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What started as an off the cuff remark in a video years ago (about meeting Ken Watanabe), that blossomed into a recurring joke over the years, has finally and inconceivably become reality.

Honestly, I’d have been happy just to take a photo with Ken, let alone spent a day or even A WEEK together. I realise we left a lot of questions unanswered and there’s a chance this won’t be the last time we see Ken on Abroad in Japan.

But it’s been a privilege to share this side of Ken’s life that most people would never have known about. An incredible man and an inspiring story.

I Spent a Week with Japan's Biggest Movie Star | Ken Watanabe
🍿 Watch: https://youtu.be/TlW1tN34MZU

We've got a fantastic Patreon exclusive out this week on the "Making Of" the documentary, but for now guys, as always a huge thanks for your support (this was Patreon produced project) and enjoy the long-awaited video!

Chris

Files

I Spent a Week with Japan's Biggest Movie Star

As Japan's biggest movie star, Ken Watanabe has performed in Hollywood movies such as The Last Samurai, Batman Begins, Godzilla & Inception. But it's off the big screen where Ken plays his greatest role of all, rebuilding a town destroyed by a tsunami. I spent a week with Ken to hear his inspiring story. 🍿 WATCH the "MAKING OF" on Patreon: https://goo.gl/NWEoQm SPECIAL thanks to Yasu & Julian @Japan Go! for their production support! ► WEEKLY Podcast: http://hyperurl.co/nhgr30 **FOLLOW THE ADVENTURE** ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abroadinjapan/ ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbroadInJapan ► Instagram: @abroadinjapan **EQUIPMENT I USE** ► MAIN Camera: https://amzn.to/2HSSdmy ► INDOOR Lens: https://amzn.to/2jyPOPm ► OUTDOOR Lens: https://amzn.to/2rnAt7O ► FAVOURITE Lens: https://amzn.to/2jwqyJm ► BACKUP Camera: https://amzn.to/2jvhILY ► STABILISED Camera: https://amzn.to/2HR3ljI Business Enquiries: talent@tokyocreative.jp

Comments

Anonymous

Beautiful Chris! Such an amazing achievement!!

DinoKōyō

So proud of you Chris!

Anonymous

Beautifully done Chris, congratulations!

Anonymous

Just finished watching! Ken seems like such a lovely human. Congrats on a great video!

Anonymous

Brilliant! Congratulations Chris.

2Phan

Watched the whole thing with a big smile. So happy you've been able to tackle this dream! It was such a nice view on his life too and you can see how happy he was in the town and around the people :)

Camilla Fontana

This documentary has such incredible warmth that I couldn't stop smiling! I'm happy for the opportunity that you managed to have, and I am happy to see such a genuinely good person enjoying life and doing as much as he can for this town. Truly incredible. What an evening!

Anonymous

👏👏👏👏👏 I guess dreams do come true, with hard work and dedication 😁 Also I ask everyone, front the bottom of my heart, to keep my home country Ukraine in their prayers. It is being bombed out of existence by Mr. Putin.

Anonymous

Loved it. Congrats Chris. Proud of you man. Dude you came a long ways from making a video in your bedroom to now interviewing Ken Watanabe

Peter Varga

woohoo! congrats Chris! I could have watched this for so much longer!

Anonymous

Just finished and it was a relaxing watch with my cup of tea. You showed a lovely side of Ken that we wouldn't normally see so thank you 😊 congratulations on a very well made documentary!

Anonymous

We just finished watching it over breakfast. Ken seems like such a humble and down to earth guy, and his story of wanting to help Kesannuma was inspiring. I can see all the work that went into the documentary. Great job Chris and to everyone involved - this was well worth the wait!

Anonymous

Chris I enjoyed this so much. Ken is wonderful - he was charming, humble, charismatic, funny, thoughtful and very welcoming. He has done such a wonderful thing for Kesannuma. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing you live your dream - i kept saying to myself "he has done it! oh my goodness he has done it!". The ending was perfect - as much a the region has gone through i think we must all still try and smile and be happy. Your and Ken's smiles at the end made me happy and think a brighter future lay ahead. Godspeed to all.

Milena

The video was amazing! It was great to see how humble Ken Watanabe is and how deeply he cares about the people of Kessanuma.

Anonymous

I'm saving the video for later but I know it's going to be excellent. Well done Chris for achieving this dream and I'm sure that many more are to come 😊

Anonymous

Just finished watching this. I would've never heard about Kesennuma if it weren't for Ken and you with this documentary. It's inspiring. Congratulations to you and your team on this one! Appreciate the little Inception bit at the end.

Anonymous

Amazing video quality like always, Chris! I was expecting just an interview but there was more covered that tells Ken's life story in less than 30 minutes. Love it! You can take a tea break and rest now!

Chris “Frosty”

I found this thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Not only the high production value, but also the fun and enlightening interview between you two. Well done, sir!

Anonymous

This was so well done, we really enjoyed it. The editing was perfection, I have no idea why you had any worries about it. I love that you kept your humor and seemed at ease. Great job, mate! “He’s a fool!” 🤣😂 what a way to end.

Eric

Congrats on the fantastic documentary. Well worth the wait (looking forward to the outtakes of course!)

Anonymous

This was fantastic! I really enjoyed this documentary and seeing lots of the private photos and memories that Ken made while helping rebuild.

Anonymous

Excellent video Chris. Looking forward to the 'Making of' too.

Anonymous

Amazing work Chris. I’m happy to be a supporter of your work and community- your videos always make me smile and bring joy to my day. Thank you.

Lisa Nix

What is your life??? This was amazing & worth the wait.

Anonymous

What I love about this was the way you got to speak to him about his ethos as both an actor and supporter of the town. And it clicked with me halfway through how this is almost a continuation of the documentaries you did around the tsunami -- the idea of communities coming together to rebuild, and how you face disaster, whether it happened to you or someone else. I loved those documentaries, so it was lovely to see you return to that theme of community strength and support.

Anonymous

Man, this was so great to watch. You did a stellar job of showing Ken's personality and story, the town, the cafe, and the circumstances before the reconstruction. Always excited to see more from you, whether it's a funny wacky weekend or a carefully crafted documentary like this.

Anonymous

お疲れ様でした!! I’m so proud of you’

Anonymous

Happy for you Chris to meet your hero but I would appreciate if you can tell the name of the ending song. Have heard it before from your videos and love it. Cheers.

Anonymous

Fantastic video Chris, definitely worth the wait! I think, given what's going on in the world right now, we're going to need a lot more Kens!

Anonymous

Great job on the video Chris!

Anonymous

You finally did it Chris. Now let the weight off those shoulders, because this was a really enjoyable and an excellent feel good video. Considering the amount of work you've put through these last few months, this really is a crowning achievement. Well done Chris!

Anonymous

I started this video eager to watch Chris realize a long time dream, but walked away being impressed by the resilience of the people of Kesennumma and the goodness of Ken Watanabe, which is how it should be.

Anonymous

Loved it, well done Chris! It was definitely worth the wait!

Anonymous

Fantastic! Chris, you seemed a bit nervous the whole time but incredibly enjoyable!

Anonymous

congrats chris!!!!!!!

Anonymous

And again a wonderful documentary, well done Chris! Looking forward for the next one.

Anonymous

“he’d been wanting me to spin this the entire time”…….I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. Great video Chris!

Anonymous

Congrats, what an incredible accomplishment! I’m proud to be apart of this community!

Anonymous

Didn't know this story about Ken that he was so involved in this small town. Fascinating and inspiring watch.

Anonymous

Just finished watching and honestly, I feel so proud of you Chris and the hard work you've put into this documentary. It was a wonderful side of both Ken and Japan that you showed. I hope you can and will continue to produce videos like this! Now have some time to chill before your next big adventure 😊

Anonymous

Just finished watching, Chris you absolutely bloody nailed that. Well done and I raise my glass of wine to you

Anonymous

Cheers lads >:3 Broad conquered Japan!

Anonymous

Finally, we get to see the much anticipated video. One that Chris first mentioned way back in the first episode of the Abroad in Japan podcast. This was a great video and was worth the wait. Amazing job, Chris.

Anonymous

I had been waiting for this and today at work I was always looking at the time to go home, just to watch this video. Thank you Chris for all your hard work!

Anonymous

Chris so proud of how far you’ve come!! This was incredible.

John Leitch

that was a surreal experience

Anonymous

Great job Chris! Well done.

Anonymous

Incredible! Watching what started as a humble aspiration that then became an inside joke/meme for your audience and Petey on the pod actually eventuate is amazing! I know you mentioned how it feels like this has come earlier than you ever could have expected, but I think it's come at the perfect time. This is a culmination of everything you've done and your experience shows. I had a small moment of dissonance as I was watching, where for a second I saw it from the perspective of someone who has never seen your content or knows who you are. It was crazy, if I saw this on a TV channel I would be blown away by the quality and delivery, this shit is truly fire Chris. I'm sure that's about as much praise as you can handle so I'll leave it at that, thanks for continuously providing us with such good content boss.

Anonymous

Being called a 'baka' by Ken Watanbe, surely must have felt so surreal and amazing, like a buddy calling you an idiot... so glad you were able to finally meet Ken-san and make this amazing documentary... worth every damn penny

Anonymous

Great as always! Boohoo to licencing bollocks! It's his face for Pete's sakes!

Anonymous

Bravo 👏

Anonymous

This video was absolutely amazing Chris! Really enjoyed watching it! Brilliant job!

Amilie Van Acker

Congratulations Chris! You finally did it. It must have been a nightmare to edit, knowing you only go for perfection. But you did a great job! Beautiful scenery, a heartwarming story and definitely the right message came through. Looking forward to the behind the scenes. There must be so much footage you had to go through and decide what to show and how to connect them.

Anonymous

Wonderful video! Very well produced (as always) and great to see this side of Ken that we didn't know. I got to ask Chris, what is the song name in the beginning and end of the documentary? I can't seem to find it, but love it so much.

Anonymous

I just watched the first 30 seconds and just burst out into the biggest smile when I you sitting there with Ken. Your content is awesome and I'm so so so pumped for you that your hard work led to this moment. Congrats Chris and thank you for all the amazing videos you've made for us.

Anonymous

does anyone know what name of the intro and outro song is called?

Anonymous

I'm pretty sure it's Merchant Traveller from Shin Suzuma.

Anonymous

Thank you! Everyone on the YouTube page is asking about it- you should post this information there!

Anonymous

You're welcome. I don't really ever post anything on YT but I guess you could now if you'd like to.

Anonymous

Neither do I but just done so- hopefully it'll make others happy!

LudicDave

Really nice video. It just ended too quickly. I would happily have watched it if it was twice as long.

Kent C. Strait

Congrats, Chris! Always enjoy seeing people’s dreams become reality.

Anonymous

Congratulations Chris! What an amazing way to fulfill a dream. I truly enjoy this documentary. Great job editing.

Anonymous

Ken on next journey across Japan👀

garrett1433

Love the documentary Chris! Shoulda had him join you on the Gyoza challenge!!!!

Anonymous

wonderful. 🥰

Anonymous

Ken and Chris on a tandem bicycle. Now THAT would be Abroad in Japan: Endgame.