Vix in Japan's video: Japan Road Trip 2022 and Philosophy Part 2: Freedom is the basis of everything - Niigata to Shiga

In this second video in my series "Journey Down Japan", my road trip over spring 2022 continues. I started from Iwate Prefecture and in this video cam covering the leg from Niigata City in Niigata Prefecture to Nagahama in Shiga Prefecture, a total of around 500km on non tolled routes. Whilst the weather was vile there was some nice coastal scenery at times. In this video I hope to show you the sights of the road trip but also a little bit more of my thoughts on how life is panning out and what living in Japan is teaching me. In this video I discuss why the foundation of everything I have learned since coming to Japan is based on freedom, and how I have come to understand freedom as a way to live a life that is critical for me; and why I feel for many we have been brought up to believe that the western economic model is the natural system or the only system and therefore the only way to live a life, but why it leaves so many of us shortchanged regardless of national politics. Freedom in of itself doesn't give, but what you do with it does. I explore why I feel that there is something deeply lacking in going through life following the same economic hopes as most of those around us, and finding ourselves rich in possessions but possibly poor in wellbeing and life satisfaction; and how I have worked to regain some of my liberty whilst maintain some form of living that allows me to afford the essentials and generally have a good quality of life. Over the course of these videos I hope to explore how I have come to understand the nature of freedom, what freedom really is and why it's important, and what it is to really embrace life without fear; as well as show you many of Japan's beautiful sights and sounds along the way. Places covered in this video include Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui and Shiga Prefectures and cover journey from the Pacific Coast to the Sea of Japan Coast down from Niigata City to inland Nagahama in Shiga on the shore of Lake Biwa. Admittedly there isn't vast amounts of beautiful sights in this video owing to the awful weather. I also check out a skate park in Niigata City which whilst great it has it, is emblematic of Japan's attitude to skateboarding, supported when winning medals but generally shunned as a legitimate pastime by wider society leading to facilities that don't always reflect the size of a city or the passion many of its residents have for skateboarding. -- You can read my debut manga Future Saviors for free here: https://linktr.ee/futuresaviors You can help support the channel, artwork and my manga Future Saviors in many ways: *Patreon:* https://patreon.com/pixel_vixen from $2 a month *Ko-fi:* https://ko-fi.com/pixel_vixen *Future Saviors, Retro Gaming & Japan Merch/Photos on RedBubble Store*: https://tinyurl.com/y543sbsy *Instagram*: https://www.instagram.com/stories/pixel_vixen_in_japan *Tees on Amazon including Future Saviors merch, the Amiga, Super Nintendo/Famicom, Mega Drive, Commodore 64 and more pixel art designs:* UK: https://tinyurl.com/y4bmp9x9 USA: https://tinyurl.com/y3url56k DE: https://tinyurl.com/y52plesh FR: https://amazon.fr/dp/B08JJ485KM IT: https://amazon.it/dp/B08JJ4MMB5 ES: https://amazon.es/dp/B08JJ5QMSK Sorry - not all countries I'd like to offer them through are supported yet by Amazon.