Camper Van Life | Heavy Snowfall in Japan Ends in Big Fight

Last time on Let's Turn It Up World in Japan. Look at him driving that little beast. I don't even have a name for him yet. What's her name? What should we name her? Not a smart idea to do this with camera, right? Ah, it's a bit hot. Come on in, Dave. I'm coming in. Kanpai! Now, would you say a tea break when you're snow hiking, is that traditional or is that your tradition? Um, for me, I think. Yeah, I love it. It's great. Good morning. We woke up today to quite a bit of snow. It was supposed to only be a dusting of snow and today is actually a driving day for us. We have about a four hour drive for our next destination. We're going to talk to the locals here. We're going to try to make sure we stay on roads that are basically main highway roads. We want to make sure that is the directions we're heading here. But obviously, if we can't get there safely today, we're going to hunker down. But as you can see, we woke up to a bit of a surprise this morning. This is kind of, I guess, welcome. Welcome to Hokkaido in the winter. It's very light, dusty snow, but it's definitely coming down. So just about to make some breakfast. I have to tell y'all, I am a little nervous. You know, we're in an RV that it's wonderful, it's great, but we also have to go through some pretty hilly terrain. I know Dave's trying to figure out an alternate route, maybe talking with some of our hosts here to find out which is better. But it's still snow is snow. And, you know, the tires are winter tires, but they're much thinner than our tires on desert snow. And of course, I'm much more familiar with desert snow versus driving on mountainous roads here in Hokkaido. So yeah, I'm honestly a bit nervous. I know he's pretty confident, but sometimes it's nice to kind of have that balance where Tong is going to say, maybe we should just stay here for another day and apply the road. I don't know how it works here, but we should be fine. I'm going to have a little nervousness. I think it's probably smart right now to have some coffee to get my mind set. But look, it's just, it's actually gorgeous. I mean, I can't knock it. It's absolutely gorgeous. The superb high peaks. I mean, look at the snow mounds that they have over there. But your girl is definitely nervous about this drive. We'll be leaving here in a little bit, if it's safe. We're going to find out. We just put out some messages to some of our hosts here to see which routes might be better or if we should just sit tight until this passes through. But here it comes again. Here it comes. They said it was going to be one, maybe two inches. It looks like it's going to be a lot more. So Dave right now is talking with Haru-san and a couple of things we just want to make sure of is how are the road conditions. And apparently they don't recommend it being really safe for us to drive. Now there are alternate routes that we could take, but unfortunately they can't guarantee whether it's going to be safe or not. So we're trying to decide on what we want to do. Yama-san has been very kind enough to allow us, we do decide we could stay here at this facility, at Takibi Camp, for another few nights. But you know, we're in Japan, we want to explore, we want to see different things. And so we're thinking right now, from what I'm looking at here, is Haru-san and Dave are working out an alternate plan for us to venture off and try some fun things here in Hokkaido. So we shall see. The sun is coming out right now. We're pretty much hopeful, but we have to see exactly what that means for the next few days. So sometimes you have to say better safe than sorry. And you know what? When one door closes, another one opens. That's what I'm talking about. So we're starting to move things back into the RV and I noticed it's been really cold in here. So I don't know what it is with RVs and the heats, but the heat is not working. Oh my God. Wait till I tell Dave. I just started putting things back on, organizing things in here, and all of a sudden, oh boy, oh boy. Oh yeah. You know what? One door closes, another one opens. Oh my God. So I have that all the way up as Quest did. So let's see. I'll try and do some assessing of things here, but yeah, it's not warming up. Oh, here comes Dave. I'll tell him right now. Dave. Yeah. Guess what? What? The heat is not working. Oh, damn it. I know. I was just telling folks, I came here to kind of figure, organize things in here and it felt kind of cold and I put the heat on and nothing. Ah. I know they kind of warned us that it could click off. So hopefully, maybe there's like a reset button or something, but. I don't know. I tried to turn it off and turn it back on, but it's not working. But we'll see. I'm going to try and do some assessment. But like I said, when one door closes, another one opens. Right. We'll figure it out. We always do. Yes. Woo. I tell you, we kind of knew it was pushing our limits, coming to the snowiest island here in Japan. And of course, just like anything we've always done, the wind, the weather, mother nature has her own plan. So, in like traditional fashion, we tend to improvise. And I think we may have something. And it's always good to try to improvise, not on an empty stomach, but on a full stomach. So, we're off. To the next adventure. So, change of plans. We're in Japan. In for a real treat today. So, Haru-san, you guys saw him a little earlier in the video, has offered to take us to his hometown of Otaru. And Otaru is known to have some of the best sushi, according to Haru. So, it was a beautiful drive to get here. We're dying to see what this is about. We just met his lovely wife, Kumi-san. And we're going to see exactly what this beautiful little town here has to offer. It's cold. I'm hungry. I know Dave's hungry. So, let's check it out. Kikimen. Ki-ki-men. Kikimen. Okay? Okay. Come on. All right. Thank you. This is great. We're about to dine in with some sushi. I'm really excited. So, Hazu-san, you guys saw before, this is his town in Kumi. Kumi-san, it's amazing. And Birika. Oh, awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for the invitation to experience sushi in your hometown. We're very, very excited. Are you very excited, Dave? Dave's not. I'm excited. I'm not a sushi eater, but I'm going to give it a try. He's going to give it a try. I love sushi, so he's doing it for me. But I know, I think if this is the one place that you might want to try it, it would be here. I think you're right. I think Tanya's right. I think he's right. Definitely. Yeah, I think I'm right, too. Yes. I know she's right. ♪ I want a shout out to the ones that they know ♪ ♪ My sweet, big, lovely soul ♪ ♪ She got me going, yeah, she turns me on ♪ ♪ Baby, she loves me, yeah, she loves me, yeah, yeah ♪ You ready? I'm ready. All right, first try. Mmm, that's so good. Tastes good. It's really good. Good flavors. The sauce is nice. The fish tastes so fresh. I know, you're not. No, I'm going to try it. You actually may be a big fan of more of this. This is kind of what I think you would like. Okay, let's try it. You want to try it? Give it a shot. Okay, all right, here it comes. Give it a little sauce. Dip it. Dip it good. Get a lot of sashimi sauce in there. Okay, first sushi in Japan. It doesn't taste, like, really fishy at all. Right, that's- Not at all. Right, not at all. Like, that's a really good, flavorful piece there. Yeah, it's not totally tender. I feel like I have to chew it a little bit. Right. That's all right. Right, so you have to chew through this one. Yeah. Let's try it. See what you think. But it's very good. I mean, this feels, it tastes incredibly fresh. Right? No more al dente. Right. But, I mean, it's not fishy at all. Not at all. It's actually has a really creamy texture to it. Yeah, very good. Nice job. Kanpai. Mmm, there it is. There it is. Okay. Very good. Very good job, Dave. I'm very proud of you. I'm very proud of everyone. ♪ It's around the sunset, can you believe we're together? ♪ ♪ We're celebrating September, what do you mean it's forever? ♪ I think we officially just found our first Hello Kitty Cafe in Japan. That building right there is Hello Kitty. Otaru Cafe Hello Kitty. So, Haru-san is taking us now to get some famous otaru ice cream. You ready for some ice cream? Yeah, I'm ready for it. Oh my god, everybody's in there having ice cream. It looks like it's soft serve. Lots of different flavors. The most famous one is rainbow. So, we're gonna try rainbow. All right. Okay, here we go. Haru-san, favorite flavor? Favorite. Right here. How about what? Number one. Eight plastic ice cream. I'm gonna get that. It's huge. Number one it is. That's the one you want? I'm getting number one. Dave's getting number one. Okay. Number three for me. Number three for you. Yeah. Number three looks good to you though. I'm taking what you did at number eight. Oh yeah, there you go. Photo there. It's a photo opportunity. Oh yes, this is the extra big flavor. Number eight and number one. Number one. Very excited. That's the process over there being made. I love it. Wow, David-san. How do you like it? Creamy goodness. Very good. I got a lot of layers. I have a lot of eating to do. Good layers right there. A lot of eating to do. It's good? Very good. It's very good. Oh yeah. Are they bad? I think this is really good stuff. I am, I'm excited we're actually eating ice cream. And actually, Otoro is known to have really good ice cream here. Now there is a particular spot that you go to that they actually serve ice cream that's fish, right? Oh yeah. It's like fish flavored ice cream. I don't care what that is. But I think I'm okay. I think if I want a sweet treat, this was more of a sweet treat for me. Cheers. Yay, boom, boom, boom. Cheers, boom, boom, boom, boom, cheers. It's the only place, ice cream place we've been to that is busy in the winter. Oh no. It's like usually ice cream places will close in the winter because it's too cold. But here it's really busy. It's packed. It was packed for ice cream in the winter. That's how you know it's really good ice cream. All right, so here's a famous view. Yeah. Otoro. Yeah, he was saying Otoro is known for its slopes. It's kind of steep, grain slopes. And of course, this is what you get in the view, right off into the ocean. I mean, it's like, it's like right there. Exactly, look at that all the way down. ♪ Baby, why you leaving me? ♪ Wow. This is unbelievable. Right? I mean, look at these views. You can really hear the seagulls. It's like a little seagull island over there. Yeah. Kind of finding their place to eat and sleep and fish. Oh wow, it looks like there's seals down there. That's actually an aquarium down there. So you can see the seals swimming all along the ocean. Ooh, it is cold though. So now we've come into a totally different place. We're in actually Niseko, which is one of the most popular ski resorts here in Hokkaido and it is packed. We're actually going to a food truck. But look at this scene. It's crazy. Look, there's food trucks all over the place here. What do you think, babe? This is food truck heaven. He's right. Food truck heaven all over the place. Yeah, I know. Looks like there's... Little crazy in here. Another food truck section. Very cool. This is amazing. Really cool. Yeah. It just keeps on going. This is like a food truck heaven here. I like that. I'm all for that. All right, we got the food truck dance going on here. Kitchen truck. Oyster. This is definitely... You can tell the difference between going into sort of the towns and where the locals are to where you are here, which is a very tourist, popular ski area for sure. So yeah, just be worried. These are really great, fun spots to check out and try if you're going to be in this vicinity. Fun, fun, you know, great vibes connecting with some of the folks that are here and supporting the food trucks. But just know those prices are tourist prices. Miseko prices. Yeah. Good morning. So today's going to be an interesting day. We thought by sitting tight here at Takibi Camp for a couple nights to let the snowstorm pass by that the roads would have a chance to clear up, but it's just been snowing off and on and accumulating. So today we have to make a move. I'm very confident in Dave and us driving this today after talking with several more of the locals here. We should be fine. We're going to try and leave towards the height of the sun right now. So right about like 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock here. Not sure if it's the height, but we know that's when it's getting pretty high up to help melt some of the snow on the road. I'm already seeing some of that melt on the RV and we have to take on a three-hour drive today to make it to an area called Aniwa. So we're going to pack up. I have to clean up. Lots to clean up in here. You know, small spaces, you put one thing down, next thing you know, it's like a whole project. So got to get in there, tidy up a bit. First, some coffee. I think Dave is inside right now making us some coffee. So let's see how we can take this one step at a time, y'all. Oh my gosh. I'm confident in my husband, but I'm nervous. So at least for the first five minutes, I'm being a little nervous because there's some mountainous terrain. The same train we came here, we have to go back on. So slow and steady, slow and steady. Biggest brush. Good morning. Wow. We were just about to leave. Yeah, we're packing up, just finished our work. Yeah, we're about to leave. Yay. We made it to say goodbye to mom. Yes, nice to see you. This is Kumi-san. This is Haru-san's wife. You guys saw her in the earlier video. She's here now, yay. Thank you so much for everything. Arigato. On me, bye. One, two, three, bye. Yay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so, so much. And these are all those like- Thank you so, so much. Thank you. You know, it's funny, we feel sad a little bit to say goodbye, but we'll see you again. Yes, we never say goodbye. We say, see you again. Until next time. All right. After a few extra days here at Camp Tokibi and getting some sunshine to hopefully get those roads cleared of snow, we were ready to hit the road and start heading to the small town of Eniwa, which is home of the Sapporo Brewing Hakado Factory. And supposedly, once upon a time, had the Guinness World Book of Records for the largest tomato plant. Now, that's not the reason we're heading there, but it's definitely good food for thought. And we love tomatoes. Now, we have a two-hour drive ahead of us and not able to read a darn thing on those highway signs, y'all. We need to get an early start. Let me just say this. It's one thing to have to get used to driving an RV on the complete opposite side that you're used to. It's another thing to have to get used to some of the roads being smaller here in Japan and snowy. Oh boy. So I'm just gonna sit back and relax and let Dave do the driving, with an occasional, slow down, Dave, every once in a while. I mean, the drive is still absolutely amazing. See you in anywhere. Ooh, it's starting to snow again. What else is new? I know, right? It's constantly snowing here. So I was gonna cook inside the RV, but when we got a walk around the RV park and the facilities that we could use, I figured, why don't we cook inside? Can use all their dishes. I can wash them, since there's running water inside there. We don't have it in here. And I'm making something special tonight. Well, Japanese special. Special to me, anyway. I think we're gonna like it. I'm gonna try a Japanese hot pot. What do you think? I'm excited. It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be delicious. See y'all inside. So we drove about two hours to an RV park here in Iwa. You can see the snow has really picked up. There's our spot. We're in number three, spot number three. And it's pretty simple, pretty straightforward. Kind of like a parking lot. We have power over here, you can see. You can see our power down here. And what's really cool is how clean everything is. Can't wait to show you the inside. We're gonna, Tanya said before, we're gonna go inside and do some cooking. Or Tanya's gonna do some cooking. I'm gonna do some eating. And we can't wait to show it to you. All right, so we're kind of coming on up. I'm gonna have to put my, everything's shoes off. Yeah, let me get your Crocs. The Crocs underneath, yeah. Let me get the Crocs, here we go. Those are the easy ones, aren't you? Yeah, all right. Other direction. Okay, there you go. Thank you very much. All right. All right, cool. We'll see you inside. Gotta grab the food. It is cold. It's cold. Holy cow. It is not getting any warmer. It's not, no. Feels colder. Watch your step. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I almost slipped. Whoa. Almost a wipeout. Woo. You okay? That was close. I'm fine, but I did slip. Gotta watch out for the ice here. Maybe walk on the grass. Yeah, walk on the grass. Here we go. You okay? I'm fine, yeah. Woo, that was close. Now, to get in here, everybody has, at this RV park, you have sort of a card that you have to scan to get in. Dave has one, I have one. Hello. There it goes. Now, lock the door. We're into the RV park kind of, it's like the lounge, bathroom area. Yes. Ooh. Now we've got music playing. Soothing music. You're welcome. Ooh, watch your step again. Okay. Here we go. Clumsy Dave. You can see here, this is the laundry area, the bathrooms and showers. Everything is so clean. Oh, wow. Wow. So you all can come join me in the kitchen for dinner. I think I have enough hot pot for everyone. Yeah, this is like a nice kitchen table. Yeah, and it's free wifi in here, so you could probably get some work done. Yeah, it might be good wifi. Oh, check out my kitchen. Yeah, here's the kitchen. Wow. I got dual burners. Oh, nice. I see there's a lot of opportunity here for that. I got a full kitchen. I am a happy, happy camper. You got beautiful snow behind me. You got a full kitchen. I got my amazing husband and I got my awesome turnip world family. That's going to be with me in the kitchen while I try to make this hot pot hopefully comes out delicious. We shall see. Domo arigato. Sayonara. In a minute. So I am going to attempt this. I'm going to have two pots here going. One thing I don't have is the, I think it's Micron, which is a sweet sake used to make sort of the hot pot. They use soy sauce. Merkin, I think it's called Merkin. I don't have that. I don't have sugar. Don't have sake. I have regular sake. Don't have that, Merkin. But I do have soy sauce. I do have salt, but I do have pepper. So what I'm going to do is try and make the broth first. And once that starts boiling, I'm going to put that on the side. And then I think hot pots, what you do is the meat's going to be sectioned into one section. And then you have like the bean sprouts, which are sectioned to another section. And then you have the green shallots kind of right there, which are going to be in another section. I'm going to chop those up finely. Let that boil. See what happens. And hopefully it's tasty. The only way I'm going to really know that is if Dave likes it because he's really picky. Is that right, Dave? You're right. I'm going to love it. I know I am. All right. My own attempt to salt, salt, pepper. We have a guest this evening. Let's give her some room and make her dish as well. They really use the RV facilities here. They do. It's a very common shared space. You saw the RV types that come. I think our RV feels like it's like really luxury compared to some. I know. Now I just have to turn this on. Let's figure that out next. Now that I've got that boiling, I don't really have to set it aside because I have another pot here. So objective is to get all of this meat organized into the pot in different sections. And then, yeah. Oh, thank you. That helps. It doesn't go frying up. All right. Here we go with an attempt. Here we go. First time. So we're going to put this in. Blam. Still heating up. Yeah. I'm going to put the boiling water. Water over. To cook it. Smart. Arigato. Thank you. We have a new friend here. Who's helping us. We needed help. Yes. Obviously, I didn't have all of the ingredients. That's great. Look at that. Thank you. So we've been so amazed by the Japanese people. Yes. In our trip. Oh, wow. More. Thank you. Mushrooms. Perfect. Thank you. Here we go. Okay. Everything looks wonderful. Wow. So we have all new ingredients coming in. Thank you. Good morning. Arigato. Thank you. Oh, for the ramen. Japanese sauce. Oh, it's the Japanese sauce. Perfect. Is that kind of a dipping sauce? Yeah. Thank you. Oh, you dip it in. Oh, arigato gozaimasu. So Miyuki-san just gave us some dipping sauce, Japanese sauce, as well as a Japanese consomme, which is gonna help enhance the flavor. So I heard it was very plain, but she's given us a whole different level of experience. Yes. Thank you, Miyuki-san. Thank you. So I think this is gonna be a much better dinner than before, so I'm excited. So if we hurry and eat this, we can allow her so she can cook her food for her family. All right, so I'm gonna add a little bit more soy sauce for flavor. That smells really good. It smells delicious. I love soups. Soups are like, I think when you have like hot pots and soups, it just makes you feel warm. Like you wanna sit around the table with friends and just, you know, enjoy like a hot soup. I agree, especially on a cold, snowy night like it is tonight. It's really cold outside. Excited? I'm very excited. I am really excited to kind of try the lamb dipped into the sauce, which should be really flavorful. I'm thinking this is, you're gonna love this. What do you think? You're gonna love it? Definitely, I think it smells great. Definitely gonna love it. And this is such a community spot. It really is. Our folks really use the kitchen here in the RV park. Yeah. It's great to see. I actually wish that they had a hot pot full of tables so we could all just come in together and cook right on top and just have conversation, drink Sapporo, which would be wonderful. Yes. All right. Gonna try the soup. Try the soup. Let me see what you think. Smells amazing. Right? Wow, that's really good, babe. Really good, huh? I am impressed. Right, thank you. Hey, it wasn't just me. It was Mayuki-san. Mm-hmm. Give it a thumbs up to Tanya for cooking here in the RV park. Great job. Thank you. Nice job. All right, so you take the lamb and of course the sauce makes it. And I guess I could be using chopsticks, but I'm using my fork. Hey, you got it. Go for it. Dip it. A little dip. Mm-hmm, a little sauce. Okay, ready? Ready? Ready. Mm. That's good, too. Yeah? The lamb flavor is great. Really nice with the sauce, too. High five. You're gonna like it. High five. Yeah. High fist. Yeah. All right, Tanya, you're up. All right, I'm up. And I am going for the chopsticks. That's all I have to say. Mm, mm-mm. First, like Kumiko says, you gotta have the stockinette classic, which goes with everything. It does. Dang, look, it's snowing. It's a winter wonderland. Look at this. What else is new in Hokkaido? Ready? It's always snowing. Snow over there. Oyasuminasai. Good night, everybody. Wow, the snow is really coming down. You can see here in the RV park how our Nomad RV here is clearly a luxury RV here in Japan and Hokkaido. Look at the rest of the RV park. You know, it's much smaller cars, like SUVs, and because these are all part in the RV park here, a small van and things like that. So ours is a beast, even though it's, we kind of call it fun size. Jokingly, Tanya and I have referred to it as kind of fun size. It's fun to drive. It's actually a perfect size. It's great for Japan. But coming from the U.S., you're used to the huge Class As and things like that, and things are very different here in Japan, as you can see. So Dave got us up at the blood crack of dawn because we have something really fun today. So if you remember from an earlier episode, we actually met up with Kumiko-san in Sapporo, who gave us the most amazing tour of the beautiful city, and it was so much fun. Well, she is coming back again. Yes, she's gonna be in the RV with us and taking us to a few fun surprises. One, we get to see her again, and two, I hear we're about to embrace a true snowball fight competition. Look who's made it. It's Kumiko-san. Kirishima. Hi. Good morning. Look, look who's back with us. Nice to see you. You're all dressed up. You look nice and warm today. Oh, thank you. So then I get warmer. Yeah. And I'm willing for the snowball fight. Yes. Like a legend fight. Yeah. Nice. Team colors. Okay, team colors. Team colors. Okay. Okay, come on in. Come on in. Dude's going straight ahead. You can kind of see here, here's the competition field, the snowball competition field. Look at that. You have the barriers, the snow barriers. So players are all helmeted up and they'll kind of, I don't know all the rules yet, but they kind of run up and try to hit each other. If you get hit, obviously you're out. I think there also might be a flag or something. We'll have to learn the rules. This is amazing. I think this is actually, it looks like where the ceremony was held. It might be. Right, will be held. Almost feels like an Olympic style ceremony. Yeah, you see the microphones at the stage. I love how they built the steps out of snow. Yeah, I love it. They made steps out of snow. It's perfect. And I love the torch. The Olympic torch. Yes. Woo hoo hoo. Let's go. So what's over here? Oh, this is very interesting. So, Kumiko-san was telling us that exactly what happens here is this is the prizes for the winner. Oh wow. I think there's many prizes for this one, including three cases of Sapporo Classic. Oh nice. And a 100,000 yen coupon for Hot Springs. And that's the top prize. And what else? The rightful owner of the apple tree. And a rightful owner of an apple tree. I love it. I love the prizes. You get a whole lunch total for 10 people. A lunch for 10 people and all those prizes for the winner. Wow. Love it. Yay. Maybe if he wins, maybe they bring us as the, for Sapporo Classic and dinner. That sounds good to me. Let's go. Yeah, looks like you have the, this is like kind of the March Madness bracket. So guys, you know, put your pools in now. Make your bets. Come on, make your bets. This is like March. Right now. This is our own March Madness. This is amazing. In Japan, snowball fight style. I'm ready, I'm ready. Oh, so this tells you the instructions and kind of strategies a little bit. Yes. But we have our own personal instructions and strategy right here. Right here. Snowball fight expert. So we may have a special treat. We got some press passes here so that we can actually interview the big boss of this snow festival. Maybe learn like the rules of what you can and cannot do. And I'm very excited to see what they have to say. Dave, I can see him back there. He's excited. What's the strategy? What are the strategies? Like how does it happen? But we may be able to find all that out today right before the competition. Maybe they'll let me play. Maybe. I'm good. So a special treat here. We're going to just ask a couple of questions from Mr. Narita. Narita. Mr. Narita. So what are the rules? What are some of the rules for the snowball fight competition? The rules are, first, there are seven competitors. Four, yeah, seven. One coach. Oh, then direct one. Ah, okay, so direct hit is a point. Three minutes only. Three minutes. Wow. They have a shelter surrounding by the court. Okay, Dave, the player can hide the shelter so they're like a snowball. So they try to hit all of the enemy. If they, if you hit all of the enemy, you win. Ah. Or the- After three minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoever has the most players. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So, got it. So whoever has the most players at the end of three minutes is the winner. Or if you hit all of their targets at the end of that, you're the winner. And you move on to the next round. So you move on to the next round after that. Okay, so now they are having a two-day competition. Today, they are fighting at the round robin, the play tournament. So after, they are going to the final tournament at the top of their each league to going to the final tournament. And it doesn't all happen in one day. It happens multiple days. Multiple days. And two days. Official two days. So, it does go per round. And at the final round, whoever wins this, the final round happens within the next day. So it's a two-day event. Two-day event. Wow. Okay. Thank you. Any practice rounds can I play? Want a good player on their team? Good player? I'm fast. I'm good. Very fast. So the good player would be the mostly baseball player. That'd be me. Oh. Very, very good. I have a good curve. Good curve ball. Oh, curve. You can curve. I can curve. I can curve a snowball. And I'm good at crouching. So very good. Very quick. So it misses me. Thank you. Ah, really? Okay. About the final tournament, the final fight, final fight, would be going to the center court. Special court for the final round. So, then they don't have a wooden shelter. They only have a snow shelter. Oh. So the final round is very special. Oh. Wow. So it's got that very special for the final round. So what you're going to see in the first few rounds has a different setup than, say, the final round, which has the ultimate championship fighting round. Like a Wimbledon center court. Like a Wimbledon. Ah. I'm conscious of Wimbledon. Oh, really? I'm also conscious of Wimbledon. Ah. Yeah, so. Very good. So following Wimbledon. Okay, thank you. I love you. So it's like a little competition going on here right now. They're coming down on a sled and they're trying to hit the target with a snowball. I love it. I wonder if I can try. You probably. Let's see. I wonder if I can try. Let's see. You can see one here. Here they come down. Yeah. Try to get this one. Oh, no. Oh. All right. So Tanya's going up there right now with a sled. They give her actually a type of snowball to try to throw and hit the target back there. We'll see how she does. It's exciting. Getting ready. As you're trying to hit the top of the slope, you gotta hit the target right here on the side. You have a good shot of it. Here she comes. You got it, Tanya. All right. Oh. All right. Nice job. All right. So Tanya's getting ready again. Second try. She's gotta hit the bullseye right over there. Oh, Tanya is trying to hit the spike. Okay. No, no. No. Here she. Two. Zero. Start. All right, Tanya. You got it. Oh. Whoa. Oh, you okay? You got it. All right. Nice job. Very fast. Okay. So. So fast. We are very excited. Thank you. Woo. Team, how was that? You did amazing. Yeah? Hey, you went for it. Nice job. High five. All right, that was fun. Now, we're officially warmed up for the competition. I'm ready for a little snowball fight. Let's go. There's actually a lot of competitions going on right now. There's a game going on right up here to the left of us. See one in the red team. Red team and team zebra. And then you have team zebra. Or the ones like the old style movie prison outfits. Yes, exactly. Working the chain gang. So here we go. They got the lobs. Okay, here we go. Oh, they got the lobs going. Ooh. So it looks like in this section here is where all of the snowballs are being made. It looks like almost maybe by volunteers. All making just rounds. You hear them kind of pounding out the snow. Pounding them out. They go in those blue little cups over there and then they pound them out into the wood crates and they deliver them over to the teams with full snowballs. The perfect snowball. Try to give you guys a view of that. Boy, the snow is really coming down. Oh, you can see the snowballs over there. Right over there. They have these little blue containers to make the perfect snowballs. You want them nice and tight and compact. All along here. You see right there. Yeah, you see right there in front. They're making snowballs. So this is the final round here for this snowball fighting competition. And this is sort of the origins team here. So the origins team is the one that has their 45 years and older. So they've been really seasoned at playing this for sure. So you have the ones that look like criminals. The ones in the suits over there. And then you have the ones over here in red. So I don't know who is up at the moment but it should be exciting to see. Let's catch the last round. You gotta watch out for those deadly lobs. Oh! You have to really maneuver around the lobs as they come across. You see this one at the front. Kind of goes back and forth to avoid the lobs as they come in. Oh! Nice try. Another shake hands. Nice game. Do you know who won? I do not. I think it may be the red. I think so, but I don't know. So we have Aru-san. Ano. Ano-san, Ano-san. He's actually the boss. All right, he's the boss. The president of this year for sure. So can you tell us how many different teams play in this event? Wow! 110 teams. And how many days of competition does this go on? Two days. So again, we spoke earlier. So you have, today's the first competition in this area and then the main competition is going to be in another area, correct? Oh, wonderful. So do you have any room for an American player that's gotta arm like baseball? A practice match. I have a good arm. Very flexible. Free agent. Official competition, so you must register in advance. Register in advance, okay. Okay. Are there any teams from the United States? No, not this time. Not this time, okay. Maybe next year. How many years has this been going on? 35 years. 135 years. 35 years. Wow. Wow, 35 years. From 1989. Ah, 35 years. From 89, so 34. Oh, I can see it says 35th anniversary. In the middle. Oh, that's amazing. Well, thank you so much for your time. You're welcome. This is amazing to see this in person. Oh, one more question. So all the snowball making, is that all volunteers? Oh, the players. The players make their own. By themselves. So they make their own. Yeah. Oh, that makes sense. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you very much. Good, thank you. Enjoy your snow. Thank you. It's really great to see, you know, how much passion goes into this. You know what I mean? And he spoke very good English. He did, he did. He has very good English. Do you know what you want? So what do they have here? Okay, so. Sweet or not sweet? We have sweet and no sweet. Okay. I'm pretty excited about this, Dave. So what are we getting here? So we are getting these. Which I believe is like scallops and potato. Okay. Scallop and potato. That sounds good. Dave, what'd you get for your little bite to eat? You got a little crab cake? Deep fried crab. Yeah. Mm. Okay. So now also, we are having a very strong regent team around here. So it looks very cool. Oh, regent! So cool. We're the champion team here. Champion team. So this is team Setodai. It's a rookie team. And I have one question for you. How do you guys prepare? How do you practice for the snowball competition? For one month? And how intense is the practice? Very focused. So who is the one that, okay, so when you're watching the competition, there's a box here, a box here. Who is the one that actually goes up front? To the front. You go to the front box. And is it because he's fastest? Yes. Because he's the fastest. Very fast. Very young. Oh! Very young. Young and flexible. Yeah. So you can kind of... You avoid the logs. Yeah. Oh, very good. How young? 22. Oh! Okay! Like a baby! Baby! How many years have you guys been together as a team? 25 years. Wow! So you are not old. Very old, very old. Oh, okay. Very old. See, I can tell the young Chin is quiet. The old Chin talks a lot. In American culture, to get inside of the team's head, you talk smack. Do they talk trash? Like, they talk... They try to intimidate the other team. How do you intimidate the other team so that they lose focus? By talking. Every day. Every day? Every day. Oh! It's the same as in America. Okay. It's the same. Of course, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We want to say thank you so much for taking your time to speak with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you! Let's make the world a better place! Yeah! Good job! All right, all right, all right. Let's go, let's go team! Let's go team! Woo! Dribble! Thank you! Go! So you can actually win by getting the flag. Yeah, so if you get a flag, you get 10 points. Oh, 10 points getting the flag. Oh, they got a hit. They're coming out. Oh, they're moving up. He's really close. That red team's on aggressive. Oh, look at that. Moving up. Oh! Another one! Oh! Nice try. Nice throw. That was impressive. They were ready to go for that flag. Yeah, they were close to the flag. They're closing in on it. They did amazing. Closing in, and the arm strength is just... Yeah, they were whipping some fastballs. We almost got hit a few times over here. Oh, a couple of times. Just as dangerous in the audience as it is in the air. Exactly. Wow, so apparently the team that just played so well there was actually from Hiroshima. It was a very good game, and they do handshakes, I believe. Handshakes. Good sportsmanship. Very good sportsmanship. All right, that was fun. That was so much fun. That was. I really think that we could do a good job in this competition. I think I could do a good job in the back. Throw me the snowballs. I'll make the snowballs and roll them to you. I can hit that box. That box. Okay, so let's go for it. Here we go, here we go. Chyna's gonna give it a shot. Oh, you got it! Nice throw. Thank you. I say, let me try again. Washita champion jacket. Yay! Washita champion jacket! I love him! I love him. He's so good. Thank you. Very funny. Thank you. All right, good luck. Great energy. Lots of great energy. Yes, yes. This is perfect today. Yeah, beautiful day. It's just amazing. Yeah. So this is the team we sat with over in the corner. This is Seto Dan, the team that was over there, but it looks like they're a very good team after all. They have 0-0, which is very good. X is not so good, but this is very good. So yay. You're so cute. Hi. So this is very interesting about the area. Actually back in 1944, it was basically just a farmland and there was an eruption. And you see all these photos show the eruption that happened in 1944. Kind of fall over here and right around here. And actually the mountain grew right up in 1944 to 45 from the eruption. And today, it's what you see outside that's steaming. That's what we have today. It all started in 1944. So it's really amazing how speaking with Mr. Mimatsu and during the time of the war in 1944, they stopped the scientists from actually recording data due to that they thought they may have been spies. So that's when his great-grandfather came in to start recording a lot of the information regarding the levels of the volcanic eruption and the magma and things of that nature. It was like, that's an amazing piece of information to know right now. That's amazing. And just to see this here, like you're right, it's like a time-lapse. The footage here is incredible. It's like a time-lapse. And you go outside and kind of look at the end product. Exactly. So we have the announcer here announcing the games. Announcing the games. All right. So ready to kick it off. Yeah. About to get started. Look at all the fresh snowballs, ready to go. Nice. I like it. Looks perfect. Well-made. About to kick it off. Here we go. Oh, one got knocked out right away. They have good positioning up there. Two in the front. Yeah, I see that. Oh, oh, oh. One got hit. Nice. Nice job. Oh, whoa. Whoa. Very talented. Oh, he got him. Another knockout. Great toss. Are you excited? What do you think? Yeah, excited. So you know the challenger is taking advantages right now. Yeah. So look at this. The champion team is only two to come right here, so. Wow. Oh, another one. Whoa. Oh, he's up by a flag. Oh, good match. That was exciting. They were really working them out. I was very impressed by the defending team. The challengers, right? The challengers. I think the defending champs are in some trouble. Yeah. Look like the... So maybe the new generation. I think so. She's like the... Yeah. The challengers had some two good rounds there. You got it. You got it, Sonny. Oh, I think you hit it. I saw a direct hit. That was a great move. Very well done. What is this? Like that. That's like the... That's like the Heisman Trophy statue. No, that's Bucky. That's like Bucky, the statue. Oh, yeah. Where is it? There it is. It's like the Heisman Trophy for snowball competition. The champion of all champions. Tanya. Oh, that is it. Now I can't get up. There's a screen shot. Hold on. Bye, everybody. Thank you. So I'm excited. We're stopped at a restaurant called BB's and for some Hokkaido beef. Some Wagyu beef. They have an amazing beef here. We've actually grilled it ourselves already, but this is our first time actually having it at a restaurant, but we actually cook it for us right in front. And we've each gotten... They have kind of a... A set menu. A set menu for a number of things. You get a soup, a salad, rice with it, as well as dessert, and also a nice piece of prime sirloin steak. Wagyu, a kind of Wagyu steak. It's gonna be amazing. Wow. What's really nice about having this type of beef here is really amazing quality Hokkaido beef. And we're getting a nice size portion, soup, salad, ice cream, like Dave mentioned, and it's 6,050 yen, which is about $40 for each person. All right, so I'm gonna start with some vegetables on the side. We're kind of cooking ourselves here. Cooking ourselves. This is do-it-yourself kind of vibe. So however it comes out is how you're gonna eat it. I love it. Oh, it's wonderful. There's real coals, too, down there. Look at that. Right? That's what's gonna make it nice, that good flavor coming out of that. I know you're gonna like it, too, Dave, so let's go ahead. Let's get you going on that. All right, the main event, Wagyu. Look at the nice-sized piece we have right here. That's amazing. Look at all that marble. The marbleization's amazing on that. It's amazing, that marble fat in there. Yeah. I'm gonna put that right, oh, listen, shh. Beautiful sound, huh? Beautiful smoke. Can you smell it? I think they can. Sticky. Wow. Very quick. Ready for some flame-on action, Dave? Watch this. I'm ready, flame on. Mm. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ah. Yay. Yeah. All right, now your turn. Everybody else, cook your food. Let's go. Why don't you try it, though? I wanna see you try it. You want me to try it? I think you should. Okay, see what it's like? There's no verdict. Oh, look at that. If you wanna do, they want that we didn't put any salt or pepper on. No salt or pepper. Let me try it without this. Let me put some salt and pepper, yeah. There is so much juice and flavor from the fat. Very light, but great marbleization. The flavor's amazing. It could use some salt and pepper. A little salt, a little pepper, and dipping into the sauce next. You guys are gonna love it. Thank you, Wagyu. Wagyu. For my sake. Yep, almost done, it's almost done. Mm. Thank you so much. We had so much fun. Thank you so much, Kumiko. Thank you so much. I'm very nice to meet you. I had a great time with you all. Thank you. Bye-bye. So wonderful. This is never goodbye. Okay. We'll see you again. See you again. Okay. Thank you. Take care. Bye. Let's get together again. Thank you. Wow, that was unbelievable. Oh my gosh. Isn't that amazing? Yes. Arigato. Arigato gozaimasu. Now, we just have to find our way back. I know, we'll find it. We'll find it. All right, say goodbye. One last hurrah. Sayonara. Kumiko-san. You better go. Remember what I said. All right. I love you, Hokkaido. Next stop, Tokyo. What she said.