MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Hey guys,

I hope you’ve all had an amazing holiday season so far!

Did anybody get anything good? (Any Abroad in Japan books by any chance? Hehe).

As for me this Christmas, I received a Terry’s Chocolate Orange (my favourite chocolate), another pile of brand-less black T-shirts and an eerily realistic remote control snake that will no doubt frighten some cats.

I’ll level with you, this is the first December in a while that’s felt rather long for me (in a good way). Last year’s December went in a flash in between the chaotic LA Chess boxing, the London event and frantically writing the aforementioned book.

So it feels nice to look back over the last three weeks and think of all the amazing adventures we’ve shared together out in far flung Tohoku, amongst mountains and sea, with a wonderful production team and four guests.

And while we might not have realised my naive vision of daily uploads, it’s hard to look at Journey Across Japan: Non-Stop North as anything but a success.

The team and I loved making it, viewer feedback has been fantastic and the 12 episodes we’ve released so far have been viewed more than I could possibly have hoped given the upload frequency.

As I’ve mentioned in a few places, as for the daily upload schedule, we quickly found that Youtube simply doesn’t promote videos from the same channel when they’re released so aggressively. (Presumably as it doesn’t want the precious Youtube recommended watch page flooded with content from the same creator).

And fundamentally, when there’s an amazing team working absurdly hard on each video, we couldn’t run the risk of cannibalising video views. There’s nothing worse than when Youtube doesn’t share your videos with your audience. Releasing every 2-3 days seems to be the sweet spot for audiences as well so as not to miss an episode. And of course, the extra time is much welcomed to keep up the production quality.

Really I should have said “Shot daily, released almost daily” when announcing the series and that’s a blunder I’ll have to live with. Still, there’s no parallel with the original series of JAJ, when videos ended up being released weeks apart and I was a destroyed wreck during production.

We’re still releasing frequently and my mental and physical health are pretty good - save for all the crappy convenience store food I stuffed into my arteries every day of the trip. Something I’ll need to fix early on next year!

But let’s not overlook the fact that we've released around 35 videos this year!

We released our biggest Abroad in Japan episode of the year - the long awaited 14 days in Japan Travel Guide and then in just a matter of days plunged head first into releasing a mini Fukushima documentary, shooting an epic overnight island escape in Matsushima Bay, nearly killing Natsuki with Japan’s spiciest ramen and buying the tiniest car we could find in Tokyo.

It’s a genuinely impressive feat to release so many videos at such a high production standard and a testament to the amazing team we had along for the ride.

And the good news is, with six episodes to go, much of the best is still yet to come!

We’ve still got two more cheeky guests (three if we include a certain character), iconic moments and events that’ll likely define the series and amongst my favourite challenges of the entire trip - including by the worst challenge of all.

While we’re aiming to get Sharla’s ridiculous final episode out this week in Aomori, obviously much of the team is taking some well deserved time time off for the holiday season, and we plan to release the final five episodes rapidly in January. Five epic episodes set in and around Akita and Yamagata.

Hopefully though, if Journey Across Japan: Non-Stop-North’s achieved one thing, it’s show my passion for Tohoku. And having spent three weeks travelling to every corner of the region, I’ve got many new ideas for stories, people and places I’d like to share from north Japan in 2024.

Working with a larger production team has also ignited a lot of ideas as well and taken me a step closer to some documentaries and short film ideas I’ve been building in my mind for some time now. I end 2023 extremely excited for the year ahead.

Above all, remember that hiring this incredible production team was entirely possible because of the Abroad in Japan Patreon community. Without you guys, without your support, this series would simply not have been possible. It’s the most costly project we’ve undertaken to date on Abroad in Japan, and one that I hope you’re proud to have been a part of.

If you’ve enjoyed the series, a specific episode or a single episode so far, know that you willed it into existence with your support! Let me know what has been your highlight of the series so far!

But once again a massive, huge thanks for making it all happen.

While we’re looking at making a teaser trailer for the final chapter of JAJ and the remaining five episodes, today I wanted to share with you a sneak peek from the series with exclusive behind the scenes photos of what’s to come. Hopefully it’ll get you pumped for the weeks ahead!

(Feel free to guess what the hell is happening in each photo 😂).

I’ll be back in a few days to take a look back at the highlights of 2023 and a look at what 2024 may hold, but for now guys, please get back to enjoying playing with all your new toys, sipping mulled wine and rewatching Die Hard and Elf.

Have yourself a good one!

Chris