Built another app for Japan trip + first time Hokkaido | Japan vlog #1

I AM IN JAPAN NOWWWWWWWWWWWW 🇯🇵 As a Japan history mania I was sooooooo excited to finally visit 五稜郭 😭 Raise your hand if you’re also a history mania!!!!

In this video, you can see how I prepared for my Japan trip, how I made an app for my Japan trip that can be used to collect castle stamps, how I travelled there and the first two days in Hokkaido, Japan!

Also for the castle app, I completely forgot to continue coding it once I arrived in Japan 😂😂😂😂 I will definitely finish the app once I’m on Shinkansen again!!!

0:00 Sick day
0:50 Packing
3:13 Flying
5:28 Coding in airport + plane
8:20 Arrive in Hokkaido
10:59 Hakodate
13:37 Ending

#japan #travel #shinsengumi

Music by You ME and the Piano – Merry-Go-Round – https://thmatc.co/?l=DF599BB6
Music by Sam Celentano – A Lot – https://thmatc.co/?l=53EBD8AC
Music by Mei Anima – Flowers Lay – https://thmatc.co/?l=FD19344D
Music by Matt Reagan – Life Itself – https://thmatc.co/?l=B74FC162

Oh no no no no 39 hours before my trip to Japan I hope my guitar is still okay… Guitar is fine, but I’m sick lol Guitar is fine, but I’m sick lol Later (I have to) fix some bugs And prepare for some projects Cuz I’m flying Japan (tomorrow midnight) I’m going to

Meet some Important people there (like CEO and NGO members) And after I meet those important people Maybe I can get a job in Japan or in Singapore idk [yawning] I’m going to sleep Then I woke up again for another Japanese NGO meeting (and still on 39C fever)

I’m extremely skeptical that I can make the flight tomorrow night cuz I was sucking in nose water nonstop in the meeting Like this. Good morning everyone I think I completely recovered (so easy lol) I think it’s not Dengue lol (my poor roommate still suffering) Just one day (actually half day) 39C (102F)

I still have no idea what’s going on Making breakfast Well let’s wash it [hit my head] Ah [feeling the pain] Close it close it… Then I read and replied the comments (so excited to see those feedback!!) I don’t understand what this thing is

And procrastinated my luggage packing by rewatching a Japanese movie (I love Shinsengumi!) It’s call 燃えよ剣 (moeyoken) Ok time to clean this bunch of mess now (aka my luggage) Then I saw a huge cockroach and IT JUMPED ON MY HAND SO I SCREAMED AND ESCAPED Is it gone? Is it gone? Is it gone?

Roommate: not yet not yet Kill it! Please… Roommate: mikan (my name), just ignore it No, find it find it find it please! Roommate: ok ok ok lol Roommate: I think it didn’t crawl inside your bag Roommate: well, it’s not inside your bag… Did you check (the suitcase)? [casually hit three times] Roommate: yeah What if it’s inside here (the suitcase)???? [roommate is laughing] Roommate: t’s not inside, okay? Security check! Security check (x2) Ok This one is safe You go there Security check You should be fine Last one last one Open Roommate: I told you there’s none! Roommate: I’ve checked for you! Ok

[Mental breakdown and sorry for the screaming… I’ve turned the volumed down 95%…] It’s dead? What? You killed it? Roommate: yes Roommate: I’m gonna hit one more time [Roommate smashed the cockroach] It was, it was, in my luggage!!! I need to wash my clothes ahhhhhh… [f***] Packed everything again Okayyyy

I think I’ve almost done with everything Japan top 100 castles (book title) They have introductions And here is where you can stamp Those are, like long time ago I’ve been there before Yeah I want to bring this with me But it’s a book… I feel like

A bit annoying (to bring a physical book) I mean I can bring this one definitely But it’s a book… Very troublesome… See, so troublesome I WISH THIS ONE IS AN APP… SO I BUILT A NEW APP 2 hours before my flight at Changi airport But after I created a new project

They immediately started security check so let’s move first Let’s go So the story is that Cuz I’m from Taiwan I might not be able to transfer in Shanghai POV: you’re too poor so you must get transit flight in China Cuz I don’t have 台胞證 (the ID China issued to Taiwanese people)

Cuz Taiwan passport doesn’t work in China (they don’t admit it… you know China issue) So Taiwanese must apply this special ID card issued by China to (be able to) enter China Or even transfer in China (in most airports)

I never been in China before and I don’t dare to have that ID as well cuz I’ve been saying so many bad things about China and I’m afraid that I will be executed (there) lol I didn’t know that the special ID is also required even in transit area

And I didn’t even bring my Taiwan national ID card (issued by Taiwan) with me So I can’t apply temporary visa as well Someone singing next to me really loudly lol So the entire airline (like 10 people there) was helping me to check If I can transfer in Shanghai… Eventually they found someone Shanghai

And they just called the person and say “hey” “If this person can transit etc”, something like that Oh my god so scary freaking scary… Everyone is so nice… I really appreciate that Let’s continue our app And for some reason, my Xcode is frozen I really can’t find a way for fix it so let’s just get on the plane first Enjoyed 4-hour sleep lying down cuz I have no neighbors hehe And watched the movie “Searching” on plane but there’s no English subtitle

Huh they are using Traditional Chinese wow Pudong airport (Shanghai, China) Ok I want to sleep… my eyes are so swollen Now we are heading to the transfer I’m so sleepy… No one is here I’m so hungry… Time to… CODE. For some reason my laptop is working again

Today I’m going to start this project with TDD (Test-driven development) So I set test for invalid data first And now it’s time to find some valid data So I found this website with overview and access info of each castle I checked the source code And wrote a simple parser Here’s the data

And I added it to the project directly since I wanted to access data locally first Then I used the website “JSONHero” to analyze the JSON file And created the Castle object (in Swift we call it struct) accordingly The Apple Music doesn’t work very well in the airport as it keeps loading

So I decided to connect to YouTube Oh wait, what am I thinking of? I’m in China lol Adding more tests Broke a test And fixed the test Then I created the castle service protocol to decode castle from JSON file And wrote an integration test to make sure it works

Ok time to create our UI I added a new iOS target Removed storyboard as always Create Coordinators and tab bar for app navigation I also added Localization file because I’m planning to have both English and Japanese And this is what we got so far, a tab bar with three fake screens

And it’s onboarding time Alright let’s continue So I added a castle collection screen But I feel it’s kind of overwhelming with too much information So let’s add a headerView Here we are Next thing is the details page of each castle Something like this Then we add pages inside Create the details page

Now we have a problem I wanted to load castle image through URL Using the image URLs we downloaded in the JSON file But there’s no network on the plane lol And I also can’t import other third-party libraries without network (sad) So I just randomly picked a photo locally And add it as placeholder

Let’s make the other page after lunch And here’s the progress a little bit later Commit the code again And I found that I forgot to hide the bottom tab bar in the details page So let’s fix it Let’s commit All these functions are empty because I haven’t defined ” castle visit history” yet

So let’s do it Create another test file for TDD But I didn’t have time to finish the helper methods since we are landing New Chitose airport (Sapporo, Japan) Hokkaido is so cooooooldddd Let’s go Let’s go (x2) Before we move to the second part (of) this video

If you like the video, please smash the LIKE button And don’t forget to subscribe to see my future Japan vlogs 🙂 Ok Now we’re going to get the JR pass The JR Pass (Japan Rail Pass) is a nationwide rail pass for long-distance train travel in Japan You can buy it online

And reserve seats online as well But keep in mind that the site will be unavailable everyday at 23:30 – 04:00 (JST) lol Where is it (the JR office)??? Funny Ikura (fish roe) eye mask HAHAHAHA Then we got our ticket And move to the hotel tonight Chitose (station name) It’s so cold Super cold…

There’s no elevator… Let’s go So cooooold Let’s go to post office first, I need to send something Apparently it’s really hard to drag mu suitcase After I finished the stuff in the post office I’m heading to the hotel Wow… This is crazy (the snow) Where’s the hotel? I’m so cold…

Ok I’m gonna walk there I’m so cooooolllldddddd hotel for tonight + my dinner Spicy! Something like this Then I was too bored so I started watching TV And they’re talking about the upcoming election in Taiwan wow 4:30pm, It looks so dark now

I’m going to find scissors to fix my bang cuz I can’t see anything Auto focus??? Woooo so cold Found a bookstore They are playing the song from my favorite singer <3 (But it's a cover version) Btw I'm looking for Korean book cuz I wanted to pick up a new language this year Ohhh I'm a Taiwanese I should be able to solve this (kanji test question) Yep, piece of cake for Taiwanese hehe Then I found scissors from another convenient store 5:45pm, It's completely dark... hotel again Then I found this very interesting color pencil TV program And a funny ad It's talking about a new instant noodles that's High in protein and 50% carbs off I really wanted to try this but I don't know where to find this instant noodles... Morning 3-hour train from Chitose to Hakodate Hakodate station I really LOVE all the history decorations in Hakodate station [some Japanese high school kid made this weird sound lol] This weekend is Japan university entry exam so there's a wish board This one is saying "I wish my family are all healthy and I like Tanaka very much!" And this one is about election in Taiwan this weekend haha Put my luggage in locker first Then move to the next destination I have to walk for about 15 min Let's go Goryokaku As a huge fan of Japanese history (Shinsengumi), I was very excited to come here Hakodate Bugyosho Here's AR photography (?) Okay seems like just add Hijikata (person name) everywhere lol I'm a big fan of Hijikata so I was SUPER CRAZY here lol Get castle stamp as well Another Hijikata in Goryokaku tower Hijikata hijikata hijikata!!! Then I have to stop myself in the gift shop or I will be broke on the second day in Japan This one is Okita's sword I feel like it's really easy to trigger me as long as there's like Sengoku era or Shinsengumi lol I also want to buy this... I want this clothes... Should I get it...? Going to the next place The place Hijikata died... Then I moved back to JR office to change tickets Because I spent too much time checking Hijikata lol Found more interesting souvenirs in Hokkaido And picked up some seafood snacks for a late lunch on the train This one is a stuffed squid (a half-boiled egg inside) And this one just some clam Going to the next destination Shin Aomori station I will only stay here for 20 min, just to walk around I'm at Aomori This place is very famous for apples so you can see apples EVERYHERE Isn't this one copied from Hokkaido...? Eventually I grabbed a scallop croquette And finished it on the train Morioka station Where is the elevator??? This place is famous for their noodles Eh? Hmm? Ah Stamp is here lol (I did it at the wrong place) Ok Equally bad... Walking to the hotel tonight You can make it, suitcase! hotel tonight haha Bathroom There's even a tubbbb Then I just do some editing and wrap up for the day