In this travel vlog, Samir Gardner (Speaker A) takes viewers on a personal tour of Japan, highlighting iconic locations like Shibuya Crossing and Mount Fuji, everyday experiences such as shopping at 7‑Eleven and Family Mart, and riding electric scooters. He contrasts Japanese culture, food, and architecture with Western norms, emphasizing the uniqueness of daily life in Japan. Interwoven throughout is a reflective narrative about his past isolation, previous travels to Bali and Dubai, and how living abroad has transformed his outlook, leading to ambitious future plans to visit Okinawa, Singapore, Malaysia, and Cape Town. The vlog blends on‑site footage, food taste‑tests of Japanese desserts, and contemplative commentary on cultural openness and personal growth.
Chapters
All right guys, so we're in Japan. We're gonna do a vlog and I'm just going to basically show you guys around, show you guys what my life looks like here in Japan. We're gonna be there— I mean, we've already been there for about 2 weeks. We're gonna be there for another week or so and then we're gonna travel a bit more, so I'll take you guys around. All right guys, as you can see, beautiful ponds here. Um, just beautiful overall. Background is beautiful, man. It's such an amazing place. Show you guys, look at this. I think I'm going to come here to actually shoot some content, man. There's no one. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful garden. You have some water over there. Yeah, overall Japan so far has been amazing. There's a street we went to yesterday which is called the Shibuya Crossing Walk, whatever, and essentially they have like the busiest street and the most iconic street there, and they have so many beautiful beautiful things. And Japan, definitely, like, you guys need to go there at least once in your life. Like, if you have never been to Japan, you haven't like went to a special place in the world, if that makes sense, right? I'm not saying it's the, it's the most important thing to do, but it's definitely like a nice, uh, place to go to. Yeah, you know guys, one of the best things about Japan is going to the 7-Eleven, which is essentially the, um, store. This— it's not a grocery store. I mean, it is like somewhat of a small grocery store, and that's where I get some of my food, like eggs, rice, potatoes, bread, whatever, dark chocolate, yogurt, which is the big part of my diet. And also caffeine, coffee, and everything. So I go to about like once a day. There's one called Family Mart, and that's the one that's closest to me, so that's where I go. Let me show you. And this is what's fun about Japan, right? And everything is unique here. Nothing looks like America or Canada to a certain extent. Obviously there are similarities, but the majority of things are different, right? The food, the, the culture, how people treat you, how people talk to you. I mean, obviously the language and so many other things, right? Just the architecture, like, um, the lifestyle. It's crazy. We plan on going to Okinawa, which is a beautiful island that looks like Hawaii. Essentially, it's like the Hawaii of Japan, and we might be going there soon. So that's going to be amazing if we plan to, because it's kind of crazy when I really think about it. Even just a year ago, or let's say 2 years ago to be more conservative, and 2 years ago, for at least 3 to 4 years or a bit less maybe, I was just stuck in my parents' house. Like, not like physically stuck, but I mean, kind of, where I was doing nothing but the same routine every day. And I was so lonely. I literally had zero friends. And I was just trying to, you know, make— I had a YouTube channel at that time, also had a clothing brand, and try to make those work. It didn't work. And so I was just there trying to work, I try to improve myself reading books, working out, and it didn't even work out at that time. And I was so down bad because I had for 2 full years, I think at least a year, but almost 2 years at least, I was literally, I literally had zero friends, not even a single friend. And so just being here in Japan, right, we were in Bali for 40 days right before that. And we were in Dubai also for like, I mean, just one day. And now we're going to Singapore and Malaysia, and in Japan we're gonna go to Okinawa. And then after Singapore, Malaysia, we're supposed to go to Cape Town in South Africa, which is just mind-blowing. Like, me a year ago, two years ago, would have never thought that I would even be able to do one of those things. Like, for me, just a trip to Japan would have been like a 10-year dream. Now it's like I can go, like, and I can maybe— I mean, living here wouldn't make sense, but technically I could stay for longer, which is just crazy to me, man. The second best thing about Japan is these, man. I know we have these in most countries, but these electric scooters and bikes, oh my God, like, you just feel freedom when you— like these right here, you just feel freedom. When you ride them and you just feel overall, like, especially the streets of Japan where everything is beautiful and you just ride around with your thoughts and just looking at the beautiful nature. And the weather is, it's very hot, but I love hot weather. And you're just like here enjoying everything. It's, it's such an amazing place, man. I highly suggest anyone that, you know, especially if you live in America, Europe, I mean, just North America, Europe, right, or Australia. Like, these are places that you need to visit to see a different culture, right? A lot of people live in the West, and thankfully I was somewhat around other people of other cultures. Not that much, you know, it's a lot of cultural shocks going to certain parts of Asia. But some people I see and they just live and It's like for them, their neighborhood or just their state or province is all they know about, right? And for me, that's— I'm not saying that you need to travel to be happier, to find success in life, but it's like if you don't— if you feel like you're superior to other cultures because you don't know other cultures and you just think that your culture is the only culture that exists and other cultures is just weird alien-like cultures, then I feel like that's a bit wrong. But that's just my thoughts. Anyways, I'll go back, take a call, have a coaching call, and then I'm gonna go to sleep so I can have some energy to go to the gym and have a good day tomorrow.
All right guys, so we're in Shibuya. Let me show you guys the very, very busy street. So we're going to cross the street and let's see what happens.
This is how you, uh, you have some iconic pictures. Stop recording. We're gonna eat at the best burger spot in Shibuya, Tokyo. Let me show you. All right guys, so we're doing a dessert taste test. First time eating Japanese desserts from 7-Eleven, popular, uh, sort of grocery store. So this is like royal milk, like a tea coffee, I guess.
It's pretty good. Taste is a bit weird, but Now we have a mochi.
I don't even know what that is.
Let's see. That's red beans. It's not good, but Now we have a melon pan.
Seems like something is very sweet, so—
Mmm, this is like bread but sweet, creamy, good. Hi guys, so now we have this, uh, little fish thing.
It's a dessert. Let's try it.
Little perfume unboxing. All right guys, so we're going to go to Mount Fuji and I can't wait to see what it looks like.
Well, we're going to just overall go see the beauty of it, if that makes sense. So it's a 2-hour drive from here, so I'll catch you guys soon. This is Mount Fuji, guys. It's amazing. So we're just— it's so peaceful. Looks like we're like a place where you just retire and just die of old age here. It's that beautiful and peaceful, guys. Like, there's literally no one screaming, no sound. Everything is so peaceful.
