Exploring the Japanese Countryside – Transcript

00:01The majority of travelers in Japan actually rely on public transportation to access their sightseeing locations, which has been myself as well included for the past 7 years or so. But, that's about to change because I am going to be using a car to get around town and explore three local areas that I've been wanting to get to but haven't. And these are some that you're not going to want to miss out on because they are breathtaking. Hello from the countryside of Japan. I am in Kyoto and we're not

00:28exploring the city this time for a change. This is going to be a mountain drive through the beautiful, beautiful landscape of Kyoto. So, let's go. So, let me take you back in time before before I was out in the countryside of Japan. I mean, look at these views. We're going to get there in a second.

00:43So, I traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto by shinkansen, bullet train, to downtown Kyoto, which is where you'll find yourself when you enter the city. This is a place I love very dearly, but I have been there not maybe not hundreds of times, but many, many times. So, I'm going to rent a vehicle and head out of the city, which is possible by public transportation, but is just a lot more difficult. Luckily, I have a companion who will be driving this time. I do have

01:10my license. I am using this as a trial to feel and get ready for my own driving. Yes, that sounds weird, but I just haven't done it for so long. So, now that we have a rental car, it's time to just head out into the countryside, which you can do so freely when you have your own car. You don't have to wait for the train or the bus to arrive. You just hop in the car and off you go. This is a luxury.

01:36Luckily, as a passenger in the car, I had time to look at Google Maps and just see what was in the area. There was a place I had favorited cuz I always find these when I'm on the internet or looking at magazines, and this looked stunning. It was on the way to the first local spot I wanted to check out, but my goodness, it was popular. This was a weekday, but it was packed. It was already booked out for the whole afternoon, but it was a riverside dining experience, which unfortunately had to

02:02say no to and come back in future, but it's a mental note in my brain, because I mean, you guys saw that view. It looked absolutely stunning. So, when you're driving out in the mountains here in Japan, you're going to notice there's a lot of tunnels, because the majority of Japan itself is made up of mountains.

02:19So, they have to build so many tunnels that you can access the areas here. If you guys are able to rent a vehicle in Japan, especially from Kyoto, I really recommend doing it, because you can reach some really untouched destinations.

02:35Just driving is part of the sightseeing adventure. It is so stunning out here. I am blown away. There are so many trees, so much nature, rice fields. It's stunning, and just driving by you spot places that you'd want to take a break at.

02:49I have never really had the opportunity to drive out. So, luckily, this is the perfect day, perfect weather. It is quite hot. It's the middle of summer here, but it's stunning. I think summer is one of the most underrated times in Japan, because of the heat. I do recommend being careful, but if you can bear it, there's a lot that will make it worthwhile. There's been a spot in Kyoto that I've always wanted to go to. I went there many, many years ago, like 10 years, just on a random drive home from

03:16another day out. It's called Kayabuki no Sato. It is absolutely stunning. It is an old traditional village. If you've heard of Shirakawa-go, it's similar to that, but a lot less touristy. I think it's more popular these days, but they have the traditional thatched houses with the roofs. It's a lot smaller, but I'm very excited. I heard that there's a sunflower field. It's about an hour and a half to two hours out of the center of Kyoto. So, hopefully, this drive will be

03:42worthwhile. All right. I'll tune back in soon. This entire trip I've been Googling local spots, searching addresses on Google Maps, and navigating to places I've never been before. And honestly, I don't know how you'd find half of these places without the internet. So, if you're coming to Japan, do not arrive without mobile data. You're going to be constantly checking train routes, translating signs and menus, looking up reviews, and navigating with Google

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04:34link below for 10% off your next Ubigi eSIM. Thanks to Ubigi for supporting me in exploring these local spots. Now, let's keep going. You can see it with your own eyes, just as I did. This pathway was absolutely stunning. You're just going through the forest on your way to the traditional village, which honestly was a lot easier to access than I thought. Just a couple of hours out of the city and you're already surrounded by nature. And unlike

05:01Tokyo, the traffic on the roads not bad at all. When you come to areas like this, there's usually designated parking spots. For this place, it was 500 yen for a whole day, which is very, very reasonable. If you travel to the countryside in Japan, you're probably going to eat soba, which is one of my favorite dishes, so I have no complaints. And right behind me here is one of the first few restaurants when you come into the village. It's a soba restaurant. I'm very excited to get some cold noodles

05:29cuz it is so hot. And it's the perfect dish, so let's go on inside. Luckily, there's no line, either. One thing to keep in mind when you're traveling in the countryside of Japan is that a lot of these restaurants don't stay open very late, and they have limited menu items for the day. So, this soba restaurant, I think we arrived around 1:00 p.m. It was already very full and certain items on the menu were already selling out and I think the last order, I could be wrong, was around 2:30 p.m.

05:54But it is well worth the experience because you can see how fresh this is. They're making it. There was even a display. They had a little souvenir section, so I bought myself some soba flour as well as soba cutting tool, which are these soba crackers, which I just think it's nice to bring something home like that. Next door, there was conveniently a souvenir shop, which I think it while it's still open, I'm just going to pop in they had more soba related items because this is a farming village. They have a lot of that

06:20that kind of produce as well as just really cute knick-knacks, washi tape, more food related items, milk because that's actually produced here as well as stunning postcards. They have this local milk called Miyama milk and it's in a vending machine. I mean, look how cute this is. I'm going to try the original milk.

06:45Ah, so cute. Don't have a straw, so I'm just going to drink it like this. Cheers. Ooh, that's some of the best milk I've had in Japan. It's so creamy and I've been to Hokkaido.

07:03Mmm. After making sure we had our lunch, it's time to explore this stunning village in the mountains of Kyoto, one of the preserved villages that used to be, I believe, quite common in Japan, but nowadays few and far between.

07:30I'm surprised at how empty it is. You can see there's no one behind me. There's a couple of people taking photos at this post office spot, but it's really peaceful. The locals are also really friendly. So this is a really great spot so far, but it is very hot standing out in the sun.

07:46So, I'm going to do a little lap around the village and then maybe escape the heat inside the only cafe operating today cuz it is a Tuesday and a lot of places are closed. So, yeah, trying not to get sunburned. >>

08:19>> There are a few times where I feel like I've entered a Ghibli universe and this is 100% one of them. I wonder if any of these are accommodation you can stay at because if so, that would be magical just staying overnight here. >> [sighs] >> It's so nice walking around here. As you can see, it's just so empty.

08:48I have no idea where we're headed. So, should we go this way? Yeah? There's actually one household you can enter here. It was 300 yen entry, but you get to see how the people used to live, the tools they used. It's really interesting. I've seen this at

09:13other Japanese villages before, but I just am impressed with how well insulated they are. Like, it wasn't that hot. So, I feel like it's better than I thought. But, they did have, you know, fans going, not AC, but fans.

09:30I think it's time for the cafe though. I am sweating so much. It's quite intense. Okay, so I just discovered the place that we went inside, this one here, >> >> is actually relatively new. It's only burnt down 26 years ago. I thought when the woman was explaining that the whole village did burn down, but it was just this one building here. So, they rebuilt

09:57it to replicate the Edo style of living, but the other houses here are a lot more modern inside, apparently. She was like, "Don't worry, they actually have gas and >> >> electricity." But, just this one here is the authentic Edo style. Which is fascinating. And the other thing that I discovered is that I feel so silly. I thought the um roofs were made of wood, some sort of wood, because the appearance looks like that to me,

10:24anyway, someone with zero carpenter and carpeting carpenter experience. But, apparently it's made of Susukino, which is a really common I don't know if plant is the word that you can go sightseeing to. There's a place that I went to. I remember when I first moved to Tokyo for work, I went to Kyushu, to this beautiful Susukino field. But, all of these thatched roofs apparently made using Susukino.

10:48So, you learn something new every day. That's really cool. I feel like a fool. I didn't know it was wood. But, now I'm more informed and I'm informing you guys, cuz I'm sure I'm not alone. This village doesn't actually have a lot of options to dine at, especially if you come on a weekday. There's a couple of days of the week where almost everything is closed, so keep that in mind if you are planning a trip. But, luckily Cafe

11:15Milan was open and they had some local gelato using the Miyama milk, which was delicious. They also had a homemade pudding, which I really liked it, but I I wasn't in the mood for it, but I was like, "When am I ever going to come back?" I have that kind of issue where I'm like, "I need to have it, cuz I won't know." it was good. I can I can tell you guys it's worth it. Anyhow, there's one other place that was open today because we made the whole drive out. I was like, we need to test out

11:43everything we can. It was called Kamitsure, which was actually a popular restaurant or takeaway stand for sandoitchi with um I think it was egg filling. I can't remember, but having had a few things to eat already, I just wanted another drink to replenish because of all the sweating. So, this was a yuzu shiso soda, which also delicious.