The Ultimate Japan Road Trip from Tokyo – Gyoza and Hidden Shrines

The Ultimate Japan Road Trip from Tokyo – Gyoza and Hidden Shrines

hello everyone Hello YouTube We’re on our first stop here We’re in a city called Kuki It’s just literally like 40 minutes outside the city of Tokyo Uh in Saitama Prefecture We rented a car for 1 week We’re taking the car up and around to different cities and circling back to Tokyo within a week Oh I can see you Oh Hello Turtle I wasn’t even seeing that Okay Well there like that’s cool There’s some spears there I haven’t seen that at a shrine before Those eyebrows are crazy like that So we’re going to be going up and around different cities uh like Nikico Mount Haruna some Karawa something Matsamoto Nagago and back to Kawagucho then back to Tokyo Our goal is to go to new places outside Tokyo see smaller cities see mountainous beautiful places Maybe get a little lost like take the road just take a random exit like we did here and find a random lake and a we’re lost Yeah and actually a really cute coffee shop called Beacon And just uh just see where the world takes us for this next week Might be the most fun week we’ve ever had in Japan Or could be the most boring week I’ve never had I don’t know I didn’t plan anything I don’t think it’s not going to be boring cuz I’m already having fun Oh great That’s cuz I planned it Oh my god Look at all these cute cars We don’t get the Suzuki is so cool Oh my god What is this car look at that How cute it is I know I wish we had that Oh he’s on the raised wheels too What very kawaii It’s a little G Wagon Like Oh it is smaller G If this was in the US people would love it This car is only like 25 grand too It’s so cheap Yo Chad check it out This is what we’re rocking baby We got right here in the flesh It’s so small That’s right Toyota Yarus dude Yay A hybrid version Although Wow Look at that [Music] I’ve been standing here It’s so small But it did it did fit like all the things that we have Okay I’m in What side do I drive on again the left side Left side Yes left side All right chat Seems okay On the road again On the road again On the road again What is the best place in Japan to go if you want a cheap holiday i think Fukuoka is fun I mean if if you need to go to a big city Fukoka is like really cool Not and a little bit cheaper than Tokyo for sure Uh Saporro is cool Sai is cool Tokyo is definitely the most expensive but Tokyo is too expensive The truth is you can also go to Tokyo and just be really cheap Oh that’s true I mean I stayed at the capsule for the first night It was like $30 It was really good experience for me You need a capsule hotel It’s actually really good Oh there’s a drive stop Dude we got a She drive through Hello Hello Oh hello Um oh hello Oh I can see you Oh hello Uh Matcha you look so cool She’s on screen It’s like having a Zoom call at Starbucks in Japan Oh my god Hi You this is my Starbucks that I’ve that I’ve Yes First time First time Thank you So are are you from Utamia me too Uh actually I’m from Osaka Oh Osaka I’m moving to Ohio Ohio in America In December Oh what i’m so happy to that side Okay I will come back soon Enjoy Thank you Have a good day Bye-bye Bye-bye A she’s so nice We are here in Utsu Nomia That was loud Uh so quick TLDDR guys This is not one of the main stops of our trip but like I said along the way we want to get lost or do random stuff Utu Nomia I came here 2 years ago and is famous for gyoza It’s You came here with Andy i came here by myself when I took that solo like road trip north on the train Okay Jesus Anyways famous for gyoza I came here two years ago Uh it was a crazy stream but I had the guoza It was really good So I thought hey it’s right it’s kind of on the way Why not let water try the famous gyoza and do some here we are We’re going to go stand in line Hopefully not too big of a line and just I’m not really that hungry actually but just one order Share the the guilt Yeah just get one order try it out and that’s it Oh look at that the other street Look at this though They have a literal smartphone stand You can put it here and then you can like Look at that That is so cool actually All right I’m going to put a timer on It’s a Wednesday It’s like 4:45 so it’s before dinner time so it’s perfect time to eat now True Oh thank you Oh smells crazy So this is maybe one of the most famous gyoza places in all of Nihon It’s a very small It’s old school It’s been here forever This is the mean gyoza They have three types of gyoza here They have the yaki gyoza which is gyoza that you know of like the pan fried boiled and they have the deep fried gyoza And then you know this different Yeah these are the different set meals that you can get So this is like a two person set So it comes with 10 or sorry 12 gyozas rice and something else And this is the one person set Yes our seat does have the fart hole Yes Super simple menu They just got the I wish we could show them frying them up but they were doing they’re racking up gyoza And so usually this place has a pretty big line Oh really that wraps around even to the other side But we came in on an off day at an off time which is really That’s good timing Yeah we got five gyozas for $2 That’s pretty good Six 360 is about like two six gild Oh sorry Six gildza for $2.20 So here we go This is our uh All right Jess Here’s our Gizna I do remember last time it being a little bit more crispy on the outside but is it crispy when you bite it pretty good Crispy It’s pretty good Crispy inside Could be a little bit more crispy to be honest I like when it has that the thick layer of the bottom Yeah Pretty juicy Speaking of hot steam rising All right guys We’re now leaving Utenomia and we’re headed to our first destination which is in Niko the hotel first I think Cuz I don’t know what to do in Niko night time Probably nothing to do Questions let us know Dude I had a squirrel pet What seriously you had a pet squirrel yeah but I think somehow Wait wait don’t tell me what Keep going What dude we don’t eat a squirrel I wasn’t even thinking that What you’re trying to ask me if you freaking eat squirrel I wasn’t even thinking that So I think on the mountain that there’s some kids had the squirrel pad and then somehow like somehow the one of the kid got bitten by the squirrel Yeah Be careful of that Yeah And I’ve never seen that kid again It’s cuz he might have got rabies Dude I thought I had rabies Where when when the bat peed in my eye Oh my god A bat peed in my eye in Bali Lava That’s Oh what the What are you i think the bats are in my eye Oh it burns Uh we are in uh Niko which is just north of uh Tokyo Really beautiful place A lot of people come here especially when the leaves are changing I think in the winter time you can come here as well Um we’ve actually been nearby Niko before to Edeto Wonderland Um we’re here just for one night So we’re kind of hopping around This is our first night first location Uh we’re probably going to town But I think it’s a very small town It might be closing pretty early here Uh maybe grab a bite to eat walk around the little town and then we’ll head back get some rest early and be ready for tomorrow Mos bagas So basically the original Moss burgers is basically it’s a burger I think it has a little bit of cheese and it has like this little like kind of like tomato chili sauce and has a slice of tomato That’s like the original Look at this They do have onion rings Can you put this like onion here’s the Mossburg burger Now I think I remember the patty is made from some pork It might be a mix of pork and beef or just pork cheese You have like I think you have some sort of mayonnaise or tarter sauce onions some sort of like tomato chili a slice of tomato and bun It’s really good But the thing is like I said it’s a very different flavor than like a normal burger You have onion tomato sauce It’s very very like fresh ingredients for a fast food burger I would give it a 7.8 Like I would maybe even eight I don’t know I would eat it again Let me see your belly Let me see your belly Whoa dude Let’s go Six-pack baby All right let it loose Oh my god Holy [ __ ] It’s not that bad right no it’s definitely not that bad Yeah it could be worse It’s the lighting but I’m blowing up But actually have a six-pack when I’m natural Uh we’re on day two of our adventure out here We’re in Niko Japan which is like just a couple hours north of Tokyo We’re going to check out some of Niko We’re going to um check out the bridge a shrine a lake and then we’re going to drive to Tak Takasaki and a waterfall And a waterfall Okay we’re going to go hang out with the grandma right now Are you down you give a She said right now they only have soba and yuba So there we go So yuba I think this is just her house Like this is straight up Yeah this is her house Yeah we’re going to sit down Take a seat Come on Let’s get lively It smells like my grandma’s house Dude this place might be awesome Like look what’s behind us What the heck is going on this place has been here for 65 years I guess she’s either making or selling clay stuff What is it is this Is that her like with the boss of Nico wait that is This is in here Wait that is her dude She’s totally been serving up soba for 60 years Here we are in a the grandma’s house warehouse of soba We have a cold soba noodles here uh with some soba sauce which I love And got some wasabi and green onion to put inside I love wasabi and my soba sauce Going to mix up that wasabi in there And we have some yuba which is a tofu skin and then some pickled radish and some little pickled stuff Yep She’s like the freaking grandma from the anime Oh man she’s so nice She’s so cute I want to say if I had to rate the place on friendliness and just overall vibes 9.7 out of 10 Once I get down to the food the yuba actually was awesome I give the yuba like an 8.5 out of 10 Really tasty Really tasty Really like warming to the soul The soba not it was it was sobba It was sobba Uh this is not my favorite soap I’ve had I would give it maybe a five out of 10 The grandma working hard in there for a long time So cheers to her and thanks for giving us such a wonderful experience in your house And Tess said the grandma was in the kitchen in the window No way Oh she wasn’t Yeah No No No No No way What the heck is that is that a little bus oh my god Yeah There’s no way she was sitting out there doing like a scary game like just like No she wants to hear what you’re going to say So typically if you’re coming to Nico the best way to do this is actually not to drive here because the public transport is so good I would suggest what you do is you come here on the train It’s like 2-hour train north of Tokyo You can leave in the morning arrive here in the morning and then you come here and then they have like a bus A bus can take you all around the city You can actually do a day trip from Tokyo if you’re really early Wouldn’t suggest it Probably come here for one night But that’s usually the best way There’s a huge river right here dude Look at this You can even go white water rafting Beautiful Beautiful Wow So pretty Very nice Oh the water is like a dark You see that balloonness a little bit with the with this You see that yeah Looks very fresh It’s super light blue What’s up there wow Beautiful So this is the Shinyo Bridge in Niko Cool We went there It’s the water tribe avatar I forgot his name The guy who got lost with the spirits world heritage shrines and temples of Niko Here we go There’s 200 steps I read Oh my Oh my god Not that much Tooka is the legit goat And this is a shrine Wait who is Tokugawu tokugawa Wait who someone said that this guy is the goat and this is his shrine He united Japan Really this looks cool already One of the unifiers of Japan That looks like a monk Maybe he is a monk He’s a bald Looks cool Looks like a Oh his eyebrows His eyebrows are crazy Like that like that uncle in the apartment used to live in Well that’s a cool little dragon shrine Dragon fountain Cool Yeah I love these trees These trees are cool We got a pagota Cool It looks like a pagota from Asakusa The mossi save point is really nice though All right guys We’re at Toshog Shrine We got our tickets 1,600 yen It’s like $12 We’re going in Supposedly this is the shriniest of all shrines I’ve been to a lot of shrines in Japan or China wherever So let’s see Wish shrine set itself apart Okay Well like that’s cool There’s some spears there I haven’t seen that at a shrine before Oh it’s like a gatekeeper Yeah that’s cool I’ve never seen the spears That’s new for shrines for me Everything else looks the same Although there’s a lot of different save points here Three sacred storehouses Okay So they store stuff in these places It’s a see no evil speak no evil hear no evil monkeys Cool Oh no here No sound no see Usually they repaint all these things like the really bright orange and bright yellow and bright colors I actually like this kind of looks more looks more like uh kept to original colors Cool I mean this place is cool cuz it feels more natury than other temples I’ve been to The other ones are like super bright golden Yeah I like it You know the other ones are bright orange So this is definitely shiny This is the most extravagant gate in Japan 58 carvings on the gate including dragons flying horses and other mythical beasts This guy here looks like Mr Keem please Whoa look at they have the golden eyes Look the What are these lions mythical beasts Birds ducks peacocks Imagine making this 500 years ago Like what the heck these people are tripping dude I think all these new things are definitely painted It’s definitely not looked like this 500 years ago Very Yeah Yeah Yeah they definitely restore it Keep it restored This should make it more colorful And these sites are pretty nice Here we go Shriny shrine time Wow I mean you know it’s pretty shriny Only people of the various high highest ranked were allowed to pass through this gate on special occasions The gates protected by sacred animals including ascending and descending dragon on both sides and by Chinese lions and dragons on the roof on the roof Each of the carved sections was carved from a single piece of wood Wow Yeah So there’s the dragons and there’s dragons on the top and there’s Chinese sages It’s welcoming for the dragons lions and and I think it’s just protected by the dragons and the Chinese sages and stuff I don’t know why And uh but why Chinese sages that’s the real question They invited them from China Yeah probably cuz that’s when they had the kanji Probably Well actually kanji was around before that I think But yeah history stuff If you like shrine you like nature definitely This one hits harder cuz of the nature surrounding it I uh It’s cool It’s cool It seems like a shrine that’s half religious but also half to celebrate this guy who unified Japan This is our first I’ve been to that has a collaboration with an Musha Gundam MK2 Tokugawa edition One out of 100 That’s crazy Oh we’re going up some steps Here’s some wisdom for the trip guys Life is like a long journey Carrying a heavy burden There’s no need to rush All right Inner shrine Only the shogun was able to enter the worship hall to pray Inner shrimp Wait Lord Takugawa is buried beneath the pagod The shogun was in here in 1617 Dude he’s living he’s dead in there Dude the main dude is literally buried in there It used to be wooden but they replaced it with this metal one but he’s been here since 1617 We’ll go back to the Toshogu shrine And thank you to Tooku Gawa for having us at your lovely estate You said it has the name wrong We’re moving on for anyone traveling to Tokyo and being like “Hey man I wanted to take a trip outside Tokyo.” You know a lot of people go to Hakone They go to “Oh I’m gonna go to Hakone I’m gonna go to the volcano I’m gonna go do some onen.” You know I it’s I guess it’s somewhat similar to Nikico Hakone like some vibes but you can just go to Nikico as well It’s cool man They got a cool shrine They got the red bridge Got some nature Got a lake Got Edeto Wonderland It’s like a church How about you church All right This is supposed to be the most beautiful Lawson in this country of Japan guys Wow Ivy with all the and an Indian restaurant on top This the strange Ivy Ivy I’m going to get something from Laen We’re going to do something crazy right now This is a brand new item I’ve never seen This is a matcha chocolate bun There it is Green It’s hot It’s already hot H Is it sweet it’s It’s exactly what you think it is It’s actually not too sweet It tastes more like It’s not really chocolatey It’s just macho Mhm It’s actually good Like if you had a coffee in this it’d be awesome That’s It’s actually bitter And of course we we have the heavy hitter One of the best little buns they have the pizza man Pizza man So pizza man is just a little bow that’s filled with It’s like a pizza Has cheese and like margarita tomato sauce That’s crazy That’s so good dude That actually smells like a pizza Yeah it’s really This is one of my favorite things in Japan Look at that cheese bowl What the hell that’s the craziest cheese bowl I’ve ever seen in my life All right guys Well we have made it to Takasaki which is our uh rest point of the day before we head up into the mountains of Mount Haruna and Ka Kui Zawa or something I found there’s more shines here Let’s go I never did this Is there like a freaking circle oh are we going to get lifted up it’s so fun A It looks like a elevator Nice Good job We’re here guys Um there it is Got a great view That’s right Of the content corner right there Hey 100 yen off Try it Hey grab it Grab it How did I grab it right here Oh my god You just poke a hole Yeah you hold it with your hand You’re good at finding your hole Unlimited soup and rice Unlimited Damn I’ve never heard that in Tokyo Was a little fishy And you got some What’s that called sh Little lime What’s I think it’s shiquasa Maybe it’s like a Japanese Maybe it’s just a lime Got a little salad there You got some little soy sauce Get the fish in little veggies and white miso soup and some It looks good Wait that’s like two bites of meat It’s actually Wait hold on What yeah Wasn’t the picture like a whole bunch of meat and it had like 20 peppers on it like the whole thing was covered with meat I mean it looks good though It’s pretty balanced I got It’s okay I have extra chicken in there so that’s fine Total price for these two meals together is like 22 bucks For everyone watching guys we have made it through our day two adventure of our oneweek road trip around random mountain cities We went from Niko to Takasaki I’m just staying here because I found a cheap hotel And tomorrow we’re supposed to head up into Mount Haruna Initial D Mountain On our way to our third day location which is Harui Zawa don’t ask I don’t know where any I don’t know what anything is in these cities We’re just headed there tomorrow And on the way we’re going to stop at Mount Haruna and check out Initial D Mountain and some little toy museum in the morning Appreciate you guys See you next time Much love Have a good night Have a good day wherever you are Bye-bye [Music]

We’re starting our Japan road trip journey! Join us for a trip to Gyoza exploring some of the iconic temples.

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My name is Jake, you might know me as jakenbakeLIVE – and I am a live streamer on Twitch.tv. I am primarily known for my outdoor travel and exploration content – primarily in Japan.

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