00:00:01 John Daub: Greetings everybody! Welcome to the city of Tokyo as this truck blocks our view. Hi, I'm now at Daimon Station. Hamamatsucho Station is just over there. That's where you get the monorail from Haneda Airport into the city. And we're gonna be starting our adventure from here, from Daimon Station, this intersection, and we're walking to there. You can already kind of see it right there, right on my ear. That's Tokyo Tower. It takes about ten minutes to get over there. But we're gonna walk in the slow way straight there to Shiba Park and learn a little bit about the history on the way.

00:00:42 John Daub: There's a tree gifted by Ulysses S. Grant, which is still alive in the park, as well as some trees planted by the Shogun and other really nice things. They remind us of autumn. As autumn gets closer and closer to Tokyo, I'm gonna take you in that direction. So join me, will ya? So you go to Shiba Park. And Tokyo Tower from Daimon. This area is pretty cool. A lot of hotels here, a lot of people will stay in this area.

01:01:03 John Daub: Autumn is here. This tree has lost a lot of its leaves, looking a little bit bare. And I myself, I'm still wearing shorts. The weather's warm on a beautiful day. I'm gonna do a live stream inside, but I figured since it's sunny, not so windy, blue skies, we should take advantage of this and do a little walk. Tokyo is full of amazing walks. Do subscribe and join us for a lot of them. It's more fun when you watch it live.

01:01:45 John Daub: Lots of little alleys around here as well. Hey, Edo is here catching us live from the Netherlands. Thanks, Edo. This area called Daimon, especially over at the Hamamatsucho area, just on the other side of the intersection, has a lot of offices. There's a lot of business people. And at night, they'll go out to some of these izakaya (Japanese pubs) and have a drink. There's some takoyaki over there, a Mos Burger over here, and we're going in this direction. So, let's go.

02:02:18 John Daub: Oh, there's a truck that blocked our view. It says Karaoke-kan. So, I guess they got like microphones inside. This is gonna be about an eight-minute walk to get to Shiba Park. Oh, they have this... Let's see what McDonald's has right here. This is a spicy teriyaki burger. Do you see that symbol right there? It means spicy. Karai. I'm not a big McDonald's fan, but it has an egg on it. It's fun to try how America has packaged their branding for Japan.

02:03:05 John Daub: Yay! She's saying no. That's the Japanese symbol for no. All right. I guess if you do tell people not to do something, more often than not, they will do it. So, don't subscribe, and do not click the like button. Probably not gonna... Click it. Just click it. Don't listen to me. Tokyo Tower is really interesting because you can see it in this area from every single direction, and because it's a tower that's very symmetrical, looks pretty much the same.

03:03:31 John Daub: Over here on the right side, you see little symbols of the history of Tokyo. The temple inside of it, and it's a Buddhist temple that we're gonna be going to, is called Zojoji. Zojoji. You can see it here in the winter. This is right on the street during the Edo period. By the way, it goes all the way back to the 9th century, the history of this, but it doesn't start to take shape and called Zojoji until about the 13th century, and then Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1598 really established it, as well as Shiba Park.

04:04:24 John Daub: The park itself was not established until, I believe, the year was 1873. Look it up on your own. I'm an amateur historian and a lover of the past, because I live in a city that has so much of it. Now this gate is... is this the one that's made out of cement? Daimon, the name of the station, is actually the name of the gate, the big gate that went into the shrine. So during World War II, I believe it was really destroyed, and they've made it kind of concrete, but it's not quite at the same glory as it used to be in the past.

05:05:03 John Daub: So we're gonna go through this gate. And there's a gate, you gotta go through it. And then towering above it is Tokyo Tower. So the closer we get to it, the bigger it gets. You know how it works like that. Family Mart on the right side. And this looks like an izakaya on the left. You can tell because there's a sake barrel sign on the top there. Masuya. Masu being the sake box.

05:05:35 John Daub: Let's take a look at the menu really quickly. If you were to come in this direction you might even consider going to Masuya. This usually means stick, looks like a yakitori but this kanji yakiton, this is a butabara so this is pork stick for 150 yen, about a dollar fifty. There's some liver for a dollar fifty so all these are pretty reasonable. A dollar fifty for one stick, I can eat about ten of them so it's fifteen dollars a person maybe. That's yakitori if you don't know, it's skewered meat and vegetables on a charcoal fire.

06:06:16 John Daub: There's oden. Oh I love oden, see that simmered goodies in a dashi fish stock. There's maguro, you can see some otoro the white one, there's chutoro on top of akami which is the red maguro. Oh wow and then there's some skewered stewed guts, I believe mutsunabe. It's a pretty cool menu. Here's the gate we're going inside.

06:06:59 John Daub: It's pretty cool to see traditional Japanese objects mixed in with the urban setting so people will come here to get that picture, the one of the temple with Tokyo Tower background. This is a very very famous picture. Uh-oh just a couple of days ago I was knocking Starbucks kind of knocked them down a level and there's one right there so yeah there's that. Right now they're supporting their merry strawberry cake drinks here, just look good very sweet there's still a line. Good stuff. Always take the high road, walk away.

08:08:05 John Daub: I want to cross the street across the street right here so we got a red light on both sides. Hey you found me where are you headed this way.

08:08:17 Jeff: Yeah don't break the law and cross under red light you only crossed because I was it like we didn't like well you crossed because I was crossing right so no it never happened did it John oh never have it never happened the record has been wiped clean yeah hi I'm Jeff nice to meet you John.

08:08:33 John Daub: Australia no the accent didn't give it away were you expecting Singapore or China or something really no no no I'm from Perth Australia welcome yeah.

08:08:52 Jeff: Want to say hi to Suri and Jamie at home they didn't make it so I'm backpacking oh yeah went as far as to put Sapporo and down to Hiroshima okay and then later on um amongst which I went to um Tomioka which is the where the Fukushima right right happened pretty much yeah nice little um museum monument set up by the TEPCO company there oh okay so they I you know more about that area than I have I've kind of you know not gone there it's awesome the display is awesome it is um yeah gives it respect to what happened yeah I mean the plaque is a official apology and then just shows you what they're doing to clean up the place in their view yeah it's important the official apology that's a good gesture it means a lot to the people there i mean what else can you do in that kind of a situation.

09:09:37 John Daub: Before we get too deep into it uh postcard club there's one going out to I can't even pronounce that name but you know it's going out right now so I also have a uh an emperor's stamp on there from the enthronement there you go to the name I can't pronounce I won't even try yeah I made a mission to come and um catch up with you oh yeah that's part of the um trip so oh so you got the notification early I could work occasion because you found me so early this is the earliest anyone's ever found me except unless like I just happened to be um i was catching a train from Ueno to um Roppongi and just happened to catch the stream notification quickly jumped off oh we know we know okay you said you know I was like you know oh I don't know oh we know okay my pronunciation's crap it's fine.

10:10:23 John Daub: Gill's writing in here I love Zojoji it's the central Kanto temple and the sect that most Japanese Americans belong to mr recent streams I was in Japan for 10 days with my family glad I could catch this one thank you very much Gil I wish I could have met you when you were here in Japan um but I'm sure you're going to be back and I'm not going anywhere it's gonna have some fun have you been to this area Jeff yeah no I haven't no no and it's amazing um it's amazing how coincidences bring you to new places yeah so I mean originally Roppongi was on the plan hey slight detour slight detour it's not that actually you could just walk keep walking and get to Roppongi which is an option that I might take.

11:11:19 John Daub: So we've come here from Daimon that's where we started it on the Oedo Line and the Asakusa Toei Line and we walked this way just now Jeff caught me right by the post office where we did not cross the road and here we are um and we're about to cross into uh Zojoji let's look at some of the stuff that we're going to be doing inside of here we will just take a look here I'm not going to film too deeply because you have to be very respectful of those who come here to pray um but if you're going to go to the left inside of here there are some really interesting things I believe you can get into to Shiba Park which is our main destination and within here we're going to find um a lot of stuff here I know that there's a tree planted uh that was gifted by Ulysses S. Grant that I'm going to be looking for for American history buffs as well as a really old tree because I love trees that was planted in here well way back by one of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

12:12:26 John Daub: So let's go do this because I stopped at that map because we have red light so we have some time and Jim just plugged our Discord server definitely join us there it's free discord.gg/onlyinjapan only Japan all right let's cross over here this is Minato Ward as well I mean not the word there's 23 wards in central Tokyo this is one of them and there's another map you can see they have it the momiji (Japanese maples) so in the autumn it's really pretty momiji let's cross pan up and there's that there's one of those classic shots right of Tokyo Tower and an old traditional Japanese gate I love it and the evergreen trees so much beautiful color.

13:13:33 John Daub: All right so Jeff's going to explain all the history for us right now oh sorry just isn't that's just sick no no it's all right wow I've been here maybe I lived in Tokyo for a long time I moved here in 2004 and I've been here living here since before that I lived out in the countryside in 16 different cities but I've only been to this temple once in all of those years and I ran past here for the Tokyo Marathon in the seven times I participated in that from 2007 six times six times we ran right past here and I always turn left and right and then I ran I'm gonna go into the temple and guess what? That day is today and Jeff is coming with us. Let's go.

14:14:24 John Daub: All right. Wow. Just take it slow. GeekMoto13, hey John, was wondering if you know if there are any symbols or something to identify quiet areas or if I should just look for a temple or shrine. I'm autistic, so planning is hard. I think yeah I don't... That's a really tough question, but I think just be respectful whenever you go to the temple and shrine. You can talk quietly. You can always talk quietly, but just look around you and see what the other people are doing. And that should be the biggest sign of how you should act as well.

15:15:07 John Daub: So look at your surroundings and environments and do what the Japanese do, which is KY. Kuuki ga yomeru (read the air). And if you look around, just do what everyone else is doing. Because that's how I get through. That's how I make it. I love this. Do you see that? That's the thumbnail of this video, by the way. The temple with the tower. It's pretty nice. And we have a beautiful day, isn't it? You go ahead and take the photo. Go ahead, take the photo. I thought I would catch you. Did you get it? I was trying to catch you. Ah, this is one of the sites of the city of Tokyo. Very, very famous. A lot of history here.

15:15:54 John Daub: And this temple dates back, the spot of this temple dates back all the way to the ninth century. But it took the name Zojoji, I believe it was the 13th century. I guess if you're really interested, you're gonna look it up. Linda has just joined our postcard club. I'm getting the notification. Thank you, Linda. I'm sending out the postcard, maybe in the next live stream too. I appreciate that. All right, this is the bell.

16:16:18 John Daub: On New Year's, Jeff, do you know what they do on New Year's in Japan? Ring the bell, bud. You would guess, you would guess right. At Buddhist temples, that's the best place to go for New Year's. And Kanae and I have been going to temples. We don't do countdown parties like they do in the West. What we do is most Japanese, like 99% of them just go to bed. They'll watch NHK at night and they go to bed. But a lot of us, maybe young people, we'll come to Buddhist temples. And at midnight, they will ring this bell 108 times. And that's very symbolic. And it takes a long time.

17:17:07 John Daub: And it's nice to be around here, walk around. Sometimes they have street food at the temples outside of it. And you can hear the bell ring in the background while hitting some street food at midnight and just taking in the sounds and the sights. I like that. New Year's in Japan is a time of peace where you can relax with your family. It's not a time to get plastered and party. But I did do that the first couple of years because I didn't know what else to do. I thought that's what everybody did. Roppongi's got a lot of countdown parties. Our buddy Peter von Gomm likes to go to the countdown parties. He always invites me. I always say no, except one year. That was a lot of fun actually. Maybe I'll say yes this year.

17:17:52 John Daub: The Tokugawa, the Shogun's kofun (burial mound), is also here. And I believe that's in the park. Now we're not gonna go too close into the park. We're gonna go to the temple because we want to give it the respect it is. But I do think it's very symbolic of the city of Tokyo to see the old and the new like this. You smell the incense as well. What are your children's names?

18:18:22 Jeff: I've got one son named Jamie. Jamie? Yeah, he's six years old. Hey Jamie. Jamie's been to Japan before? Yes, he has twice. Couldn't make it on this trip. Wife and I couldn't make it. I couldn't agree on a time to travel. Ah. So I said bugger it, I'm going myself. Just do it. Backpacking.

18:18:51 John Daub: All right, there's the top of Tokyo Tower. I miss them by the way. You hear that Jamie? We miss you. And Suri. And Suri, we miss you guys. So the top deck is like, they've redone that. Sorry about the wind noise if you're getting that in the microphone. They've redone the top deck of Tokyo Tower. It looks brand spanking new, even on the outside. And used to be like this retro 1950s, this is what it's like to be in space theme. And they've turned it into what it would be like in space now, which should probably be outdated in about 20 years, but it's pretty neat.

19:19:27 John Daub: And for those of you who do go to Tokyo Tower, take the audio guided tour in English, because someone, you know whose voice Jeff is on, on the audio guide? Peter von Gomm. Oh. So if you take the audio guide, it'll be the sweet voice of Only in Japan, Peter von Gomm. Yeah. I was trying to do that imitation before when I- You tried to do it? Somebody on- Yelling across the intersection, saying the more appropriate. Which we didn't, by the way. Yeah, we didn't do that. We didn't do that. We never crossed the street illegally.

20:20:06 John Daub: All right, we're gonna walk now into Shiba Park and see what else we can find. You can go the other way, and I believe there's some little cute statues, which sometimes wear knitted hats like that. Gil writes in here, okay. We got Gil knows the temple quite well. Go to the right of the temple to see the statue of children dedicated to dead and unborn infants. Go to the right. Is that right from here or right, right here? All right, let's follow them. Lower right or the higher right? Yeah, Gil will, Gil, because we're live, Gil can navigate us. All right, Gil, let's go check it out.

20:20:53 John Daub: Is this the way, Gil? Right of the main building. All right, let's go up the steps. That's funny. I love this. Gil is guiding us by text on the chat. Thanks, Gil. He's awesome. All right, Gil, we're turning to the right now. Oh, I think that those little statues that I saw there is exactly what you're talking about. I've been here. The last time I was here, that's where I went, but I never went into Shiba Park. I think they closed it or something or I couldn't find the way in. Make sure you're quiet. Yeah, always show a lot of respect when you go to the temples. Don't talk too loud. Don't take flash photography for sure. I think I know where we're going now.

22:22:13 John Daub: Oh, this is the chart. I always go at New Year's for hatsumode (first shrine/temple visit of the year), which is the New Year's prayer. And they tell you which years are bad luck years and good luck years. And I was born in Showa 49. So my date isn't up there. So I'm neither good nor bad. So next year will be Showa 52. All right, we're good. And then it says underneath it, 1977. So I was born in Showa 49, which is 1974. All right, let's keep going. Smells great. I love the incense. All right, here it is. Gil, much love, brother. Thank you for pointing us.

23:23:04 John Daub: This is a pretty cool area and definitely worth a visit. I've been here. This is the last time I came here. Like many, many times. Many years ago, I walked on that path and I saw this and I walked in, but I didn't know where I was. These are guardian deities of children. They are dedicated for the safety growth of children and grandchildren, as well as the memorial service for stillbirth and miscarriage children to protect and keep warm their heads. Red hat or red aprons and windmills were dedicated to the guardian deity of children image. Please refrain from touching. Don't touch. Wagging my finger. Let's go inside. Whoa. All right. Get close, but do not touch and show a lot of respect. And they're wearing hats to keep their heads warm.

23:23:57 John Daub: I remember that there's not a lot of breeze here, but sometimes you'll see the pinwheels moving. They have that solemn, peaceful look on their faces on a windy day. These really do move. And the colors really do contrast well with the green of the trees around. It's beautiful. And this actually goes on for quite a ways, doesn't it, Gil? This goes for quite a ways. Kind of we're kind of going around towards Shiba Park after this.

25:25:27 John Daub: I was one of those people walking in the background before in the past. I mean, it is pretty sad, right? This is a memorial to stillborn kids memorial. Yeah. And if you've ever experienced that loss in your family, it's nice to know that there's a place that you can come to that's very peaceful and beautiful. And you can kind of see that energy. I love the pinwheels. You can see the energy in that the movement because kids are always in constant movement. So despite the peaceful look on their faces, you can see the pinwheel moving represents that energy, I guess, that all the kids have. I don't know. We don't have any kids yet, but it's nice to have a place like this where you can come to reflect.

26:26:31 John Daub: This one has a double pinwheel. Look, the little ones going like to absorb the background sounds as well. I know this mic is not the best one for it, but you can hear the birds chirping, the crows cawing. And we're not going to go in, but we're going to just take a quick look here. It's a very, very beautiful sight. It's very beautiful. Let's go to the park.

27:27:30 Valerie: Hello. Hello. How are you? Welcome. Hi, I'm John. Valerie. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, Sean. Wow, I can't believe we did it. You did it. It's your last day. It's your last day. Oh. And we just did a surprise picnic. And I turned on YouTube. And you're here. I'm here. Oh, my God.

27:27:56 John Daub: So this is Valerie and Sean. Okay. And this is Jeff from Perth. Where are you guys from? Laredo, Texas. Okay. Laredo, Texas. Okay. Oh, how cool. It's on the border time in Mexico. Whoa, awesome. Yep. Let's go this way. So we want to... Yeah, we're not supposed to be too happy here. We were about to take a... We were about to chomp down on these little cute guys. And I opened up YouTube and it shows me that Sensei, we call you Sensei, because you're one of the main reasons we came to Japan. Oh. You've taught us almost everything we know. That's so nice of you to say that.

28:28:23 Valerie: I love these... That looks like from what we had in the street food at the convenience store and said the sweet potato. This is at a Family Mart. A Family Mart. That's where I got the... Must be the same kind. Different... The new ones are out. But I ate the head off and then I dropped it on the street. Just don't do that. Yeah. Maybe. And we have chips and a couple of family chicken. We were about to, like I said, eat. And I said, oh, my God. You did it. This is our last day. This is exactly... I know that YouTube is always working hard to improve the app.

29:29:06 John Daub: So... The video quality looked really good a couple of days ago in the live stream at the coffee shop. We're going back now towards the park. We can kind of relax a little bit. I do want to show as much respect as I can muster. Sometimes I get really excited and forget where I am. I'm 45 going on 13. So as we walk towards the park, let me go back in here and say thank you to everybody. To Danny, I do not feel very good right now. This live stream arrives at 11. I'm at a right time. Your good mood makes me feel better. Thank you. I hope you feel better, Danny. Kanae and I really care about you. So try to get your spirits back up.

29:29:56 John Daub: It's a beautiful sunny day, so it's hard for me not to feel good. It's very warm today. What's the temperature? Do you know the temperature? It's hard to say. Super chat for the temple from my period. Thank you. I'm going to go back in here. 70 degrees right now. Green light courier service making me hungry. Thank you. I will be back there. Geek Moto 13. Hey, John was wondering if you know if there are symbols. So we answered that before. Just kind of look around. Appreciate that, guys. Can we get to the park this way? I think so. I'm going to find out.

30:30:42 John Daub: I'm also looking for the 300 year old Shogun planted tree as well as the tree gifted by Ulysses S. Grant. Is he from Texas? Well, he had that Lone Star spirit. I know that. Yeah. All right, guys. So we're going to jump into Shiba Park, which is next door to the temple. I'm going to follow those bicyclists. I saw them. They didn't go through the gate. They went around. It's got to be this way. Again, I've never been to Shiba Park. I've been around it. I've never been to Shiba Park. So for those joining us, if you do like these Tokyo amazing walks. Encourage me. Click the thumbs up and maybe I will keep this live stream going and take you closer to there, which is Tokyo Tower.

31:31:39 John Daub: I guess it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. It's pretty. If you come here, you don't see it every day like me. I see it every day. Astro Boy gave me like a thousand thumbs up. Be careful because I heard that YouTube's like banning people if you give too many. Yeah. Maybe just one. But one times 1,000,000 or something. One thumbs up X 1,000,000. Yeah. Jim and Nosh have been sharing it in the Discord about that. Oh, you can see the trees in the distance. They're really starting to come. Autumn is here.

32:32:35 Valerie & Sean: Have you guys seen this is your last day? Yes. Wow. So what? Where have you what have you seen? Give us reports. Okay. Reports from from the from out here. We were in Tokyo. Tokyo. We stayed near here, the Tokyo Tower. We had an awesome Airbnb that had a window that gave us the most beautiful view to the tower. And that was our first day. Was it the Prince Hotel? No, it was a small Airbnb. So it was apartments. Oh, okay. Oh yeah, Airbnb. Princess Court, I believe. Princess Court was the name of the complex.

33:33:05 Valerie & Sean: Okay. And then from there, we went to Kyoto. Kyoto. And then we went to Osaka, and then to Fukuoka, and then back to Tokyo. Wow, cities. Cities. All recommended by you. Oh, that's my fault. All right. I got to get out to the countryside more. Which one did you like the best? We liked Fukuoka the best. Fukuoka. We did Big Echo Karaoke. Okay. Our first time there, and it was... It was divine. They did have that here, too. And they had the all-you-can-drink beer. Oh, that's always good. Did you get the big toast? They have the big bread toast thing. We went to Saise. We took in the nature.

34:03:54 John Daub: Ah, speaking of nature, this is nature, Jeff. Does Perth have a lot of parks, like green? To me, it's like... That's the one place I've never been, but... It's like... Well, you're always welcome. The iconic one is Kings Park, which overlooks the city. Yeah. But, yeah, then you have to go out on the outskirts of the city, where you can meet wildlife parks, etc. Big spiders? Not big spiders. Well, not in Perth, anyway. Not in Perth? Redback ones. Oh, I don't like those redbacks. Redback ones, so you've got to be careful.

34:34:30 Jeff: Wow. I just remember, like, a wolf spider. I just remember, like, a wolf spider in my shoe once, and I didn't... They always said, shake your shoe, and you should do that. Do you shake your shoe? If you shake your shoe, you burn your ass. And then I was... In the millennium, in 1999, I was living and working on Bondi Beach, and for three months, I was shaving ice, but one of the jobs also was hauling garbage. And I remember picking up a piece of wood, and a big spider also climbed across my arm, and then jumped off, and that was pretty scary. Wolf or wolfman or something. It had beards and eyes. You could see it. It freaked me out for days. It was traumatized. It's big, big, like, man-eating spiders.

35:35:23 John Daub: There's a lot of dogs. It's such a beautiful day. It's the perfect day to be outside, and I was going to stay inside and do a live stream, but how could I do that? Thank you for having me now. Yeah, you wouldn't find me inside, right? Hiding in a closet. It's man-eating spiders. Our spiders in Japan are, like, yellow, and if you touch them, they'll just disintegrate. We went to the Meiji Shrine, and we saw humongous spiders. Oh, you did? In Meiji Shrine? Uh-huh. Were they yellow? Yeah. I know! They're yellow! They're weird! They're so scary. They have, like, a green and red butt. Green and red butt. Mm-hmm. Did you take a picture? Yes, and video. Yeah, video? Mm-hmm. Whoa. That's crazy.

36:36:08 Valerie & Sean: We just have small, deadly spiders in Texas. Brown recluse. Brown recluse. You see, Texas also is very... a lot of wildlife that'll kill you. Rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes. Black widows. Black widows. Oh. I think even the ants will eat you, right? Mm-hmm. Those will leave you a bad mark. Bad marks? I'll stick it to Tokyo for now. I love the countryside, though, but Texas is hard, man. That's real country out there. And it's hot all the time. It's hot all the time. Hot and dry. Hot and dry. Hot and dry.

36:36:44 John Daub: I'm looking for the tree. I wonder where the tree is. So we're going to look for some signs. Got an idea. Let's spread out. If you find the Ulysses S. Grant Tree, we'll meet back here in like five minutes. All right. That's good. We got a team. Give the team a challenge. While they're searching really hard, let's go get a beer. No, no, no. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to search in this direction. I figure if there's more than us... We're going to find that tree.

37:37:23 John Daub: My job is to find... Ulysses S. Grant is on the $50 bill. There's a lot of talk of replacing him since he was a known boozer. I thought he might have done good in the Civil War. I don't know the history too well. I'm sure you guys will put it in the description or in the comments section. But I do know that he gave Japan a tree. And we want to see that tree. So where's that tree?

37:37:58 John Daub: Excuse me. Where is the oldest tree? The oldest tree? The tree that the American president gave us as a gift. The one at the top of the hill. The one at the top of the hill? Yes, I think so. The tall tree? It might be different. If you go to the top of the hill, there's a guide. Yes. You go and ask someone. I see. It's next to the gate. Yes. I understand. I feel like I've seen it. You've seen it, but you didn't know? Yes. I see. I'll explain. Yes. And is there a famous tree in this area? This area. Next to it. Yes. The old ginkgo tree of Toshogu. This tall one? I think it's around there. Yes. I think there's an explanation for that, too. I see. It's a shrine on the other side of Ishigaki. Yes. I heard that there is one that is hundreds of years old. Wow. I heard that there is one. Thank you. Thank you.

39:39:05 John Daub: All right. We got some information. All right. So, our team... Our team... Oh, they've already given up. Our team should realize that it's not in this area. It's good information. I'm very, very thankful. So he said... So he told me that the Ulysses S. Grant tree is back in Zojoji. And this tree is many hundreds of years old. Planted by the... I believe that's the one planted by Tokugawa, one of the last Shoguns. One of the last Tokugawa Shoguns. And it's several hundred years old. So let's go take a look at this tall tree.

39:39:46 John Daub: A lot of people that have just given up. Given up. A lot of people just giving up. Yeah. That's funny. This tree looks beautiful, doesn't it? Somebody will give a super chat if you climb to the top. And what? I guess this is... These are laughters. There's another tree over there. That's a man-made tree. That's the tallest of them all. What? Oh, yeah? Oh, Grant, I figured that. Go Bucks. All right. Apparently, if you go to the other side, there's information over there. But I do know that this tree... I'm just going to assume that this is the tree. It was planted by one of the Shoguns. And the history of it is in Wikipedia. And if I try to explain it, someone will... Someone will get angry. So I don't have Wikipedia open. But you saw it here first. Exposé.

40:40:49 John Daub: So we're going to go back and try to find... Go back and try to find that. You guys want a drink? You got some water? Oh, you got... You don't need a drink. I do that, too. And I always get in trouble. Kanae says, Why did you buy the two-liter one? I said, because it's the same price or even cheaper than the 500-milliliter. 94 yen for that. And you can get a 500-milliliter bottle, which would be the same price. It's a no-brainer to me. Right. For two people. But I buy that, too. Then I get to carry it around. That's why it's the same price as the 500-milliliter. See, my brain is an American brain. I could get more for less. I'm in on that.

41:41:33 John Daub: All right. Vending machine. Is there anything worth trying here? Seven up. Whoa. Wait, what? All right. Jeff's been here. Jeff, do you want a cappuccino? No, you're all good? Okay. Johnnie wants a cappuccino. Or does he want some of this corn soup? I think I had this before. It's delicious. Yeah. I think I had this at the Osaka Castle. So I'm going to go buy a cappuccino. It looks very sophisticated. This is something that President Grant would drink with some whiskey. All right. That looks so refreshing. A cup of coffee for your relaxing moment as the birds screech in my ear. Funwari cappuccino. Funwari cappuccino. All right. I like the colors too. Color is nice.

42:42:38 John Daub: Since 1992, I came eight years later. Nicely roasted. Oh, and Boss has another one. This one is the Koroama Espresso. So they have an espresso that's good. So I'll try that next time. This machine doesn't have it. All right. Let's get some cappuccino in me so I have energy to go to this tree. I move it away from you so it doesn't splash on my waterproof camera. Cheers. Bitter. Bitter and sweet and creamy. It's like all separated on your palate. Yeah, it wasn't that good. After having the coffee at the cafe the other day, this was not as good, but I can't complain.

43:43:36 John Daub: All right. Let's... What's that? All your beverage reduced. Yes. If you have to stop at a vending machine or have some sort of food or else that triggers some people. Like your cider? The cold cider that you pop open and then it freezes. Oh yeah. Did you have that? We had it at the one you were at. Whoa. In Asakusa? Yes. Whoa. It's still there then. I thought that was only a temporary one. I wonder if that big tall pine tree in the middle. All right. Let's take some bets. This is... But gambling is illegal in some places. So this isn't actually gambling. We're not betting for anything. Just pride.

44:44:14 John Daub: Is that tall pine tree the Ulysses S. Grant one? Yes or no? Wait for it. Yes or no? You can just... I say no. You say no? Yes. Got one no, one yes. Say no. I'm going to go with a maybe... No, yes. I'm going to go with a yes. I think it's just because it's tall. Right. It's tall. It looks special. It looks special. But all trees are special. Just keep that. Remember that. Hug a tree. Just make... Check it. Make sure there's no spiders before you hug it. Okay. So you climb on your arm and kind of burrow into your... Under your skin and lay eggs and then... Yeah, too graphic. That's... Yeah. I saw this show called Creepshow, a movie from the 1980s when I was a kid and there's one of the little skits had... I think it was cockroaches and that was... Let's not... Why didn't I bring this up? All right. Rewind. Rewind the last five seconds.

45:45:11 John Daub: Look at that. He's going for a ride. Look at... He's like in the front. Oh, that's so cute. Look at him. He's the engineer. That dog. I took him out of the basket now. All right. We're going back to the temple. Temple run. And then we'll maybe walk here. You have to go to Roppongi towards Roppongi? I have no schedule. You have no schedule. Apparently, I just have to be on a plane in two days time. Okay. I got scheduled. And you guys, what time is your flight? Seven. Seven? Oh, you guys got scheduled too. It's 4.45. I was... This was going to be a six-hour live stream. We'll take it all the way to Haneda. Haneda or Narita? Haneda. Haneda. Okay.

46:46:07 Valerie & Sean: Where are you staying? You still at the place here? No. We have a cute little hotel that's like dinosaur themed. They have an animatronic dinosaurs and an animatronic guest service. Oh, I remember. Okay. That's not... Hana or something? That's not too far from here, right? It's not. No. It's about a 45-minute train ride. Yeah. That's pretty neat. And the trains have changed my perception on traveling around here. Yeah. Because we don't have trains in the States. Isn't there one? There was one that goes through Texas, right? Yeah. Yeah. I saw that in that AMC train. No, that went north. There was a... What was it called? The AMC... Amtrak. Oh, Amtrak. Okay. Amtrak. All right. That's the Japan one.

46:46:47 John Daub: Now, there was some drama when they were building the Intercontinental Railroad. Yeah, that was a good train. That was a good drama. It ended though. Steel of wheels. I forget what it was. I don't know what it's called here. Said tree that we betted on is behind us now. It's behind us? Yep. Is that it? Is it... That's the tree? That's the tree. Oh, yeah. Let me ask. Excuse me. This tall tree is the one that the American president gave to Japan? Grant? You don't know? The one? The American president, Grant's... The wide part. The wide part? Excuse me. I don't know. I'd like to know. I know this place. I've been looking for about 20 minutes. Looking for 20 minutes. Followed the professional. Look at the colors of the trees. If you ask, you shall receive.

48:48:02 John Daub: Oh, that tree? It's that tree. There should be a signboard over there. Yes, there is. Thank you. On the other side. Thank you. So there's a tree. He said there's a signboard. Is this the tree? This one's weeping. This can't be the tree. Grant knows and cry. Do you guys see it? There should be a signboard. We're still on the search. We're searching for that tree. This one looks like it could be. All I know is it's right next to the... Is this it? I can't tell. I don't know. I can say it's any tree and you guys would believe me, right? All right, we're going to ask somebody else. I wanted to be polite. The guy was walking a long way. I just nodded and go, uh-huh, uh-huh. That's it. I don't know what he was talking about.

49:49:18 John Daub: It's got to be one of these trees next to there. Do you see it? Oh, there's an information booth. Maybe it's this one right in the middle. Oh, that's got to be it. Okay. Oliver. Hey, John. Greetings from Germany. Just had my natto. I want to continue this thing, but thank you. Wow, natto. Is this it? It's at the 71. From Australia. General Grant. This is it. How did we? We walked right through here and went right past it, Jeff. Let's show our respect to America.

50:50:03 John Daub: Grant was a veteran. He fought in the war. General Grant, the 18th president of the United States, planted this Himalayan cedar when he visited Zojoji Temple as a national guest in 1879. That's so cool. Grant was here in Japan. I didn't know that. I think I've read that somewhere, but president. Grant was here and we walked right past Grant tree and Gil, who knows a lot about this, walked past it too. I had no idea that president Grant was here in Japan in 1879, which would have been about 10 years, 11 years after the Meiji Restoration. That's pretty significant. I had no idea.

50:50:58 John Daub: All right, let's take a couple steps back and look at the beauty of this tree. We are here just for reference. Do not walk past the Ulysses S. Grant tree. It's board. It's got a fence around it and it's hard to miss once you enter. Yeah. How wasted was he to plant a tree? Beanie writes in. I love the internet. All right. Tokyo Tower was not here when Grant planted this tree. Pan up. We'll see this beauty of this massive, massive tree. Again, this is a Buddhist temple of the Jodo sect for those that are writing in. Want more information, Jodo Buddhist.

51:51:44 John Daub: Look at that tree. When Grant planted it, it was like probably a little sapling and look at it now. He did not live to see this site. So Grant, if you're looking down on us, look at this. Maybe this, the signal, the live stream signals going up to the heavens. It's pretty amazing. 1879 Grant. Grant planted this tree when he visited and now look at her beautiful. I wish I could pull back and go super wide, but YouTube hasn't enabled that on the live stream yet. Message to the app team, right? This is a little piece of America here. I want to go and hug the tree, but there's a fence there and won't let gotta respect the fence. Gotta respect the tree.

52:52:37 John Daub: There you go. It's pretty, it's pretty cool. Let's see. A little walk around the Grant tree if I brought my friend Dean Newcomb from What's Inside they might try to chop it down see what's inside how many rings there are Dean's got a big chainsaw he used to cut open something on the What's Inside channel look at that beautiful tree I'm gonna finish off this this coffee in respect for the tree wonderful make like a tree and leave all right someone said we should make like a tree and leave obviously they did not see this is a um evergreen tree there's no leaves so the evergreen will never leave us that doesn't work either it's very cheesy.

53:53:49 John Daub: All right guys we're gonna walk now towards um Roppongi and i'm gonna take the subway from Roppongi or maybe not we'll see what happens we're gonna catch one more uh bowl of ramen before we get out okay where are you headed to okay towards Ota that's close to the airport too right that's why i chose the uh how you doing i'm john jose look you're watching it that's me there's like a five second delay yeah yeah where are you from living sydney okay all right the other side perth this turned into a meetup how did it take you a while to find us kind of kind of okay yeah down that way about 10 minutes oh very cool welcome aboard um we're going to walk towards tokyo tower now we're going to say bye and we're going to say bye to you guys thank you john thanks for coming to see us thank you john thank you for coming to see us thank you john say hi you're our celebrity no other celebrities exist let's take a screenshot then here we go in front of the everybody take a screenshot in front of the the uh grant tree there it is yay lone star yes thank you so much john it was a pleasure meeting you oh yeah sure thank you so much you're welcome y'all take it easy have a safe trip happy ramen he's a bowl of ramen giving me ideas.

55:55:28 John Daub: Can we get out this way i went that way so yeah okay oh you now you know better than we could get lost around here okay yeah at night it's really nice here as well and this place is packed on new year's eve this place the entire courtyard that you see there is completely filled with people um and no one is really drunk or drinking here except the westerners i did the same thing before because this is my third time okay yeah yeah we like the first time we went to tokyo tower we just ran around we didn't go this way you didn't go this way the best is to get lost that's how you that's what i did this time yeah get lost wander through the alleys and you discover so many things yeah half of half of the things that i learned for the show is just from me getting lost for 20 years like i'm in japan because i got lost all right guys we're gonna walk this way past welcome to rewa the coca-cola vending machine is welcoming us to a new era interesting thank you vending machine.

56:56:48 John Daub: All right we're walking past the monument to children and i believe if we go straight this will take us this will take us through the tokyo tower right i believe probably if not that's yeah if not that's half the fun this is getting lost we're going to discover we're going to discover what's this way but the great thing about this walk is that it's so peaceful on the left side now we're walking on the side where i first discovered um the monument to children at the temple you can see the pinwheels moving on the bottom of your screen and make our way let's see if we can get the 500 likes so click the click the like button let us know encourage us to do more live streams because i think it's going to take us a good five to seven minutes to walk over there let's just take in the beautiful sights and sounds of the walk towards Tokyo Tower.

57:57:48 John Daub: Oh, there's the Prince Hotel. They have, I think, a beer garden in there, which is really nice. Japan likes to combine parks with beer gardens. It's a good idea. That's the observation deck behind all the leaves. 700 yen, or about $6.57 to get up to that deck, which is like, what, 30 or 40% cheaper than Tokyo Skytree. But because of the tall buildings around, you don't get as clear of a view as the Skytree. It's still pretty nice, though. I like being just high enough. I think it's 150 meters up, where you get a very nice view.

58:58:46 John Daub: The top of Tokyo Tower, I believe it's 333 meters it used to be. But I believe it got shorter, because I'm not sure why. I think, like, it was one meter taller than the Eiffel Tower. Now, the Eiffel Tower is back. During, in 2011, when we had the earthquake on March 11th, it shook so much that the top of the tower was bent. It made big news in Japan. And it took them a long time before they can go up there and repair it. And maybe they just, instead of repairing it, they just chopped it down. I don't know.

59:59:31 Toby (crow): The crow disagrees with my assessment. That's a big crow. Dude, I think he shredded a, I think he shredded a pigeon. Do you see that? Do you see that? Now it's the cat. There's a cat coming out here. The pigeon, the crow. I'm getting out of here. This is like a movie from Hitchcock. Jungle out here. Did you see that? And then the crow goes, ah, ah, over the body of the, of the pigeon. I know pigeons and crows, they don't get along. The cat and the crow are fighting. What? Meanwhile, there's the cat and the crow. What? Wait, did the cat ate the crow? No, the cat took the body of the pigeon. The cat took the, and the crow, the crows are going after the cat. Toby, get him.

01:01:00 John Daub: That's a weird cat. The crows will win, writes in Six Toes. We turn our attention to a battle going on, raging in the forests of Tokyo Tower, of Shiba Park and Zojoji Temple. A cat has taken, the kill of the pit, a pigeon that the crows were eating. And now the cat is enjoying it up in a tree like a leopard. You heard it here first. It's a reason to subscribe. You don't know what's going to happen. At any moment, a crow could swoop down, take my hat and leave me bare up there. Exciting stuff. If you like crows, if you don't like crows, click the like button. If you like crows, click the like button. Therefore, we cover everybody.

01:01:45 John Daub: All right. This is where we cross the street. Quickly. Jeff, we did not cross here. We did not cross here. We did not cross here. You could have crossed like five meters closer, but we chose not to. That was wicked. Do you see the cat dragged the, like the, the pigeon back into the woods? No, but the cat dragged it. Yeah. And then just the crows came in. OCD Stig writes, that's why I subscribe. For the crows? For the blood? I feel bad. I feel bad for that pigeon. It had a family. Probably. I don't know. But the cat came out. The crows were attacking the cat. And they had a battle. That cat looks like he's been around the block. He's like a battle cat. Scars on his face, like a lion.

01:02:32 John Daub: It's real life out here. Meanwhile, we stand underneath the shadow of the great Tokyo Tower. And those with eagle eyes could watch as the pigeon and the cat and the crow went at it. From 300 and... 300 meters up. I think it's like 200. Wait, the observation deck, the first one's 150 meters, and the top one is 250 meters, I believe. And now the light is going to turn blue. I say blue because in Japan we call that ao. It's kind of in blue. It's an off blue, off green. And they do this color because it's helpful for colorblind people. It's easier for them to differentiate. Is it blue or is it green? The sign next to it's blue. It's kind of an off blue. You be the judge.

01:03:31 John Daub: All right, let's make our way up to Tokyo Tower. The world's off the map about the blue, but I still think it's green. It's not as green as American green or Australian green. Well, maybe it's because of the... The kids having fun. ... they developed the LED technology. It could be. All I know is that I freaked out when I was trying to... having an argument 20 years ago when someone said, let's go, John, it's blue. I said, blue? No, that's green. And the argument rages on 20 years later.

01:04:04 John Daub: All right, this fence will go away in about five seconds and then you will be left with Tokyo Tower. And if you're in the city and you want to track me down, this is pretty easy place to do it now. You can see Tokyo Tower on the map everywhere. I just wish that we could go super wide. I know YouTube is working on it. Here's the leg of Tokyo Tower. It's been repaired after Godzilla knocked it down in the 1990s. Not making that up. But in the movies, he did knock down Tokyo Tower a few times. These egg-shaped creatures are the mascots. It kind of looks like a skit. Oh, it's Christmas lights? Yeah.

01:05:01 John Daub: All right, let's get some spirit in here. Follow the leg up. And in the middle, they built this center where you can make gifts and stuff. And the elevator takes you to the top. They say if you stand underneath it and kiss... your loved one underneath the lights as they turn it on, your love will last an eternity. I didn't make that up. It's something like that. I like you, John, but I'm not kissing you. I can go along with that. I was with you a few days ago. You're smooching? Yeah. It's romantic. Tokyo Tower. A Tokyo Tower orange illumination for 200 yen. You can watch three grown men ride around. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a limit. There's got to be a weight limit and an age limit.

01:06:00 John Daub: We're way too big for this and neither of us will fit in here, right? We're all about the same. We're all over 180 centimeters or 170, 180, so there's no way. Don't even try to super chat us to do this because it would get in trouble. Get kicked out of the garden, AstroTurf Garden. Some mini, mini Tokyo Tower. They really spared no expense. Look at the Tokyo Tower lanterns are shaped like Tokyo Tower. And I like this. The picture of Tokyo Tower with Tokyo Tower. Everyone's trying to get the right angle. Let's see if we can get the right angle over here. Oh, here we go. Check out this angle. It's a nice tower. It's a nice tower. Tower times two. Did you get a photo of her? Yes, I did. Well, the little one. The little one? You just can't get that one. I can't get that one. We'll have to... Unless you take a picture of a picture right there.

01:07:20 John Daub: So these buckets, I have to paint that. Yeah. I think they do paint it every few years. When I first did an NHK report on it, they called it International Orange. And shu-iro (vermilion), which is the red that they have on the torii (shrine gates), the red gates at Shinto shrines, they call it shu-iro, which is the color of the sun. But last time I came here, they said that that's no longer the color. So I guess it's not the color of the sun. So I guess they changed it since then. But since this video is not sponsored by Tokyo Tower, I can say whatever I want. Sydney Harbor Bridge. Yeah. Just be careful, guys, because they're on special alert. So just be on your best behavior. Don't try to do anything.

01:08:17 John Daub: This is also a good place to buy souvenirs from Japan, too. And it does support local businesses because I know that these business owners here that are selling there, they don't there was like this period where there were tourists coming here and it was kind of sad. This was like back in 2010 after the Lehman shock, and they weren't doing well. So I remember buying a really gaudy hat and a T-shirt that I did not want because it seemed to make his day seem to make his day. Even he'd been selling there for like generations. His family had a shop and I bet you they sold out. I think that that's on this floor, the second floor up there.

01:09:12 John Daub: But this is a good place to end our livestream. As you wrench your neck. And I challenge the DJI Osmo 3. A view underneath the skirt of Tokyo Tower. It's a pretty good walk. It's a pretty good walk. Click the thumbs up button if you like Tokyo walks. And I want to say thank you to our remaining friends over here. People straight up. Yeah. Thanks for finding me. And I'll see you in the next livestream. Don't forget to subscribe. We got a lot more adventures for you. From all over Japan. Oh, I'm going to Fukuoka on Friday. So you're not going to miss that. Going to Fukuoka on Friday. Alright, bye guys. Look at the Christmas lights. Merry Christmas.