Why Leaving JAPAN Saved Me 🇬🇧 Wacky Weekend UK Wraps Filming Ft. Connor & Joey | Too Much Volcano ONE YEAR Anniversary!

Hey guys!

So I’ve been in the UK for about 4 weeks now with about another week left to go and it’s honestly been an incredible month.

It’s always weird sensation to actively be excited to visit the UK, but it’s done me a world of good seeing friends and family, shutting off from Youtube (and social media in general) for a while and having a chance to reflect about who exactly I am, and what in the world of fuck I’m doing!

It’s no secret I think that these last few months I’ve not been myself. There’s quite a few reasons, the first being Japan itself. I love the country a great deal, but it can be hard to relax there at times. There’s a reason there’s about three benches in all of Japan - people aren’t expected to stop and relax for long. Everyone always needs to appear busy at all times and that certainly rubs off on you.

I used to come back to the UK from Japan and sit on the noisy trains and think “fuck this, Japan’s got it right. Give me abject silence any day.” But this time, as I sat amidst the far louder British public listening to people have vibrant conversations, it dawned on me this was a lot more natural and pleasant than the library-like, militant silence expected on Japanese transport.

Three times have I sat on a bullet train with Connor, and three times has a train conductor walked up to us and told us to shut up. (Granted Connor’s voice is like a volcano, but still).

Japan gets a lot of things right and it’s a country and culture I love and continue to be fascinated with. But my blind acceptance that the country gets everything right and everything is inherently better is a phase that I think I’m finally over. Rather than coming back to the UK and seeing everything wrong with the country, I’ve started to see everything the UK gets right.

The other day I found myself bumbling along the coastline where I saw people splashing around in the sea having fun in the afternoon sun. Folks relaxing on the beach reading books, devouring picnics or building sandcastles.

When I contrast that with the coastline of north Japan, these are jubilant scenes you just don’t witness. In Yamagata I would often drive to a nearby beach (I lived on the coast) and sit and drink coffee alone frequently and gaze out to sea. Yet despite the picturesque beaches and beautiful sea of Japan, I never saw anyone swimming in it or sitting on the beach relaxing, save only for the retired men fishing away in silence.

That rubs off on you after 10 years.

Every time you think, I’ll just sit here or I’ll just enjoy this for a while, immediately you think “Shit, I need to get back to work. I need to be busy.” It’s quite possibly one of Japan’s biggest flaws.

In a culture that prides itself on its Buddhist roots, the concept of being in the moment can seem frighteningly hard to witness actually being put into practice. Most people are far too busy to ever put that into action. Maybe I’ll make a video on it and get it off my chest when I get back.

But escaping that for a while to a country where people seem to have a better work-life balance and embrace the concept of free-time and fun has felt very liberating.

Now that airplanes exist once again, I look forward to travelling back to the Europe (or exotic North American lands) at least 2 times a year. That way I can keep both my sanity and my love for Japan, the culture and the people firmly intact!

The SECOND reason which is equally important is I've felt a bit rudderless.
For the last 13-14 years I've always had a clear goal in mind, usually set in 3 year intervals.
E.g. Complete the degree, Get the teaching job in Japan, Hit 100k Subscribers and Quit Teaching, Hit 1m Subs and Meet Ken Watanabe.

I've been incredibly lucky to hit those goals and targets, even the ones I didn't particularly take seriously (Ken!).

Without anything clear to aim for I've found myself just pumping out videos solely because I thought they would get big views in what might have been the greatest act of self sabotage of my career.

Because I'm a moron, for almost a year now my only guiding star on Abroad in Japan has been to make videos that consistently hit 1 million views. What this means is, I'm drawn to certain topics and neglecting others.

My thought process goes: 1) I've got a cool idea for a video/scene/joke.
2) Will it get a million views?
3) No. Ok, delete that.

It sounds pathetic I know and there's a lot of ego involved. Naturally, it looks great for your brand too when you consistently pull in big numbers.

But the end result is I've shot down some of my greatest ideas and drained my own passion out of producing content. I've put roadblocks in the way that don't need to be there.

When I started doing Abroad in Japan my only aim was genuinely:
"Make the video as entertaining and educational as it can possibly be."

Somewhere down the line I forgot that.
It doesn't matter how many views a video gets. It only matters how memorable the video was and how it made your viewers feel.

In many ways, it's not entirely my fault. Youtube's platform itself has had this affect on me and others. When your video performs poorly it throws it in your face. It puts you down.

Whereas if you hit big views it praises you, like a neglectful Father suddenly being proud of their child. You want Youtube's love.

But I look at creators who simply produce videos without a care for the numbers with an envious eye and I know that going forward, that's what I plan to become. It's time to get back to what made the channel great. A pinch of comedy, mixed with originality and decent production values.

The THIRD problem, which I've mentioned for a while is my health. It's a disaster and in the second half of 2022, it's time to finally make some huge, sprawling life changes on that front.

I've got a video coming out about this in the next week that finally confronts the issue.

Being able to realise where things are going wrong is often the hardest part and unravelling what's going wrong at the core.

Now I'm fully aware that I've been shot down by poor physical health, a flawed Youtube philosophy and a culture that embraces a work-till-you-die mentality, I can begin to get to work in the second half of this year and turn it all around.

Still, one more week of fish and chips first...

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TOO MUCH ANNIVERSARY!

A quick note to say I can’t believe it’s been ONE YEAR already since we produced "Too Much Volcano", the grammy award winning smash hit that somehow made it to No.14 on the iTunes singles chart.

We’re almost at 1million views on Youtube too with 500,000 listens on Spotify!

As someone who used to dream of making music videos, this challenge was an utter dream come true and I don’t think it could have gone much better. Whether you love it or hate it, you’ve got to admit, for something written and produced in a single day, it could have been a lot worse! (Though that "extra salami" line is simply unforgivable 😂).

Easily my favourite Journey Across Japan challenge of all time - I honestly don’t think we’ll ever be able to top it, despite some hilarious challenges in the upcoming series and Natsuki’s best efforts to produce a sequel. Efforts that absolutely failed, haha.

Still, never say never.
Abroad in Japan Christmas Number 1. Let's go.

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WACKY WEKEEND UK Special

By massive popular demand we also shot a Wacky Weekend here in the UK, featuring Connor and Joey. It’s not entirely clear yet if it’s going to be one big episode, or split into two videos (probably the latter), but it was a ton of fun and downright bizarre to be filming with the guys at the very heart of Boris Johnson's British Empire.

I don’t want to spoil too much, but if you’ve ever wanted to see Connor and I sleep in a forgotten church, or Joey and I sleep in the UK’s most haunted prison, you’re in for an absolute treat this time around.

We've got some bloody amazing Patreon behind the scenes videos in store for this one!

From fish and chips and Tesco meal deals, to Stonehenge and Big Ben, hopefully we did the UK proud on this one.

Both episodes are almost done on the editing front and will be up before the month is out, along with the video announcing my weight loss plans and potentially a video of Pete Donaldson and I recording our first Podcast together in 3 years.
The second half of June will certainly be packed with content to make up for the last few weeks!

For now though guys, have a great week and get yourself signed up to the state-approved Japan tour!

Japan is finally open to tourists after 2 long years.
Albeit in a half-assed, absurd manner.

Chris