I Took A Solo Trip Through Japan (first time)

It’s time to share Oskar’s solo adventure in Japan❤️🇯🇵 – This is part 1 of 2.

Dan had a big trip with his childhood friends around Thailand and Vietnam planned, so Oskar had 12 days to plan something to do alone. This is what followed…

We’re Oskar🧔🏻 and Dan👱🏻‍♂️, and we believe that anyone regardless of who they are deserves to live their dreams! For the past nine years, we’ve continued pushing boundaries by traveling and living all across the world, including places like Uganda, Brunei, and Saudi Arabia. In 2022, we reached a huge milestone by visiting 100 countries and we’re now on a mission to keep sharing our journey and hopefully make the world a little more open, compassionate, and peaceful along the way❤️

Thank you for being a part of the journey!

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– Instagram: www.instagram.com/oskaranddan

– Music: http://share.epidemicsound.com/nqD7H

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Japan was country 38🌍 (first visited in 2018)

I started out my trip in Narita city, the namesake of Narita airport but with so much more to offer than that. I then drove through Tokyo to the west, making my way to the Mount Fuji area and the towns of Yamanakako and Fujiyoshida.

Thank you for watching!🙏😍

it’s just me today
[Music]
almost 10 years 102 countries and
hundreds of trips later I took my first
solo trip and it was nothing like I
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expected one of Dan’s oldest friends is
starting his career as a doctor in the
US so the old Trio from middle school
had planned a big trip before Sean would
be left with one week of vacation a year
that meant I was going to be alone for
12 days and I decided to try exploring
one of my favorite countries Japan on my
own for the first time the only problem
the whole thing felt a little daunting
for the both of us all right it’s uh
been about 4 hours since Dan left
there’s something very weird when you’re
together almost every day I think it’s
been about 4 years since we were
separated for more than like 3 days
realizing already how sort of dependent
we are on each other I kind of feel like
I don’t really know what to do when I’m
alone I don’t feel like I have any
motivation to do anything why should I
even be working or why should I go out
for a walk like literally anything feels
pointless which is so crazy but Oscar
and I are both really into Health as
well and I think we both know deep down
that it’s really healthy to be alone or
to be with other people and not be with
the same person 24/7 I think especially
for Oscar this will be a really really
eye openening and meaningful trip I do
wonder if this solo trip is going to
change any of that learning to be with
myself a little more yeah excited to see
what this
brings and so I hit the road
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[Applause]
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[Applause]
I’m in
Japan all right so what have I done so
far well
yesterday was interesting for sure cuz I
checked out the public bath in the hotel
I called down and I tried to book it
she’s like oh don’t need booking and I
was like um no bathing suit right she’s
like oh naked so yeah it was very naked
down there and uh let’s just say you
haven’t completely left your comfort
zone until you’ve been the only
Foreigner inide and Onsen with like 20
other Japanese people it took a while to
get used to it so I’m trying out this
sweet
potato so simple is this some sauce I
guess so oh no don’t eat oxygen absorber
yeah good thing I didn’t eat that it’s
so strange being
alone cuz I really haven’t done this in
forever now it’s like I call all the
shots cuz it’s just myself I don’t need
to consult with anyone literally every
single thing that I do I’m like I want
to share this with Dan like I want to
share this moment I want to do this
together but I don’t know this is just
the first day and I’m curious to see how
things develop and if I’ll get more sort
of comfortable in my own presence maybe
so far so good but yeah we’ll see how it
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develops as a first stop I checked out
Narita City and I’m almost ashamed to
say I only thought this was a namesake
of the airport but the city is actually
so beautiful and has a stunning Temple
and a connecting Park wow who would have
thought that old Narita was so beautiful
but above all just being in nature like
this being in the forest even if we’re
pretty much smack in the middle of
Narita it feels
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amazing you guys have no idea how that
stream was well it’s basically like this
but it was even tighter at some points
usually when you drive in a new country
like sometimes it’ll be very like
uncomfortable at least I find it’s very
uncomfortable cuz you’re like can I
depend on the other drivers like what is
driving here like in general in Japan
I’m not so worried about that but what
I’m worried about is the like booklet of
rules that I got yesterday of like this
is the fine you get if you do this or
like this is what happens if you break
this law or like if you get a scratch
you need to report it to the police you
land it’s dark outside it’s basically
the middle of the night you’re like yeah
okay great um now I’m very
comfortable after a few hours in Narita
I made my way across Tokyo without
stopping in the city heading for a
destination to the West now the bad
thing about it only being me driving is
that I can’t record anything while I’m
driving obviously so I’m not able to
show you how insane this drive was first
of all on the highways straight through
to Tokyo so cool and then now we’ve
entered the mountains and I really wish
I could document it but you know safety
first
okay guys just a
second where the hell am I so for
tonight I booked this like tiny Hotel
it’s not even a hotel like I guess a
guest house and I don’t think I realized
how in the middle of nowhere it was it’s
supposed to be like a completely
vegetarian um place that’s why I booked
it and everyone was raving about it
online so I’m hoping it’s good right now
it just feels like I’m at the beginning
of some crazy scary movie though which
is kind of unsettling but I’m fairly
close to Mount Fuji there’s this Lake
and I thought it was going to be like
right next to the lake sort of this
place but I ended up driving like
straight into the forest like no houses
around for close to 10 minutes like
straight into the forest so um wish be
luck let’s just say this is not ideal
for someone who’s scared of the dark I’m
quickly going to get inside and see if
I’m even at the right
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spot
okay this is
it luckily I was at the right place and
despite the dark and ominous
surroundings the inside at least felt
slightly less creepy okay um there were
other people here I’m not alone that
feels good there was like a German
couple I think and the owners seemed to
be like an old married couple they were
super cute very welcoming the room I
already feel like this is going to turn
into a meme of like when osar travels
with
Dan and when Oscar travels
alone this is very like budget Oscar and
Dan 2016 2017 core it’s lovely
regardless comforting myself with a
little banana soy
milk which is really good actually
really good I’ve never tried the
non-vegan version of banana milk
but this is
great given how I arrived here at night
I admittedly didn’t feel very
comfortable but thankfully the owners of
the guest house were lovely and cooked
an absolutely amazing dinner for the
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guests okay I was a little too hard on
this room before it’s it’s fine it’s
absolutely fine it’s just you know it’s
be bones so after dinner I went down to
sit in the lobby kind of thing or lounge
whatever they call it and I started
speaking to a couple that was sitting
down there and turned out that they were
Russian and we went on to have the most
interesting convers iations I’ve had a
long time while traveling we spoke a lot
about like how they get different
products from abroad because they’re not
available in Russia anymore and how
there’s all these different workarounds
with people in like Kazakhstan
usbekistan for example like reselling
products from Asia especially you know
they said that the Young Generation in
Russia generally don’t support the war
and they said that they don’t think that
sanctions really hurt the people that
you know it should hurt people debate
that back and forth right but is really
interesting to actually hear about
people who are subject to sanctions or
live in a country that is subject to
sanctions because I feel like we rarely
get to hear their perspective anyway I’m
going to head to bed now and I’ll see
you in the morning
okay come on stay in
place okay
whatever seeing this place in daylight
made me realize how cute and peaceful it
was and it was honestly a big sigh of
relief to see it like this compared to
the horror movie image I’d gotten at
night let’s not be overly dramatic here
but yeah I was definitely in some weird
state of mind when I arrived after
breakfast which again was amazing and
cooked by the host I headed out into the
village to get a view of Japan’s tallest
mountain and this was my genuine
reaction to seeing it for the first
time oh my
God that’s Mount Fuji oh my God
it okay nothing can prepare
you for how huge it is in real life when
you’re this
close
holy guacamole okay it’s not a fully
clear day but still look at this
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okay I’ve decided to hike up to the very
top of the mountain it’s not supposed to
be super far it’s about 250 M an
elevation difference I guess there quite
a lot actually I want to see if I can
totally get away from that and just be
entirely alone cuz since I’m doing the
solo trip now for the first time why not
go all in and try to be as lonely as
possible not as lonely as possible get
as much Solitude as possible might be a
better way of putting it
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now okay wait now the mountain is all
fogged up and uh I I’m literally all
alone up here the fog is super thick and
it’s all around me but I’m actually
feeling really good because I feel like
it’s easy to get scared in a situation
like this I’m all alone up here on the
mountain like what if something happens
but I feel fairly confident or very
confident actually that I’ll be able to
figure out whatever happens up here I
don’t know it’s a nice feeling of
self-sufficiency I guess self-efficacy
that I’ll be able to handle whatever
comes up and I really
enjoy this aspect of being alone I
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guess here we
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are okay the fog is not really clearing
up so I guess down we go it’s okay this
hike is like the ultimate Testament to
the fact that it’s not about the
destination it’s about the journey the
point of me going up there was to get an
even better view all alone but actually
what I ended up discovering happened on
the journey up there and once I got up
there I didn’t even get to see what I
was originally going there for but
throughout the journey I came to a
beautiful realization so I think that’s
kind of yeah it encapsulates that lesson
very
well okay
if I was going to describe the vibe of
this area I would say that it’s almost
like a Japanese version of the Pacific
Northwest in the US like it feels a bit
like a suburb to Portland Oregon or
something like that yeah that’s the vibe
I’m getting from it I love it here so
much I’m so grateful I rented a car it
is amazing to explore Japan by a train
but I feel like everyone kind of end up
ends up going to the same places right
which is kind of inevitable and yeah you
just get to you know have complete
flexibility and go to all the places you
want to go in the little tiny spots that
not a lot of international tourists go
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to that evening I decided to leave the
seclusion and drive to the the most well
visited town around Mount Fuji and see
this iconic pagota View and to be honest
it did not disappoint in the least it
was even better in person than it looks
on
video of course I was far from the only
person there and ironically going from
the remoteness of yamanakako to being
surrounded by people made me feel
lonlier than I’d felt on the entire trip
so
far bye-bye room was nice knowing
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you I love how I have no idea what the
car is telling me at any given
point let’s crack open these windows
today there are no
clouds oh it’s such an amazing day I was
like the air it’s almost like skin Ean
air almost so if anyone is wondering if
I find it difficult to drive on the left
side of the road as soon as I got my
driver’s license we started traveling
quite a lot and uh like living abroad
and that kind of stuff so I actually
drove almost as much in countries with
like left lane traffic as in countries
with right lane traffic I honestly don’t
really have a preference obviously now
maybe I’m a little more used to driving
on the right side but the thing that
takes me the longest to get used to is
honestly like the blinkers or the like
windshield wipers like whenever I turn I
always activate the windshield wipers
instead and I do think like even if
you’re not used to it it doesn’t really
take that long to like figure it out
because it’s you’re doing literally the
exact same thing as you’re always doing
you’re just doing it the opposite way or
obite turn I think I’m supposed to turn
down here right yes cuz there’s a y this
is so Random there’s a YMCA here I’m
like why literally why
but yeah I can’t wait to show you guys
this I just stand here for now
okay look at
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this what
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you know I really don’t think it gets
much better than this you know what I
should get out of the way so I’m not
blocking gorgeous view here guys I think
one of the things I’ve appreciated the
most about this trip so far is just
being able to do everything I want to do
when I want to do it honestly I feel
like something else I’m actually
starting to appreciate it’s just being
alone in general I don’t know it’s weird
I was so scared of it oh wow the swans
are taking off I was so scared of being
alone not necessarily like being alone
with my thoughts just not getting to
share everything that I’m doing with Dan
especially or with someone in general
cuz whenever I’ve sort of been alone for
a day or two in the past like maybe day
and traveling or whatever my sentiment
has always kind of been like what’s the
point of me doing anything like an
experience had alone didn’t feel like an
experience worth having or a real
experience like it was like it didn’t
happen almost or it didn’t count but I
feel like now the deeper I’m getting
into this trip it’s showing me that no
that’s it’s just a different type of
experience I mean I keep sending Dam
messages all the time where I’m like
look where what I just saw and like all
these things and he keeps sending me
stuff it’s
like yeah we’re still sharing things
it’s just lot
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of the interesting thing about this is I
feel like I’m kind of reconnecting with
an older version of myself or maybe the
kid within me because when I was a kid I
loved being alone to the point that I
refused to play with any of the other
kids at school during recess I would
always just prefer to walk around alone
in the forest and just like be creative
and think about different worlds and I
would like compose music in my head I
would play Harry Potter I would play
being whatever like different characters
and so in a way I was kind of hoping
actually that this trip would help me
reconnect a little bit or rekindle that
aspect of myself because I mean I think
a lot of people can relate to this that
there’s so little opportunity in our
busy modern world to like be alone just
be creative and use our minds and not
just constantly get like dopamine kicks
from our phones or other technology so
I’m actually really grateful that I’m
already sort of experiencing a little
bit of that and I’m looking forward to
seeing um where this continues
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going so the time has come to leave
yamanakako and this area today I am
driving to a very special accommodation
I’m very excited for this was by far the
most expensive accommodation I booked
and I just feel so lucky about the views
I’ve gotten of Mount Fuji it’s been
insane while I’m here so in order to get
to my next destination I’m going to be
driving down to the coast the southern
coast from here and then do sort of like
a loop and go back up so I’m betting on
it being a pretty scenic drive today as
well which again you will unfortunately
not get to see but trust me the drive
from M Fuji down to numazu was
incredible and I think it would probably
be even more beautiful in the opposite
direction okay I’ve driven all the way
down to a coastal town now and look you
can still
see Al
Fuji there even from down here by the
coast
[Music]
let’s check what the sea is like on the
2nd of April in
Num okay wait it’s very steep
yeah it’s not
boiling but it’s not too
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bad oh my God the cherry
trees I haven’t seen a lot of cherry
blossoms until now because the area I’ve
been in has been on you know a higher
altitude so the blossoms come there
later usually so now now that I’m down
by the ocean again here the blossoms are
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blooming also major bonus points to
Japan
for what I was going to say was kudos to
Japan for having free water fountains
and uh public toilets everywhere it’s
dripping from this branch cuz it shot so
high just to show you guys I’m not
kidding I continued making pit stops all
along the coast getting snacks and
taking in views along the way before I
started driving up into the mountains
again toward a village called minobu
this small village is situated at the
foot of a Holy Mountain within Japanese
Buddhism and here I had booked an
overnight in a traditional Japanese
theam guest house inside a temple okay
now I’m kind of regretting that I only
have one night here look at this this is
my room T it’s a little messy on the
table cuz she showed me like a million
things to do around here and I’m like um
I only have one night so here’s the
entrance and uh the whole floor is of
course to Tommy mat here is the bedroom
which is I mean it’s my mattress and
that’s it and then we have my little
outdoor indoor space which is huge like
I can’t believe this is all for me and
the best part is she just booked for me
to do the like it’s not really an onson
she said but it’s like a hot bath with
water coming straight from the mountain
I’m very excited I’m doing that in about
half an hour hopefully I’ll have time
okay I should run out now and try to see
a bit of the village while there’s still
some daylight left okay there’s a lot
going on cuz then I also apparently have
dinner at 6:30 and she was very
insistent on me being there at 6:30
sharp for dinner so I’m not entirely
sure how I will have time to do
everything but let’s
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go so basically what this is is a temple
stay but I think it’s like slightly more
premium and like I said this was like by
far my most expensive night my rate that
I booked was excluding dinner it
included breakfast though but it
excludes dinner and now she convinced me
to add dinner for 5,000 yen not super
cheap but um hey I’m doing it cuz I want
to try the temple food and they were
very accommodating with you know the
whole vegan request most of the food
they serve is vegetarian she said but
there’s a lot of dashi broth that they
use which is like a fish base so that’s
always the problem in Japan but hey I’m
very grateful that they’re sorting
something out you hear
that they’re running
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[Applause]
water I’m so pissed right now I’m
kidding I’m seeing how the videos I’m
taking are just not doing this place
Justice CU I think something’s just
weird with the lighting today yeah
you’re not really getting that glow but
trust me it is beautiful and as I came
here with a car it felt like I’d been
transported into some fairy T Land There
was just this magic energy surrounding
it somehow honestly you can kind of feel
the spiritual energy I it’s really
palpable sometimes uh which I think is
always very interesting prettiest public
restroom I’ve seen in my
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life through this gate is where you can
go up the massive staircase oh yeah it
does look massive and apparently there’s
morning meditation here starts at 5:30
I’m still very jetlagged I don’t know
I’ve done morning meditation before it’s
been lovely but I’m not sure I feel like
I need to do it again if you know what I
mean but I’ll definitely come and walk
up these stairs tomorrow
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[Applause]
okay so after a quick Express bath I’m
ready for
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dinner so exciting
this dinner was honestly one of the most
incredible dining experiences I’ve ever
had the intricacy of each dish was just
beyond and the creativity of this kind
of traditional Temple food is truly Next
Level they even managed to make a
version of nat fermented soybeans that I
liked by frying it as a piece of tempura
I’m sure this isn’t the first time that
this has been done but I was really
impressed
regardless all right it’s getting quite
late and people are going to bit hurt
early because I think a lot of people
are doing the morning meditation I don’t
think anyone else is still
awake oh or maybe they are I feel really
good about doing the meditation tomorrow
because there’s two things one this is
kind of the benefit of being on a solo
trip I get to decide everything for
myself that’s just not something I want
to do tomorrow so I won’t do it second
thing is if You’ asked me a year ago I
would have probably had too much fomo to
not do it but I feel like the older I
get I just feel like no you know if I
don’t feel like doing something I’m not
gonna feel forced to do it tomorrow
morning I’ll see you at around 8 o’clock
after exploring this Village at the
temple I am so excited for sort of the
final step of this trip going back to
where I lived and worked in Japan for
about 3 months into
my six years ago and I’m very excited to
be in the same place and kind of reflect
on where I’ve G since
then I’m very EXC
next time on Oscar and Dan let’s just
say it couldn’t be more different one of
the most
transformative experiences and I just
might make a last minute change I’ve
been close to tears would I do a solo
trip again