The Beginning of a Motorcycle Trip in JAPAN

Okay, here we go. Welcome to Miyajima island, you guys. This is the most sacred island in the whole of Japan. Good morning, everybody. It's 8 in the morning and we are in Yamaguchi. I am super happy today. As you can see, Kaito is super excited. Look at that big smile. Today we are super super excited because we are finally leaving on our trip across Japan. We got our bikes all ready right now. Kaito is setting up the navigation system on our tablet. My bike is also super ready. I'm already sweating. I don't know if you can see this but the humidity is super super high right now. We were blessed with a cloudy day. We'll see how it goes today but we can't wait to hit the road. The bike's heavy. Yeah, it is. Everything's good. Everything's well attached. Okay, well, I'm ready. I honestly don't know how everybody can be so chill when they go on these long trips on their motorbikes. I just don't get it. I mean, I'm dying of excitement. Like my whole body is pumping up adrenaline. I am super super super happy. We are gonna be traveling the length of Japan. We are starting today in Yamaguchi but we do not have an end date. We don't know when this trip will be over. The plan in general is to travel Japan counterclockwise. So we're starting in Yamaguchi. We're gonna go all the way east. We're gonna go up north and then we're gonna come basically back this way but on the other side of Japan along the sea of Japan. Then we're gonna be driving down south to the island. This rain is getting strong, man. We're gonna be going down south to the island of Kyushu and we're also gonna be visiting the island of Shikoku. Today we're gonna be riding towards the city of Hiroshima and on the way there, there is this absolutely beautiful place that we want to take our bikes to. It is the island of Miyajima and it is considered to be the most sacred island in Japan. Can you believe that? It kind of brings you good luck and protection for you on the road. That's how I see it and I believe it so we're going there. We can either take the highway which is basically a big no-no for us. No fun in that. You can also take the national road which is super busy. It's also a no-no for us and the third option which is the one we're gonna be taking is to drive in the mountains. Just beautiful rural Japan scenery. Authentic Japan. That's what we like. This has to be one of the best landscapes in Japan. These rice fields are truly beautiful. Truly, truly beautiful. What is this place here? Is it a shop or what? It seems like they have some sort of... Oh, they have green onions here for sale, I guess. Green onions and I guess you just put the money in here. Very, very interesting. Super nice, this system. Based on trust. Wow, look at this, man. This little shop in the middle of nowhere. Look at all of these and that's the woman who paints. Wow, very talented. Very, very talented. Oh, look at this. We're actually gonna be passed by this ridge today. It's a pity there's no one here now. I just realized we're literally going into the mountain. Look at the road we're about to take. Over there, there's a tunnel. Didn't realize we were this high up. What is this place? I'm gonna go check what they have here. What are they selling there? I think this is another rural shop. This is what I love about traveling to these rural places in Japan. What do they have here? They sell fish, you guys. Fish. What is this? Oh my god, this is a rhinoceros. I forgot the name of this. I don't know if you guys see it over there. These insects are stuck in here, waiting to be bought by someone. This is where you put the money. I've seen plenty of little shops right by the road like this, but they always sell vegetables. But it's actually the first time I see one selling fish, like for aquarium, I guess. And beetles. That's quite interesting, I gotta say. First day of exploring Japan. Well, it's been interesting. 11.50 in the morning. We made it to central Iwakuni, the last city of Yamaguchi prefecture. Look at that. This is exactly the bridge I showed you guys on those paintings we found at this small shop right next to the road. Wow, look at that. This bridge is basically made 95 percent, I think, of wood. And it has almost no metal, just they added these pieces here and there just for extra support. But can you believe this whole structure, like the whole thing up there, all the five arches are made of wood only. It's unbelievable. We're gonna be driving on this main road for a while and then we're gonna be hoping on a ferry. I'm really enjoying the views, but not so much the cars and the traffic lights on this main road, because we have to stop like every 100 meters or so. The port must be somewhere here. Where is it? Okay, this way. That's Miyajima, that's exactly where we're going. There's a ferry coming this way, there's another one going. I think there's a ferry every 30 minutes or so. We got two tickets. For one, for a round trip, it was 1,100 yen. Okay, here we go. I guess here, I guess there's no other car. We are the only two riders on this ferry today. There we go. I feel like a very important person going right here, because there's no one else driving here. Wow, I didn't picture this on arrival. Welcome to Miyajima island, you guys. This is the most sacred island in the whole of Japan. As you will see very soon, this place is home to wild deer. I already see a couple over there. We are actually not allowed to take this road between 10 in the morning and 5 30, so we're just gonna have to go around. I'm not really sure the roads we are allowed to take on a motorbike and those that we're not allowed to take. That one was clear, but the other ones not so much. All of this area, basically like where the temple is, we cannot go on with this motorbikes. Not here either. You see that narrow roads, very very beautiful. There's a lot of abandoned houses as well. Can we go straight or not? Wow, look at this temple, you guys. So beautiful. So the thing is, not a lot of tourists come to this island on a motorbike or in a car, because it's a very very small island and basically you can walk around the touristic area without any problem at all. So whenever we try to go across any streets, everybody's staring at us and that makes me feel as if I was doing something wrong, but so far we've taken the right path I guess. Wow, nice and cool here inside this tunnel. This road is super narrow. I mean, two cars don't fit here at the same time. Hey buddy, you're all by yourself here. There's literally nobody on this road. We managed to find a spot to park our bikes right in front of this beautiful torii. Let me show you. This torii over here, this torii gate over here. Right now the tide is going up, so eventually in about a couple of hours this torii will be halfway covered and what's really nice is that when the tide is low, actually you can walk all the way right here to this torii gate. Tesla, there's a tesla on this island. There's a lot of old buildings on this island once you leave the touristic area, but there's something very very charming about it, you know. Oh, there's another torii gate over here. The whole city of Hiroshima over there. All of that. Big difference, huh? When we were on the other side, there was basically nothing on this island and now that we're here on the island, you see the whole mountains covered with a lot and a lot of houses everywhere. I can't believe there's even a school on this island. I guess it's an elementary school. This is definitely a place worth visiting. I mean, if it's your first time coming to this island, I honestly recommend just to take the ferry and don't come on the car or on a motorbike because, I mean, it's really fun just to walk around the shops, try the different foods, but for us who are discovering this country on a motorbike, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I really really enjoy it. Riding along these very very narrow roads, the houses are really really old, so I guess it's really nice to get to see that side of Japan too, you know. When you stayed only on these touristic areas, you only see the very well-preserved buildings, but once you get out of those areas, you get to see how the real Japan is, how the locals live and, yeah, and I mean, you get to enjoy these whole places without the crowd, so that was something really really fun. Look at all the deer here. Oh, traffic on the road. Oh, I think that one is injured. Oh, it doesn't have a leg. It doesn't have a food. That one. Poor buddy. Oh, this side of the island is honestly really really beautiful. I love it here. I mean, forget about what I said earlier. Definitely rent a motorbike to come explore this side of the island. Wow, look at how many deer there are. Oh my god. Oh my god, that's a very very big family right there. Yeah, they're living in peace here because there's absolutely nobody coming here to disturb them. Yeah, I get that joke, but it's kind of lame, isn't it? I'm half Japanese. Oh, really? Are you from Yamaguchi? No, I'm from Tokyo. Oh, you're from Tokyo. That's a long time. I was born and raised in that area. Oh, really? I was born and raised in Hachioji City, Tokyo. Oh, you're from Hachioji? Yeah, I was born and raised in Hachioji. Oh, I see. The reason I live in Japan. The reason I live in Japan? That's because Japan is so beautiful. loft hotel. It's what they call this in Japan, which is a very convenient way of spending a night while you're on the road because these hotels are basically right next to the main roads, like everywhere. So basically, this is our room. We have a very big bed. We have a sofa, little table here, small fridge, air conditioner, thank god, small microwave, a TV, and over here, we have the bathroom and shower, mirror, toilet, and the shower over here. Kite is already preparing a bath. And you're not gonna believe what they have here on the first floor, like for everybody staying at the hotel. They basically have these powders for the bath and basically you can choose among all these scents right here. If you want one of these towels as well, apparently you can get one. All kind of sizes. Look at that. What is this? The king of hairdressing. Shampoo as well. They have this small toiletries, dental floss. They have this. They have eye mask. Look at that. And they have free drinks. Pepsi, melon soda, ginger ale, whatever this is. I mean, coffee, latte. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I mean, we've stayed at these love hotels a couple of times before and it's never like this. It's never like this. This ice cream as well. Yeah, it says for free. We can get any of these flavors here. Oh, this one's good. There's also free dessert. Sorbet. We're gonna be enjoying our dessert here because we already had dinner before coming here to this hotel. Today, it was a very, very fun day. I think we look exhausted because we had heavy, heavy rain on the way here. We were driving at night. It was terrible, but it was fun at the same time. Thank you guys so much for joining us on this adventure and thank you so much for watching till the end. So as usual, remember, if you like this video, don't forget to give it a big thumbs up and also subscribe down below to the channel. See you guys in the next video. Ciao!