Tragic Helicopter Crash at Mount Aso | @AbroadinJapan #234

0:00 What do you want out of us?

0:01 And we will do it.

0:02 We are but your marionets.

0:04 Exactly.

0:04 Whatever that means.

0:07 Wow.

0:07 Hello and welcome to the Abroad Japan podcast.

0:09 Probably the best way of learning about

0:10 life in Japan without actually being in Japan.

0:12 I'm your host, Chris Broad.

0:13 We're joined as always by England's top Japan enthusiast, Mr.

0:16 Pete Dawson himself.

0:18 Pete, how the devil you doing?

0:19 What's going on?

0:20 I'm good, Chris.

0:20 I uh How do you like these apples?

0:22 I was talking.

0:23 I watched you crash your nose into the microphone.

0:25 Yeah, I did.

0:26 Yeah.

0:26 It's not a tissue.

0:27 It's not a tissue.

0:28 I I get away with a lot of drippy nose wipes

0:31 on this on this only to be shared with another presenter.

0:35 And in my hand is uh a man of the match award for my football team.

0:39 For it does look like quite look you you can put whatever you want to give.

0:43 You can do whatever you want.

0:44 But it's a man of the match award that I was given in November.

0:48 I'm bad at football.

0:49 Uh this was very much a pity rotational thing that they

0:52 gave to me and I um kept forgetting to bring it back.

0:56 [laughter] So, I have kidnapped the man

0:58 of the watch award for my football team in November.

1:01 I keep on forgetting to take it back.

1:03 So, I put it in my bag so I don't forget to take it back.

1:06 What's the point of getting an award if you got to give it back?

1:08 Well, cuz it's cuz somebody else might win it the next week.

1:11 And you can't just hog the award, can you?

1:12 You can't just kind of, you know, disappear awards, so to speak.

1:16 I like awards you can keep.

1:17 [laughter]

1:18 But, um, it would be quite expensive for a local,

1:21 you know, over 50s football team to uh to do that.

1:25 I think I have I won anything.

1:27 Have I won an award?

1:28 You must have won some stuff for your book because that was a high performer.

1:31 It was a Sunday Times bestseller, which is great because I can bring that up.

1:34 People get in my way.

1:35 I'm like, I'm a YouTuber.

1:37 They're like, disgusting.

1:38 And I go, but I'm also a Sunday Times best.

1:42 They're like, I'm have a seat at the top.

1:44 Have a seat.

1:45 Have a seat at the top table.

1:46 [laughter] Top times table.

1:48 I think the only reason I got to do

1:50 the state bankrupt thing was because of the book.

1:52 Yeah.

1:52 You re he's got a book now.

1:54 He's he's done something of that led him into Buckingham Palace.

1:57 [laughter]

1:58 Uh and the only award that I won that I I

2:01 thought was quite good was this uh books on my bag

2:04 readers award and it's like an independent bookshop award and they

2:07 choose like their book of the year and we won best non-fiction.

2:12 Ah

2:11 um I say we I won it.

2:13 Nobody else nobody else locked in a room for four months.

2:16 I think I helped I was giving you I was providing a lot

2:18 of moral support around the time that you write your book.

2:20 as an influencer writing a book,

2:21 you do feel like uh a bit of imposter

2:24 syndrome because you think I'm not Charles Dickens.

2:27 What a strange George Orwell.

2:30 Charles Dickens or George Orwell or [laughter] JK Rolling?

2:33 Closer.

2:34 I'm not a I'm not the man who used to be on uh Pointless.

2:38 [laughter] I'm not like a, you know, I'm I'm not an accredited writer.

2:43 I don't know that.

2:43 But so you kind of think, oh,

2:45 people bought the book because of my success as a YouTuber,

2:49 as an influencer, right?

2:49 Yeah,

2:50 even though the sales were good, I I still felt like, oh, I'm a fraud.

2:53 There was a real vogue for getting YouTubers and influencers

2:56 and Instagram guys to do ago and it fell off a cliff

3:02 105 years ago.

3:02 Yeah.

3:03 Every influencer was like, I'm a writer now,

3:05 but it's ghostritten and I haven't done anything.

3:07 And it was just like pointless.

3:08 And I think it killed it cuz loads of just ghostritten[ __] coming out.

3:12 Yeah.

3:12 And you can say one thing, you know,

3:13 you can criticize the Abroad Japan book all you want, but I did write it.

3:17 I sat in a room and I you can tell I've

3:19 written it because the ways every sentence is mess on this podcast.

3:25 She just turned up to the recording [laughter][ __] so behind your book.

3:28 You know the struggle.

3:29 But that award was good cuz um bookshops uh actually voted for it.

3:34 People like independent bookshops,

3:35 people that actually live and breathe books and that meant a lot

3:38 and that was the only time I've I've had an award

3:40 and it's also on this like machined bit of like aluminium.

3:45 Oh yeah.

3:45 So you actually actually got to where you were because I imagine sort of like

3:49 getting awards to places must be quite difficult I think.

3:51 Yeah.

3:51 Well, this is like a heavy

3:52 heavy resin.

3:53 You can use it as a weapon, god forbid.

3:55 And it's just really cool.

3:56 This big machined block of metal sword like an old iPod.

4:02 They used to talk about machined aluminium.

4:04 It's like, well, I mean, I ordered a spare one of those um YouTube Japan 100,000

4:10 subscriber things and I nearly knocked over it over and um

4:14 is this quality?

4:15 Is this quality?

4:16 I mean, I think they've got smaller and cheaper over the years cuz I think it's,

4:19 you know, it's never been easier to get to 100K.

4:22 But, um

4:23 I actually got a notification the other day on

4:26 the Facebook Yeah.

4:27 whatever it's and uh

4:29 it was like 10 12 year memory and it was um it was 10 years ago.

4:33 Mhm.

4:34 And it was my 100,000 subscriber this I received in the post January 2016.

4:41 Right.

4:42 Okay.

4:42 And I got a memory of that.

4:44 Yeah.

4:44 And it's me like look at this.

4:45 Thank you everyone.

4:45 Maybe I'll keep going and see what happens.

4:47 And now you don't need the barbles.

4:50 Now [laughter] you're just like, "Oh, Pete drops a hunter.

4:53 Pete drops a hunter to get a spare one for Chris.

4:56 He doesn't want to take it back to Japan."

4:58 I think this has got like a mirror or the one I've got.

5:01 It's like gold and magic.

5:04 Yeah.

5:04 And silver.

5:04 And this is like just put a mirror there.

5:06 Nice little [laughter] It has got a lot cheaper.

5:09 Some hard drugs on it.

5:10 I should dig out the photo of what it looked like before.

5:12 I don't know where that one went.

5:14 Actually, I've got like the million subscriber one,

5:16 but it's the 100,000 one that counts cuz it's like

5:19 that's the point where you feel like, "Oh, this is this could be something.

5:21 This could be good." And the million one you've sort of after many years,

5:26 you kind of expect something to happen

5:28 eventually if if you play your cards right.

5:30 I like the guys I like the guys who do

5:32 um like they [clears throat] use like pneumatic uh drill,

5:36 not pneumatic drill,

5:36 pneumatic like squishy machines and also the ones that like um use,

5:39 you know, like that the high pressure water jet that cuts through everything.

5:44 Like you can cut anything with this water jet,

5:46 you know, the hardest metal known to humanity.

5:49 Um and these guys will cut anything.

5:52 Uh and they got a million and it's really annoying cuz they have to cut it.

5:56 They have to cut the they have to cut the award.

5:58 That's That's a terrifying amount of pressure for water.

6:01 I know.

6:02 Like the imag like the way that I presume water and sand maybe a little bit.

6:07 It's like a wet like a wet sand blaster.

6:09 You can do anything with water and sand, right?

6:11 Give me Give me water and that's a lot more tricky.

6:14 [laughter]

6:14 Um I I saw the Bone Temple yesterday segway.

6:19 I saw 28 years later the Bone Temple.

6:22 Well, I think we spoke about it um when when we

6:24 were going We had a bit a film episode, didn't we?

6:27 And turns out

6:28 I am lambast you for not watching like anything.

6:29 I know nothing about film.

6:31 Although I do.

6:31 See you talking about football.

6:32 You should be watching Stanley Cubri.

6:34 I've got Look, I got Japan.

6:35 I got football.

6:36 I got wrestling.

6:37 28 years later now.

6:38 [laughter] You could talk about 28 years later now.

6:41 It's [clears throat] bombed at the box office apparently.

6:43 Um it's a British film because it has.

6:44 Everything bombs at the [laughter] box office.

6:46 We were pleased to see it back.

6:47 But you're not you're not getting another one out of it.

6:48 It's a Sony film actually.

6:49 But um it the 28 years later came out a year ago.

6:54 uh I think in like May actually in May last year.

6:56 Really great film.

6:57 Solid four out of five.

6:59 Really great stuff.

7:00 And then they released 28 years later the Bone Temple.

7:03 Yeah.

7:03 And it's uh bombed I think because a lot of people don't know what it is.

7:07 It sounds like an expansion pack for a video game.

7:10 Any stars in there apart from

7:12 find Jack O Connell in his in Sinners last year.

7:18 Oh extremely good in this is a sort of Jimmy Savileesque villain.

7:22 I mean, an astonishing decision.

7:24 [laughter] But like the the thing that um makes me laugh is

7:27 that like a lot of like um a lot of thirsty lasses,

7:30 American thirsty lasses online are posting

7:33 pictures [laughter] in his Jimmy going,

7:37 "Oh, he's so sexy." He's like, "He's dressed as Jimmy S."

7:41 I was watching an interview.

7:42 I was watching [laughter] a video somebody

7:43 reviewing it in America and they're like,

7:45 "I didn't know who this Jimmy Seville guy

7:48 was." And I looked him up and holy Christ,

7:51 mother of God, Jimmy, he's a pretty bad guy.

7:54 Pretty bad guy.

7:56 You know, you need to know the context

7:57 of the the most awful man to ever be in the UK.

8:01 I did a I did a full um

8:03 15inute YouTube video uh about Jimmy Savile's wrestling career.

8:07 God, if if listen, we won't we won't get he was a um an abuser of of children

8:14 blah blah blah blah all that all that business all the usual stuff that men

8:18 in the entertainment series industry seem to think

8:21 seem to think that they can get away with and he did get away with it until

8:24 his death and then you know it all came out.

8:26 Um, and so he's an awful man,

8:28 but he so his kind of whole tale is a story of him working in a hospital,

8:35 being a TV presenter, all radio DJ, all that stuff.

8:38 But the one thing that people didn't mention when he died was that he had over

8:42 a 100 wrestling matches because wrestling is so

8:46 even more despicable [laughter] than all the other stuff.

8:49 Like nobody wants to talk about professional wrestling.

8:52 Um, but he had a lot of wrestling matches.

8:54 So he had a bit of a wrestling career.

8:55 you know, come on, get beaten up by the, you know,

8:56 big daddy or whatever and then disappear.

8:58 But he um it was just quite interesting to sort of see

9:02 that nobody seemed to know that he was actually a you know

9:05 Yeah.

9:05 Well, popular wrestler.

9:07 But what's so interesting about that in 28

9:08 years later at the end, does it spoil it?

9:12 Basically, some characters in the 28 years later films

9:16 dress up like him because the 28 years later,

9:20 the first one came out 28 Days Later 2002.

9:23 Yeah.

9:23 It was before It was before Jimmy S's crimes were Yeah.

9:26 And he was still sort of 2002 still revered

9:30 as a national treasure and one of the villains

9:33 dresses up like him and embodies him cuz

9:35 he's like I want to be this incredible figure

9:38 and uh it's sort of very ironic and it it plays out very well in the film.

9:42 But yeah, The Bone Temple,

9:44 really great film, very uh unsettling, incredible performances.

9:48 Highly recommend it.

9:49 It's all set in your neck of the woods

9:52 in Heartley Pool sort of bambber.

9:54 It's basically what I imagine Heartley Pool to be like.

9:57 They in the first one they traveled they traveled to Holy Island, didn't they?

10:00 Linda an island off the coast.

10:02 But no, great film and it's a shame people aren't seeing it.

10:04 If you are visiting England um watch 28 years later 28

10:08 years uh do pop up to sort of Bambber s Northland.

10:11 It really is stunning stunning part.

10:14 the films do that neck of the woods justice.

10:15 Apart from the zombies people who are literally coughing up,

10:20 apart from that, North Finland's great.

10:22 [laughter]

10:24 We got a story this week uh from the one, the only Gabriel from south of Spain

10:31 and he says, uh, "Greetings Chris and Pete.

10:34 In November 2025, I visited Japan with my wife and two friends,

10:40 sorry, for two weeks.

10:41 Uh, we went to lots of places.

10:43 Tokyo, Kinagawa, Kyoto, Osakanara, Hiroshima, Miaima, or your favorites.

10:47 The trip is amazing and no amount of YouTube or podcast

10:51 can prepare you for the culture shock of actually being there.

10:54 The order, cleanliness, efficiency, politeness, service quality, all next level.

10:58 Now for the weird part.

11:00 While waiting for the Shinkansen at Hiroshima station,

11:02 I saw about eight men in suits walking in near military formation,

11:07 escorting one very angry looking guy.

11:11 For a moment, I thought I was about to witness a dramatic

11:15 Japanese arrest or that we had accidentally broken some sacred unknown rule.

11:19 They formed a huge uh security ring around the restrooms and the angry-l

11:23 looking man went into the toilets accompanied by two of the suited men.

11:28 Everyone else in the station preended pretended that nothing was happening.

11:32 While I was quietly freaking out,

11:33 he came out uh had a heated phone call, made an angry gesture.

11:38 I wonder I want to know what that is.

11:39 and stormed off with the whole squad rushing after him.

11:43 What kind of person in Japan has an escort of eight people?

11:46 The Japanese politicians usually have that much security.

11:49 For a moment, I thought of the Yakuza, but the more I looked,

11:52 the more I failed to see tattoos or any of the usual cliches.

11:55 Did I witness something unusual,

11:56 or is it normal for an important person to have that much security?

12:00 Thank you very much for your work, uh, Gabriel from Kad Kadith.

12:03 I can't say it.

12:04 Kadith in Spain.

12:06 Lovely old place, I imagine.

12:08 [laughter] Um, thank you, Gabriel.

12:10 Um, it could be one of two things.

12:12 Either a criminal, uh, criminal offender.

12:16 Apparently, a lot of prisoners are publicly transported on Japanese trains,

12:21 right?

12:21 And there could be a plane clothes planes closed off officers.

12:23 Could have been Chris's security team.

12:25 Could have been Nazki's security.

12:28 I I saw I did see a politician uh quite a high ranking politician

12:31 once at a station and they had like an entourage with them as well.

12:35 It could be that um politicians do have quite a big team around them.

12:40 I when I met um Governor Quo,

12:43 the governor of Tokyo for an earthquake documentary,

12:46 she had a PR team of like seven people.

12:49 Yeah, I bet.

12:49 And it was like they were lovely people.

12:51 And I, you know, they came in, we I talked for like an hour before she turned up

12:54 and then the doors opened, swung open, and she came in

12:58 uh with a walking stick cuz she'd fall over unfortunately.

13:00 And she had like, you know, army of PR people.

13:03 Where were the army of PR people when she fell over?

13:05 Well, yeah.

13:06 And she did it, unfortunately, she did it when she was playing uh

13:08 baseball in front of a million people or something.

13:11 Why was she playing baseball in front of what?

13:14 Like doing the first throw?

13:15 Something like that.

13:16 Yeah.

13:16 Yeah.

13:16 And then unfortunately she fell and uh damaged.

13:19 But she had like this army of PR people and I thought, why don't I have that?

13:23 Where's my army of PR people?

13:24 I'll tell you.

13:25 Stop me from[ __] up.

13:26 [laughter] Um

13:28 yeah.

13:28 No.

13:29 Um so it could be that as well.

13:31 It could be that.

13:32 A lot, you know, a lot of uh everyone in Japan travels by Shinkans.

13:36 Kenwatanab when I interviewed him, he traveled up from Tokyo by bullet train.

13:41 Yeah.

13:41 You know, just cuz it's it just takes so long car sports, isn't it?

13:44 Yeah.

13:44 I think he I was like, did you go in What class did you carry on?

13:49 Super grand class.

13:49 He's like grand class.

13:50 I was like, of course he did.

13:51 You drive the driver sitting with the driver.

13:53 But then he rented like a Toyota Yaris to drive the last two hours.

13:57 I was like fair play.

13:58 Good.

13:58 Can you imagine just working at like

14:00 Toyota and Kmartavi comes and he's like, "Yarus,

14:03 yus, please.

14:04 Yaris me."

14:05 Oh, no.

14:06 Nissan, leave me.

14:07 I will take over your territory.

14:09 Salam.

14:10 I need to watch this last Samurai again.

14:12 Great film.

14:12 Um, but that's uh that's probably what happened.

14:17 It might

14:18 either criminals or

14:20 criminals and Ken, who knows?

14:23 But yeah, everyone travels by.

14:25 You got to think like how well employed everybody is.

14:27 You know, you'll have people who just are employed to sort

14:29 of wave an illuminating stick outside like a car park.

14:33 You sort there's a lot of like overemployment.

14:35 So, I imagine it's not hard to get an entourage

14:38 together if you've got any sort of power in Japan.

14:40 The only two people who wouldn't use the bullet train, I imagine,

14:42 are the emperor, well, the emperor and the prime minister for security reasons.

14:46 They have like a lot of cars and helicopters and whatnot.

14:49 Um, so yeah, a little I'd love a little bulletproof uh uh trend carry.

14:55 Yeah, your car's probably bulletproof.

14:56 There is a bulletproof Toyota century in the UK.

14:59 Is your one bulletproof?

15:01 Let's have a go.

15:01 I could probably throw an apple at yours.

15:03 [laughter] Just melt or spray some smelled water.

15:06 If you threw one of your expensive apples at the Toyota Century,

15:09 it the apple would be the tragedy.

15:11 [laughter] Dear dear, but um yeah,

15:15 I I've been in the UK for a few weeks now and I miss bullet trains.

15:19 The train I got here was just 10 minutes late

15:22 and it was too two carriages too few.

15:25 Yeah.

15:25 Yeah, cuz they were like, one of the carriages broke.

15:27 So, the train was late.

15:28 There was less carriages.

15:30 He was rammed to[ __] I almost couldn't get on.

15:32 And I was like, get me this.

15:34 The driver went on the intercom and said, "You're [clears throat] welcome.

15:36 [laughter] Best thing that's ever happened to you to a UK train." Indeed.

15:41 when when I was I was on a late train quite recently

15:43 and they kept on sort of um announcing he kept announcing like

15:47 what was wrong with the train and what was trying to be

15:49 fixed and stuff and he was you know those kind of I

15:51 can't remember what they're bloody called now but they're basically to to have

15:53 over over um ground sort of uh over track power lines

15:58 you got to have that weird sort of thing that that sort

16:00 of pushes up against it to take the power from the power lines can lever is it

16:03 can lever or whatever it is but but he used a different word but he he

16:07 said um the pentagramraph that's right yeah so

16:10 the pentagramraph That's what the shard then uses.

16:12 That's incredible system.

16:14 Incredible.

16:14 Uh and and the the pentagramraph wasn't um where it needed to be.

16:17 So he's going down the thing and and manually

16:20 pushing the pentagram up into the power into the power.

16:22 Yeah.

16:23 Wild.

16:23 Absolutely wild.

16:25 But he was telling us everything was happening.

16:26 I was 45 minutes late, but I was

16:28 entertained.

16:29 __] train run by hamsters on a wheel [laughter] secretly underneath.

16:32 And also like a train next to us.

16:33 Um they they sort of like sided up next to us

16:36 and went really slowly past us so the driver of the other

16:38 train could look at the overhead lines to see what

16:40 was going wrong and what was going wrong with our train.

16:42 Can you imagine a Shinkansson just a man

16:44 on the roof holding up like a broomstick traveling 180 mph?

16:48 Wild.

16:48 You'd think that amount of energy would

16:50 sort of magnetize it all together, wouldn't you?

16:52 Clearly not not in the uh not in the C to see.

16:54 I remember last [clears throat] year or the year before we did an article

16:58 on how uh Japan was taking over management of the Elizabeth line in London.

17:03 And I wonder how that's going.

17:05 Cuz we all know, you know,

17:07 Japan has the best run uh train systems on the planet.

17:12 Can they do that overseas?

17:14 Is can they take what they've learned in Japan

17:16 and take that into other countries like the UK,

17:19 like the Elizabeth line?

17:21 I suspect the answer is no.

17:23 because it comes down to people and priorities.

17:25 The reason Japan works as well as it does the way it does is because people

17:30 sacrifice their private lives for their job.

17:32 Their job is everything

17:33 and and and no compromises.

17:35 People were throwing money at it as well to get it right.

17:37 Well, yeah, but it's all comes down to the people.

17:40 Work is the top thing, right?

17:42 Whereas here, work is not the top thing.

17:45 And uh I wonder if it's going to work and I want to know.

17:48 We should look into it cuz I think they must be running it for like a year now.

17:51 Yeah.

17:51 Yeah.

17:52 Yeah.

17:52 So it'll be interesting to see.

17:53 Well, I guess you still got to use British workers [laughter] supposedly.

17:58 Yeah.

17:57 import a lot of Japanese guys to work it now.

17:59 So, but it'll be interesting to see.

18:02 [clears throat]

18:02 But um on the subject of transport, some sad news this week and rather shocking.

18:08 Uh uh helicopter has crashed into Mount Ao.

18:13 And um you know, we talked for years on this podcast

18:16 about helicopters and how we're not the best fans of them.

18:19 I've, you know, I've never wanted to go

18:21 in one cuz they are not famed for being aerodynamic.

18:24 We got into, every time I talk about helicopters on this podcast,

18:27 I get like an angry message.

18:30 Actually, they can and they're like, "Oh, actually, if the power goes out,

18:33 the blades will swing around and you'll float [snorts] to safety."

18:36 And I've never ever heard of that [laughter] happening ever.

18:39 I'm sure it has happened, but it's

18:40 maybe it's happened once, but when it goes wrong, it goes everyone dead.

18:44 Well, it's not an aerodynamic vehicle really, is it?

18:46 No, it's not

18:47 relative to a plane.

18:48 And um what makes [clears throat] this especially shocking

18:50 is uh you know a year ago Connor and I flew in a helicopter over Mount Aso cuz I

18:55 was like I'm going to try and get over this.

18:56 I'm going to do a helicopter ride.

19:00 Um

18:59 and Mount Asso in the re recent years has a lot of helicopter tours.

19:04 Um and having done it, it it is one of the most incredible

19:07 views I've ever had because you can see straight

19:09 over the volcano into the crater and you get

19:12 to appreciate the scale and beauty of the area.

19:14 Yeah.

19:14 Um and that video came out a year ago.

19:17 It was a different company though uh to the one that crashed.

19:21 Um but I actually did look at this company so it's a bit scary.

19:25 But anyway, let take it away.

19:27 Yeah.

19:27 I mean uh we just you know we're getting images

19:29 of a wreckage of a sightseeing helicopter that vanished while flying over Assau.

19:34 Um it was carrying two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot.

19:38 Um it was circling around the the um the mountain

19:41 uh obviously in Kamoto and uh they um yeah it

19:45 it looks like it's um it's lost um radar and basically

19:49 the the whole thing sort of disappeared off the radar.

19:52 Um a 41y old man, 36 year old one from Taiwan had

19:55 been trying to get a closer look at the actual volcano peak.

19:58 Uh it disappeared from radar at 11:00 a.m.

20:00 on Tuesday.

20:01 Uh the 64y old Japanese pilot um basically

20:04 looks like that there's been a pretty spectacular crash.

20:07 Um the operator Tacumi Air received a distress

20:10 signal from the uh aircraft and then

20:14 um moments later the local fire department received

20:17 alert from one of the passengers mobile phones.

20:19 I presume that's like the iPhone automatic crash sort of thing

20:22 and um yeah the the security staff

20:24 stations near the summit reportedly hearing a loud

20:27 crashing sound and the tour agency contacted

20:30 authorities um when the helicopter failed to return.

20:34 Um 60 strong search operation was launched.

20:36 Um the crews are battling, you know, terrible weather,

20:38 terrible terrain, and a lot of volcanic smoke as well.

20:42 And um the rescuers spent a lot of time trying to find this helicopter.

20:46 And they they have discovered what appears to be

20:48 an aircraft that's been uh that's been downed.

20:50 Um they've found it incredibly hard to recover the the the bodies

20:55 and the helicopters because of the um volcanic gases in the area.

20:59 You literally can't get down there because it's,

21:01 you know, there's so many gases.

21:02 Um, and the, you know,

21:03 the helicopters operator said that the the crashes, you know, they're stunning.

21:06 I wonder what the heck happened.

21:08 Um, it's there's a there's a like

21:10 a a theme park called Cuddly Dominion of all names uh in that area and they do

21:15 the [clears throat] helicopter tours from there, right?

21:18 Uh, and there's I think three or four companies

21:20 that do helicopter tours and that's one of them.

21:22 So, that's where it came from.

21:25 But, uh, it's crazy it took so long to find it really.

21:28 have like it it's I mean I think it literally

21:31 went into the crater itself right where the volcano is.

21:36 I mean that is close isn't it?

21:37 You did did you can you do can you do that?

21:39 We were very No, we're pretty close right.

21:41 Um but not directly over it.

21:43 I think we always circumnavigated it.

21:47 Um could some volcanic sort of ash or you know

21:49 well helicopter you wouldn't think so would you?

21:51 But I don't know the first thing about engines need air.

21:53 Engines need air.

21:54 Well, the pilot had a few decades of experience, so he was a good pilot.

21:59 Um, could have been a helicopter malfunction.

22:01 Don't know.

22:02 But the the wreckage looked like it was on a ridge sort of inside the crater,

22:06 which might explain why they couldn't see it

22:08 cuz when there's um a lot of steam coming off of Mount Aso,

22:11 you you really the visibility is like pretty bad.

22:14 Yeah.

22:14 Especially if it's a cloudy, rainy day or whatever.

22:16 Yeah.

22:16 But uh yeah, I would until it's clear what happened,

22:21 I would not get in a helicopter over Aso again.

22:25 Uh no, I mean I guess if you're kind of more off with helicopters,

22:28 you probably have very different sort of vibes about it,

22:30 but I just we've you know,

22:32 we've always said it on this show that it just doesn't seem like a [snorts]

22:36 doesn't seem like a a great way to

22:37 Well, it didn't help when I when Connor and I did it.

22:39 We turned up and one of the guys was

22:40 wearing a Pikachu costume [laughter] and we were like, Jesus.

22:45 And luckily we we were like, "Is that the pilot?" Thank it wasn't.

22:48 It was It was the Pikachu.

22:49 It was the It was the It was the chopper Pikachu.

22:51 It was really We turned up and the guy was like,

22:54 "It's my birthday." And we were like, "Oh, happy birthday.

22:57 It's not today."

22:58 When when's your birthday?

23:00 It was like a month ago.

23:01 And we were just like the [laughter] conversation just got very confusing.

23:05 We were like, "Why are you wearing a Pikachu costume?

23:07 What is this?" It was very very bizarre.

23:10 But luckily the pilot was exceptional and we interviewed him in the video.

23:13 This is is a video called like I rode Japan's cheapest sleeper train.

23:19 It was the one where I conned Connor essentially out of out of

23:23 I never I did con him into what he thought was a sevenstar train.

23:28 It wasn't and that was supposed to be like

23:29 the the nice bit of the video and the pilot was exceptional.

23:33 It was a really good pilot and we it was fascinating talking with him.

23:36 Um, and I'm, you know, glad that it wasn't them at least.

23:40 But, um, yeah, very sad.

23:42 Um, very tragic and I hope answers are coming.

23:44 But until they do,

23:47 indeed,

23:46 do avoid, uh, helicopter tours over ASO.

23:49 You know, I think it's, uh, it's not a good idea.

23:53 Um, which is a shame because it's uh,

23:55 it's it was one of the most incredible experiences I had last year.

23:58 And, um,

23:59 yeah, it's it's a real shame.

24:01 Yeah, huge.

24:01 I mean, whenever these things,

24:03 you kind of hope that whenever these things happen, you know,

24:05 the the whole kind of um discipline gets safer,

24:08 but it'll be down to the crash investigators.

24:10 I suppose I remember when I looked up the helicopter model we were

24:12 going and it was like it only crashes once every hundred times.

24:16 It was like, it wasn't that, but it was it was like a really

24:18 high enough to sort of go,

24:19 it was, you know, nowhere near plane safety levels.

24:22 It was genuinely like, oh[ __] this seems to

24:25 down on helicopters.

24:26 We just

24:27 we're very simple men and we need to like deploy parachutes and helicopters.

24:31 [snorts] If it's going down, it could like fire off parachutes or something

24:34 to to slow it down.

24:35 But uh yeah, stuff that if it's all in a spin though, you don't want it.

24:40 Oh, rough.

24:41 __] rough, man.

24:42 Rough.

24:42 Very sad stuff.

24:43 We'll be back in a moment, guys, for your stories,

24:45 comments, and questions over in the fax machine.

24:51 Wow.

24:52 And we're back with the fact machine.

24:53 What do we got this week from our listeners, Mr.

24:55 Dawson, fill us in?

24:56 Uh Barry and Louise got in touch.

24:57 Hello from the top row Pete and Cheesemonger Chris.

25:01 Uh or chess monga.

25:02 Chess monger.

25:02 It's got to be chess monga, isn't it?

25:03 Uh my wife and I top rope Pete means some kind of wrestling thing.

25:07 And you're into chess top rope.

25:09 Yeah,

25:09 maybe cheese.

25:10 You're probably into cheese more than chess, aren't you?

25:11 Chess cheese.

25:12 Cheese.

25:13 Um my wife and I were in Japan for a couple of weeks in March of 2025.

25:16 It's been a lifelong dream to walk the streets of Electric

25:18 City since watching Akira on Channel 4 in the early 90s.

25:21 However, one thing I wasn't prepared for is the cafes

25:23 in Tokyo all seem to love playing jazz music.

25:25 Is there a reason for this?

25:26 Or is it to appease the jazz mafia?

25:29 Uh, thank you again for all your videos and podcasts.

25:30 We're currently planning our next trip.

25:32 Uh, keep breeing amazing.

25:34 It was cheese.

25:35 Uh, Baron Louise.

25:38 Bing.

25:38 Breeing.

25:38 Amazing.

25:39 Oh my god.

25:41 Amazing.

25:40 Um, that could be a good t-shirt.

25:42 Why is there a banana on the floor down there?

25:43 I just realized Stop looking at my banana.

25:45 There's a banana literally on the floor of my face.

25:47 Banana sunshine.

25:47 What the[ __] is going on?

25:49 Um, I love I read a statistic once that Japan has

25:54 the most jazz like plays the most jazz music on the planet, right?

25:57 And if you go there, you could believe it cuz every dive bar,

26:01 every coffee shop, every cafe is playing

26:04 Count Basy or something like that, right?

26:05 And I love it.

26:06 I I'm a big fan of jazz music.

26:08 I think it's very relaxing.

26:10 It's there's there's something really nice about sitting

26:12 in a building in Tokyo overlooking the rainy skyline,

26:16 jazz music playing, steam rising off your coffee, the Penguin Publisher going,

26:20 "Where's the[ __] book?" [laughter] on my emails in front of me.

26:23 It's great.

26:24 It's magical.

26:25 And jazz music is is there something about jazz music that makes me happy.

26:30 I know a lot of people don't like it.

26:31 Is it just kind of like it's um uh you know a lot

26:34 of um a lot of like the first sort of US bands

26:37 to reach um Japan in like the 60s they were more popular beca

26:42 the more popular ones were the uh ones that didn't have any lyrics.

26:46 Uh so yeah so there's probably something to be said for like jazz

26:49 not having most of the time not having any lyrical content.

26:53 Uh and also it's classy isn't it?

26:55 Jazz is classy.

26:56 It is classy.

26:56 Yeah.

26:57 But it's just it's just relaxing.

26:58 I have so many fond memories sitting in coffee shops in Japan,

27:02 particularly on rainy days, hunched over a drink, nice jazz music playing.

27:06 Yeah.

27:06 You feel a sense of relaxation, a timeless sense of relaxation.

27:10 And then, you know, you come here and it's like

27:13 Nicki Minaj playing super bass and it's like I can't

27:17 drink my coffee and listen to this shite music playing it.

27:20 That's the thing.

27:21 Yeah.

27:21 It It's the mood.

27:22 It's the atmosphere.

27:23 And I think too many coffee shops in the UK

27:27 don't have that.

27:27 They're just playing some obnoxiously loud

27:29 music that doesn't make you feel relaxed.

27:31 That doesn't make you want to stay.

27:33 No.

27:34 So,

27:34 what do you play in Lost?

27:35 I guess you've got your own little um kind of setup.

27:37 80s.

27:37 We play music.

27:38 Okay.

27:40 Um Yeah, it's it's extensive 80s.

27:41 I spent like days crafting this 80s playlist.

27:44 How long's the How long's the loop if you loop them?

27:46 And I'm sure they're randomized.

27:47 23 hours, right?

27:48 Okay.

27:49 Should be longer.

27:49 That's the most of the 80s music.

27:50 I think it's on Spotify.

27:51 I think we just lost bar.

27:53 Oh, really?

27:53 Playlist.

27:54 You can see it.

27:54 Oh,

27:55 it's We should have put too much volcano on it.

27:58 I know.

27:59 Spotify.

27:59 I mean, that's I thought that's like, you know, the first thing you'd put on

28:03 and have it play every hour.

28:05 Just Nazki made a song called Chickmas.

28:08 Yes, he wanted that one.

28:09 I was like, get out.

28:10 He spoke to me about it at your wedding.

28:12 You're barred from playing that song.

28:14 Oh, there you go.

28:14 Look at that.

28:15 Yeah.

28:15 Lost Bar inspired playlist.

28:17 There you go.

28:19 Yeah.

28:18 Rich Girl by Daryl Holland.

28:20 Lot of Daryl Horton Holland.

28:22 It's got to be randomized because you've got you've

28:24 got a whole hour of Daryl Hall and uh John.

28:26 I could I could gladly have that.

28:31 Yeah.

28:29 But you know um in the sort of bar space

28:33 it jazz music is good for like a dive bar

28:36 or you know an old style whiskey bar but something

28:39 a bit more vibrant it's good to have 80s music.

28:42 Completely agree.

28:43 I know Nicki Minaj.

28:44 Big fan.

28:45 Nicki Minaj.

28:46 She's a bit of a heel isn't she?

28:47 I was in a coffee shop once in Hokkaido and it was really it was

28:51 a really nice rural remote coffee shop and I was soaking in like the the views

28:55 of the mountains out the windows and then that wet ass I don't want

28:59 to say the I can't I don't want to demonetize the video the the W.

29:04 No, it wasn't I haven't got a problem with the song.

29:05 It was it just felt like this is

29:07 interesting much it the[ __] song came on [laughter]

29:10 and uh I was just watching like

29:12 this elderly Japanese woman bring over the coffee.

29:16 Yeah.

29:16 Give you a little wink.

29:17 Yeah, [laughter]

29:18 Cardi B music is good.

29:20 Better than Minaj.

29:21 Yeah, we're we're we're a full-on Cardi B.

29:23 Uh Watashi [laughter] Watashi Star.

29:28 Yeah, that's a cool song.

29:29 Watashi Star.

29:31 Megan.

29:31 Exactly.

29:32 [laughter]

29:32 Just just review all this music.

29:34 Um Phil from Sydney, Australia says, "Hello, Chris and Pete.

29:38 We're traveling to Japan for two weeks in October.

29:40 It'll be our second trip to Japan,

29:42 but our first time with two young boys, age two and five.

29:45 Knowing of Japan's respectful and quiet culture,

29:47 I'm starting to get anxious picturing my kids over there.

29:50 My boys can be quite loud, energetic,

29:53 and boisterous when they're tired, bored, or excited.

29:55 I don't even remember seeing any kids in Japan on my last trip.

29:59 How do Japanese people view kids who are loud?

30:02 Are they forgiving um cuz they're kids?

30:05 Are they quite forgiving because they're children

30:07 or will they get the the stink eye?

30:10 Hoping for a great experience as I'd like to take them to Japan regularly.

30:14 Uh, love all your content.

30:15 Chris and Pete, put Pete in more videos.

30:17 Phil from Sydney.

30:18 Good.

30:19 Makes good point.

30:19 Cut that last.

30:21 [laughter] You always occasionally occasionally cut the last eye out.

30:24 I'm in the video now.

30:25 He's in the video right now.

30:26 True.

30:26 True.

30:26 True that.

30:28 Um, kids.

30:29 Yeah, they'll be all right.

30:30 They're kids for crying out loud.

30:32 You'll be all right.

30:32 I mean, two and five adorable.

30:35 Adorable age.

30:35 So, they sh They won't be too boisterous.

30:37 Surely.

30:38 And even if they are, they're kids.

30:39 Don't worry about it.

30:42 Yeah, it must be difficult.

30:42 I, you know, I think they'll they'll be there's always like a a reel that goes

30:46 the rounds of like I took my[ __] my my American kids to Japan and there's like,

30:52 you know, Japanese people in awe of them, right?

30:54 Okay.

30:54 And it's like as if like they've never seen and it it

30:58 became a thing where this idea like in Japan they don't have kids and they're

31:02 Oh, yeah.

31:02 Because Yeah.

31:03 They just like it's a children of men situation.

31:05 Yeah.

31:05 Genuinely.

31:06 It's like children of men.

31:06 They think like Japan's having no kids and so they went oh to see my children.

31:11 [laughter] It's not that.

31:12 It's just they were just like, "Oh, being friendly." There.

31:14 There's still people having kids in Japan.

31:16 Um just not enough to to to fill in the population.

31:19 [laughter] Um no, you'll be fine.

31:22 Have a great trip though, guys.

31:23 Hi, Chris and Pete.

31:25 I'm visiting Japan for the first time at the end of May for 14 days.

31:28 Also, my first trip outside of Europe.

31:30 If you've uh if you had only 14 days for a visit to a first visit,

31:36 would you recommend staying in Tokyo the whole time?

31:38 Or no, don't do that.

31:40 Or doing a classic route like Kyoto or Saganara Hiroshima.

31:44 I'm torn between seeing more places and not wanting

31:46 to feel rushed or constantly living out of a suitcase.

31:49 Would love to hear your thoughts.

31:50 Uh greetings from Poland.

31:51 Marin, I made a video.

31:55 I don't shout out enough.

31:56 It's called How to Spend 14 days in Japan ultimate travel guide.

32:00 And I've also made 101 things to do in Tokyo.

32:02 Hidden secret spots revealed.

32:03 Yeah, terrible titles.

32:04 Twatty, clickbait,[ __] titles.

32:06 But those videos, we spent[ __] weeks making them and they're pretty good.

32:10 Um, and I maintain the [clears throat] route in the 14 days video

32:15 is my favorite route of all.

32:17 Yeah.

32:17 You go to Canazawa and Tagayama and everyone I meet,

32:22 they always say that Canazawa is their favorite place or Takayama.

32:26 Um, Tokyo, it's it's cool.

32:28 Tokyo is cool, but I've sort of I've fallen out of love with the city

32:32 a bit because I spent too much time there these last two years.

32:35 And all my best memories are not in Tokyo ever, right?

32:40 Um, so bear that in mind.

32:41 Like the mountain towns of like Takama or the smaller

32:45 coastal cities of Kalazawa or the other cities there are.

32:50 But I want to go to the Pokemon show.

32:51 Oh, but you you know there's a lot

32:53 of people that like rever Tokyo greatly like Pete Dawson.

32:57 Yeah.

32:57 and he could go there for like three months.

32:59 I'm a soccer man.

32:59 I'm a[ __][ __] [laughter] Very good.

33:04 But I, you know, for me,

33:05 the countryside's where it's at, and I think two weeks in Tokyo,

33:09 you can have a lot of fun.

33:10 You would barely, you wouldn't even begin to scratch the surface.

33:13 But the memories that you'll come back,

33:16 uh, you know, the memories that will you'll stand out stand out to you

33:20 will be the places outside of Tokyo, I think.

33:22 Yeah.

33:22 Unless you're a very social party person and you want

33:26 to go like clubbing and nightclubs and bars and meet people.

33:31 Um I, you know, when my parents came over

33:32 in March last year or February, I can't remember.

33:35 I took them on the I think essentially the 14 days itinerary route,

33:39 Tokyo, Takayama, Kyoto, Hiroshima.

33:42 Um they really like Kyoto, which surprised me.

33:45 Uh because I thought, you know, I I I I thought my dad wouldn't like culture.

33:51 [laughter] bloody rude cuz he's a British guy.

33:55 He's a robot walker.

33:56 He's like, "Oh, robots and Jeremy Clarkson, whatever."

34:00 But he he was like, "Oh, it's lovely." I will say, you're from Kent now.

34:03 There is a famous uh clip that's gone viral today in which

34:06 a man is pulling a caravan down a street in Witable.

34:11 __] he sort of wired a shopping trolley

34:13 to it and he's pushing it down the street

34:15 and he's uh and and everyone's like, "How is he doing that?

34:18 It's an entire caravan." But uh uh so

34:21 that so he probably thinks that maybe the uh that's every British man over 60.

34:25 Yeah, the old the rick shores are probably quite similar to that.

34:28 [laughter] One would suggest.

34:30 But work out what kind of person you are.

34:32 If you're a city person, a countryside person,

34:35 just do three places then you won't be living out a bag, you know?

34:40 Yeah.

34:39 Tokyo, Kazawa, Kyoto.

34:42 Do it.

34:43 Yeah.

34:43 Well, watch the 14 days video.

34:44 Yeah.

34:45 my mate um who does the BGC podcast, the video game podcast we do,

34:49 uh which is very good.

34:50 Jordan is the host and he's been flown out I don't

34:53 think I can say why he's been flown out but he's

34:54 flown out by something video game related and he has spent

34:58 I think he's had five days I think in Japan in Tokyo

35:02 and he could not be more gutted to be going home [laughter]

35:06 that 5day kind of taste you're like oh I need more

35:10 well that's traveling around the entire planet

35:12 more 14hour journey I couldn't do that for 5 days

35:16 yeah yeah yeah but just just get his first trip to Tokyo and He's he's got

35:20 a 5 and he's like he's like 2 days till the worst day of my life.

35:24 It takes about 6 days to get the jet lag.

35:27 So he's not it's not even worth bothering.

35:29 No, you should just stay up and keep going.

35:31 I don't know.

35:31 If you got a cheap deal, that that's sad.

35:35 That's sad.

35:35 That is sad.

35:36 I feel for him.

35:36 He's going back later with his Netski comes over to the UK.

35:40 He's never been here longer than like six days.

35:42 Right.

35:42 Okay.

35:42 Yeah.

35:43 I got to get back to the shop.

35:45 Yeah.

35:45 Which is really sad.

35:45 So we are looking actually at trying to get

35:47 Natski over for something more substantial this year.

35:50 Has he got anybody who can kind of like step in and do that's where you come in.

35:54 Yeah, I want that next week in the next week podcast.

35:57 Keep us stories, questions, comments coming in to Japanodcast@gmail.com.

36:01 Comment away.

36:01 Let us know what you're thinking.

36:02 We do read them.

36:03 We'll share them with you.

36:04 Uh and as we said in the last episode, we're now going weekly.

36:09 I don't know when we're going weekly.

36:10 I thought we're going weekly last week.

36:12 was like, "No, has to be next week cuz the audience

36:15 will murder you if you don't have a don't do it."

36:18 There has to be a period of consultation.

36:20 What do you want to hear, see, make love to in a longer show.

36:25 What do you want out of us?

36:26 And we will do it.

36:27 We are but your marionets.

36:29 Exactly.

36:29 Whatever that means.

36:31 [laughter] __] Thunderbirds.

36:34 Yeah.

36:34 We one one episode a week.

36:36 It's going to be a bit longer than the last ones.

36:38 more news, more fun,

36:40 less Pete Donaldson because I'm gonna throw him out of a window.

36:43 But for now, guys, have yourself a great few days.

36:45 We'll see you right back here to do all over again on the Abro Japan podcast.

36:48 Bye for now.

36:48 Fairly well.

36:54 [music]