Pratica di Shadowing: Inside Japan's Luxurious Forest Town for Tokyo's Rich - Impara a parlare inglese con i video
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We live in a pretty normal countryside town, a couple of hours from Tokyo, but go just 30 minutes into the nearby mountains and you'll arrive at Japan's most well known resort town, Karuizawa.
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With more vacation homes than actual homes, this place doesn't feel like your typical Japanese town.
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This weekend, we've been invited by some friends who have just started up a small business to come and stay and check it out, so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take you along as we dive deeper into Karuizawa and find out what it's like to live and vacation in Japan's most elite resort town.
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Karuizawa is really well known as a resort town in Japan, and there are a lot of homes here that are vacation homes, especially for pretty wealthy people in Tokyo because it is so close to the main city.
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And honestly, it does not feel like a typical Japanese town at all.
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And a big reason for that are building guidelines that they have here in the town.
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So, for example, houses cannot be built taller than ten meters.
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They have to be a particular distance from a property line.
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And as you can see around me, a lot of the time the fences are really quite short.
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And all of this is to keep the town in harmony with nature, which at least you can appreciate that it is doing that it is quite nice and calm and cool and peaceful.
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As we spent the morning walking through the quiet residential streets, it was easy to see why wealthy Tokyo-ites escape here.
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Karuizawa sits at 1000m above sea level, making it a good six degrees cooler than Tokyo in summer.
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But just how many of these houses are vacation homes?
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Well, as of 2025, there is around 16,400 ‘Bessou’ as they're known in Japanese or vacation homes in Karuizawa.
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That's compared to 8500 homes occupied by local residents.
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A quick search on the real estate website “Suumo” reveals what you can expect if you are looking to get in on the property market here.
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For a new home with 3 or 4 bedrooms, they start in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and quickly begin to climb into the millions of dollars.
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One of the most expensive we saw was this quite fancy looking home, not too far from the main train station.
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On the other hand, if you don't mind getting an older used home, then you can actually find some relatively cheap houses like this property built in the 1990s.
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However, for more modern used homes, prices do rise into the hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars as well.
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Rumor has it that it's not just wealthy Japanese people who are buying up vacation homes in Karuizawa but Bill Gates himself also has an incredibly extravagant house here too.
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Man, that is an absolutely beautiful front yard.
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Look at all that moss.
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I was just going to say what makes it beautiful and there you go.
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There you have it.
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That makes me jealous. I want a front yard like that.
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Waaaa.... As we're walking along these quite beautifully forested streets, it reminds me that Karuizawa was actually the first town that I thought, hey, let's move there.
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When we were looking for a place to move to from Tokyo to the countryside, and it seems kind of crazy now, but the main reason was because we drove through Karuizawa one time in autumn, and the autumn leaves were popping.
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We saw all these like really, really cute little houses in the forest with, you know, the chimneys with the smoke coming out and the mountains in the background.
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And I thought, this is where I'm going to live my cozy mountain life.
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So we came and we looked at a couple of places for renting, but luckily all of the real estate agents, we saw three and they were all like, honestly, this is a resort town.
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It's really not for renting and living permanently.
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We recommend Saku next door. And....
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That's where we ended up.
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As we made our way towards the main shopping street in town looking for a bite to eat, the quiet, shaded residential streets gave way to a busy tourist area.
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We were visiting on a weekend, and that is certainly not ideal if you're trying to avoid crowds.
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You see, Karuizawa can be reached in just over an hour by direct bullet train from Tokyo, making it not only popular for the wealthy but also for anyone in Tokyo looking to escape the heat.
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And honestly, the town has set itself up pretty well.
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Right next to the train station is a massive outlet mall, and just beyond that, a ski field.
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Honestly, it feels like being in Tokyo, but just surrounded by rolling mountains and with that feeling that you're not going to just collapse at any moment from heat stroke.
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But back to the shopping street we were on called Ginza Street.
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Luckily, we discovered that if you venture off the main street just a little, there are some very cute cafes tucked down leafy pathways.
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Of course, the food did come with a somewhat elevated price for what you'd expect in Japan, but at least the atmosphere was nice.
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They're playing a good match there.
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Are they? Yeah.
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Do you know a really interesting fact about the tennis courts of Karuizawa?
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Well, I do, because you told me.
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Do you wanna share it with everyone? No, because I've forgotten it.
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Oh no. Okay okay okay okay. Everyone.
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The former emperor of Japan met his future wife back in the 1950s.
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Right here.
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Maybe not right here on this specific tennis court, but at one of the tennis courts in Karuizawa And it garnered a lot of interest because it was the first time that someone from the Imperial family married to a commoner, so to say.
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Gotcha. Yeah. That's cool, I like that.
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While there was still a lot we could have checked out in Karuizawa, it was time for us to try something a bit different.
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We headed 30 minutes further up the mountain to Kita Karuizawa or North Karuizawa in English.
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Here you can still find cute cafes and second homes tucked in the forest, but it's a lot more laid back and unassuming compared to central Karuizawa.
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My work colleague Matt and his wife Hiroko moved here a couple of years ago and started up a small business.
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In the front is a pottery studio where Hiroko works and runs classes, while in the back is a cute guesthouse that can be rented out.
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In between trying and, let's be honest, mostly failing to do some pottery ourselves, we're going to find out a bit more about what it's like to live and work here.
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I was actually in finance after I graduated, which was in 2009, and I was working for a company in corporate for about four years, and then I was just traveling around and not really doing much for about two years.
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And then I got into pottery school when I was about 25.
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So that was about...
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12 years ago. Jesus...
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it’s been 12 years.
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Hiroko finished setting up the clay for us and then before we knew it, it was our turn to give it a go.
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But before getting into the impending disaster, and disaster it was, we have one extra question for Hiroko.
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Why did she and Matt choose Kita Karuizawa of all places to settle in?
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Matt and I, we were looking for a place to relocate for about three years, and there's a word in Japanese I don't know if you know ”ijuusha”?
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That means people who's relocated and most people living here are ”ijuusha”.
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They're from somewhere else, and they're just more used to having outsiders come and join their community, and they all help each other.
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And I guess it was just easier for foreigners to move here and become a part of the community.
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It was interesting to hear Hiroko’s answer to this, because once we thought about it, we realized our experience has been somewhat similar in Saku, the countryside town we moved to a year ago because it's on the bullet train line, making it easily accessible from Tokyo, Saku has attracted quite a few people from the big city who are looking for a countryside change.
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This is true of our neighbors, a really sweet Japanese couple who moved in not long after us, and it's been a lovely experience sharing tips and tricks with them about the new community we've joined.
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Oh my God, I'm nervous.
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What the hell?
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Now this part I actually wasn't listening very well because I was so focused on filming.
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So okay, so the most important job is going to be done with your thumb.
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And you want to place it over here on your side.
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I'm kind of mirroring you right now.
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Like this? Yeah.
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And the tip of your thumb want to be in the very center.
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In the very middle.
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And you want to start pushing in.
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With this one? Yep.
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I've had a disaster.
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I don't know!
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It was looking so good.
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Oh it's gotten a little bit too thin, here.
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Do you need me to spin this or do you need me to stop it?
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What do you think? Do you like the shape? Do you want to do it all over again?
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You could. We can just call it “the practice round”.
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We enjoy filming, but let us loose on any other artistic task that involves our hands.
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And things fall apart fast.
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Quite literally.
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I think we should start over.
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It is so hard!
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Genuinly so hard!
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But don't worry, this is just your first shot.
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I'm sorrrrryyyyyy!
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No, no. Don't be.
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Do not be sorry!
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But thanks to Hiroko’s unyielding patience and kind instruction, and if we're being honest, a bit of hands on help, we eventually made ourselves an all right looking bowl each.
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No, no, that's perfect.
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You were super great!
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You did it!
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Yeah, you did!
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Yay! Yeah, I like yours too, Aimee. It's looking fabulous.
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We've done it!
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Look at our two!
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As I said before, probably 50% us, 50%. Hiroko. Because look at these ones at the front.
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These are three that just, um yeah, did not go so well, particularly this one.
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Is that mine?
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That's yours.
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Yeah, I did show you.
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It's honestly just blew up out of nowhere in, like, a second.
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So, Yeah....
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Oh dear, but that was so much fun.
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I'm excited.
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I can't wait for it actually to arrive.
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And we can actually use them.
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By the time we finished pottery, the day had gotten on and we were famished after all our hard work.
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So we headed over to Matt and Hiroko’s place nearby to enjoy a barbecue together.
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Then at the end of the night, we headed back to the cozy vacation rental behind the pottery studio.
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We'll show you more of it tomorrow, but until then, good night.
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Good morning.
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Good morning. I tell you what.
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Sleeping amongst the trees and waking up to all of the bird noises.
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Like that one.
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It's beautiful.
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It's been really lovely.
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Yeah, it's been spectacular.
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And it's been so cool too, actually.
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Oh, we had our jumpers on last night.
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It's the middle of Japanese summer. Like, what the hell? Yep.
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We had our jumpers on.
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We slept with just windows open and a fan on and it's really nice here.
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Oh my gosh.
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So from here we're going to go to do a little bit more sightseeing, this morning in kind of this slower pot of Kita Karuizawa.
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If you'd like to do pottery with Hiroko or book a stay in the guest house, we'll leave a link to her business, Deep Gorge Pottery, in the video description below.
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We'll hear from Hiroko again a little later, but first, let's go do some sightseeing.
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As we drove further away from the Karuizawa area, it was amazing to see the forests holding their stylish cafes and vacation homes and a completely different kind of countryside open up.
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What a lovely place we're in right now.
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Can you can you feel the love and the ambiance of this place?
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So there's a little bit of folklore, about this kind of place.
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So there was like a deity, right?
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And the deities wife sacrificed herself in the ocean.
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The ocean was angry or something like that. And then he was, like, alone.
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And he was so sad about the loss of his wife that he came up to this point, and he just cried and cried and cried and cried.
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And so the name of this point is called Tsumagoi.
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Well, the area is called that. Yeah.
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And “Tsuma” is wife and “Koi” is love, right?
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And so you put it together.
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It's just like the place’s meaning is just love for your wife, right?
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And look behind Roy.
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There is the golden rules to try and be a loving husband.
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Try and do some housework, to your wife's delight.
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Try and express your gratitude whenever you feel it.
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Yes, I agree, everyone.
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It's really sweet.
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It's so sweet.
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I love this stuff about Japan.
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It's too cute.
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Don't you already do all of those, so.
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You’re already set!
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Should we ring the love bell?
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Let's ring the love bell!
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I think what you're actually supposed to do is to stand on this pedestal and actually just scream out how much you love your wife.
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There's a lot of people here. So that's a little embarrassing.
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So I might just...
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Go on then!
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Do this Do you feel the love?
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I love my wife.
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What?? I love my wife!
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I love my wife, she's so beautiful!
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And amazing!
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Arigatou. I feel the love.
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After hearing Roy profess his love for me, and after taking in the beautiful rolling scenery, we headed back the way we came in search of lunch.
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In Kita Karuizawa we found a fantastic cafe that also has vegetable patches and a bee farm you can visit depending on the season.
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In such a resort like area where people come and go depending on the season, it certainly makes you wonder what it's like to live here all year round.
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It's definitely, definitely quieter in winter, which we actually enjoy.
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Less cars, we don't have to worry about traffic, we don't have to worry about making big noise in our house.
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So we enjoy that.
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That's why I guess we like living here, but it's not for everyone.
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I'm sure some - a lot of people would find it a little bit too quiet or maybe even lonesome, but we've made our peace with it, I think.
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How about in summer, is it a bit like, oh my God, please everyone leave us alone?
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To be honest, just during Obon, it was terrible.
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Last year my parents were here and we went to our nearest local farmer's market, and we went there at 9:00.
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That's when they're opening.
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And there was this huge line with like 150 people waiting for it to open, and it was unbelievable considering how quiet it is here during winter.
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But that's just during Obon.
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It's not as bad usually.
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We heard a similar thing when looking for rental properties in Karuizawa, but now that we've actually stayed in the area and seen Matt and Hiroko’s lifestyle has our opinion changed?
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Does this convince you that you would like to live somewhere a bit more in amongst the forest and nature?
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That's tough.
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I feel like the upkeep would be so hard.
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I mean, we're just here as guests, you know? What do you think?
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I think that this is my dream in terms of living a little bit more, even more in nature, you know, working, having your office and looking out the window and it's just beautiful greenery.
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But, you know, the reason why we chose where we are now is because it's quite convenient in terms of, you know, we're only ten minutes from the shops, from the hospital if we needed it, from our bouldering gym and of course from the Shinkansen station.
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Whereas somewhere like here, you're at least a 40 minute drive from the Shinkansen station.
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Yeah, that kind of makes things a little bit difficult.
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But anyways, regardless of, you know, what we decide in the future, this stay was really nice.
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We're really excited to see our friends business come to life And again, if you're interested in visiting see the link in the video description. Thank you very much for watching.
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We'll see you next time.
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Contesto e Sfondo
Nel video intitolato "Inside Japan's Luxurious Forest Town for Tokyo's Rich", gli speaker ci conducono in un viaggio alla scoperta di Karuizawa, una rinomata località turistica in Giappone. Situata a breve distanza da Tokyo, questa cittadina è nota per le sue case vacanza, frequentata da persone benestanti in cerca di un rifugio dalla vita frenetica della metropoli. La tranquillità e la bellezza del paesaggio, unita a regole edilizie che rispettano l'ambiente, la rendono unica nel suo genere e perfetta per chi desidera imparare l'inglese in un contesto stimolante e affascinante.
Le 5 frasi principali per la comunicazione quotidiana
- “Karuizawa è conosciuta come una località turistica” - Un’affermazione utile per descrivere luoghi.
- “Ci sono molte case vacanza, soprattutto per persone benestanti” - Impara a parlare di case e proprietà.
- “È a soli un’ora di treno da Tokyo” - Perfetto per discutere di distanze e viaggi.
- “Puoi trovare alcuni caffè deliziosi” - Eccellente per chiacchierare riguardo cibo e bevande.
- “Il clima è molto più fresco rispetto a Tokyo” - Utile per descrivere il clima locale.
Guida passo-passo per la pratica di shadowing
Per affrontare le sfide linguistiche presentate in questo video, ecco un shadowing site perfetto per te. Segui queste indicazioni per migliorare la tua pratica di conversazione in inglese e la comprensione orale:
- Guarda il video attentamente: Prima di iniziare, guarda il video senza sottotitoli per avere un’idea generale dei contenuti e dell'intonazione degli speaker.
- Azione di ascolto: Rivedi il video e ascolta attentamente le frasi chiave che abbiamo estratto. Concentrati sulle pause e sull’accento.
- Ripeti in tempo reale: Usa la tecnica shadowspeak per ripetere le frasi dopo averle ascoltate. Questo ti aiuterà a migliorare la tua pronuncia e fluidità.
- Annota le frasi: Scrivi le frasi che hai trovato più utili e cerca di memorizzarle per il tuo vocabolario quotidiano.
- Pratica con altri: Trova qualcuno con cui esercitarti. Puoi impostare uno scambio linguistico, dove entrambi praticate l’inglese, soprattutto le frasi estratte.
Questo metodo non solo renderà l’apprendimento dell’inglese più divertente, ma ti aiuterà anche a contestualizzare il linguaggio in situazioni del mondo reale. Inizia subito la tua avventura per imparare l'inglese con YouTube e vedere come queste strategie possono migliorare la tua competenza linguistica.
La grammatica di questo video
Le strutture che chi parla usa di più, con le parole esatte del video:
| Struttura | Nel video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adesso | we've been invited · has set · I've forgotten |
| Forma passiva be + participio passato — conta ciò che accade, non chi lo fa | we've been invited · cannot be built · can be reached |
| Frasi relative who / which + frase — un’informazione in più su una persona o una cosa | friends who have · people who are · graduated, which was |
Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?
Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.