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  • Good morning guys

  • I was invited on a trip to Otsu city by the city today

  • And I'm super excited to be here because it's my first time, but we have so many cool things planned out

  • And I'm really excited to take you guys along so let's get started. We're gonna rent some bicycles

  • I've got electric bikes over here, which are good if we get kind of tired

  • And I've got some other bikes over here without a motor

  • They have all the important information in English so if you don't speak Japanese

  • Don't worry too much this place is really convenient for English speakers

  • It looks so pretty

  • I'm so excited

  • So this is where we are right now Otsu-eki and our first stop is going to be

  • This cafe right here for lunch right on the coast of the lake I cannot wait

  • We've made it to the edge of the lake it's so big it looks like the ocean it smells like the ocean too

  • I feel like I'm on a beach

  • Weather is so nice. I was so lucky. It was actually supposed to rain today, and I think it might later a little bit

  • But right now. It's perfect. It's cloudy. It's not a million degrees. I'm happy

  • So for lunch they have lots of options, and there's a couple of vegan options here

  • This looks like a whole set with a whole bunch of different things to try.

  • Vegan cake!

  • I don't know what to start with

  • There's so many!

  • It's so good

  • This is delicious the vegetables taste sooo fresh

  • This is a brand-new vegetable for me. I've never seen it before it's called a shikaku-mame, square bean

  • It's a bean. It looks like a sea creature

  • It's crunchy and it kind of tastes like a green bean

  • but it's a little more... it's got a little more moisture to it. It's not as dry

  • All right. We're already off to our next location! I'm gonna be going to Omi Jingu

  • Which is a shinto shrine and I'm going to be doing something really fun there

  • I'm gonna be wearing a special type of kimono

  • It's one of the super fancy ones with lots and lots of layers.

  • I cannot wait!

  • I'm so excited this place is sooo pretty

  • The weather is holding up it hasn't started raining yet. It was supposed to start right about now

  • But the sky's still looking

  • slightly cloudy

  • Not overly bad, so I think I was pretty lucky

  • So this is the type of kimono I'll be wearing, it's called juni (12) hitoe

  • 12-layered ceremonial kimono

  • Konnichiwa!

  • Look at all the kimono

  • the anime

  • so a movie was filmed at this shrine, and this is the outfit that one of the characters wore

  • Ohh it's heavy

  • So I was told that I can choose whichever kimono I want.

  • this one's really pretty

  • So hard to choose!

  • I really like this gold one. This is really pretty. I think I might choose this one

  • Alright, I'm gonna attempt to sit down and pose my kimono so that it looks nice

  • Well that was awesome, I really like how they just kind of leave you to it

  • And you can try on whatever kimonos you like if you brought your own Chucky

  • You could take as many photos as you like too and it only costs $10

  • It's 1,000 yen, and you get one of the instant photographs included with that

  • So these are really tiny kimonos

  • These are for three year olds.

  • In Japan, they celebrate when you become 3 years, 5 years and 7 years

  • so they have all the kimono you would need for that here Wow

  • Wooow

  • They have everything here

  • We've arrived at our hotel, I'm gonna get a quick little tour of the inside now

  • wow

  • It's nice in here

  • So they have an Italian restaurant

  • It smells great. I'm getting hungry, and they also have a Japanese restaurant

  • This is where I will be eating tonight. So look forward to see what kind of food they have prepared for me

  • They also have a swimming pool, but it's closed because summer is almost over

  • But if you come in the summer you can swim

  • And have an amazing view of Biwa Lake right beside you

  • there's a souvenir shop inside the hotel too

  • So if you want to grab some souvenirs for your family

  • apparently, this is a fancy

  • mochi

  • it looks like it would be reaaally soft

  • Their rice is famous too

  • So their rice is probably used in all these mochi products here tea is famous in this region as well

  • Tea is famous in this region as well

  • So there's lots of kinds of green tea here

  • these little fish

  • fish sweets are soo cutee

  • Biwa Lake cider

  • Time to check out my room!

  • I'm so exciteddd

  • Let's go

  • Wow

  • Here is the shower room.

  • It's a whole room for showering you can get this whole area wet

  • It's awesome

  • Sink area

  • Got some shampoo and stuff

  • The bedroom area is so pretty. I love the blue ocean theme

  • So I picked up some of the famous mochi at the gift shop

  • Couldn't pass that up because they looked really soft and delicious, so let's give them a try

  • It looks like this, they kind of look like dango

  • They're on sticks and then lots of what I think is matcha powder

  • Not pure matcha obviously

  • That would be intense

  • But matcha flavoured... kinako, maybe?

  • It's matcha flavour

  • They're just as soft as I imagined they would be.

  • Wow I can see why this is famous

  • This is some of the best mochi I've ever had

  • Mmm. They're so soft

  • it melts in your mouth. You guys will love this

  • It's almost dinner time so I think I'm gonna head downstairs to the restaurant that I showed you earlier

  • Ohmi. The Japanese-style restaurant,

  • and they have prepared a special vegan dinner for me

  • They've already brought out one of my favorite dishes

  • which is yuba~ It's tofu skin

  • You dip it in wasabi and soy sauce. It's delicious.

  • Fig. That's really interesting. I don't think I've ever had a fig before

  • It reminds me a lot of sashimi

  • the tofu itself doesn't have much flavor, so you really get the taste of the soy sauce and wasabi

  • Kind of like a vegetarian sashimi

  • All right, let's get this fig with sesame dressing a try

  • my first time eating fresh fig

  • It's so sweet

  • It's really sweet and juicy

  • melts in your mouth

  • And here we have

  • Tadaaa~

  • A beautiful cup of seaweed

  • Very gooey seaweed. It's apparently really good for you

  • Tastes delicious

  • kind of vinegar flavour to it

  • okay they just gave me the fanciest salad I've ever seen in my life

  • So it's full of different superfoods like goji berries, quinoa, a bunch of different other vegetables

  • And then I can make my own dressing here, however I like.

  • We've got olive oil, salt, and lemon

  • That's delicious

  • It's so good

  • I can't go back to regular salad

  • So this one is a wheat gluten

  • Apparently it's really chewy, and there's a miso sauce on top

  • Mmm it's sooo good

  • It's like a soft mochi

  • Kind of like buckwheat flour

  • mixed with a little bit of an earthy flavour

  • Mostly, you just taste the flavour of the sauce

  • Next, we have the aka konnyaku that we saw in the gift shop

  • The texture is super squishy

  • I don't know how to explain it

  • It's like eating an eyeball

  • Yeah, it's got a slight smoky taste to it

  • but basically it's just like regular konnyaku, not much flavour

  • so you just enjoy the flavor of the sauce that they put with it

  • Did you see this?

  • There's no gap

  • They carved it like this

  • That's awesome

  • Matsutake are really expensive mushrooms

  • You don't get to eat them very often, so really excited about that

  • And I don't think I've ever had tempura with matcha shio before so that'll be new

  • Alright, I'm gonna try the matsutake with just plain rock salt

  • So good

  • They're so flavourful

  • Wow

  • don't even need to put anything on it

  • 'Cause it has such an earthy flavor already

  • This is a vegetable nabe made with soy milk

  • I'm excited for this one

  • I love how they cook it at your table in these cute little pots

  • My nabe is all ready to eat

  • It smells really, really good

  • And they give you fresh ginger

  • To add into it which is just the perfect combination with the soy milk

  • I love this I'm gonna try making this at home. Not sure exactly what they put in it

  • I'm assuming some kind of vegetable base broth, and then the soy milk and maybe

  • Yeah, I feel like that's all you need and then add a little bit of fresh ginger. It's sooo refreshing

  • It's such a great flavor that goes with all the different vegetables and great with the tofu

  • For dessert we have some fresh pears

  • Look at how delicate that is.