[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] [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! 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.
figured it was ok to post this video here, since they had him as guest
Was it me or did this video felt different to his others?