Japan Feels Different After Korea

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:07]Do you like English?

[00:00:09]No.

[00:00:10]Yes.

[00:00:11]No.

[00:00:11]Yes.

[00:00:15]Oh, that was close.

[00:00:22]Welcome back to Japan.

[00:00:26]What's up, guys?

[00:00:27]Welcome back to Shimonoseki.

[00:00:31]First place I wanted to come check  out is this street right here.

[00:00:35]There have been some epic battles  that have taken place right here.

[00:00:40]There's a couple samurais over there depicting two clans that duked it out right  here for control of all of Japan.

[00:00:49]Well, what makes this story crazy is  that the losing side, the Taira clan, a grandmother tied a six year old boy, or  wrapped a six year old boy around her arms, and jumped in the sea with him,  and basically killed the boy.

[00:01:05]And well, it wasn't just any old boy.

[00:01:08]It was the emperor of Japan.

[00:01:10]And so there's a samurai over there depicting one that strapped an anchor to his leg  or his waist, and jumped in the water.

[00:01:19]And so a lot of them committed suicide  once they knew they were going to lose.

[00:01:23]During that time period, it was the shogunate, and it was the samurais that basically  controlled the government, controlled Japan, until the Meiji Restoration in 1860 or so,  when everything switched back to the emperor.

[00:01:35]And over there, there's a bunch of cannons.

[00:01:37]And it says in 1864, there was a  battle between the Choshu clan here, and the Americans, and Britain, and Holland.

[00:01:44]And I think that was a battle that  basically ended the samurai class.

[00:01:50]And so it's kind of crazy.

[00:01:52]You had a battle that kind  of started the shogunate, and the samurai class, and the  ruling of Japan by samurais.

[00:02:00]And then you had another battle that  basically ended it, both right here.

[00:02:06]But anyways, welcome back to Shimonoseki.

[00:02:10]Yeah.

[00:02:10]So, you would think that being emperor in  Japan would have been a pretty sweet deal, but that was not always the case.

[00:02:20]A long time ago, I read a book  all about the Meiji Restoration.

[00:02:24]And he talked about Emperor Meiji's life,  and what it was like for emperors before him.

[00:02:31]And a lot of times, emperors spent their  entire life on the Imperial grounds.

[00:02:39]Sometimes they would never even see  the sea, never went and saw Mount Fuji.

[00:02:42]You're just trapped to doing ceremonial things your entire life.

[00:02:49]It sounds horrible.

[00:02:51]But I think maybe one good thing about being emperor is that you had many lady friends.

[00:02:59]And so sure, you had your empress, but you also had many concubines, because your main goal, your main job, was to perform all the  ceremonial things that it takes to be emperor.

[00:03:14]You didn't have any political power,  but you were required to have an heir.

[00:03:20]And so a lot of times, the emperors didn't  exactly come from who they were married to.

[00:03:25]And so they spent a lot of time just  making sure they were popping out babies.

[00:03:31]That's another thing that really  surprised me when I was reading that book.

[00:03:35]You know, you would think that being the  emperor, you would have access to the best healthcare given at the time, even though  it's nowhere near as good as it is now.

[00:03:45]But so many children and babies  died within like the first, I don't know, months, years of their life.

[00:03:53]It's crazy.

[00:03:59]Oh yeah.

[00:04:01]Got to get some sushi.

[00:04:03]This is the place where I fell in love with ikura.

[00:04:19]Basically, you just kind of pick what you want.

[00:04:21]Mix and match.

[00:04:23]I like it.

[00:04:24]I like it.

[00:04:24]You can't go wrong.

[00:04:25]Oh my gosh.

[00:04:26]I'm back in heaven.

[00:04:28]Sushi heaven.

[00:04:33]I tell you what, it looks good, but man, I did  not realize it was going to be that expensive.

[00:04:43]Man, just because you get it from the source  does not mean it's going to be any cheaper.

[00:04:48]And that ikura doesn't even look that good.

[00:04:51]Yeah, I should have gone with a different one,  but it's kind of all soggy looking already.

[00:04:56]It should be nice and plump.

[00:04:59]Uh oh, the bird's coming.

[00:05:01]All right, I'm going to try this ikura first.

[00:05:02]Yeah, it is.

[00:05:09]Yep.

[00:05:09]Yep. Yep.

[00:05:09]Yep. Yep.

[00:05:10]Yep.

[00:05:11]Oh, that was close.

[00:05:12]Getting brave, man.

[00:05:13]Oh, man.

[00:05:15]Oh, man.

[00:05:15]He made me spill all my soy sauce.

[00:05:18]Bastard.

[00:05:20]I can inhale sushi, too.

[00:05:22]I can eat it.

[00:05:24]One bite.

[00:05:28]Now, that's freaking good.

[00:05:30]That is freaking delicious.

[00:05:35]You really know me.

[00:05:37]You know me?

[00:05:38]You subscribe?

[00:05:39]Oh, wow.

[00:05:41]Oh, wow.

[00:05:43]Thanks for saying hi.

[00:05:48]Shimoyaki.

[00:05:51]Japanese cake.

[00:05:52]Japanese cake.

[00:05:53]Yeah.

[00:05:53]Oh, okay.

[00:05:57]I think this is pretty similar  to what you see in Korea, too.

[00:05:59]You see a lot of people on the street  selling those fishies with the anko, the red bean paste stuffed inside.

[00:06:05]Pretty sure that's what it is.

[00:06:10]Kind of fierce looking.

[00:06:12]Kind of soft, but crunchy.

[00:06:21]Oh yeah, that is full, too.

[00:06:24]Look at that.

[00:06:26]This is one thing that's really strange, I think, for people in America, people  in Western cultures maybe.

[00:06:33]Eating beans as a dessert in Asia is kind  of hard to imagine, but it's not too sweet.

[00:06:42]It has a nice subtle sweetness to it.

[00:06:48]Traveling.

[00:06:49]Traveling.

[00:06:49]Yeah. Through Japan.

[00:06:51]It's a long story, but I have cycled from... Gunma I lived in Gunma From Gunma to here From Shimonoseki to Busan, then in Korea I circled the country then came back from here you'll go to Gunma?

[00:07:10]I'm not sure, what should i do?

[00:07:15]Are you a YouTuber?

[00:07:16]I'm a YouTuber.

[00:07:18]Are you a high school student?

[00:07:20]Yes.

[00:07:22]What are you doing today?

[00:07:27]Are you hiking today?

[00:07:29]Oh, nice.

[00:07:31]All right.

[00:07:31]Nice to meet you guys.

[00:07:34]I came from Gunma Nick K.

[00:07:43]N I C K.

[00:07:47]Nick K.

[00:07:52]Do you like English?

[00:07:54]No.

[00:07:54]No.

[00:07:55]Yes.

[00:07:56]Yes.

[00:07:56]No.

[00:07:56]Yes.

[00:08:14]Okay, so I thought maybe I'd get to ride  across the bridge, but that's not how it works.

[00:08:20]I'm happy, but a little disappointed.

[00:08:22]I wanted to see the view from the bridge, because you guys know I like bridges, but  it also means I don't have to ride up it.

[00:08:30]All right, see you guys.

[00:08:31]Nice to meet you.

[00:08:32]Good luck.

[00:08:34]Oh, Nick.

[00:08:35]Hey.

[00:08:39]Oh man.

[00:08:40]I'm not going to do it, but it's very tempting  to get on the bike and just haul ass down.

[00:08:45]There is a sign that says,  "Please walk your bike."

[00:08:48]And just like that, welcome to Kyushu.

[00:08:53]Oh man, it's nice and sunny over here.

[00:08:55]Completely different weather.

[00:08:58]What do we got down here?

[00:08:59]It looks like some type of memorial or monument.

[00:09:02]Let's go check it out.

[00:09:03]Unfortunately, I don't know.

[00:09:05]And I don't have service right  now because the eSIM app that I've been using forever is not working in Japan.

[00:09:13]I'm going to have to get a new one, I think.

[00:09:19]It's very frustrating.

[00:09:20]It's crazy.

[00:09:21]You're not connected to the internet, and you  feel like your life is going to fall apart.

[00:09:25]It's like, just calm down.

[00:09:27]You'll be okay.

[00:09:29]Man, Japan is very quiet.

[00:09:32]It's so chill.

[00:09:34]Man, look at this place.

[00:09:36]That does not look very Japanese at all.

[00:09:39]This is the Dalian Friendship Memorial.

[00:09:49]Interesting.

[00:09:50]And so, Dalian is way over here.

[00:09:53]Dalian.

[00:09:54]It's in China.

[00:09:54]I really want to go.

[00:09:55]There's Pyongyang there.

[00:09:57]So, we're way over here, and so you can  take a ferry from Incheon to Dalian, and then I want to go to Dandong, and then  Baekdu, Mount Baekdu, is somewhere over here.

[00:10:11]So yeah, I really do want to go to Dalian once  I get everything figured out, my visa situation.

[00:10:17]But one of the first small trips I want to  do is take the ferry from Incheon to Dalian, and then cycle to Dandong, and then go  across the China and North Korea border.

[00:10:29]And well, I want to go to  Dalian because that's a very, very important site for Japan, for  Korea, for Manchuria, for Russia.

[00:10:40]That was the site where essentially Japan  defeated Russia in the Russo Japanese War in 1905, and that basically cemented Japan's  control over Korea in a lot of ways.

[00:10:55]And so, it shocked the world.

[00:10:59]Japan defeats Russia and gains  influence in Manchuria, Korea, and kind of the rest is history, so to speak.

[00:11:12]But anyway, there's a port there called  Port Arthur, that I want to go check out.

[00:11:17]And so, if I get a chance,  if I can get back to Incheon, I'm going to be taking a ferry that direction.

[00:11:24]Man, this just in a lot of  ways does not look like Japan.

[00:11:31]I mean, that building over here, you got a  couple over here that just look super Western.

[00:11:38]And it's just, like I said,  very chill and relaxed here.

[00:11:44]Dippin' Dots.

[00:11:45]You got to give it to them.

[00:11:46]I remember Dippin' Dots when I was  in elementary school a long time ago.

[00:11:52]And you don't see them all over the place.

[00:11:56]They're not like a McDonald's, or  Starbucks, or anything like that, but you do see them in random  places all over the world.

[00:12:05]So, they've survived a long time actually.

[00:12:09]And I think that's one of the biggest  things I noticed coming back over to Japan, coming from Busan, is not seeing  so many high rise apartments.

[00:12:20]You know, that's a pretty  big one right over there.

[00:12:23]But that's what shocked me the  first time I went to Korea.

[00:12:26]I was just like, "Oh my gosh,  look at these apartments."

[00:12:29]They just shoot straight up,  and there's so many of them.

[00:12:33]But when you sail into the port  here, and you just look around, everything is just kind of a lot lower.

[00:12:41]Oh, check it out.

[00:12:42]They have a Nene Chicken here.

[00:12:45]Is it open?

[00:12:49]Maybe it closed down.

[00:12:50]I don't know.

[00:12:51]Not going to lie, it still kind of blows my mind  that you still see taxis like this in Japan.

[00:13:00]So old.

[00:13:04]Even when I arrived in 2010, I couldn't  believe some of the taxis that I saw.

[00:13:11]I wonder if any of them still have like  the gear shift by the steering wheel.

[00:13:16]Kind of blew my mind.

[00:13:18]Chicken nanban.

[00:13:19]Oh, that looks good.

[00:13:20]This looks pretty fancy.

[00:13:22]Some oden.

[00:13:23]Yeah, let's do that.

[00:13:41]Wow.

[00:13:41]Salt.

[00:13:43]Smells really good, too.

[00:13:47]This is like minced meat.

[00:13:48]This is one of my favorites  when it's grilled, actually.

[00:13:55]Oh, man.

[00:13:58]So good.

[00:14:00]Got the konyaku and gyoza.

[00:14:02]Gyoza.

[00:14:03]Gyoza.

[00:14:04]Konyaku.

[00:14:05]This is famous in Gunma, where I used to live.

[00:14:09]It's a vegetable actually.

[00:14:10]How it turns into this shape, I have no idea.

[00:14:12]But really not much flavor to konyaku.

[00:14:17]It's more of a texture thing.

[00:14:18]I think yaki konyaku.

[00:14:22]All righty.

[00:14:23]So, I want to go over yonder on  the other side of that bridge.

[00:14:28]But it's another one of those  bridges where you can't cycle across.

[00:14:32]And at first, it was trying to have me  go way inland and all the way around, but I think there might be a ferry  over here that'll bring me across.

[00:14:44]It costs 150 yen.

[00:14:49]Take the ferry.

[00:14:50]That's like $1.

[00:14:56]Hello.

[00:15:12]All right.

[00:15:13]Where am I?

[00:15:14]Wakamatsu.

[00:15:19]This isn't too bad, is it?

[00:15:21]Lovely little town.

[00:15:25]See, that right there is about as high as  you're going to get when it comes to apartments.

[00:15:32]Of course, Tokyo has some  big ones, but not out here.

[00:15:37]All right, so we had some sushi.

[00:15:41]We had some oden.

[00:15:44]Sushi was all right.

[00:15:45]Oden was excellent.

[00:15:46]Let's complete the trifecta and get  some ramen all on the first day.

[00:16:10]Mhm.

[00:16:15]That looks really good.

[00:16:22]Ah, so good.

[00:16:24]I love thin noodles like this, too.

[00:16:26]Thin, but not too slippery and slimy.

[00:16:31]They're kind of firm still.

[00:16:32]You can pick them up real easily.

[00:16:39]That was so good.

[00:16:40]That was so good.

[00:16:42]All righty, the jjimjilbang days are over for now.

[00:16:47]It's back to the sento, the small public  baths in the middle of neighborhoods.

[00:16:55]They're usually pretty sweet.

[00:16:57]This one looks pretty old.

[00:16:58]This one looks like it's been here a while.

[00:17:00]All right, so I already went in and I talked  to the old lady that's running this place.

[00:17:07]Not too many foreigners probably come here,  but we started talking, and she was like, "Yeah, if you want to, you know, take a  picture, you can. There's nobody in here."

[00:17:14]And so that's why I'm going to do it.

[00:17:15]There's absolutely no one on this side.

[00:17:17]Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to do this.

[00:17:19]But I already got permission.

[00:17:28]But I love it.

[00:17:29]That's usually how it works.

[00:17:30]There's just like an old lady or  somebody working in the middle.

[00:17:33]She kind of runs both sides.

[00:17:35]But yeah, this is what a 100 a year-old sento looks like.

[00:17:43]Pretty basic, pretty simple.

[00:18:12]Oh, that's how they heat the water.

[00:18:17]So, it is kind of like a jjimjilbang this is amazing your japanese is really good!

[00:18:28]this is really old, about a hundred years old Thought it was hot water coming out.

[00:18:45]thank you for showing me are you ok?

[00:18:50]how old are you?

[00:18:55]i'm 91 years old wow you're very active I'm not very good at hearing anymore but you're very lively not lively at all but i try my best do your best thank you so much and thank you for coming from so far away I think she's the owner.

[00:19:18]So, the lady in the middle, when I came out,  she got on the phone and she was like, "Yeah, there's this American guy here. He speaks  fluent Japanese. Come and say hello."

[00:19:26]So she showed up.

[00:19:29]i also rode my bike all around until 3 or 4 years ago oh really when i got this old, i can't hear very well i can't hear if cars are coming from behind i rode a bike for 60 years i really miss it that's why you're so healthy how did you know about my spa?

[00:19:53]Google online.

[00:19:55]i searched for spa online it's an old runned down spa shappy spa but it's still standing be careful as you travel around Wow.

[00:20:23]Wow.

[00:20:26]Thank you so much.

[00:20:29]very kind of you also some white bread you're very tall and very handsome you must have many girlfriends i'll see you again Bye bye.

[00:20:54]Oh my gosh, how sweet was she?

[00:20:57]Wow, there's a big ass boar  in these woods over there.

[00:21:04]Stay over there.

[00:21:06]Stay over there.

[00:21:09]Oh man.

[00:21:09]Wow.

[00:21:11]And sure enough, there is  a spectacular view up here.

[00:21:17]Wow.

[00:21:19]I knew it'd be worth it.

[00:21:20]I knew it'd be worth it.

[00:21:21]Down there, I'm like, "Oh man, there's nothing  to look at down here, Nick. Just do it."

[00:21:27]Wow.

[00:21:27]What a view.