JOURNEY ACROSS JAPAN: Day 3 - We Shot a RAP Music Video on Japan’s Largest Active Volcano

Having left the island of Yakushima behind we headed back to the mainland. With Natsuki’s pirate pants forever lost at sea, we drove inland to Kumamoto, to the base of Mount Aso - Japan’s largest volcano.

In search of accommodation, I’d remembered a crazy place from the original Journey Across Japan series, which I’d briefly passed through and always wanted to stay at. Aso Farm Land.

A small city of 450 igloo dome houses, somewhere between a Smurf Village, Bedrock from the Flintstones and Tatooine from Star Wars.

Weirdly, it was completely empty. After strolling through the eerily silent night air, past lit up streets and the empty domes that stretched out as far as the eye could see - the three of us settled in for the night, all bundled into one dome.

Receiving our second challenge of Journey Across Japan, I was initially amused to discover we’d have to make a rap music video in just 24 hours. Then I realised, that’s a pretty bloody difficult challenge to pull off in a day.

Fortunately, it turned out Joey isn’t the worst rapper. He’s no Eminem but he could make words rhyme. Meanwhile, Natsuki could dance and I could hold a camera and produce a video. It seems we were off and running.
 

Driving up to the summit of Mount Aso, we found ourselves standing alongside the smouldering crater, with toxic sulphuric gas pumping out in a plume of smoke. It honestly felt like peering into the gateway to hell.

We then wandered across a vast volcanic desert, that looked like the surface of Mars. It was absolutely stunning and the perfect place to shoot a scene for the music video.

Not too far from Kumamoto is the onsen resort town of Kurokawa, one of the most picturesque hot springs in Kyushu. And having spent the previous night in a polystyrene dome and the afternoon in the fumes of a volcano, the idea of plunging into a hot spring seemed like an outstanding idea.

We were able to bag two rooms, one for Joey and I and one for his lordship, Natsuki. Both of which came with their own private bath, which we quickly realised could be an amazing place to start and end the music video.

Honestly, while we shot some hilarious scenes for the music video, not even I know if this is going to work. It’s going to take nothing short of an editing miracle to pull this off. If it comes together though, it might well be utterly brilliant.

On the other hand, it could be the worst thing we’ve ever made.
I haven’t the confidence to say which.

Back on the road tomorrow, and onward to Japan’s biggest theme park!