I Hosted My Own Japan Travel TV Show for Australia

[Music]

so almost a year ago exactly i got the

chance to host my very own travel tv

show on channel 7 in australia it was so

much fun never in my life did i ever

think that i would get the chance and

let alone in this country that i love so

much so when they emailed me and asked

if i wanted to film another episode of

going solo in japan of course i said yes

immediately am i crazy

tell me baby

is it premature to tell you how i feel

so the last time i filmed this kind of

behind the scenes look at filming the

show i was able to show footage from the

actual show itself but unfortunately

this time i'm not allowed to do that but

luckily the video is already out and

it's showing on seven plus seven two and

seven flicks and video on demand so you

can go and watch that

after you've finished watching this one

yes

so because we're only filming one

episode this time it meant that we had

to fit a lot of filming into just three

days of shooting and of course it

wouldn't be a japan promo video if it

didn't include some kind of sake brewery

i think pretty much every single japan

promo trip i've ever been on it's always

included some kind of sake brewery uh

which isn't a bad thing because i

actually really enjoy sake but this one

was different because it was a show to

brewery this time which was the first

for me so it was here that we filmed the

opening scene no it's not the opening of

the show but it's the first scene that

we are filming just like towards the end

of the show i think

a little nervous because it's the first

the first time filming today

that is the question

that's the question

so we got to take a little tour of the

brewery we saw all of those giant vats

that they use for the fermentation

process and it's always really cool to

see the scenery this place is scenery

that's not what i meant machinery

wow

it takes so many people to set up one

scene so much equipment

so much money

if you've never drunk shoju before it's

definitely got a much stronger like

alcohol kind of taste and you can really

feel the warmth of it as it goes down

your throat i feel like

i'm getting a little bit tipsy

it's a lot of sucky at 11 o'clock in the

morning

so obviously with this being the first

thing that we shot i was very nervous

therefore i made many mistakes we've

only shot like three scenes

to get let go of my nerves and it's also

freezing cold inside so that doesn't

really help like trying not to

let my voice quaver quaver quiver quiver

quaver is a different thing

maybe it was a good thing that we

started the day with a drink like

maybe drinking the sake will help me

relax a little bit

so because this episode of the show is a

lot more outdoor based than last time it

meant that we got to check out some of

my favorite places in kyushu like

harajudi waterfall back here

chris and i went here in may last year

and i'm pretty sure i think from memory

i think there was

more water running last time wow it's

crazy so beautiful

[Music]

there were still entire empires of

california highway

i wanted to share with you

and it was here that we filmed the

opening for the whole show and that was

definitely the hardest part last time

for sure so it's the first impression

that the audience gets of you so

just really you just want people to like

you you know don't leave to switch off

immediately

if this waterfall was in australia

people would definitely be jumping off

the top like definitely

so much said that they would probably

have to put up a barrier like there's no

way they would just like

have the top of the waterfall open and

easy to access like it is here

oh it's so cool i love you you can just

walk right up to the edge it's awesome

[Music]

all in all a beautiful place to end the

first day of the shoot

two places today

oh boy i'm so tired

i think it was a kind of a combo because

we didn't we didn't get a lot of sleep

last night and then got up really early

to fly out today ah

but it's okay we get a nice long sleep

tonight and then tomorrow is a fresh day

man i was like so

i was so accidentally rude to the

the guy who works for the convenience

store downstairs

oh i didn't mean to be

so i asked him for a bag

and then uh and then he didn't give me a

bag at the end and i wanted to kind of

say the the polite

the plate way of asking which is like

you kind of like

you know you start this you start the

sentence and then you kind of trail off

and then you know they kind of catch on

what you're saying they go oh you know

they realize like oh simon said yeah i

forgot give me an example well this is

what i was taught like if i was

searching for something i could ask

someone like uh

or something like that but you just kind

of trail off and they go oh she's

looking for a toilet i'll show you like

you don't have to actually ask

i've been looking for a toilet but i

cannot find one can you please help me

like you just say i've been looking for

a toilet and then they finish the

sentence for you that's what i thought

was like a polite thing to do or like

the polite way to kind of ask something

so i wanted to say like ah

like

trail off and then you realize like oh i

forgot the bag but it just came out as

fukuroa

which basically just said like where's

my bag

so rude i didn't mean to

fukuro

is that right okay well

next time

[Laughter]

where's my bag

anyway tomorrow's a new day

[Music]

day two of the shoot started with the

most beautiful morning drive through the

mountains where we ended up at associate

national park or part of it and it's

snowing here

[Music]

talking about my camera no not yet

i'm getting to that

so i accidentally left my spare

batteries for my camera in the hotel

room so now i have to use chris's camera

to film

now i have to use this crappy canon r5

no it's an obviously it's a really

wonderful camera it's amazing but

um i can't edit his like like canon's

log footage on my computer because the

settings like 4 2 2 10 bit is like

way too much for my computer to handle

so i have to film this not in log which

makes me worried because that means i

have less ability to change the footage

to make it look great later

anyway it's all kind of nerdy stuff but

anyway i feel it feels weird filming in

non-blog footage nerdy camera stuff

aside we headed to an area within the

park called bogatsuru wetland which is a

beautiful area covered with snow that's

really popular amongst hikers

[Music]

i think if this was my trip here it

wouldn't have been too bad but since

there was a lot of waiting around to set

up the camera and that kind of thing it

meant that i got cold so quickly

so many layers i've got some heat tech i

have a fleece and then have a vest and

then i have my over-the-top jacket

and i'm wearing two fizzy pants

there's so many layers

i'm trying to not look cold

so at the end of this little hike we

reached an onsen hut called hokey and

sanso onsen which is a hot spring based

at almost 1 300 metres high making it

the highest elevated onsen in all of

kyushu and after standing in the snow

for a few hours i was so happy to get to

warm up in an onsen

i'm so excited because it's so

[Music]

always cold

next up on the itinerary was a lunch

scene at a place called yufuyun sancho

it's kind of funny because before we got

to this place we already finished eating

lunch just at like some random udon

restaurant because it was easy to fit

everyone in and it was cheaper to

accommodate for all the people so i was

already full before we got to this place

so i just

straight up lied to the camera

well it's lunchtime and i am starving

[Music]

all jokes aside though this was probably

one of the most beautiful and

vegetable-filled meals i think i've ever

eaten in japan i think when i first came

to japan i had only ever heard that like

japanese food is so healthy for you

and it is it definitely is but in my

head i thought healthy means vegetables

so i just expected to see so many

vegetables on my plate in japan um and

that's not always the case like

vegetables will be incorporated in meals

but it's not really like the star of the

dish but now that i've lived here for

quite a while i'm starting to realize

how

how rare it is to find a dish like this

in japan i think he said in this one

dish alone there was like 40 to 50

different vegetables in just this one

dish it was crazy it was such an

incredible meal also quick side note the

chef that owns this restaurant he was

like the coolest guy like you could just

tell he had so much knowledge about the

food that he was preparing and

vegetables and the way it affects your

body and

it was great he was an absolute joy to

talk to i wish i wish that i was more

hungry when i came to this place because

i would have devoured that meal and i

wish i had more time to talk to him

because he was awesome anyways to round

off the day we took a stroll through a

little town called yufuyun and it's like

really famous all around japan it's a

really cute little town it's like a long

stretch of road there's a lot of little

souvenir shops and little snack stores

and

places you can buy ice cream

very excited it's so cute

wow

ah this is so nice

i'm so tired

wow how did i do this for six days in a

row last time it's only day two it's

weird because i'm not like

not like doing a whole lot on the show

you're not like moving around and like

hiking heaps or whatever when you watch

like

travel shows or whatever growing up

you'd never think that it would be like

a really tiring job it really is i have

a lot of appreciation for it now

is

[Music]

what a shock what a way to wake up at 1

1 am

i was having a bad dream

already

uh japan has a pretty good like

earthquake warning system but oh my gosh

the alarm sound on your phone

is like it's terrifying oh my god it's

so terrifying

see if i can find it online and play it

right now

wow

last day on set

you know it's really funny that we

discovered yesterday while we were

walking to get some food i don't know

this may be like a really a really niche

reference that not too many people get

but this hotel is right next to a place

that i've already been

chris and i already came here for

when we were filming in

with bernard foley i've been to this

exact place like three times now

anyway it's breakfast time

[Music]

well after that very eventful night's

sleep we headed to the first location on

the last day of the shoot and found the

cutest little kitty cat

and then headed up the ropeway to the

top of tsurumidake to film some hiking

content and it was funny while walking

up here

doing like the walking up the hill shots

it was like almost exactly like how i'd

film my like solo hiking videos with my

tripod except there's like

so much more money he's gone into it

so at the top of this mountain in winter

they have something called hoar frost or

ice flowers and it was

really freaking cool to see man like it

absolutely changes the landscape like

the look of it it looks so unique and

interesting such a stunning view at the

top damn

what an absolutely beautiful day

oh so pretty

[Applause]

for the final filming destination i just

had a one hour nap in the car much

needed although now my voice is a bit

deep and crooky

last destination it's called kunisaki

peninsula i think we i think we came to

really close to here last time in the

show when we went to the shitake

mushroom farm which was really cool i

think this one has like a lot of like

a lot of big words that i need to

articulate

so

a lot of memorizing ahead

[Music]

even in winter i found this hike to be

so beautiful it's really cool that you

get to just see little historical things

along the way so pretty it reminds me a

lot of koya-san and i think that they

call this koyasan of the west which

makes a lot of sense it's like a very

historical cultural culturally

significant

kind of bushwalk hike in this area

very cool

[Music]

but the real draw of this hike was that

at the very top of the mountain there's

a temple that's actually built into the

rock face and it makes for some amazing

drone shots

[Music]

so inside the temple one of the monks

took me through uh i'm probably gonna

butcher this description but like a

traditional prayer ritual which involved

chanting and singing and fire

and like hitting me on the back of the

neck with a book it was a whole thing it

was

it was so so interesting to see and it

was here that i filmed my final closing

statement for the whole show and this

was definitely the hardest part of the

whole shoot

it's hard to try to get all of my

thoughts together into one final comment

especially because you have to get like

the names of all the places right and i

i got them right in that time and i was

like ah i don't know maybe we'll just go

with that take

maybe it could have been better i don't

know

[Music]

in the end they think they edited some

of that talking out because it probably

didn't sound very natural coming from me

which is fine i totally would have done

the same thing but that was it three

days of shooting to film one episode of

going solo in japan the wonders of

kyushu winter edition because it was the

same team filming this time as it was

last time i once again received so much

warm kind support from the team there

that really made my job so much easier

so thank you so much for the team for

helping me to move past my nerves and

into a still very very new territory for

me

oh yeah

[Laughter]

it's really given me a huge appreciation

for what hosts do on the regular like it

not only do you have to have charisma to

appear well on camera and good camera

presence but you also have to be able to

think on your feet and be able to

articulate your thoughts really well and

also just have stamina to be able to

like keep your energy up and like be

smiling all the time and i think like

even on some really long hikes that

chris and i have done like we're

physically tired afterwards but it's a

completely different kind of tired to

this like it was it was intense i have

so much appreciation for what they do

it's not

it's not for the faint of heart at all

but of course it was a hugely rewarding

job to do so thank you so much to oab

doc h squared and channel 7 for having

me on for another series and for just

being wonderful people to work with so

like last time i asked you on instagram

if you had any questions for me to

answer about this show and i'm going to

do that right now when can we see the

show so by the time this video comes out

it will have already aired on channel 7

officially but it will still be

available on sevenplus and video on

demand so streaming also season one is

still available on sevenplus so if you

wanna see the past season we shot and

then this season back to back you can do

that so unfortunately this is only

available for people in australia but uh

i don't know man if only there was a

kind of software that you can use that

changes your location

to be somewhere else in the world if

only that was a thing

who chose the itinerary and how so i'm

not entirely sure about this but from my

understanding the itinerary is decided

by the client which would be oita

tourism but then of course they would

have to check that with the production

team to make sure it's possible to shoot

there and then they have to get like

shooting permission at all of the

different places i really do not envy

the people that have to create the

itinerary it would be

so difficult to make that all work and

to be calling people and asking

permission and trying to figure it out

on a schedule like with driving distance

that'd be such a huge job but uh yeah

the itinerary was i'm assuming i think

mostly decided by the client do you need

permits to film or is japan generally

lenient on filming in public places this

is kind of a tough one that i am not

entirely sure about i'm not qualified to

speak about this but i know for this

shoot they definitely had to ask

permission we'd have to take over the

entire space there's so many people in

there so i think they would have to

effectively almost close their business

for the day just to allow us to shoot

for the you know the hour or two that

were there is it weird working with a

full crew and do you miss the control i

wouldn't say it's weird i mean i guess

it is kind of weird compared to

you know just me walking down the street

holding my camera because this time it's

me walking the street hold my camera but

then there's like three giant really

expensive cameras behind me and like

like seven people walking down the

street with me so that part is kind of

weird um but i mean you get over that

pretty quickly in terms of control of

shooting it i don't mind i don't mind

not having control on this because it's

kind of like

well it's out of my hands like it's kind

of like less work like just tell me what

to do and i will do it

how much input do you get on ideas and

what to present is spontaneity allowed

yeah so basically they before we get to

each place or while we're at each place

i'm getting the the run down from the

english speaker in the group miyuki and

she's telling me the information that i

need to portray and uh you know just

roughly what you say like oh so we've

arrived at this place and then it's my

job to kind of put that into my own

words to say it as naturally on camera

as it can be so spontaneity is allowed

and yeah we filmed a few a few things

that were not on the script at all uh

whether or not they make it in the cut i

don't know that's that's not up to me at

all actually the last season we shot i

made a bunch of really big mistakes i

like tripped over and like

i like ate a raw mushroom by accident it

was a whole thing

and i wish that they put it in the show

because i thought it was hilarious but i

mean i don't know for whatever reason

maybe it just didn't flow right with

that edit or maybe they didn't want to

convey the wrong

you know mood at these places so they

they cut that out of the final shot but

um yeah the spontaneity is definitely

allowed and many many mistakes were made

and will always be made i'm pretty sure

how did they contact you for this job so

i said this in the last behind the

scenes video that i made uh they

contacted me via email that they found

me through my youtube channel because

they wanted to film a tv show in japan

for australians but they couldn't get a

host into japan at the time because the

borders are shut so

that's why they contacted me they really

just put a lot of trust into my ability

to host this show and i'm so so grateful

for for the trust that they they put in

me um but yeah that's how it all went

down what kind of gear were they using

to film and any surprises i believe one

of the cameras they were shooting with

was a sony fx9

big big thick boy

thick boy camera yeah it was really

interesting to see it like all in person

and to you know see the differences

between my camera and the and the big

one sometimes i feel like carrying my

camera around is like

you know too heavy and bulky and gets in

the way but then i see this one i'm like

never mind my camera is actually very

lightweight

for the drone they had

they had the phantom phantom 3 phantom 4

big big white boy white boy drone i

don't know what what that white boy

that's not what i meant big thick boy

white drone

you know the one the big white drone

because i mentioned last time it was

really like i was a lot quite quite

stressful for me to be

shooting for my own youtube channel and

getting drone shots and everything but

then also being ready and available to

shoot for the tv show and everything so

this time i asked if i could bring chris

along to help me shoot and

boy made a huge difference it was so

nice to have chris there to film for me

and to fly the drone for me so i could

really just focus on doing the best job

uh presenting as i possibly could so

thank you thank you thank you thank you

so much chris for helping me as always

as always you're always helping me with

everything and i really really really

appreciate it so yeah back to the

question they also used some of chris's

drone shots which is filmed in my

air 2 s

yes and that's it thank you so much for

watching this video all the way all the

way through to the end i really really

appreciate it uh if you liked it liked

it if you want to see more subscribe i

always say this at the end of the video

okay damn it please go and check out

going solo in japan the wonders of

kyushu on 7 plus seven two and seven

flicks out now and streaming thank you

so much again to oab doc h squared and

channel seven for having me and uh

yeah

that's it thanks for watching guys

bye

the wonders of kyushu winter edition

why am i doing so many hats

i think my upstairs neighbor is like

hammering something

which is great i love that it's so good

for filming a youtube video and seven

flicks

and seven two oh no is it out now on

channel seven

i've been filming for 15 minutes it's

gonna be a lot of editing a lot of

cutting we did it we did it we did it

oh that felt good