] we had a really fun night in golden guy but there's still loads more of Tokyo we want to see and the next place on our list is Akihabara [Music] [Applause] [Music] stimulus overload I thought nowhere left Akihabara is Tokyo's electric town housing thousands of electronic stores selling every gadget imaginable including tons of retro video game consoles in more recent years it's become the center of Japan's of tackle culture diehard fans of anime and manga don't know anything about anime really so not getting any expert advice but it's a pretty crazy place pull random electronics and old games and geeky stuff device and we're gonna wander around James wants a doll that looks like it's crying [Music] haha Oh two teenage girls watching each other had a creepy town well each night [Laughter] all right so this is a super potato store with all the old video games stepping back in time as a face computing system I have ADD it's like every game for every transyl ever made [Music] we got a gate mate can you believe [Music] just dances basically nerding out here they have a lightsaber chopsticks they lied oh you know I'm gonna go but also we've got a full-size Back to the Future car are you I'll get like me off you wouldn't have no money left I'm gonna spend all my money on a trip right now it's like oh well you're sensible with your money on your trip because it's quite expensive in Japan what's that 26 quid even better than that I got a lightsaber chopsticks and eyevac the future car [Music] everybody needs a tit [Music] and as these maid cafes around here as well we might check out even though they seem a bit suspect I think it's basically waitresses dressed as made to obviously serve your food and drinks and I think and do a bit of dancing a singsong but the slopes of Mount the street just trying to get you to go in the cafe so I'm gonna go check them out to go to the makeup we don't know if this is cool maid cafes are quite famous for tone you know it's I don't know if this thing is just fun and cute of it's a bit seedy so far it just seems fun and cute but um we weren't allowed to film the maids but we're allowed to film each other I sounds wrong already he's only got a set menu so we get like a food desert drink and in gearboxes go either back eat a teddy bear so we have to do these chants before i each drink two meats bit delicious magic bear bear luckily I've got some new chopsticks to team a meal with here we go now if that was something in Thailand you'd like we were odors be a bit seedy and a bit creepin but here it was actually quite sweet and innocent it was like being kind aside like a kids computer game or something fun great fun so we came here to do some batshit crazy random things and it's exactly what we just done good morning from Tokyo we're going through waves of jet lag so sometimes a little buzzing and other times I so now we're at the I guess it's like the Piccadilly Circus or Times Square of Tokyo to be a crossing that's world-famous I want a live demonstration of the crossing and then die I brought me we're gonna make it spectacular nice here we go oh Jesus this is going to be in the highlight reel really Network possible Internet spot the tourist across like three times and longer [Music] we spent the next couple of hours walking from Shibuya up through the park to see the Meiji Shrine and then back to Shinjuku to go up the free observation tower it's at the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan government building [Music] not only when you come to an observation tower it's like that's cool that's a city from a pipe then he quickly done but this pretty impressive just how sprawling the city is was on and if we're looking like an absolute sure it's crispy chat lacks hair this gel exhales pretty bad today I like to drink on the streets you have to trick you by the vending machines you are finished at all and then put in the bin before you leave slow drip hot streak we stopped it at individual back the machines pitstop previous stop was just there this is nicknamed piss alley it's where everyone comes to get pierced after work well uncle apparently yep you wanna get Oh Oh - she puts on my mood again cuz I have to get some warm sake ha ha ha [Music] these hot though the hot sort is hot [Laughter] like mulled wine well I haven't taken to sake yet and I really don't like mulled wine give us a try [Applause] [Music] Shep refer to regular Sark Italy it's not as bad as I thought I'll spring for the worse but not too bad is it like mulled wine I like just my twisted logic twisted logic mulled wine just the worst all right Rob we got what we go what we do what we do virtual reality games we're gonna to VR Mario Kart they were gonna ride Mary neither of us have ever done virtual reality before so this is gonna be absolutely sick I don't know how it's gonna translate to video but it's be really good fun for us [Music] [Applause] [Music] that was just like a fun theme park ride just whiz it round these massive jumps then you gonna try and grab different objects out of the air and throw them at your opponents you ever have a watching people by the way [Applause] somehow managed to wait it allows behind mostly so much fun so much fun we're back in wheelchair to escape from Ontario Hospital on the word we have a flashlight I guess it if we shine it on their face they run away it's a shame that the thing we've enjoyed the most so far you're not able to enjoy it all the time thank you when you get the point where you to be able to go to an arcade stick with em on an Africa we have anymore one thing I'd never thought we'd be very to reality because she's gotta be stupid [Music] [Applause] we had one last thing to do in Tokyo before we left town tomorrow because we've had a go at playing an original mayor card we've just tried the brand new virtual reality Mario Kart but now it's time to do real-life outcome we're about to do marry cow it's one of the things I saw on Facebook for a while ago thinking we have to get in told you now we're doing it ready wait I'm always ready already it's very important where you do Mary we're not to America I was less copyright infringement numérique are 200 yen vermis - so what's up - pretend I'm so happy that we're at you doing this though [Music] we've missed the lights oh yeah drag race [Music] beautiful sunset Tokyo [Music] I was Mario Kart goes of lose it just on a quick pause of the Mario Kart tour right by the Sky Tree the best thing is to drive along every just waves yeah samandriel we basically celebrities in town because Evan waves it takes photos this one going photos you hear that camera and there anyway please [Music] yeah that was freaky oh you did it rush out this is a bit stop start you sometimes may see trying to work our way through Tokyo rush-hour doing Mario car would you want the traffic's so busy once you got going it's [ __ ] amazing and the case you have a moment ago like wait a bit we're driving around Tokyo dresses Mario - Mario Cart yeah we're the for sherry of town it was such a great way to end our time in Tokyo Tokyo Drift we could easily spend a year in this city still be finding new things to do but it was time to move on and begin exploring the rest of Japan all right so our first day of probably hitting the road I'll hit the train track should say got our first ever book train today was pretty exciting but um we have to do we bought at Japan Rail Pass and then if you want a ticket it's go to ticket office and just tell me you want to go and they give you ticket Phillip any extra money there and then so this is pretty exciting like a book trains the kind of thing of living here about half since you're a kid ready for your first bullet train spirits you know they have the announcements in ambush as well as Japanese it's all pretty straight for our first stop you are heading towards the Japanese Alps to the city of Nagano and then we'll be spending the next week looping our way around to Kyoto one of the things I want to go film this trip was the Japanese toilets because they're pretty spectacular with you know in Southeast Asia gets away against to clean yourself that at least one of paper but here it's a whole thing of course how do you film that without being crude or you know normal to see you doing a [ __ ] and then luckily James by the toilet it filmed it anyway you know I used to encourage James to film but now it's just you know he's got the initiative now just one did it [Music] all right just arrived in igano and once again we're already on TV did you look [Music] hey I got a monkey pace why Japan is funny we dumped our bags at the hostel and went to see the nearby zenkoji temple so we just learned it's the oldest temple in Japan I think she's it wasn't 1,400 years old yeah that's not quite right it's one of the oldest in Japan getting back to the seventh century and it houses the first Buddhist statue ever to be brought into Japan when Buddhism was introduced here in the sixth century [Applause] well like a lot of temples that you visit you know how to film inside or taking pictures but underneath the temple there's a passageway you can go down it's complete an utter darkness you have to keep your right hand on the wall the whole time and you've gone basically to a maze and then eventually to find this metal bar that metal bars like the doorway to paradise if you manage to find it touch it means you be allowed in later on I think that's what it meant but there's kind of like an act of faith really because you're just walking in the dark and let you no idea where you're going and it's not a straight line you're weaving around and just hoping that you feel you'll get out and eventually find the key which we both did monks are not of approval and that happened yeah the monks give us another approval on the way out so the kind of key yeah yeah along with Buddhism the other major religion of Japan which is the indigenous faith is Shinto Shinto is a bit different to many monotheistic religions as there are no absolutes there is no absolute right or wrong nobody is perfect but ultimately it's an optimistic faith believing that humans are fundamentally good whoa and then what is it you learn about the religion oh that there is no dad no holy book no God and it's just about living within Hana and poverty will make sure was the one Sacred Heart more there you go so it's not all just drinking and Mario stuff so as we just read this is a war memorial holding the ashes of 2.4 million people who have died at war over the last hundred 50 years we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town a bit more and then the following morning we boarded a bus to do a day trip to the small village of Shibu onsen progress in our learning of Japanese culture I think that means part called the blue beads cold we are in boo onsen to see the snow monkeys and I said this trip wasn't about taking things off list but this is one of the things I wanted to do assisting though that when you read blogs online how they could be a bit misleading because I sort of heard about these snow monkeys as if it's like this little hidden secret or if you got in the GAR know you can get a bus a train a bus walk and you're gonna find these much snow monkeys so as soon as we got to know Garneau every person said ah snow monkey shiver snow monkeys like yeah yeah yeah so itself we have a snow monkey Pass are you ready you ranked crampons yes hiking boots got my hiking boots on sylvans fan send James from free bands it was the biggest van adventurer on the way [Applause] it was a 1.6 kilometer walk through the forest to where we'll hopefully see the wild Japanese macaque monkeys who often bathe in the hot springs to keep warm during the winter meant to the village and we got our first monkey I was one down the water [Music] this is a beautiful little village Oh gorgeous [Music] what are they gonna King Kong giving our complimentary free sticker ready for the park [Music] [Music] whereas tons of monkeys around but there's only one at sea in the bath and now there's none so we're pretty lucky to see that come in guys thinking about it it's a bit too mild today for them to go in the hot tub Joe in the middle day just a shame but like I said they're in the wild you can't control them so tough but fresh but still really awesome seeing her [Music] shoes off as always just stopped in this cozy little restaurant called a farmhouse they got 13 if they're all different kinds of beers here and they're not messing around cheese might be Scott me 8% fairy hips look very hipster V craft beer on your head you're wearing slippers he's just like going actually I let my hiking boots of it all back in town for the snow monkeys ready for a favorite musical crossing [Music] [Laughter] we'd worked up a bit of an appetite from our day out so we decided to order ourselves some ramen good tastes like Japanese fast food though this came out in like two minutes [Music] as we tucked into our food guy sitting next to us can you do that [Music] cowboy boy no Kauai Hawaii how are you dissing it arigato why this bedroom [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] it's a marathon not a sprint no fun easy all right now it's Carlton I'm not confident about this at all - Hawaii Hawaii just one of the technicality they're good when the guy eventually left he ended up paying for all of our drinks so we went for a wander around town to see what else the night would offer best place in the Garneau I knew sir James like James Bond but yeah [Laughter] James's to the Japanese Twitter's hey defense the restoration toilet paper goes in the toilet make it friends in Japan you from Maga no no no no no way you're americano Nagata reason Teresa wa where's that Japanese I don't know Japanese how do you imagine that's there yeah that's the evening progressed we met loads of people who wanted to try and chap this and share some drinks I said what started out was going for an innocent bowl of ramen ended up in a bit of a drunken mess despite all this we still managed to get up straightaway the next morning he ordered a bus to take us up into the mountains to the ski resort of Hakuba [Music] [Music] we are in Hakuba this is where James gonna go snowboarding in the trip when I go home but we thought we'd come here for a night just to check it out so one he could scope it out but two because Casey and Corey who met up with a golden guy they're staying here and also my buddy max is here in town so I thought I could catch up with him more about backs later it's awesome being up in the mountains you know just a couple days ago we're in the madness of Tokyo and now we're surrounded by snow beautiful trees beautiful mountains that good to have a change of scenery we're really happy to be here because we booked it last minute it's like only one hostel we could get and it's a lovely hostel but it turns out it's about an hour's walk something a bit of town so we're going to get a train or a shuttle in so it's Friday evening and we're just heading into town me and James gonna catch up with casing Cory and Max and Joe just walk to the train this beautiful little village [Applause] I'm real looking forward to a nice Pleasant civilized evening out I'm so sure James as well see our hostel is conveniently located just a short train journey away from where we're at you want to be cars become a chain spa yeah every platform we go to he's filming trades which one is this car it's giving his name mr. train to Cuba which what what's train called Cuba Matata what a wonderful place [Music] ninja James [Music] we should one hour walk that way another thing to know the TradeStation hits happen either so it's a 10-minute walk from Arsenal train station and a ten minute train ride and another ten minute walk to coober we had a very fun night out last night in a kuba - bit of a strange town because it felt like we've been transported out of Japan and to Australia so we're in Japan but we're surrounded by Australia's family works here's Australian and we was in the Australian fun for us commies as they'd say I won the barman time the nickname for the place silver Cooper it's a coup Bali we're about to meet max as well as the ultimate hottie anyway gr13 meet a fella with a skater and why we got to Australia we sell the whitsundays to the captain Bridge defender [ __ ] legend this summer I was back in Australia I got on the boat and he said you would build a British offender shows up max was still a captain so gonna be it again now we're in Japan mokuba max is back but I was good fun it was like just like it was like a little break from our Japanese adventure just to be transferred to Australia for the night three times [Applause] [Applause] we wanted to say an extra night but everywhere sold out which means we're gonna have to check out and get on the train to the next town which is a gonna be a bit tough because we're both very hungover our train set cars ours and for a couple hours so this is around the corner from the hostel when you're having a chilled hungover day in Japan one thing to do is just come to an onsen this is a nonsense especially a natural hot spring hot tub area I'm filming right now there's no other people in here and I thought what the film with a naked not just the next stop we're going to his callous hour he's supposed to be really beautiful old town on the coast and from what I read not many foreign tourists go there although what I read could be complete bollocks so we'll have to find out maybe we'll end up with a bar full of Aussies yet who knows it was a three-hour journey to Kanazawa which firstly consisted of taking two different trains to weave us through the mountains and once we reach the coast if you get on the Shinkansen bullet train to speed us to our destination [Music] all right we have made it to Kanazawa check out the station it's unreal it was a beautiful train journey through the mountains that she really really nice and after that the mayhem and to walk through last night tonight we're just gonna chill hostel have a quiet one and then explore this awesome town and what I hope sit options have tomorrow but if this station is the site of how beautiful a towns going to be I think we're in for a treat [Music] apparently we're lucky to have good weather today because just two days ago they had like a foot worth of snow there's a foot yes snow yeah we're heading towards the old geisha district of town Jasha are traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses these old entertainment districts were filled with tea houses where they were performed to their customers so this is Eastern pleasure district called the Gashi where in the evening he'll be entertained by geishas in form of music and dance we have to go back in an evening apparently serve Stefan [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we are now at the great castle of colors our as called colors our castle this castle was originally built in the late 16th century but has since been destroyed several times by fires and even an earthquake the last of which was in 1881 the grounds were then used for Canizales University till they moved to the city's outskirts in the 1990s and now a version of the castle we see today has only restored and reopened to the public in 2001 it looks like the outdoors of the box lined up I'd like to see there on the gate drop them down for foundations that's a complete end that's how it starts bamboo and ropes mud kind of stuff finished frozen moat [Music] [Music] [Music] we got though yeah it looks like we've timed that lunch break pretty well because the storm was coming absolute best it down so there's still more things we want to see but for now we might be stuck in their parents about two things have eggs on pizza [Music] it's the bane of our lives in Japan no jaywalking it's like totally Japan's the exact opposite to the rest of Asia restoration you just kind of walk for it and go here you have to wait for the traffic lights see I went too quickly now we're separated see you in a minute James I'll see you soon stay strong three hours later we reunited sign translates his name with that kind of the roof we've made it to the negative a che Samurai area through the rain now it stopped raining and we got here nagamachi is a beautifully preserved area that was once the residential district for the city Samurai much like the castle it's also been through large amounts of restoration but it still gives a vivid idea of what city life was like century or more ago well we're in the geisha district we thought there's no one there and this is could be on the wrong Street that's odd he turned a corner everyone was there but here there really is no onion this probably has been pissing with rain [Laughter] [Laughter] [Music] well we've had sunshine rain singing let us know I don't even hang out today what we've seen all the sights so now we just need to find a place of refuge the rest of the day making friends in Japan [Music] we found about it was open what are we eating cabbage spicy wing pretty quick in it's okay so far okay we laughing a chopstick skills say hi to the camera I was expecting the worst but so again I'm feeling a bit now but it's okay I'm surviving yeah yeah I'm trying he's okay but he put hot into Google Translate you get hot as in she's hot wrong heart is my Japanese teacher learning do you think I look like Tom Cruise King James is taller of Japanese toilets very nice lots of ornaments but no pieces standing up looks like they've gotta sit down and toilet cap I we went in there and just have more had to check to us they like let's join their group and that's what I found so far a strip the Japanese people have been so friendly so welcoming so polite like even if you just go in it's like a 7-eleven to buy a coke you know they kind of bowing at Santa low and they give you money back you know and it's such a warm friendly feeling it makes you feel so welcome more to love today we are heading to Kyoto this time we're traveling on a let's go James you were really looking forward to getting to Kyoto it's the place that everyone tells you to go to when you first visit Japan and we're going to have a few nights here to explore the town [Music] today we're gonna have a little wander around see how far we get check out some sights then tomorrow we're gonna hang out some bikes and go see some of the things a bit further out of town so James fires getting round one betting machine to the next if you're the boss which is why Karl car have a taste of success a basic plan was to head to gear on the geisha district of town and gradually work our way up to Kiel middle Dara temple and basically try not to get lost along the way get lost if you don't know where you're going [Music] [Laughter] [Music] put up the wedding they're famous so there's people running after them so maybe they are famous maybe someone could leave a comment and tell us who they are because we've got no idea [Music] and the refill five minutes confinement I have to guess which I do think it's pill write down their wishes and prayers on these little balls leave them here at the shrine and hopefully they come true go see my guest was right I wish that no one will ever die 31 I can read we can follow us around and get to the temple [Music] while saying about get lost other words going to walk up to a temple but if the street is gorgeous lots of cool little shops I think I'll be able to get this with them Hippolyta in here loads of people dressed in the traditional clothes around here it's probably some reason for that but don't know because I heard we were coming sort of dressed up for us what are they just Japanese yeah and this is what they do [Music] it gradually worked our way up the vibrant Street to the Chi omit sedara temple which literally means pure water temple it's named after the sites at our waterfall which we unfortunately didn't match the spots since the main hall was going through renovation but apparently there are three separate streams which if you drink from them provide three different benefits on being longevity another is success in studies and a final one is a fortunate love life although the temple was founded back in 780 AD the buildings we see today were constructed in the 17th century and apparently there's not a single nail used in the entire structure not only was it a beautiful temple to visit but it also gave us fantastic views back down to kyoto beautiful town but it's exhausting walking around which runs a curry house great smell great curry was a good smell encouraged [Applause] okay today we do something a bit different small Kyoto but on bikes this is our bike for the day did-did-did a little bit big big day oh and the guy running the store is a really fun guy ever sold penny farthing cycling thing and James had a go and he's thinking our tourists we're gonna mess up James smashed it absolutely smashed it X BMXer absolutely once we got on our proper bikes we are heading to the outskirts of town to explore some more sights first being the golden temple so we are at kinkakuji temple which is a Zen Buddhist temple and apparently it's one most popular buildings in all of Japan see if we can find a spot to take a picture [Applause] by the way it's about three degrees today with the windchill no idea but it's absolutely freezing we are bloody knock it from that cycling but we've made it to the bamboo pass yeah it's beautiful if you want to get a photo of this place we're known in you gotta come here a lot earlier than we did but I still gorgeous never seen anything like this before word to me just blow torched it to go traveling you hate me woods where are we going you know I find some monkeys won't be on that camera we are a very long ride back [Music] it's time for some more monkeys without snow monkeys they're regular monkey little things cheeky little monkey this is a feral hiker haven't seen any monkeys yet huh oh yeah yeah whoa it's all of you [Music] turns out these monkeys are the same species as the ones we saw previously and there's a troop of about a hundred seventy of them living here in the wild mountain Raschi ama a hike was worth it for the view alone we got right or we should gotta go to the tower basically it's a what a view oh god we got a long way to go what a great day out we're exhausted we went super fast around yes have you come to Kyoto this is where you go get your bike it was a really fun but horse a really cold day out so we made our way back to the hostel to warm ourselves up so what can you play that I play not music to me [Music] [Applause] it's our last morning in Kyoto which means we've come to the end of the first half of our trip but we've got one last tourist site the seed places they're supposed to be a popular one and in town I think we've come to the fushimi inari shrine which is a Shinto shrine famous for his thousands of red torii gates but first we have to wash our hands and mouth as a symbolic purification before entering the shrine don't do it wrong [Music] smashed it friends a bracelet the torii gate marks the approach and entrance to a Shinto shrine and is supposed to represent the division between the physical and spiritual world there's over 10,000 gates at this shrine summer which are over 1300 years old and walk in this way the unit so it's cool turn around browse all the writings Italy [Music] I'd love to know what all the scripture means I'm guessing in Scripture yeah my guess was completely wrong all of these gates have been donated by individuals and companies it turns out the writing on the back isn't anything spiritual it's simply the donators name and the date they made their donation as we walked through Evans trying to politely get out of each of those photos the path up the hill begins with two parallel walkways that everyone tries to get their photo on however the walkway actually continues whining all the way up the mountain where you can quickly lose 90% of the crowds you probably can't see it on camera but it's just starts snowing as well just to make this place a little bit more features [Music] [Music] the mountain we're walking up is named batter Inari the Shinto god of rice foxes are thought to be Inari's messages which is why there's all these statues around the gardens [Music] well I'm really glad we saved this one till last it wasn't deliberate just the way it worked out but of all the shrines and temples we've done so far the worst there's been many this one's definitely my favorite great into our time in Kyoto if we get to a soccer afternoon [Music] we've now reached the halfway point of our trip it feels like we've been here a lot longer than two weeks because we've seen and done so much already this is a beautiful little villager gorgeous we really started to find our feet and settle into traveling in Japan we can't wait to head to the next town see what other adventures await welcome to Osaka have you had a pick me I wanna kill this one Aras famous woman says dear everywhere we originally just gonna do three nights in a row Shiva but we're now going to do five because there's actually tons to do here there's a couple of things often expected to do in Japan one is gone a pirate ship you met some Japanese dude who just to have been working us to use and live give us free passes welcome to Japan [Music]

Channel: Karl Watson: Travel Documentaries

Views: 568,335

Rating: 4.9140735 out of 5

Keywords: Travel, Backpacking, Adventure, Wanderlust, Karl Watson, Karl Watson Travel Documentaries, Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, japan travel tips, Japan travel video, Japan travel, Japan travel film, Japan travel in winter, Japan travel advice, Japan travel highlights, tokyo japan, japan travel vlog, backpacking japan in winter, backpacking japan 1 month, tokyo mario kart in real life, backpacking japan, traveling to japan for the first time, japan travel guide itinerary, backpacking japan route

Id: guF_Pvc2P9U

Length: 69min 9sec (4149 seconds)

Published: Thu May 24 2018