00:00:04 John Daub: Alright, hello everybody. I'm in Jimbocho. This is the Craft Beer Market and I'm sitting here having a beer with another hitchhiker. This is Chris McBride. He just got back from a trip from Kagoshima to Tokyo. How long did that take you? 14 days exactly. 14 days! Alright, so we're actually going to be drinking this beer here. I bought him a beer. This is a big moment. Here you are, Chris. Kanpai. Cheers. We say otsukaresama. Otsukaresama. That's pretty good. That's what you say when you finish a job well done. A lot of people toasting out. Yeah, there you go. Alright, so this is Jimbocho. Let's get out of here and talk about the trip. I'm really curious to hear more about the trip. Wow. Don't worry everybody, I've already paid the bill. Ah, nice one.

00:01:08 John Daub: So this is Jimbocho and today I had a job here. Chris just arrived in Tokyo yesterday afternoon. Yeah, very cool. And it is about 7pm now, right? It's getting a bit hot as well. I tell him, nobody believes me. Tokyo in the summertime is extremely humid. It's like a sauna death trap.

00:01:36 Chris McBride: Well, I live in Vietnam in Hanoi and that's very high humidity there so my body's coping. It's not too bad but I'm still in a bit of a sweat.

00:01:46 John Daub: Wait, is this comparable to Vietnam? What do you think?

00:01:54 Chris McBride: I think it's a way ahead. Yeah, but Hanoi's getting there. It's evolving and the economy's booming. It's a good place to be and it's good to be a part of that growth as well. But yeah, I mean, I think Japan in general is just quite ahead of a lot of places, a lot of countries but just the people and the mentality as well, it's quite advanced as well as the technology.

00:02:15 John Daub: Yeah, it's a different way. That's what I discovered. It's Asia but it's not Asia. It's like really crazy if you compare it to other Asian countries but I'm really interested in your hitchhiking experience. Chris contacted me on Facebook because he'd been watching some of the videos that I'd put up about hitchhiking in Japan. So I get a lot of questions for Chris because this is a different point of view of another person who's been hitchhiking here and you started in Kagoshima the same as I did.

00:02:41 Chris McBride: Yeah, that's right.

00:02:42 John Daub: Why did you pick that route?

00:02:44 Chris McBride: Because I was in Taiwan and I was searching for flights and that was the place that came up. I wanted to start in the south and it was on Flightscanner. I looked for the cheapest and the best place but it actually turned out not to be the cheapest but it was the best place to start. So I just booked that from Taipei and then landed in the south part of Japan and decided Tokyo was the point. I kind of roughly worked it out. I saw your map actually and could see how you got day one, day two and was like, right, I got about 16 days and I'm going to make it to Tokyo and that's what I did.

00:03:25 John Daub: Yeah, you did make it. And you're leaving here tomorrow morning for Thailand. Now I'm going on holiday. I've done my traveling.

00:03:36 Chris McBride: This wasn't a holiday. Hitchhiking is not a holiday. It was really working. But you're not new to hitchhiking. I've hitchhiked through Europe. Actually, originally seven years ago I tried to hitchhike from the UK to Thailand. Failed miserably. Jumped in the deep end. But I got through Europe. It was real tough and then I hitchhiked in a lot of countries like Turkey, India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Australia, Japan now. So I'd say I'm a pretty experienced hitchhiker.

00:04:11 John Daub: How does Japan compare to Southeast Asia?

00:04:15 Chris McBride: In Thailand, I never waited more than five or ten minutes for a lift. In fact, I had people queuing up to give me a lift. Yeah, and I used to pick the cars with the AC. Dream come true. You can pick your ride.

00:04:32 John Daub: Okay, you got AC. I got you. You got the windows? Never mind that. Forget that. Whoa, that's like really awesome. So yeah, that was, but it was easier to get the rides. But then you hitchhiked from Ko Chang to Chiang Mai. It's about the same distance, about 1,500 kilometers. I had 47 lifts.

00:04:53 Chris McBride: 47 lifts in two weeks. This time I had 25 lifts in two weeks. So 25 lifts to get here. Thailand was easy to get the lifts, but they kind of didn't go out of the way to drop you off at your hotel or wherever.

00:05:15 John Daub: That's the same kind of experience that I had. People went out of their way to come and pick you up. Like you were telling me earlier, I had so many rides they would pass me, loop around to pick me up. And that's almost unheard of in other countries because it's a pain in the neck to do that.

00:05:33 Chris McBride: Yeah, like my last lift, my very last lift. I wanted to see Mount Fuji so I went out of my way to camp somewhere to take a view and get some pictures. And then after my plan to get to Tokyo wasn't solid, and I went to the location, and I researched on Google Maps and looked, and it wasn't, I knew it was going to be tough. And I waited two and a half hours. Nothing. So I looked on my Google Maps and another eight kilometer walk, but at least I got a better chance of getting a lift. I don't want to spend all day here. I need to get to Tokyo. And as I looked up, this guy was there and he's just smiling. Hey! I was like, Tokyo, Tokyo? He's like, yes. I was like, I did it. And he literally told me, yeah, he's like, I saw you, but you didn't give me no room to stop. And I was like, I knew that's why I had to change. And he said, but I come all the way back round for you. And I was like, oh, thank you so much. You're my last lift. And I was so worried I wasn't going to make it.

00:06:33 John Daub: That's the thing with Japan. People very much want to be gracious hosts. And you have tattoos. So was that like something that was a problem here?

00:06:52 Chris McBride: I was, because of a bit of research and I had some friends in Hanoi where I live that said to me about the tattoos, be aware, some onsens (hot springs) might not let you in. But it's not because, it's because of the yakuza (Japanese mafia). So it's just the rules and they got to respect that rule. You know, it's a rule and it applies to everybody. So don't take it to heart. Just understand it and understand the culture. And they said even some hotels might not allow it. And I was like, okay, I'm getting a bit nervous now. Cause it's hot here and I can't cover up really that well. So I was a bit nervous about it, but I just, you know, anyway, this is me and it'll be fine. And then I landed at the airport and then I got stopped and I've never been stopped anywhere. It was quite intimidating, but they're doing their job. You can't blame them. But yeah, they stopped me and then went through all my bags.

00:07:57 John Daub: You flew in from Taiwan to Kagoshima and they stopped you for that?

00:08:09 Chris McBride: Yeah. There was about five people around me and I started feeling a bit nervous. They went through all my bags. They said, can they search me? I allowed them to search me. And then they start asking me questions. Where do you live? What do you do there? And why do you live there? And I kept repeating. And then they, I had to show them my Facebook of friends I have here in Tokyo. They wanted to see, and then my departure. And I was like, guys, you know, I'm feeling really nervous and don't feel comfortable. Why can I ask why you stopped me? And they said, well, someone meets your description, carrying drugs. And I was like, well, that's not me. And you can feel free to search and do whatever you gotta do.

00:09:11 John Daub: Met your description, probably white guy with tattoos.

00:09:19 Chris McBride: They actually then said, oh, nice tattoos and started touching my arm. And where are they from? I said Thailand. Then I clicked, okay, I think this is why I meet the description. How am I going to hitchhike from here to Tokyo with all my tattoos on display when I'm completely a criminal description. So I was really nervous now. I got out, I put my jacket on and I was pouring sweat. And then I got a lift from a couple of French aircraft engineers and they said, what are you doing here? I said, I'm trying to get to Kagoshima city. They're like, you can't hitchhike. Japanese people don't understand what hitchhiking is. They won't pick you up. And I was like, oh God. Luckily I saw your videos. Well, John managed to do it. And then it still got to me a little bit.

00:10:43 John Daub: So basically it took you 25 rides to go from Kagoshima to Tokyo. Where was the most challenging place?

00:10:54 Chris McBride: You got sick once. I got sick yeah I don't know it's just a bug or a virus and you know Japan's so super clean. I got sick too I know exactly what it was it was ramen from a street truck. You don't want to eat from a food truck all the time. When I was five days and I was fine and then yeah I don't know what it was called but it was horrible. It didn't just physically affect me, affected my morale and there's one point I kind of gave up and accepted because I lost some time that I wouldn't make it to Tokyo only to Osaka. And then I got on the road and I just stood there and I was like I don't want to why am I doing this I'm not enjoying it but physically felt better but I didn't realize that it kind of affected my morale.

00:12:25 John Daub: When I got sick I was down in Tottori Prefecture, Shimane. I was holed up for maybe four or five days and my morale was pretty low too. But the thing is I'm so far from home there's nowhere for me to go I have to continue.

00:12:41 Chris McBride: You could fly out or take a train but that's when I cut it off to Osaka and kind of the reason I did it because I put it on Facebook. Friends and family follow me. I like I gotta do this because otherwise I'll go back with my tail between my legs. I had a lot of people following me so do people help you right so much and talking. I call it my Wilson like in Castaway the volleyball. For 10 days I didn't see any foreigners and then I kind of wanted to talk so talking on Facebook on the live it was my Wilson and I'd say hi Wilson hey Wilson hello.

00:13:22 John Daub: I just wanted to chat with you about your pictures from your trip. I got loads of pictures. The one thing that I was laughing when I saw your pictures Chris was that your signs kind of looked like mine.

00:13:31 Chris McBride: Yeah I cheated a bit apart from my last one the sellotape thing actually kind of yeah with the wind.

00:13:52 John Daub: Oh cool, Fuji. Okay, that says Fuji homen (Fuji direction). Oh, you got the homen right. Yeah, I did that one myself. Sometimes some people would help me do it. And then I got nice guy because every time I go in the car they would say nice guy nice guy. You have the smiley face. You gotta have the smiley face. It's a game changer. And then you smile with the smiley face. But yeah, nice guy. I always got that.

00:14:32 Chris McBride: So the last ride was two days ago.

00:14:38 John Daub: Ah, it's so fresh. I'm so jealous because I want to be out on the road. It's been two months since I finished my trip. So where's Mount Fuji? Oh, there it is. So you can see it says Tokyo homen, the direction of Tokyo, and then Mount Fuji is right up there on the top. Oh, that's a cool picture. So that's the last ride. Boom.

00:15:03 Chris McBride: And going back to the tattoos quickly, it was just all up here. It was nothing. The Japanese people don't really care. When I eventually took the jacket off because I was just pouring with sweat and I'm sure people were looking at me like this guy's crazy. He's hitchhiking why is he wearing a jacket? I stood there and then I was like hiding behind my sign trying to hide the tattoos a little bit and thumb out. And then this car pulled up and this little timid Japanese she was so timid with her glasses and said like I use Google Translate. And then she said you've got one hour of my time. You can navigate wherever you want to go. You've got one hour. I was like wow. And then I looked at her and she was like can I get to make a video? And she was like no no no. And I was like she's not scared of me. Like who's going to be scared of me? And no it never got in the way once.

00:16:06 John Daub: People can differentiate between what the gangsters are and who the tourists are because of maybe what you look like. Personally the fact that you have tattoos it didn't really make a huge impact with the everyday people. So when you come in Japan you have tattoos on your arms maybe wear a long sleeve shirt maybe just for the onsen but they're rules and they're rules that are in place. It's nothing that's rules for everybody. You can't just cause you're a foreigner or a traveler you can't be able to go to any onsen.

00:16:42 Chris McBride: Oh, you did? I was on the beach and right by the volcano. Yeah I got one. But that was enough. It's fine you know. And you know that's fine. It's still you've got to respect the rules and the culture. So I never got offended. I never had any other issues. People like they were looking at my tattoos and when I was in the car they loved them.

00:17:11 John Daub: It's something to bring a conversation about when you have something interesting like a t-shirt or tattoos or a strange hairstyle orange jacket. What about the danger aspect of it a lot of people have been commenting on how dangerous hitchhiking is and you've hitchhiked a lot more than me in more than one country.

00:17:30 Chris McBride: I've hitchhiked around the world. The danger that's because you've been watching too many movies. There was a lot of us around years ago in the sixties and then the film The Hitcher and Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out and then everyone freaked out.

00:17:45 John Daub: Let me the people that pick you up are the good people. The good ones want to help you. They're the nice people. Not the bad ones. The bad ones don't want to help you. You can only get picked up by the good guys. The point is that the people who do pick you up and take the time to help somebody they're helping you are the good people.

00:18:28 John Daub: And I'm looking at this cardboard and saying this would make a fing sign. I cannot look at cardboard and not say that I could make a sign out of this. You become a fing professional after you hitchhike for a little bit. After a little bit in Japan you become a cardboard professional. Signs for me before a lot of play I never used signs too much because to me it also restricts you. It's like I want to go there but I don't mind getting dropped off between A and B. But I found in Japan it was kind of you know I just put my thumb out but I had more success with the sign and with nice guy saying like anywhere on the way that people it was kind of what they expect a hitchhiker to be. So I kind of went with the signs here and I definitely think it worked.

00:19:30 John Daub: I think I speak Japanese just well and your Japanese level is zero. Hello and thank you. That's it. And you didn't have any problem communicating with people even though your Japanese level was zero.

00:19:47 Chris McBride: No not at all. There was some that spoke some basic English not too many. And one lift the guy spoke excellent English so I had a really good conversation with him. Google Translate on here is amazing.

00:19:59 John Daub: Google Translate is your savior. You can even download it and use it offline. It's absolutely amazing. It has good conversations using it. And the best thing is when you speak rather than type you can hear the other they can hear your voice you can hear their voice. So you get to hear their voice and then it translates pretty good. I had some really good conversations. And it's quite fun. When we're doing it everyone's giggling and like oh this is amazing. You could hitchhike from the bottom to the top of Japan using just Google Translate. Don't worry about being able to speak Japanese and communicate. If you use your wits and you have a big smile and a happy face on your sign you show that you're a good guy. People will stop and you can use Google Translate to communicate just fine in Japan. And if you download the app you can use it offline which means you don't have to have the smartphone always connected to WiFi which is very useful. And Maps as well you can download Maps as well. 14 years ago I had a big map of all the roads. This time I used Google Maps and it makes life a lot easier. And writing the locations as well. Hitchhiking is an art. It's not just you don't just stand on the road and put your thumb out because you could do that. We could make calculated decisions and research locations.

00:21:38 Chris McBride: First of all I'd find where I need to go. If I'm in a big massive city of course I can't hitchhike out. I'd get a tram just on the suburbs. Then I would look for a suitable road. I'd avoid toll roads. And a suitable road you've got to be careful of three lanes because then you need to be able to follow the road and if people are turning off they might not be able to pick you up. Finding the right spot finding a place where they could pull over. Looking into Google Maps on satellite to see if there's actually how many cars are on the road. I'd do all this and try and make the best calculated decision of where I was going to start hitchhiking. And then you've got to think about where you're going to get dropped off and communicating about that and service stations or if you want to get dropped off like at a bus stop area.

00:22:22 John Daub: Know your destination. It is a bit of a puzzle. You can work hard work smart. It's the same advice for hitchhiking. You were smart and you learned about things that didn't work. You can use that and it's going to make your life a lot easier. Travel smart.

00:22:43 John Daub: Now we're just about at Suidobashi here. This is Suidobashi and I'm just going to show Chris over here Tokyo Dome. This is the location. The Tokyo Giants play baseball. And it's one big huge amusement park. This is a nice place. I actually have to go back and start editing. This is the Tokyo Dome Hotel. It's a little bit pricey to stay here but it's a beautiful hotel. They got some really nice restaurants in there. This is downtown Tokyo. What do you think of Tokyo? It's the first time in Tokyo. I wish I had more time. It's amazing. It's a great city.

00:23:41 John Daub: So I'm living through his enthusiasm. But definitely you're leaving tomorrow. Unfortunately I will be back. I'm going to do the north to Tokyo I think. I had such a great time and a good experience. And it's a spiritual journey. How much did you spend on this trip? Transportation I had it down. Yeah I think I spent $28 on transportation. I was on a few trams and stuff in cities. Every day I didn't spend you know I had a day where I spent $3.

00:24:17 John Daub: Mr. Okusan he was the best guy ever to pick me up. That was the guy near Oita right? He picked me up. He looked like a character. Yeah he was certainly a character. And then he treated me to stay. This guy Chris sent me some of the pictures through Facebook. You can see this one guy that picked him up I guess it was in Kyushu. I took him to Oita Beppu where they have a lot of the onsens. And I remember looking at the pictures and said that guy's a character because I wish he'd picked me up.

00:25:15 Chris McBride: And I was in a very desperate situation. The very timid Japanese girl dropped me off bless her this service area where I got some food. But the road I chose to navigate on was there wasn't much cars. So I sat there and had lunch. And I saw about during that period like three cars pass. I was like yeah I'm going to be here for the night. I went to the sidewalk. And I stood there and just saw a car. Put the sign up back down. And then I heard hey hey where you going come with me come with me. I was like what really? He already parked up and went to the toilet. I jumped in my van. And he's like tonight beer. Many many beers. He's like Japanese girls? I was like yes. Many many girls. Crazy. And yeah I got there. And I went into my hotel capsule thing. And yeah he said meet him downstairs at 7. I got there. And this guy in a suit but he had such a great character. And then when he pulled up he was like hey. He was in the car he had like three girls. He was in like this UV like he had a UV band here on his head. He was in shorts wearing like a cap. And he was like this funky guy who was a bit of a ladies man. And then I got in the car and these girls were just like wah like a foreigner wow wow. We went out we were drinking. He took me to all these bars. I went to pay so many times. He was like no no no. That day I spent $80. He wouldn't let you pay.

00:27:02 John Daub: I don't know why people when you hitchhike they won't let you pay. It's not like I don't have money or I'm poor. It's just they won't let you pay because they're very gracious hosts. The Japanese for me it was like they were honored and privileged to be able to help me and show me their country. That's the vibes I got every time. And for me it's like yeah I can't pay. I'm not going to pay for petrol. I'm not going to pay for this because then it's not hitchhiking. Of course I got money but if I don't do it to save money it's much deeper and meaningful than that. But that's why I always try and offer to pay for lunch. I'd always offer do you want a drink do you want a coffee to show my gratitude and to give something back. We don't do it because we're poor. We hitchhike because it's part of the challenge. And when you pick up a hitchhiker it's assumed that you're not going to be paying for gasoline or nobody will ask you for that. But when it comes to something like lunch and giving back that way yeah I offer but sometimes people take it as almost an insult. You kind of have to give up and let them pay because you're their guest in Japan. And that's something that you really have to understand. In Japan you're a guest. When you enter someone's car as a passenger you're sort of a guest.

00:28:06 Chris McBride: Yeah and you know yeah the trip it's a personal trip and if you do it on your own it's a spiritual journey. And I don't mean spiritual like the hippie kind of stuff or God or a religion or anything like that.

00:28:17 John Daub: The spiritual journey is about you and self-development. And it is tough at times and it's beautiful at times. And you left your own devices. It's you got to survive. And there's no call of friends. There's none of that. It's down to you. And it opens your eyes and you meet the most beautiful people. It just gives you so much faith in humanity. And that is a very spiritual journey. So that is something you can really take away from it. That's why I did it man. I did it because you're out there on your own and it's up to you to be able to make it from point A to point B. You made that goal. You have to use your wits. You have to use your strength and your power and your ability to go out there and find that ride. And that's what it's all about. Survival. And in the end though if you just keep at it you always found a ride. It's just like life. So many times we go up and down in life. And when you're down you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's hard. Same as hitchhiking. You're in that moment. You're like how the hell am I going to get out of this? And all of a sudden it changes. It just comes. You just get the ride. Next thing like I was there thinking I'm going to sleep here overnight. And maybe tomorrow I might get a ride. And the next thing I'm in a car with this brilliant guy. And then next thing I'm in a bar and I'm having a fantastic time. And I was eating steak and all the other things. I've gone from one extreme to the next.

00:29:50 John Daub: That right there is Tokyo Dome. There are some bars there actually. Should we have another one?

00:29:59 Chris McBride: Yeah.

00:30:01 John Daub: I might have one more but I'm not going to share it with everybody here because I actually do have a lot of work to do. This is the Sobu Line taking off from Suidobashi Station. One for the road. Well we'll walk away we'll go over to Tokyo Dome and we'll see how it looks like there. It's amazing. It's just so loose around hey? So in general though you got a pretty good vibe from Japan.

00:30:45 Chris McBride: Oh mate. Like you know at the start after that experience and then I got in the car with the French aircraft engineers who said I can't hitchhike here it's not allowed they won't understand. People. I got on the tram and everyone seemed so reserved. And I was like oh god this is going to be really tough. And I approached this old lady because I didn't know how the trams worked to put the money in the thing. And she as soon as I asked her her face lit up she was so happy that I turned to her for help. She was delighted. And she was honoured. Like you know I felt that Japanese honour thing. She was honoured to be able to help me. She bent over backwards. She was like show me everything and count the change. Look look this is the change. I'm not ripping you off. And then I sat down. My stop was right. She was like this is your stop. And then that whole thing just kind of broke. I was like these are really nice people.

00:31:40 John Daub: Omotenashi (Japanese hospitality). Very nice people. Omotenashi. People go out of their way to really help. But that's one reason why I'm so happy to stay here for as long as I have. But you know omotenashi can be a pain in the neck too when people help you too much. But some help is better than no help. But it's maybe because there's some countries where no one will help you and they'll just pass you up. But that won't happen so much in Japan. Like in Australia that was I had eggs thrown at me once. They deliberately drove around to throw eggs at the hitchhiker.

00:32:27 Chris McBride: Just an amazing time. Open my eyes up a little bit more and yeah like I said I really feel Japanese aren't just advancing technology it's much deeper than that there's people and the mentality and the way of life I really think they're advanced.

00:32:42 John Daub: Where are you from Chris? London originally from London I left seven years ago I haven't been home since really. My accent's all over the place because like I said I haven't been home in seven years I got a hangout you know I got an expat community in Hanoi all different people from all different countries. So that messes up with your accent right? And I lived in Australia for a year and started hitchhiking so it's messed it up a little bit plus London Americans always mistake Londoners because we say mate as well as like Aussies say mate. But no I'm London born and bred yeah and I've been home in seven years. And you can do that and that's you know the same as hitchhiking it's a big leap but once you do it it's very addictive you know we're a dying breed we're a dying breed! Hitchhikers! We need to go back out there.

00:33:44 John Daub: Hitchhiking I think is you know it's not for everybody I don't think everybody has the personality for it. But yeah you really have to be able to take adversity and when things don't go your way you have to be able to stay positive and say you know what okay the hell with it tomorrow is another day and I'm gonna go up there stand there with the cardboard and hitchhike again. You have to be that kind of a person if you're one of these positive always. If you're a doomsday person where everything is going wrong and you're following politics world politics you're probably not gonna like hitchhiking because you're gonna have to erase everything from your mind start fresh every day and from the positivity because people I don't know what it is but people can if you're a positive person in relationships it only gets worse. When you're not looking that's when people see you. It's when you're not looking that's when people see who you really are. So you always have to have that positive thing to yourself all the time. Because the moment that you let down your guard is the moment that people are going to see who you really are. So you have to live the positivity all the time. And that's hard to do. There's times where I don't feel it but that's the challenge of life maybe.

00:35:45 John Daub: Because before I left I hit China Japan came to mind and I researched and your videos popped up on the search. And I kind of just watched every single video. And I'm now a part of this video. And now you're a part of the video. I was at home sitting at home and I was watching all these videos. Oh wow. And now you're in the videos. There's an insane Ferris wheel and an insane roller coaster. And that's the Tokyo Dome right there. That's where the baseball team plays. And we've arrived at another place. Oh that's Don Quixote. So Chris and I are going to get one more drink for the road. The track is right there. And it's a long road. But it's a road that you can do. And he did it! Chris did it. Congratulations on making it from Kagoshima to Tokyo. High five brother.

00:36:57 John Daub: Google Translate app. Don't give up. Stay positive. There's lots of messages you can take out of this live stream. But the one thing I want to leave you with is that hitchhiking here when you're in the face of adversity and things don't go your way you just have to stay positive because there were times when both of us on the road were really in some tough times. You were sick. I was shivering in my bed. Food poisoning. You don't want to get up. But you just get back out there on the road and you keep going. This is with everything in your life. So when you complete a hitchhiking trip like this it improves the way that you live your life I think. It's self-development. It will change you for the rest of your life. It's changed me again. Super Saiyan that up and down. Dragon Ball. I've already had a drink so yeah. We're going to have one more drink at The Hub which is a chain the British Pub. I'm right at home here. We're taking Chris to The Hub Pub. This is The Hub in Tokyo. One for the road. So thank you very much for watching this live stream. I hope this was useful. If you have questions leave it down below in the comments. This is the only Japan Go channel. Only live streams. I really appreciate you taking time to watch. See you everybody. Bye. Fun stuff.