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  • [Music]

  • [Chris]:- We're going to Yamadera, it's the most

  • [Chris]:- beautiful temple in all of Tohoku. Well, I like

  • [Chris]:- it so much that I had it on my business

  • [Chris]:- cards for the longest time.

  • [Chris]:- But- [Sharla]:- You took it off now.

  • [Chris]:- I took it off now and I replaced it with a

  • [Chris]:- photo of a shrine in Hiroshima, but anyway-

  • [Sharla]:- Traitor!

  • [Chris]:- Yamadera, beautiful shrine, love it. It's probably

  • [Chris]:- at its best either now or in winter when

  • [Chris]:- you've got

  • lots of snow.

  • [Chris]:- It's a little bit of a climb, so I hope you've got your hiking

  • [Chris]:- shoes on. [Sharla]:- I don't. [Chris]:- Oh dear. [Sharla]:- It's up on the side of

  • [Sharla]:- a mountain, which is why it's called

  • [Sharla]:- Yamadera. I've never been, I've seen so

  • [Sharla]:- many photos and videos of it. It's probably

  • [Sharla]:- the most famous temple in North Japan, I

  • [Sharla]:- would say. So, the place we're going today

  • [Sharla]:- you can get to by car, obviously, or

  • [Sharla]:- you can take a train from Sendai station

  • [Sharla]:- and it'll take you right up to the

  • temple. [Chris]:- Mmm. [Sharla]:- It'll take about an hour, so it's pretty easily accessed from

  • [Sharla]:- Tokyo. So I feel like Yamagata prefecture

  • [Sharla]:- is probably one of the best places to

  • [Sharla]:- drive around in the autumn- [Chris]:- Mmm. [Sharla]:- because of

  • [Sharla]:- the mountains, they're so orange and

  • [Sharla]:- pretty right now. [Chris]:- It's an amazing place. [Sharla]:- Yeah.

  • [Chris]:- I'm very lucky to live here for three years

  • [Chris]:- I keep coming back, even now, and I

  • [Chris]:- honestly think it's one of the most

  • [Chris]:- beautiful preferences in all of Japan. [Sharla]:- If I had

  • [Sharla] to rate my favorite prefectures it would

  • [Sharla]:- probably be number one or two. We're

  • [Sharla]:- gonna park the car at the base of the

  • [Sharla]:- mountain, I guess. [Chris]:- Mmm. [Sharla]:- And then hike up for

  • [Sharla]:- about half hour and that'll bring us up to the

  • [Sharla]:- temple. [Chris]:- Half an hour? [Sharla]:- It's a little bit of a hike. [Chris]: - Speak for

  • yourself, ten minutes. [Sharla]:- Google said half hour- [Chris]:- We're

  • [Chris]:- running up it, no problem.

  • [Music]

  • [Sharla]:- So there's a really nice town down here

  • [Sharla]:- with lots of restaurants and shops

  • [Sharla]:- and probably places to stay too.

  • [Sharla]:- not sure if they have any Ryokan or

  • [Sharla]:- anything around here, but it looks like

  • [Sharla]:- the type of town that would. And a really

  • [Sharla]:- pretty river running through it. So cold

  • [Sharla]:- today! I was out of Japan for one month

  • and it went from summer to almost winter.

  • Oh, here this is where we start. Oh, cool.

  • I feel tired already just looking at

  • these stairs. 10 minutes. You probably used to make it in 10 minutes.

  • CB: How long do you think it will take me to get these stairs?

  • S: I don't know.

  • CB: What time is it?

  • CB: Ready?

  • Two, one ..

  • Idiot.

  • 19 seconds

  • He was good charging up here like an

  • idiot. Everyone was feeling 'what the hell'

  • I've single-handedly ruined the

  • atmosphere of Yamadera.

  • [Music]

  • [Applause]

  • [Music]

  • Ou, Matsuo, Matsuo Bashō

  • Poet.

  • Writer.

  • [Music]

  • See, Yamagata is um well known for exporting

  • safflower.

  • Which is a

  • a flower used to stain clothing red.

  • So you know Yamagata was actually

  • quite rich and then

  • presumably they found a better source of

  • safflower but most importantly of all

  • there's a cat over here. Look at this.

  • [Applause]

  • Hi.

  • [Music]

  • All right, so we are

  • here

  • CB: The cat is here.

  • and we need to go

  • CB: Oh my goodness you really want to go up there.

  • ... oh god, it's endless.

  • There, I think that's the glory there.

  • CB: Can't we just fly a drone up there.

  • There's literally like a heart attack warning,

  • because you'll die if you go up there

  • That's for you really.

  • CB: I'm still still

  • recovering from the stairs.

  • Тhe 19 seconds stair sprint.

  • Well, look at this rock. It's as big as it

  • looks

  • chris: Yeah that must be pretty great

  • sharla: looks really creepy

  • it looks like a monster

  • Sharla: so you have to pay a couple dollars to enter this area

  • i think it's 300 Yen

  • yeah about three dollars

  • oh it's so pretty!

  • *music*

  • sharla: have you ever seen a monkey here?

  • *indistinct chatter*

  • *music*

  • sharla: it's a really nice climb

  • it is tiring

  • *chris dying and gasping for air*

  • sharla: but um yeah there's lots of really pretty things to look at look at

  • look it's two-headed one

  • sharla: I've never seen it two-headed

  • sharla: get up there

  • chris: it's up there

  • *music*

  • sharla: it's a secret path up there,

  • I don't know where it goes

  • sharla, softly: secret path :)

  • sharla: maybe it's just another way up

  • chris: secret shot

  • in the uh

  • end game of the climb

  • it's always vertical bit

  • but also the most beautiful

  • *sharla laughing*

  • chris: stunning

  • sharla: do they light these up at night time?

  • chris: uhhh think they do in certain seasons

  • sharla: that'd be cool

  • chris: here for example there's a candle

  • sharla: yeah they all have one

  • sharla: yeah they all have one

  • *music*

  • sharla: oh look at that!

  • it is balancing them

  • sharla: that's pretty cool, they're not stuck

  • I think they're all just balanced though

  • sharla: should we try and stick one in?

  • chris: do it

  • so these are all...

  • balanced very precariously, right?

  • sharla: yeah

  • chris: it's pretty incredible

  • sharla: I'm scared to knock someone else's down D:

  • awww

  • chris: is it magnetic rock?

  • sharla: nooo

  • this is aluminum anyways

  • oh there! :D

  • *twinkle sound of success*

  • chris: oh wow that was easy

  • sharla: you can kind of wedge it in

  • sharla: don't knock the other ones off >:((((

  • *buzz noise of failure*

  • sharla: what the h***?

  • chris: shut up :'(

  • *sharla laughs*

  • chris: you did an easy one, I want a daring one

  • you know i want a challenge

  • that's what Abroad in Japan is all about,

  • challenging.... yourself.

  • chris: let's put a coin-

  • sharla: alright then go for it

  • chris: let's put a coin in the wall

  • chris, whispering: challenge

  • *buzz noise of failure #2*

  • chris, a little louder: challenge

  • *sharla laughs*

  • chris: oh?

  • chris, whispering again: get in ya bastard >:(((

  • sharla: there, that looks-

  • *chris snorts*

  • *sharla laughs*

  • *buzz noise of failure #3*

  • sharla: you suck at this

  • sharla: these ones are pretty impressive though

  • chris: how the f*** have they done that then??

  • sharla: right??

  • *buzz noise of failure #4*

  • chris: no good luck for me

  • *sharla laughing*

  • that's very- oh my god

  • you couldn't even do that :'D

  • chris: f***

  • sharla: come down here and trying to wedge it somewhere

  • chris: oh oh look!

  • *twinkle sound of success*

  • sharla: oh nice

  • chris, singing: I set fire, to the rain

  • dun dun dunnn

  • sharla: almost there you can see the goal

  • looks like it gets really pretty up there

  • lots of red maple trees

  • *music*

  • chris: stunning almost there we're sort of

  • final

  • sharla and chris: final stretch

  • *music*

  • chris: どうぞ (dou zo/ go ahead)

  • *music*

  • sharla: looks like there's two ways to go here

  • that way or

  • up that way

  • I think chris went up there??

  • never mind

  • found him

  • wow look at the view~~

  • didn't feel like we hiked up that far

  • but I guess we did

  • *music*

  • chris: beautiful

  • sharla: surprised they don't have like a fence here

  • chris: yeah no restraint

  • sharla: *nervous laugh* scary

  • chris: too busy, in the moment

  • imagine, "it's so beautif-ahhhh" D:

  • sharla: *nervous laugh* scary

  • chris: this isn't the peak

  • sharla: oh..

  • chris: it's a little bit higher

  • and the views

  • are outstanding

  • this is the bit I had on my business card

  • sharla: ah yeah this is the part that everyone takes a photo of

  • chris: yeah

  • it's all about those

  • sort of crazy rock formations right

  • sharla: yeah the cliffs are really neat

  • chris: yeah yeah yeah

  • like as you start to look at them you

  • see little temples and shrines

  • jutting out of them and uh

  • yeah so it's a really quite imaginable place

  • sharla: oh look at that one up there can you even get up there?

  • chris: I don't ...think you can??

  • sharla: it's an old one

  • chris: but maybe, I don't know I've never seen anyone up there

  • where are we going in a minute it's a little bit like that though,

  • still here

  • but yeah really one of my favorite

  • places in, not just Yamagata but all of north Japan.

  • being sincere for once

  • *sharla laughs*

  • sharla: everyone's complaining about how hot they are

  • it was a mistake wearing this coat, that's for sure

  • after about five minutes of hiking you regret it

  • *music*

  • sharla: you know how old the temple is?

  • chris: almost as old as Ryotaro

  • sharla: so uh... just over a thousand years

  • sharla: that's cool

  • *music*

  • wow

  • sharla: is this the top?

  • chris: it is

  • sharla: wow

  • chris: とても綺麗ですね (totemo kire desu ne/ it's very beautiful, isn't it)

  • *music*

  • sharla: hehe here's your next challenge >:)

  • *music*

  • *camera shutter click*

  • *camera shutter click #2 *

  • *camera shutter click #3*

  • chris: I think for my money this is one of the top sort of five views

  • in all of north Japan

  • sharla: what are the other four?

  • chris: Matsushima Bay

  • sharla: went there

  • chris: Natsuki's salon

  • sharla: *laugh* went there

  • chris: mcdonald's in Sendai

  • sharla: uhh haven't been to that one yet

  • chris: the.....

  • all the cliffs in Iwate

  • there's such a good coast line

  • sharla: oh yeah been there

  • chris: and...

  • *chris's brain, hard at work for the first time*

  • sharla: I just gotta go to mcdonald's and I've done all five

  • chris: what's the other one what's the last one?

  • sharla: that was four

  • chris: I said five though, didn't I?

  • sharla: yeah this one

  • chris: oh yeah, I can't count

  • that's what happens when you climb up a thousand meter mountain

  • *sharla laughs*

  • chris, now in the voice of an old man: well,

  • it's been a long climb to the top of Yamadera,

  • it's taken about 42 years but

  • I think you'll agree the view is....

  • really worth the wait

  • wasn't it

  • *music*

  • chris: so did you enjoy your climb to the top,

  • the summit of uh, Yamadera?

  • sharla: my legs are shaking

  • chris: your legs are shaking?

  • sharla: it's too much exercise just coming out of quarantine

  • chris: yeah I mean I think it's about 900 meters sharla will put it here

  • sharla: is it? wow

  • chris: in post but uhh

  • sharla: it felt like 900 meters anyway! (it was 330 meters)

  • chris: well I will say is it's much easier to climb in autumn than it is in winter

  • sharla: do they clear the steps off?

  • chris: they do a little bit, but it's still a slip and slide nightmare,

  • so I recommend autumn and,

  • actually, the scenery is nicer in autumn as well probably

  • sharla: yeah

  • chris: and you've got the nice smoky smell of the shrines around you

  • you've got people brushing the leaves away

  • slowly walking away from sharla and escaping but I do know

  • a good traditional japanese burger restaurant

  • sharla: pfft of course

  • chris: just around the corner from here

  • so

  • what do you say

  • sharla: really???

  • chris: yeah B^)

  • *sharla laughs*

  • chris: burgers innit, let's go

  • this is the place

  • Fledged Burger I've only been here one time with my boyfriend,

  • cdawgva, back in Feburary,

  • we both came here and uh

  • they do really good authentic burgers

  • 100 beef

  • and the menu is so extensive as you're about to see

  • let's go

  • *music*

  • chris: I'm gonna get the old bacon cheese it's basically

  • sharla: whats the old mean?

  • chris: they basically just remove the vegetables

  • I'm not really that bigger fan of vegetables in a burger

  • it just makes it a bit too messy and

  • too big

  • sharla: yes the vegetables make it messy

  • chris: old bacon cheese, like the good old days

  • were there's no vegetables

  • *sharla laughs*

  • *music*

  • chris: beautiful

  • chris: I burned it off climbing Yamadera, so it's okay

  • *music*

  • chris: I hope you've enjoyed your time in Yamadera and Yamagata

  • sharla: yeah I've, I think I've done all the major things in Yamagata now

  • that was the last one on the list

  • chris: you've completed Yamagata

  • sharla: so,

  • chris: congratulations

  • sharla: hope you guys enjoyed joining us for the day

  • and I'll see you again very soon

  • bye for now

  • chris: subscribe to ------ -- -----!!!!!

  • *music*

[Music]

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