Coming to you from Sendai, Japan!
Brothers, this is PSP Japan and we just got here to for the first time in my life and now I can say that I’ve been to all the big cities in Japan and this is my 30th prefecture that I’ve been to now 47. Here I am in Miyagi Prefecture, Sai, right across from Sai Station. Our hotel is right across from Sai Station. If I turn around, it’s that western looking hotel right there. And we are here. We’re supposed to meet family tonight for dinner cuz we have family in Sai. Yes. Uh we have I have a uncle-in-law here living in Sai with his wife and his family. And of course, we’re going to meet some more family members here at Sai Station. But we’re going to take the subway to another place they want to meet us at. So, here I am, guys. And I’m telling you, Tohoku is the spot. Tohoku, man, I’m telling you. And the ladies up here are very friendly. I They didn’t change, man, from when I was here before. They be looking hard at a brother up here in Sai, especially up here in Tohoku. They’re very friendly, man. Laidback. What we learned so far, what I’ve learned, what I remembered when I was at Masawa, the laid-back attitude of people from Tohoku and how friendly everybody was, man, and how nice the ladies were. And uh it it’s it’s it’s the same. It really hasn’t changed. Um, this is where I am in the I’m in literally the heart of Tohubu right here, the capital of Tohobu, the biggest city in Tohobu, Sai with well over a million people here. And trust me, driving in here, I mean man, the traffic was crazy. Um, a lot of tourists coming up here. I seeing their big huge tour group from China. Um, but you know, this is like the main big walkway area. you got, you know, walk over this, uh, pedestrian walkway to the station. It’s kind of interesting the way it’s shaped. Um, it’s old school. They’re doing some work on it. But, um, you know, um, the feeling here for me right now is kind of surreal because I remember, man, back in 2011, guys, when uh, the big one hit, man. I wasn’t in the big one, but I remember sitting there when I was in college at the time still. So, I mean, I went back to school for more it and I was I was um sitting there with my wife watching um News Every um and I remember seeing how bad the quake was. I remember seeing uh those guys pouring water on top of the uh Genatu, which is the uh nuclear power plant up at Fukushima. We were in Fukushima City earlier today. I didn’t get any video when I was in Fukushima because we were kind of like in a rush, but did take a couple pictures in Fukushima and that’s a place that I will be checking out um sometime. But um this is so surreal for me to be standing here as I talk to you brothers looking at the sign that says Sai Station because I am here at Sai Station. And I remember the the uh 2011 March 311 was um it was really a sad moment for us in our life when uh we lost well over 16,000 people in Japan and um our family lived here. Luck fortunately for them they lived in the hills of Sai. So they they shook but they didn’t get you know when you like I said when you live in those foothills man you don’t get that you don’t get that that crazy and the tsunami of course is what killed most of the people and just let you guys know how that happened is prior to the the big one um they had a few false alarms so people were like oh tsunami alert okay okay get out and after a few alerts they like ah it’s just another alert we’ll be all right it’s just another practice or whatever but that wasn’t the case. Um, I’m going to walk over this way. It wasn’t the case because u when the big one hit, people were unprepared and they were stuck down there and a lot of people, man, a lot of people got um killed. Um, you’ve seen the videos. You can just go on YouTube and type in 311. Um there is a um big there’s a video that um that’s where we’re staying right there. The Hotel Monteray up there right across from the station which is a really good location by the way. Anything around the station is a good location. And we got a big good size room too. But um but what I was going to say is that uh you know when that that big one hit, you know, it it was there’s a video out. This is what I was going to say. There’s a video out um at the airport. Um if I get time, I was going to go by the airport just to remember just to see what it’s like. But it was in the airport. If you type in Sai airport dying earthquake or something on Google, YouTube and you will see man the shaking was horrendous. It was shaking for a long time too. I looked at the video. It was well over like almost 3 minutes or maybe even over 3 minutes. It was a lot of shaking. It was the way what happened was it was shaking hard and then it slowed down. I thought, “Oh, okay. It’s going to stop in the video.” And then no, it it started shaking even more after that. And then they got hit with the tsunami. the water came up and washed a lot of vehicles away and and whatnot. It was bad, guys. Trust me, it was really, really, really, really bad. Um, and of course, I’ve been to a couple big ones. I’ve been to the Coobe quake when I was living 2 hours from Coobe. And you know, like I said, I want to say this and I want to stress this, guys. And and of course, we were in the quake last January 1st, 2024, which we got hit with a 5.5 where I live and 5.6, I’m sorry, where I live. And um and that was shaking a lot man. You get you get anything over a before you’re going to feel it. And then even though of course the higher the number the stronger but um as I stand outside here stand outside Sendai station um I just like I said guys it’s just so surreal because you know first of all the way I came driving up I didn’t think I was going to come here driving up. I thought we should just take the Shinkansen whenever we did get to Sai from Tokyo up on the on the uh Tohok Shinkansen up to um Sai station, but we actually drove in to to Sai coming from um where we stayed last night at Yonisawa up in Yamagata Prefecture and we stopped at Fukushim City on the way. But um you know it it’s just it’s just so surreal guys. I’m sorry if I if I sound kind of out of it right now. I’ll probably even upload this video before I upload any other ones on this trip because this is just how how um melancholy I’m feeling right now about this whole thing because I remember seeing the damage and destruction that that earthquake tsunami caused in this area and um you know like I said when you live in an area just because you are not near the quake epicenter you will feel it most of the Honchu island felt that quake it wasn’t is You know, like for example, if you’re on the other side of the country, if it’s a nine, which it was a 9.1 here, it may you may feel like a 4.1 or depending on how farther away you’re going to feel less of it, but still you’re going to shake cuz people don’t understand Honu is a big island. And when this thing shakes, man, the whole thing usually shakes, especially if you get a 9.1. So, um, and then you just seen the one up in Kamaka that happened at 8.8 up there in Russia and now that that volcano just blew, so some shit’s going to go off on there. They’re saying that that could hit us down here in Japan, of course, cuz we’re on that same plate. So, it’s it’s uh it’s real, guys. This this earthquake, this life is real. As I stand right here right now, you know, we could be shaking any second. I could be right here in the heart of Sai and all of a sudden, bam, I get the big shake and it could be even bigger shake than this. So, um so yeah. So, it it’s it’s just one of those things, guys, where you just have to you have to get here. Um, but Zai is a very beautiful city. Um, they call it the city in the forest cuz since we’ve been driving in there, man, there’s so many trees and hills and mountains and in the city. It doesn’t get, you know, a lot of people don’t know enough about Sai. Although, you do get a lot of tourists cuz there’s a lot of things to see here. Right now, the big thing is going on is the Tanabat Tanabata festival. We’re going to be going there. We’re going to see the fireworks tomorrow. Our family’s already got tickets reserved for us because, you know, they knew we were coming in. We told we was coming in. So, they went ahead and set everything up for us here in Sai. And um yeah, I I I just I just can’t stress enough, guys, how surreal this is for me being up here at Sai Station. Um knowing what had happened to this very place a little bit over 14 years ago. And that’s not that long ago, guys. Trust me, 14 years ago is not that long. Uh it’s humid. It’s uh you cooler than where we’ve been because we got that cloud cover which is cool. Um because we’ve been getting beat up by the weather, man. When you get beat up by this heat, especially having some extreme heat, we got a heat alerts and we’re at home in Georgia City, which I got an alert on that. You get your body gets beat down, man. You got to stay cool cuz the heat just beats you up. You know, you may think you’re used to that heat, man. No, it’s beating your ass. you know. So, um, so yeah. So, this is where I’m at, guys. Where I’m at up here in Sai outside Sai station, which trust me, Sai is a big city. Um, and busy, big busy city, man. Big busy city here in Sai. Um, but I’m glad I’m here. I’m really glad I’m here. I’m really got got to finally finally got to come up to Sai, you know, use my fingers right in there. So, you know, I’m here. I’m not bullshitting around. I’m in Sai. Your brother is in Sai, right outside Sai Station. No Um, I want to say that one thing that um I’m starting to do my channel is YouTube has told me that I am now a YouTube member. So, my channel is now what they call monetized now. So, the music that I was putting up um for my intro, I will have to search for YouTube approved music now because I cannot um have you know how I like to put the um music up there um you know on my videos. Well, I can no longer do that with just any old music because um it will um because it won’t let me monetize it. Um, so, um, because they said I have enough attention. I’m getting so much attention on my, um, on my on my on my channel where, you know, I just looked this this girl looked over at me and she smiled at me. I smiled at her. Oh, hi. See, I’m in Tohoku, guys. See, that’s what I’m saying, guys. Tohoku, baby. Tohoku. And I’m not even trying to pick anybody up here. I just But that’s what I’m saying. This is how it is, man, in tohoku. So, um, and I got an example for you. You know, I always got examples for the difference. So, my son and I were in the um in uh we were eating breakfast at Au Wakamatu one morning. I don’t know if I mentioned this on any videos that I got coming up for you guys cuz I do have a sling of videos coming through on our trip um after this after this video that I upload today. But um so we were here we are in the buffet. We, you know, they had a breakfast buffet over and I went ahead and saw this lady with Nagai. She had Nagai stadium on the back of her shirt, t-shirt. And I was like, “Oh, hey.” I went out to say, “Oh, see myself.” I said, “Yeah, Naga.” I said, “I used to live in Osaka. I used to go to Naga Park. I knew all about that. I know the station and everything.” And she just looked at me like, “Oh.” And that was it. And she just went on about her business. And so that is not the kind I told my son later, I said, “That’s not the kind of woman you want to look for or you want to talk to anyway.” But see up here in Tohoku man or a lot of places in Japan that like I always talk about the women are enthusiastic. If I was to say that to a girl from Tohoku if she knew I was in Tohoku then she would have just what you been to took? Oh my goodness. You been to my hometown? They would have went crazy. But this girl look like she was like 30 and she like then it was no big thing to her. So, so I I get I’m getting the impression and I was I got it a little bit when I was there that a lot of people in Osaka are getting kind of sick of of the geopin cuz there’s so many of us up there now. So, um that’s what I get. But I don’t get that feeling up here in Tokyo, guys. Trust me, I don’t get the feeling in the I get the feeling in Nigat and the Toyama kind of. I don’t get that feeling. I get the feeling of yeah, what’s up, you know? So, um I just want you guys to know that. But anyway, yeah. So, I’m up here at Sai um station uh once again and uh I just can’t stress enough guys that it it just feels so surreal me standing right here. I don’t know as I drive around cuz we’re going to be going from we’re going to be spend two nights here in Sai and then the next stop for us will be Morioa up in Iwattate which is I really want to go to Morioa. That’s a really nice city too up in Iwattate. It’s not as big as Sai of course but um it’s a really nice place man. They always talk good about that place. Um, so we have beautiful parks up here, nice places, not a lot of things to see, a lot of good things to see up there just like do here. Um, so you know, that’s gonna be a nice place to check out. Um, so as we get deep into our summer summer trip, but um, yeah, um, I highly recommend you guys come here, check it out for yourselves. And I can honestly say, brothers, now once again, I’m going to reiterate this because like I said, a lot of these young girls are running around, you know, changing their game up. But you can still find a lot of nice, beautiful girls, friendly up here in Tohoku, man. Sai Watt, Al Morti, Yamagata, man. The girls Yamagata were crazy. Fukushima. Um, yeah, man. Yeah, they’re looking hard. So, like I said, I just that one girl just smiled to her. She smiled to me and like she she was like so blushing. She was literally blushing as I looked at her. She was walking her friend. So, and I was just bullshitting. See, and I can’t. And she kept turning around. I I said, “Oh if she if I turn around and look at her again, she’s going to want to come and talk.” So, see, that’s how it is in Tohoku, guys. That’s Tohoku. See? So, I just want you guys to know that this is this is a good spot to be, man. A good spot to be. Um but like I said um if you’re going to live in the city like the Sai because you know once about myself before the earthquake I had considered living in Sai you know I tell you that story. So my wife was um she had just got a job um literally in her last year in college you know the way it works in Japan is companies will come up to you and say okay we want you to work for us. she got hired on the spot and um that she was going to get a good salary too, man. She gonna be getting paid well and you know with a college degree and everything and so I was trying to get back to Japan as an English teacher ironically. Um and I wanted to live in Sai. Me and my wife was talking about this when we were dating. Said, “Hey, let’s go do Sindai cuz you have family in Sai.” And I’ve always wanted to live in Sai anyway. It’s a beautiful city. It’s green. It’s It’s like a like, right? And you know, long story short, I didn’t get the job, which was surprising to me. Okay, that was karma. And then she turned down that job cuz she said, “Well, I’m going to marry my husband, so I mean my boyfriend, my fiance, so I don’t need a job anymore.” And so, um, we ended up living in the States, um, 16 years marriage and now we’re back here in Japan. But, um, yeah, so that’s that’s the way karma works, guys. Trust me, my life turned out a lot better, you know, in the long run. But yeah, as I stand out here at Sai Station, guys, Sendai Station. Um, I will upload this video and I will talk to you guys later. I’m probably just going to call it. Um, I’m going to, you know, just want to say on on this video, just in case anybody’s watching in Japan that has been a victim of your tsunami in 2011, that um, um, homage goes out. I’m going to pay homage to your family, to your ancestors or anyone in your family that may have passed away in this earthquake. Um, my condolences to all people watching that that have anyone that they lost in in the quake. Um, I’m up here in Sai. I already know I love it. It’s a really nice place. No matter what, it is a really nice place, man. Sai. So, um, highly recommend you guys come up here and check it out. This is BSP Japan here at Sai Station in Yak. And guys, I’m inside the station now. So, you can see that the Tanabata We have these all hanging up right now in Zendai station. It’s a big time of the year in in Japan before open season, which is usually in August. It’s always in August. Uh different areas throughout the country will have different festivals here and those are all big festivals, too. Um we were at a festival like a minute later and um I wakamasu the other night and one of these festivals here in Sai while we’re here actually fireworks and everything like that. So you can see Sai station inside. It’s really busy, man. It’s a big busy station. A lot of shopping, a lot of walking, a lot of things going on here in Sai over there. We want to catch the Shinkansen. Um my son and I, we want to we can do it too. We want to be able to um we did it when we were up in uh Zawa. You can actually purchase like a ticket that cost 150 yen to where you can actually see the Shing Conan send pass by and just take pictures and do what you want to do on there. So that’s what we did, man. But yeah, I just wanted to show you guys this before I head back to the hotel that this is what it looks like inside the station. They got everything ready, man. They got all this festivities happening. A lot of commerce up here. Uh well, here it is. Welcome to Sendai. So, you know, I’m not bullshitting when I’m here. Um, so I just wanted you guys to know that look at this place, man. This is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. I’m going to walk out the center part here now to the Sai Station. Um, this is really beautiful, guys. This is really nice here. Sai. So, um, I wish you guys were here, man, to check it out. Um, like I said, I’m just we just got here less than an hour ago. So, I’m just doing some video and told to my wife, “Yeah, I’m going to come out here and give me a couple little video for the boys for a minute and head back up.” But, um, like I said, this is really a good spot to be, guys. Good spot to be. So, this be once again BSP. I’m out. I’ll talk to you guys later. Friend.
We are in the middle of our Tohoku trip. I’m coming to you from Sendai. I’m at a loss for words right now as I come to you from a place that got hit with a 9.1 quake and tsunami more than just 14 years ago.
We have family here too. I will be uploading videos from the places we visited prior to getting to Sendai as we are going to hit up five prefectures.
One more thing there is some shaking and spinning around in the video as I had to make it on the rush. My apologies.
AloJapan.com