[Chris]:- We're going to Yamadera, it's the most

[Chris]:- beautiful temple in all of Tohoku. Well, I like

[Chris]:- it so much that I had it on my business

[Chris]:- cards for the longest time.

[Chris]:- But- [Sharla]:- You took it off now.

[Chris]:- I took it off now and I replaced it with a

[Chris]:- photo of a shrine in Hiroshima, but anyway-

[Sharla]:- Traitor!

[Chris]:- Yamadera, beautiful shrine, love it. It's probably

[Chris]:- at its best either now or in winter when

[Chris]:- you've got

lots of snow.

[Chris]:- It's a little bit of a climb, so I hope you've got your hiking

[Chris]:- shoes on. [Sharla]:- I don't. [Chris]:- Oh dear. [Sharla]:- It's up on the side of

[Sharla]:- a mountain, which is why it's called

[Sharla]:- Yamadera. I've never been, I've seen so

[Sharla]:- many photos and videos of it. It's probably

[Sharla]:- the most famous temple in North Japan, I

[Sharla]:- would say. So, the place we're going today

[Sharla]:- you can get to by car, obviously, or

[Sharla]:- you can take a train from Sendai station

[Sharla]:- and it'll take you right up to the

temple. [Chris]:- Mmm. [Sharla]:- It'll take about an hour, so it's pretty easily accessed from

[Sharla]:- Tokyo. So I feel like Yamagata prefecture

[Sharla]:- is probably one of the best places to

[Sharla]:- drive around in the autumn- [Chris]:- Mmm. [Sharla]:- because of

[Sharla]:- the mountains, they're so orange and

[Sharla]:- pretty right now. [Chris]:- It's an amazing place. [Sharla]:- Yeah.

[Chris]:- I'm very lucky to live here for three years

[Chris]:- I keep coming back, even now, and I

[Chris]:- honestly think it's one of the most

[Chris]:- beautiful preferences in all of Japan. [Sharla]:- If I had

[Sharla] to rate my favorite prefectures it would

[Sharla]:- probably be number one or two. We're

[Sharla]:- gonna park the car at the base of the

[Sharla]:- mountain, I guess. [Chris]:- Mmm. [Sharla]:- And then hike up for

[Sharla]:- about half hour and that'll bring us up to the

[Sharla]:- temple. [Chris]:- Half an hour? [Sharla]:- It's a little bit of a hike. [Chris]: - Speak for

yourself, ten minutes. [Sharla]:- Google said half hour- [Chris]:- We're

[Chris]:- running up it, no problem.

[Music]

[Sharla]:- So there's a really nice town down here

[Sharla]:- with lots of restaurants and shops

[Sharla]:- and probably places to stay too.

[Sharla]:- not sure if they have any Ryokan or

[Sharla]:- anything around here, but it looks like

[Sharla]:- the type of town that would. And a really

[Sharla]:- pretty river running through it. So cold

[Sharla]:- today! I was out of Japan for one month

and it went from summer to almost winter.

Oh, here this is where we start. Oh, cool.

I feel tired already just looking at

these stairs. 10 minutes. You probably used to make it in 10 minutes.

CB: How long do you think it will take me to get these stairs?

S: I don't know.

CB: What time is it?

CB: Ready?

Two, one ..

Idiot.

19 seconds

He was good charging up here like an

idiot. Everyone was feeling 'what the hell'

I've single-handedly ruined the

atmosphere of Yamadera.

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

Ou, Matsuo, Matsuo Bashō

Poet.

Writer.

[Music]

See, Yamagata is um well known for exporting

safflower.

Which is a

a flower used to stain clothing red.

So you know Yamagata was actually

quite rich and then

presumably they found a better source of

safflower but most importantly of all

there's a cat over here. Look at this.

[Applause]

Hi.

[Music]

All right, so we are

here

CB: The cat is here.

and we need to go

CB: Oh my goodness you really want to go up there.

... oh god, it's endless.

There, I think that's the glory there.

CB: Can't we just fly a drone up there.

There's literally like a heart attack warning,

because you'll die if you go up there

That's for you really.

CB: I'm still still

recovering from the stairs.

Тhe 19 seconds stair sprint.

Well, look at this rock. It's as big as it

looks

chris: Yeah that must be pretty great

sharla: looks really creepy

it looks like a monster

Sharla: so you have to pay a couple dollars to enter this area

i think it's 300 Yen

yeah about three dollars

oh it's so pretty!

*music*

sharla: have you ever seen a monkey here?

*indistinct chatter*

*music*

sharla: it's a really nice climb

it is tiring

*chris dying and gasping for air*

sharla: but um yeah there's lots of really pretty things to look at look at

look it's two-headed one

sharla: I've never seen it two-headed

sharla: get up there

chris: it's up there

*music*

sharla: it's a secret path up there,

I don't know where it goes

sharla, softly: secret path :)

sharla: maybe it's just another way up

chris: secret shot

in the uh

end game of the climb

it's always vertical bit

but also the most beautiful

*sharla laughing*

chris: stunning

sharla: do they light these up at night time?

chris: uhhh think they do in certain seasons

sharla: that'd be cool

chris: here for example there's a candle

sharla: yeah they all have one

sharla: yeah they all have one

*music*

sharla: oh look at that!

it is balancing them

sharla: that's pretty cool, they're not stuck

I think they're all just balanced though

sharla: should we try and stick one in?

chris: do it

so these are all...

balanced very precariously, right?

sharla: yeah

chris: it's pretty incredible

sharla: I'm scared to knock someone else's down D:

awww

chris: is it magnetic rock?

sharla: nooo

this is aluminum anyways

oh there! :D

*twinkle sound of success*

chris: oh wow that was easy

sharla: you can kind of wedge it in

sharla: don't knock the other ones off >:((((

*buzz noise of failure*

sharla: what the h***?

chris: shut up :'(

*sharla laughs*

chris: you did an easy one, I want a daring one

you know i want a challenge

that's what Abroad in Japan is all about,

challenging.... yourself.

chris: let's put a coin-

sharla: alright then go for it

chris: let's put a coin in the wall

chris, whispering: challenge

*buzz noise of failure #2*

chris, a little louder: challenge

*sharla laughs*

chris: oh?

chris, whispering again: get in ya bastard >:(((

sharla: there, that looks-

*chris snorts*

*sharla laughs*

*buzz noise of failure #3*

sharla: you suck at this

sharla: these ones are pretty impressive though

chris: how the f*** have they done that then??

sharla: right??

*buzz noise of failure #4*

chris: no good luck for me

*sharla laughing*

that's very- oh my god

you couldn't even do that :'D

chris: f***

sharla: come down here and trying to wedge it somewhere

chris: oh oh look!

*twinkle sound of success*

sharla: oh nice

chris, singing: I set fire, to the rain

dun dun dunnn

sharla: almost there you can see the goal

looks like it gets really pretty up there

lots of red maple trees

*music*

chris: stunning almost there we're sort of

final

sharla and chris: final stretch

*music*

chris: どうぞ (dou zo/ go ahead)

*music*

sharla: looks like there's two ways to go here

that way or

up that way

I think chris went up there??

never mind

found him

wow look at the view~~

didn't feel like we hiked up that far

but I guess we did

*music*

chris: beautiful

sharla: surprised they don't have like a fence here

chris: yeah no restraint

sharla: *nervous laugh* scary

chris: too busy, in the moment

imagine, "it's so beautif-ahhhh" D:

sharla: *nervous laugh* scary

chris: this isn't the peak

sharla: oh..

chris: it's a little bit higher

and the views

are outstanding

this is the bit I had on my business card

sharla: ah yeah this is the part that everyone takes a photo of

chris: yeah

it's all about those

sort of crazy rock formations right

sharla: yeah the cliffs are really neat

chris: yeah yeah yeah

like as you start to look at them you

see little temples and shrines

jutting out of them and uh

yeah so it's a really quite imaginable place

sharla: oh look at that one up there can you even get up there?

chris: I don't ...think you can??

sharla: it's an old one

chris: but maybe, I don't know I've never seen anyone up there

where are we going in a minute it's a little bit like that though,

still here

but yeah really one of my favorite

places in, not just Yamagata but all of north Japan.

being sincere for once

*sharla laughs*

sharla: everyone's complaining about how hot they are

it was a mistake wearing this coat, that's for sure

after about five minutes of hiking you regret it

*music*

sharla: you know how old the temple is?

chris: almost as old as Ryotaro

sharla: so uh... just over a thousand years

sharla: that's cool

*music*

wow

sharla: is this the top?

chris: it is

sharla: wow

chris: とても綺麗ですね (totemo kire desu ne/ it's very beautiful, isn't it)

*music*

sharla: hehe here's your next challenge >:)

*music*

*camera shutter click*

*camera shutter click #2 *

*camera shutter click #3*

chris: I think for my money this is one of the top sort of five views

in all of north Japan

sharla: what are the other four?

chris: Matsushima Bay

sharla: went there

chris: Natsuki's salon

sharla: *laugh* went there

chris: mcdonald's in Sendai

sharla: uhh haven't been to that one yet