The world's smallest beer!

No no no no no! I'm so big!

The only thing better than driving through the countryside is driving through the countryside with cheap sunglasses

and an Ice Coffee and today I have both of those things so I'm in a good mood!

For many people when they think of Japan

they think Japan equals Tokyo

But that's simply isn't the case for me the best part about Japan is out here in the countryside

On my recent journey producing videos for the Odigo travel website around North Japan

my journey took me back to the place that I had called home for the past 3 years

The town of Sakata in Yamagata Prefecture

The food is so fresh, the people are so friendly

and the scenery is absolutely stunning!

And I wanna hopefully show you all 3

and drink Ice Coffee!

My first stop was to check on my friends Yuki and Yuto

who had recently converted an old town house into a stylish travel hostel

where I planned to stay during my trip!

And you may remember Yuki as he was one of my friends who I had nearly poisoned with marmite the last year

Hey Yuto! Long time no see!

Welcome to Shonai Base

How are you?

I'm good I'm good

Marmite Guy Chris!

Yuki! Good to see you!

How are you?

I'm good I'm good!

How about you Chris?

Very good!

But very hot!!

Okay cool, can you show me around?

The first room?

How many rooms?

Three!

Three

Like....Hawaii

This is Hawaii!

I like it! Oh dear..

What?? Toilet?

Why??

It's see through!

There's no door!

There's no door!

Open style!

Open style?

Japanese traditional style

I'm lying...I'm lying!

Public space

Or party room!

Party room?

How many people can you fit in here?

15 people

Yaaay party!

Marmite good!!

Marmite party!

Whatever that would entail

Second Room

Oooh cool!!

I like this!

Very modern

This is very comfortable sofa!

Demonstration!

Very good!

Sofa is good!

You heard it here first

And....Star Wars tissues

You like Star Wars?

Of course!

Who's your favorite character?

Obi Wan Kenobi!

Obi Wan Kenobi?

Why?

Very strong Jedi Knight

And....

....I don't know..

A broom!!

This is very important item

Is that Harry Potter?

Yeaah

Harry Potter's Item

I learned British English very well right?

Oh yeah

Harry Potter

Next room

Ohhh wow! Wow!

This is my favorite room

Look at the ceiling

It's like....bamboo....bamboo ceiling

Like a Japanese garden, like a garden style

Zen yeah zen garden

Very nice very nice! This is my favorite room

The kitchen!

We have Marmite

Of course

No Marmite

The tiny beer!

The world's smallest beer

No no no no no no I'm so big!

Regular size

Regular size!

I'm Big Man!

Very deep bathtub

It is deep isn't it

The deepest bath I've ever seen

Why?

Why?

This style for the bath?

Big Man

Why did you start a hostel?

It's really random

I want to come foreign country many people in Sakata

Sakata's hotel are very expensive!!

What kind of people do you want coming here?

Travelers, students, and business man

Everybody!

Please come to Shonai Base!! Yeaaah

Please come!!

Thanks guys!

After the most enjoyable tour of a hostel I think I've ever had

I headed on down to the fish harbour to grab a bite to eat at the fish market

The benefit of living next to the sea

Some incredibly fresh fish

This is fatty tuna

on some rice

And it looks amazing it looks so so fresh

Oh yeah!!

That's fantastic!

I lived here 3 years and I never came here for lunch or ate anything I don't know why

It's probably a good thing I didn't know about it

Otherwise I would've been here quite a lot

I decided to walk off lunch by taking a stroll

around town

And drinking more ice-coffee

One of the best things about the countryside is you have the temples all to yourself

but one of the coolest things is just walking around rural Japan

taking in the streets and the architecture

You often feel like you're in some kind of film set

Particularly when you're in Sakata because it actually was one

This lovely looking building is actually a little bit famous in Japan

It featured prominently in an Oscar winning film from 2008 called Departures

I saw the film and loved it back in 2012

before I even knew I was moving to Japan so

when I found out that I was just randomly being placed to work as an English teacher in this remote town

where the movie was filmed, I was pretty surprised

And it's quite a cool twist of fate to be able to walk up the street and feel like I was on the film set

But yeah, highly recommend checking out the film Departures!

So right here on the side of this building there used to be a big drawing of a naked woman

it always surprised me so much to see it there

so I always put it in the videos

But unfortunately they've covered it up and the reason they've covered it up is because

next month the Emperor himself is coming right here to Sakata

Uh no not that Emperor

The actual real life Japanese Emperor

He's coming here and that's pretty cool!

But it's a real shame they had to do that

That was a really good picture

Although it makes sense I guess

If you've got the Emperor coming to your town

That's the last thing you want him to see

...I think

Yeah, no it is!

So this is my favorite shop in Sakata and I've never set foot in it once

And the reason I love it is because I've driven past the Chicken Food Shop about 500 times

and I still don't know whether it's a chicken food shop that sells Chicken for Chickens

or a Chicken Food Shop that sells Chicken for humans

But I'm excited by the ambiguity of not knowing what lies within

And....I never want to find out

So this is my favorite spot in Sakata and it's a few miles up the coast

But basically in the 1800s a Zen buddhist raised some money and then came up here

to the coast and carved 16 Buddhas into the rocks

And they're still here today

Here's one of them

And I like the way he's just sort of sat here

next to his accumulated pile of wealth

It's just relaxing sitting here

looking out across the Sea of Japan

and thinking of what might lie beyond the horizon

Well.....

...North Korea

Probably not that good then

But....yeah it's beautiful

My favorite spot probably in Japan

But I hope you've enjoyed the video

And I hope you want to come and visit the countryside yourself

maybe even Sakata someday

And you can sit here next to this Buddha looking out towards North Korea!

If you like fresh tuna, temples all to yourself, amazing scenery and tiny beers from Yuki's fridge

Sakata is THE place to visit!

To see where I visited on my trip as well as other places that I've visited in the area

You can find the details on the Odigo travel website in the description box below

And to see more of my travels around North Japan with Odigo

You can also find the link to the full playlist of videos down below

Many thanks for watching guys, I'll see you next time!

Kind man! Kind man!

He's a kind man

I'm Marmite man!

Brilliant

Brilliant!