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The "Anxiety Sage" Returns to China: A First Day in Shenzhen

osada /おさだ【海外ひとり旅】 · ▶ 1:02:43 · 15 min read
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Overview

Osada is a Japanese travel YouTuber, and this video opens a short series on China. They start at Kuala Lumpur Airport at 4 a.m. and end the day at a Shenzhen restaurant, struggling through a plate of very spicy food. Their question going in is simple: what is China like to visit right now? They had heard warnings about tensions between Japan and China, they wanted to see whether Shenzhen lives up to its "high-tech" reputation, and viewers were pushing them to eat something painfully spicy. What follows is a first-day diary of entry procedures, payment apps, food, sightseeing, and a series of small mishaps.

15 min read

Why China, and Why the Nerves

Osada says their current image of China is that it is "popular," and they mean that personally. In whatever country they visit, they say, Chinese travelers approach them more than anyone else. They explain that they had traveled in China several times before and uploaded those videos to a Chinese platform, where the videos went viral. Chinese viewers apparently found them a strange and funny figure and gave them the nickname "Anxiety Sage" (不安仙人). Osada admits the name fits. On the Malaysia trip in their previous video, people came up to them to ask whether they were the Anxiety Sage.

Before the trip, Osada held a live-stream "strategy meeting" with viewers. Some of them asked whether it was safe to go. Osada refers vaguely to rumors of tension "between the bigwigs," says they don't really know the details, and notes that many people had asked whether now was a good time to travel. The other recurring request was to eat something spicy, which Osada reads as viewers wanting to watch them suffer. Their half-joking goal for the trip is to "protect their butt." They plan two videos on this trip, one for Shenzhen and one for Guangzhou.

Getting Ready: Entry Paperwork, Apps, and Connectivity

The flight is a direct AirAsia service from Kuala Lumpur to Shenzhen, about four hours long. Osada got up at 2 a.m., took a taxi at 3 a.m., and reached the airport at 4 a.m. While waiting, they explain the entry rules as they understand them. Some documents must be applied for in advance. From November 20, 2025, submitting a digital arrival card becomes mandatory. It replaces the old paper form filled out on arrival, and applicants receive a QR code to show at immigration.

They recommend three apps and say they use all of them constantly. Alipay handles payments and transport, and Osada carries no cash in China, relying on Alipay alone. WeChat is needed for certain reservations and card registrations that, according to Osada, can only be done there. Gaode Map serves as a Google Maps equivalent. Their advice is to set all three up while still in Japan, because it may not be possible after arrival. For mobile data they use an eSIM, which they say cost about 200 yen through Klook.

Osada checks the weather: around 27°C in the second half of December, with a forecast high of 24°C. Feeling "a bit cocky," they go out in a sleeveless top. Breakfast before the flight is curry laksa, and they are already worried about how their stomach will handle the spice.

Immigration, and the Hair Wax Incident

At Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, signs tell foreigners to get a QR code, which Osada takes as a reference to the advance application. They admit to being nervous, partly because they hadn't been to China in a while and partly because of the state of Japan–China relations. Immigration itself turned out to be ordinary. Nobody asked for the documents they had applied for in advance. The officer only asked the purpose of the visit, and Osada describes it as "normal, just like any other country." They note the exchange rate at the time as 1 yuan to about 22 yen.

The trouble came afterward. For the first time on any of their trips, Osada was called into a separate room for a second baggage check and had to unpack everything. Staff found a small container of hair wax and asked, in Chinese, what it was. Osada's answer that it was hair wax didn't get through, and two staff members kept sniffing the "suspicious substance" while watching them. Eventually someone translated it as hair wax. Osada says the ordeal lasted about five minutes and was nerve-wracking.

They then rode an airport transfer to the hotel. They note that the airport has a subway station on the first basement level and a taxi stand reachable at ground level, and that both car and train take roughly 30 minutes into the city.

First Impressions: "China's Silicon Valley" and Electric Everything

Before arriving, Osada had been told that Shenzhen is known as China's fastest-developing city. When they mentioned the trip on a live stream, many Japanese residents of Shenzhen wrote in to describe it as China's Silicon Valley. At the airport, the large electronic signage already impressed them.

On the road they kept noticing electric vehicles. The buses looked electric, and the cars around them, including their own, seemed to have chargers plugged in. Osada wondered aloud whether everything in China is electric now and whether gasoline cars still exist. They didn't reach a conclusion, and the question stays a passing impression.

The Hotel and Getting Around by DiDi

The hotel is a Hampton by Hilton in Futian, a district name Osada recognized because its characters read as "Fukuda" in Japanese. They suspect the location is a little inconvenient. Hotels in China are cheap, they say, which pleased them. Since it was too early to check in, they left their luggage, noted the Starbucks on the ground floor, and went out.

To get around the awkward location they used DiDi, which they call the most popular ride-hailing app. You book it through Alipay: type in a destination, the app estimates the pickup time, the car arrives, and you get in. The driver spoke only Chinese, so Osada apologized, said they were Japanese, and relied on body language. According to them, many people in China speak only Chinese.

On the way to lunch they noticed that electric bikes ride on the sidewalks, and they say they saw two head-on collisions during that one trip. They didn't know whether that is common.

Lunch: QR Ordering, Char Siu, and the "Mystery Bread"

Lunch was at a restaurant Osada had researched, one described as very popular with locals and known for its char siu. The name was hard to read, but they made out something like "Victory." They had expected a rough-and-ready local place and found it polished and high-tech instead, with ordering done through a checkbox-style menu that they found easy to follow. The first question from staff was whether they wanted tea. The tea cost about 8 yuan, roughly 160 yen, and refills came automatically.

They ordered three dishes. The first was the signature char siu, which cost about 2,200 yen by their account; they called it "the best char siu I've ever eaten." The second was boiled dim sum dumplings, since the restaurant's dim sum is also famous. The third was a "pineapple cake," which they ordered expecting a dessert. It arrived first and turned out to be a large, fluffy bread with a slightly crisp top and a filling inside. Unsure whether it was dessert and how to eat it, they set it aside until the end, then ate it and found it very good. They paid by scanning a QR code linked to a payment page. They described the whole experience as "hectic" and said it would take some getting used to.

Riding the Metro with Alipay

From Gangjia Station, Osada took Line 1. The security check stopped them with a loud call because they were carrying water. By their account, the staff smiled throughout, told them they looked suspicious and needed checking, and were kind by the end.

Entry to the gates uses the same Alipay QR code, held over the reader, and you tap again to exit. Osada's advice is blunt: "Everyone, please set up Alipay. If you can't do this, you're going home." They rode four stops to Laojie Station and noted that the train was fast and that passengers raced for seats.

Dongmen: Getting Lost on the Way to the Food Street

At Laojie Station, Osada chose Exit D because it looked closest, which led them through a supermarket before they reached the street. The goal was a famous old shopping street, but they took the wrong exit and got completely lost. They wandered into another eat-while-you-walk area with grilled seafood, grilled chicken, a rice-cake snack, and a stand selling fresh juice that they guessed might be sugarcane.

While walking, they shared what they had learned about the city. Shenzhen is geographically next to Hong Kong and connected to it by train. It has a large young population and a low average age, and they describe it as "a very futuristic city."

They eventually found the "food street" sign for the Dongmen area, which they say is known as a great place for food walks. They saw spicy skewers that reminded them of a previous trip to Chongqing, where the food was extremely spicy. There were also single-serving hotpot ingredients cooking in front of customers, including meat, shiitake, crab, and watermelon. They noticed a shop with a long line whose name they couldn't make out, something about fish wrapped in something, and bought one simply because they had come that far.

Nantou Ancient City: History, Photo Spots, and a Street Dance

Osada took a taxi of a little over 30 minutes to Nantou Ancient City. The fare was 33 yuan, about 660 yen, and they call taxis a good deal. They say they came to learn some history as well as to eat. They admit they had barely researched this stop, though they had read that it is a town of "history, renovation, and creativity," full of photogenic spots and popular with young people.

The atmosphere was calm but somewhat modern, suited to photos, and they considered finding a café. They saw historic-looking buildings, including one that the transcript renders as an "Accident Museum," and many signs in Chinese characters. They say honestly that without explanations they couldn't understand much of it.

Then they heard music and found a crowd gathered around an event with dancers. Osada says this was exactly the kind of scene they had hoped to see. They talked with people there, told them "I like China," and asked in return, "Do you like Japan?"

Shenzhen Bay Park: Looking Across at Hong Kong

Since it was nearby, Osada stopped at Shenzhen Bay Park, which runs along the coast and is busy with cyclists. They rented a bike there. Pointing across a bridge, they note that the buildings on the other side are Hong Kong and that you can cross into it that way. The view gave them a sense of how close the two cities are.

Huaqiangbei: Testing the "High-Tech City" Claim

Next came Huaqiangbei. Osada says the name sounds to them like "a world of transformation, strength, and prodigy," and compares the district to Akihabara in Tokyo. The street is lined with buildings selling electronics and parts. They saw someone holding a drone and said they felt "so high-tech."

Osada says they had been wanting a camera and were genuinely excited to look around. They also add a careful observation: many products looked like they had been made with a lot of effort, but they wouldn't go so far as to call them "the real thing." They also saw Insta360 cameras and said they wanted one. They were pleased by a brief moment of attention from people in the area, which they joked about with a reference to the Japanese celebrity Yamapi. Their verdict: "Shenzhen is truly high-tech. I really got a feel for it."

The Shared-Bike Disaster

To move on, Osada tried a shared bike, unlocked by scanning a QR code in Alipay and parked anywhere inside a designated blue zone. They call this their "revenge" ride. On an earlier trip, they say, they accidentally scanned a QR code for a pornographic site that had been stuck near the bikes and never got to ride.

This time the rental worked, but the bike didn't. The brakes barely functioned, the front tire was flat and rattling, and grass blocked the exit path, so they had to push the bike by hand for a while. They noticed that everyone else had green bikes while theirs was a small, battered blue one. With no brakes, they slowed by dragging their left foot while pedaling, and their speed was no better than walking. After about 600 meters, most of it walked, they parked and returned it for around 2 yuan, calling the whole ride "seriously pointless." They then walked about 20 more minutes.

At a Cantonese dessert shop that had come up when they searched for famous Shenzhen desserts, the sign was too faded to read properly. They picked something like mango shaved ice from the menu, but staff never took their order, even after they made eye contact. They gave up without knowing why. Back at the hotel they looked back on the afternoon as "a disaster."

The Hotel Room and the Robot

In the hotel lobby, a talking delivery robot shared the elevator with Osada, and they complained that it kept getting in the way and talking the whole time. The room, number 303, had a bed, a sink area with amenities, towels, a hair dryer, a luggage rack, a shower, and a toilet with a washlet. They estimate it is about a 10-minute drive to Futian Station, which they believe is near the center. The price was 14,000 yen per night with breakfast included, and they call it good value for how clean the room was.

Dinner: Waiting Lists, the Ping An Tower, and "Adventure" Spice

Osada's first dinner choice was a hotpot restaurant with 39 groups waiting on a Friday evening, so they switched to a place with only two groups ahead of them. What they really wanted, they admit, was something spicy enough to photograph their reaction to. From the menu they chose a dish marked with the word "adventure," reasoning that it must be the kind of spiciness a hero would take on. They picked the beef version, with fried rice as the main.

While waiting outside, they pointed out the Ping An Finance Center across the street, 599 meters tall and, as they understood it, the fourth-tallest building in the world, with a panoramic observation deck. They considered going up but weren't in the mood.

They mistook the "PD-A" queue number for someone else's name before realizing it was theirs. Inside, the restaurant smelled strongly of chili. The fried rice was simply delicious, they said. The "adventure" dish turned out not to be noodles but bean sprouts topped with meat. At first they found it tasty and manageable, and they worried they wouldn't get a big enough reaction for the video. Then the heat built up until they could barely keep going, repeating "it's spicy" over and over. They had wanted a funny closing scene, and they say they got more than they bargained for: "I couldn't handle it at all."

Where the Day Ended

Osada closes by asking viewers what they thought of Shenzhen. Across the day, several of their pre-trip worries didn't come true. Immigration was routine, and the people they dealt with, including the staff who searched them, were friendly. The friction came from other places: a baggage check over hair wax, a language barrier they handled with gestures, a broken shared bike, and a dessert shop that ignored them. The one worry that did come true was the spicy food, and it lived up to its reputation. The next video moves on to Guangzhou, where Osada says they intend to eat spicy food again.

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