JOURNEY Across Japan: Escape to Paradise 🏝️ PATREON Diary - Day 3 ⛵ $800,000 of Private Luxury (Patreon)

Before I jump into the next day of our Journey Across Japan diary guys, yesterday I released a follow-up to last year’s documentary on the Nakagin Capsule Tower, one of Tokyo’s most iconic buildings.

When we last visited this unique building and went inside the capsules, the future was not looking bright for the building on the eve of its 50 year anniversary. Sadly, this week after many years of discussion, the building is being demolished, meaning people around the world will never get to see this wonder with their own eyes.

Regardless of whether you love or hate the building (from my experience the ration is about 80:20 in favour of loving the building!), you have to admit, it’s a damn shame it’ll be lost forever in several weeks time, replaced by yet another dull apartment block.

I think it’s a real tragedy that nobody was able to renovate it or preserve it - as recently as 2-3 years ago there was talk of saving it. But then COVID hit and the companies that were interested pulled out unfortunately.

And so yesterday I went to see the building one last time to say goodbye over on the Chris Abroad channel, along with American Pete.

Why Japan's CAPSULE Tower is about to Disappear | Tokyo Demolition
🗼 Watch: https://youtu.be/mhe8qg16PPU

Now we return to the next day of our Okinawa trip…
------------------------

DAY THREE

After ending our second day in Okinawa being poisoned by Chiaki and the world’s spiciest sauce, we escaped to our accommodation for the night - a renovated Okinawan Airbnb not too far from the sprawling Kadena Air Base.

Given the day before and the debacle with the insect infested treehouse, I was relieved to find the cosy, air conditioned home to be relatively insect free, with a pile of futons in the corner for us to promptly collapse upon after our long day.

But there would be no time to relax and lie in the following morning.

We were out the door at 7am and off to a nearby port and aboard our very own private chartered yacht. We’d reserved it for the day - a huge $800,000 catamaran, that was far more lavish, luxurious and pleasant that I’d ever dreamed of.

While there was no way we could top the wow factor of flying in a Cessna over Sakurajima volcano from last year’s Journey Across Japan, I figured we needed some form of exotic transport to fit our surroundings for this series.

And what better way to explore Okinawa’s stunning seas than our very own private yacht for the day!

Our captain, Nishimura san was once a Tokyo based entrepreneur, selling apparel in Harajuku, before cashing in, selling his business and moving to Okinawa where he’d used his business earnings to buy a yacht and live in almost semi-retired state, sailing his chartered boat for private customers.

As we sailed out into the glistening sea, with luscious islands springing up before us in the distance as we left the main island behind, I realised Nishimura san had things worked out pretty well indeed. He was living something of a dream lifestyle out here in the seas of Okinawa.

For over 6 hours we had the boat to ourselves, which we moored off the coast of a secretive, semi-abandoned island and spent the day diving into the sea.

The downside of being out in the sun all day was that I ended up with sunstroke, burnt to pieces and in a semi-dazed state. In many ways, I regret not planning more things to do on the yacht (I massively regret not re-enacting any scenes from the Titanic).

But sometimes the journey is the attraction and getting to shoot an episode on our own boat, complete with lunch, a stunning island backdrop and an afternoon spent splashing in the sea will hopefully be enough for the video.

We did have a challenge of the day we had to fulfil on the boat, which I won’t spoil for now, but needless to say, despite my bold strategy, I didn’t have much luck pulling it off in the face of the competition.

Everybody enjoyed their time on board the yacht and when we returned back to the mainland in the evening, despite some mild sea sickness, we were all sad to disembark.

We ended our day in America town, a colourful district near Naha full of restaurants and shops themed like America, where we determined the winner of the challenge, ended our third day of the trip and said goodbye to Chiaki.

She'll be sorely missed.

Especially when compared to the next guest joining us later on our journey…


OUR PREVIOUS DAY:https://www.patreon.com/posts/journey-across-1-65466445