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Thanks for all the birthday wishes.
I celebrated in a forest surrounded by bears.
(Also watched the Shogun finale!
Bloody great show, will be sorely missed). 

Crikey! The Abroad in Japan Paperback is the No.1 bestselling book in the UK this week 🥳
A huge thanks to everyone who's grabbed a copy! 
I would've returned to the UK to celebrate the paperback launch had I not been breaking my legs on a bike this week 😅 

It’s finally over.

All great stories need a fitting ending and yesterday we got ours.
 
Half a month spent furiously peddling over 1,000km across Japan’s mountain ranges and megacities, with an astonishing $1 million raised for the Immune Deficiency Foundation, culminating with hundreds of amazing folks cheering us on across the finish line at Tokyo Tower.
 
The journey wasn’t easy; my back and leg muscles are stuffed. And I won’t forget the feeling of my heart almost exploding while ascending 1,200m at the base of Mount Fuji.
 
There were some genuinely terrifying moments in tunnels, pedalling frantically whilst sandwiched between a concrete wall and a ten ton truck. Falling off the bike on to a stone pavement covered my already shattered legs in cuts and bruises.
 
Yet through it all, I always felt a part of something bigger than myself.
 
Cycling alongside the seemingly unstoppable Connor and knowing that every step of the way, people around the world were cheering us from this bloody incredible community was genuinely the greatest motivator of all.
 
Without Pete firing us up the second week, the struggle would have been a nightmare. Ian saved our bikes more times than I can count and Paul was there to capture every moment and raise our spirits every morning along the way.
 
Without the fantastic team of Nabiru, Kei and Eula off camera, the logistics would have been hell.
 
And without our brilliant guests, Garnt, Felix and Natsuki, the endless cycling would’ve descended into monotony. 
 
It was a team effort in every sense, though make no mistake, Connor absolutely earned this victory. The journey was already no easy task, but to undertake it all while simultaneously entertaining 25,000 viewers everyday with a shoulder mounted camera is borderline insanity. The man is practically a Welsh Terminator. 
 
I’m immensely grateful to him for convincing me to do this once again and to see it through from start to finish. 
 
We’ll be working tirelessly to edit the full edited Cyclethon 3 episode for Abroad in Japan in the coming weeks. Can’t wait to share it with you all! (The drone shots are astonishing - well done Paul).
 
Until then, as always a huge thanks for your support guys - it’s my birthday this week and it seems I’ve already had the greatest birthday present of all.
 
(Well, unless of course, someone plans to gift me a barrel of Camembert of course😉). 

We passed the halfway mark of our seemingly endless 1,200km cycle.
Thanks to everyone’s who tuned in and donated to the Immune Deficiency Foundation - over $400,000 raised so far!

I won’t lie it’s been tough. Every morning I wake up to throbbing legs, muscles sore from the day before. Every passing truck feels like a near death experience, and each day seems to now blend into one, with barely any time to recuperate between each stretch.

But for every stretch of highway, the journey is punctuated with moments of beauty; a Torii gate in a quiet village, a serene moment by a gushing stream or the afternoon breeze across a luscious rice field. 

Having guests join Connor and I has been a real blessing too for morale; Garnt and Felix were legendary companions and I’ve more memories than I can count from the last week alone. From battling through torrential rains, and getting a brofist by Himeji castle, to being guided through Osaka by a kind stranger (thanks Toru!) and getting swept up in the crowds of a Hanami party at the Kintai Bridge.

Thanks again for joining us on the first week of our epic adventure guys. 6 days to go and tomrorow is one hell of a day - wish us luck! 

Day 6 (of 14) - 88km to go. Lots of uphill.
Pewdiepie is out of retirement to help push us along. See you there!
Twitch.tv/cdawgva 

Feeling obliterated from today’s epic 85km cycle with Connor. Thanks to everyone who tuned into Day 1 (of 14) and to everyone who donated an astonishing $70,000 for charity, genuinely an incredible, spectacular thank you! What a bloody brilliant first day 🙏

Meanwhile today the UK’s biggest book store Waterstones announced Abroad in Japan’s brand new Paperback is their Non-fiction Book of the Month! 

Wherever you are in the UK right now swing by Waterstones to check out the impressive displays and some stores are even offering a complimentary Matcha tea with every purchase 😅

If you see a cool display send me a photo!

What a crazy day - now for much needed sleep, night guys. Hope to see you tomorrow! 

And so it begins!
1,200km to Tokyo: Cyclethon 3.0
Over on Twitch.tv/cdawgva now 🍿🍿🍿 

✨✨3 Million Subs!✨✨

A huge thanks for all your support over the years guys on behalf of myself, Natsuki & the team. We're looking forward to an amazing year ahead.

To celebrate the milestone I'll be filming a Q&A next week on Abroad in Japan.

Send in your QUESTIONS about anything below! 
Travel/Japan/Youtube/Chicken, etc. Anything is fair game.

Just remember the hashtag:  #askabroad 

Wahey I'm back!

After our ill-fated trip through Akita on Journey Across Japan, I head back to redeem myself by venturing to north Japan's mythical hot spring deep in the mountains - a hot spring so good, it doesn't look real.

🍿OUT now on over  @ChrisAbroad  Youtube Channel 

A huge thanks to everyone who tuned into Journey Across Japan: Non-Stop North.

What a wild ride 2,000km across Tohoku; 17 episodes, six awesome guests & over 30+ unique locations explored across land, sea, mountains and snow.
From being marooned on an island and interviewing folks in the Fukushima exclusion zone, to shooting a music video in a day and re-visiting my first ever apartment in Japan. 
We stayed at a haunted inn, met a Geisha, bought a tiny car (which then got scratched by an awful guest), got chained up at a hot spring, butchered both British & American accents alike and poisoned Natsuki with a formidably spicy bowl of ramen, to name but a few moments.

Clearly not everything went according to plan (note to self: don’t film 17 videos in a row again) and in hindsight there's plenty I would've done differently, but honestly myself & the incredible team thoroughly enjoyed filming the series despite the relentless production process.

And hopefully we've convinced a few of you guys to go and see Tohoku for yourself the next time you're in Japan. The whole region remains criminally underrated and well worth exploring firsthand.

As for me - can I retire from Youtube now like all my favourite YouTubers