We have a special guest eyes Makayla.

If you didn't know, we've been friends for ages, like literally 1000 Literally 1000 years.

We're here together in Japan, and we thought of something we wanted to talk about with you.

It's actually something I'm really passionate about.

And I think Michaela will be, too, because we both lived in the countryside area of Japan.

Yeah, and we both love it.

We love it.

So today we're going to talk about 10 reasons why we think you shouldn't go to Tokyo or Osaka or Kyoto, the three top places that everybody goes to first when they go to Japan.

And instead we think you should go to some really cool cities in the countryside.

Number one tourism is booming, and and a lot of people are going to the same places when you are looking for information and trying to figure out where to go when you visit Tokyo, very popular tourist spots, they're gonna show up on trip advisor They're gonna show up on, like, CNN's top 10 list all these ago in Japan.

Yeah, The thing is, everybody else was looking at those lists and you'll find when you actually go places they're gonna be crowded with so many other tourists that really dims, dulls the experience.

Really does.

10 years ago, Kyoto was amazing.

I had such a like chill Japanese experience.

Yeah.

Can you felt like how you probably are imagining killed Ohta fueling?

But if you go there nowadays, there are so many tourists just walking on the streets and out all the sightseeing spots and it doesn't feel like Japan anymore.

Name of the bamboo forest that everyone Yeah, people say that you have to get up like super early if you want to get a photo there with no people in it.

But everybody's charity trying to get that same instagram photo of like Oh, this is me in a in a before and it's a fucking by.

It's a looking to read at all.

You could come to a place like where we are right now.

We're in Coach E in Shikoku.

We just drove past a big bamboo field.

No people.

We could go down there and take a beautiful photo and have a really nice experience.

And the other day we were on a beautiful river.

Oh my God, You and Charlotte was like looking by.

It's a gram and looking at photos, there was a warrant like pose quick.

There's no people.

Take it now.

There were no people.

It was just way were on the river.

We were canoeing, We're cutting area and it was so beautiful And it was vast, quiet, serene scenery.

And Charlotte even said she was like, Why aren't there more people out here when this is awesome?

Why are there any people?

Why no one out here enjoying this?

But there's places like that all over Japan.

Try something new.

Just go to some random city that you've never heard about.

Just go there and I bet you will have amazing experience.

Japan is gorgeous.

Okay, Point number two.

It's amazingly beautiful, and you won't find that in the big cities, like even Kyoto, like they do have the band before us and stuff.

But again, all the people ruin it, and it almost feels like it's made for tourism.

On when you get there, you kind of feel like you're being sold.

Yeah, if you can travel outside of the big cities, you find that not at places like this, naturally occurring like that nobody knows about.

When you get out of the big cities, you lose a lot of the air pollution as well.

So the heiress, it's night feels like Canada better.

Actually, there's some places you'll feel a lot like can raise the sky like you could see the stars, which is something really rare for Japan.

I have friends from Tokyo that would come to Canada for a homestay, and they'd be like, Wait.

So people in the cities, like they don't even know stars exist.

But when you go into the country's idea of this huge sky, full of stars were actually posted.

You start watching tonight, but it was quite the little bodies do it.

But when the clouds are there, the sky is just amazing.

Reason Number three.

So I used to live up in northern Japan and you want a prefecture.

I was there for three years, and I feel very lucky.

But that was my case because lots people started in Tokyo.

But my first in Japan experience was like in the real Japan, like out in a rice field on a farm, and everybody there was so kind to me.

Insanely kind.

I didn't speak much Japanese at the time.

I don't know anything about Japan.

It was my first time, like I had studied it.

But, you know, actual Japanese culture and stuff.

I never experienced it before and everybody was really willing to help me.

And I think that's something that you don't find much in the big cities.

They're kind of frustrated with me.

Like they switch until, like, an automatic mode where they're like, May I take your order and then, like they're like, they're just going through the motions, Not really communicating with you.

You're just saying what they have to say, What we do speak English, but not like I really want to help you.

You're not really electing with, um, like just going through the motions.

Even this time here in human Koji.

Everyone's been so sweet and I find like everybody has their own personality, which is really fun.

I did some fish cutting today.

Oh, the guy was hilarious.

No time for bullshit.

Just like concentrate and do better.

I didn't even have time to, like reacted just like talking to me and Japanese like assuming that I understood everything that you're saying and point number four people don't speak as much English here.

Don't think of that as a bad thing.

It's actually a really awesome thing because that is how you improve your job.

You will learn so much.

People will be like more patient with you here.

Yeah, and that's also like a great way to improve your language skills just from like interacting with people who take the time to speak with you and try to figure out what your needs are and you wanna learn because you want to be able to connect with these people more because they're so fun and you want to be able to have a good conversation with them.

It's already courage.

It's a great part of the travel experience to be able to take home a bit of knowledge.

Total country that you visit like even if you don't speak Japanese fluently like if you go back to say Canada or America and you're like colored Schyman say I learned like how to order something in Japanese killer.

I learned how to say you got that goes I'm on us or something, so out in the countryside.

You have lots more dignity.

So much should do that.

Number five local foods.

When you go into the countryside in Japan, all the different areas have there maybe, or like famous food, more famous like product of the area.

It's really cool because every time I go on a trip like we go on, let the trips together work.

And there's always like one food in the area.

But they're super proud of.

And they, like, put that ingredient into all of them like they're soups, main dishes.

So here and Coach E that ingredient is all know T ony.

It's a type of seaweed.

We should be eaten probably for different meals somehow incorporated, All nerdy.

Oh, my God.

It's everything.

It was amazing.

And you wouldn't experience that if you didn't go out to these little, you know, countryside areas and tried their local dishes.

All right, reason number six, unlike the busy city is when you go out into the countryside, you get to experience with wildlife in Japan and this is kind of really cool.

There are animals here that I haven't seen, you know, like, yeah, that we've got like beers squirrel Mountain Sheep Mountain goats here in Japan.

It's like monkey monkeys.

You know, Wild monkeys.

Yeah.

Wild boars.

I've got, like, these weasel raccoon things that live in my house.

I've never seen one of those, but I've seen people post pictures live in, like, the storm drain.

That's really well, I've received, like, big giant cats, but they've got long.

That's awesome.

Butterflies, actually.

Lots of butter place here that I don't see in Canada.

Oh, and I was just gonna be Oh, my room yesterday outside my hotel, there was one on the wall for several of the spider like shit.

But then I realized it was super cute.

Yeah, and they need all the bugs.

So many cute little animals that I never got to experience.

Okay, Does how do you feel?

I really like some wakes up.

One landed in my hair once, and that was fucking terrifying because it was really loud.

It was like here, and I thought I was gonna die.

They screamed like crazy, right?

It's part of the experience.

Is it is number seven.

It's cheaper.

Just in general, things are a lot cheaper out in the countryside.

Rent is cheaper public transportation is cheaper food, cheaper.

Everything.

We stayed at an amazing hotel last night.

You know how much that kado around $200 a night for?

And we have, like, a lot of room in the hotel.

$100 in our own private outdoor Bob.

Well, like 200 bucks a night, I thought it was gonna be, like $800 or something, because in Tokyo, like hakuna or something, you can easily pay that much for a really nice traditional Japanese hotel.

So here in Shikoku, 200 bucks incredible.

And it's really easy to get to these areas.

I think one of the reasons people don't go out into the countryside is because they have this image that traveling here will be very difficult.

But we took direct flight.

I could get a direct flight to Tokyo to the airport here, flew from G s so you could fly from the really big cities directly here really easily.

On that note, There's also a campaign here in Coach E where if you fly you and your visitor, you actually get money.

It's not money, it's gift cards.

But they're basically we get $100 in gift cards just for visiting coaching.

I think Khomeini accept them bookstores.

We use ours at a gift shop.

Yeah.

Morning to bind the bison.

Like you still have gift cards left over use the best way to.

So they're really trying to encourage tourism in these areas because they don't get much, and that's really sad.

Like, I'm really bummed, but people don't come to these places.

They're missing, actually be the best part of Japan.

Yeah, like these people out here, like, ready to accept foreigners are actually because they are on the news and stuff.

It'll say, like the tourism that all time high, and everyone's like, Okay, what can we do to welcome foreigners?

But unless you guys have, like, the courage to come out here, all the preparation they do is for nothing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Genuinely excited to see us.

And this.

Yes, here.

Happy about visiting their area.

And you can have that same hospital experience.

Yeah, Yeah.

Number eight.

The lifestyle, just the general lifestyle in the attitude of everybody is very different in the countryside.

You'll notice that people are more relaxed, this chill, and like they're enjoying life a lot more cities.

Okay, they're not lining up to get on trains, No cramming into crowded trains.

They're not like running from appointment to appointment, rush to get to work.

I really feel like a lot in Tokyo.

I lived in Tokyo also for three years, so I really have a good feel for how the city is.

And I think that's really the one thing that I dislike the most about.

It was how, like rushed and just unhappy, everybody looks all the time like, kind of depressing.

Everyone's working overtime hours.

Xiang and I don't know like it, even when that's not your lifestyle.

Even when you're just on the train to go for lunch with your friends, it kind of affects you because everybody's down just like the mood.

Yeah, fired Lee falling asleep on the train.

You feel bad for getting drunk and falling asleep in train stations, like getting rid of all the way and like you have to watch that and be like, Oh, here everybody's way Do Yesterday were canoeing and and those guys were working.

They were at work, but they loved their job.

Our job has, like GoPro's on Earth under stuff their love.

They they were so happy and like the guy helping with the fish today like he's hilarious.

I don't know.

Every radio seems to really be enjoying life, and they have, like a more of a sense of humor.

They've got time.

That's probably take time to communicate and like there was short with you, like they're just they're happy to have a conversation.

It's nice.

It really affects your mood as well, so that that's one of the I think that's probably the main reason that I enjoy the countryside so much.

The culture in the countryside, in every city, in every prefecture, in every rural town, has its own unique cultural aspect and there are some traditions and events and mob city festivals that you would never know about if you didn't rate because you never hear about love in Tokyo are super famous.

A lot of people know about those ones.

They draw lots of visitors guests.