00:06 John Daub: Hello everybody. I'm at Tokyo Station and I'm going to be showing you today a really interesting spot. Right now I'm on the platform of Tokyo Station's Yamanote Line (loop line). The place I'm taking you is one station away. I thought I would share with you the experience of living on a train platform for the next couple of minutes. But we're going to jump on the Yamanote Line together and go to Yurakucho Station. Yurakucho Station is the station where you can get a really good view.

01:07 John Daub: The other reason why I'm starting at Tokyo Station instead of directly at Yurakucho is because I know it's going to take a little bit of time for people to get online. Welcome to the Only in Japan Go channel. Once again, I'm going to be taking you to a Shinkansen (bullet train) spotting watch place that I really like. The great thing about Tokyo Station is that you get to see all the trains here on the platform. This is the platform for the Keihin-Tohoku Line and the Yamanote Line. You can see that right here. The green is the Yamanote Line and on the left is the Keihin-Tohoku Line. Both of them go to Yurakucho. So whichever train comes first is the one you jump on.

01:39 John Daub: Oh, I think it's going to be the Yamanote Line. The Yamanote Line wins, everybody. Here it comes. It's kind of exciting when the train comes into the station. We're going to jump on board for one stop and then get off at Yurakucho. I'm going to show you my favorite train spotting spot. So bear with me for the next 30 to 60 seconds. It's actually going to be about three minutes. Cool. All aboard. Everybody be quiet on the train. No loud noises or big movements. The train is not very busy right now, so that's a good thing. If it were about five hours before, it would have been really crowded.

03:24 John Daub: That's right, David. David writes put it on manner mode. Always have it on. Not manner mode. I put mine on silent mode. I go a step further. No vibrating at all. Each train station has its own jingle on the Yamanote Line. You heard the Tokyo jingle in the background. Now we're going to hear the Yurakucho one. And it takes about two minutes to get there.

04:56 John Daub: Let's say goodbye to the train. Let's say bye to the train conductor. Now we're all by ourselves. This is one of my favorite spots because there goes a Shinkansen and we're gonna stay here for one more Shinkansen stop. You can see on the end of the Yurakucho platform is by far one of the coolest spots for you to just sit here and on the corner here, you can't go any further than this one. It tells you not to go any further than right here. But I'm all by myself here. I'm putting my bag down and you get to just chill out and relax as trains from every single direction just pass you like it's crazy right here.

05:59 John Daub: This is a Muji building by the way that I went in with my wife yesterday looking for furnishings for the apartment. Check it out. We got in here. That's Tokaido Line. There goes the Narita Express. A lot of TV shows will use this for b-roll. Here comes the Keihin-Tohoku Line. On the left side, you're gonna see a bunch of other trains passing me. There's the Shinkansen on the right. Narita Express is just going in the distance. This is the spot where the Shinkansen at Tokyo Station, the Shinkansen platform and the regular train platforms, they're separated. They're different parts of the station. But here at Yurakucho, both of these come together and this is what makes this place really magical.

06:58 John Daub: And if you take a look over on the other side, you can see on another episode of Only in Japan Go I took you up here where these trees are and there's a wonderful cafe where you can sit there and get a long view of the trains passing. But this day I'm bringing you out a very special, very secret spot okay. If you do like this I do ask people if you just hit the like button because I could definitely use the support on the video. This helps make the videos more searchable for YouTube. Because I want you all to share this experience when you come to Tokyo. Alright, now I'm waiting here until the next Shinkansen comes this way. The goal is to get trains going in both directions because you can feel it. It's pretty cool having trains moving on the left and right of you.

07:49 John Daub: Alright, now we've got trains coming on the left side. That train is going to Omiya. I think it's an express train. Hey Jan, don't punch the button. You might break it. Just tap it lightly. Here comes the Yamanote line. It's just so cool, isn't it? This is the best spot in the entire city. The Yamanote line comes every three minutes or so. This is really cool. Platform number three, the door is closing. Be careful. That's what she said. Alright, here we go. Let's wait for it. Just hang out with me. It's better when you wait for it because we feel like we earned it. That's why you can't really edit this. Just let it roll.

09:34 John Daub: There goes the Yamanote line going the other direction. But we are waiting for the trains coming from both directions at the same time. I want to... If you time it right, that situation does happen. You just have to wait a little bit. There's a moment of peace and quiet. The Keihin-Tohoku line is not quite as often as the Yamanote line. There's times where you're on the platform and you're going, wait, I'm going from Shinagawa to Akihabara. Both those train lines go the same direction and Keihin-Tohoku line skips a couple of the stations. So it's sometimes faster to take that one but it's also a longer train so it takes longer to stop. The line moves a little bit faster that way so I don't know which one should you take they're both pretty good.

10:34 John Daub: Now we're gonna have the Shinkansen coming past in a minute this is just an epic spot and if you do come to Tokyo and you want to take a picture take a time-lapse here but don't hog the spot too much because we want other people to enjoy it. What other people it's like I'm in the city of Tokyo and I have this place all to myself it's almost seems completely wrong like it's some sort of weird mistake but yet here we are it's pretty cool. Thank you very much for moderating these live streams I appreciate that very much. Here comes a Shinkansen you could just see the light in the distance it's right in the center of your screen and the Shinkansen is gonna make its way passing in it oh we might have it. There's a train on my far left and a train on my far right coming. Who's going to win? The Shinkansen. No, it's very close. Shinkansen's picking up steam. Keihin-Tohoku Line blocked the Shinkansen. Keihin-Tohoku Line wins. And it didn't even stop here. Keihin-Tohoku Line skips the Yurakucho Station.

12:15 John Daub: Oh, here comes the Chuo. That's not the Chuo Line. Is that the Tokaido Line, maybe? Well, we'll know when it says on the front here. That looks like the Tokaido. Yeah, that's the Tokaido Line. It's a local train. Oh, we got them on both sides! And the winner is... Yamanote Line! I'm actually on the platform. This is the end of the platform. This is really cool. Here comes another one. The Yamanote Line's going in the other direction. I could just stand here all day. It's such a wonderful place.

13:28 John Daub: Both those trains were crossing at the same time, and the vibrations were shaking. The sound vibrations were shaking the phone. I don't know if you could see that the camera was jittering. That wasn't my hand. That was just from the energy of the trains going by. And when you get those express trains going on the left and the right of you, you really do feel a lot of power. In a way, this could be considered a power spot. Because there's actual power going by you. I know that Meiji Shrine is considered a power spot. There's a stone or an area there that's very exciting. It's the excitement in the air. Absolutely. And this really is a pretty cool spot.

14:10 John Daub: Once again, I'm back in Yurakucho. And for those of you joining right now, I was at that restaurant a couple of weeks ago with the trees there. That also has a really nice long view of the Shinkansen going by. But from this spot, you feel the excitement of trains in Tokyo. This is the platform in Yurakucho. You can see it's a very cool place. It's a very, very long platform. I was here with Amanda just a couple of days ago. But this particular one on the center, the platform goes really long. This one on the right side stops here. But this one goes really long into where the tracks are. And when you have the Shinkansen coming, that's when you... Oh, here it comes again. You get moments like this, which are just so cool. Do you see her? Oh, man, she's beautiful. Wow, that's a thing of beauty, the Shinkansen.

15:17 John Daub: There's things called train otakus. Otaku just means to have a really great passion for things. I am a train otaku, but train otakus have a level. I'm like level maybe 1.5 out of 5. I've seen level 5. It's not a beautiful thing. When you're a train otaku at level 5, you're like off the rails. Like, you really love trains. I'm like 1.5 because I know what 5 is. Actually, 3 is pretty crazy, too. Maybe I'm like a 2, maybe. I don't surround my house with trains or have a train set, for example. But I really, really have a deep appreciation for all the different networks and the different kinds of trains that they have. And you can see a lot of them in Tokyo because Tokyo JR just has so many train lines going on this route. You can see there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. There's 6. I'm standing between 6 rail lines. And on my right side is the Shinkansen train line that goes by. And it's right there. Right there in the middle where the Shinkansen and all of Tokyo's trains going in this direction, they all meet right here at Yurakucho. And that sort of makes the spot really special.

16:28 John Daub: Here we got the Yamanote line going by. Let's see if I can bring you some of the power of this one. You can hear the lines above. Yes! We're in between! This is awesome! This is what I was talking about! And you can see the Yamanote line's really longer. It's so awesome! That was so awesome! A part of me was scared to death. I felt like I was in a dangerous situation. But I'm literally on the platform of the train! That was awesome! I could feel the power of the train on both sides. Oh man! The wind coming by, the momentum of these massive vehicles... That was worth it. So it took us 17 minutes before we got to that situation. But if you wait, you get both the Keihin-Tohoku line and the Yamanote line plowing through! And it's awesome! This is way too cool!

17:59 John Daub: Okay, and here comes the Shinkansen again. Once again, if you like this video, hit the like button. So that helps this video get into the YouTube searches and other videos. So then we get the word out there. But such a beautiful train, the Shinkansen. Oh man. We're live right now at Yurakucho station. I love it when you get trains going left and right. One ear is hearing the Yamanote, the other one is hearing the Nozomi Shinkansen making its way to Osaka via Shinagawa, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto. I know the train line pretty darn well.

19:02 John Daub: Alright everybody, thank you so much for watching this live stream. I'm going to stay here for a little bit longer and just enjoy the trains. Maybe on my own. But it took 17 minutes before we got to the perfect situation. And we brought you from Tokyo station to Yurakucho so we could share this experience together. I think, I don't know if this is an attraction, I just think it's a really cool place. And if you're riding the Yamanote line and you're around here in the neighborhood, just come here for a little bit of time and enjoy. Ah! Check it out! Now she's coming in from a long haul. Where's she been? That's the Nozomi 700. I think she's coming in from Shin-Osaka. Yeah, this came in from Shin-Osaka. So, I'm going to go check it out. Very nice. Man, I love it. This is what I'm talking about. Train Otaku. And then you can just sit here and spot more train lines.

20:06 John Daub: Here comes another one. Usually it's a Tohoku, Tokaido line, which runs from Tokyo station all the way down to Osaka, but it's a local line. This one looks like... This is the Ueno Tokyo line. And this is going to Shinagawa. Here goes the Tokaido line. Hey Matsumi, thank you! Here comes another train. It would be cool if I was right between them. Bring it Yamanote! Awesome! Alexander, it would be way better with a wide angle lens. You're right. Very cool.

21:35 John Daub: So, Sharla asks where I am. I'm in Yurakucho station. And I'm here doing some train spotting. This is one of my favorite spots. I've been coming here for years. Believe it or not. If I had a bad day, or I'm in the area, and I'm feeling relaxed, think of something bigger than myself, you can think of trains. Because they are bigger than me. They're huge! And this platform has the best view in all of Japan, I think, where you can see so many different kinds of trains. It is absolutely massive. Just all of the lines that go through here. It's so cool. Here comes the Keihin-Tohoku line once again. This one's a little bit shorter. This one's not stopping. It's going through. Yeah, that one went through. Wow. Some of them are expresses and some of them are locals. Oh, we got a couple more trains coming. This is awesome. You can feel the rhythm of the city's trains. The longer you stay here, the more you can feel the rhythm of it.

22:56 John Daub: You can see that the schedule is... Right here, that's another one. You can see the green car. You see that? It's a double-decker. And then the Shinkansen whizzes by! Oh man, that's awesome! This is like... This is better than watching golf. Everyone's like a hole-in-one to me. It's like golf. You just sit there, you watch the ball get there. Some skill required. This requires no skill whatsoever. But it's just so much more excitement. I don't know why. It's because I'm a train otaku, maybe.

23:49 John Daub: Well, I hope you enjoyed this. Thanks for the super chats. I am going to use that to get a coffee, I think. After this, I probably need a drink instead because this is really super cool. When you're standing between two trains and you have that feeling like WHOA! I have to say on the camera, I was like WHOA! This is like my face as both the trains are going on the left and the right of me. It's so worth it. If you are in the area, do just make a small stop. You don't have to stay very long, but just stay here long enough to just experience a couple of trains buzz by and it doesn't have to be the Shinkansen buzzing, but my gosh, when you have the Yamanote and the Keihin Tohoku at the same time going in the same direction, it'd be cool if they're going in different directions, but Yurakucho Station, they're all going this way. Yurakucho Station, you can see right here, this is the one going in the opposite direction towards Tokyo Station. These trains that I'm showing you are going towards Shinagawa. The next stop would be Shimbashi then eventually to Shinagawa. And at Shinagawa, the Keihin Tohoku line goes towards Yokohama and the Yamanote line spins this way and goes towards Ebisu and Shibuya and then Shinjuku. Because, you know, the Yamanote line it's a circle line, okay? It goes around the city. It's a pretty cool line.

25:09 John Daub: So every now and then there's a dead period like this. This is a good place. You know what? I'm going to wait for one more train and that's how we're going to say goodbye. That's what we'll do. Here comes the Yamanote line coming the other way. You can see here this is a new one. It's got all green in the front, you see? That's a cool one. This is a new Yamanote line. Nice! And the Shinkansen on the right, Yamanote on the left. Love it! Alright, see ya everybody!