look at the river this is really  sad i don't know what to say

have you ever gotten a ferris wheel and then  instantly regretted it on a windy day this  

is so precarious but the saving grace is the  amazing view of the akashi kaikyo bridge one of  

the largest suspension bridges in the entire  world the thing that taints the atmosphere  

somewhat is we are joined unfortunately by hi it's  connor and this is wacky weekend lucky weekend

so once a month for one weekend conor and  i meet up for a wacky weekend somewhere  

around japan for this month i thought i would  complete my ultimate task of visiting all 47  

prefectures in japan i've got just two i've yet  to visit i'm richard uh takashima and kochi both  

in shikoku island where we're about to go into  and now i do want to celebrate this momentous  

occasion you've essentially completed japan so  i have arranged some special accommodation just  

the finest accommodation i could find why  am i very cynical and why there's nothing  

to worry about this is good it's literally  gonna be something [ __ ] like i don't know  

it's something that's gonna be an experience the  cheapest hotel no no no no no not at all i'm very  

excited i don't trust you connor but either way  i want to get out this down ferris wheel like  

if you move like you can see the whole thing i  don't know why i did that i was very scared before

so now that i'm here i don't really feel  like it was that difficult to get to is  

there a reason why you haven't  exported because i'm your driver

to be honest yeah like that's the thing  like shikoku is pretty tough to get to  

you need like three or four days in a car and  that's why i've never been to tokushima and  

kochi before they're pretty inaccessible i also  think i haven't really heard much about it well  

they're incredibly rural like tokushima is famous  for being pretty much empty or devoid of feet  

one of the places we're going to go to is a great  symbol of that but when the first place i want to  

take you today on this trip is a bridge that looks  like it's straight out of indiana jones remember  

you see the temple of doom yeah of course the  bridge goes over yeah there's that [ __ ] where  

is it why was it safe it can't be safe i mean  in normal weather conditions it'd be great  

but unfortunately there's a typhoon this week i've  had a weather warning for the past three days on  

my phone warning me about rains in this area but  of course no road trip would be complete without  

the perfect road trip so don't do it don't do  it what the [ __ ] i don't want to do this road

no volcano i love it

and so as we head deep into the mountains of  takashima and the incoming storm makes short  

work of the blue skies connor and i arrive at  our first destination a 150 foot rope bridge  

precariously hanging over a  disturbingly ferocious river  

what is that look at that the bridge we can't  cross that that's a set piece in an action movie  

that you know the bridge you cut when the bad guys  are chasing you so they all fall down but for the  

bridge you actually go across in normal everyday  life do we have to go on it yes yes he did

oh no we can't do that look at it oh my god  thirteen road bridges once spanned the ear valley  

but today only three survive one of which is the  kazura rope ridge suspended 45 feet over the river  

and made using five tons of vines which need to  be replaced every three years it's as visually  

striking as it is unsettling i never got a chance  to use my engineering degree while i was doing  

youtube but i feel qualified enough to tell you  this is not a material that we made bridges out of  

i do not feel safe with this this is terrifying  these are just twigs they found on the ground what  

are we doing i don't want to do this i've watched  a couple cross it for the last 20 minutes very  

slowly and methodically struggle their way over it  the water below looks absolutely ridiculous like  

it's the most ferocious  water i think i've ever seen  

you're dead near that you're immediately dead  notice how every single person crossing the  

bridge is clutching onto it for dear life they're  so terrified even take one step on the bridge and  

so with the river below about to break its banks  and a violent thunderstorm in the clouds above  

against my better judgment we begin to cross the  bridge and quickly regret it oh it's so slippery

oh my god the gaps are massive look at  this i can put my whole foot through  

that's not good that's not  good that's a no that's so  

dangerous how is this a tourist  attraction this is a death trap coming

i'm not playing this up for the  camera this is actually terrifying

come on chris what's the problem look at  the river i'm like the heaviest person  

that's ever come on this bridge i  am worried it's big mouth isn't it

the gaps get bigger

it's like it's because i'm holding the  umbrella oh [ __ ] off look at that  

even if it wasn't the rainiest day in 200 years  this would have been scary the fact the water  

looks like that like if you fall in you're  dead do you think you can survive that no no  

while conor speed runs the  bridge like crash bandicoot  

meanwhile i can't take my eyes off the water  transfixed on the alarming river rapids below  

hurry up we get over the bridge  no no no [ __ ] go i'm stuck

he's done it he survived the bridge legitimately  one of the scariest things i've done in japan oh  

my god the rain the water the wind how do you feel  chris i want to get in the car i want to go home  

man that's scary there's literally  nothing stopping you from falling in  

with your leg there's there's nothing it's so  dangerous i feel alive hey eight out of ten

after being spiritually reborn on a treacherous  rope bridge connor and i seek shelter deeper  

into the valley at a rather unique place in  fact unique is an understatement because here  

in chicago's most isolated valley lies  the village of nagaro a place where the  

human population is outnumbered ten to one  by eerily life-like scarecrows 350 of them

so we've been driving through some  of the worst rain i've ever seen  

how do we turn the corner i'm not happy about  this chris i want to go home i thought they were  

like villagers i thought they were like locals  who were just sitting at the side of the road  

it's the first of the scarecrows there's two in  a wheelchair one standing one's just falling over  

it's quite creepy because we just passed uh some  construction being done and i thought there was  

just two employees just uh doing some construction  but they were just scarecrows it was really creepy  

literally all the roads are closed  we really shouldn't stay a lot we  

are actually going to get stuck in the  middle of nowhere with these scarecrows  

as we slowly make our way into nagoro  without a single human being in sight  

we gradually begin to appreciate the sheer  scale of the village's scarecrow population  

what is this great what is this

oh

oh my god i don't like this chris  you don't like this no i do not yeah

oh no i'm not going in there i'm  not going in there look at it get in

like if there was like eight i'd be like  oh that's kind of cool but there's like  

80. i don't like this can we go now  

the story of nagaro is one that you'll hear across  japan that of a dying village on the brink of  

extinction japan's population is shrinking fast  today the population stands at 126 million but in  

just 30 years time it's forecast to drop below 100  million and it's out here in rural japan where the  

effects are being felt the most nagara once had  300 residents that called the village home today