00:00:01 John Daub: Now this is a beautiful pack of Wagyu beef. It cost about $30, and there's not that much in here—sort of 400 grams, half a kilo, less than half. But we have rib roast, misuji (tenderloin area), bara (short plate), and momo (round), which I believe is the backside. We're gonna try to barbecue this on a Japanese barbecue, and I'm gonna take you around and show you what a Japanese barbecue is like here in Tokyo.

00:00:35 John Daub: How you doing everybody? Kanae and I had ridden our bicycles to Odaiba, which is just over here. Check it out—look at this view. There's Odaiba over there and this is the Rainbow Bridge. We were riding our bikes back home and we saw one weekend all these people barbecuing and having fun. Look over here to the right—this is Toyosu Gururi Park barbecue, and they have it on the weekends where the local government sets this up. This is all set up by the local government, and you have to reserve in advance. It costs about $80—of course it's Tokyo, nothing is for free. But they provide everything—you don't have to bring anything. We did bring the food because it's always a little bit pricey. There's Kanae and her family, and we're gonna go over there and barbecue that beautiful Wagyu.

00:01:45 John Daub: It's summer so I have on my Japanese towel. In Japan many will wear these towels to keep the sweat out of our face because it's so hot—like a sauna, although not quite as hot. It's been cooler the last few days because we're still in the rainy season. If you look up, you'll see the sky is cloudy, typical of July. But it's Saturday and we're very lucky for two reasons: one, it's not raining—when it's not raining in the rainy season, especially in the middle of it, you're pretty lucky. And the other is right in the middle of the harbor, right near the bay, we have a space boat, the Suijou Bus (water bus). It makes its trip from Asakusa, the cultural area, down to Odaiba, and this one allows you to stand outside on top. I love me some space boat.

00:02:45 John Daub: Alright, now I'm gonna take you around this place. I put a link in the description to the Google Map, and you can see the website—it might be in Japanese. For those studying Japanese, you can get a chance to learn because you need it to get around here. There's our bicycles right there in the center—we rode here from our house. This is the end—actually, if you take a look here, you will see Toyosu Fish Market. So it's just on the end of Toyosu Fish Market. It's funny because right now they're playing "We Are Family"—they have all the copyrighted music just to annoy me. As a YouTuber live streaming, this is like the curse.

00:03:36 John Daub: Are they having fun doing that? He's point blank—that kid's just waiting until he runs out of ammo, then he's gonna tackle him. That's what I would do—take the bullies and when they run out... Oh wait, he's not gonna run out—that guy's packing like four liters. Now attack him—dude, attack him. He's got a pea shooter though. This is a great place for families to come, where papa can drink beer and pass out in the chair, mama can cook and clean up, and the kids can run around in the grass. I like how some people have brought aprons—some of the mothers have aprons from the kitchen. That's genius.

00:04:31 John Daub: Alright, let's go over here and grill some of this Wagyu—I'm really curious. This is family time so I'm only gonna bring you for like 10-15 minutes. Yesterday we had a really nice livestream—it was good to see our friend Paolo from Tokyo. I've met him a couple times and he's a very nice guy—I like hanging out with positive people. Speaking of positive people, there's Kanae.

00:05:08 Kanae Daub: What are you making? Right there. I made it for you.

00:05:14 John Daub: Oh, that's like a shish kebab—very nice. For me? Good. Did you put some salt on it? Shio?

00:05:22 Kanae Daub: Not yet.

00:05:24 John Daub: That's okay—before or after. This is good. So we have a couple things here—a staple is edamame, you have to have edamame. Kettle chips with pepper. And you have to have vegetables—we like our enoki mushrooms, some cheese, negi (green onions), eggplant, and a knife. And then a griller—which would be Yosuke and Megumi. Oh, that's a Tokyo Giants towel—it's baseball season. Alright, this could be dangerous. We got Giants—I am Carp.

00:06:33 John Daub: Oh, nice—this is potato and butter inside there. So they're gonna take a picture—you guys mind being in a picture? So even though you're not really here, you are kind of here for this picture. Typically in a Japanese barbecue, they won't even have the grates—it'll just be really flat, and that means you can cook things like yakisoba on the barbecue. That was one of the most bizarre things when I first came here—they didn't have grills like this. This is kind of recent, like a Coleman type. Before it would just be a flat metal thing where the oils couldn't even go in—they would use the oils to cook noodles.

00:07:39 John Daub: Pepper got me—oh man, I'm gonna have to wash that pepper down. Kanpai. How long those ribs gonna take? Ribs take some time. I brought my football—I don't think they know how to throw a football. It says "American football"—they have to write American on it because in Japan football is soccer. I bet they can't throw a spiral.

00:09:03 John Daub: I'm downriver of a bunch of pepper—excuse me, I'm sorry, I'm taking a picture. So that's another thing—there's this professional barbecue guy from the city who comes and takes care of us and makes sure we don't screw up. This wagyu that I bought is like dessert—it's so good. For those joining us, I have my private stash of Kagoshima wagyu from down in Kyushu—you can see the label, Kagoshima Kuroge Wagyu. We're gonna have this as the meat dessert after the shish kebabs.

00:11:05 Kanae Daub: It's mine? Yeah. Ah. Did you put salt on it?

00:11:09 John Daub: Yes—wonderful. Look at it. If you want barbecue sauce, you can leave. Kanae made her own barbecue sauce—look at that, homemade. That's pretty good—delicious. Barbecue sauce is sweet. 80% vegetables, 20% meat—that seems about right for Japan if you buy good meat. We do have more meat—the pork spare ribs—but we don't eat that much. Shiitake was good.

00:12:47 John Daub: This is Toyosu Gururi Park—I'll take you to the sign in a second. Now this is a little trailer they have, and they upsell sherbet and all sorts of things, including copyrighted music. The reason these places exist in Tokyo is because you cannot barbecue just anywhere—very strict barbecue and fire laws. There was a big fire in Asakusa in the 19th century from a fireworks company that burned down and spread massively, like the Great Fire of London. So no open fire barbecues or gas grills in the city—I'm surprised they don't ban smoking because you need a lighter. Tokyo's cracking down on public smoking now too.

00:15:06 John Daub: 大丈夫かな？いいじゃん。食べるじゃない？大丈夫。 Alright, we're ready for some wagyu. Amanda writes in, "Where's the beef?" She's a-comin' after I finish this. This is hot! This is how you eat if you were a pirate—you eat off your sword. Butter cooked with potatoes—very Japanese. And there's cheese. Somebody drank my beer. Wasabi is here too. Australia is representing—some good Aussie beef. Bagoshima Wagyu [?], very nice—look at that marbling. They're sliced thinly so they cook fast. I've learned to barbecue wagyu: cook quickly or the oil creates fires and you ruin it.

00:18:46 John Daub: Itadakimasu—I'm just gonna selfishly grill my own. Check this out—this is a thing of beauty. Oh stop it, look at that—that's Kanae with wagyu, beautiful picture. This is gonna cook fast—are you ready? Shio aru? Shio means salt—just a little bit. Oh, that's beautiful. Cook it nice—it's starting to cook, that nice sizzle. Wagyu John is at it—very thin, so it cooks quickly. You can see it browning. Flip—oh, and you see the fat going down. It's moving quick—it's good, flip in 15 seconds. Look at that—blub blub blub. Do you guys have barbecues with wagyu? I don't think so. Alright, I think it's done—let's get it. Wow—that really is something. Arigato.

00:21:47 John Daub: Welcome to the wonderful world of wagyu. Did you see the way he looked at the piece of wagyu? He wants a piece—the red shirt man. It's good—oishi (delicious). The spare ribs are not easy—they're still raw. Alright, we're gonna try one more and then call it because this is family time. This one is bara—this must have been rib roast, sankaku bara [?]. Nice cut of Kagoshima wagyu—the pirate wagyu dance. People are gonna cook this together so I'm doing it selfishly. This is the last piece and then family time—I just wanted to share a little barbecue with you. I got the go-ahead from the wifey.

00:24:13 John Daub: This piece is ours everybody—let's get some salt. This is Costco pink salt—I don't know why it's pink. Look at that beautiful pink marbling—the more you cook it, the less you see. A5 wagyu—beautiful. Flip this mama—hear that sizzle? Last piece for everybody. This cost about $30 for the entire thing—the phone overheated from smartphone burn, so I put it in the cooler with the beer. It's a little overdone but looks delicious—that's wagyu oil dripping. Itadakimasu—oishii. Oishii face—taberu wagyu (eat wagyu).

00:26:49 John Daub: Ok everybody, I gotta say goodbye—I got in trouble, we were livestreaming way too long. There's the pro barbecue dude who came back to help. One last shot—beautiful place. The reason I'm bringing you back: I noticed this spaceship-looking boat, the Suijou Bus, making its way back. We started with it leaving, now it's returning to Asakusa with a full house of tourists. It's a beautiful day in Tokyo despite the cloudy weather—you don't get too many like this in the rainy season, from mid-June till about July 24th, then it's sunny and real hot every day.

00:27:37 John Daub: If you want to come for barbecue, link in the description—you cannot barbecue anywhere in Tokyo, only designated areas like this, and you pay but get assistance like that professional barbecuer. I'm planning a livestream tomorrow morning—see you bright and early. An episode coming this weekend on Ogasawara scuba diving. Have a good day or night wherever you are—barbecue until your stomach stops growling. That's what I'm gonna do with the rest of the family. Have a good day everybody.