WELCOME BACK! Today’s video is a little different from our other ones. This is Adrian’s submission for the 2024 Jet Programme Video Contest about our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a taste of what life is like in Japan for a year.
A big shout-out to our good friend Taiyu for the Japanese translation!
Thanks for watching!
Adrian + Shaneen
My name is Adrian Clements. I was an ALT on JET from Canada placed in Takahashi, Okayama. The prefectures where we filmed include Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Tottori, Kagawa, Tokushima, Kochi, and Ehime. All music is provided by Epidemic Sound Subscription.
#JETVideoContest2024
A year in Japan a year of countless once in a-lifetime opportunities but what was my true once in-a-lifetime opportunity was it the chance to live in the beautiful countryside well that was pretty good but was it the chance to explore so much of Japan yeah that was pretty good but
Was it the chance to teach English to some incredible students yeah that was pretty fulfilling but the truth is I really really love the food I had the incredible opportunity to eat some phenomenal authentic Japanese food for a whole year the food Journey began when I arrived with my wife to our
New home in Takahashi okama to live and teach as part of the jet program despite it being late summer the first order of business was finding our goto Ramen Shop an hour train ride away we found it right outside okama City station okos shimar Rich broth made from flying fish
Divine shashu noodles cooked to Perfection and pork free broth for my pork free wife the place was an absolute 10 out of 10 and it kept us coming back again and again fall came fast the leaves changed and left and so did we on a shinkansen on a trip to Hiroshima
There what else were we going to eat but the legendary Hiroshima style okonomiyaki cooked on a hot plate right in front of you it’s a flow pancake loaded with cabbage bean sprouts pork strips it gets masterfully flipped onto soba and placed onto a fried egg topped with sweet sweet okonomiyaki sauce and
Norty it is the epitome of what comfort food should be sweet Savory and stays hot until you’re finished we celebrated New Year’s on Mima where I tried Conger eel for the first time in an Nago Dawn we took the boat from Hiroshima Mainland and walked around made some friends
Checked out some sites and went into the small restaurant the eel was coated in a sweet but salty sauce and it was literally the softest meat I’ve ever tasted great end to the year before the winter months were over we headed north to the least populated prefecture in
Japan toori there we got to enjoy a rare dining experience Mochi Shabu we got 12 different flavors of Mochi including blueberry green tea and shrimp all paired with various seafood and vegetables it was ooey gooey chewy melt iny mouth Mochi the restaurant had been running for over a 100 years and
Provided an unforgettable dining experience another memorable experience was a short train ride from our home in Takahashi to a small town called ikura located on a mountain just over some caves was a soba shop run by the kindest man ever he taught us how to make and
Cut our own SOA which he then cooked a hot and a cold version for us the cold noodles with the sauce on the side were the Highlight So Fresh So light so good spring sprung and we traveled East to oosaka known as Japan’s kitchen oaka is home to an endless amount of good
Food we got to try a classic oosaka staple takoyaki it’s a wheat flour and dashy batter cooked in a specially shaped pan each ball gets a piece or two of octopus some tempura scraps green onions and pickles Ginger you know I couldn’t wait for it to cool down and
Had to burn my mouth with the hot insides it was too good not to during golden week we went on a full-fledged Journey all across shikoku while on the trip we stopped by coochi city it’s a tropical feeling city famous for a unique fish dish there’s an incredible
Market where you can try many different types of Cuisine but katsu notaki is the Highlight basically the raw steak of fish katsu not tataki is skipjack tuna it’s seared over an open flame and when it’s finished it’s served alongside ponzu sauce wonderfully seared and seasoned on the edges and soft and pink
On the inside it melts in your mouth and has an incredible taste summer came in hot and that means it was Festival season in Takahashi the Festival of the year is the Matsuyama it’s a 3-day event that dates back to 1648 where thousands come to dance and celebrate in the
Streets we ate some fried chicken listen to the song ate some yakis SOA learned the dance ate some kushiyaki perfected the dance and we came back three nights in a row to enjoy it to the fullest and with that an incredible year filled with amazing food and experiences
Came to an end I can say without a doubt that it was a once in a-lifetime chance to live teach travel and eat our way across Japan I can’t wait for that chance to come back Again
2 Comments
So excited to see another video!
What a gorgeous video! Beautifully shot and edited🎉