JAPAN (Pt. 1 of 2): Up Up and Away! Season 6, Episode 1

JAPAN (Pt. 1 of 2): Up Up and Away! Season 6, Episode 1

[Music] Oh, wait. Sorry. I get excited sometimes when I start talking about Japan because I lived and worked there for several years. Come up up up and away with us. First to the Kanto region, Tokyo, Kamakura, and Hakone. And then in the next episode, we’ll visit the Kai region, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyo. From shinobi to shrines, we attempted to see everything we possibly could, starting in Tokyo. Well, actually, soul [Music] Hey, I know technically this is uh our Japan episode uh but we’re in uh the Soul airport on the way to Japan. It’s 5:00 in the morning and I’m about to get a beer. Not because I’m I have a problem, but because look at this draft beer dispenser. It comes up from the bottom. TW. So So I’m I’m going to try this. I’m going to see if I get it right. Okay. Twist the cup. Is it upside down? Slightly. And insert it. It comes up from the bottom. When it stops, twist the cup. What? So only fill up a little bit cuz you don’t want to drink too much or waste it. Okay. That’s what And then you pull it out. Oh my god. And you have Happy Kelly beer beer from Kelly beer which also makes co the coffee is also Kelly coffee. Kelly makes everything here. Okay. What do you think? Happy 5:00 in the morning. That’s delicious. Actually, if I were going to have coffee with Stan Lee, um then it would be here in Excelsior Cafe. Why? Excelsior cuz that that was Stanley’s thing. Really? He would always say Excelsior. [Music] Hey, thanks for joining us on Up and Away. We’re in our first day. We’re on our first day in Tokyo. We came right into the hotel and we went straight out to do stuff. went straight to Maji Jenu Shrine. And uh at Maji Jingu, we got some some sweet sake and some of these yaki dango. Um now yaki, I’m not saying yucky. These are these are not yucky. This is a sweet soy sauce and a rice cake. Um and I’m going to have some of this uh sweet sake, which is exactly what you need on a chilly overcast day like this. And um it’s so sticky. I can see the steam coming off of it. Hold the plate under [Music] numb for you. No. So, we are here in Tokyo, Japan, and we have found our first shrine. We’re going to Maji Shrine. So, come on in with us. We just purified ourselves in the little fountain. It’s really cool. And washed our hands and stuffed to our mouth. And now we’re getting ready to go to All right. Get in there. Yeah. Let’s go. [Music] [Music] [Music] So, we’re here in Weno Park where we had been told the best cherry blossom viewing was. So, here I am on Sakura Dori, which means cherry blossom street. Sakura, it’s Naruto. And you can see the cherry blossom trees are surrounding us and not blooming. So, you know, I mean, you do your best, right? We’ll try to keep searching for cherry blossoms on this trip, but it might not be in Wayeno Park today. We did it. We found the cherry blossoms. They’re right there. [Music] But we couldn’t just wait for the cherry blossoms to bloom. We had hungry tummies to fill and festival stalls to feed them at. Hey everybody, we’re about to finish a journey or bring a journey full circle that started 20 years ago. I’m now standing in front of Studio Pierro, which is where they created the Naruto uh animated series, the the anime. Uh, and Tara and I have been working on that show for almost 20 years. And if you don’t know, in the English dog, Gary Sake and I play Tamari. And if you don’t know that, what are you even watching right now? Well, we’re going to head on in. We weren’t allowed to film inside. So, let us distract you with this toro. And we couldn’t get tickets to the Studio Ghibli Museum. So, let us distract you with cherry blossoms. [Music] We finally found our way to Shibuya to one of the most famous intersections in the world, the Fiveway Scramble Crossing. [Music] [Music] [Music] And we intersected it like champs. with a whole lot of people, some of whom probably came here trying to catch them all. One of Terara’s favorite things is the finely crafted fake food to advertise the delicious real food inside restaurants, and it looks good enough to eat. But the most famous resident of Shabuya has to be Hachiko the dog, who waited nobly for his dead owner to return, and whose statue is now a popular meeting spot. [Music] Clearly, they have good taste in the store. It’s actually They have the right Spider-Man. They have They have a bunch of Spider-Man’s and anyone can wear the mask. But Oh my god, there’s Spider-Man 2 down there. That looks like the kind of thing I might have to pre-order. Yeah, you have to pre-order that. Okay. I had to. The devil made me do it. The Spider-Man made me do it. Hot Toys exclusive Spider-Man 2. I couldn’t say no. Now we just have to figure out how to get it home. No way home. And into the neighborhood made famous by its fashionably dressed residents, Harajuku. And the snacks weren’t too shabby either. Okay, so we are in Harajuku. And I couldn’t stop myself cuz there’s a panda donut. Well, I told you. And pointed it out. So, we have to eat a little panda donut. And look, there are bears. Does it taste like panda? Poor panda. It’s yummy. We’ve just reached Akihabara, which as many of you know is uh a mecca for anime and toys, action figures, toys, video games. So, I guess this is the part where I just disappear and you never see me again. It was nice knowing you. Um but you’re now in Akihabara, but join us. [Music] [Music] There you go. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Terra happier. Okay, so we are about to go eat dinner in a very interesting spot. It’s called the Ninja restaurant. You can see behind us. It looks like an old tobacco shop, but I think what lies behind is much more secretive. Now, this may be super touristy, and guess what? We don’t care. So, if we can film inside, we will. If not, we’ll see you hopefully if we survive that thing. But then we found out there’s secret instructions on how to get inside the restaurant. So, I want you to follow me on this journey with this restaurant. Come down the hall. Welcome to our restaurant. Now the door will be unlocked. So please push it and come in. Thank you. We then proceeded through a series of secret tunnels and passageways deeper into the ninja restaurant as the way out disappeared behind us. But we didn’t mind as long as there were delicious treats to discover. [Music] Wow. [Music] So, we’re at at the Ninja restaurant, Ninja Tokyo. So, of course, I had to get the Ninja Logger. I know I’m usually a whiskey guy, but this How do you not? So, let’s see. Did it make me invisible? Am I invisible? Uh, I can’t see. Where did he go? Where did he go? Oh, no. Oh, he’s a ninja. Nope. You’re still there. Still here. Still here. That’s okay. Okay, I’m still having fun. Squeeze and ninja chocolate cake. Oh, I love ninja cake. Okay, so he just he just changed the stones. I’m going to eat the stones into food. Are you ready? So, a little ninja ninja bites. Okay. Oh, look at daddy’s. Yeah, we shouldn’t touch it. I accidentally pulled mine apart. So if you want to save yours, your throwing star. Um, ninja frog. Ninja frog. Ninja. Ninja. That’s okay. After all the excitement of the previous day, we didn’t know what to expect. But we were delighted to head out of Tokyo to Kamakura and the Kotokunin Temple, home of one of the biggest Buddhas out there, the Dutsu. [Music] And there it is, the great Buddha of Kamakura, a giant bronze statue which stands almost 11 1/2 m tall, cast in 1252 and placed inside a temple hall. But after typhoons and tsunamis destroyed the buildings, this big guy now stands outside in the elements since the late 15th century. Hey, if the rain couldn’t stop him, it wasn’t going to stop us. So, a minute ago, you saw that we were outside the big bronze area, but now we are actually standing inside the Dutu. We did it. We found the only cherry blossoms blossoming while we were here and uh it’s at the the the temple of the dbutsu. So, so thank you Buddha for giving us at least these cherry blossoms. But the dbutsu wasn’t the only thing to see here. In fact, it was just the beginning. And while the rain might have otherwise dampened our spirits and our heads, it actually may have made our pilgrimage more beautiful. [Music] As in many temples throughout Japan, the symbol of the swastika can be found here. This ancient symbol has been used by many cultures, including Buddhism, over the past 5,000 years, and originally represented good fortune and well-being before it was appropriated by the Nazi party and twisted to represent fascism and hate. So let’s take a few moments of Zen contemplation using its original intention of peace. [Music] And once again, my tummy was calling out for all the yumminess. And nothing could be yummier on a rainy day like today than a steaming bowl of soup. And in this case, soba, which is one of Yuri’s favorites. After we’re in Kamakura and uh after we went up to to visit one of the shrines, we came down. It’s raining outside as you could probably see. We stopped off to get some nice hot soba. We got the Bye, guys. Have a good time. You too. Thank you. And it’s it’s too hot. But it smells delicious. Eat it anyway. Good noodle slurps. Is it mean? So good. How do you say so good in Japanese? Mean. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t stay in there eating soba forever. It was back out into the rain to explore Kamakura a little further. Neither rain nor sleep. Well, you get the picture. [Music] So this is a [Music] You got this. [Music] We spent the afternoon popping in and out of shrines which included the Ben Kutsu cave. Don’t worry, I immediately got the Ben reference as well as the nearby Saskuke Inari reference. I was destined to come here. [Music] [Music] No, it’s a sacred bridge. [Music] And leaving the rain in the big city behind us, we headed to Hakone by way of Mount Fuji, easily one of Japan’s most recognizable sites. [Music] And here we are at the base of Mount Fuji. Uh we’re at the first station, which is apparently as close as we’re going to get. We were supposed to go to the fifth station, but because of the snow, the road is blocked. So much like the uh non-blooming cherry blossoms, this is as close as we get to Mount Fuji. Uh but we got you as close as we could. Enjoy. [Music] So, we’re at the Mount Fuji, the Hakone, um the UNESCO center, and they had a whiskey and craft whiskey and soda. from Fuji Hokuriku in a in a can. I’m going to drink it as close to Mount Fuji as I can before our bus leaves. All right. I should have unwrapped it before, but here we go. Whiskin soda out of a It’s very nice. Shall we get on the bus? Yes. Since we couldn’t see Mount Fuji any closer, we hopped a ferry across a volcanic crater lake to a gondola to a little hike to get a different kind of view from above. [Music] And what a view it was. Alas, the cloud cover was too much to see. Mount Fuji foiled again. But much like the cherry blossoms, we had no regrets. [Music] I did it. [Music] [Music] [Music] Having arrived at Hakone Kawakian Tenyu Hotel, our hot springs hotel in Hakone, but unable to film in the hot springs or onen area, we have decided to lead with what we do best, food. The delicious breakfast, including Oden, a one pot dish of boiled eggs, fish cakes, and soy dashi broth, which I love, but is hard to get outside of Japan. And the decadent shaboo shaboo dinner you’re about to see. [Music] We’re going to be cooking at the table. I think I pushed it a little too far to the So, we’re in Hakon at a beautiful spa resort called Tenoyu Kauai Kaken and uh this amazing Shabu Shabu dinner. Um, and I’m gonna show you for for those of you who don’t know Shabu Shabu, you get some good uh boiling broth here at your table. Yeah. Put some vegetables in some some seaweed and then you take a piece of thinly sliced beef and you shaboo shaboo it. You just sort of move around and then you can see it’s cooked and then it goes in the sauce. And then it goes in your mouth. In the mouth. Shaboo. Shabu shaboo. Shaboo. So, of course, Yuri ate all the fun fancy stuff, but I’m eating cherry blossom pudding, which is like sakura pudding. I’m very excited about this. We can’t see the blossoms. Please eat the blossom. I think that’s Does it taste like you’re standing on a cherry blossom thing? It does. I love cherry blossom. So yummy. Look what they have here. You’re going to see. No, don’t don’t don’t pan down yet. It’s going to be a surprise. Look. Look on my face first. And now you can see what’s happening down here. Yeah. We awoke the next morning, nestled in the clouds, surrounded by steaming hot springs, and wondering what we had done to get so lucky. So, we’ve just woken up at our Rioon in Hakone and it’s known for its natural hot springs. They have an onsen downstairs with all the hot water. Now, of course, we can’t film in the onsen, which is like a hot public bath um where everybody’s snaking, but uh they gave us these beautiful robes to wear. What are they called? Yukata. Yukata. We’re wearing our dupata so that we can go down for breakfast, but we’re just enjoying our balcony and the the steam from the hot springs downstairs. Can you imagine any a better place to wake up? So relaxing [Music] in this beautiful tranquil setting. It’s hard not to feel relaxed and at peace. breathing so high up. You can see the clouds. [Music] We’re getting ready to leave Hakon and they call this the Sakura city and so we got a Sakura lots of pasty which is a beautiful taste it. We’re going to eat Sakura if we can’t see them. Yeah. Are you good? I will. Thank you. Hey, no big deal. Just uh waiting here for the bullet train in Alawada station. Uh, the bullet train or Shinkansen goes fast. 270 km an hour. I would have to do math to figure out how many miles that is. So, I’m going to let you do it. Or maybe we’ll we’ll throw in a little something on the bottom. Uh, but our train comes soon. And this train goes so fast. You get there before you leave. Not quite. That’s No. Sayanara, Miss Cackleman. Uh, look it up. It’s a great book by Maro Calvin. Anyway, uh we’re waiting for the bullet train and then next time we talk to you, we’ll be on the bullet train. [Music] We’re bulleting along in our bullet train and uh I I came over a bit peckish and luckily we had bought some uh sakura, some cherry blossom mangju, some little uh rice uh sweet rice cakes uh in the in the station. Luckily, we bought them in the station cuz they’ve discontinued uh snack service on the Shinkansen because people buy things in the stations. So, here we go. It’s cherry blossom season. Look adorable. [Music] I get to try one before you get to try one. Is that fair? No, I think so. Unless I can’t open it with the case. Go. [Music] Oh, they’re so pretty. Yum. Yum. [Music] The middle’s always the same. It’s a red bean paste, but the outside, it’s like a tart cherry blossomy. Delicious. I guess you should stop filming so you can eat one. Okay. And as the bullet train carried us off to Kyoto, we have to say to this episode, see you next time as we continue our Japanese journey. [Music] [Music]

In which we visit Tokyo, Kamakura, and Hakone, eat at a Ninja restaurant, and finally visit the place our NARUTO journey started, Studio Pierrot! Spoiler Alert: They wouldn’t let us film inside, but join us as we wander Shibuya, Harajuku, Akihabara, eat a whole bunch of stuff and wonder where all the cherry blossoms are…

Starring: Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt
Written by Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt
Edited by Shahab Zargari
Original Theme by Elliot Herman

#japan #anime #tokyo #naruto #temari #sasuke #pokemon #ninja #tourism #travel #fuji