Escape to a Sacred Japanese Mountain (4K) | *PATREON EXCLUSIVE VIDEO* (Patreon)

**UPDATE** - This video is now available in 5k!

Well August was certainly a fun month (utterly absurd temperatures aside).

From the long awaited "Driving in Japan" video and mocking Google Translate, to catching up with Natsuki for his birthday and making the Abroad in Japan Podcast twice weekly - as well as upgrading to an iMac and a new camera.

And with the impending Sushi restaurant documentary next week, an upcoming journey to a remote island with Natsuki and a road trip series with Joey the Animeman coming up, there's certainly lots to look forward to in the coming weeks.

This week I finally got around to testing my new camera and so today I thought I'd cheat on Film Friday (just this once!) and instead share with you some of the footage from the camera which I was able to capture in a forest in Yamagata yesterday.

Unfortunately, the stunning location I filmed in was poorly lit as I arrived a bit late, so I don't think I was able to truly do it justice. And due to the high temperatures (36 degrees celsius with silly humidity) and a million mosquitoes who exploited exposed skin, I wasn't able to capture the kind of artistic footage I'd envisioned. I'd hoped to let the camera roll for 20 minutes, but after 3 minutes I was about to ready to run out of the forest screaming.

On the upside I not only learned never to go outdoors again in August in Japan, I also discovered a lot about my new camera (the Panasonic S1H).

Watch: https://youtu.be/bjYZ8foDmcM
Song: 'Dawn Greeting' by Shin Suzuma

You may recognise the location in the video - Mount Haguro in Yamagata - a beautiful location which Ryotaro and I visited several winters ago for this spectacular and criminally underrated Abroad in Japan episode.

Trip with Risottoro
https://youtu.be/G0qbp_12t4Y

A video in which Ryotaro and I took part in silent meditation in the snow, and coined the nickname Risottoro for the first time. For those reasons alone, it may have been the best trip ever.

Here's more details on Mount Haguro:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7902.html

But I've been wanting to experiment with relaxing Japanese scenes for years now, and this video is my first foray in that direction. I like the idea of creating videos that enable viewers to escape for a short time to Japan using a single shot, and pleasing, therapeutic  sound effects and I'm open to any ideas on how we can build on this series (potentially to launch on the second channel).

Also to answer the inevitable question, the presence of the cats isn't entirely random! The local town has quite a lot of feral cats roaming around (they often appear in the forest). They're inclusion therefore seemed fitting.

Enjoy the video and the 2 minute escape folks! I'll be back in a few days in the run up to the Sushi documentary with more news of what's in store in September,
Chris