Why I'm JAPAN'S Most DANGEROUS Driver: Sneak Peek Trailer (Patreon Exclusive) | *FILM FRIDAY* 10 Must See Japanese Films

Once again after 5 long years, I find myself in possession of my very own automobile.
It's a time for rediscovering the joys of driving and wallowing in the sheer sense of adventure that awaits every journey through the Japanese countryside.

To celebrate this historic milestone, the next Abroad in Japan video will be the best video on driving in Japan ever made; a road trip across Japan to see Natsuki, packed full of slick drone shots, delicious convenience store foods, and of course, cgi explosions.

One of the best things about doing Patreon is getting to share sneak peek clips, and I come to you today with an overdramatic clip from early on in the video:

JAPAN'S MOST DANGEROUS DRIVER | Sneak Peek
🚘 Watch: https://youtu.be/86WtTeZCM54

It's the first time I've tackled the subject of Driving in Japan since 2012 in the third ever Abroad in Japan video. An awkward but fun video overflowing with copyright infringement, waterfalls flowing backwards, and somehow rendered in such a way, the video doesn't even fit the frame on Youtube (?!).

I'd like to think we've come a long way since then.
Although we probably haven't.

DRIVING IN JAPAN | 2012 Edition
🎈Watch: https://youtu.be/l_GLFe7LVdk

I'm currently knee deep in filming the video and facing a rather unusual hurdle; it literally will NOT STOP fucking raining. It's been one of the worst rainy seasons I can recall in 8 years and I've not seen the sun in about 3 weeks now. You might think "who cares, film it anyway in the rain" but unfortunately the noise/sound is an issue and the image looks rubbish.

In the meantime, I'm spending next week in Yamagata catching up with Natsuki, who's featuring in no less than three upcoming videos in some way shape or form, and we're also planning to do a live show together on the Abroad Perspective channel. It promises to be chaotic fun, and I'll be sure to share the date and time with you once we know ourselves.

More exciting announcements and updates are coming in the next few days folks - but for now, it's time for Film Friday and this week I'm going to cheat. (Tee hee hee).

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FILM LIST: 10 Japanese Films Worth Watching
So this week the ever cheeky Pete Donaldson and I revealed some of our favourite Japanese films worth watching in the Abroad in Japan Podcast. (I've also just realised he bungled the Podcast title by writing "12 films" instead of 10, haha).

Though I've already featured many of these movies on Film Friday, I've not actually seen many of Pete's suggestions, though I certainly plan to in the coming weeks and I suspect many of you will beat me to it.

Be sure to tune in to the Podcast for the full discussion, along with a hilarious story sent in by a listener about the power of Karaoke when making new friends in Japan!

ABROAD IN JAPAN PODCAST
🍺Listen: https://bit.ly/10Japanesefilms

Here's the 10 films, in the order they were featured...

1) Adrift in Tokyo | Satoshi Miki, 2007 | Takemura has no friends and no family. He's a law student but he doesn't have any particular ambitions. A thug offers to pay Takemura's considerable gambling debt if the student accompanies him on a trip across Tokyo.

2) Tokyo Sonata | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008 | Ryûhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) is keeping a secret from his wife, Megumi (Kyôko Koizumi), and his two teenage sons. Even though he leaves the house every day, he's not really going to work. He's going to an employment office. He recently lost his job due to outsourcing, but is determined to find another position, all while supporting an old friend who is also out of work. But when Megumi accidentally finds out Ryûhei's secret and doesn't tell him, her trust in him, and their marriage, suffers.

3) Love and Other Cults | Eiji Uchida, 2017 | Ai's mother sends her to live with a cult commune, where she remains for seven years. After the cult is broken up by the police, Ai struggles to fit in with society.

4) Departures, Yojiro Takita, 2008 | Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) learns that his orchestra is disbanding. Daigo and his wife move back to his hometown in northern Japan, where he answers an ad for what he thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary. As he learns and carries out the rituals used in preparing the dead for their final rest, Daigo finds his true calling in life.

5) Fukuchan of Fukufuku Flats, Yosuke Fujita, 2014 | Fuku-Chan has to overcome his shyness toward women in order to rediscover his lost love and friendship.

6) Hanabi | Takeshi Kitano, 1997 | Nishi (Beat Takeshi) is a beleaguered Japanese police officer. His wife, Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto), is suffering from leukemia, and his partner, Horibe (Ren Ôsugi), is paralyzed after gangsters violently attacked him. Nishi is fed up, and wants to give up his job in order to be with Miyuki. To do so, he is forced to borrow money from the Yakuza, and then, to clear his debt, he robs a bank. The Yakuza, however, are not pleased so easily, and they continue to hound Nishi for more money.

7) Akira | Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988 |  Biker Kaneda is confronted by many anti-social elements while trying to help his friend Tetsuo who is involved in a secret government project. Tetsuo's supernatural persona adds the final twist.

8) Like Someone in Love | Abbas Kiarostami, 2012 | An elderly man (Tadashi Okuno) and a student/escort girl (Rin Takanashi) take on different roles over the course of their unusual relationship.

9) Isle of Dogs | Wes Anderson, 2018 | When, by executive decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, 12-year-old Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

10) Lost in Translation | Sofia Coppola, 2003 | American actor Mr Bob Harris, lands in Tokyo for a commercial and ends up meeting Charlotte, a lonely and confused girl left behind by her photographer husband. Gradually, the two discover a friend within each other and come to terms with their alien surroundings.
Hopefully you'll be tempted by one of these films over the weekend!
Enjoy,
Chris