JOURNEY ACROSS JAPAN | Day 14 | Somebody Keyed The Car!

There’s crime afoot on today’s Journey Across Japan tonight.

At last Dr Jelly himself has arrived as the 5th guest, however the fun is soon put on hold when we examine the massive scratch on the front of the windscreen.

Was it a harmless mistake or something more sinister?

Journey Across Japan returns at last, with the team having spent the last week editing the final five episodes to release this month. I actually edited today’s episode myself - the only episode in the whole series, given I wanted to at least contribute one video.

And this episode certainly takes quite a weird direction; in advance of Joey’s arrival, I booked some unusual accommodation - a hotel in the form of a renovated snack bar. Something I’d never seen before.

But after Joey arrives, as we stand over the car and examine the windscreen, I show him the nasty scratch that seems to have appeared; a mysterious scratch that certainly wasn’t there when we left Tokyo.

With some top notch CSI crime detective work over an Aomori apple pie and with the help of an annoyingly loud pig, the mystery was soon solved, amidst a bizarre side quest that dominated the first half of the episode. (I won’t spoil WHO was responsible here!)

Meanwhile in typical Joey fashion, while Sharla has to humiliate herself with a Lady Penelope impression and Connor rediscovers the meaning of ice age while camping on an island, Joey gets to eat apple pie and build a bar from scratch. A laughably pleasant challenge in comparison.

Tasked with turning the editing team’s RV into a bar to reward them for their hardwork, Joey and I set off to the only place in Japan that sells everything you’d possibly need to open a bar (at a reasonable price). Good old Daiso.

(BEFORE)

(AFTER)

As for the concept of the bar, given the desecrated windscreen, revenge quickly becomes the theme, as we have just one hour to convert the dull, drab interior, into the hottest ticket in all of Hirosaki. But with a bit of tinsel, a mountain of snacks, and a flashing light from the pimp my car episode, it all comes together far better than we could have hoped.

While the team celebrate their pop-up bar, I drag Joey off to our accommodation for the night in downtown Hirosaki’s shady red light district. Snack bars aren’t somewhere you typically associate with a good nights sleep. But here at the aptly named “Good Old Hotel” they’ve converted about a dozen former snack bars into bedrooms.

Freezing cold, unheated and absent of any staff, it all has a bit of a post apocalyptic airbnb vibe that I can’t say I’m a fan of. I’m all for turning run down, disused places into cool accommodation, but it all feels rather uninviting and unsettling as we find our room in a former bar known only as “Target”.

The one thing they did get right where the beds, which were surprisingly big and comfortable, given the eerie backdrop of the rest of the building. Still at 8,000 yen a night, it’s hard to see the appeal when for the same price, you can stay at the nice, cosy, Dormy Inn like everyone else.

Would I recommend it? MAYBE. Perhaps not in Winter at least.

And while there wasn’t much travelling in today’s episode given it was all shot in Hirosaki, we certainly make up for that in the next video as we cross nearly all of Akita.

Thank you for your patience though guys; it was important for everyone working on this to have a Christmas/New Year's holiday, which is why things slowed down. But we've been back editing like mad (and waiting to clear certain 80's songs in this video) and we're excited to wrap up the last leg of the epic journey alongside Joey and Pete.

We’ve also tons of outtakes and bloopers in these next five episodes, that’ll be bundled into our second big bumper Patreon Behind the Scenes Episode of the series.

In case you missed the last one you can check it out here!
🍿 Watch:https://www.patreon.com/posts/journey-across-i-94823486

And don't worry, I don't hold it agains the culprit for the damage done to the car!
After all, it didn't seem deliberate (I think).

Have an awesome weekend!
Chris