2023 japan trip part 2: mt. fuji, hakone, and sumida
Welcome back everyone this is my second video about our travels in Japan I’m covering our second and third full days in Tokyo please wait behind the yellow here we are in the train station these yellow tactile surfaces are all over Japanese cities including on the streets vision impaired individuals are
Able to feel them with their sticks to navigate Japan is heavily invested in accessibility due in part to the country’s aging population the safety doors are a good touch too really every train station should have those in most places in Japan people walk on the left side that’s the
Standard it’s been that way since Samurai times but in a few places in the subway I’ve seen these signs instructing to keep to the right I don’t know why they’re here some people heed the sign but most just keep walking on the left as they do it’s a bit chaotic especially
When these signs are right at the bottom of the staircase that goes to the street there’s just a mob of people going in all different directions sometimes blocking the stairs I did not expect something as simple as walking directions to be this complicated in what is otherwise a very orderly country
Um anyway we saw this cool very big street art we were meeting for the second day of the bus tour at the same meeting place as in the first day we decided to stop for McDonald’s as we had skipped it previously I love that it’s just open to the street I don’t even
Have to go inside a building it’s very convenient most of the menu is different so we got basically everything they showed on the monitors look Japanese marketing Just Hits different the indoor dining area is above the street facing storefront got a nice view of the neighborhood the mango smoothie is all
Right nothing remarkable this is their tsukimi pie I guess you’re supposed to eat it while looking at the moon but you know time restraints it’s another red bean based food and I will say this one is actually sweet I don’t know if that means it’s loaded with corn syrup but
You know what I don’t care it does its job and the inclusion of Mochi really balances out the flavor it doesn’t feel like I’m eating sugary beans straight from the can these are my favorite the macarons whoever curated these has excellent taste they included raspberry which is my favorite fruit most people
Would have chosen something super basic like strawberry and these are the shrimp nuggets they’re crispy and quite flavorful I was quite impressed with McDonald’s in Japan the menu items creatively adapt aspects of the Japanese diet and it feels less greasy than the American restaurants I feel better
Eating here even if it’s still junk we stopped at 7-Eleven again mostly to waste time I took a good look at the Yuzu chili flavor tofu bar but then I was like nah we got the same bus as last time that’s cool this second day of touring actually took us out of Tokyo
Prefecture entirely we got to see Mount Fuji and various other non-urbanized attractions this was our one significant resit from the cities in the trip and it was about a 2hour drive here’s our itinerary if anyone wants to read ahead oh no spoilers I didn’t even read half
Of this until making the video I just go where they tell me so now we are heading to m fui m fui here is the area what is called Mount Tako Mount Tako so as we can see there’s a beautiful nature friendly of beautiful natures but still in Tokyo
Areas at this point we’re still in Tokyo prefecture it extends a fair bit into the countryside it’s not just the city that is a nice looking Bridge Moto lake is famous for Mount Fuji drawn on 1 the end bill it’s famous for Mo pain blooming from the middle of April to May Mo fui extends over two prefectures yamanashi prefecture and chiefa Prefecture we passed Fuji Q Highlands Park that’s the roller Coaster We saw this guy taking pictures of his Motorcycle this is the fifth station which is the closest point to the top of Mount Fuji that’s relatively easy to get to by public transportation the itinerary mentions something about a higher station where the tour group is able to go during the offse I’m assuming that’s the eighth station which is
Limited to 150 visitors at a time so I imagine that it’s difficult to get a reservation we got these vouchers to pick up a gift at the gift shop a nice lucky Charm No open as silly as it sounds that’s probably the most efficient way to communicate the message do not open to a wide range of tourists from different countries there are plenty of people who know just a little bit of English vocabulary but don’t necessarily recognize the syntax pack of an English
Sentence so no open and do not open may as well be the same thing so here’s the view of the actual Mountain from this distance and there’s the parking lot and some other smaller mountains just look at that size comparison it’s kind of wild just how huge Mount Fuji is in
Comparison to every other mountain in the area from here it’s difficult to see the iconic volcanic Dome shape of Mount Fuji it kind of just looks like any other large mountain maybe the shape would be easier to see if there were snow most of the pictures that you’ve
Seen were taken either from helicopters or from farther away on ground level using telescoping lenses fortunately we did get an exceptionally clear view of the mountain there were no clouds in the way according to our tour guide It’s only this clear about 20% of the time I
Would have liked to actually hike up to the top of the mountain but of course that would have taken most of the day and I’d miss the rest of the tour here’s a cool looking volcanic rock a landmark of some sort or perhaps a giant ancient dime we heard that there’s
A shrine in this general area so we walked around to find it sorry you’re going to hear a lot of that Bell uh there’s a gate I don’t know if that’s the main one here’s a big clearing of loose volcanic rocks they have an interesting texture to walk on very crinkly
Right yeah they’re very porous you know could take them Yeah There’s the gift shop and the handwashing station and there’s the gate we were looking for visitors were putting coins in this hollowed out tree as an offering here’s a needle for stacking 5 Yen coins that’s clever we don’t have any holes do 10 yeah a phot someone put a drink box in there
The box says Oni korosi which is a kind of dry sake I thought it were litter at first but I guess it’s a part of the shrine you can’t exactly fit a whole sake Barrel inside a tree the volcanic Dome is slightly more visible from the parking lot of all Places here are some more Lucky Charms we bought at the gift shop got your cppy barara friends a dog some colored fishies and of course my volcanic Rocks I got a wooden charm complete with more Bells you can never have too many Bells overall Mount Fuji was somewhat underwhelming we kind of just showed up took some pictures and left our next stop was a so-called ninja Village these are a common attraction across Japan there’s a restaurant and a
Japanese garden and various ninja themed outdoor games and the emper remain in character as Shinobi we had lunch to start with everyone got a personal hot pot with eggplant and cabbage and such very nice there was a very large Buffet to choose from here are just a few items I
Got salad scrambled eggs bread calamari shrimp takoyaki and pasta salad they really did not cheap out on the selection there was tea as well they had some cool ninja weapons and art on display as well in the dining room This is the garden that tree in the clearing is a Sakura tree it was not in bloom at the time fish they’re just chilling Glo Glo glub glub glub hello glub Glub That’s a cool looking Building this looks like a target range perhaps they do performances here yeah this is the Ninja Village The sign shows the plant Rod dendrin mucronatum which has white flowers I can see just a few of them scattered throughout the garden I think that the more plentiful yellow flowers are also a variety of rododendron These are jizo statues which are s to protect the spirits of deceased Children wow we met a real Shinobi Nin there’s a ropes course for the kids I hear water moving somewhere where is it I got to try shoy Ken throwing for the first time well I’ve done it with paper ones before but these are real power yes yes okay okay game start let’s go oh yeah yeah yeah who so
Close that was the worst one one more chance and Okay thank you for you that was nice she gave me an extra try and I won an umayo which is a puffy corn-based snack bar I always thought that the mascot on the label were a doron character but no it’s an unrelated cat character the character has been nicknamed umayon so I suppose
That’s a common Association that others have made between the characters the last activity that we had time for is the Ninja’s trick room it’s like a very short and simple escape room we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside I guess they don’t want the solutions getting
Out it was very cool actually there are about four or five small Japanese style rooms with unadorned wooden walls they actually looked like a sauna of all things in each room we’d have to find a hidden door to get to the Next Room in most cases that was as simple as running
My Hands Across The Wall until until I found a piece of paneling that felt slightly loose or springy then I pushed down on it to unlock the mechanism and it would come off the wall just enough for me to grab it and swing it open one
Of the doors was hidden in the side of a wooden bathtub so we had to get into the tub and crawl down through the opening what was really cool about the trick house is that the doors were loaded with an automatic spring mechanism to close
Them behind me when I pulled on the door to fully open it that would put tension in a spring and after I went went through and released the door the spring would recompress itself with enough Force to click the hidden door back into place one of the doors was apparently
Left open by mistake I suppose the spring mechanism failed and the previous guest didn’t care to close it manually so we just walked right through that room it took like 2 minutes in total there is a small museum at the end of the trick house where we were allowed to take
Pictures one of the hidden doors looked somewhat similar to this One oh hello all right here’s a little pudding doggy pin that we got in a capsule vending machine that was an enjoyable time overall it was Charming I saw some clearings cut into the trees on a nearby Mountain I wonder if they ever use that for skiing we passed a surprisingly large
Military vehicle on the road they even had guys sitting up top where the gun is though our tour guide insisted that we call it the Defense Force not the military um all right these are rice fields I think our next stop was hakone ropeway which is a cable car station and entire
Section of the building is just covered in avang gelon product placement that anime really is a phenomenon in Japan well it gives the station a unique character part of this sign was mirrored in its printing how does that even happen that is very NG that’s better they gave us fans I never really
Thought about it but the fluid dynamics of a hand fan are actually quite fascinating I flap it up and down but most of the air is propelled forward perpendicular to the direction of the Fan’s movement wow they have a pirate ship not something you’d expect to see on a lake
In the mountains of Honu here we are getting on the cable car it’s kind of like a ski lift it’s not often that I get this high above the trees during the Autumn when there’s no snow it’s a nice view though the brightness makes it difficult to get on camera sorry if I don’t look at the
Camera I really should have had my sunglasses I don’t even know where I put them What is the name Mountain uh it’s hak Mountain hak Hak Oho neighbors oh and on the right side backward this is the M fuis and H M fui coming Out this cable car goes up to mount owakudani which is an active volcano there are hot springs in this area as there are in several areas of Japan udani is uniquely well known for its sulfur vents that release Trails of hot steam at a nearly constant rate they’re
Visible from all the way up here they’re Sul dissolved in the Steam and it has a very strong smell I can smell it already about 100 m above the ground it’s impressive how it builds up enough pressure to erupt out of the ground like that it’s just
Steam it’s easy to forget that Japan is the second most volcanically active Country this is the Mount Oak kudani Visitors Center their whole branding is based on the black egg and they are really rocking it everything is black the people in this area take regular chicken eggs and boil them in the sulfurous water from these volcanic vents the sulfur affects some kind of chemical
Change that makes the eggshells turn black inside the center there’s a small Museum room that currently has just one display a big chunk of Elemental sulfur as a chemistry nerd I love that I went into the gift shop to get some black eggs see what it’s all about
I thought I was ordering two eggs but they gave me two bags each containing five eggs so yeah we were eating eggs for a while I tried getting closer to the edge to get a good video of the steam but the wind up here is just crazy strong when
There’s no building nearby to disrupt it I had to be careful not to drop my Phone there’s some sort of scaffolding down there I’ve heard that there are sulfur mines in the hakone area maybe this is one that’s no longer actively used oh I bought these to black egg mju I didn’t really like them the fruit part is all right it’s made with mango but
The pastry part of it is weird it’s not even like a cake or a dough that’s been leavened it’s just very very densely packed dry wheat flour that crumples apart when I eat it and it has very little flavor these are the actual eggs they’re black but with a thin layer of
White residue it almost looks like chalk dust just freaking smash it that’s one way to crack an egg onehanded flashing lights warning I guess darn these trees I can even see part of my fingerprint in the white resid Do on the inside it looks and tastes like a normal egg I still smell the strong sulfur smell which I associate with rotten eggs so that’s an experience the smell and The Taste Clash but it’s not unpleasant it’s a good egg I mean as far as eggs ago it would be difficult to
Ruin something so simple they came with salt packets so let’s try that according to the local Superstition eating one of these eggs adds 7 years to one’s life excluding micro States Japan is the country with the longest lifespan so maybe they’re on to something yeah I prefer my eggs without
Salt the bus picked us up at the visitor center near Mount udani and it drove us back to the same station where we got on the cable car we got to walk down the Ava Corridor release her next on the list another boat tour that’s two days in a row that’s quite a
Bold strategy for the travel agency that made our itinerary but in my case it paid off I like boats I’m glad that my group got the golden ship red is a cool color too but how often do you see a golden ship It’s a bit crowded on top I’ll try to gradually make my way around the perimeter done I really need to find my sunglasses I’m having a good time I Swear All right it’s less crowded on the lower level and more importantly less Bright that was a nice tour thank you Queen ASI noo they have Swan Boats too over Here the next stop is hakone Shrine one of the more popular Shinto shrines in the greater Tokyo Area there’s a display of ginger ale bottles which I found amusing ginger ale was my favorite carbonated drink it seems to be a pun on the Japanese word Ginga which means Shrine Morish here are some more jizo statues I see that at least two of them have knitted hats there’s a tradition of shrine patrons offering hats to the goo especially during the colder months as it is sa to ward off sickness and evil spirits I’ve seen this tradition
Referenced in a few Japanese media most recently Super Mario Odyssey H water it’s not is for like a those trees are some thick boys hakone Shrine is known for its large staircase there are 89 steps Here are more of those fortune telling papers that we’ve seen at the previous Shrine omikuji as they’re called whoa how did this lion get turned to stone as they say in China here is a very beautiful 9e headed dragon Fountain there’s a whole legend associated with the fountain that I
Won’t get into but it’s sa that drinking the water will give one luck in Romance Thank You and that’s the end of the tour for today it was an enjoyable time I’m glad that we got a full day away away from the city to take in more of the nature in a more open space and to see some of the more quaint attractions that
Wouldn’t really fit the vibe of a major city the bus brought us back to one of the stations in Tokyo Please hold hands with small children when getting off the Train please watch your step when you get off the train thank You New York perfect cheese it had better be I speak for New York and I have a very high standard for cheese is nice yeah very much this reminds me of Yep I love Japanese signs that are like this just a deluge of English words lacking in structure but overflowing with emotion go upstairs open the door ladies and gentlemen clothes reality or fantasy beautiful dress custom suits traditional but Innovative beautiful that that’s so much more resonant than just a boring
Old sales pitch it was late at this point and we wanted to eat something Sim so we walked into the first Italian restaurant we saw she had a small pizza and I had pasta with Squid Ink a Japanese staple the texture is interesting I always thought of squid
Ink as being a very watery and lubricative liquid but this is actually quite gloopy I think it’s mixed in with a plant-based oil that’s slowly separating out I was expecting Mario Kart ink but this is clearly Splatoon ink The Taste is very unique the main flavor is salty but it has an underlying
Component of umami that I really can’t describe I like it we got back to our hotel in matato the next morning we took a train to a different W of Tokyo called sumida we went here to visit a specific shop that’s located in a mostly residential neighborhood wow he is really enjoying that
Te the shop where we were going didn’t serve food not for humans anyway so we got to sumida early and stopped at the local supermarket to pick up some breakfast and also just to look around shopping in another country is always a learning experience our tour guide say
That in general fruits in Japan are quite expensive because there’s limited land to grow them and people are willing to pay extra for specialty fruits as a gift to their employer but I don’t know these prices seem reasonable these muscat grapes are the most expensive fruit I saw they’re supposedly among
Japan’s most prided agricultural products 300 Yen for 100 G that’s like $9 per pound not terrible I think I’m just beaten into the ground by the cost of food in New York I’ll pay anything these little fishes freak me out like why are they looking at me is this food
Or fish bait this is CPUs soda they made a digestive Aid into a soda all Right we got some sushi and sat down in a local park to eat I got a mon Blanc as well it was good sumida is actually the same ward where we had been just the previous day to see the Sky Tree I wasn’t aware of that at the time it’s high enough that
One can see it from much farther than this Kitty Hello I only saw a few pets on this whole trip I expected to see a lot more considering that Japan supposedly has more pets than children this neighborhood was just a little bit rough around the edges not terribly so it’s probably the least
Looked after place where we went in the whole trip but I think they’re improving it there’s one touristy attraction that I’ll get to shortly hopefully that attracts more capital to the neighborhood we had to walk through a construction zone to get where we were going which I did not expect the workers
Let us through easily it seems like they deal with this on a daily basis hi Arato here it is the place we came here for the capibara cafe of all of the themed cafes in Japan we knew that we had to go to one of these at some point during the trip because where else can you sit down with a giant freaking
Rodent and pet them and feed them I mean other than South America we got here shortly after opening though there were several people in front of us everyone has to pay for both a drink and a food for the caparas either carrots or brown pellets we had to just sit and Vibe for
A while and occasionally pet the cap because they only bring out the Cappy food every few minutes I only heard it briefly but this one made a cute chirping sound when he was enjoying a belly Rub someone give him a belly Scratch I like it when he flicks his ears what’s he Communicating hey what are you sniffing No coconut doggy come back animals are usually attracted to me but these ones are really not impressed they move on their own schedule okay let’s put our phones away from well when when you’re Done they are just so chill of course that’s the first thing everyone says about capy baras but it’s easy to underestimate just how agreeable they are you can just go up and start petting one while most other undomesticated animals would shift away they truly have no enemies hi Mr coconut doggy hello what
Are you thinking about do you like this was that yes you spoke with the ears Yeah I like your hands Daniel look you take the carrot oh my God its mouth is so cute he’s nervous I didn’t notice it at the time but they do have slightly different hair colors I believe this is the darker one named piske the lighter one is Kohaku he started doing this upward head nod usually right after we speak to him he only started after we got the carrots so maybe that’s the signal for more food We caught this one mid sneeze poor baby those are some finely manicured nails he’s always showing them off they kind of look like electrical Tape H they like their cozy blankets stop talking him in a minute Mhm yeah hands are Cute oh the teeth are cute show me your teeth want to give manicure what what does that mean I’ll let you guys they really are just carrot fiends love yeah as chill as they are they waste absolutely no time when they see a carrot that is their number one priority
Maybe they’re just hungry because it’s early in the day not long after this trip the cafe was closed for a day because one of the Cappies got diarrhea oh no they should eat slower but what attracts a Cappy more than anything is the sound of pellets being poured Look at him he’s just going absolute beast mode on those pellets he won’t Stop give me a head nod for Ryan we hell yeah we bought a couple funny knickknacks a stuffed toy cyara a picture of both of them together and these hard [Applause] candies that’s a pretty intricate design for such a small candy I assume they’re rolled by hand and they are very hard like ow actually once we’re out of the city center of Tokyo we have to actually start paying attention to where we’re going to stop they don’t have the big computer screens
Showing the next several stops we’re either using Google Maps or listening to the loudspeaker we got off the train somewhere I don’t recall exactly my sister was leading the way we saw a big blue and yellow building and we thought screw it we’re eating at Ikea now ah the blo high are are
Escaping here’s the menu they have their Halloween items a full month early I mean what else is there to celebrate in September might as well here’s a nice big dining area the raspberry juice is just m bellisimo even more Uncommon than raspberry flavored snacks are such flavored drinks but Japan just really
Gets fruit right I also tried their Elder flour drink and yeah it tastes like a flower like the ones I chewed on during recess in primary school so good job some may say that it’s a waste to eat at Ikea rather than an authentic Japanese restaurant we have Ikea at home
I would counter that to say this it’s good to go to chain restaurants in moderation while traveling abroad because it makes me more conscious of my preconceptions and biases around food I have an idea in my mind of what Swedish food is or or what Italian food is like
But those aren’t 100% authentic I’ve only ever been exposed to the American version of each now having tried the Japanese interpretation I can find which aspects are different and which qualities of the food are common they’re maintained despite cultural and Geographic barriers for example the smoked Salon was very similar though
They seem to use less Dill in Japan here I had this vegetarian Curry which I’ve never seen at IKEA in the US it was very good every region has its own version of every archetype of food that’s available therein there’s even a Japanese version of American food with McDonald’s so
There are nearly unlimited combination of food styles to try if you travel enough which is pretty cool even take the pasta from the previous day spaghetti Alo deia is an original Italian recipe but in a country with so many types of pasta It’s easily overlooked Japan is the country that
Made squid ink pasta more visible in the public Consciousness perhaps just for the novelty of it I’ve heard they even started putting ink in ice cream I probably wouldn’t have ever tried this if I hadn’t come to Japan uh cool so that was Ika it’s still quite early in
The day at this point but our next stop was quite involved it will probably take up most of my next video so I’ll just awkwardly cut it off here thank you and I hope you see the next part
we enjoyed getting away from the big city for a day
00:00 introduction
01:24 mcdonald’s
02:58 mt. fuji bus tour
09:39 oshino ninja village
18:45 hakone ropeway
21:52 mt. hakone
25:15 lake ashi boat tour
28:32 hakone shrine
31:21 back in tokyo
34:08 sumida
36:55 cafe capyba
44:43 ikea