The Biggest LIE about Japan

NOTIFICATION SQUAD: Which of these FOUR do you think is the biggest lie about Japan?! And WHAT did I miss? Let me know below. Now if you don't mind me, I must get back to my flying car. Also, the video starts at 27:29.

Unequivocally the flying car set was worth building, Chris, that looked incredible.

That flying car effect was so cool! The fact that Chris was able to figure out to make that practical effect look so amazing just shows how great of a film maker he is.

I am Japanese. For those who want to come to Japan and make friends with Japanese people, or those who are lamenting that they can't make Japanese friends after living in Japan. In Japan, business connections rarely develop into friendships. Even among Japanese people, it is difficult to make friends once they become working adults. However, there is an easy way for those who want to get friends. It is to belong to a circle of hobbies. Surfing, motorcycle touring, diving, billiards, shogi, chess, fishing, cooking, tea ceremony, kimono, anything is ok. If you want to understand the essence of Japan, I think the fastest way is to make friends with Japanese people.

As a tourist the politeness is fantastic to experience. During one of our visits, my wife and I were wandering around a cold and wintery night in Hakone, trying to find a restaurant to eat. We had no idea where we were going. It was dark. Then suddenly a van pulled up beside us as we stood looking lost. The door opened and a kind mature man asked us if we were looking for food. to which we said yes!. He gestured us to get in the van and told us he would take us to a place to get food. We were desperately hungry and hesitantly got in the van. He took us to this very homely little restaurant and we had an incredible meal.

I once asked a train conductor whether I was about to board the right train, 5 minutes before the train was about to leave. It was not the right train, so to my horror the conductor got off the train, grabbed my hand and RAN a few platforms over to get me on the right train. I could have easily waited for the next train but no, I had now single handedly delayed a train in Japan. I truly hope the guy got to keep his job😅

I'm glad Natsuki is classified as "Not playing by the book". He is an absolute legend.

I got off a JR train at Shin-Yokohama. The train in the opposite direction was on fire with smoke and flames coming from underneath. All the doors were open, but no-one was getting off. Curious I stuck around. The fire service arrived and tackled the fire, all with the train completely full of people playing with their phones. No drama, completely cool with standing in a burning train. A few minutes later, the fire was out and the train carried on to the next station. Now that's some industrial grade stoicism.

"Politeness and friendliness are two differents things", "High uncertainty avoidance" You resume very well what my experience in Japan is, Chris. I spend the last 10 winters (5 months each time) in Hokkaido as a ski and snowboard guide/teacher. If I compare to the others 6 countries I've lived and worked in I must say my Japanese friends are nice and funny until I need them to help me with something a bit demanding or challenging. Then they are like: " I could but....." and you realize that you more one your own that you woud think

Now I understand why it took quite a while to see new content, not just your UK trip, but damn, that new episode looks good. But please Chris. Never forget that most watching you are fully happy with usual regular production too. I’ve seen many YouTubers just stopping entirely after they worked too damn hard. Don’t fall out of love with it! 🙂☺️

I asked an old man in Tokyo if he could help me find my way back to Yokosuka (very common question on the east coast where the Navy base is). I figured he'd point me on my way, but instead he got on the train with me and traveled the hour ride to make sure I got back safe. I'll never be able to thank him enough! It was definitely a shock finding out how ridiculously polite people could be. (Not to say I didn't also experience, anti gaijin sentiment/ general rudeness.)

I was in Japan back in 1999. It was cool to see tiny cell phones, mini CD's, and Dance Dance Revolution. Now it's like, what happened?

I think westerners think Japanese are very robotic and cold, which is a huge misconception from what I noticed. While work hours are very focused on order and efficiency in the streets, most shops close early and the locals let loose and enjoy themselves. I especially noticed this in Kyoto

As a Brit the trains do make me incredibly jealous of Japan, here you're lucky if it arrives at all nevermind on time

Glad to have Chris back. You can really tell how refresh he is since his trip to UK.

I remember being stunned by seeing all the old technology still used in Japan the first time i visited in 2015. Was indeed expecting super hi tech all round. Yet it’s a wonderful country!

Yeah I experienced the politeness vs. friendliness thing myself. In larger cities everyone was very nice to me, at least on surface level. (Maybe aside for a few "Oh sorry I don't speak English" responses, when I tried to speak, admittedly broken, but still Japanese) But in a smaller town I went to for sight seeing purposes, when I tried to enter a restaurant I was politely stopped and a sign saying something "come back in 30 minutes" has been put right in front of me. I thought it was kinda strange, and I peeked inside and it didn't seem like they were full or anything. But I also wasn't in a rush so I just took the 30 minutes to shop and stroll around and came back to this same restaurant. Sign was gone, I saw other people come in, but the moment I tried to enter they, again, apologized and put the sign up. That was the "Oh" moment when I realized the sign was specifically for me, because I was a gaijin. It stung a little because I was really trying my best to follow all the customs I knew, be polite and speak Japanese to the best of my ability. Anyway, I just went to another restaurant in the same town and they were super nice to me, and they complimented my shitty Japanese a lot haha.

When Chris brought out the sushi board, I thought it was fake food like his other fake food items in the studio, so when he popped the nori roll in his mouth...I almost had a heart attack.

These are all such good points to bring up, I always find myself thinking this all the time especially the food and the technology points. People sometimes really have no idea. What I'm almost more interested in though is that flying car set. I actually couldn't believe that was practical and not CGI. It honestly looked like a professionally rendered scene put onto a greenscreen. It's almost confusing how good it was.

Chris, I have an impression that this difficulty of making friends in Japan is also closely related to their club/circle culture. Most of my wife's friends are just people she met in her musical circle during her college years.