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  • *music*

  • Good morning and welcome to Sendai Station at 6:00 am!

  • I am going on a trip with Ryotaro

  • who very kindly invited me to Iwate,

  • which is my favorite prefecture

  • tied with Yamagata.

  • So I'm very excited to be taking you guys there today.

  • We're going to be trying out some of the local foods

  • and doing some activities that you can only do in Iwate.

  • So hopefully you guys enjoy!

  • So Ryotaro taught me that you can put Shinkansen tickets

  • onto your Pasmo card now.

  • It's super handy especially when it's really busy and you're worried you're

  • not gonna get a seat.

  • It's not at 6:00am,

  • there's nobody here but...

  • *chimes*

  • That's exciting, that is so handy.

  • And

  • then you come over to this machine here

  • and you tap your card.

  • *chimes*

  • There it is, there's our ticket!

  • print :)

  • I don't normally drink these but I'm gonna need

  • an energy drink this morning.

  • *music*

  • So when we arrive in Ninohe,

  • Ryotaro and I are going to split up and go on

  • two separate adventures.

  • I'll have his video

  • linked down below so go check it out

  • when you're done watching this one!

  • But

  • I'm off to meet a local craftsman who's

  • going to teach me how to make chopsticks!

  • And then later on tonight we're going to

  • get back together and meet up at a hotel

  • which is known for being super haunted.

  • I have come to Craft Plum, which is a

  • really cute workshop.

  • I'm gonna be

  • making some chopsticks using a special

  • kind of wood that is mainly found here

  • in Iwate.

  • It grows so slowly that the

  • tree grows in size one millimeter every

  • three years.

  • So it takes forever to grow

  • the supplies needed to make these

  • chopsticks.

  • So they're super fancy and

  • I'm really excited to try it out!

  • *laughter*

  • Two types of sandpaper here.

  • This one is more coarse,

  • this one is finer.

  • We are going to finish off this pair of chopsticks

  • and I'll be able to take them home

  • which is wonderful because I needed some chopsticks.

  • I lost my pair, I don't know where they went.

  • *scrrrape scrrrape*

  • *scrapey scrapey scrapey scrapey scrapey scrape*

  • *scrape scrapey scrapey scrapey scrapey scrape*

  • *scrrrrape*

  • *scrrrrape*

  • *scrrrrape*

  • *scrapey scrapey scrapey*

  • *scrapey scrapey scrapey*

  • We're gonna practice on some

  • practice chopsticks first, and then I will

  • do the real thing and hopefully not ruin my

  • chopsticks that I've nicely polished!

  • Thank you bye bye!

  • All right, after a little drive I've just arrived at my ryokan for the night.

  • I'll be staying at Ryokufuso Inn.

  • I've actually been here before!

  • I came here to take photos once.

  • It's known for being haunted.

  • I've never filmed a video here so this will be my first time

  • trying to capture something on video.

  • I'm really looking forward to a hot bath

  • because it's really cold here in Iwate.

  • Ryokufuso Inn is said to be the home of a

  • Zashiki Warashi, or a house spirit.

  • These spirits are believed to bring great

  • fortune to those whose houses they haunt.

  • Or in this case those who are able to

  • catch a sighting of the spirit.

  • Zashiki Warashi appear as ghostly children

  • and the one that lives in this hotel is

  • known to have the appearance of a little boy.

  • Visitors from across Japan have been

  • known to travel to Iwate just to stay at

  • this hotel in hopes that they'll be

  • lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the

  • resident Zashiki Warashi.

  • Let me give you guys a quick tour of my room for the night.

  • I have two single beds all to myself with very fluffy comforters,

  • they look very comfy.

  • That is a humidifier.

  • The air in Japan gets very

  • dry in the winter because we use the

  • heater all night long, because it's very

  • cold.

  • I think the temperature outside is

  • aboutCelsius here (~37° Fahrenheit)

  • I have a washroom.

  • Fancy toilet with buttons like usual.

  • There is a little sink area here.

  • What you will notice is that-

  • *phone chiming*

  • oh that's Ryotaro!

  • that this room does not have a shower.

  • Over here we have a washitsu

  • *phone chiming*

  • I guess we better see what Ryotaro wants.

  • Cool let's meet at dinner at *phone continues to chime* 6:30pm

  • Sorry about that, back to the tour!

  • So there's little room here for relaxing in

  • and the lady said that there is some tea

  • over here in the corner.

  • Which sounds

  • great right now because I'm freezing.

  • And

  • then, as always, they give you a little welcome snack.

  • This ryokan has

  • Warashi-no-sato Manju,

  • these are always really nice with green tea.

  • So I'll have that in a second.

  • But I actually stopped by the

  • roadside station and grabbed myself some

  • of my favourite snack (that you can only

  • get up here in Iwate).

  • These spiral karintou!

  • These normally come in a different shape.

  • They're a very popular

  • Japanese snack, but in Iwate they make

  • them in this flat spiral shape and they taste a lot better.

  • This is actually a special flavour:

  • yamabudou, wild grapes that are grown up

  • here in the mountains.

  • In here I believe....

  • there is a yukata

  • that I can wear if I want to go down

  • and have a bath in the onsen.

  • An obi to tie it.

  • Well I'm gonna make myself some tea and relax for an hour and a half.

  • I didn't sleep at all last night, I didn't get into bed until 2:00 a.m.

  • And then at 3:00 a.m there was a really big earthquake

  • that woke me up.

  • And then I had to wake up at four to get ready anyways,

  • so I just didn't bother going to sleep again after.

  • So I didn't really sleep last night.

  • I'm probably

  • just gonna have a tea

  • eat some of these karintou, try those out.

  • And then take a little nap before dinner.

  • Smells like a regular karintou, I don't really smell

  • anything grape scented.

  • *chomp*

  • *crunchcrunchcrunch*

  • I don't taste grapes at all.

  • This actually tastes like a healthier version.

  • The ones that I normally get are

  • very obviously deep fried, and they have

  • like the sugar glaze on them.

  • These ones kind of seem baked?

  • They're not as

  • oily.

  • *chomp*

  • *crunchcrunch*

  • Delicious nonetheless.

  • I'm gonna have my little tea and snack here,

  • and then...

  • take a nap for about an hour and

  • I will see you guys when I meet up with Ryotaro!

  • bye for now (๑ᵕ⌓ᵕ̤)zzz

  • Now we're waiting to have dinner and we're just

  • chilling in the lobby area, and we're

  • watching the tv screen because

  • it's playing like a slideshow

  • of all the ghost pictures that people

  • have taken at this hotel.

  • It's just lots

  • of orbs.

  • And for most of them you can

  • just say, "oh it was just dirt in the air"

  • ryotaro: or snow

  • sharla: but sometimes there's so many of them

  • that it's just weird.

  • We're going to meet up again after dinner.

  • ryotaro: At 8:30 they'll turn all the lights off in the lobby area

  • sharla: the whole hotel

  • They encourage people to roam around after dark.

  • ryotaro: Yeah I mean then we'll keep filming and see what will come out.

  • sharla: yeah

  • It's either the dirtiest room in the world

  • or the most haunted.

  • ryotaro: This one

  • sharla: Both of them suck, all the photos look like that.

  • ryotaro: yeah!

  • So this is what happens.

  • This is

  • what would happen to you

  • if you're being a good girl.

  • sharla: Oh yeah it's a good thing

  • ryotaro: It's a good thing, it's a good thing that

  • he will make you prosperous.

  • sharla: Right

  • ryotaro: Forever

  • sharla: So people come here and they hope to meet him

  • ryotaro: Yeah, hope to meet him

  • sharla: It's not like a scary ghost

  • ryotaro: No

  • I don't know, I mean he did not appear in front of me,

  • but instead

  • he like fell.

  • sharla: He knocked over the bird (•ө•)

  • ryotaro: Yeah flipped over the bird, down on the floor.

  • sharla: Did you get really rich after that?

  • ryotaro: Not really.

  • *sharla laughing*

  • All right it's 8:30.

  • I'm just waiting for Ryotaro to come out and meet me.

  • But as you can see, they've

  • made the ryokan really

  • dark.

  • They've turned off the lights and

  • set up little candles in the hallway.

  • It's nice.

  • Creepy (❁°͈▵°͈)

  • But nice.

  • I found Ryotaro :)

  • So this room here is where he often

  • appears.

  • He's going to go outside to the

  • shrine, there's a shrine out there.

  • ryotaro: shrine out there

  • sharla: and I'm going to walk around the building here

  • and we're going to see if anything shows up in our footage.

  • ryotaro: Anyone who's noticed

  • that there's something just comment below.

  • sharla: Yeah, let us know if you see something we might miss it.

  • All right I'm gonna start by

  • walking around

  • this main room.

  • This is the room where

  • a majority of the photos

  • of the spirit have been taken.

  • If we're gonna see anything it would probably be in this room.

  • Once I meet up with Ryotaro again, I wanna

  • flip through the guest book with you guys.

  • They have a notebook in this room

  • where all the guests can leave

  • the stories of

  • the experiences they've had with the ghost when they stayed here.

  • Some pretty creepy ones in there.

  • Let's

  • read that together when he gets back.

  • For now let's

  • film this room and see if we see anything.

  • *spooky music*

  • Alright, I didn't see anything while I was in there,

  • maybe you guys saw something in the footage.

  • Let's move on to the next room next door, which is a lot bigger.

  • So this is actually the room

  • where *REDACTED* and Ryotaro

  • got the footage of the bird falling off the shelf by itself.

  • Which was kind of creepy because

  • I went and picked up the bird earlier today to see if it was just

  • really light and would like fall over easily by itself.

  • And they're not, they're really

  • heavy and like

  • sturdy.

  • So

  • it's really interesting that that bird

  • just fell over while they were filming.

  • What do you guys think?

  • Do you believe in spirits like this and

  • would you want to stay at this hotel?

  • Either way it's pretty fun roaming around after dark

  • with all the other guests.

  • Everybody's pretty excited about running into the spirit so

  • I do have fun every time I stay here.

  • And I would recommend it just for

  • a really unique hotel experience in Japan.

  • I'm also gonna take some photos

  • with my phone because it seems like the

  • majority of times people were able to

  • capture the spirit it was in photos.

  • *click*

  • *click*

  • *click*

  • Let's see how Ryotaro is getting on.

  • Okay this place is a bit creepy (๑ˊ▵ॢˋ̥๑)

  • in the dark.

  • ryotaro: This is supposed to be the shrine

  • where

  • the

  • the little boy, the zashiki warashi,

  • escaped into when there was a fire.

  • sharla: Alright, Ryotaro's going back inside

  • and leaving me alone out here to explore the shrine.

  • This place was kind of cool.

  • Every picture that people took of the torii gates here,

  • there was one big orb

  • right in the center.

  • So many different

  • photographs and they all have the same

  • big orb there, so I'm definitely going to

  • take some photos like that and see if we

  • see anything too!

  • *music*

  • *click*

  • Oh that's the boy.

  • That's the ghost.

  • Alright, I think I'm gonna go back inside.

  • I'm freezing and it is a little creepy.

  • I'm not gonna lie.

  • Being out here in a shrine alone at

  • night time.

  • So this is the notebook I told you guys about,

  • that the guests leave their stories in.

  • There's so many stories inside.

  • ryotaro: There's some freaky ones.

  • He visited me in the bath today.

  • I heard laughter in the night.

  • "Was it you?"

  • And this is just,

  • one of the thousands of

  • notes.

  • sharla: Yeah.

  • ryotaro: This is not the only notebook, they're like 20 of them.

  • sharla: There's so many of them right!

  • ryotaro: Yeah, and if I saw only one person writing

  • something like this,

  • I would just be

  • "okay just kind of crazy person"

  • right?

  • sharla: Yeah

  • ryotaro: But no, it's not.

  • It's like so many of them.

  • Last night while lying in bed, I heard music outside.

  • When the music stopped I was paralyzed.

  • But I wasn't scared.

  • Soon I was able to move my body again.

  • I think he came to visit me.

  • *both laughing*

  • sharla: Creepy!!

  • What the heck!

  • Oh we should look through our photos, and

  • see if there's anything - did you take some?

  • ryotaro: Oh photos yeah

  • sharla: Yeah let's see if there's anything in your photo.

  • Do you see anything??

  • ryotaro: Hmmmmmmmm

  • no.

  • sharla: The ones in the photos we saw were

  • so obvious, they're huge.

  • ryotaro: This oval right here, and there's another one right there as well.

  • Might think oh it's just like two

  • circles with flash

  • or whatever.

  • It's not because

  • this happens to

  • every photo.

  • sharla: And it's always just like

  • one

  • big one or lots, it's either like

  • one very obvious one or like a hundred.

  • ryotaro: And then people think that when there's that oval

  • that means that the boy is here.

  • sharla: Yeah

  • ryotaro: Do you ever take like these kind of pictures?

  • How do you like it?

  • sharla: I did once at the grave of Tokugawa Ieyasu

  • and there's like a spiral on top

  • of the grave here.

  • ryotaro: Well I think that's

  • kind of one of the orbs, I guess.

  • sharla: Oh look at that one!!

  • ryotaro: oooh!

  • what?!

  • sharla: woahhhh!!!

  • ryotaro: There you go!

  • there you go!!

  • sharla: That's a bit creepy!

  • So what do you guys think of this one?

  • Like most people just pass off orbs as

  • dust, but what's going on here?

  • *Ryotaro starts laughing**

  • sharla: What?

  • ryotaro: There's an orb, right?

  • sharla: uh-huh

  • ryotaro: on this guy's leg

  • but!

  • but but but but...

  • more than that...

  • *laughing*

  • his zipper's open ( ´ ▽ ` )

  • sharla: why!

  • *both laughing*

  • ryotaro: Maybe the boy was playing with his trousers

  • and he put it down.

  • sharla: Why did he allow this to be printed

  • I came all the way out here to the coast

  • and I was going to go on a little boat trip with you guys.

  • You can hire a fishing boat and a

  • fisherman will drive you around the

  • coast!

  • You can check out the views of the

  • cliffs.

  • Super beautiful.

  • But I don't know if you

  • can tell, but the waves are crazy at the moment.

  • They're huge, they were

  • coming over this wall a second ago.

  • and I

  • was talking to the fisherman and he agreed

  • and said we definitely should not be

  • riding a boat in these conditions.

  • So

  • unfortunately I can't take you guys on

  • the boat tour.

  • But normally you can

  • reserve ahead of time and go on about a

  • two-hour trip throughout the waters here.

  • It's super fun, the fishermen are really

  • friendly.

  • So instead of the boat trip,

  • we're just gonna head straight to lunch

  • and meet up with Ryotaro again.

  • We're going to a very interesting hotel for lunch actually.

  • It's probably

  • the only place of its kind in Japan,

  • you'll see why in a second.

  • I spotted this really cool

  • shrine on the way down to the boats.

  • I thought we could check it out

  • before we head off to lunch.

  • Wow okay, you can see the waves from up

  • here.

  • I really didn't want to be riding

  • a little fishing boat

  • in that!

  • Look at those, that's wild.

  • Okay, back in the car.

  • It's very cold.

  • Hello again Ryotaro!

  • We have met up,

  • at the mystery hotel.

  • ryotaro: Mystery hotel!!

  • yes!!

  • sharla: So, tell everybody what's so special about this place.

  • ryotaro: All right we are in this place

  • called Tomaya, it's another Japanese

  • inn.

  • But we're just having lunch here

  • this time.

  • We only have lunch, that's okay

  • too.

  • But the

  • strange thing about this place is

  • that you can only reserve it

  • via

  • letter, like post.

  • sharla: Like, handwritten letter

  • ryotaro: hand written letter

  • sharla: no telephone calls, no emails.

  • emails, no online sites, no fax, so you

  • need to like send them a letter saying

  • that I'd like to reserve a room

  • with a five people or four people,

  • whatever.

  • But we're sitting in front of

  • the idori, they're smoking some

  • persimmons up here.

  • Are those to eat or

  • just decorations?

  • That is to eat!

  • Never had smoked persimmon.

  • Oh it sounds

  • good though.

  • So we need to be really

  • careful about where to sit,

  • because otherwise you'll be like whoa!

  • The smoke is going in that direction.

  • I feel like i'm already being like

  • a smoked Ryotaro already.

  • Thank you so

  • much.

  • So lunch has been served.

  • So

  • these are green peppers which are stuffed with

  • tofu and potato I think he said.

  • And there's a savoury sauce on top.

  • Some

  • rice and pumpkin.

  • miso soup.

  • And what do you have?

  • wild boar and deer.

  • Wild boar and deer.

  • Oh!

  • So it's like animals that's been...

  • I mean they're too many deers

  • and boar out here, and then they

  • actually eat all the crops.

  • So they're certain numbers

  • that you're allowed to hunt.

  • The hunters

  • hunt them and they actually will be

  • served like this.

  • Let's eat!

  • [Music]

  • I was craving potatoes this is perfect.

  • You don't eat potatoes very often in

  • Japan.

  • So I'm always excited when I get them.

  • Once we finished our lunch we headed

  • back to the car for another trip through

  • the mountains to Ninohe, where we

  • stopped by two-door chocolate factory

  • which is famous for their chocolates!

  • However, I would like to introduce you to

  • one of their other products which is one

  • of my all-time favourite Japanese snacks!

  • And it's famous in this particular

  • region of North Japan.

  • Nambu senbei!

  • Over here they have all the different

  • flavours of Senbei.

  • Their selection is

  • wild!

  • I think they have like 14 different

  • flavours here.

  • My personal favourite is probably peanut.

  • They actually call them "mame senbei"

  • which is bean senbei, but it's peanuts.

  • Peanuts, it's not

  • beans.

  • They kind of remind me of a peanut

  • butter cookie.

  • So instead of using rice,

  • these senbei are made with wheat, so it

  • is kind of like a cookie.

  • Another nice one

  • apple!!

  • ryotaro: of course of course!!

  • sharla: they're not all sweets

  • ryotaro: what is it?

  • sharla: these are-

  • ryotaro: Ika senbei!!

  • sharla: squid!

  • ryotaro: squids!!

  • sharla: squid on top

  • ryotaro: squid pieces, squid on top

  • sharla: even more flavours over here

  • This one's your favourite isn't it?

  • ryotaro: it's like sesame senbei,

  • covered with white chocolate.

  • sharla: Yeah this one is quite delicious.

  • This is probably my recommendation.

  • Both of us recommend you try it.

  • ryotaro: Definitely, yeah you need to try it

  • sharla: And they're only one dollar.

  • ryotaro: ice cream~ (*´▽`*)

  • sharla: Ryotaro has been talking about this ice cream the entire trip

  • ryotaro: forever, forever

  • This is three dollars and this is five dollars.

  • sharla: Got senbei broken up

  • ryotaro: senbei with chocolate sauce underneath

  • sharla: and chocolate sauce

  • ryotaro: yeah instead of the soy sauce flavoured senbei,

  • this one comes with my favourite

  • white chocolate covered senbei!!!!

  • *sharla laughs*

  • *music*

  • sharla: thank you!

  • ryotaro: WHOA

  • sharla: here you are

  • ryotaro: mine!!

  • *sharla laughs*

  • *ryotaro evil laughs*

  • ryotaro: it's a perfect combination,

  • white chocolate with black chocolate.

  • wow.

  • No other ice cream can beat this,

  • even withagen-Dazs.

  • sharla: Really?

  • Oh big words.

  • And that is it for our Iwate trip!

  • Did you have a good time?

  • ryotaro: Yes I had a good time but I don't want it to end.

  • sharla: You don't want to go home?

  • ryotaro: Because I enjoyed my beef.

  • sharla: I ate lots of good stuff on this trip, the food was certainly a highlight.

  • So please do come up to Iwate when you get a chance!

  • I think the people would be very excited to have some foreign

  • visitors here.

  • I will link Ryotaro's video

  • down below, you can check out his two days of beef adventure.

  • ryotaro: beefy tour.

  • sharla: Down below in the description box.

  • Thanks so much for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed that!

  • I'll see you again very soon!

  • Bye for now!

  • ryotaro: See ya!! bye!!!

  • *music*

*music*

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