13 things that surprised me in the Netherlands as a Japanese person | vlog

Hi, I'm Aki, a Japanese minimalist who has recently traveled from the Netherlands to Italy using a bamboo bicycle. In this video, I'd like to share 13 things that surprised me as a Japanese person who visited the Netherlands for the first time. Also, I'll be comparing my experience in the Netherlands with Japan. So, you might also learn things in Japan too. Let's get started. First, the roads. The Netherlands versus Japan. By catching a train in Germany, I made it to the Netherlands. First time ever! Yeah! I'm gonna ride my bamboo bike through the city of Amsterdam. So exciting! When I got off the train at the station, I saw something surprising right away while I was riding my bicycle. It was bicycle lanes. No matter if it's the countryside or a city, they're literally everywhere and the roads are flat too. Well, sometimes those crazy speeding bicycles scared the hell out of me, but in general, I thought it was super practical. The reason why I got so surprised is because the exclusive bicycle lanes are not common in Japan. The roads of the city I live in, Nagoya Prefecture, are like this. You don't see many bicycle lanes here, right? And the roads are not flat either. Under the Japanese traffic rules, bicycles need to be ridden on the roadway. But you also may ride them on the sidewalk too, which means you have more options in Japan. But I still hope one day we can have more exclusive bicycle lanes like the Netherlands as well. What do you think the typical Japanese bicycle looks like? It looks like this. This is the popular bicycle called mamachari, which means man's bike. We see more road bikes nowadays, but still, these are the most common bicycles people have. That's why I was amazed by the variety of bicycles in the Netherlands. I didn't see any bamboo ones, but I saw many custom ones. I thought it was super unique and cool. Third, people living on the river. When I took a boat tour in Amsterdam, I doubted what I had seen. I saw a lot of boat houses floating in the river with people living in. What is this? I've never seen anything like it in Japan. You might think, but don't you have a lot of rivers in Japan? Yes, we do. But I guess living in a house on a river in Japan would be suicide. Why? Once upon a time, in Meiji period, there was a Dutchman called Johannes de Rieke, who was outsourced to Japan for river construction. And what do you think he said after looking at the river in Japan? He said, this ain't a river, this is a waterfall. Yeah, Japanese rivers are pretty aggressive looking in general. PS. Living on the boat. How is it living on the boat anyways? I was wondering, so I just tried it out by myself when I was in Brussels, Belgium. I stayed at this Airbnb on the boat. I thought it would rock more, but it didn't. You can have a decent living with a shower and a toilet. How surprising is that? So, living on the boat isn't bad after all, thinking at first. But there are some downsides. It's to be spotted easily. I mean, it's not that you have walls like a house. People can see you immediately as soon as you come out. In fact, I was so embarrassed when people around me watched me drying my clothing on the boat. Like this. 4. Dango painting Today, I went to the Rijksmuseum, and something surprised me. It was a painting of a woman wearing a kimono drawn by Dango. I've heard once that he got influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e, but I've never thought he actually painted a woman with a kimono. Anyway, this woman happened to be my first kimono body in Europe. Yay! Mr. Go, thank you for drawing my friend. 5. This is being Japanese Japanese are earnest, modest, and shy. People around the world say that about us like that a lot. But if I were to add one more characteristic, it would be this. Japanese like the idea of crime prevention. As you may know, one of my bags was stolen at the guest house in Amsterdam. I thought it'd be fine only for a short time, so I put my bags next to my bicycle and left there for a few minutes. And it's vanished. I went to the police station after that, and I bumped into another Japanese family. Their bags were stolen just like mine. Yeah, everyone, this is being Japanese. 6. Guest house fees are too expensive I realized how I was spending a lot of money on the guest house. For example, I paid about $80 for a 12-person dorm. Wow, this is so expensive. Can you believe it? Is that because the commodity prices are increasing in Europe? By the way, the commodity prices are not increasing too crazy in Japan, unlike Europe. You can probably stay in a dorm for $25 in Tokyo. Actually, the Japanese yen is getting weaker, so now is the perfect time to visit Japan. 7. Liga Mariana I heard Mariana is legal in the Netherlands. It seems you can even find some Mariana cookies in cafes. It's absolutely prohibited in Japan, so I was surprised by those facts. To be honest, I wanted to try some Mariana cookies, but I got scared and I couldn't do it. Yeah, maybe next time just once when I visit the Netherlands again. 8. Using a boat as a transportation Everywhere you go, you find some rivers in the Netherlands, and I often saw some Dutch people using boats as transportation. We don't really see it that often, so as a Japanese person, it looked awesome. As I mentioned earlier, the rivers in Japan are rushing, so we don't consider boats as a means of transportation that often. But of course, you can still enjoy some tourist boat tours in Tokyo around the Sumida River. Also, I heard that there is one boat in Fukuoka Prefecture with a boatman acting like a ninja. So please check it out if you ever visit Japan. 9. The high quality products at the Japanese market Today, I rode my bicycle from Amsterdam to Leiden to pick up the Japanese market. Alright then, let's go. Wait a minute, what is this? The quality of the products are so high. From antiques to kimonos to stationeries, everything is good quality. For example, this fancy stationery from the Midori Company is famous in Japan. I see lots of genuine kimonos. Not only good, but also some ingredients like the magical seasoning shiokoji. I saw a lot of those things that are usually hard to find abroad. Oh my gosh, the quality of the Japanese market in the Netherlands is so amazing. I would highly recommend going there if you are living in Europe. 10. Dutch people through my eyes Through this trip, I met many Dutch people. They are completely different from Japanese, so it was very new experience for me. I found three main personalities that Dutch people tend to have. First, they tend to be more graceful than Japanese people. Generally, Japanese people tend to rush more due to time, but Dutch people seem to be more relaxed. Second, respect individuality. I was mostly wearing kimonos in Amsterdam, but I didn't get weird stares or racial tension. I felt they respected my individuality in a positive way. Actually, I get stared at more in Japan if I'm wearing a kimono. Hey hey, it's our traditional clothes. Third, kindness. I made my trip with a lot of help from people in the Netherlands. Some would welcome a stranger like me to their home, or some give me a tour even if they are busy. And some came to see me all the way from afar to hand me gifts. I was impressed by their kindness. Thank you so much. Eleventh, Dutch ninja. I arrived in the city called Heide. After sightseeing for a while, we decided to eat some traditional Dutch cuisine called herring. We bought some herring at the store and we're about to eat them. A ninja suddenly appeared before me. He came in a flash and stole my herring. Nobody told me there were ninjas in the Netherlands, right? The herring were so delicious though. Twelfth, a tatami room. Today I stayed at one of my follower's houses. As I entered the room, I thought I was dreaming. What? I see a tatami in the room. I never thought I could see tatami in the Netherlands. Yeah, I always think tatami is an essential item to lead a simple life. Why is that? The answer is simple. Because it's versatile. You can eat, play, or sleep on it. And of course, you can make some matcha tea. Tatami has infinite potential, I would say. Thirteenth, animal paradise. I'm taking a ferry to go to England today. I remember this trip I took in the Netherlands on the ferry. And I thought I saw a variety of different animals in the Netherlands. Cows, horses, sheep, were they wild chickens? I even saw some alpacas and emus that are not common to see in Japan. You are able to encounter some rare animals once you go outside of your country. That's another factor that makes your trip more fun. There are lots of special animals in Japan too, like snow monkeys. So please look for them while you are in Japan. Conclusion So, what did you think about it? It was such a short trip, but the Netherlands surprised me a lot. I will train myself better for the next time a ninja tries to steal my food. I'll be back for sure in the future. So the next video will be about things that surprised me in Italy. Please look forward to it. So, stay safe have fun and thank you for watching as usual. I hope to see you in the next video. Bye bye.