[music]

[typing]

My sad, sad setup. Everybody say hi!

[laughter]

So today is January...

[pause]

7th, I believe?

And I am going to go create,

because I am so happy to be back.

I just feel really inspired by everything,

because Japan is so beautiful. There's so much to see.

I'm going to Jiyugaoka, because I've never been there before

and Jiyugaoka is very European style location

in Tokyo, so I'm really, really excited to see what it looks like.

There's lots of cute cafés and things like that.

So, we're going to go edit and take photos and take videos, and just do some creative things because

I've been yearning for this. I've been sitting on my butt for two weeks just eating food and I cannot live that life.

I impulsively bought this outfit today, if you can see.

[laughter]

I was like, "Instagram!" and so I just bought this yesterday and I'm excited to just feel good and

go out. My pneumonia is gone and I haven't been coughing. I worked out yesterday, I feel good,

This is good. Everything is good! So I'm like, a crazy person right now.

[music]

Where do I begin?

I have no words to describe the feeling I felt stepping outside to explore somewhere

after going home for a short time.

The sounds, the people, the smiles I got just walking into a small mom and pop shop

on the streets of Jiyugaoka.

I don't think I've felt more alive than I did this day.

[Japanese]: It looks delicious.

Shop Clerk [Japanese]: Your Japanese is very good.

[Japanese]: Thank you.

[Japanese]: I've lived in Japan for about 6 years.

[Japanese]: But, I'm a teacher, so...

[Japanese]: I'm starting to forget Japanese.

Living in Japan for so long has been like a marriage.

I fell in love, and I stayed.

I would never dream of divorcing this life.

No matter where you are in the world,

there will always be trials and tests

I've experienced the good and the bad side of life here

and when you experience those types of things

that's when you can call somewhere home.

[music]

I'm in Jiyugaoka now

Oh my god, it's been so long since I've vlogged in Japan

I don't even know what to do anymore.

I'm feeling the creative juices flowing.

Ash: Don't say juices.

Why?

Wow, this place is beautiful.

So, I guess it's the most desirable place to live in Tokyo.

It was built in 1920

but then it was demolished in the world war

and then rebuilt again

Ash: Welcome to the history channel with Kelly.

[laughter]

I'm kind of craving some Japanese food or something, I don't know

[music]

My first meal back in Japan and it was tonkatsu,

which is basically breaded and fried pork cutlet.

I was so excited!

I honestly love hidden away, small, traditional restaurants like these, because...

the atmosphere really connects you to the culture and brings that authentic feeling to your travels

or your life abroad, and I feel I need to recharge my passion for Japan by going to traditional restaurants

or shrines, festivals, and other Japanese things as often as I can.

[music]

Yes!

[Japanese]: Thank you for the meal.

[music]

Ooh, fancy.

This is Bareburger.

Look, it's Ryuji's name!

[laughter]

I love him! Just kidding.

Ash: Wow.

You can take a picture there, next to the bike.

We just took a photo in front of these cute little lemon trees over here

and there's like a little bike here

and this little alleyway

Just took a bunch of shots, and now we're moving on to the next one

because today is an Instagram day

Nobody kicked us out, we asked if we could...

I asked the guy if I could shoot here and he said yeah.

It's a promotion for them, which, I don't understand why people don't want you to shoot.

[music]

We found a vending machine that has fish in it. What?

You don't drink that though, right?

Do not drink this, it is a vending machine for dashi.

Oh, it's dashi! Oh my god, that's so interesting!

[music]

Guys, look behind me.

There are these girls... [laughing]

There were these girls that wanted to take a picture with me, so we had to stop.

But like, if you look behind me, this is a very famous spot.

Like everywhere online if I type in Jiyugaoka, this is it.

It's so gorgeous here.

Look at this.

Ash is trying to find good angles right now.

I need to cross the bridge. I'm coming, I just need to pick my stuff up.

We're exploring this little alcove over here of European-ness.

And it's so pretty. It's beautiful. There's so much to see here.

I really love this place a lot.

We're going to head over to the tea house, which I'm really excited about

because you can go through that, and I've seen it on the internet, so

I'm excited to go check it out. I don't know what I'm talking about right now.

I found myself putting down my camera a lot, engulfed in the beauty of Japan once again.

And I was in such a trance with all the buildings and people and city nature, I feel like none of my videos or photos do Japan any justice.

Ash: She wants to vlog.

Ash: All she wants to do is vlog.

This is so cool. Is this the entrance?

I don't know. Is it through here?

This is so cool.

[music]

We came to this Japanese-style house, and it's basically a tea house where you can get Japanese

I think it's called wagashi or something, Japanese sweets, and coffee and tea, and everything, and

it looks so cool. I love this kind of stuff. The atmosphere is just really beautiful.

[music]

So I got my matcha tea. This is the best matcha ever.

It's so good. And then I got this little Japanese, like, confectionary... is that how you say it?

Confectionary sweet, and it is a Japanese wagashi so it is, like... I don't know what it's made out of, it's like...

mochi, I think. So, I'm going to try it right now.

Mmm!

It's mochi.

It's so hard to eat.

So many people die on this on New Year's every single year. Especially old people, because they can't swallow it.

Fun fact.

[laughter]

Ash: That was a fun fact.

[music]

So cute.

Look at all the fruit!

So we're in this New Zealand/Australian café called Latte Graphic

and it's actually pretty affordable. I thought it was going to be pretty expensive, but...

I'm gonna get a coffee and a salad.

It's my first day back doing anything. I'm so recharged.

This is a nice place. Look at this.

[music]

I've gotta get a shot of your penis coffee.

And I got this delicious salad! Oh my god, it looks so good. I like how they assume that we're gonna share.

I'm offended.

[music]

So we spent a really long and frustrating few hours in there.

Anyway, I'm gonna go home because I'm tired and it's late and I have to work tomorrow, and this is... I don't know how this vlog is gonna turn out.

[typing]

Hey guys, it's the next day and I look like crap right now because I just worked for an hour this morning,

and I'm on my break now. Actually, I'm working today very close, so I just went home.

I just want to say that like I went through the worst reverse culture shock when I went back to the States

and I'm going to talk about... it's like worthy of a whole video.

I just wanted to say that I'm really happy and grateful that I live in such a beautiful country.

I have a job. I have a career. I'm living on my own. This is everything that I've wanted in my life.

This was my goal when I graduated. This is everything, and I'm very grateful and happy about it.

As you guys may know, I have such a love for this country and as of now, I want to live in Japan indefinitely.

There's a lot on my mind and I think I'm gonna have to make a video about that as well, because

there's so much that I want to tell you, and I think that it's important for you guys to know what I'm

struggling with as well, and how I'm going to resolve these issues. Because there's a lot that I'm learning

about myself, and there's a lot that I'm learning how to do myself.

I want to make this a positive thing. I want to turn the negatives and the struggles that I have into

something positive. Thank you guys so much. I love Japan. I don't plan on leaving, and I will explain

why, as well. There's so much to talk about. There's so much... so much content that I just want to put up.

for you guys to see what it's lke to really live here because it's not perfect, but I love it. No where is

perfect. If I moved to Germany, if I moved to Korea, if I moved anywhere else, there will always be struggles.

If I moved back to the States, there will be struggles. Everywhere that you go in the world

life happens. I know there's a lot of people that are like "she's complaining all the time". You know what?

If I went back to the States, I'd be complaining all the time too. So, it doesn't even matter. Like, complaining

is like a release of stress for me. Of course, it's good to minimize complaining, but it's... it's gonna happen.

That's human. That's life. So, I love this country. I'm happy, and I will explain why in another video.

But, yesterday was the best day ever because I was able to just get on a train, explore, be by myself.

I love being by myself. I love being independent. That's just who I am now, and Japan has changed me so much.

And like I said, that'll be said in another video. Probably the next one. So please stay tuned, and please

keep watching because there's so much I want to tell you guys. I want to give value to people not only

who want to move to Japan or want to travel to Japan, but people who are just, you know, watching

my channel in general. All of these things are... are something that you can apply to your own lives,

I'm hoping. So, even if you're not planning on coming here, I hope you'll still watch, because there's

so much that I want to talk about and so much I want to do, and yeah. Today I woke up and I had this

realization, so... thank you guys for watching and I'll see you in the next video!

I hope you enjoyed this new installment of Girl Abroad and I want to thank all of you who have

supported me up until this point. I've reached over 100K subs and I couldn't have done it without you.

Don't forget to like this video for more content like this and share it with people who love Japan as much as I do.

I hope to hear from you guys in the next video. See you guys next time!