00:00:10 John Daub: Good evening everybody. There's just something about the summer heat and a man on the prowl for dessert. It just makes you want to find one of those pudding cake sandwiches and devour it like a monster. This is how zombies feel in that show The Walking Dead when they're on the prowl. They're looking for something to eat, then they just pounce on it and devour it. Well, that's what this Midnight Snack series is all about and I'm on the prowl right now. I'm in a totally different neighborhood looking for something to eat and I think I found what I'm looking for.

00:00:55 John Daub: There's a famous place called FamilyMart. Maybe you've heard about it. It's a convenience store in Japan. Now these FamilyMarts seem to be all over the country and they have this unusual food. It's called the pudding cake sandwich. It's got some pudding in the middle of a beautiful, delicate, very soft cake and they've made it where you can hold it in your hand. It's just beautiful and you take a bite into it. I've heard that your teeth penetrate the cake and it just bites into that pudding after that—very little tension in the cake and just all heaven breaks loose. And that's what I'm looking for right now on a Midnight Snack run.

00:01:46 John Daub: Alright, after about two minutes of that, I'm going to break down. I'm not a zombie, guys. Don't be scared of me. I'm just a human being. And I'm here in this neighborhood here in central Tokyo and I'm about to go into a FamilyMart. I'm going to have to go commando, meaning I'm going to take it off of the gimbal and off of the light and I'm going to take you inside a FamilyMart just for a minute to buy this wonderful cake. Now, listen up everybody. I don't know for sure that it's going to be available. There's a chance that it's sold out. It's very popular. If you look at the thumbnail, it says "as seen on TV." Whenever they put that, people just go crazy for it and it's gone. But if I can find it, we're going to have a feast.

00:02:36 John Daub: Also, tomorrow is a very special livestream. Actually, today is 20 years that I've been living here in Japan. 20 years, that's two decades. That's a long time and it feels not that long, believe it or not. You know, I'm 44 years old and the first 20 years of my life seemed to take forever. From when I was a kid to 20 years to finish up college it seemed to take forever and the last 20 years of being here in Japan as an expat it seemed to be just like yesterday. It's amazing how time just flies.

00:03:10 John Daub: And the funny thing is—and I'm gonna tell you this because just in case you guys don't see the livestream tomorrow—I've already put the link in there, you guys can see it at 11:30 a.m. Japan time. Here's the irony of it all, okay, this is the kicker before we get to the sandwich. I'm looking at my destination right now. 20 years ago the day I came was the finals of the World Cup and guess who was playing in the finals? France played Brazil and they fought hard with Zidane and they won against Brazil 3-0. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting in the Tommy room—I'm gonna tell you more about that tomorrow—but the irony is that France is going to the World Cup final again. 20 years ago, there's some sort of connection and I got an inside feeling that France is gonna win whoever they play in the World Cup tonight.

00:04:07 John Daub: Alright, now it's time to go and look for this sandwich. Okay, we're gonna go and do that right now so I want you guys to hang loose. I'm gonna turn off the camera for a second. I'm going commando inside of a FamilyMart, get this sandwich, so just stay with me okay. Root for a pudding cake sandwich. Be right back.

00:04:28 John Daub: Back we go. You ready? Let's do this. Oh my god, they're gone. No, what's going on here? Oh what—not what I was looking for. Oh my gosh, um, I'm panicking now. Somebody took the last one. All right, I totally sold out. I asked the guy where's the pudding cake sandwiches. He said they're sold out. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna try to take you to another FamilyMart. There's one down the road. Can you guys give me like a couple of minutes? I'm gonna try to book it there and get those sandwiches. Get there. All right, be right back.

00:05:41 John Daub: All right, clean getaway guys, got the gimbal back on. I'm making my way towards another FamilyMart. I asked the guy in the FamilyMart just reiterating why I just said a minute ago—I asked them, I said do you have the pudding cake? It's in the thumbnail, it's big, everybody knows about it. And the guy acted like he didn't know what I was talking about. So weird. I booked, got out of there. Now I'm making my way to another one. Except I haven't scouring the neighborhood. That thumbnail I took, I gotta be honest with you, was a couple of days ago. But that doesn't mean that you don't give up, you don't stop when you're on a quest and you're looking for something that's just good. And they had some good stuff in there. I'm going for it.

00:06:35 John Daub: Okay, so I'm gonna cross the bridge again and there's a FamilyMart on the other side of this bridge. And I don't know if I should stop the video and just wait until I get there. Will you guys stick with me until I get there? 7-Eleven doesn't have this. Yeah, I don't get it. This is only in FamilyMart. Yeah, all of these convenience stores they have these special foods and the one special food that FamilyMart has right now—at least it used to be right now—is the pudding cake sandwich.

00:07:15 John Daub: And you know I don't have a car right now but what I do have is two healthy legs and a strong—destroying—desire to go and get this pudding cake because I promised it. I'm very disappointed. I'm more disappointed in the staff actually that he didn't know what the pudding—he acted like I didn't know what he was talking about, like I was insane. But look, when we do these midnight snack runs, yeah, I kind of am insane. All right, take a look here across the river. Haha, you can see the Tokyo Skytree. You see that? Last time I did the midnight snack run was the other side of Chuo Ward that had the Tokyo Tower. And believe it or not, from this bridge you can see the Tokyo Tower too. Do you guys see it? How good are your eyes? Right in the dead center of the screen, you see it just kind of peeking over all the other buildings. That's right there was the Tokyo Tower. But the Tokyo Skytree is so much more imposing and bigger. I do love this bridge although the lights are off right now.

00:08:28 John Daub: All right, I don't know if I'm gonna keep this video in the editing. I might actually delete this. Hold on a second... oh the light went out so you guys are in for a special treat because I'm not somebody who backs down. Now back, get the light. Okay, come on light. All right, now this FamilyMart pudding sandwich it really is something special. And once again like today I'm celebrating 20 years. Some of you might be watching the World Cup. I don't even know if the other game is on. England's playing Croatia, very good teams. They gotta be to make it this far. I don't care about that. I care about the final. And right now, more than all of that, I care about the pudding cake sandwich.

00:09:17 John Daub: Tokyo is very, very quiet after 11:30, close to midnight. Believe it or not, we will be eating this sandwich at midnight. And I hope you guys respect the snack run, because I haven't been doing these very often. Not enough. But we're going through Tokyo looking for one of these sandwiches. It's such a beautiful area. I'm so glad that I moved out here. It's totally different from where I used to live. But I can walk around this entire ward in an hour, and it gives me time to think, and build up an appetite for midnight snacks. You see where those lights are right in the center of your screen? That's where life picks up again after the bridge. And you see right in the center of your screen, if you can see it, that right there is a FamilyMart. And that is where I believe we're gonna be able to find a pudding cake sandwich.

00:10:20 John Daub: I don't know if it's cake pudding sandwich or pudding cake sandwich. Personally, I would put the pudding before the cake. But technically, the pudding's in the middle. It's like an Oreo. The cream is in the middle. Sold out. If it's sold out here, I'm gonna be really... Do I keep going? What do I do? Do I buy an alternative or do I keep going? It's a tough call. Either way, this is pretty cool. So thanks for joining me on this midnight run. I kind of enjoy it. We just crossed the bridge. That area was Tsukishima. And now we're in Shinkawa, which is another island in central Tokyo. And now we're making our way towards the FamilyMart. Very few people out here. Very few. Konbanwa (Good evening).

00:11:24 John Daub: Nosh says, keep going. Good evening, good morning. Never give up, never surrender. I'm just reading the comments. Keep going for sure. First thing every visitor to Japan should do is go to a convenience store. Well, you got that right. Convenience stores make it really easy for foreigners because everything is there. It could be your first night in Japan. You know what you're getting when you go to a convenience store because it's laid out right there on the shelf. Alright, I think you guys saw the sign. We're about 10 meters away. I have to go commando again. I might have to turn this off. Are you guys okay if I turn this off for a second? Sure you are because you have no choice. Alright, those police sirens are not for me. At least, I don't think they are. Alright guys, I'm going commando. Bear with me for a minute. I'll be right back.

00:12:23 John Daub: No, they don't have it. It's a yaki cheese tart, chocolate banana crepe. These look good. Minna no Waffle Sandwich. Minna no Waffle Sandwich. This isn't what I want but it's pretty close. What do you think? Alright, I'm going to go for this. This is a waffle sandwich. This is as close as I can get, guys. Alright, oh my gosh, look at that—pudding on top of a pudding. That's a pudding on top of a pudding. Have you ever seen this before? It's a tower. It's like a double pudding. Why would they do that? More pudding. What? Alright guys, I'm going to buy this and then we're going to get out of here and try this, okay?

00:13:13 John Daub: Alright, I'm going to keep you on because you guys have been really good. I'm just going to keep you on, okay? I know I want it all too. Alright, somebody's buying it. Check this out. This is a matcha something—like a jello pudding tiramisu. And this is a creamy taiyaki with custard inside. Look, they put a cute little smiley face on this poni-puri custard whip tart. I should get that too. And then there's this creamy house bomb. Oh my gosh. These are all really good. Alright, I'm getting it. Okay, here we go. Excuse me. Do you have a ticket? No, I don't. 420 yen. Here you go. Thank you very much.

00:14:25 John Daub: Well, this isn't exactly the same thing. This isn't the same thing. But I found something. Alright, okay let me cross the street. There's a place for me to sit down. Although, it's a bus stand. It's a bus terminal. And there's one of these English-looking taxi cabs right across the street. They're actually for the 2020 Olympics. But we're going to cross the street right now and take a seat, okay? We got something!

00:15:07 John Daub: Alright, okay. So this Minna no Waffle Sandwich is really good. This is close. This was actually sold out at the other FamilyMart. So what we found is something that's kind of special. I'm gonna put you guys on the gimbal again because I want you to have a smooth ride. So bear with me while I put you on this gimbal and then unbox this mama. And oh yeah, she's a mama because she's beautiful. And all mamas are pretty beautiful. Boom. You are gimbaled. Smooth ride? Smooth ride. Here we go.

00:15:52 John Daub: Alright, welcome back everybody. Okay, here's a tripod. I'm gonna put you on a stand. I'm gonna put you on a stand so then you can get a clear shot of what we're about to devour. Because it looks pretty good. Dan, Zana, when I go to Japan next year, I wanna see you, boy. Well, I might be a little bit bigger thanks to this custard waffle sandwich. Now this isn't exactly what I wanted to get, but it's good enough. This is the Minna no Waffle Sandwich. And the Minna no Waffle Sandwich is not what I put on the thumbnail. So basically, it's not the same. But it's a sandwich. It's made of waffles. And it's got cream in it. And it's pretty darn close. I don't know if the pudding cake sandwich is actually even being sold anymore.

00:17:21 John Daub: I'm gonna pan down and we're gonna unbox this like we usually do. Alright, here we go. Look at that. Wonderful. I can use both my hands with this. Minna no Waffle Sandwich. It does look amazing. There's nothing better than junk food at midnight. Look at that. Look at this. It's like a present from heaven. Or FamilyMart, depending on how you picture heaven. They had a lot of good stuff in the FamilyMart. I'm very, very, very pleasantly surprised with FamilyMart. And this cost 420 yen. There's a lot of volume to this. Look at the waffle on this thing. Look at the custard mixed with whipped cream. They've got the exact proportions. Half cream, half custard. Nobody gets ripped off. It is literally 50% whipped cream, 50% custard.

00:18:37 John Daub: It's not a fake sandwich. Tarkin Wild writes in here, fake, fake, fake cream. I don't think that's fake. There's only one way to find out though. The only way to find out is to eat it. Custard is so good that you can't say no when you see it. I don't care if it's fake anymore. I don't care if it has all the chemicals. It's not gonna take a year off my life. Okay, if I take off a day, hopefully it's the bad day because this is gonna be a good day when you have this kind of midnight snack. Okay, here we go. And this is for all of you guys for sticking with me because the last place was a complete failure, but we went to two FamilyMarts and dude, we got it. I think Mikey Chan would love this. He would. In fact, if he comes to Japan, he's gotta definitely get in touch with me because this guy that likes food challenges, he has no idea. He's talking to the wrong people. I know where all the food challenges are.

00:19:44 John Daub: And by the way, there's a street cleaner. This is kind of neat to see. One of the reasons why Tokyo streets are so clean, especially here in the central ward—this is Chuo Ward—is because they have these street cleaners going every single night. And I'd say about two times a week they go past my apartment building. I can hear them cleaning the streets. Right now he's at a red light, but the services in Japan are amazing. Check it out. Maybe he's gonna make a left here. That'd be really cool. No, he's gonna go straight. And they do this after midnight cleaning the streets. It's kind of really cool to see. It's a little bonus footage.

00:20:41 John Daub: Here we go. Waffle custard sandwich with whipped cream. My expectations were so high and it meets my expectations. Thumbs up. Well done, FamilyMart. You have a hit. Every bite, half custard, half whipped cream. It is so perfect. I don't know how they do it. Check it out. Half custard, half whipped cream. Literally, you can see it right there. It's so half custard, half whipped cream. It's perfect. How do they do that? It's good.

00:21:38 John Daub: This time I'm gonna open it up for science. You know, I did a collaboration with What's Inside with Lincoln and Dan. It's a really good YouTube channel. They do some really cool stuff. They're doing national parks right now. They've always encouraged me to find out what's inside with their amazing content. So that's what we're gonna do right now. This is for science, everybody. You know you want to. Here we go. How do they do this? The only way to find out is to... Oh, wait a second. This waffle is really not really a waffle. It's just shaped like it. Oh, look at that. And then they put the cream with a machine. I think they just spread it in there with a machine. And then they put another layer of cream and then whipped cream and then custard. So it's custard cream, custard, and then that whipped cream has been laid in there. This is interesting.

00:22:33 John Daub: And this waffle isn't really like a waffle. It's sort of... I don't know. It's really mochi-mochi (chewy). It's springy. And you know, when you get a waffle, it gets drenched in the syrup. And this is not like this at all. This is something special. And I'm saving these last two pieces. One piece is for you. And the other piece I'm saving for my wife because she's probably watching this stream at home. And she's like, why didn't you save me one? Well, guess what? I'm going to save you two. Boom. You should be jealous. It is good. Florencia, this bite is for you. So good. Oh, man. This is not the crepe sandwich. This is the waffle sandwich. But they had a cake sandwich. And I'm talking with my mouth full. But the cake sandwich was so much better. It's actually a pretty close second. This is not exactly what's in the thumbnail. But this custard waffle sandwich with custard and cream—beautiful. Every bite has whatever you were looking for. It's here. And it's very good.

00:24:17 John Daub: Now, Trekaris wrote in to get more. One of the reasons why I don't is because if I get everything, I won't have any other material to do for midnight runs. This area is kind of quiet. Check it out. Look, there's not really that much around here. It's a beautiful area. It's just really quiet. So Trekaris, I'm leaving some stuff up for the next time. And there will be a next time. We just pretty much ran across most of Chuo Ward. We're now in a completely different island. And it's awesome. Alpha Dancer writes, hello from Singapore. I will be in Singapore August 16th to August 20th. Are you getting this? Write it down. I will be there. It's a promise.

00:25:17 John Daub: But oh man, it's raining. This is not a good time to be out away from home. It's actually starting to rain. Tomorrow is going to be a rainy day. Everybody at 11:30. I don't know what the weather is going to be like tomorrow, but 11:30. But I've already made the link for a livestream where I'm going to tell you about the last 20 years that I have been spending here in Japan. I hope that you click the reminder bell so you get a chance to watch that because it's going to be a lot of fun. I want to thank FamilyMart for the really wonderful support. I want to thank FamilyMart for the sandwich. Shout out to FamilyMart across the street. Shout out to everybody in Singapore. I will see you in the middle of August and tomorrow. Don't forget to click the reminder bell. It'll notify you 30 minutes before the livestream comes in tomorrow. 20 years in Japan. I can't believe it's been that long. And you know, it seems just like yesterday.

00:26:11 John Daub: Kat, thanks for the next one. It seems like just a couple of minutes ago we saw the street cleaner and yet the street cleaner is back. I'm going to cross the street right here. And I'm going to start going home before the rain gets even more. I don't know if you can see the rain, but the street's starting to get wet and it's time for me to get home before I get dry so I don't have an umbrella. That guy's got a cab. That guy just caught a cab. I'm more impressed with this street cleaner. Very thorough. Very clean.

00:26:54 John Daub: Short story. I've been in Japan for 20 years, but the first time I went to a fireworks festival, it was in a town called Okazaki and the fireworks was very close to where I was living. And when I went home after the fireworks festival, I noticed that my entire street was covered in trash just from the fireworks. And it exploded and there was debris everywhere. And I went to bed. Next morning, it was all cleaned up. And I found out that it was volunteers—all old ladies, all over the age of 65—that cleaned the entire city. And by the time everybody woke up, it was like it never happened. And it was the same for every single fireworks festival in Japan. There's volunteers from senior citizens. Also, the senior citizens clean Shinjuku Gyoen, which is the biggest attraction in Shinjuku, I believe. It's a beautiful park. The people who clean Shinjuku Gyoen are the senior citizens. And they do it as volunteers. They don't get paid. And it's an amazing thing because they don't have anything to do except for these kind of responsibilities. And that's one of the reasons why I think Japan has such a long lifespan. It's because they always keep busy like Mr. Seiichi, my 96, 97-year-old neighbor. He always keeps busy. And that's sort of the secret of it.

00:28:30 John Daub: It's nice to see how clean this major crowded city is. The next day, it'll be like sparkling again. So, everybody, thanks wherever you are in the world. Have a good night, a good day. I will see you tomorrow. 20 years in Japan, amazing. Cheer for France unless you're England or Croatia. Then you can cheer for whoever you want. Say goodbye to FamilyMart, everybody. The last 20 seconds is dedicated to the amazing waffle sandwich that we just devoured. And the two pieces I saved for my wife. Bye, everybody. France is going to win. 1998. We've come full circle.