Only in Japan Go — Transcripts
Summaries + full diarized transcripts
2018-09-30 · Ep 345 · 36m

McDonald's Purple Shake is Potato - NOT Grape in Japan

TokyoKagoshimaOkinawaHokkaidoKyotoTottoriFast FoodFood ReviewLimited Time OfferCultural Innovation
Summary

McDonald's Purple Shake is Potato - NOT Grape in Japan

Overview

In this livestream-style video, John Daub visits a McDonald's in Tsukishima, Tokyo, to review a unique limited-time offering: the Beniiimo (purple sweet potato) Shake. Contrary to American expectations where purple usually signifies grape flavor, this shake is made from a specific purple potato grown in Kagoshima and Okinawa. John tastes the shake on camera, describing its natural sweetness, thick consistency, and surprising balance, noting that it feels more like a meal than a drink due to the potato content.

Beyond the food review, John discusses the culture of innovation in Japan's fast-food industry, highlighting the seasonal Tsukimi Burger (moon-viewing burger) also available at the time. He shares observations on the changing demographics of fast-food staff in Japan, noting an increase in workers from South Asia filling labor gaps. The video evolves into a Q&A session where John answers viewer questions about tech gear (gimbals, cameras), upcoming travel plans to Kyoto and Tottori for NHK filming, and collaborations with fellow YouTuber Scotty from Strange Parts.

Highlights

  • 00:00:01 John introduces the purple shake mission at McDonald's Japan.
  • 00:00:55 Reveals the shake is beniiimo (purple sweet potato), not grape.
  • 00:02:13 First taste test and reaction to the flavor balance.
  • 00:04:39 Discusses pricing and affordability of eating in Japan.
  • 00:05:18 Explains the Tsukimi Burger and autumn moon culture.
  • 00:08:42 Observations on diversity among fast-food staff in Japan.
  • 00:12:05 John reveals he starred in a Moss Burger commercial.
  • 00:13:13 History of McDonald's first location in Ginza.
  • 00:21:57 Walks through Tsukishima's Monja Street.
  • 00:23:31 Discusses gimbal gear and video stabilization tech.
  • 00:26:35 Announces upcoming trips to Kyoto and Tottori for NHK.
  • 00:31:07 Shoutout to Scotty from Strange Parts channel.
  • 00:32:52 Discusses the meaning of otaku beyond anime/manga.
  • 00:34:18 Mentions buying the new GoPro Hero 7 Black.
  • 00:36:09 Playful ending observing a customer entering McDonald's.

Timeline / Chapters

  • 00:00 Introduction at McDonald's Japan
  • 00:55 The Beniiimo Shake Revealed
  • 02:13 Taste Test & Review
  • 05:18 Tsukimi Burger & Autumn Season
  • 08:42 Staff Diversity in Japanese Fast Food
  • 12:05 McDonald's History & Moss Burger Commercial
  • 14:24 Innovation Culture in Japan
  • 21:57 Walking Tsukishima Monja Street
  • 23:31 Tech Talk: Gimbals & Cameras
  • 25:19 Upcoming Travel Plans (Kyoto, Tottori)
  • 29:11 Journalists vs. YouTubers
  • 31:07 Collaboration with Strange Parts
  • 32:52 Defining Otaku
  • 36:09 Outro

Japan Travel Tips

  • Seasonal Items: McDonald's Japan frequently releases limited-time items tied to seasons (e.g., Tsukimi Burger in autumn, Beniiimo Shake in late summer/autumn).
  • Pricing: A medium shake costs around 200 yen (~$1.80 at the time), and a small is 120 yen. Fast food remains budget-friendly in Japan.
  • Staffing: Don't be surprised to see non-Japanese staff (often from Nepal, India, or South Asia) working in fast-food chains; they often speak excellent Japanese.
  • Consistency: McDonald's in Japan offers consistent quality and taste, making it a reliable option for tourists missing Western food.
  • Delivery: McDonald's Japan offers delivery services in many neighborhoods.
  • Convenience Store Ice Cream: For high-quality soft serve ice cream available 24/7, look for Mini Stop convenience stores.

Japanese Language & Culture Notes

  • Beniiimo (紅芋): A purple sweet potato primarily from Kagoshima and Okinawa, used in desserts and now shakes.
  • Tsukimi (月見): Literally "moon viewing." The Tsukimi Burger features an egg to represent the harvest moon, a tradition celebrated in autumn.
  • Arubaito (アルバイト): Derived from the German word "Arbeit," this refers to part-time jobs, often held by university students.
  • Otaku (オタク): While often associated with anime/manga abroad, in Japan it simply means "enthusiast" (e.g., camera otaku, train otaku).
  • Monjayaki (もんじゃ焼き): A Tokyo-style savory pancake, similar to okonomiyaki but with a runnier batter, often eaten in Tsukishima.
  • Shochu (焼酎): A Japanese distilled spirit, often made from potatoes (imo-jochu), particularly in Kagoshima.

Food & Drink Guide

  • Beniiimo Shake (Purple Sweet Potato Shake)
    • Description: A thick, purple milkshake made with 4% real purple sweet potato.
    • Price: Medium 200 yen, Small 120 yen.
    • Taste: Naturally sweet, filling, not artificial like grape flavor.
    • Timestamp: 00:02:13
  • Tsukimi Burger (Moon-Viewing Burger)
    • Description: Burger topped with a fried egg to represent the moon, celebrating the autumn harvest moon.
    • Availability: Seasonal (Autumn).
    • Timestamp: 00:05:18
  • Moss Burger
    • Description: A Japanese fast-food chain known for rice burgers and high quality.
    • Note: John starred in a commercial for them.
    • Timestamp: 00:12:05
  • Squid Ice Cream
    • Description: Seafood-flavored soft serve found in Hokkaido.
    • Timestamp: 00:17:51

People

  • John Daub: Host and creator of Only in Japan Go. He leads the review and Q&A.
  • Kanae Daub: John's wife. Mentioned frequently; John saves the shake for her and plans to buy her breakfast.
  • Scotty (Strange Parts): Fellow YouTuber focused on electronics. John met him in Akihabara and plans to collaborate.
  • Nads McGee: Viewer who made a significant Super Chat donation.
  • Jim & Nasha Broad: Moderators for the livestream.
  • Fast Food Staff: John notes the increasing diversity of workers from Nepal, India, and South Asia.

Key Takeaways

  • Innovation is Key: Japanese fast-food chains must constantly innovate with seasonal and unique items to stay competitive.
  • Purple ≠ Grape: In Japan, purple food often indicates purple sweet potato (beniiimo), especially in Okinawa and Kagoshima contexts.
  • Labor Shifts: Japan's service industry is seeing more foreign workers filling part-time roles traditionally held by students.
  • Quality Consistency: McDonald's Japan maintains high quality and consistency, making it a comfort food for both locals and tourists.
  • Otaku Culture: The term "otaku" is broader than anime; it applies to any deep enthusiasm, including tech and trains.

Notable Quotes

  • 00:00:55 "It's beniiimo (purple sweet potato). Beniiimo is a kind of potato that comes from Kagoshima and it's purple. It is an alien potato."
  • 00:02:13 "It's good. It's really good. The reason why is because it has an amazing balance to this shake."
  • 00:05:18 "Tsuki means moon. And mi means to see. To see the moon. And yeah, they put an egg on it. Because in the egg, it looks like the moon."
  • 00:13:13 "They're the Neil Armstrong of fast food in Japan. They're the first ones to land on the moon here."
  • 00:15:25 "Here if you don't innovate. You die. And McDonald's Japan is one of the big innovators here."
  • 00:32:52 "Otaku equals enthusiast. It does not mean anime or manga lover."

Related Topics

  • Japanese Convenience Store Food
  • Seasonal Limited-Time Offers in Japan
  • Tokyo Neighborhood Guides (Tsukishima, Akihabara)
  • Vlogging Gear Reviews
  • NHK Journeys in Japan Episodes

Search Tags

#only-in-japan-go #tokyo #mcdonalds-japan #beniiimo #purple-shake #tsukimi-burger #food-review #japan-travel #john-daub #tsukishima #akihabara #kyoto #tottori #otaku #fast-food #limited-time-offer #autumn-in-japan


Full Transcript

00:00:01 John Daub: Hey everybody, welcome to McDonald's Japan. Behind me is McDonald's Japan and I've come here on a mission because yeah, I've been seeing the advertisements for this for a couple of weeks now and every single season, every single month or so, McDonald's will offer some unique marketing plan that draws you back into their shops. And in Japan, if you know what the vending machines, if you know what the foods, if you know what Coca-Cola, Pepsi, you always have to innovate your product. You always have to come up with new ways to get people to come in and this was a pretty good one because in my warped American mind of mine, living in Japan for 20 years, I still kind of go back to the US and when I see the color purple, I always think of grape. Whatever the product is, it's grape. Purple gum, purple soda, purple Fanta, right? Purple ice cream, purple cotton candy. This is grape. It could be blueberry, but that's blue.

00:00:55 John Daub: So, when I saw this, I said, yeah, I'm going to have to come here to try it. Now, here's what it looks like right here. This is the advertisement for it that I printed out. It's purple, right? You can see it there, but that's not grape. No, do you know what that is? It's beniiimo (purple sweet potato). Beniiimo is a kind of potato that comes from Kagoshima and it's purple. It is an alien potato. It's a very, very unique potato. I see this a lot in Okinawa, actually. Okinawa has these and yeah, purple yams. Beniiimo is what it's called and they take, McDonald's has taken it and made it into a shake. And guess what? I have it right now in front of me. I'm going to try it for you right now.

00:02:13 John Daub: I've been busy. Sorry about starting a little bit late. It was because I was waiting in line. The straw got wet. Yeah, this is a potato shake by McDonald's. I don't know if you can, okay, here we go. Just take a look at it. Now, I don't know if it's all natural. You know, you're kind of suspicious of it, but it's purple for sure. You see that? It's purple and it's not grape and we're going to see if it's good or not. Are you ready? It's good. It's really good. The reason why is because it has an amazing balance to this shake. It's sweet. It's definitely sweet. It's not overly sweet because in Japan, yeah, duh, right? Hey guys, thanks again for the super chats.

00:03:36 John Daub: It has kind of a natural taste. But the thing with beniiimo is that it's also very filling. That potato is thick. It's heavy. And you get that with beniiimo. So you have a pretty sweet, natural sweetness to it. The milky milkiness of a milkshake, which is what you would get with any milkshake. And then you have that potato-ness that kind of hits the tongue in a different place. You got the sweetness and then you hit the tongue in a different place with the potato-ness of it. It's really good. Now, this cost about $2. It was 200 yen for a medium-sized shake. That's about $1.80 at the exchange rate right now. And you can go out and buy it. You also get a small size for 120 yen. So it's about a little bit over $1 for a small shake.

00:04:39 John Daub: I think it's pretty good because considering, you know, Japan has an image of being expensive, but you'll be surprised that you can eat pretty reasonably, not at McDonald's, but at typical restaurants or ramen stands or, gosh, there's gyudon (beef rice bowl). There's so many different places that you can eat and you won't break the budget. Once again, guys, this is what it looks like. It's purple. It actually looks like the picture that was in the advertisement. That's another thing that Japan is famous for. It's got a pretty good consistency to it. And I don't know. I'm guessing that it seems to be natural tasting. It doesn't have an artificial taste to it. It's a purple grape product. It tastes kind of artificial to me. This does not get that at all. I think McDonald's has done a really good job with this.

00:05:18 John Daub: This is the potato harvest season of Kagoshima. And this is also when shochu (Japanese spirit) is made, which is the Japanese alcohol made from potato. It's good. I'm going to save the rest of that for my wife. She loves milkshakes. And just a little bit to add something to this. McDonald's right now also has something called the Tsukimi Burger (moon-viewing burger). And the Tsukimi Burger, when I came to Japan 20 years ago, they had this burger, too. It's one of the ones that they keep around. And it's to celebrate the autumn moon. And you can see there's a rabbit on it eating the burger. In the background, Tsukimi Burger. Tsuki means moon. And mi means to see. To see the moon. And yeah, they put an egg on it. Because in the egg, it looks like the moon. When you cook it right, there's a big circle to represent the moon inside the egg. So they put an egg on the burger to celebrate the harvest moon.

00:06:42 John Daub: It's pretty cool. They've had this in Japan for the 20 years that I've been here. And even longer, I think. It's just one of these things. When you see the Tsukimi Burger at McDonald's, yeah, it's autumn. And they have this. And it's pretty reasonably priced. You can see it in the menu inside. That's about all that I have here. I'm pretty much done with that. McDonald's does actually deliver. I've seen delivery trucks delivering some of the McDonald's products around the neighborhood. Domino's delivers, too, by the way. So there's a lot of food going around. Because it's just about lunchtime. So this campaign for the beniiimo milkshake. Yeah, that's right. No rabbit meat. It says that the milkshake is 4% real potato. That's kind of a big deal. And I believe that this will be around just until it's either sold out, which happens. They run out of the stuff. And they like it to sell out. Because that means that they've done a pretty good job selling it. And people wanted to eat it. They make a certain amount. And when it's gone, it's gone. But probably I'd say by the beginning of October, the shake will be gone.

00:08:00 John Daub: And if you're in Japan, you might want to try it. Because it's pretty neat to have something purple that is not grape. That's good. It's filling. So what do you guys think? Would you try this? Is this something that you'd want to eat? I don't know if I'm eating it or drinking it, because it's so thick. But it's pretty refreshing. And I don't think that you need to eat anything with it. You don't have to get french fries or a burger with this. This is actually kind of like a meal because of the potato that's in there. That's what's really unique about it. Would this be enough to fill me up? And yeah, it's because of the potato. And it only says 4% in there. It just tastes like more maybe because of the heaviness of the cream. But yeah, I think I would probably consider this a meal. And I can't even drink it all. I'm going to take it back to my wife now for her to finish it off. And maybe she'll give us some feedback.

00:08:42 John Daub: McDonald's Japan, I've also noticed... Hey, Tuotaku! Maybe I'll buy a small one. This is melting. Thanks for that. 4% is kind of small, but it's better than 1% because you've got to look at it that way. But the thing is, you know, I've noticed that the staff at a lot of the fast food restaurants is non-Japanese. This reminds me of New York City. We have a lot of people from Mexico and Guatemala working in the New York restaurants. I thought that's kind of cool because... It's just different. It's neat to see different kinds of people. But here, I'm noticing a lot of people from Nepal and India and South Asia working in the fast food restaurants here. A lot of people from South Asia working. Maybe it's Sri Lanka. I don't know. It's hard to tell. I don't ask them. But they speak pretty good Japanese with an accent. And they're working at a lot of the fast food restaurants to fill in the gaps because right now university students are back at school. And they're the ones who take the arubaito (part-time job), which is a German word meaning part-time job. It's in katakana. And usually the university students will do these. And when they don't, they have old people, retired people filling in. But guess they're having problems staffing the McDonald's. So they have people from South Asia, which is really cool. And they have people from... I've seen people from Nepal working in the restaurants. I believe they have agreements for working visas or working holidays and things like this. So it's neat to see Japan having more different jobs. And they have more diversity up front in the restaurants. Even if it is because it's cheaper labor. But it's still pretty cool. Because this wasn't the case 20 years ago.

00:10:28 John Daub: I went to Yoshinoya. And the woman that was working behind the counter was from Nepal. Which is really cool. So she could speak not just English, but she could speak Japanese really well. And I thought that was just kind of cool. To add a little bit of diversity. And something new. But this McDonald's here is two stories high. Hey, thanks, Eric. And they do a lot of business. The first McDonald's... I'm not going to be doing a lot of McDonald's streams, guys. So maybe it's a chance to talk to you about it a little bit. I know the history of McDonald's. Because when I first came to Japan 20 years ago, there weren't a lot of options if you wanted to eat Western food. It was all like Japanized food. Food that was kind of Western. But kind of made into Japanese food. Like pasta. But they'd add stuff in it. Or the pasta consistency was different. Because that's what Japanese liked. Which was different than in the United States. But McDonald's was the one place where the food could be consistent. Where you know what you were getting. And the quality of the McDonald's in Japan is really good. Because I have friends that visit from abroad. Especially from the United States. And when they get tired of sushi and the other stuff... Which is hard to believe for me. They'll hit a McDonald's. Just to feel like they're back in America for a break. And jump right back into Japan. So they make a roaring business. Not just with the locals. But with the tourists alike. Because it's so easy to go in there and order a burger. When you're always kind of thinking too much about your food. You don't have to think when you go into McDonald's.

00:12:05 John Daub: I don't eat a lot of McDonald's. Moss Burger is really good too. By the way, I made a commercial for Moss Burger. About 3 or 4 years ago. Which is still on YouTube. It's called the Moss Burger. So if you search that on YouTube. You'll probably come up with a video. It's pretty cool. I produced and directed it. And I actually starred in it as well. And I made it for them. And it's still on their website. Moss Burger. I ate about 25 Moss Burgers to make that commercial. So that in itself was kind of cool. Never mind what they paid me. It wasn't as much as I wanted. But it was a good commercial. Now McDonald's Japan started in the 1970s. And it was stationed in Ginza. Which is not too far away from here. Ginza is the place where you want to start a shop. Because it's got the name appeal. It's got the brand. When you say, oh we're in Tokyo. Where? In Ginza. Whoa. It's got that appeal. So when McDonald's came here to make a splash. Because it was American fast food. And there was nothing like this at the time. They put the shop in Ginza.

00:13:13 John Daub: Think about it. You have all these brands. You have all these brand shops. It's like 5th Avenue. All these really stylish things. And in the middle of it was this restaurant from America called McDonald's. And they had an awesome prime real estate. When I first got here. I believe that McDonald's was still there 20 years ago. But it's now gone. They have McDonald's more inside off of the main street. And McDonald's is not as popular. Because there's just so much competition for the fast food market now. But it's still always going to have that appeal. As not just the first one. They're the Neil Armstrong of fast food in Japan. They're the first ones to land on the moon here. To say one small step for burgers. One giant leap for burger kind. But they brought the burger culture to Japan. Really. I mean the GIs did. After World War II. When they were here for the occupation. But it was McDonald's that took it to the next step. And made it not just an American food. But they did stuff like this. They added eggs to the burger. And they took Japanese culture. Which is tsukimi. Which is the harvest moon. And they put it into a burger. And they continuously innovate. They do stuff like this. They make the purple shake.

00:14:24 John Daub: For those of you who are joining us now. This purple shake is made from a beniiimo. A beniiimo which is a purple potato. Let me see if I have a picture of it again. For those who are joining us. It's not grape. And that's the thing that always kind of messes with my mind. This is a natural potato grown in. I think mostly Okinawa. But I think you can get it in Kagoshima. Down on the islands. This beniiimo gives a purple color. And a natural sweetness. It's very sweet. And it's made a lot of desserts in Japan. Especially down in Okinawa. And they put it into a shake now. This shake is 4% beniiimo. And it has a really good natural taste to it. Maybe as a result of it being a lot of natural ingredients. But it's also really flavorful. And filling. And surprisingly not too sweet. It still retains the milkiness of it. It's an awesome balance. I like that though. When McDonald's Japan innovates like this. Because the people here expect them to innovate.

00:15:25 John Daub: And in the United States when you fall in love with a food. They don't take it off of the menu. That means there's less places to innovate. You have to innovate existing foods. And people don't like that. Here if you don't innovate. You die. And McDonald's Japan is one of the big innovators here. And that's one of the reasons why. It might be better in quality than the United States. Because they're always tweaking. And always working on the recipes. It's good. It's really good. It's like a meal because of that potato-ness to it. It's just slightly. It's not overly sweet. And the thing with the grape. This is why I'm happy that this purple is not grape. Grape is always tasting artificial. They get the purple. And there's that artificial bubble gum grape to it. That's the grape that I would get in a milkshake in the US. Here it's a very natural sweetness to it. And I like that.

00:16:19 John Daub: That's all I got. So if you have any questions. You can do it now. I encourage you to hit the like button. If you like me trying food on the street like this. Click the like button. Let me know that you want more content like this. Leave a comment below. Tell me about your grape flavored experience. Did it taste chemical? Did it taste good? If you know any good grape places let me know. The other thing I thought it could be was eggplant. But it's not eggplant. Eggplant milkshake would be pretty odd. I don't know. I think they might be able to pull it off in Japan. They pull off a lot of weird stuff. Where I think it would taste disgusting. And it ends up being extremely good. So I think Japan might be able to pull that off. Japan has so many different kinds of potatoes too. By the way. So many kinds of potatoes. They also have so many kinds of mushrooms. They're the things I was culturally shocked at when I first came here. Mushrooms was the first one. Then potatoes. And then the variety of vegetables. Like lotus root. It's like a normal vegetable here. And then they have mountain potatoes. When you mash it up it turns into slime. And people like to put that on rice. I actually like it. But at first I was like this looks like snot. But it's not. And it's really healthy for you. Some of the quirks of Japan.

00:17:51 John Daub: They should make a cheese shake. No squid shakes. But they do have squid ice cream up in Hokkaido. I've gotten this through the grapevine. They have squid soft serve ice cream. Squid flavored. So if I get a chance to go back up to Hokkaido. And I think I have a couple of things to film up there. I might look for some of the weirder foods. Hokkaido's got seafood flavored everything. Seafood flavored cake I think. Probably in Hakodate. Blueberry puree is actually purple. But the thing with blueberries is that. It starts with blue and not purple berry. When you make a food from blueberries. Usually it's associated with blue. Dragon fruit shake would be good. That'd be interesting. Dragon fruit's not that sweet though. Avocado shake would be really good. Squid flavored ice cream. Yeah that's pretty deep right Jim? That's up there in Hokkaido. I've seen it. I think if you search it you'll find it. It's a shop up in Hokkaido. I'm really curious. Do they have bits of squid in it? Because that would just really make it real. That's what I would want. Octopus flavored ice cream as well. Like takoyaki you know. Little bits of tentacle in there. Wasabi shake. I've had wasabi ice cream in an episode on Only in Japan's main channel. You can check that out. Maybe I'll put a link up here. But if you search the ultimate wasabi guide. You'll get me eating wasabi ice cream, wasabi beer, wasabi burger. They did a pretty good job with the wasabi. Wasabi tastes different. Especially when it's fresh. I think it's the same with this potato and it's the same with anything. When you have it fresh it tastes completely different.

00:20:05 John Daub: Mangosteen shake. I wonder if they would innovate that. Maybe it's just too expensive. Having mangosteen shake would be something I would... That sounds like something Singapore should get on top of. Or Indonesia or Thailand or Malaysia right? Because it's so good. Hey Nads McGee. Whoa Nads. Get one for me. Like one of these? You want a shake? How am I going to send it to you buddy? He donated more than that. He donated a trip to Singapore to go get the mangosteen shake. Thank you Mr. McGee. Or Miss McGee. I'm not sure. I do appreciate it very much. Mangosteen would be awesome. Some of the other fruits. I've seen mango shakes. I've seen a lot of shakes. McDonald's is in India. I might stop in there. By the way guys, I'm planning to go to India in December. As well as to go to Europe in December. And I might stop in Thailand in December as well. To do some fan meetups. Before I go back home for Christmas. To get a chance to meet with everybody there. And you know, maybe check out some of the ice cream flavors. Because I love ice cream. Especially Kanae. Who's over on the other side of the town here. She loves ice cream. And she forces me to stop. The best soft serve ice cream. Is served at a convenience store. It's called Mini Stop. It's just like something the locals all know about. Mini Stop is famous for having the best soft serve ice cream. And you can get it 24-7. Whenever there's a Mini Stop. And you can get a pretty darn good ice cream. They have a reputation for it.

00:21:57 John Daub: In Japan, I've seen a handful of really weird shakes from McDonald's. And it comes down to the fact that in this country, you have to innovate. I'm going to just see if I can find a vending machine for you. And then I'm going to go buy another shake for Kanae. And get her some breakfast. She's going to like that. She's still asleep. It's Sunday morning. It's a little bit after 11. It's around 11:30. This is Tsukishima. This is called Monja Street. And I'm not going to take you too much down here. But monjayaki (savory pancake) is Tokyo's version of okonomiyaki (savory pancake). And this is the place I like to come. Down there is where there's a melon pan shop that I introduced. It's really, really good. This isn't too far from the neighborhood where I live. It's a really good day in Tokyo today. Dude, the shakes are over here. Just saying. I am using a new gimbal. And I'm going to be discussing this tonight on a Patreon live question and answer. About some of the troubles and challenges of having a gimbal. Whoa. Lunchtime has hit. And check it out. McDonald's has a line out the door. Usually families and stuff. That's craziness.

00:23:31 John Daub: I gotta go back. I just wanted to say thank you to Nads McGee and to everybody else for the support here. This is pretty cool. I did actually get this gimbal the other day. It was broken, the first one. And then the second one was fixed. The motors, the motors are always off. You have to log into DJI's app in order to initiate the motors. The other one I did that, but the motors were still broken. When I went to Bic Camera, I was like, I need a camera to get a replacement. We tested it out and it worked on the second unit that I got. But I had a DJI Osmo before. And this is the second time. The one I had before was the Zhiyun Smooth Q. And it was actually better than this. But you know what? WF4L is writing in that why are gimbals so expensive? Do you really think so? The Smooth Q is $100 or less you can buy now. And it's a great gimbal. It's way better than this. And I like DJI, but the Smooth Q is just a better gimbal for smartphones. $100 is not that much for smooth video. You have to look at it. It used to cost $3,000 for a gimbal. Like five years ago, it was like $3,000 for a decent gimbal. And now you can get them for $100 for mobile phones. So the price has gone down quite a bit. And they'll probably go down a little bit more. But I want them to keep the quality good. But they're at a point where now, like the quality is really good. Do you see how smooth this is? I don't really need to get anything more expensive than this.

00:25:19 John Daub: But thanks to Super Chats, maybe I can. But I don't want to waste the money. Alright, I can tell you some of the things I'm thinking about doing. I'm thinking about going down to Kagoshima in November to do a travel episode that involves the Shinkansen (bullet train). It's going to be pretty epic. The contributions are going to help for this because it's going to be super expensive and it's going to be super ridiculous. But I'm intending to do something ridiculous in November to try to have some fun with all of the contributions. And make something happen. Because everybody in Japan that's YouTubing right now they kind of are doing the same ideas over and over and over again but in a different way. They have lists. They have the same places. They have the same things. And it's pretty cool because different narrators, different storytellers different people have different ways to tell things. And that adds value to a story. If you're searching for Harajuku, you're going to have 20 different ways to look at that area. So that's pretty cool. But there's so much more than these places here in Tokyo. So I'm going to try to bring you some of that outside of the city of Tokyo.

00:26:35 John Daub: Starting this month, I'm going to Kyoto this week. Believe it or not. I'll be in Kyoto on the 4th and the 5th. And that's going to be a lot of fun. I'm actually planning not to be here on the 1st or the 3rd. I'm going to be doing a trip outside of the city. And then next week I'll be on an NHK shoot for Journeys in Japan, a show down in Tottori. We're filming a top secret. I can't tell you what the theme is. I don't have an NDA but I can't tell you yet. I'll be down in Tottori to film something down there for one week with NHK and then I'll be back in Tokyo. And then I'm going to start traveling and driving. I'm going to start driving with the license that I worked really hard to get. So it's going to be pretty epic. I'll be down there. I am going to the Gion district actually. I'll be there on the 4th and 5th. I don't think I have time for a meetup guys. I would love to do that but if you are in Kyoto you can check the Facebook page and I might do a meetup if I have time. Or at least you can find me if I do a livestream down there. And I plan to do a couple of livestreams in Kyoto this week. It's going to be pretty cool.

00:27:42 John Daub: Some of the other stuff happening in the city before I sign off. I'm going to do that because 30 minutes was my limit today. The city is changing really fast with the Olympics. A lot of the venues are starting to be built. I might make another trip to the stadium this year just to see some of the progress. I've been filming it throughout the year, throughout the months to give a video that has a comprehensive look at how the stadium has evolved over the last two years. And then I want to interview the architect of it because I've met him a couple of times now. Yeah, two times I've met him now. And maybe I can get an inside look at the stadium which should be super awesome because no journalist has been in there yet. Well they have but not really gotten a tour of it. I find if you ask real friendly people will give you access to stuff that normally people wouldn't get. And I also learned that nobody likes journalists because they come in, they take the story and then they leave. And when I go and I do this I kind of stick around or I kind of do it more in like a style that normal people would do it instead of a journalist. A journalist doesn't have a lot of time. They take what they need and then they get out and they make the story the way that they want to do it. I kind of want to keep it authentic to the way that the storyteller wants to tell it and maybe spice it up a little bit with the way it's told but not with the details. And that kind of makes it more fun. So we got a lot of really good stories coming up.

00:29:11 John Daub: This here is the purple shake. I'm going to get one for Kanae right now. Thank you Nads McGee. Thank you everybody else for the super chats. I think I answered your questions. I will be doing another livestream for Patreon tonight. Well thank you Nads McGee. I hope you didn't make a mistake with the total but that's really a big help for the channel. See the line is shorter now. What should I get Kanae to take back? Maybe I'll get her a burger. It's a deep purple. Journalists, I've had a lot of trouble with journalists too. I was in a Newsweek article in 2008 when an English school chain failed and took all of the students money and Newsweek interviewed me. And they took my picture and they changed what I said to give it a negative tone and I was really upset. The picture was a full page in Newsweek by the way. And I was really angry and I almost got fired from that job. No matter what job you do you have to really take it seriously. So even though that wasn't my dream job or anything I was really hurt because I hurt the company indirectly. I didn't actually say those things, the reporter took everything out of context. But that's what they did and so you have to be careful and always hold reporters at arm's length. Don't let them in and nothing is ever off the record. Nothing is ever off the record unless you record it and then you can sue them if they use it. But reporters will try to bend and get the story that they need because they have an angle before they start, I've noticed.

00:31:07 John Daub: And then tonight in the Patreon live stream I'm also going to be talking about the YouTube Spotlight Summit that I was at yesterday or two days ago and joining me in that was Scotty from a cool channel called Strange Parts. I don't know if you guys have heard about that. Scotty is here in Japan and he was in Akihabara yesterday the two of us walked around a little bit he's looking for a story to do in Japan so we might collaborate on that but he's a very interesting channel. If you don't know this channel Strange Parts, check it out. Because he had his first video ever went viral. His first video got 15 million views because he tried to put together a smartphone from random parts in China and he did it. And then that video got 15 million views. So Strange Parts is the name of his channel and I'm going to try to help him out this week to make an episode on his channel. And hey Scotty there! Definitely check out Scotty's channel Strange Parts because it's got, I've been watching it this morning by the way Scotty. I didn't see this before but I've been watching it this morning and they're kind of addictive. The stuff that you put on to the show and I think it really adds like when you put your personality into it, it adds that something extra I think because if you were just showing the parts and things that, it would be not as much fun as to see you doing it. I love that.

00:32:52 John Daub: Guys check out Strange Parts and we'll see if maybe we can get Scotty in a livestream too to talk about stuff. Because we do appreciate it. And I'm really happy that YouTubers are coming here to Japan and putting focus on things. One of the things that I liked about walking around with Scotty yesterday was that we were looking at stuff that was not manga oriented and anime oriented. We were looking at stuff that was electronics oriented. When I was walking around I know the history because you can see it all segmented in the Akihabara area. But we didn't walk where the manga and anime is but all of that, the maid cafes is kind of incorporated in the computer areas because that's where the computer stores from the 80s went out of business and it was the maid cafes that came in and saw very cheap real estate in places that people didn't want to put anything. That's where they put in the maid cafes and you can see them mixed up within the computer part stores. So not all otaku (enthusiasts) are anime manga otaku. Otaku can be computer otaku and that's kind of where I kind of fit in. I'm kind of a computer and camera otaku. I got a really big passion for cameras. In fact, yesterday I bought the new GoPro Hero 7 black because I dropped mine in the ocean. A couple weeks ago in Ogasawara. So I picked up a new black camera and it's so good, the stabilization in that thing by the way.

00:34:18 John Daub: That's it. That's all I got for you guys. I'm just rambling on because I want to say thank you to Nads McGee for his big contribution and Rakio Hernandez and Cody Maloney. I'm going to buy Kanae her shake right now. Deez Raptor has it right. Otaku equals enthusiast. It does not mean anime or manga lover. You can be but in modern terms it's turned into a manga anime lover. But really you can be a train otaku. I'm also a train otaku. Not a big one like a small train otaku which I guess maybe I'm not an otaku. A train lover. But a train otaku is someone who loves it so much it hurts them and that's all they want to talk about. That's their life. No, that's not me. I'm a YouTube otaku maybe. But yeah the word otaku has a lot of different meanings than people think it does. And it had a negative meaning about as far back as five years ago it started to change. And now it just has a general meaning. There's a lot of issues that we can talk about. But today was all about this. So thank you everybody for this. Wow. I don't know if you like the design. Nasha Broad who's the moderator of this with Jim. Thanks both of you for the work that you put in here. But Nasha did not like the logo. Nasha's not loving it. When he sees it he doesn't get the McDonald's out of it. Thanks guys. I'll see you on the other side. See you tomorrow. And if you're on Patreon I'll see you tonight.

00:36:09 John Daub: That guy's totally gonna buy it. It's a gimme burger. What do you think? Is he going in? Is he going in? What do you think? I don't know. Five, four, going, going. Three, two, one. No he's not gonna go in. I don't think he's going in. Alright bye guys.

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