00:03 John Daub: Hey everybody, welcome to Nagasaki. Right there you see is a new Shinkansen line that's going to be coming from, I believe, Fukuoka and connecting Nagasaki, a city that's so hard to get to, with the Shinkansen. This is so cool! It's supposed to be coming in 2022. Hey everybody, I'm in Nagasaki. I thought it would be an opportunity to show you that there's a lot of construction going on. They just opened up a brand new prefectural building. It's not a Kengo Kuma design, but it's really, really nice.

00:37 John Daub: I walked in there, talked with some of the prefectural people. Very cool, brand new prefecture building. And then they got the Shinkansen coming. There's a lot of buzz going on. Right now they're building the Shinkansen platform. This will be the final stop. The Shinkansen will be ending right here, the final stop in the new Shinkansen line. That's kind of cool. I really didn't know too much about this, that Nagasaki was having the new Shinkansen.

01:04 John Daub: It's about three years away from being completed, the Nagasaki Honsen (Nagasaki Main Line). Very cool. That's the end of the Shinkansen line. Like literally, it doesn't go any further past this. So now I'm going to walk with you, or you're going to walk with me, towards Nagasaki station, which is an older station. This is also the end of the line for trains coming in the area. And then you have trolley cars, chin-chin den-cha (streetcars), we call them. That will take you to the ports and the other areas of the city.

01:40 John Daub: Nagasaki is really, really far away. I gotta be honest with you. When I'm in Tokyo and I think about places to go, Nagasaki seems even further than Okinawa to me. Because Okinawa, you know you gotta take a plane. Nagasaki's far! It's not a place that you can get to really easily. And the flights are hard because there's no low-cost carriers, LCCs. There's no cheap flight to Nagasaki either. You have ANA and JAL and that's it.

02:07 John Daub: Oh wow, that's beautiful. You can see how the city goes up, kind of like San Francisco. It is a city of mountains all around. It's so beautiful here. Lots of different sounds. Kyushu is just different than the rest of Japan.

02:35 John Daub: So I got a chance to walk around Dejima (historical Dutch trading post) a little bit. It's just about 5pm. I got a chance to walk around Dejima for a short amount of time. Dejima used to be an island, but now it's all connected by land. They filled it in. And there's still a lot of history there. They've created what looks like a theme park, recreated some of the buildings. And you can go in there. It's 510 yen to get into Dejima to take a look at the recreation of the settlement. I think it's well worth it. But I just don't have enough time. I literally have to go and take you to the station. I myself am very curious about how Nagasaki Station looks today. And then I'm going to take a taxi to the airport and back to Tokyo.

03:29 John Daub: Why not introduce you a little bit of Nagasaki and the area. This is the center of the city of Nagasaki. If you're following along in Google Maps, I've just walked from the prefectural office and the Shinkansen station, which is a big construction area. And now I'm making my way. Such a beautiful day. Making my way to the front of the Nagasaki Station.

03:56 John Daub: Compared to Tokyo, this is like another world. It's so quiet and so relaxed and so open. You've got hills that you can see. We don't have any mountains in Tokyo, not like right next to the city. Mount Fuji is in view on clear days, but nothing like this. This is so natural and so relaxed. Look at the flowers. I'm digging Nagasaki. You can see me on the left in shadow mode. I don't think they get a lot of YouTubers in Nagasaki either.

04:36 John Daub: Now I went into the Nagasaki prefectural office and got a bunch of information. So I'll see what I can do to make an episode to come back here and show you some more places in the prefecture of Nagasaki. Not just the city but there's so much more to this place. This is my third time to Nagasaki. And I've been to every prefecture in Japan at least twice. Three times for Nagasaki now. Very cool.

05:08 John Daub: Nagasaki has trolleys still. Hiroshima is another city that has them. Sapporo, Hakodate. It doesn't make sense to have a subway because there's just not enough people to use it every day. Hey, Boofrees. Thank you very much. Please buy a fancy ikura uni onigiri (salmon roe & sea urchin rice ball) with this money. If I find one, I will buy one.

05:42 John Daub: Alright, this is right in front of the station now. We should be there. Nagasaki Station South Entrance. Ah, there it is. Very cool. Whenever you go to a JR station in a big city, prefectural capital, it's sort of a neat experience. Alright, I see it. There's Nagasaki Station. So the Shinkansen platform is on the other side. I guess they'll be connected in 2022. But the construction is still ongoing.

06:51 John Daub: Alright, let's go have a quick look inside. And then I'm out of here, on my way back to Tokyo. It's just not enough time to see this amazing city and prefecture. Nagasaki's got a ton of history, mostly tied up with the Dutch in the 16th century. After they kicked the Portuguese out because they kept trying to convert them to Christianity, the Dutch said, hey, we don't want to convert you. We just want your business. And so the Japanese let the Dutch trade on Dejima Island, which is about 300 meters, 400 meters away from here.

07:35 John Daub: Okay, and you can see they're already promoting the Shinkansen coming in. It's exciting when the Shinkansen makes us. I remember in Hakodate Station in Hokkaido, when they were talking about the Shinkansen coming, they had a countdown. And it was people really excited because when you have a Shinkansen coming in, it makes you feel like a big city because now you are in the artery of Japan moving fast.

08:00 John Daub: You can see the Nagasaki prefectural map. It's a beautiful prefecture. Look at all the islands and just surrounded by sea here. This is the Peace Park. This is a statue very close to the epicenter of where the nuclear bomb was detonated. And he's pointing up to the sky to remember what happened and extending his arm out of peace. He's kind of standing and sitting. Everything is so symbolic with the statue. So the Peace Park is worth a visit. It's worth visiting in Nagasaki. And that's not too far away from here. We're here at the station, which is the end of the line. And you have to go a little bit further, about a kilometer down the road to get to the Peace Park in that area.

08:49 John Daub: It's not a big city. The best thing you can do, one of the best things you can do here is to not just eat champon (Nagasaki-style noodle soup), which is the food of Nagasaki, but to go up the cable car and take a look at the night view of Nagasaki. It's just absolutely beautiful. It's one of the great three night views of Japan: Nagasaki, Hakodate, and a third place that I just cannot remember. We rank everything in Japan. Everything is ranked.

09:20 John Daub: Wow! This is Nagasaki Station. It is not big at all. Literally, the station just starts right here. That's it. I thought it would be bigger. Nagasaki Station is mostly outside. There's just one entrance. It's very small and local. It looks very 1950ish. Even the ticket gates are different. This is pretty neat. They're using the Kagoshima Sugosei card [?], which is like the Suica, but it's a different mascot and the same system.

10:03 John Daub: Very cool. It's pretty neat to see where everything is going. Where's Nagasaki? It's right at the end. It's always the last stop. And then from Nagasaki, the trains just go towards Sasebo for 1,650 yen. And you can go all the way to Kubota [?]. It's quite far. This is the short distance tickets. And then the long distance tickets are right here. This is the Kyushu map. There's Nagasaki. And again, to get into the train, you have to go to the station. And then to get to the Shinkansen, you have to go right here, which is Kurume or Fukuoka, Hakata, and then Hakata, the blue one is the Tokaido Shinkansen that will take you to Tokyo. So it's not on the Shinkansen line, you can see.

11:00 John Daub: I know, I'm in Sasebo, right? It's in Jvlog [?]. I know, I'm so close. It'd be pretty cool to hop on a train and go there. Konnichiwa. They know I'm a YouTuber. I'm telling you, they don't get a lot of YouTubers in Nagasaki. Check it out. This is the train that goes to Fukuoka. So it is an express train. It looks pretty cool. But it's not the Shinkansen. This train is a little bit slower than the Shinkansen. And you have to change trains in Fukuoka, and it's not as fast. But it's still a pretty cool looking train. Man, I want to hop on the train. Forget flying. What am I doing? Why am I going to the airport?

11:52 John Daub: Just a slice of life right now from Nagasaki. Very cool. Alright. Nagasaki. So there you go. Just a little bit of... Oh, omiyage (souvenirs). I guess we can go in here for a second. Alright. Let's see what they got. I'm always looking for food. Cream cheese cakes. Wow. And I would like this. Cream cheese tarts. Oh, man. Looks very good.

12:41 John Daub: Castella (sponge cake) is the... Oh, look. You can see the Christian influence in some of the desserts. Nagasaki has the highest percentage of Christians in Japan. And so the desserts have a kind of a Christian feel. Oh, this is the one that Kanae wanted. I'll have to get it at the airport. 45 cookies for about 2,000 yen [?]. That's actually a pretty good deal. This would be a good daimyo present. You can see the history represented in the wrapping paper. Oh, look at that. Stained glass windows. This looks pretty good. Alright. Looks delicious. I'll have to get it at the airport, though.

13:40 John Daub: Nagasaki. Alright. Yeah. A mini tour. Better than nothing. It's nice to share a little taste of what it's like. How dare you put an advertisement for Wagyu beef right in front of my face. Nagasaki Wagyu. Looking good, Nagasaki Wagyu. Every region of Japan has its own Wagyu brand. And Nagasaki Wagyu is representing. Interesting. It is a now battle royale for the Wagyu beefs of Japan to battle it out to see who's best.

14:17 John Daub: All right, folks. This guy needs a haircut. Coin lockers. Buses. There's the streetcar. Streetcar is an easy way to get around the city. There you go. That's pretty much the station area of Nagasaki. Let me take you up a little bit and then I'm going home. Get on the train. Get on the bridge. Chris, I will not give you a pair of scissors. That poor man. Are you skilled in the art of haircutting?

15:13 John Daub: You can see they're very excited to have their Shinkansen. What do you think of that Halloween costume? Alright. Now we get a nice view of the city. It's not very big. It's not a bustling city like Tokyo, but it is a nice city. A lot of hotels around the station. There's Apa Hotel. I know that chain very well. So this is the ekimai (station mall). Yeah, there you go. And there's more Nagasaki Wagyu. What? They are really, really aggressive trying to sell their Wagyu beef.

15:56 John Daub: All right. So click that like button if you like these tours of the station other than Tokyo. That's all I have from Nagasaki Station. Thank you so much for watching. I'm on my way back to Tokyo for more adventures that are only in Japan. I'll see you next time on the other side. Goodbye from Nagasaki Station.