I must admit, it's not every day a stranger
pulls you over at the side of the road to give you a packet of
custard cream biscuits.
[Chris responds in Japanse]
Oh my god.
Oh my god
If I could uh
if I could describe myself in one word that word would be f...
Idiot. I forgot to stretch yesterday. I realised
I woke up this morning and I could barely stand up because
my legs were so stiff and it turns out I pretty much
forgot to stretch which you should never do
after cycling 53 kilometres.
Today, we're cycling
56 kilometres from Murakami Station to
Niigata Station, making it the longest day so
far, of the three we've done. And, to make things even more difficult,
I've got to accept my mini-challenge of the day.
Well this is disturbing. He's the only normal
looking one here. Today I thought I'd let my
erstwhile assistants, my crew, uh
have the first try, and put their ideas
into the capsule toy machine. So, let's see
what comes up.
Doesn't wanna come out!
Oh well, I won't have to do any challenges today(!)
There we go, alright.
First challenge of the day
is
oh for god's sake.
Interact with locals: ask three people
to say "Journey Across Japan"
on camera.
Who wrote this? whose idea was this?
Uh, it was my one.
You're one?
Yeah.
You son of a...
Lucky you didn't get my other one.
[Chris laughs]
Yeah, I mean, that's gonna be pretty hard actually...
Japanese people are so shy; I always feel uncomfortable sometimes
just going up to strangers and randomly asking them things so
this is actually gonna be quite scary. Quite nervous about this one.
If you're wondering how I'm navigating on this trip, what we're
doing, I'm using Google Maps basically. Ahm, but it's just
asked me to go through somebody's farm just to cut through a field
so be careful how much faith you place in Google Maps if you're uh
cycling through the Japanese countryside.
You might end up in a somewhat precarious situation.
I must admit, it's not every day that a stranger
pulls you over at the side of the road to gift you
a packet of custard cream biscuits!
I was cycling down the road and I saw this little old woman kind of
waving at me, so I pulled over and uh she tried
to invite me to some kind of tea party with her and her friends.
She even showed me some pictures of other
foreigners who had joined her at previous parties. I don't know how
that happened, maybe she patrols the roads looking for
people to join them. But um, I had to decline
as the party - the tea party in question - was the complete opposite
wrong way. So I had to say no, unfortunately.
I did try to get her to say the key phrase: "Journey Across Japan" - but
er... I failed. But at least the custard cream biscuits.
Which are now my lunch seeing as...
oh wow... Seeing as I didn't really pack anything
this is essentially my new-found lunch.
Thank you very much.
[Chris converses in Japanse]
Are they good though? That's the real question.
Oh wow.
Like a rye biscuit
I'm absolutely surrounded by flies here - oh my god, oh my god.
Oh my god, there's so many! There's so many! They can smell
the custard cream biscuits, why did I stop here?
Fucking hell.
There are so many mosquitoes
I should... I'm just gonna leave my bike there and walk off. It is definitely gonna be hard
to get people to say the phrase: "Journey Across Japan" for
two reasons: the first is, it's actually
a little bit of a cumbersome phrase to say in Japanese 'cause
it would be something along the lines of [phonetically] "journey across-oh zs-apan"...
"journey across-oh zs-apan", or something like that.
And second of all, there's absolutely nobody out
here, as you can see, I'm essentially in the absolute middle of
nowhere. So if the worst comes to worst, when I get to Niigata
City, I'll just turn up into a bar
or a restaurant or something and try and find some drunk
salarymen because they'll do anything. Literally anything.
That'll be my last resort which is probably gonna become a reality
at this rate.
Is that a McDonalds?!
Well guys, we made it.
We're at Niigata City: population 800,000,
and an absolute nightmare to cycle through in rush hour.
Which is now.
Yeahhhh! [rings bell]
That could have ended badly
We've done it! We've arrived at Niigata Station
and all I can think about
is the fact that I haven't completed the challenge yet.
Even though my legs feel like they're gonna fall off
and I feel like I'm just gonna pass out in this bush,
I've gotta complete that challenge.
Maybe I can somehow combine it with dinner.
Kill two birds with one stone.
Hmm
So I've come to Niigata Station where they've got Sake vending machines.
I think there's about 100 varieties of Sake here
from all across Niigata Prefecture.
What better place to try and get people to say the phrase
"Journey across Japan" than here?
Whilst they're probably... a little bit drunk.
So for ¥500 you get five tokens
and one little Sake cup.
You choose which Sake you want,
pop your token in the machine,
get your cup of Sake and away you go.
It's as simple as that.
So, uh, I've been here three or four times now.
I'm not ashamed to admit that.
Usually I just pick ones at random, this time I'm gonna get ten or fifteen tokens
and work my way from 1 to 15 along the machine
Ooh that's strong!
You can see here all the information about the Sake,
and this one is uh, Karakuchi which means it's got a little bit of a spicy aftertaste.
You can see the acidity, the alcoholic volume...
This one is, uh, fifteen percent.
It's pretty good, and it's also from near Niigata City.
You can see on the map as well, where it's from,
within Niigata Prefecture.
Just got five people to say the phrase "Journey across Japan" now.
Hopefully... after I've had a few of these...
should be a lot easier.
In theory.
What I love about Sake is
it's just absolutely clear,
It's got a very nice fine taste.
I feel sophisticated when I drink it,
even though I'm quite clearly not, in any way.
The thing about drinking Sake is it hits you very quickly,
cause it's, just basically like shotting wine, erm.
Kind of looks like water but it's very potent
and after just four, five cups of this
I can already feel it hitting me.
Still maybe I can, uh, pluck up the courage to go an speak to someone,
and ask them to endorse my cycle.
That won't be weird will it?
This guy looks kind of friendly.
Nice to meet you.
Yes! Yes!
OK so I failed to get three people to say the phrase "Journey across Japan".
To be fair,
it would have been more but the staff weren't too happy with a disheveled foreigner
walking around the Sake vending machine place
harassing other customers.
I will try harder for tomorrow's challenge though,
whatever it is.
And, uh, I'm currently trying not to fail my main challenge,
which is to make daily videos.
If you're wondering how you condense a two day editing session
into just six hours, the secret, my friends...
is coffee.
Cheap, sugary, disgusting
canned coffee.
Erm, any weight loss that will come from cycling 50km a day
is probably gonna be negated by
all the disgusting, horrible,
Emerald Mountain Coffee I have to consume
to edit late into the night.
If you know a better way of staying awake in the evening that doesn't involve coffee or caffeine, please,
leave me a comment below, erm, let me know
what the secret is.
Ah actually! Speaking of comments,
I'm having a whale of a time looking through the comments.
Somebody's even started a petition on Change.org
Chris Broad should wear the Pumpkin Helmet
for the rest of Across Japan trip
Fuck off!
I'm not wearing that helmet!
Nothing! Nothing will make me put that helmet back on my head.
You guys have been absolutely crucifying me for using, uh,
a mountain bike with big thick tyres,
when I should have just got a road bike.
Now, in fairness, my good friend Ryotaro,
actually chose the bike for me.
Cause I thought he was an expert on bicycles.
Turns out that was absolute lies!
He knows nothing.
But we have completed leg 1 of the journey,
we've travelled 150km now, and before leg 2
of the trip starts the monstrous journey
from Niigata City, here, to Kyoto
which is about 600km away,
I do, thankfully have a day off tomorrow,
where I can relax and unwind,
and, uh, explore the city.
I've got my good friend Hirayuki who's actually showing us around,
giving us a whirlwind tour of Niigata.
So I'm looking forward to that.
But now though guys, I'm going to get back to editing the video
If you are watching this at least you know I made it.
At least you know I survived drinking all this disgusting coffee.
Wherever you may be watching from out there in the big, wide world.
Thanks for watching and for being a part of today's trip
and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow for what promises to be
a somewhat more relaxing day.
See you then guys! Take care, and have a good one.
This is actually the first food challenge I might be able to complete
Have you ever eaten this yourself?
NO?!