JOURNEY Across Japan: Escape to Fuji | DAY 2 - Japan’s Worst Delicacy (Patreon)

Today I discovered a horrific Japanese delicacy that I subsequently want to un-discover.

Journey Across Japan | PATREON Diary (Day 2)

So following on from yesterday's journey from Tokyo to Yudanaka Onsen in Nagano, we kicked off our second day with a visit to the iconic Jigokudani monkey park.

To reach the monkey park takes about a 40 minute expedition into the mountains, which were treacherously wet and muddy during our ascent through the luscious valley.

But the excitement of seeing the snow monkeys kept us all powered and motivated throughout the tiring climb!

So you can probably imagine our disappointment when we arrived to discover the damn monkeys were "on holiday".  It seemed they knew we were coming.

Apparently they had no intention of leaving the mountains this morning for an early morning bath and we left disappointed, even despite Natsuki's best efforts to mimic a monkey.

While at the park we popped open our second challenge of Journey Across Japan, which begrudgingly turned out to be "Taste an unpleasant local dish" and hopped in the car to start our long drive over to Toyama prefecture, while researching some potential delicacies to try along the way. 

It wasn't long before we found out that Nagano prefecture has a love of bizarre foods; particularly insects.

And stopping off in a town in the heart of Nagano called Omachi, we came across a shop selling...Bee Larvae.

Just looking at the above photo makes me feel bloody ill.

Before tasting this horror show, first things first, I wanted to check out a field of lifelike statues in the mountains of Toyama.

A local millionaire had commissioned 800 terrifyingly life-like statues of friends and families in the 1980's and in the years since they'd been left largely in disrepair.

As we wandered through the darkness - torches in hand - Joey, Natsuki and I set about finding the creepiest statue to get viewers to vote on.

We were certainly spoiled for choice.

Finally, leaving forest behind, we checked into a log cabin in the mountains where we sat down after a long day to enjoy the tasty delicacy of Bee Larvae.

Natsuki very daringly mixed them with some Wasabi cream cheese, and let's just say, things didn't end too well for him.

All in all, it was another hilariously action-packed day on Journey Across Japan: Escape to Fuji.

Sadly it's the final appearance of Natsuki on the show and he'll be sorely missed as we continue on to Mount Fuji.

Back tomorrow for more updates folks, wish us luck on our journey! Let us never speak of Bee Larvae again.

Chris