We’re Putting Natsuki Through SAS Training in the UK!

Abroad in Japan

Chris and Pete discuss their upcoming book tour, the release of Chris's new book on Japanese culture, and preparations for a unique SAS trai

Key takeaways

• The podcast hosts are excited about launching Chris's new book, which features detailed cultural insights including snack bars and music references like Jamiroquai.

Main topics

• Book release and promotion
• Cultural differences in clothing fit

Notable quotes

I've done a crap job promoting it because I'm an idiot.

Your leg is like a fucking tree trunk.

Conclusion

The hosts wrap up the episode with excitement for upcoming events incl

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) And he's like, oh nice dog. Oh, and the dog like ripped his shirt to bits. Ripped his shirt to Speaker 2 (0:05) bits? Speaker 1 (0:05) The dog went and like ripped his jacket off. Really? And tore into his jacket. Was it a bit of a police demonstration? And Speaker 2 (0:10) he was going, Speaker 1 (0:10) Chris, Chris, help Speaker 2 (0:11) me, help me. And I'm like, filming it. Speaker 1 (0:15) Wow. Hello and welcome to the Abroad in Japan podcast. Probably the best way of learning about life in Japan without actually being in Japan. I'm your host Chris Broadwood, joined as always by England's top Japan enthusiast, Mr Pete Donaldson, in his swanky Hawaiian Speaker 2 (0:27) shirt. Pete, how you doing? What's going on? I feel a bit like Weird Al Yankovic, with a slight moustache, quite unkempt hair, and a Hawaiian shirt. I feel ever so jazzy, Chris. That's good. Speaker 1 (0:40) And I'm in the... same black shirt every day it's really easy is this just for continuity you can cut you can do like a piece to camera wherever you are yeah i thought about that i need to wear more shirts i need to wear more shirts yes why Speaker 2 (0:56) aren't you why aren't you sponsored by like um uniclor like a black t-shirt i don't think probably Speaker 1 (1:01) uniclose they don't fit me because they're like often built for a japanese frame right and my frame is like Not good. It's a compromised frame. Isn't it not? The frame is compromised. I'm calorifically compromised. Like there's been a breach. Cheese has Speaker 2 (1:21) breached the Speaker 1 (1:21) crisp Speaker 2 (1:22) broad mouth. Three gorges dam. Speaker 1 (1:24) No. It's not good. But surely over here you can buy Unicuro. Yeah, you can in London, but again, it just doesn't fit. There's a man in Fukuoka. He makes the shirts. Yeah. And he's like, I've won Japan. Make it so it doesn't fit him. Well, Speaker 2 (1:40) I'm putting together like a plan for like some WrestlePodcast football shirts. And like what we sell in England is very different. For example, we sell everywhere else in the world. So it is kind of like going, right, we're Speaker 1 (1:52) going Speaker 2 (1:52) to need a few more 3XLs, which is, but it's not about like, like gut. It's about height. Like, and height and broadness. Yeah, I find my shoulders just don't Speaker 1 (2:01) fit. It just looks Speaker 2 (2:02) stupid. Imagine, I can't imagine what your trousers are. Imagine your wedding suit. The tailor's going to be like, I've never seen calves like this. Speaker 1 (2:09) Yeah, so I got the suit made up in Tokyo and the guy was like, wow, your leg. Speaker 1 (2:17) Like a fucking tree trunk. That's there. Okisuguru. Suguri? Speaker 2 (2:23) The Speaker 1 (2:24) only thing bigger than my leg Speaker 2 (2:25) is this. Oh, Speaker 1 (2:26) hello. Speaker 2 (2:26) Check this out. What's Speaker 1 (2:27) this? This. At last, they've finally given me... Whoa! It's a scale replica of my book. It's Speaker 2 (2:33) a scale replica of the book. So is that hardback, Speaker 1 (2:35) softback kind of... So this is for publishers. This is for like... Is Speaker 2 (2:38) it Speaker 1 (2:38) publishers proof? Yeah, well, for the bookshops to have a look through. And so the book, this is the book. At last, I have a book. Speaker 2 (2:45) Well, I believe some of those got sent to our office and then you took them away and we didn't keep one. Speaker 1 (2:49) Yeah, this is it. I brought it all the way Speaker 2 (2:51) back. Speaker 1 (2:51) I came all the way here to collect them and brought them all the way back. But anyway, this isn't the front cover. The front cover's been like modified because it's bookseller exclusive proof, right? But the interior... This is the real thing. It's the real thing. It's chunkers, isn't it? It's Speaker 2 (3:02) fucking Speaker 1 (3:02) 440 pages. You said it was like 50,000 words. Speaker 2 (3:06) Feel that. 50 Speaker 1 (3:06) ,000 words in there. Feel my book. You little freak. Ishikawa. Gifu. Speaker 2 (3:11) For the power spot of the week, why don't we take something out of here? Speaker 1 (3:14) Sure. I'll fill some more. But it's exciting. You do a whole chapter on soap lands. Speaker 2 (3:21) Chris. Speaker 1 (3:22) I don't think I wrote. I think I wrote about, there's a good bit about snack bars and Jamiroquai. Speaker 2 (3:29) Snack bars of Jim I like that one. There you go. Speaker 1 (3:31) I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like Speaker 2 (3:32) that one. I Speaker 1 (3:33) think Jim I like that Speaker 2 (3:33) one. I Speaker 1 (3:33) think Speaker 2 (3:33) Jim Speaker 1 (3:33) I like that one. I think Speaker 2 (3:33) Jim Speaker 1 (3:33) I like that one. I think Speaker 2 (3:33) Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I Speaker 1 (3:40) think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I think Jim Speaker 2 (3:40) I Speaker 1 (3:40) like that one. I Speaker 2 (3:40) think Jim I Speaker 1 (3:41) like Speaker 2 (3:41) that one. I think Speaker 1 (3:42) Jim I like that one. I think Jim I like that one. I Speaker 2 (3:45) think Jim I like that one. I think Jim Speaker 1 (3:47) I like that one. I think There's a snack bar in Takamatsu and I went there and the guy was obsessed with jimmy rickway and I love that place and I wrote about that in the book. I remember talking to penguin folks and they were like, you wrote a Speaker 2 (4:00) lot about this Speaker 1 (4:00) bar in jimmy rickway. I was like, this is the best bit of the book. It's got to stay in. It's got to stay in. Speaker 2 (4:06) How many bad words do you use? Probably the F word. Probably the F word. There's a lot of F Speaker 1 (4:12) word. S word. Particularly in Speaker 2 (4:13) the Speaker 1 (4:13) first... In the prologue with Riotto. But Speaker 2 (4:16) it's Speaker 1 (4:17) exciting, man. I've done a crap job promoting it because I'm an idiot. I've been so busy doing lots of things, but I'm really excited about it. Great. Pre-order it now. It's coming out in two weeks, three weeks time after this. And it's a chunky read. If you want to escape your phone and escape the world that is awful. Go read a book. Go read this book. Or Speaker 2 (4:36) prop Speaker 1 (4:36) a microphone Speaker 2 (4:37) up on a bottle. Because it's a chunky lad. Or knock out Pete Dolson. Or knock out Pete Dolson. Pete Dolson, Speaker 1 (4:42) who's coming to the book tour. I'll Speaker 2 (4:44) come to the book tour. I think I'm going to be interviewing you on a couple of dates in Bath and London. And I am going to... I'm sorry, Chris. I'm going to Paxman you. I'm going to treat you like a shamed Tory minister who's been caught with an orange in his mouth. Speaker 1 (4:59) So you're going Speaker 2 (4:59) to Speaker 1 (4:59) interrogate me on stage and question me. If the book tour in the UK goes well. then hopefully we'll do some more exotic locations outside the UK. Yeah. Come along for that. Imagine I'm walking about to those ones. I'd love to. Speaker 2 (5:12) The Speaker 1 (5:12) Tenerife. I'd love to. The Tenerife signing. Japan, yes. We Speaker 2 (5:15) can Speaker 1 (5:15) go back to Japan, Speaker 2 (5:16) yes. Speaker 1 (5:17) We're very excited about that. Well, so Netsky's coming over in a few days. Speaker 2 (5:22) Yeah, so we are kind of, I'm away next week and Chris, you're... Dealing with the Natsuki wrangling for a couple of weeks. So we're recording a little bit earlier, so our main news story is very current as we record. But by the time you get to it, it may have already subsided. Yes. Unless Speaker 1 (5:42) people have to build fucking arcs. We'll brush over the story of the week because it's probably going to be irrelevant by the time this comes out. Speaker 2 (5:48) But you're going to be... But you're going to be heading out with Natsuki. So Natsuki, Speaker 1 (5:53) yeah, he lands in like three days. Very excited, very stressed. Because we've got this SAS training booked for a day. And I had like a two-hour-long call with them yesterday. And they're like, they use Mark 9 flashbang grenades. And they're like, we're going to put you in a bus. And we're going to just throw the hand grenades in. So you can experience a flashbang grenade. I'm like, excellent. And the amazing camera guy who's helping me on that, he was like, oh, you don't. necessarily want to do that. Right. Because I don't want to lose my hearing. And I'm like, that's a good philosophy. You Speaker 2 (6:24) can wear protection, Speaker 1 (6:24) can't you? Yeah, you can wear earplugs and headphones. And I'm like, but is that going to be enough? That's going to be enough. When I was 15, I was in the RAF cadets. Because I was going to be a pilot with jet fighters. Speaker 2 (6:35) And Speaker 1 (6:35) then they're like, you're an idiot. You can't do that. But we went to a weapons demonstration in Salisbury and I stood next to a Challenger 2 tank. And Speaker 2 (6:42) they fired the fucking thing off. Speaker 1 (6:44) and you're wearing headphones and earpieces and all sorts of shit and did nothing. One might suggest a flashbang. Speaker 2 (6:50) Surely a flashbang is less than a little... Speaker 1 (6:53) It's louder than a jumbo jet when it explodes. So it could just... And also, apparently, it could fuck up the camera because the flash could burn the sensor and the loudness could just fuck the mic. Right. Some bit like, oh. Well, we'll just take one of those little cheap ones. Speaker 2 (7:09) Just take a cheap Nokia phone with you. But, Speaker 1 (7:13) you know, I'm also worried. I don't want to deafen Natsky. So I need to, like... He's a man advancing Speaker 2 (7:17) years. Have we checked? Speaker 1 (7:20) What's your liability insurance? Speaker 2 (7:21) So Speaker 1 (7:21) I need to do some more research before we flashbang. No flashbangs. It's crazy. There's, like, a helicopter and he's going to jump out. He's going to, like, shoot up a bus and then he's going to rappel down a building and blow up a door. I mean, presumably he's signing, he'll be signing the form. It won't Speaker 2 (7:38) be you signing the form, so it's all about them, really. Speaker 1 (7:40) They're doing it, you're filming it. Speaker 2 (7:43) He'll be brought up Speaker 1 (7:43) to speed on everything that's going to transpire. Fuck off! I'm a fucking... Thinking about that, to be fair to Natsuki, he's very good with doing, like, crazy shit. Yeah. He's always like, I'll do it, like... You know, we crossed that rope bridge recently that was made of like twigs. I mean, that looks treacherous. That Speaker 2 (7:59) looks absolutely treacherous. A Japanese Speaker 1 (8:00) joke. Speaker 2 (8:01) Doing one of those Japanese Speaker 1 (8:02) jokes. I love that. And he's, you know, years ago, I was going to, I asked him if he wanted to do like a bungee jump off a dam. The dam from Goldeneye. Yeah, nice. The dam in Italy. And he was like, yeah, no problem. Speaker 2 (8:14) How does that... But I think Speaker 1 (8:15) he was... Maybe he didn't appreciate the scale of the dam. Yeah. Because it's a big fucking dam and it's genuinely horrific. I Speaker 2 (8:21) bungee jumped once and I was glad that I was just at the Isle of Wight Festival. I remember the video. I'm glad that the floor was closed. It was a decent bungee Speaker 1 (8:30) jump but it wasn't that high, right? No. Denigrating Speaker 2 (8:33) your bungee jump. It was a Speaker 1 (8:34) baby Speaker 2 (8:34) bungee jump. It Speaker 1 (8:35) was a Speaker 2 (8:35) baby bungee jump. It was kind of like... Do you not think on a dam though you just slam into the side of the dam because it's kind of... It's got gradient to Speaker 1 (8:42) it. Think Speaker 2 (8:42) of the views. Think of the views. YouTube YouTube yeah Natsuki gets a CTU wow Speaker 1 (8:46) fuck bang smashing the dam in Italy good news is Speaker 2 (8:50) he stopped smoking Speaker 1 (8:51) bad news is he's got no teeth but yeah I'm Speaker 2 (8:55) a Speaker 1 (8:55) bit worried about that but yeah so that's happening and we've got some really cool stuff we've got an amazing taxi driver in London lined up Speaker 2 (9:02) I'm glad that you're able to sort of talk about this a little bit more because obviously you've been quite coquettish in previous episodes well I want to make sure things Speaker 1 (9:08) were locked in and actually happening right now that's like one week away it's like wow things might actually happen Speaker 2 (9:13) nice Speaker 1 (9:13) uh he's just a Speaker 2 (9:14) project man podcast is where the exclusive happened that's right yeah yeah and patreon and patreon yeah pete doesn't get that money we Speaker 1 (9:22) don't let pete near that money we spend it on that ski getting blown up instead um so there's there's lots and that we had taxi driver in london he's doing beekeeping one day i think right don't Speaker 2 (9:31) mix Speaker 1 (9:31) us together where are you going Or beekeeping with flashback grenades. Yes. It's like smoke, Speaker 2 (9:39) isn't it? Speaker 1 (9:39) Smoke grenade. That's what they use to sort of calm them down. Exactly, yeah. Combine, combine it all. What else is he doing? He's doing dog grooming. He's doing a theatre. Is he a big Speaker 2 (9:49) dog guy? I can imagine Natsuki being a bit of a cat, like punk rocker. Speaker 1 (9:53) Well, the last time I saw Natsuki with a dog... He was on the next Sunday trail hike. And he's like, oh, nice dog. Oh, and the dog like ripped his shirt to bits. Ripped his shirt to Speaker 2 (10:02) bits? Speaker 1 (10:02) The dog went, and like ripped his jacket off. And tore into his jacket. Was it a bit of a police demonstration? And Speaker 2 (10:07) he was going, Speaker 1 (10:07) Chris, Chris, help me, help. And I'm like, filming it. And like the fucking, I think the dog traumatized him. Because the dog's like, would not stop. Why was the dog grabbing his shirt? It was just tied up outside a shop. Oh. I think it was a very friendly, gracious dog. So he was just kind of pawing at him. It wasn't an Speaker 2 (10:25) assault on Natsuki. It was quite aggressive, to be fair. He Speaker 1 (10:26) wasn't trying Speaker 2 (10:27) to Speaker 1 (10:27) get Speaker 2 (10:27) into Natsuki's lucky charms in his belly. Speaker 1 (10:30) It was quite scary and aggressive. So I think this will be a way to... Help Natsky get over his profound fear of dogs. Yeah, because Speaker 2 (10:37) if it's one thing that dogs love is being groomed, Speaker 1 (10:40) isn't it? Yeah. It's Speaker 2 (10:40) not like dogs don't go absolutely crazy. What else? He's Speaker 1 (10:45) like breaking into a car. Breaking into a car? Not just for fun. Wow. There's Speaker 2 (10:51) a Speaker 1 (10:51) security company we're doing some stuff with. that hack into things. Right, nice. And Speaker 2 (10:56) do something. Let me guess, one of those, you sort of jack the door open and you pump, pump, pump, pump, pump until the door's just a little bit there and then you get the hook. Speaker 1 (11:06) And then he chucks a cigarette butt and it blows out. Fantastic. Yeah, so there's lots of cool shit happening. It's a question of like, how the fuck do I film all this stuff? Because it's tricky. You know, when we're talking about the SAS thing. Special forces training. Filming a helicopter. Luckily, I