00:00:00 John Daub: Hello again everybody! Cuckoo! I'm taking you to a place I think is really cool, at least for me because I used to live in Mito City. Jennifer's shaking her head, yes, yes, yes. You already know what this place is, right? Well, we saw it from the taxi, so yeah, we saw it from the taxi earlier when we were coming in here. This is the Mito Art Tower, yes!

00:00:22 John Daub: Mito City, the capital of Ibaraki Prefecture, has an art tower and it's just out there. But I don't want to just show it to you, I want to build into it because I have this really awesome stabilizer that shows you a smooth panning angle. I'm going to show you the Mito Art Tower the way that I showed Jennifer earlier. Did you like it?

00:00:44 Jennifer: I enjoyed it very much. Thank you very much.

00:00:46 John Daub: Okay, here we go. The Mito Art Tower. Wait for it. It is really cool. Boom. Yay. The Mito Art Tower. I love this tower.

00:01:10 John Daub: I used to live in Mito in 1999, the year 2000, way back then near the station. And when I went running, I would run around this art tower or the lake on the other side of the station. I really like Mito City because it's got a good vibe. It's really nice, I think, this tower.

00:01:31 John Daub: Oh, wait, let me show them the manhole cover really quick. Mito's got a pretty cool manhole cover. Here's the manhole cover. Do you see what she's wearing? Right, it's got natto inside, right? That's so slimy. That's natto beans, okay? She's wearing this as her hat. Very cute. Very cute hat. Arigato.

00:02:09 John Daub: I think we spent too much time with Nebaru-kun. Because he talks like him now. This is how Nebaru-kun talks. We just did a livestream before, maybe about an hour ago, with Nebaru-kun, which is the natto mascot. The unofficial mascot of Ibaraki that promotes fermented soybeans, which we call natto.

00:02:33 John Daub: I love this tower. And it's the tallest structure in Mito, at least I think it is. It's really just out of nowhere. It looks like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey in a way, except it's all kind of crinkly.

00:02:49 Jennifer: You said it's a museum, right?

00:02:51 John Daub: It's a museum of art. So we're going to walk there right now. It is pretty rad. It's funny because it looks like there are not many windows, you know?

00:03:06 Jennifer: So have you ever been inside?

00:03:10 John Daub: I've run around it. I've seen it from a distance. I've enjoyed looking from the bottom up at the top. I've never actually been in it. Why would I go in it? I used to live right near it. I took it for granted. But it is one of the cooler buildings in Japan. This is a reason to come to Mito, I think.

00:03:48 John Daub: We're now at the steps of the coveted Mito Art Tower. Honestly, we need some more cinematic music than my feet stamping on the steps. But nevertheless, we are here. And Jennifer is down there. What happened to you?

00:04:09 Jennifer: Sorry, I moved quickly. I don't cross when there are cars coming. I'm wearing really comfortable shoes.

00:04:23 John Daub: Wow. You're wearing not so comfortable shoes. But we are here. It's a pretty cool structure. You can see it's so beautiful. It's sort of supported by a couple of beams. It's kind of an open space here, right? There was nothing around. There's the green grass down there. And I would run past this quite a lot back in the day. It was built in 1990 to celebrate the centennial of Mito City, the 100th anniversary.

00:05:01 John Daub: Is there an entrance somewhere? I think so. I've never been inside. I really don't know.

00:05:18 Jennifer: But you know, John, usually museums, they close early. This one's open until 6.

00:05:25 John Daub: Oh, I'm lost. I'm lost.

00:05:29 Jennifer: Can we? I think so.

00:05:31 John Daub: All right, follow Jennifer. I might have lived here 17 years ago. But don't you see the entrance? Why would they put the entrance there? That doesn't make sense. Oh. It's probably downstairs. OK, let's go. Take us to the entrance.

00:05:52 Jennifer: Yes! I have the control. I am in control now. Oh la la.

00:06:00 John Daub: So this is our day of streaming for Ibaraki TV. I think this is the way. Now look, there are the shops, et cetera, over there. Yeah. So it's probably downstairs. It's somewhere.

00:06:24 John Daub: We're going to be eating natto ryōri (natto cuisine) at 5 o'clock. It's good we're going to eat at 5 and we're not eating right now because it's difficult to have me feeling filled up like, oh my god, I don't want to eat anymore.

00:06:43 Jennifer: I've reached the point where I fed you enough where you no longer complain about. Totally. I didn't even want to. I want to have a coffee, remember, earlier? I said no, I have to stop putting anything into my body right now. I needed a break.

00:06:59 John Daub: Well, we've reached your breaking point, Jennifer.

00:07:03 Jennifer: I'll be fine in an hour.

00:07:05 John Daub: Maybe this is it here. Looks like it. All right, why don't you hold this. You don't have to touch the screen. OK, I get it now. I'm going to go and run and check it out. Don't go anywhere.

00:07:16 Jennifer: OK, OK.

00:07:21 John Daub: I think they're eating a bento, I think. No. Maybe the other side? Eh, iriguchi? (entrance?) Doko? (where?) Sumimasen. (excuse me) Iriguchi wa. (where is the entrance)

00:07:37 Staff: Art Tower Mito.

00:07:45 Jennifer: OK, I'm going to tell John that the tea ceremony video is gone. OK. I haven't watched it either because, you know, we've been running around the whole time. So it's here? Yeah. OK. I think it's this way.

00:08:03 John Daub: It's this way. Konnichiwa. Ikura desu ka? (how much?)

00:08:08 Staff: 200 yen.

00:08:11 John Daub: We'll show you the tower's tenbō (observation) elevator. OK. OK. It's 200 yen per person? Yeah. Ah, OK. Here it is. OK. One ticket? OK. Oh. Oh, no. Hey, give me that. I had made a collection of the 500 yen coins. All right. Do you get some change? Or do you just go? I'll put the money right here. All right. Hai. Hai. Thank you. Thank you. I'll check the ticket. This way. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please wait a little. Here you go. Thank you. Ah, here it is. Here it is. This is the English pamphlet. Ah, thank you. Is English okay? Ah, please. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. How far should I go?

00:09:05 Staff: Yes. The third floor is the top floor. You can't go back twice, so you have to go down once. Ah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

00:09:13 John Daub: So we start with the third floor. All right. This is awesome. So this really is the Art Tower Mito. This is great.

00:09:21 Jennifer: Were we supposed to come here, John?

00:09:23 John Daub: No. But we're going here today. We like unexpected visits. This is cool. We're like in the center of the tower. Oh. We're going way too slow. I wanted to go like warp speed. I think 200 yen to get inside the tower. That's reasonable. It's really even cheap, I think. That's really cheap. In Tokyo, that would be at least like 800. The ticket was 200 yen for an adult, 100 yen for kids. Yeah. I like the elevator music. Yeah. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. We're going to the top of Mito Art Tower.

00:10:02 John Daub: And we still have 4G signal. And that's really cool because this livestream would stop if we didn't have that signal. Oh, look. They use strange numbers to tell you what floor you're on. So we're, oh, we're on this floor. We're on this triangle floor. Alright. When do we get to the next triangle floor is, wait for it, wait for it. Oh, we're on the next floor. This is kind of weird. I don't know what number it is. They use triangles. I guess it would be 3, but in a different direction because that's how many points it has. We're almost there. Once again, Art Tower Mito. I will put the information in the description box. We have arrived. We have a green button. We're always looking down. Oh, someone's at the right. Wow. This is cool. This looks like we're in space.

00:11:00 Jennifer: Yeah, it's like futuristic.

00:11:02 John Daub: Do you say that? Yeah, we can definitely say that. We are inside of a spaceship. This is really cool. And we can get a nice view. Hey, look at that. Well, if the weather would be nicer, it would be even better, but it's not bad. It's not bad. Oh, this is a beautiful view of the city. Oh, I'm so glad we came up here. And the sun is just about to set. Nice colors. Really pretty pink color. Oh, wow. We got beautiful weather today. Great view from our spaceship tower.

00:11:39 John Daub: This window is cleaner. Oh, this window is cleaner. All right. They're all pretty cool, but it is a pretty nice view. This building, you know, when I first saw it, I was like, this looks like an artistic version of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, which is just the pole that goes up into the sky. No other building is really taller than the Washington Monument. And in that way, this reminds you of it. Here's another angle of Mito City. Wow. Beautiful. That's where we're going to be eating. The restaurant is down there. Can we see it? Can we see the restaurant? I don't know. You have to pick the right window.

00:12:18 John Daub: Hey, apparently you can see the park on the right side. There is a map here. Okay. This is the map of what it looks like. Where, can you see it from here? I can't see. Is it on this side? On the other side? I don't know. It could be. This side you could see Mount Fuji. You can see Mount Fuji, but I don't think we're going to see it today.

00:12:46 Jennifer: Isn't the park with the big lake?

00:12:48 John Daub: Yeah, that's the lake I used to run around. That's what I was telling people about. I used to run around that lake. The Tokugawa Museum is also over there, deep into the park, into the river. This is such a nice view. Why did I live here and I never came up here? Yeah.

00:13:06 Jennifer: Well, isn't that always the case? Yes, it is. You always miss some of the best locations. So, we should go around Tokyo more too. Yeah. Because as I said, you know, we take everything for granted.

00:13:20 John Daub: Here you can see, koko kara (from here). You get to the ocean from this point. It's about 12 kilometers away. Can you see the ocean? Let me show to the east. When the weather is good. Yeah. When the weather is nice, you can see the sea to the Pacific Ocean sparkling. Not today. All we can see is the city of Mito. That's Mito down there. Yeah.

00:13:53 John Daub: So, unfortunately, they are not selling food here. Just answering some comments. This is all that's at the top. If I go fast enough, I'll catch up with Jennifer on the other side.

00:14:10 John Daub: Wait! Wait, wait, wait. I just saw. Oh, we can't. I see these big kids playing in the museum. Oh, we can't go up here. I found these secret stairs, but we can't go up there. So, hold on a second. We're in a museum, right?

00:14:24 Jennifer: Yes. Is there anything to see? Like objects? Like art?

00:14:29 John Daub: Yeah. You're inside of the building is the art, right? No. To be honest with you, yeah, I didn't go into the art museum either when I lived here. The art museum is next door. They have real art. But this tower is the Art Tower, which is art in itself.

00:14:47 Jennifer: I understand now. Okay. Does that make sense?

00:14:49 John Daub: But no, it's really nice to come here, I think. It is pretty cool. Yeah. It's really. We get a nice view. Yeah. From this side, you can see the bridge. Yeah. The building itself is really nice, I think, this design. Yeah. I love this building. And it's kind of weird to be up here after living in Japan for almost 20 years, and I lived here 17, 18 years ago. Wait, yeah, 17 years ago. I haven't been up it. Now I am. And that's sort of, for me, a personal milestone. To be at the top of a tower. I think the 200 yen is just to come up inside the tower. I don't think it's a place to the museum.

00:15:27 Jennifer: What do you think? I don't know, but you look powerful from this angle.

00:15:30 John Daub: Yes. Jennifer, the powerful. It's the net of power. Yes. I think some of Nebaru-kun rubbed off on you. I thought, oh yeah. That slime.

00:15:42 John Daub: So thanks for joining us on this live stream of the Mito Art Tower. Highly recommended if you're in Mito. I love this building. I've never been up it. This is something that we could share together. It does look like a spaceship, and you can see where all of the joints are connected here. It sort of offers you a unique viewing experience because it looks like you're looking out of the porthole of a boat. It actually reminds me of the Eiffel Tower, you know?

00:16:10 Jennifer: Really? Kind of.

00:16:12 John Daub: Kind of. So there's the view from Mito on a beautiful Wednesday night. It's really nice.

00:16:18 John Daub: Are you getting hungry?

00:16:19 Jennifer: I need to take a picture of this. Are you getting hungry? Well, I always get hungry when I have good food in front of me.

00:16:26 John Daub: Shall I feed you again? No worries. Later on, yeah. We have reservations at a natto restaurant for 5pm. In 40 minutes. Yeah. 40 minutes. We're going to be doing another live stream in 40 minutes, so stick with us. Enjoy the final few seconds of Mito. Goodbye, everybody. For now.