00:00:05 John Daub: This, ladies and gentlemen, is Inokashira Park in Kichijoji, which is on the Chuo Line, about 15 minutes from Shinjuku Station. And it's one of the most spectacular cherry blossom spots in the city of Tokyo. And yes, you can rent swan-designed paddle boats and have some fun. And no, I'm not going to be doing that today. Hi, this is the Only in Japan Go channel, and we're here basically in Kichijoji to eat food, which we did in the livestream before this. But we've also taken a timeout to process what we just ate before we go back to Schmatz in another livestream. And I wanted to bring you a little bit of nature. A little ducky going by there. And then there's some fake duckies over there.

00:00:58 John Daub: Peter's with me. He happens to be the cool-looking dude over there. By himself. No one wants to touch him or talk to him. He's in a league of his own. That's him over there. The man, the voice.

00:01:15 Peter von Gomm: Did you already start?

00:01:16 John Daub: Peter von Gomm.

00:01:17 Peter von Gomm: Hi, guys.

00:01:19 John Daub: Nice toothpick. Look at him. Is that from Cobra, the Sylvester Stallone movie? Why don't you just chew it around like this?

00:01:25 Peter von Gomm: Because you don't want to put sharp things in your pockets. So I'll just keep it hanging on my teeth.

00:01:31 John Daub: This is a really spectacular spot.

00:01:33 Peter von Gomm: You don't believe me?

00:01:34 John Daub: No, I believe you, I believe you. But you can see that when the cherry blossoms hit 100%, the first wind or the first rain just blows the petals into the water and we have a really kind of the start of the end.

00:01:47 Peter von Gomm: Right. It's always kind of depressing, isn't it?

00:01:50 John Daub: It is a little bit depressing. We've got to wait for another year before it all comes back around.

00:01:54 Peter von Gomm: We've got to wait for another year.

00:01:56 John Daub: But until then. Do we know the name of this lake?

00:01:59 Peter von Gomm: Is it Inokashira Lake?

00:02:02 John Daub: Yeah. Why don't you check on your Google Maps there, partner?

00:02:07 Peter von Gomm: Alright, I will later and get back to you.

00:02:10 John Daub: A friend of mine sent me a picture. She was here recently. She sent me a picture of the lake completely drained.

00:02:18 Peter von Gomm: Wait a second. This place was empty. Why was it empty?

00:02:22 John Daub: I don't know. I guess they cleaned it up.

00:02:25 Peter von Gomm: Well, it is pretty darn clean right now.

00:02:28 John Daub: We're going to turn this camera on. I'm going to give you a little bit of the atmosphere of Inokashira Park. On the weekends, this place is absolutely packed. And right now, today, on a weekday.

00:02:39 Peter von Gomm: More so than now?

00:02:40 John Daub: More so than now. There's the launch pad for the paddle swans.

00:02:45 Peter von Gomm: Do you want to take a ride?

00:02:48 John Daub: Me? Punk.

00:02:49 Peter von Gomm: Sure.

00:02:51 John Daub: Riding a swan boat. Okay, don't show those babies.

00:03:03 John Daub: Did you guys see the livestream just a bit ago? We were at Schmatz in Kichijoji. There's some great German food. Great beer. Sausages.

00:03:22 Peter von Gomm: It's part of your heritage, dude.

00:03:24 John Daub: Sausages I'm talking about.

00:03:27 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.

00:03:29 John Daub: And I've been challenged to drink one liter of beer.

00:03:34 Peter von Gomm: Are you going to do that?

00:03:35 John Daub: I'll do it. Why not?

00:03:36 John Daub: Alright, we are here in Inokashira Park. Once again, here is the map. And you can see we are really here. Okay, so it's Inokashira Pond. Inokashira Pond is the name of it. Inokashira Ike. They have a zoo. Which is really, really small. But actually, I like it better than Ueno Zoo. And for a reason I'm going to show you in another livestream in the future.

00:03:59 Peter von Gomm: Don't tell them.

00:04:00 John Daub: Can you give a teaser?

00:04:01 Peter von Gomm: I'll give you a teaser.

00:04:02 John Daub: Show them the entrance.

00:04:04 Peter von Gomm: Okay, I'll show you the entrance. And why do they have the steel reinforced bars?

00:04:08 John Daub: Is that for the gorillas?

00:04:09 Peter von Gomm: To keep the people in. Because once you go in, you're going to want to escape from the released gorillas.

00:04:17 John Daub: I'm making it up. Don't worry, kids. It's perfectly safe. The Inokashira Pond. Inokashira Park Zoo. Let me get the price for you. While I'm here. Tickets cost a reasonable 400 yen for an adult. And for Peter and students of life, it'll be 150 yen. Which is reasonable. You can get an actual one year pass. It equals four entrances. So if you're going to come here for more than four times, get a one year pass for $15. That is incredibly affordable. They have an elephant in there. But I go there for something else. They have a little play area for squirrels. I think it's pretty cool to go in there and you can play with the squirrels. Which is nice-ish.

00:05:01 John Daub: Because we've lost Peter. You know, he's always off on his own. Peter! Oh, there he is. On his. All by himself over there. Peter! Over here!

00:05:29 Peter von Gomm: He really wants to ride the paddle boat.

00:05:33 John Daub: You really want to ride that swan boat, don't you?

00:05:36 Peter von Gomm: Let's do it.

00:05:36 John Daub: Let's do it. Oh my. You're going to paddle it, right?

00:05:40 Peter von Gomm: Uh. Paddle? Paddle paddle?

00:05:44 John Daub: Paddle. Let's take a quick drive-by through Inokashira Park first. This here. And they pad this tree because it keeps it warm in the winter?

00:05:54 Peter von Gomm: It's not for people smacking their heads into it?

00:05:57 John Daub: It could be that too. After a night at Schmatz? It could be that as well.

00:06:02 Peter von Gomm: Ah, no. Look. The green hapa, the green leaves are starting to come through.

00:06:07 John Daub: So that means essentially we are done with the cherry blossoms. We're very close to the end. Oh man. It was fast. It just comes and goes real fast. But you know what? This year has been just magical.

00:06:29 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It has been really nice. Fantastic weather for a long stretch. No wind. No rain. Just a warm spell that made the blossoms come out early.

00:06:39 John Daub: Where did he go? Oh, there he is. But I bet a lot of people have their trips planned to come here the beginning of April, right? People are angry at me. They're screwed. People were angry at me because they said, look, I booked for April 1st and April 3rd and I want to see the cherry blossoms. Now they're done. And they said it's my fault. I didn't tell them to come at a certain time. But if you book in advance, we can't predict Mother Nature.

00:07:04 Peter von Gomm: We can't predict Mother Nature. Can we?

00:07:08 John Daub: We've tried. Even. We're working on the algorithms right now.

00:07:13 Peter von Gomm: The algorithms, yeah.

00:07:14 John Daub: But you know, I want to show you. I don't want to complain too much about Mother Nature because we can't. I'm going to get a lightning strike in my head if I do. But you can't control Mother Nature. And it was just about two weeks before that the weather got warm and it created cherry blossoms that come out about a week early. Which it happens. That's why it's hard to book a trip and then predict the weather. But Inokashira Park gives you views like this that are just stunning. It's a mix of the green and the flowers.

00:07:44 Peter von Gomm: It's pretty nice.

00:07:45 John Daub: Yeah. It's the cherry blossoms. It's the leaves busting through the cherry blossoms. Let me take you up there a little bit. Hold on tight, people. And the leaves have busted through.

00:08:08 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It's busted through.

00:08:09 John Daub: But we are going to still enjoy hanami (cherry blossom viewing). And even if the cherry blossoms are done, people are still going to come. People are still out there picnicking, right? Until like the middle of April.

00:08:19 Peter von Gomm: We're in denial. I'm right, right? People go to Yoyogi Park.

00:08:25 John Daub: Oh, no. It's Kichijoji. It's not Denial.

00:08:26 Peter von Gomm: No, people are in denial. In denial that the cherry blossoms are done. And then we still picnic under it and drink and all the other stuff. Ah, the denial people. The denial people. I'm one of those denial people. The deniers. I am. I've been denying the end. I denied the end until like May. And I probably won't be able to do it again. I probably will jump on the Shinkansen and then go up north because the cherry blossom season does continue as it marches north to Hokkaido and it won't, it'll start blooming in Sapporo around May 5th.

00:08:57 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, that's true.

00:08:58 John Daub: So people who are late bloomers, unlike the sakura, they could still head up north or into the mountains. You can head up to the mountains until about the end of April and the blossoms will bloom. It is a pretty nice sight.

00:09:11 John Daub: I made an Only in Japan main channel video about 5 years ago and I was looking for a guy here who had brought a picture of his mother who had passed away. Oh, he's not here today. I think we were right here and he'd come here to enjoy the cherry blossoms every year. And I'm pretty sure I filmed it here and you had a picture of his mother. And we sat there drinking alcohol, but he's not here today. And he would come back to the same spot where he would enjoy the cherry blossoms with his mother. And speaking of your mother, Peter has decided to take a walk about and he's enjoying the lakeside over there.

00:10:03 John Daub: Hey, do you know the sakura song?

00:10:11 Peter von Gomm: You don't know that?

00:10:16 John Daub: I know. Maybe if you were singing it properly I would.

00:10:21 Peter von Gomm: Oh, come on. It's one of the most popular songs in Japan. More importantly, show the tree branching out here over the water.

00:10:26 John Daub: So you can see this cherry tree, this sakura tree, has decided to go rogue. And they've shored it up. It's a beautiful tree. I like it. It's searching for water and the branches of it jut out all the way into the center of the lake. Look at the swan boat about to collide with it. And there's a couple of people on a date. This is a good date spot. You start out with Schmatz and you come here.

00:11:08 Peter von Gomm: Seriously, you think Schmatz is a date spot?

00:11:11 John Daub: I like the sort of interactive restaurant, theme restaurant. It's not really a theme, but it's great food. Where else can you smack food with a hammer and get away with it?

00:11:21 Peter von Gomm: That's true. That would be fun.

00:11:24 John Daub: Chris K. writes, love all the adventures you guys have together. I missed the first meet up, but hopefully can make the second before Fly Home. Just kidding. That's right. Peter and I, we're doing a meet up. I'm doing another meet up in April, but Peter won't be around, right?

00:11:37 Peter von Gomm: You're going on a vacation.

00:11:38 John Daub: Yeah, I'll be away. A much deserved vacation.

00:11:40 Peter von Gomm: When are you doing your second one?

00:11:42 John Daub: Beginning of April, which is the day after tomorrow. Probably like April 3rd or 4th. I'll put it on the Facebook as an event. I usually do it three days in advance because I can't make a promise and then not keep it. So it's hard for me to schedule it in advance. I want to thank, actually Schmatz, one more time for inviting Peter and I to come out here. To eat some food and enjoy the cherry blossoms in this area of Tokyo. To get here, you got to take the JR Chuo line from Shinjuku Station. It takes about 15 minutes. Then you're out here in one of the best places in Tokyo. They have some of the most fashionable and best cuisines. Fashionable restaurants, some of the best cuisines. Kichijoji is considered the most livable or the most desirable place to live in the city of Tokyo.

00:12:29 Peter von Gomm: Bohemian. It's like Shimokitazawa is the other one.

00:12:32 John Daub: Yeah, Shimokita.

00:12:33 Peter von Gomm: They're both very bohemian. Shimokita and Kichijoji.

00:12:37 John Daub: But Kichijoji is actually not in the 23 wards.

00:12:39 Peter von Gomm: Oh, it isn't?

00:12:40 John Daub: No, it's in a different city.

00:12:42 Peter von Gomm: I didn't realize that.

00:12:43 John Daub: Yeah, the 23 wards, I think on this side, stop at Shinjuku Ward. And then, like New York has five boroughs. Tokyo has 23 wards. Or ku, we say. And after Shinjuku ku, I think you get into the city. We're in the city, another city. But it's still Tokyo. Tokyo is almost like a state. It's complicated.

00:13:06 Peter von Gomm: It's complicated. Yeah. It's sprawling.

00:13:11 John Daub: Sprawling. You're gonna stay here?

00:13:12 John Daub: I'm gonna take a look around and show off some of the cherry blossoms before we make our way back to Shinjuku. We have another Schmatz adventure. I do hope that you stick around for part three of today's live streaming day. Because what we ate was a seasonal menu. And I'm kind of excited to see what the more traditional menu is. And they said to order anything we want on the menu. And I'm gonna order because I'm very curious. All right, take it out. Take it out. I want to take you and show you different scenes from Kichijoji Park, from Inokashira Park here in Kichijoji.

00:14:10 John Daub: This is a very lively place. And at night, you also have this area illuminated with lights. So people will stay here until, you know, the sun goes down. And then, you know, late into the evening. And there's some people will come here and play music. And everyone has blue sheets. And they sit on the ground. And they eat. And they drink. And they have fun. This is one of the most magical times of the year. And April 1st starts the new year in Japan for businesses. It starts the new year for school in the United States. School starts in September. And in Japan, it starts here April 1st. So all this stuff starts in the day after tomorrow, believe it or not.

00:15:00 John Daub: You got to take good pictures. Let's see what they were taking up here. So this is the picture that they took. The cherry blossoms. Oh, it's just stunning. It is really nice here. Look at the blue sky. There's something really magical about it when the weather has these blue skies. It's just really, really beautiful. Because we got to go to the next restaurant really quickly, we don't have. There's a waiting. There's a wait to get into one of the boats because they're all out right now. And we got to go do another live stream in about 10 minutes. We missed the best blooms here. Look, wait a minute. Peter's chatting in the live stream now. No wonder he's not behind me. So check out. I'm just going to wrap around here the main area of Kichijoji. I want to show you some of the cherry blossoms. If you do make it out to Tokyo in the next couple of days, this is one of the areas you should definitely not miss because it's just absolutely stunning this time of year. And I like the fact that this park is really open. There are places for you to sit. You can still see patches of ground. And that means you could pitch a blue sheet. You could buy the blue sheets at a convenience store and just bring some food and just enjoy a nice afternoon out. We call this hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Hanami is cherry blossom viewing and hanami parties are everywhere this time of year.

00:16:46 John Daub: There are a lot of people on dates.

00:16:48 Peter von Gomm: It's true.

00:17:08 John Daub: So when a lot of people drink a little bit too much, they start to play games. Those two are playing a game. We have some boating accidents happening. It's a little rough out there right now. Oh, yeah, this place is open. Sometimes you see on the right side of the screen. That is a little cafe that they serve really good coffee. And after Peter drinking all that beer, he might need a nice stiff one. Even an espresso to wake up.

00:18:08 John Daub: They've got sakura beer.

00:18:10 Peter von Gomm: What?

00:18:13 John Daub: What do you guys think? Should I get a sakura beer? I'm going to try this. This is a sakura beer. This says here sakura cherry blossom beer. Let's give it a little look. Cherry beer. I think it's more like cherry blossom beer. Because cherry beer would be actual cherry taste. But this is sakura beer. I think it's per cup for 500 yen. This is the Sakura stand.

00:20:02 John Daub: So Wang Yutan writes, you always use a 1000 yen note. This is the smallest note that they have. Oh, a kampai taru. This beer is for you, my friend. Thank you. Sakura beer.

00:22:48 John Daub: Alright, so here's the sakura beer. Check that out. It came in a little label here. And then it's got a pink foam on top. And it's pretty deep red. I'm so much shocked by this. Very, very unusual. Let's give this a go underneath the cherry blossoms. Because that's what we do this time of year. They find some blossoms for you. This is pretty interesting. I've never had a beer this color before. I thought it was juice. Actually, when she started pouring it into the plastic bottle, I thought it was Coca-Cola. Alright, here's some cherry blossoms. Alright, everybody. This is a kanpai for you. We've lost Peter. Intensive fire. Thank you. Will you ever do a tour of your home? Yes, I will. But not right now. Because I'm in Kichijoji at Inokashira Park. We're doing an amazing live stream. Here for you. This, my friends, is cherry blossom beer. And I'm going to drink it for you right now. Kanpai. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Okay. When they said cherry beer, they weren't lying. It's cherry beer. It literally is cherry flavored beer. They said sakura beer. Sakura means cherry blossom. But what they did was they just put the cherry. They made cherry beer. And that's why we have this color. Let me remove the little label. And I think you get a better sense of it. Check it out. This is cherry beer. It looks blood red. And it has cherry juice in it. But it also has alcohol. That's not bad. It's a little bit sweeter. It tastes like juice, though. I don't know if it has beer in it. It's hard to tell. But thank you very much for the super chat to buy this. This is pretty cool. Peter, I don't know where you are. But we've got to go to Schmatz part two. So I want to thank everybody for joining us on this livestream. It is sort of like a cherry soda. We're going to make our way now back to the lake to take a look at some more cherry blossoms. There's these little teeny cut-through paths. Another reason why I like Inokashira Park. I love their little kids. And we're going to see if Peter is in the same spot or not. No, we've lost Peter for good. But Peter will be back. So thank you. Please do make your trip out here to Inokashira Park. If you don't do it for the cherry beer, do it for the cherry blossoms. Because it's pretty good. Is Peter in the lake? I hope not. He really wanted to ride that swan boat. I think he looked somewhat disappointed. Thanks, everybody. We're going to be going to Schmatz. Schmatz part two. So there's going to be Peter doing his one-liter beer challenge. He made the promise. He gave us his word he's going to do it. I'm going to get one as well. This could get a little bit of a shock. It could get a little bit crazy. So see you in about 30 minutes. 30 minutes to one hour. We start at about 5 p.m. Japan time. So see you in. See you then. Bye from Inokashira Park.