00:00:07 John Daub: Welcome to Tokyo Station. This is the Nihonbashi entrance or exit to Tokyo Station. It's not one that a lot of people go to. They always go through the central exit or the central entrance. But this one is the Nihonbashi one and it's the one that I always take because it has the least amount of people. Hey everybody. So in this guide I'm going to take you through Tokyo Station from one side which is the Yaesu side to the other side which is the Marunouchi side. And in this video I hope it's helpful for everybody who's coming for the first time to Tokyo Station.

00:00:37 John Daub: I know the first time I came to Tokyo Station I was really overwhelmed actually because it's just so big. It was hard for me 20 years ago to get from one side of the station to the other side of the station. But with this maybe it's a little bit easier. There's actually a shortcut which takes you to the station and I'm going to give you some insight into this. So let's go inside Tokyo Station right now and explore one of Japan's biggest train stations. Now Tokyo Station has undergone a lot of renovations. And I think it was about a hundred years ago a little bit over a hundred years ago that Tokyo Station first opened. The Marunouchi side's architecture is something that you can really get a sense of its history. That's been renovated as well so it looks really beautiful.

00:01:08 John Daub: But I always enter on the side of Tokyo Station which is the Nihonbashi side which is where I just came in. Now the Nihonbashi side is really nice because it takes you straight to the Shinkansen platform. It's the first sign that you see. You bypass all of the local trains and go straight to the Shinkansen because it's got its own entrance and it's literally right there. You can see where the gates are. So if you're in a hurry and you're in a taxi tell them to go to the Nihonbashi side of Tokyo Station and you'll probably get into the train a little bit faster. That's a shortcut. You can also get tickets here. There's also places for you to get the express tickets.

00:05:32 John Daub: Cats and things like this that's all down in the basement you can get them up here but I think the basement has more variety there's also a lot of lockers. You can see these coin lockers I'm going to show you how this works really quickly so the little pricey this small one somebody's already taken it there's only one small one this is about four dollars and these a little bit bigger that's about five dollars they're all taken they get more the price to the bigger they are. The locker system comes in English which is be convenient you push this it gives you a really obnoxious English voice which is embarrassing so everybody knows that you're not from around here no vacancy take out your luggage so right now there's no available lockers.

00:06:22 John Daub: But how to use the lockers you can push the button you can use a Suica or an IC card to just touch it and pay digitally which is really cool but you also get a key number and that key number you want to hold on to and present the key number and then it'll open up the lockers right now they're all free and you can see that the lockers are all full in that one now these are all full too this one's available and yeah just a run-of-the-mill everyday typical locker. When you lock it you pull this down and then you can go and pay you pay with this one here and this is the sensor for the Suica you just touch your digital card here and boom you've paid very convenient very easy.

00:07:11 John Daub: There's a secret door you see that secret door everybody this secret door is the only one that's located out the other side of Tokyo Station and the other side of Tokyo Station and this door leads towards this building and to this side the Tokyo Station so over here is the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station if you don't need to go out of the central exit that secret door has been there for years and it's very useful locals know about this so let's follow this lady in alright we're gonna make our way to the central exit of Yaesu and then walk through that north passageway going towards the Marunouchi side so thanks for joining me everybody thank you everybody. This is kind of a fun adventure.

00:07:59 John Daub: We had an earthquake. There's Daimaru Department Store. That's where I buy a lot of my Patreon gifts for the Daimyo class of supporters. Loads and loads of really unique locally made gifts and cakes and cookies and senbei. And I'm there all the time looking for new stuff to buy people. There's a huge line for something called the New York Sando. I don't know why people wait in line for this. But it's a confection that people really seem to love. And they wait for about 45 minutes for it every single day. I really don't know why. It's just a cookie to me.

00:08:39 John Daub: Now, this morning, just something to report to you. This morning, Osaka had an earthquake. It was like a magnitude 6. It was a pretty strong earthquake, actually. There was a lot of damage. Some schools lost windows and some things collapsed. Most people were okay. We're still kind of assessing it. There's been some delays. So we had just about 30 minutes ago, a ton of people just waiting here for the Shinkansen trains. And it seems like that pressure, the stress from not having a train has sort of dissipated. Everybody's been able to get on the trains now. But they were assessing the integrity of the tracks just to make sure that the Shinkansen could roll through safely. And that was pretty good that they do that. But it only took them a few hours to check it. They did check everything, make sure it was okay. And now the Shinkansen is running again. So very strong earthquake in Osaka this morning. All of my friends in Osaka are okay. So that's always good. And if there's any updates on that, I'll let you know.

00:09:43 John Daub: Once again, Daimaru. This is one of the entrances to the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station. And if you've been to Tokyo before, you probably have walked through this entrance or exit. It's quite popular. Since the Daimaru department store opened a few years ago. This whole side of Tokyo Station has gotten really nice. You can see in the window here, they're selling this summer fashion for the yukata (light cotton kimono). Little bit of sake. I like that color. Very nice. Summer means yukata. Yukata means fireworks. Japan has some of the best summer fireworks in the world. And it's like every week every weekend, there's a big hanabi taikai (fireworks display) somewhere.

00:10:36 John Daub: Alright, here's the entrance. The Yaesu central entrance. And Tokyo Station, if you haven't been here for a few years, has really undergone... Oh, there he is. Hey, brother. Alright. So, I want to go through here. The central entrance to Tokyo Station. I'll talk to you later. There he is. Soham. I'll catch up with him a little bit later. Alright. So, over here... It's just totally been redone.

00:11:16 John Daub: Now, I take buses a lot in Tokyo because I know how this system works. So, if you have a one-day pass from the Toei subway system, there's two subway systems in Tokyo. One of them is the metro. The other one is Toei. And if you have a one-day pass for Toei, you have the capability to ride all around Tokyo for free for one day on all the buses. And all the buses depart from right there. And the Toei buses as well. Which means that it's just really convenient if you learn about the buses. We're not going to do that on this livestream. But we are going to explore a little bit more of Tokyo Station. This is the Yaesu Central entrance. And we're going to go inside right now and make our way over towards the Marunouchi side.

00:12:01 John Daub: So, from this side, there's the Shinkansen platform again. But you have to go through the local trains in order to get there. That's why I prefer the Nihonbashi side. Alright. Welcome to Tokyo Station. Again. So right there's the entrances. Now, if you have a ticket or a JR pass, you can go straight through the other side just by showing them your pass. They'll allow you to go into the station.

00:12:36 John Daub: Are you lost, sir? No. Are you from Only in Japan? Yes, I am. Pleasure to meet you. Nice to meet you, sir. Sorry for interrupting you. Not at all. I love your videos. It's amazing. Where are you from? Holland. Holland? Yeah. How long are you here for? Ten days. I'm here for my dad. Oh. Hey, dad. Now you're on the show. Yeah. I'm sorry. It's alright. No. I heard you. I was like, hey, wait a minute. I watched a lot of your videos. Oh. So you knew the voice? Yeah. Wow. I watched you like six, three years ago. For the first time I went to Tokyo. Oh, great. I was like, wait a minute. I know the voice. Yeah. That's my voice. Yeah. Am I that loud? No. You're that memorable.

00:13:17 John Daub: Are you taking the train today somewhere? No. I'm just walking around. Is that why you're here? Because I know there was a lot of delays because of the earthquake in Osaka. Yeah. No. We're currently just walking around. I want to show my dad around Tokyo. Oh, cool. It's my first time here, so I'll get about where to go. It's hard to make your way around the station, I think. It's pretty big. Yeah. This one is really big. Well, Shinjuku Station's pretty big, too. Oh, we're currently... We are in Shinjuku. It's also during rush hours. Shinjuku's bad. Shinjuku's bad. Yeah. That's really bad. Try taking the train in the morning at 7 a.m. Yeah. That's fun. You can squeeze in there. Yeah. Well, it was really nice to meet you. Thank you so much for everything. Have a good trip. Yeah. Nice to meet you. Have fun. Have fun. Oh, that's very cool. Very nice. They're from Holland. And if you do see me, you got to come and say hi. That's just so awesome. So thanks, guys. Thanks for saying hi. Have a good trip. So now you're part of the show.

00:14:20 John Daub: So, back to it. Soham is over there waiting, but I want to keep this live stream based on this, so maybe I'll catch up with him a little bit later. There's lots of places where you can get lunch. You can see people are eating bowls of soup. You can have what we call like that last ramen. You can get that here in Tokyo Station. Get one more for the road. So once again, for those of you who are joining us, we're on the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station, and now we're going to be making our way to the Marunouchi side via shortcut. So those of you who are making the trip this summer to come to Japan, this is sort of what you can expect inside of the station.

00:15:12 John Daub: Now the Marunouchi side, if you do have a JR pass, just some random tidbits. If you do have a JR pass, you have to go to the Marunouchi side to validate it. Or you can validate it in other places, but that's the best place to do it. Right here, you can see up here without getting lost is the path to Marunouchi side. That's where you want to go. This is the only way to get to the other side without a ticket. Or go outside and run. You can walk around, but that takes you even more time. And if it's raining, you don't want to do that.

00:15:47 John Daub: Oh, I got to show you this. Every time I walk through Tokyo Station, I just come and look at this for 30 seconds. It's therapeutic. I promise. Check it out. Wow. I think it's caramel. I can just look at this all day. It starts here at the top of the tower, and it just falls gracefully into a vat. Look at that. All right, that's all I wanted to show you. I guess it comes with this salt caramel roll, which actually looks really good. Oishisou (looks delicious). All right. It's true. I'm very easily distracted. I think I might get that for dessert tonight. I'm surprised there's no people there waiting to buy any of it. Sometimes these desserts sell out. So by 5 p.m., they could be out of something that you really want.

00:16:53 John Daub: Right here, you can see an advertisement for the Tokyo Banana. Wow. That's also a very famous confection here in the city of Tokyo. Probably the most famous one, the Tokyo Banana. You can see they're sold just about everywhere. Oh, this one's got like flowers on it. Check it out. Hey, Mouyuki. Thank you. They have like a patterned flower on top of these cakes. And inside is like a banana cream filling, which is really good. Only in banana is more banana. I saw that chat coming in here. All right. Up these escalators are more restaurants. There's a ton of really nice restaurants in Tokyo Station. So if you're looking for a good Japanese meal with English menus and places that you want to eat on really quickly, I really recommend Tokyo Station because it's just easy. You can see all of these are just restaurants. You can even get them takeout. Of course, you can get eki-ben (station bento) inside of the station, which is the episode that I showed you on Japanese sandwiches. You could see inside of the station a ton of available eki-ben shops. But also inside the station, there's tons of options. You don't have to be inside of the ticket area.

00:18:25 John Daub: NewDays is a convenience store that's I think it's run by JR. But they have these. Let me see if I can find it real quickly. Yeah, you see right there these onigiri (rice balls). Yeah. These right there, like they look like sandwiches and NewDays sells those. They're really good. So now this is the pathway that goes to Marunouchi and it starts to get a little bit deeper. But they're pretty smart. They started to sell like desserts and fruits and you see some. There's a Chiba melon for $30. There's a Miyazaki mango for $120 for that one mango. Now that's a mango. Oh look, and there's my friend the square watermelon. You see that available in Tokyo Station. You have to go take the pathway to Marunouchi to see it. And here is the Godzilla's egg. If you don't know what that is, this watermelon is mammoth. It's pretty big for Japan and it's got actually the label that says Godzilla's egg. Godzilla's tamago (Godzilla's egg). Do you see that? And there's a sticker logo of Godzilla and the city of Tokyo. It's super cool. It's also super expensive. It's like a few hundred. I think it was $200 the last time I checked.

00:19:56 John Daub: Now clearly you can see we're going to the Marunouchi north exit. And if you're a JR pass holder, that's important for you to know because that's where you would go to get it validated. And if you're not a JR pass holder and you're just a resident of Japan like me, this is where you can buy the JR Kanto pass. Which allows you to use the Shinkansen unlimited for three days. You don't need to be a tourist. And that's the pass that I've used a couple of times, including on the Japanese sake vending machine episode. So on the walls, there's more advertisements on food locations, places where you can travel in Japan. I'm going to be doing another episode on this that you see this yellow line. We're kind of right now underneath all of the tracks. You can hear the trains rolling by above. Now we've reached the Marunouchi north entrance. So we make a left turn and then we're pretty much there.

00:21:04 John Daub: Now the Yaesu entrance, the Yaesu exit is newer. It's more modern. You're going to see right away as we make our way right now into the north tower of the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station, the history. You can already see the floor has changed, the tiles. And we're going to look up. And you can see it's just really beautiful. And it's been preserved and renovated. Renovated and preserved. I don't know in which order. There's a net to keep the pigeons out of it. But the Marunouchi side of Tokyo is the historical side. And that's one of the names that you should probably remember. Marunouchi and Yaesu. Y-A-E-S-U. Yaesu.

00:22:01 John Daub: Now another reason why I wanted to bring you to the north entrance. Was because right here. This is where the JR East Travel Services is. And if you're a foreign tourist who cannot speak Japanese. This is the most painless way for you to validate your pass. Or to buy a pass. I believe you can buy passes inside of Japan now. This is where you want to go. Because everything here is in English. Except for maybe this sign. That sign is not in English. But everything else is here. You can see they have really laid out the interior of this place. Let's just have a quick look around. This is where you would validate your pass. And the train times and the times that depart are in English as well. Well at least in Roman letters. This one is going to Kanazawa. And you can see the 224 train. Everything is available. That means that you can get seats on all of these. To all of these stops. Whether it's Takasaki, Nagano, Toyama. It's all available right now on the 224 train. So it's pretty convenient. Just to stop in here. And to grab some of the maps. There's lots of information. Like the Tokyo Metropolitan District Pass. The Tokunai Pass. That's kind of cheap. That's only JR I believe. Here's some recommended tickets for sightseeing in Eastern Japan.

00:23:41 John Daub: A lot of this stuff is news to me. Because it's always changing. The Tokyo One Day Pass. Has everything. You can see right there the Tokyo Metro. Toei Subway. Street Car. The Nippori. There's last three. There's last two I haven't really ridden. And the Toei bus I was telling you about earlier. It's very convenient to know that one. Yeah. So all this stuff is in English. Very cool. And I think you can get maps. Oh yeah yeah. Check this out. Check it out. It's all in English. This is cool. I'm gonna take one of these. This is really convenient. Okay. I'll come back. Sorry I just completely destroyed their office. I'm sorry. I'm sorry people. I'm sorry. That's what it looks like inside here. There you go.

00:24:40 John Daub: Alright. Tada. Alright. Marunouchi side. Now we're on the back side. Like if you're playing golf. This would be the back nine. Up there you can see what Marunouchi looks like. Now they did a beautiful. When they reopened this side after the renovations. Or was it before the renovations? They did this beautiful like laser. Laser show. I forget projection. Mapping projection. On top of the facade. Which is just absolutely stunning. And I think you can see videos on YouTube. About it. That was about five years ago. I remember sitting outside. Watching Tokyo Station. Historical exterior of this Marunouchi side. Like come to life with the projection mapping video. Just very cool.

00:25:32 John Daub: Alright. Here we are. On the Marunouchi side. Very cool. And this side has a totally different vibe. As the Yaesu side. Lots of tall buildings. There's the Marubiru and the Shin-Marubiru. These are the two that just sort of dominate. And I usually. I've shown the Tokyo Station. This area. Up there. There's a place that you can stand and take a look back. And an awesome view of this entire area. But let me take. Let me just walk out a little bit. And I can look back at the station. Before we end this live stream. Hello. It's you. Holy crap. Is it? Holy crap. What's your name? My name's Halada. Halada. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. I'm sorry for interrupting your stream. Oh it's okay. Have a nice trip. You too. It's really me. I am who I am.

00:26:33 John Daub: Alright. So I'm just gonna walk a little bit out here. And then we'll be able to look back at Tokyo Station. Very cool. Now since they finished the renovations to this side of Tokyo Station. It's really become a lot more relaxing and easier to get around. They had like huge walls and barriers and construction. It was really loud. And it wasn't just until this year that it became so nice. I mean I'll show you in a second when we get out there. Straight ahead is the Imperial Palace. That's where the Emperor lives. Which is why it's called the Imperial Palace. Which is why I think we give a lot of respect. Oh there's the Hato Bus. Look at all the tourists on that thing. Hello kitty. I've never ridden the Hato Bus. And I'm thinking that I might do. Hey let's go say hi to everybody. Let's go say hi to everybody. Okay. Hello take my picture. Hello. No one's waving. Oh hello lady. Yay. No. Alright there was one lady waved at me. These are some serious tourists. Bye kitty-chan. Alright now we got a beautiful shot. Looking back at Tokyo Station. Check it out. This is the Marunouchi side. It's absolutely worth the stop just to check out the history of it.

00:28:26 John Daub: One of my favorite baseball players is Babe Ruth. As a kid I remember following pictures of Babe Ruth. And studying his career. And going wow 714 home runs. And all the cool things. He really loved hanging out with kids. And signing autographs late into the day. And I learned a lot from him. There's a picture of him when Babe Ruth came to Tokyo in 1936. Or was it 1934? One of those two years. Babe Ruth made the trip cross Pacific on a boat to come to Tokyo. To come to Japan. And he came here on a mission to promote Major League Baseball to Japan. And the sport of baseball now. I would say even though sumo is quite big. The national sport of Japan is probably in people's hearts like baseball. Right? Just like maybe American football or basketball is the sport of the United States. Although you know it's baseball. But here in Japan it is baseball. And Babe Ruth was one of the people who. Probably the person who helped make the sport just explode here. And that happened in the 1930s believe it or not. People started to pick up baseball bats and gloves and start to play. It was because of Babe Ruth's efforts. And there's a famous picture of Babe Ruth in a convertible car driving through here. And in the background you can see this. It hasn't changed. Maybe it's a little bit cleaner. But it hasn't really changed much since the 1930s. And before when it was built over 100 years ago. It's a beautiful station.

00:29:51 John Daub: Over there is the international post office. Now this post office is open 24 hours a day. I believe they have a window that's open. It's a service window. So if you need to send something anywhere in Japan or abroad. You can take the box over there. They'll weigh it and ship it for you. So. That's how you know where that is. I think there's a couple of places in Tokyo. But that one is especially convenient. Because. Yeah there's been times I've been in a pinch. And I needed to get a stamp mark on it in time. I run out here to this post office. Because it's the best. It's the best one that's open all the time. And there's so many windows that are open. You don't really have to wait a long time to get anything done.

00:30:31 John Daub: This station has a north and a south. Now the south entrance is right over there. And if you want to do that. You have to get around Tokyo Station. Without taking that shortcut that we went through. You have to walk around the ends. So you have to go about 500 meters this way. And then you can walk around. But there's a lot. There's a traffic light. There's a lot of things that make obstacles that make it slower. And if you want to walk around the station this way. You can walk via Nihonbashi. Go around. It's about 700 meters or so. And then you can come back in through the entrance that we started this live stream at. 30 minutes. I was going to do this in 30 minutes or less. But we're at 31 minutes. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped to watch that caramel dripping. If I didn't look at that caramel dripping. Maybe I would have made it in 30 minutes or less. Awesome. So there you have it. That's Tokyo Station in 30 minutes or less.

00:31:32 John Daub: If you have a ticket. Once again. For those who are joining us. If you have a ticket. And you want to get through really quickly. You can also just show the station staff at the ticket entrance. Your ticket. You can walk straight through. Show the ticket when you get out. And you can go directly from the north entrance of Yaesu to the north exit of Marunouchi and vice versa. As well as the south entrance and south exit. Just going straight through. If you don't have a ticket. And you don't want to use your ticket. Like I just did. You can walk through. Through the north side of Marunouchi and Yaesu. The pathway is pretty convenient. Yeah. Do you have any questions? This is the time for everybody who's been leaving comments. I will answer questions for a few minutes. Anything about Tokyo Station or the city of Tokyo.

00:32:16 John Daub: Who doesn't like caramel dripping? Barry Barton. Yes. I love caramel dripping. That's why I kind of stopped there for a minute. Hello from France. Anything? Anything? Did you feel the earthquake? No. Me and my wife. We did not feel the earthquake this morning. But her sister told me she did. So it did hit Tokyo. But it was very light. When's the next channel video? If you watch Instagram tonight, you might see a preview of it. It's just about done. I just have to put the narration in. Do you get lost inside of Tokyo Station? Not anymore. I can get through it pretty good. You can blindfold me. Put me somewhere inside the station. And I'll be able to navigate my way out. I'm pretty sure I could do that. That could be a challenge.

00:33:07 John Daub: Why are you so awesome? Bakatako. I remember Bakatako. You gave us some helpful information the other day. So thank you for that. You should go shop at Beams. Yes, I have. I actually looked for suits there for the wedding party. They're a little bit out of my price range. But it's a very nice store. I missed the caramel dripping. Go back to the playback and watch it. I think it was about 15 minutes ago. Totally worth it. Sauna don't have geisha. True story. But Soap Lands, which somebody told me about. Apparently have women that bathe the men. And they still exist today. A friend of mine said there's a place in Mie Prefecture. An island that's separated. And they have this weird soap land. I don't know if I'm going to make an episode out of it. But I get a lot of information like this.

00:34:03 John Daub: Which is better, JR Pass or Suica? Moayuki, this is a really good question. Suica is totally different than a JR Pass. Suica is... It's something that you put money on. It's like cash. And you can spend it by touching it. A JR Pass is a ticket to freely use the trains for an unlimited amount of time. For a limited amount of time. So you can get a one-week pass or a two-week pass. Or I think there's a three-week pass. It just depends on what you want to do. This is a great question. So the JR Pass, I think, is a virtual... It's a bargain. Every single person who is in Japan, living here as a resident, wants one. Because it pays for itself. If you're doing a couple of trips, for me, making YouTube videos, to go to Osaka and back one time costs the same as one week unlimited use on the Shinkansen. I'm just putting it out there. If you're in doubt, and you're going to use the train just a little bit, get the JR Pass. If you're intending to go from Tokyo to Kyoto and maybe do one more trip, it pays for itself. And it pays for itself inside of the city of Tokyo because the time that you're here, if it's activated, you can use the ticket for JR trains locally. So there's that too.

00:35:19 John Daub: Aren't soap lands dodgy massage shops? They're not shops. They're like just baths that you go into and women bathe men. And they still exist in Japan today. I don't want to get too much into it. I've never been to one. I've always been... I always have like lines. There's certain lines in life that you don't cross or you can't go back to. One of them is like killing a person. Once you become a killer, you don't go back. Once you go to a soap land, you can't go back from that. There's a line. I will not be going to a soap land ever or else if I do, there's a line that says, then the next time it's no big deal. I've already been there already. So I'm not going to be going to a soap land. But I know about the culture. I've met a lot of people and been drinking with a lot of old salary guys who tried to get me to go to one. And I'm like, that's one of those lines, man. I'll go to the hostess club because it's part of business, but I'm not going to a soap land to get bathed by some random chick. So, random woman, I'm sorry. It's not going to happen. I got lines. Although maybe you don't. Maybe you're watching this.

00:36:28 John Daub: These are some good questions. Speaking... I am not... Nosh. No, I'm not speaking from experience. I have never been. Do you know many Brazilians in Japan? Marcos, that's a very interesting question. I used to live in a place called Toyohashi. Toyohashi is in Aichi-ken. I lived there for about three months. And I lived in Okazaki for over a year, which is next door in Aichi-ken. And they have a very big Brazilian population because a lot of Brazilians came over after World War II and a little bit after to help work in the factories. And now that those factory jobs, some of them are done, now they just have families. They've all married. And Toyohashi has a very nice vibe. I was there during the 2002 World Cup. When Japan had the World Cup with Korea in 2002. And I lived in Toyohashi. And I got to tell you, that was the best place in the country to watch games on TV. I know a lot of people are watching the World Cup now. Congratulations to Mexico. Germany is probably not too happy about that. But back then, Brazil won the World Cup. And it was like the best place to be in Tokyo, Toyohashi. So I actually, all the Brazilian friends that I had down there have actually either gone back to Brazil or just lost touch. We didn't have Facebook in 2002.

00:37:43 John Daub: What about Hokkaido and Akita to possibly Gunma? The press is writing, do you mean with the JR pass? Yeah, I mean you could take that. I'm not sure what you mean. Big earthquake in Nara. I'm not sure where the epicenter was, Pozo, but I know that Osaka was very, was affected by it. Do you have to tip in Japan? Photo look Hawaii? Have you been to, did you just come back? I know you're coming to Japan soon, I think. You don't have to tip in Japan. Tipping is absolutely discouraged. Don't do it. It's, I think I've discussed this before in another live stream, but if you tip, try to tip people, some people get angry because it's number one, culturally, it makes no sense to tip in Japan. People don't need, they're getting paid enough for the job that they're doing. To give them extra money is condescending. It's looking down on them because you think that they're just a taxi driver. You have to give them money from your pocket. People are not appreciative of people. They're not going to tip. It's just not that kind of a culture. And you don't want to ruin the culture anyways. If you start tipping, then people, then the next foreigner who comes and takes a taxi has to tip or else the taxi driver gets upset. Just stick with the way that things are done here in Japan. You don't have to tip anybody. For restaurants, the service charge is already in it. People are paid pretty decently for restaurant jobs and if they don't want to do that job, they just find something else. Usually, they're people who are working at home. Younger people are living with their parents so they don't have very high living costs. People are living with their parents into their 30s these days. So, you know, yeah, don't tip. When in Rome? Exactly, Tim. Tim said it. When in Rome.

00:39:22 John Daub: Can we meet up with you when we go to Japan in August? I might be doing a meetup. You know, I can't keep up with meeting people. I'm like, I'm really, really honored when people send me an email and say, John, can you, I'm in Tokyo now. Can I buy you a drink or buy you lunch? I really want to do it and I've been trying to do it to meet with as many people who come like Soham. Sosham. And he found me by watching the video. He's hardcore, man. He took a ferry. He's been sending me messages. He took a ferry like two days ago to go to Tokushima. It's like 16 hours. And then he was there for like half a day and he came back. I'm like, what are you doing in Tokyo? You showed me two days ago a ticket that you were going to by ferry to Tokushima. So he went to Tokushima. He rode the ferry, watched, looked like Tokushima. Hopefully he ate some of the really delicious chicken. And then he came back and he's back here already. Crazy. He's probably around here right now. If you see him, let me know. That's pretty crazy. He's like tapping me on the shoulder.

00:40:28 John Daub: All right. So, questions. Yeah. I got a lot on my mind. I'm right now editing the main channel episode. I came out here to look for packages for the Daimyo supporters on Patreon. Every month I send them a package from somewhere in Japan this month. I'm still in Tokyo. So found something that's pretty neat in the Daimaru. That's where I've been sending the packages for the last couple of months. But that's one of the reasons why I'm here. The weather is in the middle of the rainy season right now. June is not a good month to be in Japan unless you like rain and clouds. And you can see up there the sky. It's raining right now. It's very light. It's been raining on and off for the last few days. And the temperature has dipped where I need kind of like a sweater. So it's not exactly...

00:41:18 John Daub: Yes. He's very passionate, Pozo. Do you like Shinagawa Station? Like, like it? I don't know. I have no feelings. I have no feelings about Shinagawa Station. I got lost in Shinagawa Station. I don't know Shinagawa Station. I know Tokyo Station better. So, Shinagawa might be in my top 20. I don't know. It's not a bad station. They have a... They had the first Dean & DeLuca Cafe. It was like, Hey, I like that cafe. And now they got them all over the place. So I don't need to go to Shinagawa Station. Actually, most foreign residents of Japan hate Shinagawa Station because it's the portal to the immigration's office. And I don't know any foreign resident who likes to go to the immigration office ever. And it's like you waste half a day there. And I've been there many, many times. And when you say Shinagawa Station, most foreign residents just cringe. They go, So, no. It's not a beautiful place. And not a beautiful image. Not like this, anyways.

00:42:20 John Daub: What is the clothing style there? I don't know. Just look at the people. If you're a guard, your clothing style is this. Pants a little bit too high, which makes it easier to walk. I don't know. People are wearing cool biz right now. Right now, more jackets are out. But typically, people don't wear jackets. You can see, just basic. You know, nothing special. What station is this? You can tell who's joining us late. Did you see the title? This is Tokyo Station. This is the Marunouchi side. The other side is the Yaesu side. Alright, I'll take a couple more questions. This must be useful for you guys. So you have to ask questions. Can you hang out just in front of Marunouchi? I guess so. I'm hanging out there right now. Someone taking your picture. No, they're just taking pictures of the station.

00:43:20 John Daub: Where will I find foreign-friendly gym for pilates classes? Actually, Kanae teaches pilates. I don't know if she still does it. I think she teaches in Yokohama. I don't know if she'll give you a lesson, though. English-friendly pilates classes. I think if you're just about anywhere in the center of Tokyo, you should be able to do it. My friend has a place that he does really good. I don't know if it's still running, but I think he called it... It's in Omotesando, between Shibuya and Omotesando. I think it was called... I can't remember the name of the place. If I remember it, I'll put it in the description. It's on Katusando-dori (street), on the second floor. He used to be, I think, a Lehman Brothers trader. We all know what happened to Lehman Brothers in 2008. Now he does yoga and teaches yoga. Smart man. And pilates, I believe. My wife, Kanae, she also teaches yoga and pilates. She has a pilates license to teach it.

00:44:28 John Daub: You never went to honeymoon, Reverend900. These questions are about me. They're supposed to be about Tokyo Station. We're going on honeymoon this week. You're not going to see any live streams from Japan for about 10 days at the end of this week. Jordan, thank you. Thanks for distracting me from work. You're very welcome. I can do this all day, although I can't because I have to go back and edit the rest of the video. Some of the questions are just weird. Tuotaku, yes they are. Is Tokyo Station your best choice? What do you mean? I didn't really choose it. It kind of chose me. Tokyo Station is one of the most important stations, if not the most important station in Japan, or in Tokyo at least, because this is where the Shinkansen originates. This is where a lot of the train lines originate. And the reason why you want to get on the train at Tokyo Station is because if you want a seat, you want to start at the originating, the origin of the train. So you can almost always get a seat if you get on the train at Tokyo Station. If you get in at Yokohama or Shinagawa, you might not get a seat. It just depends on the time that you get on the train.

00:45:34 John Daub: Do you have a little Asian in you? There's nothing little about my Indian heritage, my friend. One billion people would say that that's the bigger side of me. I'm just saying. Yes, I'm half Indian. Hello from Union Square. Oh, okay. Hey, Anil, yeah. I'm doing another meetup. By the way, did you say hi to my mom and dad, Dulce and Daniel? Hey, Dulce and Daniel. Can you tell me something about your next education? And do you have ideas for many episodes? Yes, bad English, Rex. The next episode, Kevin and I, Kevin Riley, are in Osaka eating okonomiyaki (savory pancake). And you're going to find that out if you watch Instagram. In fact, if you're a follower on Instagram, you probably already know. Can you do the Indian head shake? I guess that's what you mean. I remember when my uncle did it, I was like, what's wrong with him? Does he know the answer? Is that a yes or no? He just goes like that.

00:46:42 John Daub: Where can I get the best bentos from Ueno Station? I don't know. You look at the window and you can find it. There's no one place in particular. You go by how you feel. If you want halal bentos, that might be more difficult. If you want a sandwich, you just get a sandwich. There must be at least two dozen bento shops inside of the station. There's not one in particular that's any good. But there's an eki-ben shop. Places from all over Japan have come and brought the bentos to this one shop. Not all of them, but a lot of the bentos are there. You can buy what you want from there. It's pretty cool. When are you going to buy a car? First, I want to rent a car. Then eventually we'll buy it. Maybe next year. I'm not that rich where I can pay for the parking in Tokyo. It's not worth it. I don't drive enough to warrant buying a car. I would have to move outside of the city. I would have to go to the city of Tokyo to do that.

00:47:43 John Daub: Tourist bus drivers speak English. Tourist buses, maybe. But usually for the tourist bus, there's a guide who will speak English. What car would you buy? I'm at a train station, dang diggity. Why are we talking about cars? You and Peter should go to a Japanese game show. What? Okay. Can you do a video on halal food places? I wanted to do one on halal ramen. I might do that when I come back in July. A lot of people... And the reason why is because a lot of people have been asking for it. So keep asking. If I haven't done an episode that you're interested in, keep asking me because it does make a difference. I think it's good to do that. We walked by a lot of people who are on specialized diets, especially halal food. There was... You can tell because they wear headscarves. A lot of the ladies that were on the Yaesu side, they're from Malaysia, most of them. Most of those people, Malaysia, Indonesia. And I've had people stop me. They'd come and say hi and then they'll ask me, do you know where I can find good halal food? I said, I don't know. So that's something that I got to look into because that's sort of what I do.

00:48:56 John Daub: Nosh was asking which is easier to navigate, Tokyo Station or Shinjuku Station? Tokyo Station. Tokyo Station. I think Tokyo Station, it's easier to go from entrance to train. Shinjuku Station is so large, with lots of shops, it's easy to get lost. A lot of Shinjuku Station is underground. Whereas Tokyo Station is mostly above ground. And that makes it a lot easier for you to get your bearings. Tokyo Station is a little bit newer because it's been renovated. So all of the signs are in English. You can find all that information pretty much... a lot easier than you can in Shinjuku Station. The problem with Shinjuku Station is, once again, like it's underground. You don't have any vantage points. And to make it even harder for locals, well, we kind of know where to go by sense. Left and right, left, left, left. But a lot of these shops will change. So something that would be a landmark two years ago is probably another business right now. So that also makes it like, well, I don't remember this cafe being here. It used to be a Starbucks. Now it's a 7-Eleven. That has happened to me so many times. And I've gotten lost because I'd be like, that doesn't make sense. Businesses don't change that much in Japan, do they? But they do. So Shinjuku, by far, is more difficult to navigate. The more I think about it, the more times I can say I've been lost in Shinjuku Station. Because it's not just Shinjuku Station. The underground connects between Shinjuku Station and Shinjuku Sanchome Station. And that's like a kilometer and a half away. It feels like, anyways. So it's pretty darn big.

00:50:31 John Daub: I do love up here, sorry, the trees up on the platform of the Shin-Marubiru Building. It's pretty cool, huh? I've been up on that deck. This is where I did the 360 question and answer. Two years ago on the Only in Japan Main Channel. I started up here. Which is very cool. Alright, everybody. I did hear about the earthquake today. I'm hoping and praying that everybody is okay in Osaka. My friends are okay. I haven't heard from Kevin Riley yet. But everybody that I've talked to so far, my friends there are pretty good. So thanks everybody for everybody, every man who has some weird questions. Thank you everybody for watching this episode. I hope it's useful. I'm trying to make more of these videos that make it easier for you to acclimatize. I don't know what's the word. To get used to the area. So when you do come to Tokyo, and you do come to Tokyo Station in particular, you're going to be able to navigate your way a little bit better by watching this. Thanks for the questions not having to do with anything with this livestream. And I will see you all again later. I'm going to end the last 20 seconds just looking in at Marunouchi. Have a great day or night, everybody. Main episode, Main Channel episode coming up. Coming online, I believe tonight.