This Isn’t the Japan You’re Used To – Motorcycle Journey

This Isn’t the Japan You’re Used To – Motorcycle Journey

Good morning, people. It’s 7:45 in the morning
and we are in Wakayama. I think that for those of you
who have been following our adventure, it may be a bit confusing
as to why we are here in Wakayama. Because in our last video, well,
we were up north in Hokkaido, but we have something to share
with you guys. But I think it’s Kaito
who should tell you the news. Look at my new bike, guys. That’s right. This is Kaito’s new ride. I didn’t change the name. It’s still ‘Zipangu’. Look at this. She’s so so beautiful. Yeah. It matches you so well, Boo. So yeah basically
we were in Hokkaido. We did this amazing one week tour in Hokkaido. Then we flew back to Osaka
and then we went back to Kyoto to pick up Kaito’s new motorbike. And, well, now we’re here. So let me get on the bike
and I’ll tell you what the plan from now on is going to be like. I’m so excited to get going on the bike. We haven’t told you,
but we rested for a few days in Kyoto. As much as we love riding motorbikes, sometimes you just need to park
your bike somewhere and do something else, you know. That’s the only way
that this kind of trips are sustainable in the long term, you know. Because if you ride your bike
every day, well, you just get tired sometimes. Look at that blue sky today. Okay, let’s turn this on. So we are here. And this is the Kii Peninsula. So we’ve basically traveled
all the east side of Japan so far. All of this side.
We even went to Hokkaido, which we were not planning on doing this year,
but we did. We went all the way up
there, came down here. Now we’re here. So the plan from now on
is to visit the Kii Peninsula. We’re going to be going down south here. We’ve already been to Mie and we’ve already
visited Nara a couple of times. So we’re not going to be visiting
Nara this time. My first time here in Japan,
we went there. We went there last year
when my dad came to visit. So we’re going to be skipping Nara
and we’re going to be driving down south. Then we’re going to be visiting
Shikoku over here. Look at all the things
we want to visit in Shikoku. And then we’re going
to be going down to Kyushu. Here. This is going to be so fun. So basically this part here, Yamaguchi,
Hiroshima, Shimane. This is the Chugoku Region
and we’ve traveled extensively there already. Last year
a little bit and two years ago also. Even before starting this YouTube channel,
we traveled extensively that area. So that’s why we’re not going to be going
this year over there. Well, let’s go. We were staying at this place
called ‘Christmas something’. Look at that. Santa at the entrance. The weather is so much better now, guys. No more temperatures over 30°C. This is great. This is the perfect temperature
to be riding our bikes. Okay. Stop. Well, today
we’re going to be heading to Katsuraga. If I remember well, the name of the city. It’s not always easy
remembering all these Japanese names. It’s going to be about 200 kilometers. Not too short. Not too long. That’s perfect, because we love
stopping everywhere. And on the way there, we plan on visiting
this place called the Nachi Waterfall, which is actually Japan’s
tallest waterfall. It’s actually a power spot here. And it’s also a sacred spot for Japanese. There seems to be a bit of a traffic jam
here. You look so good on that bike, Boo. Right now, where we’re heading, it’s not actually the Nachi waterfall, but we plan on stopping at this Torii gate. It’s called the Oyunara. It’s hard to remember. So we’re going to be going there first
and then head to the waterfall. And this Torii gate, actually,
it’s the world’s largest Torii gate. Where we’re going right now, is actually rural Wakayama. We’re still in a city right here. They still have these
pretty old buildings around here. But yeah, we’re in a pretty big city,
I can say. And we’re heading towards
a very rural area of Japan. Wow, look at this. Oh, so much green. The Yoshino River. This is called the Yoshino River
right here. There seems to be a lot of hot
springs around this area. That’s the cool thing about Japan, you know. Every time you
go somewhere up in the mountains, you always find a hot spring. So now that the weather
is getting a little bit colder, it’s going to be nice. I mean, in summer, even when you go up in the mountains,
it’s still pretty hot, you know? So getting into a 45°C
pool is not that fun. But right now, it goes down to 18°C more or less at night. So if we find one of these hot
spring towns, it will be really nice stopping by
and spending a night or two there. And just enjoy and relax in the
hot springs. It’s actually pretty cold here, you know. I didn’t close this
all the way up because it was warmer when we started riding. But now
that we’re here in the mountains, is actually kind
of cold, not even chilly. Cold. Oh, but
I got to say, this road is wonderful. Wonderful to be on a motorbike. There’s a little cafe here. Can we go? No, huh? Ah no, this car is waiting here. I thought it was the car
of the construction or something. Oh, wow. This tunnel is literally super
straight. It’s actually quite long,
but you could see the exit from the beginning,
from the entrance of the tunnel. I don’t think you have this kind of
tunnels everywhere. Not this straight, at least. There’s this station here,
but everything seems closed now. Woohoo! Look at the river down there. Wow. It must be freezing. The water must be freezing now. This is a very narrow and winding road here. There are parts where there’s barely
any space for two cars at the same time. You see that? A bus going up this road. Uff. Good luck, man. It’s not going to be easy. Oh, look at this house here. Whatever that was, it’s almost gone now. Oh, it’s a bit warmer down here. Wow. The color of the water! Look at that! Emerald green, literally. Wow. There’s quite a few houses
in this area. And I’m just sitting here wondering
where all these people go to buy groceries, because this place is pretty secluded. Look at the color of the water here. I mean, this is incredible! Look at that. What are they doing there? More houses here. Really, where do they go grocery shopping? Oh, my God. Look at this road here. Oh, this is nuts. It’s amazing what Japan has done
to connect all of these little towns out here in the mountains, to the main cities. The number of tunnels
we’ve gone across today, I mean, we’ve been through
at least 20 tunnels. I’m not exaggerating. Literally. Or maybe even more. And look, there’s another one ahead. It’s just amazing. On the other hand, no matter where you are in the country,
it doesn’t feel really remote, you know? There’s always a main road
connecting that small town to another city. So, yeah, you’re not really in a remote,
remote area of Japan. We’re 2 minutes away from this place and look at this. All of a sudden
we find this tiny town here. Quite beautiful, I’ve got to say. I wasn’t expecting this.
There was literally nothing, nothing for kilometers and kilometers. I just want to – What a nice town. Can we park here? It says it’s just there. Oh! Oh, it was right here. Look at that. The Torii is right here. I was busy looking at the shops
and everything. Wow. It’s huge. Where can we park? Maybe over there at the road side station? Okay, let’s do a U-turn then. Can we park here? Okay. Wow. This torii gate is incredible. It’s just so, so big. Look at that. Oh, this is incredible. This Torii gate was actually built
back in the year 2000 to commemorate, in a way, a beautiful shrine
that was here and that got damaged by a big, big flood back in 1889. It was called the Kumano Hongu Taisha. So it’s one of the most important shrines
in the whole of Japan. It was right here and it was destroyed. So they decided to build this Torii gate
to commemorate that shrine. And now that shrine was rebuilt
somewhere else, not here. And, well, the prefecture didn’t
expect this place to become a touristic attraction, but given that it is
the largest Torii gate in Japan, well, many, many people are coming now
to visit this place. I thought this was only for pedestrians,
but apparently Taxis can come here too. Well, now you know. You can get a ride to get to the world’s
tallest Torii gate. And they will drop
you exactly at the Torii gate. I feel so tiny right now. This thing is huge. 34 meters tall. 34. That’s about ten floors. Wow. What I really, really enjoy
about visiting the shrines here in Japan, is how they manage to keep this
very nice balance between the man-built buildings and the nature that surrounds
the buildings, you know. We went in there,
there was this really beautiful path surrounded by these big pine trees. And it’s always like that. I really, really love that. Well, now we’re going to be heading
to this other place that I told you about before. The Nachi waterfall, the tallest waterfall in Japan. It’s basically
almost at the tip of the Kii Peninsula. We’re only about an hour away
from that place, and well, we got to look for a place
to have lunch on the way there, because I’m getting really hungry. But I have a feeling we’re not going to be
finding a lot of options. There’s almost nothing on this road. We haven’t even seen a convenience store. That is very, very rare. I think I saw a ramen shop somewhere here. We just did a U-turn. Somewhere here. Ramen. It says Ramen. Can we park here? I think so. Oh, they have chickens. I’ve never seen chickens running
wild in Japan. This is a pretty cool system to order. Look at that. Look at what we just got here. This looks so yummy. Kaito went with the salt ramen, and I went with the miso ramen. Look at this. This is burdock. Fried burdock. You got what? This is pork, maybe? Eggs, a couple vegetables there and
well, the noodles. And I have some meat here,
corn, lettuce, egg. This is the miso paste,
and this is butter. I don’t think I’m going to be eating
that butter, though. I actually want to eat this. It’s really good. This is so good. Much better than chips. It’s always in those small restaurants located far away from the big cities,
that you find the best food. That was absolutely delicious. Look at that. There are all sort of tiny cafes here. But anyways, let’s go! Wow, man. This is beautiful. Look at the color of this water here. Just amazing. Look at that. Look at that! We’re almost there. But it has started drizzling. I hope we’re not going to have heavy rain
anytime soon. The road to the waterfall
seems to be a pretty winding road. Look at that. Okay. There’s a couple of hairpins on this road. Look at that waterfall! Wow! Look at that. Oh, my God. Wow! Amazing. This is just so beautiful. Oh. I think we’re here. We’re here. This place is beautiful. Look at that. Tallest waterfall in Japan. 133 meters. This is what I was telling you
about earlier. The great balance between
the man-built things, like the Torii gate you see over there,
the path right here, and nature. I mean, beautiful. We’re going to go all the way
up to the shrine, which is located
at the top of this mountain. And it’s going to take us about
30 minutes. The thing is, the road looks
like this. Like this. And it’s pretty steep, as you can see. And well, we are wearing our adventure
suits with our riding boots. So it’s not the best gear to do this
walk, honestly. But here we go. I can’t believe this. The three-story pagoda’s under restoration right now. Here’s how it looks when it’s not being restored. It’s hard to see on camera, but the waterfall’s right back there. Do you see it? I was hoping to see them side by side. Too bad. Ori’s already up there. She’s kinda bummed. We made it to the top. We are here at the shrine and this is the starting point
of the Kumano Trail pilgrimage. As you can see
we’re right here and the pilgrimage it goes, well, this is the route here. It covers a distance of 14.5 kilometers, and it takes about 7 hours
to do this whole trail. This is the start of the trail. Kumano Trail. Well, this is as far as we go. The trail continues up there for 14
and a half kilometers. I don’t think I’ll fit. Probably not. I think you can go. We’ve found this 800-year-old tree and you can actually go across it. It is pretty narrow. Wow. Look at that. It’s not 800 years old, 850 years old. And there’s some stairs here to exit from this side. This is incredible, I’ve got to say. I was not expecting going across
a 850-year-old tree. Wow. Is it this one? This house? Oh, it’s here. Okay. Nice. Well, we’re going to be leaving
both of our bikes here, and I’m going to show you where
we’re going to be staying. This is actually
a very traditional Japanese guest house. You find these type of places all over the country and they’re honestly
super, super convenient. So as you can see,
it looks just like a regular house. There are – I don’t know how many rooms,
but many of them. And we’ve got a private toilet,
but not a private shower. So there’s a common shower here. This is the first floor. No shoes allowed. So I’m just going to leave them there. And here – Well, there’s a toilet over here. Over here there is a shower room. It looks like this. And there’s also another shower over here with a bathtub. Over here. It has a little space here to get dressed up. And this is what it looks like. Sorry. And we’re staying on the second floor. Welcome. Look at this tiny room. One, two, three tatamis. There’s basically enough space
for both of our futons. And that’s it. I love this. It’s such a convenient little space. We have a bathroom here. I mean a toilet. I wasn’t expecting
to have a toilet in the room. There’s also a sink here and yeah, a couple of things here. A tiny, tiny fridge. Look at that. With air conditioner. And this. Yes. This is genius. Because the space is very limited. I mean, this is genius. And, you know,
this kind of places are all over Japan. And we thought, why not? Let’s stay here. We found – There’s a whole lot of hotels around this area
and they were quite expensive. And since we only book the day before
staying, most of them were already booked. So we found this one and we said, well,
it’s small, but let’s do it. And I actually really, really like it. Yeah. It’s going to be a cozy night. Well,
I think that’s going to be all for today. We’re going to be taking our showers
very soon and probably head out for a
walk, maybe have some coffee and yeah, just relax a little bit here
and get ready for tomorrow again. Thank you guys
so much for joining us on this adventure. And if you liked this video,
don’t forget to give it a big thumbs up and also subscribe down
below to the channel. See you in the next adventure. Bye.

Join us on a motorcycle journey through one of Japan’s most overlooked regions — Wakayama. We ride deep into the mountains to discover ancient shrines, quiet coastal roads, and Nachi Falls, a breathtaking waterfall hidden far from the tourist crowds. This is the side of Japan few ever get to see.

Japan Motorcycle Trip: Episode 28

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