JOURNEY ACROSS JAPAN | Day 7 | I Rented a Japanese Island For A Day

Hi guys,

Imagine you’ve won the lottery. How would you spend your winnings? Shop for a new house, splurge on a sports car… or buy a private island?!

Well, today’s episode may give you pause for thought.

We’re joined by the ‘great’ CDawgVA of Wacky Weekend fame and together it’s time to live out our pirate fantasies, discovering it’s not so much treasure and ‘shiver me timbers’ as much as shiver me hypothermia. Oh, and there’s a familiar terrifying monster who’s joining us as well.

A few weeks prior to Journey Across Japan, a friend of mine in Sendai discovered there was an island for sale in Matsushima Bay. After having a chat with the owner, my friend proposed that we shoot a video on it for Abroad in Japan and see what the hell $200,000 buys you when it comes to a Japanese island

But rather than merely wander around it, we got permission from the owner (an affable Japanese man named Ozaki san) to stay overnight and camp on the island.

We were warned there was absolutely no power, plumbing or infrastructure, so we stocked up with excessive food and equipment for our stay and set sail 20 minutes offshore to the remote island of Shirahama

Hidden amongst the crew and unbeknownst to Connor, our special guest worked away loading equipment onto the boat. And the plan was for the guest (Natsuki of course) to reveal himself before casting off.

ALAS. For some bloody reason, Natsuki just didn’t reveal himself, continuing to conceal himself behind his shady balaclava. Eventually, Natsuki did reveal himself on the island, but by that point Connor had sensed something was off and realised it was his biggest fan all along

The island itself was a lot of fun to explore; albeit with painfully little inhabitable camping space. One of the only times the island HAD been inhabited was by a Buddhist monk who spent three days meditating in a shallow cave on the island. Something we attempted to relive ourselves.

Connor nearly single handedly burned the entire island down and Natsuki almost poisoned us all, but it was the horrific icy weather and the pitifully thin sleeping bags that would prove our downfall. I’ve never camped in winter and having woken up at 3am shivering uncontrollably, and absolutely unable to heat myself on the island, I can’t say I’m keen to camp again any time soon.

Fortunately we suffered together. Connor, Natsuki, and Paul the cameraman all suffered the early onset of hypothermia in their neighbouring tents as well. What a great team.

Meanwhile on shore, the rest of the team splashed around in the warmth and comfort of the traditional ryokan hot springs. Bastards.

Apparently they’d been greeted at check-in with a multiple choice quiz about the local area, with the winners being rewarded with sake! They certainly got the better deal.

While undeniably the most hellish shoot of this year (so far), this will definitely be one of the best episodes of the series that people will remember and in all likelihood the longest.

The team have been frantically editing it for several days now and from the clips I’ve seen, it’s utterly hilarious. From the chaos of Natsuki dressing as Santa, to Connor chopping down half a forest, this is truly Journey Across Japan at its finest!

Enjoy it when it drops later today guys, and then onwards we continue - with Connor - into Iwate prefecture, for a thorough defrosting session.

Chris