How did Japan's Biggest Rock Star End Up on Abroad in Japan? (Patreon)

About 7 years ago on this very day, there’s a good chance I was sitting in my cramped bath tub watching anime, desperately trying to improve my Japanese listening skills in the hours after I got home from teaching English at a school in rural Japan.

I would sit in the boiling water in an attempt to stay warm on the cold winter evenings, given that my poorly insulated apartment would often resemble the inside of a refrigerator from November to March.

And whilst inside the bath - often for an hour or two at a time - I’d binge watch one show more than any other; GTO - Great Teacher Onizuka. An anime that told the story of a gang member who somehow ends up becoming a teacher at a school, and uses his streetwise skillset to solve every problem that gets thrown his way. 

- The solutions usually involved punching numerous people in the face.

Suffice to say, I didn’t employ his tactics in my time as a teacher.

But at the start of every episode, the show kicked off to an iconic sound track called “Drivers High” (a hugely popular song in Japan), by the band L’arc en Ciel. (This is it: https://youtu.be/phAoChN1nC4).

If somebody had told me there and then, whilst I was curled up in that bath tub, that one day I’d be spending a week with Hyde, the infamous frontman of L’arc en Ciel, who’s voice kicked off the start of every episode, I’d have taken one look at them and remarked “LIES! And what the fuck are you doing in my bathroom?!”.

It’s all rather odd watching back the Hyde documentary and thinking how fortunate I was to get up close with a rock star who means so much to so many people. It feels a bit like watching a dream unfold.

About a year ago, I received an unexpected email from an American viewer of the channel, who happened to be one of Hyde's managers. It was his idea to connect Hyde and I and see if we'd be keen to work together on a documentary; for Abroad in Japan we'd have unfettered access to a national treasure, and for Hyde he'd have some additional exposure to the world outside Japan. It was about as good as it gets in terms of a win-win situation.

I won't lie, thinking back to our initial emails almost a year ago, and now sitting here with a 25 minute documentary that's been enjoyed by thousands of people is a deeply rewarding sensation.

There’s also a huge sense of relief given that after Journey Across Japan, this was the second biggest project of 2019. As you may have seen in the credits, it was so big I brought in quite a bit of help to pull it off (mainly folks to assist in filming). In fact, it was actually my first time to manage a decent size production team, amidst presenting, directing and editing the project. I feel like more than anything, this project was yet another incredible learning curve in the world of filmmaking.

Looking back at it all, as expected I can see dozens of gaping flaws in it - from the grainy/noisy footage in the poorly lit dressing room scenes, to some undeniably missed opportunities in the interviews (typically, straight after you finish an interview, you suddenly think of half a dozen questions you wish you’d have bloody asked).

But I made a conscious decision to cap the documentary at 25 minutes, given the fact Youtube is notoriously bad for putting documentaries on (getting people to watch anything over 15 minutes on Youtube is an incredible feat of magic and witchcraft). 

And given the short running time, I’m proud of it all overall. Above all though, I’m delighted to have taken Natsuki along for the ride. 

Whilst meeting Hyde was a cool experience for me, to a Japanese person, meeting him is the equivalent of meeting royalty or a god like being. Natsuki’s overexcited face and crazed expression upon meeting Hyde said more than a thousand words in a voiceover ever could, and it made me feel rarely proud to be able to use my (limited) powers as a Youtuber to bring Natsuki joy in some way.

- Although I’m still waiting on the coffee and potato chips - as promised by Natsuki in the documentary.

All in all, I hope you enjoyed the documentary guys, and I hope you’re all feeling the Christmas spirit by now! Only three days until a man in a red jacket bursts down your chimney and causes untold damage.

I've still got lots of last minute shopping to do. Oh boy. I hope I'm not the only one...

Chris