00:05 John Daub: Welcome to Ginza Station, right in front of the station here at Ginza Yonchome, one of the most famous intersections in all of Tokyo, if not all of Japan. Greetings everybody, I'm here on a beautiful sunny day in September, and we're going to eat a sandwich, and she's already started. Oh no! Konnichiwa!

00:29 Kanae Daub: What are you eating?

00:31 John Daub: Ebi katsu sandwich. Oh, that's my favorite sandwich in the whole world, but this is... You can eat all of this, right? It's so good, she said. So I guess that means I'm going to have to get my own.

00:46 John Daub: Now these ebi katsu sandwiches are famous from right there. That's Kimura-ya, and believe it or not, Kimura-ya is one of the places that started bread in Japan. Japan, as we all know, is a rice culture. It's a place where people eat everything on rice, and it wasn't until about the middle of the 19th century, the middle of the 1800s, that people started to eat bread.

01:12 John Daub: And it was kind of a niche thing, not everybody was into it, but when the emperor started eating anpan (bread with red bean paste in the middle), then sandwiches started to take off here, and Kimura-ya is one of the places where sandwiches became big. I don't think she's going to share with me, so I'm going to have to go in all by myself. So, you could eat it, tabete kudasai ne? I'm going to go in and get my own at Kimura-ya.

01:39 John Daub: Oh, by the way, everybody. Oh, Nara says hi. Just so you know. By the way, on the weekend in Ginza, the seats are put in the middle of the street. They shut it down to pedestrians only, no cars, and you can, if you can, snag a table and just sit in the middle of Ginza, which is probably one of the coolest experiences. I'm in the shadows here, but I think you get the picture. People are just walking freely around here. It's absolutely beautiful.

02:06 John Daub: Alright, I'm going to go into Kimura-ya. I'm going to eat. I'm going to go in stealth, okay? So, I'm turning the gimbal off. You're going to wait here? Don't eat it all. Alright, let's go inside. Alright, I'm coming back real soon. She's got somewhere to go. Alright, let's do this, guys. We're going into Kimura-ya to get a sandwich.

02:29 John Daub: Well, the line is really long. Oh, wow. And they got a lot of sandwiches. This here is the half and half. It's a sandwich. Oh, wow. I think I'm just going to go with the ebikatsu. You know what? No, I'm going to go ebikatsu. Alright, here we go.

02:57 John Daub: Hai. There's a pumpkin scone, a spinach and bacon quiche. Ah, hai. Daijobu sono mama de. Shibori demo. Shibori. Oh, shibori (wet towel). Arigatou gozaimasu. Alright, I asked for a shibori, which is a wet towel. Let's go eat this.

03:23 John Daub: I am the proud owner of an ebikatsu sandwich from Kimura-ya. Ya! That wasn't that... Was that funny? No? Did you enjoy that?

03:35 Kanae Daub: Yeah.

03:35 John Daub: Oh, you did? Alright! I made her laugh. Alright, back in the gimbal you go, telephone. Now it's time for the unboxing. You've been waiting for this. Yeah, mine's newer than yours. Yours is used now. Mine's brand new. Alright, guys. Thanks for buying this sandwich for me.

03:57 John Daub: This is just like in the sandwich video that I did. That's okay. I got it. Alright, here we go. Three, two, one. Wow! It's just so beautiful. Everything about the ebikatsu sandwich is just so good.

04:18 John Daub: I used Kanae's shibori. I go right for the one in the middle. Look at this thing. Just check it out, guys. Look at this. The bread is just so soft. Because Kimura-ya here is actually a bakery, so they're gonna have really top quality bread. On top of that, what I like about the shrimp is it hasn't been minced or anything like this. It's still in its condition, in what looks like a shrimp condition. It's like still looks shrimpy. And then it's breaded, deep fried, put some sauce in there. You guys see that real close? And then it's cut and put in this box. And this is by far my favorite sandwich.

05:03 John Daub: The first time I had this sandwich, I was in love. You see the way she turned her way right there? I love this sandwich. I love this sandwich. Yay. All right. Hey, Ellis. Ellis writes in. With good food goes great drinks. Have one of me. All right. Ellis. Thank you, buddy. I think he was thinking something maybe stronger than just water. Although that's great water, Ellis. It's great water.

05:39 John Daub: Really good. You don't eat?

05:45 Kanae Daub: Yeah.

05:46 John Daub: What's your favorite sandwich?

05:47 Kanae Daub: It's difficult. Cheeseburger? No. Ah. Avocado sandwich. Avocado. Avocado with shrimp.

06:08 John Daub: Ah, okay. That's okay. For me, it's an avocado sandwich all day long. Now, this is 970-something yen, which is like $8, I think. Like $8.50. It's a little bit pricey, but it's been deep fried. And you can see that... See, it's real shrimp. Now that I've bitten into it, you can kind of see how it's made up in there. It's real shrimp, and it's real good. I do think that it's worth every penny. It's not enough to fill you up if you're a big eater, but it's enough to really make you satisfied. Like, it's enough. Oh, we lost something. It's just enough to make you want more.

07:03 John Daub: I'm going to sit on this side over here. Yeah, so, Australia called that a prawn sandwich. That's the word I was looking for, prawn. We say shrimp in the United States, and then the rest of the world says prawn. I don't know. What's it even between a prawn and a shrimp? It's really good.

07:26 John Daub: But what makes this my favorite sandwich, and what makes Kimura-ya my favorite place for it, although I do like the Madam Shrimp, which is also in Ginza, is that the shrimp, when it has been breaded and deep-fried, still... The shell is so springy. It's got this texture in the mouth that's like mochi-mochi (chewy). It's very rubbery. And when you bite down into an ebikatsu sandwich, when you do it into a cheeseburger or another sandwich, you can feel all of the textures, the juices from the cheeseburger, what's the attraction to that sandwich. And then for other sandwiches, it's the layers, whether it's a sub-sandwich or a hoagie. We call hoagies in the Philadelphia area. You take a bite of it, it's all of these flavors coming together with this. It's a little bit different. What's the attraction is the texture of the shrimp in there with the sauce and the deep-fried breaded part of it. And then it's the bread that also brings it together.

08:25 John Daub: Now, Madam Shrimp uses some kind of mustard sauce, and Kimura-ya uses more of like a mayonnaise-type sauce, so it's very rich. But I'm satisfied every time.

08:45 John Daub: Kanae's got the last bite. One more. There's no shrimp! Do you want a shrimp? You can have one of mine. Really? It's mine. Oh, there's the end of it. Okay. So for $8.50, I think this is a steal.

09:17 John Daub: Now, Kimura-ya also has a cafe on the second floor. You have to have a reservation or get there really early or prepare to wait. Sometimes they turn you away. You can see it's quite busy up there. Do you see? But on that second floor, they'll make you one that's still crunchy and warm on the inside. And that's why I call this the crispy ebi sandwich. Oh, wow, there's an ambulance. It's going by. Sorry, guys.

09:45 John Daub: When it comes right out of the fryer, it's crispy. It's so good. That just, not right out of the fryer, but it's just warm. And the bread is cool. And the sauce is, all the tastes just kind of come together when it's right out of the oven. But this one has been sitting in a refrigerator. Mmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm. You have to go.

10:10 Kanae Daub: I try to.

10:16 John Daub: Mmm. That's the Nissan building back there. It's hard to talk when you're eating an ebi katsu sandwich. But on the weekends, Ginza, and I said this in the beginning of this, but I'm saying it for those that are just joining us now. On the weekends, there's just really something special about coming to Ginza. And tomorrow is also a holiday. And I'm not sure if they're going to close the street down on holidays, but on Saturday and Sunday, every single week, they close down the roads, and you can enjoy just walking. It's just such a really cool experience. You can see, we're right in the middle of the street. That means that the shopping road is so wide, you don't have to worry about crowds. Tokyo is usually a very crowded city, but at this time, it's really, really relaxed here, on a beautiful sunny day. This is where you want to be.

11:14 John Daub: Check it out. There's, and TV will also do a lot of interviews and filming. They asked if I wanted to do an interview. I said, no way. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm here for sandwiches. I'm not here for interviews. I'm Instagramable. I'm Instagramable. This is my lunch. Face bomb. Oh, wow. Somebody, I don't want to show this. I don't want to show this close up, but somebody got hurt.

12:00 Kanae Daub: Yeah, you shouldn't show that.

12:02 John Daub: Somebody got hurt over there. No. 15 minutes is a long time for a sandwich and boxing. If you have any questions, please go ahead and ask. Show us more of Kanae. They said, we want to see more of Kanae.

12:22 Kanae Daub: You can't even see me now.

12:24 John Daub: And you can only see her because of the backlighting. I do hope that they're okay over there.

12:29 Kanae Daub: I know.

12:31 John Daub: If you don't have... Japan is one place where, oh yeah, there's a lot of people watching. Japan is one place that if you do get hurt, the ambulance will come and pick you up and it doesn't cost a lot. One person that I was talking to said that when they had to call an ambulance, they were hesitant to do it because in the United States, it can cost like $10,000 to call an ambulance. But after everything, when the bill came, he said that the ambulance only cost 4,000 yen. So, it just cost about $400 for the ambulance without insurance. I was pretty shocked to hear that. But in America, it's like $10,000 for an ambulance call, which I was shocked to hear that. So, the only ambulance that I need is this to my mouth. That was really bad. Haha. I'm trying to find a segue to get off of that topic.

13:26 John Daub: Kimura-ya, just to put a ribbon on this episode, has a lot of different sandwiches besides just the ebikatsu sandwich. They have a katsu sando. They have, actually, a beef sandwich, which is like a wagyu sando, but it's cheaper and it's better, I think. What other sandwiches do they have in there? They have a korokke sandwich, which is a deep-fried, like, potato. So, if you don't want to eat vegetables, if you're vegetarian, you can have maybe a korokke sandwich. They have a Japanese sandwich. Options for everybody.

14:02 John Daub: Alright, guys. Oh, look, they just snagged a table. See, sometimes the tables open up, you gotta snag them before somebody else does. Alright, Kanae, thanks for joining us on this sandwich unboxing.

14:14 Kanae Daub: Was it good? That's mine! No, it's okay. You want it? No.

14:23 John Daub: So, if you're in Ginza, come for an ebikatsu sandwich. And if you want to see more, check out the Japanese sandwich video I made a couple months ago. Bye, guys. Have a good day. Have a good day.