JOURNEY ACROSS JAPAN | Day 8 | I Ruined My Beloved Kei Car with CDawgVA

Thanks for all your positive comments on the last video guys! 

The Journey Across Japan: Hypothermia Special was definitely one of the high points of the series and a credit to the entire editing team. It was a big challenge, what with the extended run time, so I'm glad it's gone down so well.

I know we may not have hit my lofty and foolish goal of daily vlogs, but what’s been achieved with this series has been far more impressive - almost daily regular Abroad in Japan quality videos. It’s not an understatement to say editing is an incredibly difficult and time-consuming endeavour and it’s a miracle that they succeeded in getting it out in just 2-3 days (especially given the almost 40 minute runtime).

Groggy from sleep deprivation and frostbite, and with our ears still ringing from Natsuki’s snoring, we headed to the nearest coffee spot to regroup. And fortunately for us, the challenge for today - pimping our car - doesn’t involve any threat to life or limb like yesterday.

If you don’t know the place already, Don Quixote is an attraction in itself. Rows upon rows of items are available to purchase and you can find almost anything inside the neon lined shelves. Deciding to up the ante, we set a budget to cap our spending at 10,000 Yen each (around $70). Mr Moneybags CDawgVA swiftly blew through his allowance though.

Having filled our baskets with all sorts of wacky and weird items we needed to find an inconspicuous place to make the necessary upgrades - our end point of Jodogama beach. Quite possibly the most stunning beach in all of north Japan.

Driving through the coastal town of Kesennuma, a town famous for seafood, Ken Watanabe and one of the biggest sea ports in North East Japan, an unusual building caught my eye. Pulling up to investigate the place, we discover the Koori no Suizokukan, literally ‘ice aquarium’.

While it can be said that a lot of Northern Japan is frozen in time, this is the first location we’ve visited that’s actually frozen. (Well except for our tents last night).

Entering into the giant freezer, there are thousands of fish on display, eerily stuck in position. Rainbow lights flicker and ambient music plays, probably in an attempt to distract visitors from their plummeting core temperature.

Any potential relaxation is soon eradicated when the music and lights inexplicably turn off, plunging us into utter darkness.

Narrowly dodging hypothermia for the second time in as many days, we promptly left the aquarium. With fish on the brain, Connor ordered a swordfish rice curry and I opted for the Kaisen-don bowl, or a seafood rice bowl.

Above all, we’re just glad to be out of the damn fridge.

Now it was time to transform the Kei car.

Our trusty companion had taken us approximately 500km thus far, so we wanted to show it some love (the car, not Connor).

Among the goodies we selected were: a microphone, a discoball, an oinking pig and a wooden shelf. You’ll have to use  your imagination to see how such a bizarre array of items were utilised - I daren’t spoil the shit show that awaits you.

But our two long days of hell thankfully ended with a smile as Connor finally got his long awaited beer and bath, having operated on almost no sleep for 24 consecutive hours.

Join us on the next one when we explore the food stalls of Aomori City and make our own pilgrimage to a very special, very Holy, and definitely very legitimate spot…

Chris

P.S With a a good chunk of episodes now out, tomorrow we’ll be sharing the first Patreon exclusive behind-the-scenes video, featuring outtakes, deleted scenes and a peek behind the curtain of what we've been getting up to off-camera with the crew. We know you’ve been waiting for this so make sure not to miss it!

P.P.S Find the Non-Stop North merch here so you too can wear 3+ layers this Winter!!