00:00:00 John Daub: Oh, I missed it! I tried to throw a snowball at the sign with the guy with the little kid up there. I can't always start the show off with a bang. But I am out here on a mission. It's not to throw a snowball at a sign, but rather to hunt and get my ramen. I didn't want to say kill because I want this thing to be alive when I get there. At least hot.

00:00:30 John Daub: I'm in Abashiri, Hokkaido. This is one of the northernmost cities in Hokkaido, one of the biggest on this side of north Hokkaido. Kitami is the other city nearby, but this one's on the coast. I've been here for now, this is my third day. And it's really starting to come down, the snow. It's beautiful here. This isn't midnight yet. It's only 9pm, but it feels like 2am. There's nobody out here except for me and a few cars and a couple of stragglers. I don't think that they're going for ramen, though.

00:01:12 John Daub: So I heard through the grapevine that there is a ramen shop that the locals really love to go to. And I'm in search of it. There aren't that many ramen shops around here, believe it or not. There's a lot of izakaya (Japanese pubs). There's a lot of sushi shops, because the sea is just over yonder, a couple hundred meters away.

00:01:39 John Daub: Vaughn, thank you very much for the super chat. I will be getting a beer tonight. If anything, I will at least have a beer. I love this corner shop. I featured it last time. It just has that personality to it, like that rough restaurant-on-the-corner look. This is an okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) shop. It's sort of out of place. It looks like a seafood shop, but it's okonomiyaki. 750 yen, which is about $7 for a mixed one. And they have an Italian house wine. Okonomiyaki and wine? That's not my cup of tea. But I will come back if I can't find the ramen.

00:02:47 John Daub: I don't give up very easily, as a lot of you know who've been watching this series. When I go on these midnight snack runs, I usually get what I'm after. Now I'm coming up on the main street. And I believe that the ramen shop is on the other side, the next street down. So what we're going to do is walk down the main street, which is covered, and then cross the street and try to get to this ramen place. I should be there in about two minutes, if all goes well. And on live streams, usually all does not go well, and anything can happen.

00:03:24 John Daub: Well, the taxi just did a 360. If it was on a skateboard, that would be cooler. Abashiri has a shrinking population. Failed offerings, thank you very much for the food money. This is my birthday dinner. This is Shirokiya, a chain in Japan, and I'm definitely not going to a chain. The izakaya that I went to yesterday is over here as well. It's down here, you see where the red pachinko building is? That's it right there, behind the car. And you can see the live stream from yesterday, where I met these two crazy girls who are students here. They really wanted to be in the live stream. One of them was from Niigata Prefecture, and she's studying farming here.

00:05:05 John Daub: So the streets of Abashiri are pretty deserted. Maybe because it's minus 13 degrees Celsius. We're going to walk down this street. This street's a lot darker and quieter than the main street. But we're on the prowl for ramen. So those of you who are joining me for the first time, seeing a live stream, thank you for the birthday wishes, by the way. I didn't want to promote that too much. I've done like five streams where people have been wishing me happy birthday.

00:06:00 John Daub: Alright, take a look here. It's beautiful, isn't it? This is another side street that goes down straight towards Abashiri Station. And the way it's lit up and with the low light sensitivity of the iPhone 7, it's really nice. Now I smell something. If you can see through this window, there's like a dress. I thought there was a person in there. It's actually a kimono shop.

00:07:02 John Daub: I've been to Denmark many, many times. I have a bottle of Gammeldansk in my apartment that's not open yet. I'm waiting for a special occasion. What could be more special than my birthday? But I happen to be in Abashiri. Gammeldansk, if you don't know, is a really special drink of Denmark if you're an old guy. Or a young guy, I guess. Alright, where is this ramen shop?

00:07:29 John Daub: Oh my gosh. No way. I'm going to run it. No! Wait, wait, wait. It's closed. This is it. Ramen Darumaya. It's highly recommended. And something says that this shop is not open. Oh no. The lights are off. Usually that's a bad sign. They're like half on. Now I feel like a stalker. I bet you the cops are going to come after me if I keep going. They're looking for part-time workers too. I don't think I'm in for that. I'm more in for the ramen. Alright, that kind of stinks. I'm not going to Shirokiya on my birthday. I'm really disappointed. This is supposed to be good, good ramen. And it's kind of hidden back there off of the main street so it's local. Oh well.

00:09:00 John Daub: For those of you who are in Japan right now, the Sapporo Snow Festival is on. It's about a five hour train ride from here south where the majority of Japan is located. Not many people are north of where I am. But it is really nice. This is almost like Christmas-y, I'm afraid to say. Could use some Christmas tunes.

00:09:48 John Daub: Looks like some nice restaurants around here. This one looks good. This looks like a yakitori (grilled chicken skewers) place. This one's open until midnight. I could go for a beer here. Yakitori? Hmm. What do you think? Let's just take a look down the street a little bit. This one looks pretty good. Oh it's kind of packed. There's people in there. See? You can smell the yakitori. So maybe I'll come back.

00:10:32 John Daub: The worst thing you could do when someone notices you is to try to hide right away like this. Oh! He saw me! You know what my first reaction is? I just wave back and try to smile and wave back. And look not suspicious. And it works. Usually. Because I was filming into the shop and you could see that the owner saw me. And rather than pull back and be shy, take a step forward instead of a step back. Own your stalking!

00:11:01 John Daub: And this is the other place that was on my radar. They had some fish from the sea here. Some really, really cool stairwells. And the way up to the top. It looks like they have tatami rooms. But just by myself, I don't think this is the kind of place. The menu is pretty big. Here's something in English: "Welcome to Abashiri. Our shop is the oldest tavern in Abashiri. It offers a lot of countryside of Abashiri. I [offers a simple menu of English?]. I am looking forward to your visit everyone." And that's Nippone. Nippone is the mascot of Abashiri. Featured in my Yudokyara video two years ago.

00:12:00 John Daub: And this is the plate that I looked before. This is all the fish that they put from the sea. It's a set. But that just looks suspicious to me. So many fish. Look, schools of fish, they don't hang out together. And I feel bad with them being all together on a plate like that. Although when you think about it, sushi. That's pretty much what sushi is.

00:12:25 John Daub: You know what? I'm going to go in and eat some of that yakitori. This is not what I wanted. I seriously wanted a bowl of ramen. I can't find any ramen. I should ask those guys that walk by. You know who knows where good ramen is? Guys. Guys know where the ramen shops are. Never ask a woman. Well, that's not exactly true. But usually the guys. When you go into ramen shops at late night, it's usually a bunch of guys in there. I'm just saying. I could be wrong.

00:13:02 John Daub: Oh, this is a ramen shop. But they turn the sign backwards. Check it out. Ah, nochi. It says here ramen. It's backwards. Ohotsuku no niyoi. I can't see it. It's backwards. Ramen. Chumon. Monka. That's a shame. I guess it's closed. Unless I want to pry that gate open. I don't think that's going to happen.

00:13:34 John Daub: Folks. This place is bustling. There's two other places here that I have not introduced you to. They have some sort of jazz going on. And I've had videos demonetized over the last 48 hours because of the background music. And they're not supposed to be playing this kind of music in the restaurant. Believe it or not. This is another izakaya. This has a menu with ponjitsu no susume (today's recommendation). This looks good. This is soba. This is a sashimi platter. This is some oysters. That looks really good. Oden sounds good. They seem to have some booze. They're proud of their booze collection, which they should be. This is not what I wanted though. I didn't want to eat seafood for my birthday. I had seafood last night. I kind of want to mix it up.

00:15:12 John Daub: You know what? The yakitori place looks the best to me right now. It looks inviting. Happy birthday John. I heard that you [about Sweden Hills?]. Have you heard about Sweden Hills? No, I haven't heard about Sweden Hills. But I think I'm going to. I need something stronger than a coffee, my friend. It's after midnight.

00:15:38 John Daub: You know what? I'm going to go into this yakitori restaurant. And I'm going to turn the camera off because it seems crowded and I don't know if I can film. I'm going to procure some delicious yakitori. Then I will go back live and just bring it to you. And we can share the meal together. And then I will then once again stream on the way home. So similar to the way I did this a couple of days ago. Or was that yesterday? It seems like a long time ago. I want to be part of that. Right? So let's go in here. Alright. I'll be back in a minute.