Last year in May, I set about climbing Mt. Haguro from the lesser-known Haguro Kodo side in Shonai Town. It was a really unique way to experience one of the most sacred mountains there is, and I spent more than a few hours putting together a 20 minute video of the experience. However, while we were getting our lunch, I also filmed us talking to Hajime-san at one of the shops there selling the Horagai conchs, in which I enquired as to the price. In contrast to the many hours spent on the first video, this second video was basically just piecing together what I had filmed, and didn’t include much editing at all besides adding English subtitles.

Which video do you think did better?

The second video. It is performing much, much better on YouTube. So much so it is now in my top five watched videos! (which I realise isn’t saying much)

I love YouTube for its algorithm that recycles content, something that is non-existent with what Mr. Zuckerberg offers. But at the same time the algorithm can be extremely hard to predict.

Either way, one thing is true. Since you don’t know what will ‘take off’ so to speak, it’s best to just put things out there and see what catches on!