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bravo charlie club episode 53
11 Plays1 month ago
Special edition long form Japan deep dive episode.
Ben, spills the beans on whats hot and what's not in Japan.
hello@bravocharlie.club
https://www.bravocharlie.club
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAxzYk4tRrk1rfYcT3I
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Transcript
Introduction to Bravo Chali Club Podcast
00:00:06
Richard
Welcome to the Bravo Chali Club podcast, making 12 and a half minutes more awesome each week. He's Ben, I'm Richard. Let's go. Ben, how are you this week?
00:00:17
Ben
I'm great. I'm looking forward to this episode, mate. Episode 53, special edition.
00:00:22
Richard
53.
00:00:22
Richard
It's special edition episode this week, folks.
00:00:23
Ben
We're doing a deep dive.
00:00:25
Richard
Yes, Ben has just got back from Japan.
Insights for Traveling to Japan
00:00:29
Ben
I have.
00:00:29
Richard
I'm going to Japan very soon. and so I thought we might do a deep dive into all things Japan. What do I need to know to maximize my Japanese experience?
00:00:39
Richard
Ben?
00:00:39
Ben
Yeah. And you'll have you'll have everything. I just want to i just want to define the circumstance. under which I was in Japan, just for just so that people know. This wasn't just a booking a holiday.
00:00:49
Richard
You weren't like...
00:00:51
Ben
yeah
00:00:51
Richard
If someone didn't smuggle you in, you weren't like hijacked or anything or...
00:00:54
Ben
Pretty much. I'm very easy to smuggle. i'm I'm petite. um So no it was work related. i i went for a convention, but I arrived for a couple of days before the convention, did the convention. My wife was with me. Tanya was with me. um But also during this time, i also had a side trip to Korea, which will certainly come up in the in our discussion.
00:01:21
Ben
And then when I came back to Japan, I had some additional time.
00:01:21
Richard
Fantastic.
00:01:24
Ben
um
00:01:25
Richard
So how much free time did you have like over the whole, over
Tourist Observations and Cultural Experiences
00:01:28
Richard
the journey, over the holiday?
00:01:29
Ben
So we were gone for 16 days. I probably had about eight days of of free time, about about half.
00:01:33
Richard
Okay.
00:01:36
Ben
Yeah, so it was – and six days of work and two days basically travel based on that.
00:01:41
Richard
Mm-hmm.
00:01:43
Ben
So there you go. Hey, before we start, I've got one question for you you know, when you travel, are you curious like to what people are taking photos of?
00:01:48
Richard
Mm-hmm.
00:01:50
Ben
like Especially when there's loads of tourists around and you see you turn around to try and work out what it is that they're capturing and then wondering why you didn't think to take a photo of that.
00:02:01
Ben
you know Because I feel like I don't take enough photos. My daughter will come back and she'll have 6,000 photos from a three-day trip. And I'm just wandering around checking things out.
00:02:11
Ben
And the photos that I've got are actually quite random. Like it's just things that I've noticed. there's There's no sunsets and mountains in there. It's like someone's a weird jumper or some something.
00:02:22
Richard
but picture of some food yeah
00:02:23
Ben
what do you like What do you like as a photo as a photographer? i Actually, i do take photos of food. Yes, I do like that.
00:02:29
Richard
Actually, you know what? I like to take pictures of people taking pictures of things. So like you go to Pisa or the Eiffel Tower or something and there's all those people trying to do that whole perspective thing where they look like they're trying to hold the tower up or something and you take the picture of the angle of like, you know, several or eight people all just standing there with their hands in the air in this stupid pose.
00:02:32
Ben
Yeah. Yeah. like
00:02:38
Ben
it. Yes.
00:02:46
Ben
We'll try to hold it. Yes.
00:02:48
Richard
do You think that is hilarious. oh that's That's what I go for.
00:02:50
Ben
one of my very favourite One of my very favourite photos that I've taken is exactly that. i was standing at the back of the room where the Mona Lisa hangs and all of these people like holding up their phones just trying to get a photo of the Mona Lisa.
00:03:05
Ben
And I'm just – and I've got a – yeah, it's time
00:03:05
Richard
Yeah, because it's it's small, right? It's a really quite a small picture.
00:03:09
Ben
And I've got a photo of about 150 people, of phones in the air, and it just looks hilarious.
00:03:09
Richard
Yeah.
00:03:15
Ben
like And then there's there's a picture right off in the distance. So anyway, that's enough about France. We're on to Japan. Hit me. Hit me with a question.
00:03:23
Richard
Let's go.
Can You Get 'Temple Overload' in Japan?
00:03:24
Ben
Let's go.
00:03:26
Richard
So wanted to start with temples because, like, Japan's got timan's scott is a very strong temple game. is it like when you go to the UK and the first time you see a castle, you're like, wow, that's incredible.
00:03:36
Ben
Hmm.
00:03:39
Richard
That's the castle that, I don't know, James III smashed with his cannon. And then you go and you have a look around and you're like two hours, three hours in the castle.
00:03:43
Ben
Yep.
00:03:47
Richard
You walk around the turrets. Yeah, okay, fantastic.
00:03:50
Ben
Soak it in.
00:03:50
Richard
It's got some big impressive garden. Then you drive down the road and you're like, ah, look, it's another it's another castle. And it it's kind of old and it's it's maybe in a bit better condition.
00:04:01
Richard
The grounds might be a bit bigger. It's got a few different trees, but it's basically the same kind of thing. And then by the time you get to sort of like the fifth one, like I'll just hang out the parking lot.
00:04:10
Ben
Yeah. No idea.
00:04:13
Richard
Dr. Strangers, you guys can go and do the tour. um i mean
00:04:17
Ben
Look.
00:04:18
Richard
yeah I know I'm underselling how glorious the temples are in in Japan, but like but do you get temple overload?
00:04:21
Ben
Yeah.
00:04:25
Richard
do you just like do you hit te Do you max out on temples on like day two and you're like like, I can't do another one?
00:04:30
Ben
I think you can.
00:04:31
Richard
Yeah.
00:04:32
Ben
I think you can. um So my wife actually predicted this exact response and she took me to the best temple that she could. I think we pretty sure we went to the emperor's temple in, in Tokyo on the, on the second day.
00:04:44
Richard
big one, the Imperial Palace.
00:04:44
Ben
well first yeah Yeah, we went there. so um
00:04:47
Richard
Yep.
00:04:49
Ben
And I don't remember, she went to a couple more and um she went to a castle in the in the north, which she said was quite beautiful. But there's a lot of temple action going on, but also in particular, the Japanese gardens.
00:05:02
Ben
Yeah. You think you've seen the most beautiful Japanese garden you've ever been and then you walk 500 metres down the road and there's another one and it's just as beautiful.
00:05:03
Richard
Hmm.
00:05:12
Ben
um
00:05:12
Richard
Yeah.
00:05:13
Ben
So, yeah, it's it's it's hard to not sort of become a bit diluted in that view because they've all got a story too. um But I think you have to sort of follow, yeah.
00:05:23
Richard
Well, they're thousands of years old, right? So...
00:05:26
Ben
Yeah, the history the history behind those. And and look, the ones in the UK too, the the huge history as well. But um yeah, I actually only went to one temple.
00:05:38
Ben
So I can't say without a shadow of a doubt that they all sort blended together.
00:05:42
Richard
100% of them were awesome.
00:05:43
Ben
yeah and it was and it was really really cool like and if temples are your thing and you could find a nuance in going to the next one then you should do it um i do remember a lot of walking though like because the the imperial um palace had like massive gardens of its own so i got to tick two things off at once because i wanted to see a temple and i wanted to see a beautiful garden i did go to more gardens
00:05:44
Richard
Yeah.
00:05:54
Richard
Yeah.
00:06:07
Ben
One of them, honestly, a few of them just by accident because you're trying to cut through, like trying to walk. Yeah, I wasn't like I'd gone, oh, it's a beautiful gun. No, I'm just walking straight through because I want to get to that next spot over there.
00:06:19
Richard
That's excellent. So yeah, stumbled into some amazing gardens.
00:06:20
Ben
Yeah. So that was, yeah.
00:06:23
Richard
Yeah.
00:06:24
Ben
They've got temples covered. You should go to one for sure.
00:06:29
Richard
Fantastic. So onto the food.
Unique Culinary Experiences in Japan
00:06:33
Ben
Yeah.
00:06:35
Richard
What was the weirdest thing you ate?
00:06:39
Ben
So ah know.
00:06:39
Richard
Japanese food will be very different to what we have in the West.
00:06:42
Ben
Yeah.
00:06:42
Richard
It's sort of like it it works quite differently, the the whole food thing there sort of too, doesn't it?
00:06:48
Ben
Yeah.
00:06:48
Richard
Like the convenience store kind of culture. Yeah.
00:06:50
Ben
Well, I mean, in terms of the weirdest thing, I mean, i eat a lot of Asian food anyway. In my role, I tend to travel into Asian areas and get exposed to that. And so, but, well, you know, they do eat whole of body. Like, they don't leave anything unprepared.
00:07:07
Ben
But the weirdest thing I actually ate was a fruit sandwich from 7-Eleven. And it was like, it was if you can imagine, white bread, crust cut off, filled with whipped cream, and then you know filled with strawberries and orange and kiwi fruits and like so served served as the triangle you know sandwich that you would pick up in a standard convenience store, which might have ham and cheese and tomato or something in it.
00:07:23
Richard
Awesome.
00:07:33
Richard
So fruit salad sandwich.
00:07:33
Ben
But it was like... fruit cellar sandwich and and it was a thing this wasn't sort of like this special like i saw them everywhere like and so in terms of the weird that was the most iron it wasn't weird it was just unexpected and i and it sent my blood sugars through the roof too for the record so
00:07:47
Richard
Right?
00:07:51
Richard
Yeah, there you go.
00:07:54
Ben
so But to to your point about the convenience angle, um I don't know what the stat is, but you could eat in 7-Eleven, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and you would eat well. ah you know
00:08:04
Richard
Yeah.
00:08:05
Ben
As one of our listeners said, you're not booking a table for 10 at 7-Eleven, but you're you're not going to starve either. So, yeah, yeah.
00:08:11
Richard
Because the food's pretty decent there, right? They have like those little rice triangle things and all that sort of stuff, don't they?
00:08:13
Ben
yeah
00:08:15
Ben
Yeah, and I've forgotten the name now.
00:08:20
Richard
Onigiri, is it?
00:08:21
Ben
Onigiri? Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
00:08:23
Richard
I'm probably murdering the language there.
00:08:23
Ben
Yeah.
00:08:24
Richard
Sorry, everyone from Japan.
00:08:24
Ben
yeah I was going to say Inari, but that's the egg that covers the rice.
00:08:25
Richard
Yeah.
00:08:28
Ben
Yeah, no. Go with onigiri. We'll run with that one.
00:08:32
Richard
Excellent.
00:08:32
Ben
look What could be wrong?
00:08:33
Richard
And did you go on the train, the
Traveling on the Shinkansen
00:08:34
Richard
high-speed train? Did you get some Shinkansen action?
00:08:36
Ben
see Yes.
00:08:39
Richard
Shinkansen.
00:08:39
Ben
Yes. We got on the Shinkansen, which is the bullet train, and... um I've got to say, though, it's to the Japanese, it's just public transport. So, you know, you expect this whole experience where, you know, the bullet train, know, it's like a plane and it's it's ready and waiting for you and you you go and find your allocated seats and stuff like this. Yes, your seats are allocated because they're just um being precise. But you better be ready when it shows up because, yeah yeah you know, we had we had one trip which we went 300 kilometres and it stopped three times.
00:09:13
Ben
you know So if you miss if you miss getting off and it happens, you could be 100 kilometers down the road before you've
00:09:21
Richard
Yes.
00:09:22
Ben
Being able to get off the thing. and in fact, we had people at our convention who missed an internal stop and they were 15 kilometres down the road. And this was like ah a really short stop, you know, because they weren't ready.
00:09:35
Richard
Yeah, wow.
00:09:36
Ben
They thought, you know, the plane, the plane, it feels like a plane, that the train would pull up um and they'd have plenty of time to disembark. But it's it's public transport.
00:09:47
Ben
i
00:09:47
Richard
you got like a couple of minutes to get off and then and then it's off.
00:09:48
Ben
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:52
Richard
And was it on time?
00:09:52
Ben
um
00:09:53
Richard
Like were they all sort of like run like clockwork?
00:09:54
Ben
Very, yeah. I think they they apologise if they're more than 12 seconds um over time.
00:09:56
Richard
Yep.
00:10:01
Ben
Yeah, they definitely were on time. There was no doubt about it. Like you knew that that was your train. It has space for luggage. and So as you get on, there's there's a space to put your luggage in there.
00:10:13
Ben
um
00:10:13
Richard
Yep.
00:10:14
Ben
was It was relatively popular. we We didn't have any trouble getting our luggage on. um And ah by the way, were there in Golden Week, which is, you know, in Australian terms, that's the equivalent traveling between Christmas and New Year.
00:10:26
Ben
Or in, you know, think of the most popular, for for listeners overseas, think of the most popular public holiday week in your country, and that's what Golden Week is for Japan.
00:10:26
Richard
Right. Yeah. no
00:10:36
Ben
So it was it was busy.
00:10:36
Richard
Does that, does that make it a difficult time? Does it make it just super busy?
00:10:39
Ben
Very busy. Yeah, super busy.
00:10:40
Richard
Yeah.
00:10:41
Ben
super Like the volume of people, I don't think I'd experience something like that. i i think... Tokyo's 15 or 17 million um people.
00:10:51
Richard
Yeah. The greater area is like 35 or something, isn't it?
00:10:53
Ben
Yeah, but yeah but that that number again travel in to work.
00:10:53
Richard
Like,
00:10:57
Richard
Yeah, right.
00:10:57
Ben
and then you've And then you've got to tourists and even just domestic tourists, like people coming down, you know, or up from Kyoto or down from Okada or whatever to Tokyo. So, yeah, the volume of people is insane.
00:11:10
Ben
um I've been to
Experiencing Golden Week in Japan
00:11:11
Ben
some big cities, but this was next level, yeah.
00:11:11
Richard
Can you take a... Yeah. Can you take a bike on the Shinkansen? Does it have like a little bike racks near the door or something?
00:11:18
Ben
I didn't see it. Yeah, I reckon that would be frowned upon. um
00:11:23
Richard
Hmm.
00:11:24
Ben
But to be honest, you're allocated a carriage. So it may well be that that you can buy a ticket for your bike and there's a place to put it. Yeah, i don't I don't know the answer to that. I'd be making it up if I said I did.
00:11:39
Ben
But it was cool.
00:11:40
Richard
And did you get around everywhere on PT, like public transport? Was it like,
00:11:43
Ben
is so Is Uber public transport? Yeah.
00:11:46
Richard
sure, sort of, private transport, still PT?
00:11:46
Ben
yeah
00:11:50
Richard
Yeah.
00:11:56
Ben
There's ah an app called Go, which is the Japanese taxi app. And it's just a little bit more useful because that you know you can be quite specific and stuff.
00:12:04
Ben
But I ended up just using Uber to order cars. Yeah. And the Uber in Japan actually just orders a Japanese taxi anyway. But the,
00:12:14
Richard
Right.
00:12:15
Ben
The best thing that I loved is you could order the Uber, but you could actually pay cash to the driver. So, you know, there's multiple ways that they solve that.
00:12:21
Richard
All right. Okay. Yeah.
00:12:24
Ben
I'm being a bit flippant. I used Ubers a little bit because I just was, you know, time poor and compressed in terms of wanting to get around. But Tanya used the public transport extensively.
00:12:33
Richard
Yeah.
00:12:36
Ben
She went everywhere. Yeah. And, she she found it quite exceptional to move around, but very, very busy.
00:12:47
Ben
That was definitely not lost on her. so And it's cheap too.
00:12:49
Richard
yeah
00:12:50
Ben
like So in terms of public transport, for anyone with an iPhone, if you've ever added a card to your wallet, there are actually transit cards already preloaded into the iPhone.
00:13:01
Ben
And I think that'd be on the Android devices as well. um And the iCoker or the Suica card is actually and a preloaded transit card. And so you add it to your Apple wallet and then you can top it up directly directly
00:13:17
Richard
You just tap it when you're going through the stations and stuff.
00:13:18
Ben
Yep, yep.
00:13:20
Richard
Yeah.
00:13:20
Ben
In fact, you just you know you just tap your phone. you don't even have to have it open because it's got the FastPass or the ExpressPass.
00:13:23
Richard
Yeah.
00:13:27
Ben
If that's activated, you just literally tap your phone and um and and it's cheap.
00:13:30
Richard
Yeah. Cool.
00:13:32
Ben
So i think we put like 1,000 yen on there and it got us three or four rides. And towards the end, we were getting really specific. Like my very last um top-up was like 239 yen so that I knew I ended up with zero left on the card um because you can't bring the cash back off it but you can top up the exact amounts and the thing that I was finding was if you put the destination into Apple Maps it actually told you what the cost of the fare was
00:14:03
Richard
Yeah, wow.
00:14:03
Ben
And so, so it says it's going to be 270 yen. And so I would put that amount on and tap and away you go. So yeah, it was, um, it was, pretty simple way of, of moving around.
00:14:12
Richard
Perfect.
00:14:15
Ben
So yeah, you don't need cash for that.
Highlights and Surprises from Japan Trip
00:14:20
Richard
What was the three most awesome things you did or saw aside from the temples?
00:14:27
Ben
Aside from the tentals. Can only have three?
00:14:31
Richard
Just three, top three, top three highlights.
00:14:31
Ben
I've got to tell you one. Okay. I've got to tell you the the one highlight that just jumps out above above all else was I had my bag searched in a Japanese domestic store the airport or not a regional airport. And I'm, I'm talking like fully emptied in front of me.
00:14:54
Ben
And I actually thought that was quite awesome. I had to work really hard to keep, keep the smile off my face,
00:15:00
Richard
out on the table on the and went through everything.
00:15:01
Ben
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. so So what happened was we went to the convention and then we went north. And so I flew from a regional um airport. It's called Sendai in in north of Tokyo to Korea because I had to go to Seoul for a side trip. And then a few days later, I flew back.
00:15:19
Ben
into a different regional airport in Japan. um And so I was gone for like two days and I was standing there trying to tell them I was on a 14-day holiday and I've got carry-on only, which I do. And when when they're emptying my bag in front of me, I'm like looking at it going, this must look so dodgy.
00:15:39
Ben
i've flown from sendai to seoul and a couple of days later back into a different airport i've got one change of clothes i've got my massage gun and like ah some ah souvenirs from the whiskey distillery that i'd been to It was just at night, they were emptying everything, just convinced that the only Caucasian on the plane who was a foot taller than everyone else was going have some sort of um you know
00:16:09
Richard
Contraband.
00:16:09
Ben
ah like a contraband. That's the word I was after. Thank you. and So that was awesome. That was a lot of fun. As I said, I had to work really hard to keep the smile on my face because I was finding it quite hilarious. And the person that was – you know, emptying my bag, was just being professional. And I was like, oh, good on you. You're doing your job well. I would pick me up if if if I saw the same thing.
00:16:34
Ben
So, and just a side note on Soul, fastest drivers in the world, hey? Like, no doubt. they they'll give They'll give way to buses as long as the bus can accelerate like a Formula One car.
00:16:41
Richard
Is that right?
00:16:46
Ben
like and And also, a career, I think, has banned overweight people. um And there was this one time when I was getting a caricature of me drawn. And I don't think the artist liked the fact that um you know I carry a few extra kilos.
00:17:00
Ben
So she drew me thin. And um it's it's awesome. It's my favorite picture of myself.
00:17:10
Ben
I've been edited. I'll put a picture of that into the inner sanctum for everyone to have a look. But look, the top three things, I think...
00:17:24
Ben
I went to a distillery, a Japanese distillery, and this is probably no but yeah that i love I love Japanese whiskey.
00:17:27
Richard
Japanese distillery. Yep.
00:17:30
Ben
So that was an absolute highlight. um I'm a big fan of knives. like I can't tell you why, but I love you you both everyday carry knives and also just chef's knives and stuff.
00:17:42
Ben
And so I went to a knife shop and and that was amazing.
00:17:45
Richard
Got chef knives or like what is your souvenirs?
00:17:47
Ben
Amazing. Yeah. actually I actually, bought a folding knife um there.
00:17:51
Richard
Mm-hmm.
00:17:52
Ben
So that was really cool. And and I went to a what was basically considered the radio control car mecca, um Super Regicon, which was, you know, I'm just a big kid.
00:18:02
Richard
Oh, nice.
00:18:05
Ben
And um I went to this store and just geeked out in there. And luckily I had a friend of mine who spoke Japanese and he did all the negotiating for me, trying to find all the parts that I couldn't locate.
00:18:17
Ben
Cause it's so big. because like two levels and, and Tanya was with me and she went up to another level.
00:18:20
Richard
Yeah.
00:18:22
Ben
She goes, you got a whole track. They got a racing car track up there as well. Well, it was, yeah, it was.
00:18:25
Richard
Wow.
00:18:27
Ben
And I didn't even go up there. I was so busy looking through all the, all the stuff they had. It was, yeah, that was cool. That was awesome. That actually really was awesome. So there you go That's my three things. Yeah.
00:18:38
Richard
Fantastic. when when you're traveling and you're in another culture, right, often there'll be some things that just work different there
Efficiency and Cultural Practices in Japan
00:18:54
Ben
Yeah, um I think, you know, everyone talks about Japanese efficiency and Japanese politeness. and And I don't think I was actually prepared for how efficient they actually are.
00:19:00
Richard
Hmm.
00:19:06
Ben
um Like, you know, and I love efficiency, don't get me wrong. but i And I'll give you an example. I went into one um public toilet and I think they they were so efficient, it was playing running water.
00:19:19
Ben
you know to make the the queue move quicker, to make the guys, you know, do their business do their business and get out, you know, because we don't want to cause a queue.
00:19:27
Richard
Like ah through the speakers, like over a PA sort of thing.
00:19:29
Ben
Yeah. It was playing running water.
00:19:30
Richard
Yeah, okay.
00:19:31
Ben
So that was, you talk about efficiency and then you talk about next level. um By the way, what's the deal with heated toilet seats? Like, they're everywhere.
00:19:40
Richard
it' ah It's a thing in Japan, is it?
00:19:42
Richard
Really? I guess it snows.
00:19:42
Ben
They're everywhere.
00:19:43
Ben
Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:44
Richard
Maybe it gets cold. so that's good it Does that encourage you to stay in the bathroom for longer than you should? I don't know.
00:19:52
Ben
i could do but i i hate that whole warm toilet seat feel and then suddenly you're permanently having it even if no one's been in there yeah it was all like that um you know we'd heard about how they push people onto the train carriage and
00:19:58
Richard
And then they're all like that. Yeah.
00:20:08
Richard
Train stuffers. Yeah, I've seen it on YouTube.
00:20:09
Ben
Yeah. And it's a job, you know, and but Tanya, so I never experienced this, but Tanya did.
00:20:10
Richard
Yeah, yeah.
00:20:14
Ben
She, she actually witnessed and was part of being crushed onto a train. And she found that quite, um, she found that quite, um, intimidating, I think like she's a
00:20:21
Richard
yeah.
00:20:24
Richard
Maybe be full on. Yeah.
00:20:26
Ben
she's ah She's a well-travelled person, but even there she was sitting in the carriage watching all these people get forced on you know on and just like, oh, I'm not too sure if I could put up this on a daily basis.
00:20:37
Ben
So that was during the peak.
00:20:37
Richard
Yeah.
00:20:39
Ben
It wasn't every time. i travelled with her a few times. Clearly we were off peak and it didn't happen. but It was full in so in some cases, but she actually saw at peak time at being people being pushed on.
00:20:49
Ben
Yeah. and and um i think the size again she's a well-traveled person she got lost in shinjuku station she said it took her 30 minutes yeah took a third took her 30 minutes to find the exit um and um i i went to tokyo station like central station which i assumed was um
00:20:59
Richard
In the station. It's supposed to be huge. Yeah.
00:21:12
Ben
going to be bigger than shinjuku and she's like nah you got no idea um and she's right because i didn't go um but shinjuku i think is next level because of all of the levels that it has whereas tokyo is fairly clear yeah you know you're one level fishing cans and the next level for the jr and the next level for the local trains and stuff um i think the
00:21:23
Richard
Yeah.
00:21:36
Ben
The funny thing that I saw, which I loved, it just this will stick in my memory forever. It was in a train station. um The Japanese are so polite that I watched a guy – pull up behind a couple of girls and then wait for the oncoming pedestrians and then pull around them. Like he actually did an overtaking manoeuvre, but he was walking.
00:21:55
Ben
And so it was, like, it was, you know in other, like certainly in Western cities, like that person would just walk down the left and run into whoever was, you know, coming towards them.
00:22:06
Richard
Yeah, going the other way, yeah.
00:22:08
Ben
But he he literally pulled an overtaking manoeuvre while he was walking and that – I wish I could have videoed it. I didn't obviously didn't know what was going to happen, but it was um that was that was fun. um In terms of the bad, like i mean, you can find the good and bad in everything. the The one thing which sort of made me laugh, um there was an announcement that,
00:22:30
Ben
on the train like a recorded announcement asking passengers um actually it was on the bus that that i took out to the distillery there was an announcement on the bus asking um passengers not to talk um And it was actually more annoying, I thought, than people and and then people were just talking.
00:22:48
Richard
that they played on repeat.
00:22:52
Ben
Like, it just it just came on this loop every 60 seconds asking you not to talk.
00:22:53
Richard
Yes.
00:22:57
Ben
And I'm like, oh, I'm going to try to just listen to people chat about their day. um
00:23:02
Richard
Yeah.
00:23:02
Ben
So that was it. I mean, as I said, you can find the bad and everything, but that that one that one was pretty funny. And I kept hitting my head on those hand rings in the bus. Like, cause I'm like, again, I'm foot taller than the average, um, national. And so those hand rings were like at my chest height. Um, so, uh, yeah, I went to walk off and I was like, donk, donk, donk. Like it was like a cartoon a couple of times.
00:23:26
Ben
Um, And i couldn't I couldn't help but notice, and this isn't a bad thing, this is probably a reflection of why they've got some of the biggest longevity in the world. um The elevator payloads in Japan, 1,000 kilos allows for 15 people in an elevator.
00:23:43
Ben
So what's that? An average of 66 kilos.
00:23:44
Richard
Yeah.
00:23:46
Ben
I'm confident that if I walked into ah an elevator in here in Brisbane, it would be more we'd be allowing more than 66 kilos per person. um So that was that was not a bad thing at all.
00:23:55
Richard
Yeah.
00:23:57
Ben
i just It caught my eye because I kept seeing it. So there you go. there's a There's a summary of a few things.
00:24:04
Richard
That's fantastic. And so did you do any sort of random exploring? I know i know that you're quite structured with your um with your holiday itineraries, but did you do any just kind of like ah casual roaming or wandering about?
00:24:16
Ben
we So you'll you'll love the fact, you're right, I am structured, and and especially given that the time compression I was on, I i so had very specific places that I wanted to get to. But there was two times um that I was able to do some random exploring. One, when I flew into Kanazawa and eventually got past customs, I was,
00:24:40
Ben
I'd arrived there quite well because Tanya stayed in Japan, right? So she she just kept traveling and she was going to meet me over at Kanazawa.
00:24:44
Richard
Mm.
00:24:49
Ben
So I got there a few hours before her and I knew the general direction of the knife shop that I wanted to go and I was like, I don't need to pull out the map for the whole time.
00:24:59
Ben
So I'll just wander along in this direction. And I found a ramen bar there And again, I couldn't sit up at the actual bar and there were some booths. and There was a ah couple of American men who'd walked in behind me and um they were actually um giving me grief for not being able to operate the vending machine that was in Japanese.
00:25:21
Ben
And um so I finally got the order through with help of the of the person serving. And then they came to have their turn and they couldn't operate it, which was hilarious.
00:25:32
Richard
Yeah, nice.
00:25:33
Ben
turned around and said, you want some help from the person who's learned how to do it once? um And so i ended up sitting with them. um And so that was one of those cool little travel things where like, I was uncomfortable at the bar.
00:25:44
Richard
yeah nice
00:25:45
Ben
So I went and sat with them in their booth and we just, and then I told them I was going to this knife shop. And so they came with me. um And then we found a whiskey bar across the road.
00:25:52
Richard
Oh, cool.
00:25:54
Ben
So it was like, it was just a really cool experience. And Shohei Itani, who's a very famous Japanese baseballer, was playing a game live, not in Japan, but it was on television.
00:26:06
Ben
And so I was watching, watching it was like ah one of those, oh, you couldn't have planned this kind of moments.
00:26:07
Richard
Yeah.
00:26:11
Ben
So that was pretty cool. And the second one was actually um initiated by Tanya. She knew that the that there was a samurai district in Kanazawa. And um she said, oh, why don't we just walk?
00:26:23
Ben
And we'd actually chosen accommodation quite near. So we just walked over there and we got into the general area and then we turned off the map and just walked around it. And it was it was quite interesting.
00:26:34
Ben
You know they had the...
00:26:34
Richard
So what's a samurai district?
00:26:35
Ben
the
00:26:36
Richard
what what what is
00:26:37
Ben
Well, it was where the – so the samurais used to live all together in the same same area and it was a protected area.
00:26:37
Richard
What does that mean? Does that mean like everything?
00:26:44
Richard
So it's themed or something or it's like, it's
00:26:45
Ben
So it's not themed so much, but it's just – it's all well kept because the samurais are so well regarded. And, um you know, it was – and it's still, you know, hundreds of years later kept, you know, in a pristine state.
00:26:52
Richard
Hmm.
00:26:59
Ben
But the yeah even like the – the the gates and the fences you know like they're made of clay and hay you know and and stuff like this it was yeah it was quite a interesting walk through there the cobbled pipe paved stones and um reading about how they use the canals which are still running to to move wood around to build the the houses and stuff it was yeah i found that quite interesting um and that certainly wasn't something that i had planned to go and see tanya knew about it
00:27:06
Richard
Yeah, wow.
00:27:29
Ben
But we sort of just rolled over there. um And I think the other one, Akihabara, and I mentioned I went, I specifically wanted to go to Super Ragicom, the hobby store, but Akihabara is like a suburb of just electronics and collectibles.
00:27:47
Ben
Like you could get lost walking around that for
00:27:48
Richard
yeah. yeah
00:27:50
Ben
And there's one street called Kitchen Town, you know, and there's um yeah it's there's stuff there stuff everywhere that you could just get lost in a day.
00:28:01
Ben
know, there's a fair bit of retail therapy going on in Japan, I think. Yeah.
00:28:05
Richard
Yeah, I love it, all those sort of laneways and alleys and stuff.
00:28:06
Ben
Yeah.
00:28:08
Richard
Yeah, good vibes, I can't wait.
00:28:10
Ben
yeah
00:28:12
Richard
any yeah Any funny lost in translation stories where you sort of, aside from trying to order the ramen, like anything when, you know, you sort of like something just just didn't line up or ah you were trying to mime the words in English or something?
00:28:23
Ben
Yeah, all everywhere.
00:28:27
Richard
Yeah.
00:28:27
Ben
if i um If I pulled out my phone, they would the other the photos that I take, hey, you know, like the, um I think I told you about the 24-hour vending machine, which was called the No Sleep Shop.
00:28:28
Richard
ah
00:28:41
Ben
um But there there seems to be a compulsion to translate everything, you know, big and but it's almost like they should just get someone else to do the translation for you.
00:28:52
Ben
Like, The global liquor store called the World Liquor System, you know, I can live with that. That's that's not far off, you know. um Doctor Drive for a cat- car mechanic, that that works, that works.
00:29:05
Richard
Yep, yep.
00:29:06
Ben
the The local hairdresser called the Smiley Cut House, I think there's some bad business going on behind the doors of that one.
00:29:15
Richard
It does sound a bit dodgy.
00:29:15
Ben
Now, I don't need need a hairdresser too often, but I'm not walking into a Smiley Cut House. I, um, i um I did actually go, speaking of Lost in Translation, I actually went to the bar that's featured in the movie Lost in Translation.
00:29:32
Richard
Oh, the hotel bar, like the one at the top ah up in the building.
00:29:33
Ben
Yeah, right at the top of the yeah yeah the Bill Murray movie, Scarlett Johansson.
00:29:34
Richard
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:38
Ben
It's the first time, hey, if we mention Scarlett Johansson, can we tag her in our socials and then she'll want to come on the show?
00:29:44
Richard
Sure, totally.
00:29:45
Ben
that if That'll happen. um ah It's the first time I've paid a cover charge to go into a bar in a long time, if ever. And the colour charge was an eye-watering amount.
00:29:57
Ben
I think they just know that they're a popular bar, so they they just charge that because they can.
00:30:00
Richard
Oh, of course. Yep.
00:30:03
Ben
And and off and off they go. And interestingly, in that bar, I left my jumper and I walked out and then I walked back in and it wasn't a sort of polite, you know, um here's your jumper thanks for coming it was like a please don't forget your jumper like it was almost an admonishment for for leaving you know inconveniencing the next guest uh so yeah so the mate the there are lost in translation stories all over um
00:30:30
Richard
Yes.
00:30:38
Ben
But in in all countries. And, yeah, I found the humour in most. So it's something to look look forward to finding. And I'm sure there's Lost in Translation ones here as well.
00:30:49
Ben
You know, seeing the crocodile crocodile signs and the don't swim um ravines.
00:30:50
Richard
Fantastic.
00:30:54
Richard
Yeah, totally.
00:30:56
Ben
You know, Catherine. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:58
Richard
So it sort of sounds like you you kind of had a pretty strong game of booking a hotel and then sort of having the areas that you wanted to see or explore around the hotel area. Was that roughly your sort of strategy for for for booking hotels
00:31:15
Ben
Yeah, look, I mean, the public transport is so strong that I don't think you can go wrong. like if you're If you're asking, is there an optimal area to stay?
00:31:26
Ben
I think just fit your budget, you know.
00:31:29
Ben
We stayed first in Shinagawa, which is south of the city, but not not far. And then in Shinjuku, which is northwest, um... And I assume Shibuya, which is that famous scatter crossing, which they use in a lot of the movies. Like if you've ever seen an end of world movie and they bomb Tokyo, it's the Shibuya scatter crossing that they've bombed.
00:31:53
Ben
So maybe don't stay there. um But yeah, ah I think they're all popular spots.
00:31:54
Richard
yeah
00:31:58
Ben
I think as long as you're walking distance to a train station, and we and we always seem to be, like the Shinagawa, we were probably 10 minutes, but there was a shuttle as well.
00:32:08
Richard
Yeah.
00:32:09
Ben
I think I walked it once. It was like a 15 or 20-minute walk. But there was a shuttle from our hotel. So, yeah, they've got you covered there. But there's so much to do.
00:32:21
Ben
like you
00:32:22
Ben
You could probably stay in Shinjuku for a week and not really need to move around too much. ta Honestly, Tanya's the one we should be interviewing on this.
00:32:31
Ben
She she did everything.
00:32:32
Richard
left her on the pod.
00:32:33
Ben
Like, I was... yeah she would be much more interesting um but she she definitely got around like i would see her the that that night she went i went off to this and that and know harry potter and disneyland and i've been and done kintsugu which is the uh gold threading when they repair the the plates and and um there was there's so many things that she did and i was just like okay that's and that's not anywhere near our hotel but she was just happily getting around in um in public transport so
00:32:51
Richard
o
00:33:03
Richard
awesome and uh and final question um would you go back would you go back did you feel like you had enough of japan or or do you want more
00:33:05
Ben
Yeah.
00:33:13
Ben
ah I'll definitely go back. But, I mean, to put it in context, I'm not a person that goes back to many places. So like I'm not rushing back. I've got friends who just love Japan. They would holiday in Japan every year.
00:33:27
Ben
um I've got other places that I'd like to see and and take my family. um But I definitely go back. There are circumstances where I would would enjoy going back to Japan. The only thing I'd probably say is I might not go back to Tokyo.
00:33:41
Ben
Like, we're very lucky.
00:33:42
Richard
Oh yeah, okay.
00:33:42
Ben
It's such a, yeah, it's it's such a big, you know, population that there's major, like, for even from Australia, you can fly into Osaka and, you know you can fly into many different directly, you know, so it's such a big nation. So yeah, to Tokyo for me was probably a bit too big.
00:34:01
Ben
And I think spending a significant amount of time there would probably be a little bit overwhelming for me. And also I'm not that maneuverable, like walking to public transport and that kind of thing would probably wear me out. So it's not my kind of holiday. i enjoyed it.
00:34:19
Ben
if I went back, I'd probably go looking for – because I think Kyoto was the original capital city before Tokyo sort of became, you know, the mecca for Japan. And I think that sort of old school, you know, vibe would probably interest me a little bit.
Budget-Friendly Travel in Japan
00:34:34
Ben
So, yeah, I'd go back, but it's not my next trip. Does that make sense? Yeah.
00:34:39
Richard
Yeah, cool.
00:34:49
Richard
one
00:34:50
Ben
I just found the breadth of cost so wide that you can go on any budget. Like you can spend big dollars and stay in the fancy hotels, no doubt, but you can also eat very cheap and very well and travel on, on a very limited budget. So, you know, and the yen is, is quite to devalued at the moment. So,
00:35:15
Ben
anyone who's got taken our advice in past episodes and has a wise card or something transferring a few um across to the yen or or pounds or whatever it might be right now is probably some smart thinking if you've got a trip coming up so there you go get onto it enjoy your trip
00:35:31
Richard
Awesome. Fantastic.
00:35:34
Ben
see you next week bravo charlie club out
00:35:34
Richard
Thanks everyone for tuning in.
00:35:39
Richard
And that's the pod.