Look at this.

This is tengo mythical creature with a questionably shaped and rather large nose and today we're in Gunma Prefecture about two hours outside of Tokyo, about to go on a road trip and joining me is a rather improved reiterate, that is a major improvement realtor I must say, Let's go.

Goodman is a landlocked prefecture two hours west of Tokyo, famous for its mountains, its sake and it's traditional Japanese inns.

Today as we journey through the region will meet the man who's encouraging folks to drink his sake out in a forest alongside the very spring where the water is sourced from.

We'll taste the juiciest, award winning local tomcat support Cutler and stay overnight at a rustic japanese in so large you're transported to your room in a self driving car, something we've never seen before.

But our day starts off high in the mountains at the Tenga Miracle Ji Temple and this happens to be the largest Tenga mask in the entire country.

That's 6.5 m tall with a nose almost three m long.

He'd certainly give Pinocchio a run for his money.

All right, It's time to take it off.

That is legitimately creeping you out.

Actually put it back on.

That was yeah, Well guys, we've hit two million subscribers here on the ground.

Japan channel recently.

Thank you so much for that.

What are you going to stay out of the two million viewers?

I mean the subscribers actually the 1.5 million is on me all year, is it?

I don't know, I don't know about that real train.

Your videos tend to get less views.

So I actually see these, these videos together as some sort of charity project, special charity project, but we are in good mood today in the first place you seem to bring me is is here, why, why did you bring me here?

It's creepy, isn't it?

It is a bit, I mean obviously the war that you have never been here right the first time.

It's, it's, yeah, we've sort of working our way down through Japan, right, We've done, we've done the six prefectures of total hockey many times.

We're sort of working our way down Japan now and yeah, I mean not only to this creepy techno temple, but I'm planning to take you to the best sake breweries ever in japan and also a beautiful japanese in to celebrate the two million subscribers for you and for me, something doesn't feel right about this.

I think it's probably because we've got two gigantic Tenga right behind us with their noses sticking out.

Let's get out of it.

One of the most important ingredients that goes into sake is the mineral water and sake breweries will do anything to get their hands on the purest water that they can find Nagasaki produces highly polished Jim Misaki to create their famous Mizzou bash or brand and the sixth generation owner of the brewery Sumiyoshi Ngai has brought us here to the very spring where the water is sourced so we can sample it first hand.

And also appreciate the importance of where you drink the sake.

I mean who wouldn't want to get drunk in a forest.

Mm hmm.

Of all the sake brewery tours I've been on, they always talk about how good the water is.

They always bang on about the water but they never ever actually take you to the water.

Today we're here by the stream, by the water by the source of where the stuff comes from and now we're gonna drink it out of champagne glass from from the street.

It's so surreal just taking a glass and take it out of the water.

Mm hmm.

It tastes just like well, places like bottled spring water cold.

Very cold, Very cold right from the snow.

Is it delicious, cheers like Champagne.

Mhm Oh, so good.

So good.

So good.

Very refreshing, cheers, cheers, cheers.

So kind of relaxing.

So the air is so cool and refreshing with this cold spring water brother named mm The water is so cold in spring because all the snow melts right on the mountains.

Warning busy, busy fall in the spring water flow down the spring.

So many sake breweries always go on about how important water is.

But to this day on the 20 or so tours I've been on.

None of them ever have taken me to the actual source of the water to the spring itself like this.

And when you come somewhere like this and sit in the forest and try the pure spring water, you really get a sense of why the water is so important and you're able to kind of appreciate it.

I get drunk in the forest and while folks are working in offices in Tokyo and the guy sam gets to sit out here in a forest and just drink suck here.

And I think, I think he's one, I think he's won at life.

Goodman is known for having some of the juiciest pork in all of Japan.

In fact, the nearby city of Maebashi boastfully carries the title city of pork.

It's not every day that he passed through a city of pork.

And so for lunch we head off to try a freshly breaded and battered tomcat support color.

Mm hmm.

It's hard to pick up so huge.

What do you think?

Look at that one word heavenly.

That's what it is.

There's two key components in good tomcats.

Number one, the pork and number two, the batter.

Right?

It used to be kind of crispy and then soft, kind of juicy meat on the inside.

That's what I'm saying.

I actually think it's the thickest tomcats I've ever had.

Once you have tomcat.

So you don't need to eat for a long time, like two hours, two hours most decent train stations in Japan actually have a tomcat see restaurant somewhere.

So the passing through train stations and when you're feeling hungry.

Tomcats is one of the best things to go for.

Do not ever sit next to the side of the left handed because otherwise we're like, oh yeah that's what happens.

We should, we should have worked this out after like four or five years of doing this one last thing about some techniques of, of eating pork.

Right?

That's what tactics you, I always leave the edge of the pork last because this is the part that contains the biggest portion of like fat.

Right?

That's why I love this point.

So that's saving the best till last.

Yeah, exactly.

It's like a song.

I noticed I do that as well without even realizing it really instinctively.

Some serious pork tactics going on here.

Exactly eating the tactics.

Why does that sound so wrong, pork tactics.

Having spent half the morning appreciating the connection between sake and nature by getting drunk in a forest.

On our way to the traditional in, we stop off at a brewery to quickly appreciate how you drink sake sooner.

Noriega's family has been producing sake at their brewery for 280 years after his tasting session, he specializes in trying to suck it in a variety of ways to show how different cup sizes and different temperatures can make subtle changes to the flavor.

Did you enjoy that?

Mm hmm?

How is it so sweet.

Kind of sweet, delicate kind of flavor.

I really like drinking a cup like this.

Really appreciated that the size of it.

It's so cute.

But I don't want to say the word cute because it goes very much against my character.

Of course you did.

Thank you.

48°C curry is there?

You can really smell the sake when it's kind of warm.

Like this.

Oh, it's kind of rich flavors.

A bit like drinking whiskey or something, you know in the back of your throat because it's warm.

You're learning some japanese.

You can describe things in japanese better than I can in english.

Yeah.

I must admit when the soccer is heated up, you can taste it a lot better.

A heck of a lot better.

Like the flavors really come up and it's, but it's less easy to drink because you're suddenly aware of the alcohol, right?

You can really taste the alcohol.

So it's probably a safer way to drink sake and a better way in my view.

At least in winter when it's cold.

You know, it's nice every day, every day comply.

Look at this.

This is the entrance of japanese in the real con.

It's like straight back in time to back to Edo era.

Tonight we're staying at cooper ransom at a beautiful rustic in so large.

It stretches up the side of a mountain.

And our first surprise is how we get to our room chauffeured away on a self driving car.

It's fully automatic.

So where you from, sir from Britain taxi drivers in a golf cart, slowly making our way through the rather large kind of hotel.

I feel like I'm in a cut scene, an opening cut scene for a video game where we're just sort of sitting on something waiting.

It's definitely faster walking, patronizingly slow death.

Okay, guys following me from behind like laughing, smash the door in the socket, wow, okay.

Hello?

Hello?

Okay, so it's pretty big, isn't it?

Wow, It's huge rooms.

Dada Snow on the Rice Party.

You completed the video game, well done, finished the mission, finish.

The mission stage seven cleared, exploring, exploring, exploring with, reiterates the channel, wow bathroom.

Oh my God, they even have, wow.

Now we're talking now we're talking and it's really nice.

It's a seriously impressive room.

Like it feels more like somebody's house, really quite impressive.

One of the better places that I'd say you and I have stayed at over the years when, when I'm in the video, I always let you stay at the really good places.

That's what that's what's happening.

Always good food.

It's not without, its downsides there, we are sharing this room.

I'd rather sleep in a bag than spend one night in a room with real, even if it is this good to be honest.

Um one thing I really like about this place is the high ceiling, nobody in the japanese, japanese hotels are really low ceilings.

There's still like for, especially for the tall american people.

Um, sometimes you come in, you keep, you keep ahead onto this one of these things here, but not, that does not happen to this room for sure because it's got high ceilings and you can even jump.

Don't cry for me.

Argentina.

The truth is, This is a song I really want to sing whenever I come to this kind of balcony.

Uh, but anyway, look at the view, it's amazing.

Look at the roof of the house in the main building.

Has it's called a straw like roof and it takes a lot of maintenance.

You need to replace it every 30, 40 years and it's expensive.

Lord reiterated overlooking his domain.

Call me an emperor.

Why?

You're nothing emperor emperor after a much needed escape from Rio to row in the rooms private hot spring.

We meet up downstairs for dinner over a Sukiyaki hot pot, an assortment of fresh sashimi and a few bottles of sake from the breweries we stopped at on our journey today and yet despite the impressive assortment of dishes and drinks, the main thing that's got our attention is the chopstick holder.

Oh dear.

I thought the sardine was, I always used to like eat for eating.

But here they used as a chopstick rest.

So brutal.

You know.

And then I was just told that the half of the people who come here actually, they end up eating it.

What's this called?

The japanese, the sort of thing you put your chopsticks.

Yeah, like the chopstick rest and yeah, I mean that is speaks for itself, you're gonna eat it.

Oh, I couldn't do it for everyone in japan.

Oh, the crunchy sound.

Oh dear.

Okay.

So we've gone through some breweries today, right?

And then, so now we've got this whole like nice dinner and I've already asked, well, come to recommend some socks for tonight dishes, sashimi, we've got Sukiyaki, Sukiyaki coming up and so you actually drink.

So just a little bit, just a little bit, it's the pairing and I need to pair it.

Yes, that's it.

That's it.

Taking home an ambulance.

Yeah, Congratulations.

I mean we joke about you not being able to drink quite a lot, but it must be a little bit annoying.

No, I'm so used to it, you know, it wasn't annoying.

Thing is the thing is right, and that was one of the truth.

That was one of the reasons why I did not look for a job in the japanese company in japan.

Seriously?

I mean it would have been really hard.

Oh yeah, it would have been really hard.

And the first job I got, I was in Germany, right?

And when I came back, surely that's no better.

They drink what they drink every day, but it's not, they don't have the kind of, you know, some kind of ritual, right?

Keep drinking.

It seems to me that in japan people changed quite a lot when they drink they and I heard that people are able to blow off steam and actually open up to their colleagues a lot easier once they had a few drinks, like certainly when I was a teacher, when we had work parties, teachers would switch after having a few drinks, you would tell me like their deepest darkest secrets and all the teachers, they hated.

It was really awkward and I had to sort of sit there and be like, oh you hate that one.

Yeah, it's really awkward.

So I invited this time ah him chris board to all these breweries, board board to all these breweries and this will be nice.