[HQ ReUp]Solo Sake-Seeking – Tokyo and Japanese Resort Town Karuizawa Travel Diary – Narrated
wonderful All smoking devices is prohibited in the cabin including in the aisle and lavatory In case of emergency please follow our instructions [Music] It’s gorgeous [Music] [Music] [Music] Hello and thank you for giving this video and my channel a chance This is the first of many travel diary videos I plan to upload for my trips This footage is from my fifth trip to Japan and first trip back to Japan since the pandemic back in 2019 I’m not a great editor narrator or anything really but I am pretty fun to drink with I also uploaded and will upload versions of my video journeys without narration as well If you don’t want to hear me talk like this I assure you my heart will not be broken and my butt will not be hurt A direct flight from San Francisco California to Narita Japan is just around 11 hours I arrived in the midafter afternoon on Sunday April 21st 2025 local time [Music] It took almost 45 minutes to get through customs I definitely recommend taking the Kes Line train out of Narita Airport if you don’t have much luggage with you I managed with two full suitcases but getting off was a bit difficult since I wasn’t staying by a main station where many people get off If you do have a lot of luggage then I suggest taking a limo bus service which costs about double the price of the case line My Osmo camera was pointed at a bad angle here but that was the least of my annoyances once I came home and realized I lost hours of footage that were corrupted by this Insert angry nouns here While I love 7-Eleven and convenience store food or combini food in general I was glad to see there was a highly rated Chinese restaurant only about 3 minutes away by walking Food was good but a bit pricey for what it was It wasn’t until after I ordered from the menu with my limited Japanese reading abilities that I remembered Google Translate can translate words in real time using the camera Don’t regret what I ordered though Everyone loves kinis for their own reasons I beline straight to the alcohol section like a drone bee seeking the flower of a beer fruit tree Coffee is a close second though This is likely the oddest combination of combini purchases I’ve made The rooms were a bit cramped and the walls were thin but people were respectful and kept quiet for the most part There was a bath that allowed reservations and 30inut intervals in the evening hours So much for a drip coffee It cost 2,000 yen or about $14 US to leave two large luggage cases at the guest house for 2 weeks For the next two weeks I would travel with only two backpacks with only one actually on my back For the most part drivers in Japan will yield to pedestrians Be sure to thank them with a quick bow The price listed here is more than what I paid I believe it’s the reserved car price I had to take the Joelbot line to Tokyo Station on a weekday morning I was fourth in line and couldn’t even fit on the train It was literally butts to nuts Don’t even think about bringing luggage on board Next stop town of Kowizawa Does anyone else think the Shinkansen emblem looks like a toilet this was my first gacha phone sighting of the trip I didn’t play though or by [Music] See i didn’t bother buying a JR pass for unlimited rides on Japan railway routes this time It worked very well for my prior trip in 2019 since the passes were about half the price as they are now and I didn’t book any hotels in advance then It was perfect for a spontaneous itinerary where I would wake up in one city decide on a random city to visit and then book a last minute hotel in another I am curious how my experiences in Japan would differ from someone else visiting the same places as me and trying to befriend the locals I’m only half Japanese but look 100% So I always get confused and surprised looks when people in Japan realize that while I look just like them I can’t converse with them My language abilities are limited to a year of university studies dramas anime and bar conversations It’s quite a shame that while most immigrant groups insisted on passing down their language and culture Japanese Americans pushed for assimilation It doesn’t help that it was my greatgrandparents that immigrated from Japan I can speak a decent amount of Mandarin though At least enough to trash talk someone for nursing the drink too long [Music] I decided on visiting Kui Zawa solely from watching Terara’s House which features a season in Nagano Prefecture Almost everyone I passed by at this mall was a tourist I immediately began thinking I had made a mistake and didn’t do enough research before deciding to visit This food court had a lot of delicious options that were not marked up ridiculously in price but I wanted to try something a bit more unique andor special I don’t think I’ve ever seen three pet stores together in any kind of shopping area After walking for several minutes in the opposite direction I realized the station overpass is the only area you can really cross over to the downtown area After completing my not so scenic detour I dropped off a bag of my hotel first This was the APA or Hapa Hotel Ekimai While the rooms were clean and very modern and the location was just a few minutes from the station in downtown the elevator arrival noise was unnecessarily loud and woke me up every time it sounded The ramen I had for lunch was decent Nothing extraordinary And the only things that really stood out for me was that the chef described the dish to me in English and everyone inside was a foreigner [Music] A significant portion of the town consisted of seemingly new developments possibly to attract more long-term residents According to the webs this town of 20,000 people welcomes 8.5 million tourists a year [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Although the peak Sakura season had ended several weeks prior for most of Japan there was still a decent amount of cherry blossoms left on some trees Tasty things for now and later most beautiful This street had a lot of random little boutiques and snacks and dessert places Great for typical tourists Nothing really caught my eye since I saved my calories for alcohol and meat At the end of the street is somewhat of a hike leading up into the hills I met a group of tourists that were walking down and what they described was not enough to convince me to continue up the road It didn’t help that blisters are already starting to develop on my feet after approximately 25,000 steps thus far that day I spent most of the day in solitude I feel introverts and anyone that enjoys a meditative walk on their own would love walking around this town It might get old quickly though Or maybe that’s just because I’m more of an extrovert Everything at this restaurant was absolutely amazing I was able to try two dishes for the first time that I learned about while watching Midnight Diner Tamagoyaki a sweet egg omelette and otas basically a sweet and savory rice bowl They were upfront about the seat charge or restaurant cover as they call it which is common in izakayas Interestingly they allowed me to sit but told two other foreign females that the restaurant was fully booked despite there being space They may just not want to deal with more than one group of foreigners at a time Everything together cost around 3,800 yen if I remember correctly or about $26 US There’s no This was the main bar block of the town though I can’t say for sure if the neighboring Nakaroizawa Town Center had more to enjoy or not I saw about four to five bars and decided to check out Barman a cigar/ whiskey bar However there were no seats available and I would have been with several 60-year-old locals I do regret not checking out Senorita a Japanese Saku bar They had an all you can drink system which my jetlagged body was not feeling at the time Now I may never know what kind of fun I missed out on Since I had nothing better to do but sleep early at night I decided I might as well at least try to head out early I only later realized that the hotel’s free coffee is only for check-in hours I originally started this tradition in 2017 by putting Japanese stamps in my passport which to this day causes confusion among customs officers If you care enough be sure to look for the stamp station at every train station Each has their own unique stamp I couldn’t use my IC card here but I was able to use a credit card at least to earn some points I bought tickets for both legs of the trip at the same time to UA and Nagono City my next destinations [Music]
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(Higher Quality Re-Upload)
This is a narrated travel diary. Another version of this video was already uploaded without narration/commentary for those that prefer silence/don’t want to hear me talk ;( 😉
I apologize in advance for any incorrect/weird translations… I’m using Google Translate 🙂 Subtitles are available in Japanese, Chinese (traditional), and Korean.
Regarding “sake”, in case you’re confused and/or have not seen my welcome video yet, I use the term “sake” in its true meaning in Japanese as a general term for alcohol/alcoholic beverage.
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While this was my fifth trip to Japan over the years, this is the first one that I properly documented with videos. Prior trips included:
2005: Tokyo, Hakone, Yokohama (Tour Group)
2016: Fukuoka, Yufuin
2019: Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Koyasan, Yokohama, Tokyo
2019 Again: Sapporo, Otaru, Noboribetsu, Hakodate, Aomori, Hirosaki, Hachinohe, Ichinoseki, Morioka, Sendai, Matsuyama, Tazawako, Kakunodate, Yamadera, and Tokyo.
With this long overdue 2025 trip, I travelled to Karuizawa, Ueda, Nagano, Matsumoto, Hirayu Onsen, Takayama-Hida, Shirakawa-go, Gifu, Nagoya, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, and Tokyo.
Cities covered in this video, and Sake Stats accordingly:
Sake Stat Categories
🍻 Nightlife (1 = nothing to do and 10 = debauchery aplenty)
👯 Tourist Density (1 = undiscovered for now and 10 = too many)
👥 People Density (1 = desolate and 10 = a clusterf-)
🌆 Overall Feels Toward the City (1 = never again and 10 = would live there)
Tokyo 東京, Chiba Prefecture
Nightlife : 10/10
Tourist Density: 10/10
People Density: 100 (not a typo)/10
Overall Feels Toward the City: 3/10
Karuizawa 軽井沢町, Nagano Prefecture
Nightlife: 2/10
Tourist Density: 5/10
People Density: 3/10
Overall Feels Toward the City: 5/10
This is the first segment of this trip’s travel diaries. Please subscribe and stay tuned for the next – Ueda and Nagano!
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（高画質再アップロード）
これはナレーション付きの旅行日記です。静かな動画がお好みの方、または私の話を聞きたくない方のために、ナレーション/解説なしの別バージョンを既にアップロードしています ;( 😉
誤訳やおかしな翻訳がありましたら、あらかじめお詫び申し上げます。Google翻訳を使用しています 🙂 字幕は日本語、中国語（繁体字）、韓国語に対応しています。
「酒」についてですが、もし混乱されている方や、まだ私のウェルカムビデオをご覧になっていない方のためにお伝えすると、「酒」という言葉は日本語の本来の意味、つまりアルコール飲料の総称として使っています。
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ここ数年で5回目の日本旅行ですが、きちんと動画で記録したのは今回が初めてです。過去の旅行は以下の通りです。
2005年：東京、箱根、横浜（ツアーグループ）
2016年：福岡、由布院
2019年：大阪、神戸、京都、奈良、高野山、横浜、東京
2019年：再び：札幌、小樽、登別、函館、青森、弘前、八戸、一関、盛岡、仙台、松山、田沢湖、角館、山寺、東京。
待ち遠しかった2025年の旅行では、軽井沢、上田、長野、松本、平湯温泉、高山飛騨、白川郷、岐阜、名古屋、浜松、静岡、東京へ行きました。
この動画で紹介されている都市と、それに応じた日本酒の統計：
日本酒の統計カテゴリー
🍻 ナイトライフ（1 = 何もすることがない、10 = 酒好きが多い）
👯 観光客密度（1 = 今のところ未発見、10 = 多すぎる）
👥 人密度（1 = 寂しい、10 = 雑然としている）
🌆 街の全体的な印象（1 = 二度と行かない、10 = 住みたい）
東京（千葉県）
ナイトライフ：10/10
観光客密度：10/10
人密度：100（誤植ではありません）/10
街の全体的な印象：3/10
軽井沢（長野県）
ナイトライフ：2/10
観光客密度：5/10
人密度：3/10
全体街への想い：5/10
今回の旅日記は第1弾です。ぜひチャンネル登録して、次回の上田市と長野市編もお楽しみに！
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（更高品質的重新上傳）
這是一篇帶有旁白的旅行日記。此影片的另一個版本已上傳，沒有旁白/評論，適合那些喜歡安靜/不想聽我說話的人 ;( 😉
對於任何錯誤/奇怪的翻譯，我提前致歉……我正在使用谷歌翻譯 🙂 字幕提供日語、繁體中文和韓語。
關於“清酒”，如果您感到困惑和/或尚未看過我的歡迎視頻，我使用日語中“清酒”一詞的真正含義作為酒精/酒精飲料的總稱。
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雖然這是我多年來第五次去日本，但這是我第一次用影片完整記錄下來。 之前的旅行包括：
2005年：東京、箱根、橫濱（旅行團）
2016：福岡、由布院
2019：大阪、神戶、京都、奈良、高野山、橫濱、東京
2019 年再度：札幌、小樽、登別、函館、青森、弘前、八戶、一關、盛岡、仙台、松山、田澤湖、角館、山寺和東京。
在這次期待已久的2025年旅行中，我去了輕井澤、上田、長野、松本、平湯溫泉、高山飛鎢、白川鄉、岐阜、名古屋、濱松、靜岡和東京。
本影片涵蓋的城市以及相應的清酒統計數據：
清酒統計類別
🍻 夜生活（1=無所事事，10=放蕩不羈）
👯 遊客密度（1=目前未被發現，10=太多）
👥 人口密度（1 = 荒涼，10 = 聚集）
🌆 對這座城市的整體感覺（1 = 永遠不會再來，10 = 會住在那裡）
東京 東京, 千葉縣
夜生活：10/10
遊客密度：10/10
人口密度：100（不是拼字錯誤）/10
城市整體感覺：3/10
長野縣輕井澤遼井沢町
夜生活：2/10
遊客密度：5/10
人口密度：3/10
城市整體感覺：5/10
這是本次旅行遊記的第一部分。 請訂閱並繼續關注下一篇文章—上田和長野！
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(더 높은 화질로 재업로드)
이 영상은 내레이션이 있는 여행 일기입니다. 조용한 분위기를 선호하시거나 제 이야기를 듣고 싶지 않으신 분들을 위해 내레이션/해설 없는 다른 버전이 이미 업로드되어 있습니다 ;( 😉
잘못되거나 이상한 번역이 있을 수 있으니 미리 양해 부탁드립니다… 구글 번역을 사용하고 있습니다 🙂 자막은 일본어, 중국어(번체), 한국어로 제공됩니다.
“사케”에 대해, 혹시 헷갈리시거나 아직 제 환영 영상을 보지 못하신 분들을 위해 말씀드리자면, 저는 일본어로 “사케”라는 용어를 술/알코올 음료를 가리키는 일반적인 용어로 사용합니다.
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지난 몇 년간 다섯 번째 일본 여행이었지만, 영상으로 제대로 기록한 것은 이번이 처음입니다. 이전 여행지는 다음과 같습니다.
2005년: 도쿄, 하코네, 요코하마(투어 그룹)
2016년: 후쿠오카, 유후인
2019년: 오사카, 고베, 교토, 나라, 고야산, 요코하마, 도쿄
2019년: 삿포로, 오타루, 노보리베츠, 하코다테, 아오모리, 히로사키, 하치노헤, 이치노세키, 모리오카, 센다이, 마츠야마, 다자와코, 가쿠노다테, 야마데라, 도쿄.
오랜만의 2025년 여행으로 가루이자와, 우에다, 나가노, 마쓰모토, 히라유온천, 다카야마히다, 시라카와고, 기후, 나고야, 하마마츠, 시즈오카, 도쿄를 여행했습니다.
이 영상에서 다루는 도시와 그에 따른 사케 통계:
사케 통계 카테고리
🍻 나이트라이프(1 = 할 일 없음, 10 = 방탕함)
👯 관광객 밀도(1 = 아직 알려지지 않음, 10 = 너무 많음)
👥 인구 밀도(1 = 황량함, 10 = 엉터리)
🌆 도시에 대한 전반적인 느낌(1 = 다시는 가지 않을 것, 10 = 살고 싶다)
도쿄, 치바현
나이트라이프: 10/10
관광객 밀도: 10/10
인구 밀도: 100(오타 아님)/10
도시에 대한 전반적인 느낌: 3/10
가루이자와, 나가노현
나이트라이프: 2/10
관광객 밀도: 5/10
인구 밀도: 3/10
도시에 대한 전반적인 느낌: 5/10
이번 여행 일기의 첫 번째 부분입니다. 구독하시고 다음 편인 우에다와 나가노를 기대해 주세요!