Natsuki Caught in an Earthquake | Pete Donaldson in Japan | 4 New Upcoming Videos (Patreon)

Hey guys,

I hope you’ve all been having a great week so far - first off, as you may have heard there was a nasty earthquake yesterday just off the coast of Yamagata, where I used to live and essentially on Natsuki’s door step.

It was fairly large as earthquakes go - about a 6.5 magnitude earthquake - which led to a tsunami warning. Luckily, it was only recorded at 10cm so there was no damage and fortunately Natsuki is safe - albeit a little spooked by it all (as seen above) - and there was no damage to his shop. It's quite rare for earthquakes to hit the west coast of Japan so I think a lot of people (including myself) where surprised by it all. But I'm just glad everyone is safe and the only damage appears to have been a few roof tiles so far.

Secondly, Pete Donaldson (of the Abroad in Japan Podcast fame) arrived in Japan today for his holiday, and I’m keen to put him in a Patreon vlog this week answering questions sent in by you guys! Even if you don’t know Pete (if you’re not into the Podcasts), feel free to send in your questions about anything - he’s fairly well versed in all things Japan given that he visits here at least once a year (and way before even I moved here myself), so be sure to exploit his travel knowledge!

Leave your questions in the comments below and I’ll put them to the man himself in the next couple of days!

Thirdly though guys, I’d like to apologise for the recent week of radio silence. It’s been brutal, absolutely bloody brutal. In the last two weeks I’ve filmed about 4 videos, each one being a fairly heavy hitting documentary-esque video.

First Ryotaro and I produced a new love hotel - you may recall we made one about three years ago that did really well and viewers were bemused and disturbed by (particularly the teddy bear cave in one of the rooms).

This time though, we were actually able to go behind the scenes and see how a love hotel is run, which was pretty fascinating stuff. As far as I know there’s currently no other video on YouTube that’s done this so I’m excited to release it later next month. As for Ryotaro he was too scared to be in front of the camera (due to what it could do for his image), so he was the secret cameraman for the shoot. Also, the enigmatic owner put on quite a show as you can see in the above screengrab!

Then a few days later we did a video on Tokyo - or more specifically 10 things to do around the Tokyo station area - this time Ryotaro was in front of the camera being as wacky as you’d expect (below).

THEN a few days later I filmed a video called "A Day in the Life of a Japanese Language School", where I stumbled my way through a language school in Tokyo for the day. It’s probably the second most requested topic I’ve ever had given the number of viewers interested in studying Japanese over here, so it was great to finally cover it once and for all. Best of all, as I sat in the beginners class, I felt like a special boy, and made sure to show off my intermediate skills.

AND THEN, I’m currently amidst filming another video - this time the biggest of all - likely going to be called “A WEEK in the Life of a Japanese Rock star” where I’m spending the week following around one of Japan’s biggest musicians. Best of all though, Natsuki’s finally returning, as he’s putting in an extended cameo appearance (unfortunately, he’s not the rockstar in question though).

I reckon if I survive the next week though, we’ve got some fantastic vides on the way - each more random than the last. Hopefully at least one of the above videos has picqued your interest!

Finally, if you haven’t already seen it, today we released the next Journey Across Japan episode! Set in Kumamoto, we saw Japan’s biggest active volcano, a billion dollar teddy bear, horse meat sashimi, a destroyed castle, a real life Smurf Land and the greatest Ryotaro cameo you'll ever see.

It was a fairly action packed episode and you can check it out below!
►  Watch:https://youtu.be/UJXN_EIXx2g

That’s all for now guys - I’ll be back in a few days with the Q&A Vlog featuring Pete, which we’ll likely film in a park somewhere in Tokyo whilst downing cheap sake. Once again, send us in your questions (about anything to either of us) below and they could well appear in the vlog!

Looking forward to it,
Chris