00:00:05 John Daub: Welcome to Tokyo. It's vitamins, and Kanae makes me, my wife, eat it all the time to stay healthy. So let's go in and take a look. This festival happens every year in November, and this is the time where people eat nabe (hot pot) to stay healthy. You'll see it especially in Tohoku and Hokkaido in the cold countries where they need this to stay warm and also stay healthy. It's got some fish, meat in it, as well as loads of vegetables. This festival is in Hibiya Park in Tokyo, and the weather is awful. It's not the ideal circumstances to be outside at all.

00:01:07 John Daub: And these people that are here are brave. They're really braving the weather because it's cold and it's wet. And I have an umbrella, but I'm going to go through this because it's hard to do both stay dry and live stream. We're going to be going to this shop second, but first, I want to go to the other side. This one has some crab from Hokkaido. They're going to explain it to us a little bit. They use a lot of crabs. That's nabe right there—look at it. It's made for like a thousand people. I love that. All those flavors blending together over hours and hours of cooking.

00:01:50 John Daub: All right, I'm going to go, but first, I want to go see the ladies at this negi nabe (leek hot pot) right here. I love negi, which is Japanese leeks. And we're going to go get a bowl from them. So I've got some cash, and I've got a stomach that's just waiting to eat a lot. It seems like a hundred stands here, all serving this delicious food. Here is the negi from Kyoto Prefecture. Kyoto is known for the city, but it's also known for the prefecture. So we're going to have some fresh negi nabe.

00:02:32 John Daub: They have different varieties here. I'm going to just ask them what they recommend. Everything is about $6, and you can have a negi topping, which I'm going to get for an extra 100 yen. It has pork in it. It smells so good—you have no idea. It's our turn. Hello. What kind of food do you recommend? There are different kinds. I'll take this. Oh, really? Then I'll take this. The negi topping is 100 yen. Then I'll take the negi topping. Thank you.

00:03:27 John Daub: This is Kyoto's. Yes. Kyoto's gyoza (dumplings). Nice. It's good. Thank you. So this comes with Kyoto's pork, Kyoto's gyoza, and Kyoto's negi. And here comes the negi topping—look at this. Yeah. It's like genki ni naru deshou (it'll make you feel energetic). Genki ni naru. Yes. Thank you. You'll be here tomorrow, right? Yes. All right. They'll be here tomorrow too, the ladies from Kyoto.

00:04:03 John Daub: All right, let's go try this over here, and then we're going to try the one with crab. So you're going to want to stick around. Actually, I'm just going to stay outside because they have these tables here. These aren't covered, so I'm going to get the umbrella out and the tripod. This looks really good—check it out. I'm going to get underneath the negi here. You're going to get a chance to get a look at it. Let's get the tripod out and eat this. This is what I got, and I'm going to go for the crab next.

00:04:39 John Daub: As you can see all around me, there are a ton of people fighting it out in the rain. A little weather never stopped people from eating lunch, and I like that. They also have some idols singing some Japanese songs over there. I love the challenge of doing this in the rain. All right, here it is right here. The negi is the topping. I'm going to get to that and mix it in there. But you can see here, they put some moyashi (bean sprouts), which are bean sprouts. There's some delicious mushrooms in there, and then that gyoza.

00:05:21 John Daub: Where's that gyoza? Oh, man. Right here—I found it. Look at that gyoza. This is the Kyoto gyoza that's made and brought. Here's the gyoza. I'm going to try this out. I've been excited for this all day. I've been trying to fight it out because I've been looking outside my window, looking at the weather. We went straight for this gyoza first—so good. I feel winter is here. I'm getting my dose of nabe.

00:06:18 John Daub: I want to show you the vegetables inside now. Underneath all that negi, check it out. It is a lot of simmered vegetables that have been in this soup for a long time. And it looks like it's been simmered in pork stock right there. It's very flavorful and very healthy. Oh, man—so good. This cost about $5 or $6. Just some daikon (Japanese radish), some Japanese radish in there, some carrots. They threw a lot of really good stuff in there.

00:07:41 John Daub: How do you say negi in English? Negi? Negi? Is that okay? Ah, leeks. L-E-E-K-S. Ehh. What's leeks? You didn't know, did you? Negi is negi, right? Thank you. They failed the test. Thank you. Why is daikon so good? The soup. After you've eaten all that delicious vegetables, you get down to what's left here. And this, I think, is where a lot of the vitamins go after you've been simmering that pork, that meat, that seafood, and these vegetables in such a long time in a soup like this.

00:09:23 John Daub: You get down to the soup, and right there, that broth, you drink it all. Now, with ramen, you wouldn't drink the broth because it's not healthy. But nabe, you drink it all. It's just healthier. It's not as oily as the ramen broth, so it's perfectly acceptable. This is why you subscribe. Well, you're enjoying it in your living rooms, maybe. Nice, warm evening on the West Coast. I think it's about 9 p.m. Whoa! That's a big piece of Kyoto carrot. Everything comes from Kyoto, they said. Nothing wasted.

00:11:14 John Daub: I would even eat the chopsticks if that was socially acceptable. I mean, it's wood, right? How bad could that be for you? All right. Oh, there's water in the mic? Hold on. All right, guys, give me a second. All right, we're back. How's the audio now? All right, we're good. Try to protect the mic. Sorry about that, guys. All right, usually they have recycle bins here. It was delicious! I ate it all! Thank you very much! Gochisousama-deshita (thank you for the meal)!

00:12:15 John Daub: Hey, guys, you might want to refresh your browsers. We had some audio and video problems, but we took care of that. Welcome back, everybody. I told the ladies that I ate it all, and I said gochisousama-deshita, and they were really happy. All right, next up, I'm going to be going to the crab place. I'm still super hungry, so let's go get some more nabe. Whoa! That's a big puddle, but I got Gore-Tex on. It's all good. I've walked where no man has walked before—through that puddle.

00:12:55 John Daub: All right, where's the rubbish bin? Here it is. I love these festivals in Hibiya Park because they often have these recycle bins. You can see you can dump in anything that you don't eat, but I ate it all, so just have to get rid of this. Soup always makes a rainy day better. It absolutely does. I'm loaded up with 1000 yen notes. So let's put these Super Chats to good use. Let's see what we can get for 1000 yen. Now this one is from Hokkaido. We're going to get some information here. But the crab is massive—look at that.

00:14:22 John Daub: Do you use both of these crabs? Yes. Oh, you use 3 of them? Yes. What are these crabs called? Taraba-gani (horsehair crab) and suwaigani (snow crab). Did you guys get that? So I know that there's some snow crab in there. That's important. But they use a fusion of all four. So I'm going to put 3 of these crabs into the soup from Hokkaido. And I'll tell you, it smells so good. He's putting some more vegetables in there. Oh man. One please. Is the udon delicious? Udon. Okay, udon is done. Thank you.

00:15:37 John Daub: That is a big, big crab. Are you still alive? Oh, really? Look. Wow, it's moving. It's alive. I'm sorry, snow crab. It looks delicious. I'm going to eat this today. All right, he's got a little bit of udon coming with udon. And they're going to warm up the udon in the nabe. That's awesome. Look at that. The water is boiling. They're warming it up in the nabe. Here comes the good stuff. I smell crab. Oh, wow. There's a piece of crab leg in there. Extra crab. Look at this. Is this crab miso? All right. Thank you. It looks delicious.

00:17:40 John Daub: Follow me, crab nabe. Come with me to a table near me. Oh, this is so warm and smells so good. Where can I sit? All right, maybe I'm just going to go back to the table that I wanted to sit on. So follow the soup. I don't want to spill it. If you look back here, I'll show you the scene. But at the covered booths, everybody is packed in there. And nobody's at the tables where the elements are hitting. So we're going to go sit back at where we were before. Oh, my word. That is a masterpiece.

00:18:38 John Daub: Check this out. This was about $6, which is a virtual steal. I mean, you can't find this anywhere else except maybe here at the Nabe Festival. But this is from Hokkaido, and they need that nabe. They need this to stay warm up there. That looks great, doesn't it? And look at this big piece of crab in here. Oh, there's a crab claw. Awesome. All right, let's do this. Itadakimasu (let's eat). This actually would be a good screenshot. All right, folks, we're back. Here we go.

00:20:12 John Daub: All right, guys, here we go. Are we back? Alright, we're good. Alright, thanks Matsumi. Alright guys, this is a delicious Hokkaido nabe with crab. Let's try it here. Look at that crab meat. Very, very salty. Very, very crab. Very good. It's good. Inside the middle of it, there's some treasure. That is udon, everybody. Thick noodles. This is so good. So far, I've only spent about $12.

00:22:13 John Daub: You see, it does need some hot pepper sauce. That would really complete it. It's got just a little bit of miso taste to it. There's a little bit of miso in it that gives it like a more natural saltiness to it. I don't know. I've always preferred miso ramen to regular soy-based ramen. Can I eat this crab? Alright, it's cold outside, but I feel so warm inside. It feels good. It would be good with butter too. I think this would be pretty good with butter.

00:23:59 John Daub: Next up, I have another one that I want to show you. One more. This nabe is made with a really big fish, and I have no idea what it's called in English. I asked the lady, I said, can I come back here and introduce this amazing-looking nabe to everybody? And she said, sure. So I'm going to go back to the other place. Everybody is really friendly here. If you ask them in advance, they're okay to be on camera, which is really special because in Japan, people are quite shy about that.

00:24:33 John Daub: Take a look at the soup now. As you can see with the color of it, it's got a little bit of miso in there as well. So that brings out... Well, Hokkaido is very famous for miso ramen, so it does make you feel like maybe you just stepped on a plane and traveled to Hokkaido for a couple of minutes in each bite of this. Did you see the crab was alive? That was a happy ending. There's a guy that's still there. He's going around with a window wiper, and he's washing the tables with the windshield wiper. It's genius. Look at him. You see him at the end there? While people are eating. Efficiency.

00:25:51 John Daub: Alright, next nabe. Oh, hello. Yay! Where are you from? Saitama! Wow! The weather in Tokyo is bad, isn't it? Saitama is sunny, right? Is it raining? It's raining. It's raining. Alright, so the TV cameras are here too. Here is the garbage disposal spot. Chopsticks, bowl, if you can't eat anything back, the shells and all that other stuff there. So my claw went there. And right here, it says in English, which is nice to see, here is the garbage disposal spot. So you know exactly where to go.

00:26:54 John Daub: It's nice to see things are starting to get in English. And I'm seeing more and more. We got a little break in the rain, I think. Do you see this? Photo OK. Usually in Japan, they've been saying photos are no. This one is photos OK. That makes me really happy that people are seeing the benefits. What is this? Ashitake! Wow! There's a nabe. Ashitake. Where is the ashitake from? Hokkaido! Wow! It's big! That looks like a cheese shiitake. I'll come back for dessert. Thank you. That would be a good dessert. Shiitake mushroom with Hokkaido cheese.

00:27:49 John Daub: This is paradise. This is nabe festival. And it's so... This is the least amount of people I've ever seen for the nabe festival in the history of the nabe festival. This is the second time. So my history goes not very long, but it goes deep. Don't ask me what that means. Alright, let's go do this. This is the next one that I want to introduce to you. This one is kue nabe (kelp grouper hot pot). I don't know what kue is in English. What's the name of that fish? You see his head right there on the banner? He's world famous. But you can also see the fresh fish right here. Just like the crab that we showed you on the Hokkaido nabe. This fish is massive.

00:28:51 John Daub: That is what's inside this nabe right here. And we're going to try it. It smells really good. Just like the other nabes. But all of that, the flavors and the goodness just come together inside this nabe. And the name of the dish is nabe. It's named after, I believe, which is this big cauldron, which is in Japanese a nabe, a pot. There's some udon in there. Blue Blop writes in it is a grouper. All right. Thank you guys for that. Kue is a kelp grouper. Thank you, Matsumi. And there he's holding a grouper right there. And I am now a grouper of this grouper. I love it. Smells good. Thank you so much. That's why we say itadakimasu. We say it in great appreciation for the sacrifice of the fish.

00:30:01 John Daub: Oh, there's a line. All right, guys, let's wait in line. Oh, hey. Are you all lined up? Yes. Do you like kue? Yes. Have you tried it before? It's called grouper in English. Oh, I see. You don't eat it in sushi, do you? No. We're live streaming. We're watching 870 people from all over the world. Sydney? Yes. What's your name? Kodai. Oh, Kodai. Nice to meet you, Kodai. Nice to meet you. Where are you from? Japanese. Tokyo? Tokyo. Wow. From Tokyo. What's your favorite food? Sukiyaki. Oh, you don't have it here, do you? No. That meat is Japanese beef. It's good. And eggs.

00:31:01 John Daub: He likes sukiyaki. That's not going to be at a nabe festival. Sukiyaki is the enemy of nabe, right? Well, it's a little different. It's good. It's a little sweet, a little salty. But it would be the enemy if they were fighting. If they were yokai (spirits), they would not like each other. Probably. Thank you, Kodai. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you. Hey, please take this. Oh, hey. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. So, they know we're coming for YouTube, so always let people know. And if you do come and find me and you're a viewer, hey guys, get this. I just created You Found Me cards. So come and find me in a live stream and I'll give you one.

00:32:35 John Daub: Kue. How many people can eat this? How many people? 1,000 people? No. It's about 100 people. Maybe about 200 people could eat from this one. Ah, do you always eat kue nabe with udon? It's free. Oh, udon is free! Oh, thank you. So, the udon is a service. It's a little extra that they give you for being here on a cold day. That's nice. Nabe takes time to cook. You can buy at the supermarket the soup for it for about three dollars and get a family-sized dinner for a very inexpensive price, which is why nabe is so popular. You can feed a family a very healthy meal. It takes not that much time—a mother can cook for a family very quickly and easily, and it's super healthy.

00:34:01 John Daub: So nabe is very popular. The soup takes the most time to make, but you can buy that at the supermarket for two-three dollars—a big bag of it. Mix with a couple cups of water and you have a very healthy soup stock, and you cook it on a table with the family all around it. It's a smaller pot than this, and I love it in the winter. We'll sit on a kotatsu (heated table) or a Japanese heated table on the floor and eat nabe. And then usually udon will be thrown in in the broth after all of the goodies eaten, and you'll have some udon as a game over finisher.

00:35:01 John Daub: I've eaten so much—I'm getting full. I don't want to save it for that shiitake cheese over there. A little bit of fish there—ah, nice. It's a little bit of kue grouper fish in there as well. Finish it off with a meatball. Whoa—a little bit of green in there. Ah, hi. Thank you grouper—itadakimasu. I'm just gonna say very thankful for your sacrifice, sir, of your family members. We've eaten your cousin, but it's okay—it's all for a good cause, education of people coming to Japan. All right, follow this to the table that no one goes to but me. You guys having fun? I'm loving this. This is—I come to this every year. I'm coming next year too, by the way.

00:36:21 John Daub: All right, here's the table that nobody comes to. This is what it looks like here—the grouper nabe, kue nabe from Wakayama Prefecture. Wakayama is one of Kevin's favorite places. He goes there—let me see if I can clean up the lens. Kevin goes to Wakayama for hiking all the time. It's one of the most natural prefectures in Japan. If you do have some time in the Kansai region, Wakayama is the place to go. I'm pointing to the grouper nabe. Smells really good. Wow—that, look at that big piece of fish in there. Do you see that? She really was very generous.

00:37:28 John Daub: If there are audio problems, just let me know because I want to make sure it's coming clear for everybody. If you have any technical problems, let me know and I'll try to fix it because it's hard to do this in the rain. Kanae is with her sister today, so I'm on my own. She's going to be jealous when she sees this. Let's go straight for this meatball. I think it's a fish ball. Or is it falafel? I don't know. But you can taste it. There's some cartilage or soft bone in there. That is a big piece of fish. And there's more.

00:38:26 John Daub: The meat is very flavorful of the kue, the grouper fish. It's got some springiness too. It's not a super soft meat. The boiling of it has made it a little bit tougher. But it's got a very pleasant bounce to it. And after about three or four bites, it starts to break apart. And the flavor of the soup that it's been simmering in just starts to melt in your mouth. Very, very, very good. Excellent. Fresh fish. If you ever get street food and you see an old lady, compliment her. Tell her like bijin desu ne (you're beautiful) or kawaii (cute). She'll give you extra food. Always. 99 out of 100 times, all of the older ladies at street food stands, if you compliment them, they give you something extra. So, be nice, people. Be nice. But don't expect anything in return. Maybe you'll get rewarded from the old ladies.

00:40:23 John Daub: Look at the big piece. This is my third bite of fish. She was very generous with this. And very good udon in here. Oh man. If you're a street food lover, you should try this. If we can get to 500 likes, I will go and get that shiitake cheese from Hokkaido. And it looks super good. And then we're gonna walk around for another 10-15 minutes. So, let's get the 500 likes, everybody. It's a community thing. You can make a difference while I eat. Even if you're watching in playback, click the like button. Oh, 500 likes! Hey, thanks guys! Alright, let's do this.

00:42:04 John Daub: Japanese leeks or negi is a staple in all nabe. You'll find this... Get rid of the evidence. After you eat nabe, you feel so pumped up. You feel so warm inside. Alright, guys. Let's go. I'm just gonna process that for a couple of minutes and then we're gonna go over here. Very, very nice people at the shiitake place. So, something for the vegetarians. They use Hokkaido shiitake mushrooms, really big ones. And they put cheese on it. We wanna go support as many of the businesses here with my stomach as we can. I'm somebody who likes to support as many local businesses as possible because they innovate with food.

00:44:13 John Daub: Look at that. What is that? That's different kinds of croquette. There's a uni (sea urchin). Whoa! That's sea urchin croquette. I've never seen that before. And truffle croquette. That's crazy. And every place these days has craft beer, which is good for people who drink a lot of beer. I just opened up 10 more postcard club. This one's all messed up from the rain. This is the postcard club postcard that I send out to everybody. And I just put 10 more on the Patreon because it's been sold out for a while. There's some pictures of Kanae and I riding the train. So if you're interested, check it out. It's on Patreon. And if you want to talk about this afterwards, there's also Discord.gg/onlyinjapan.

00:45:52 John Daub: I knew he was talking to me when he said Japanese sake, right? Look at that nabe just simmering. This is from Miyazaki. Every area of Japan has its own kind of original recipe. You can see in here the chicken meatballs. Miyazaki chicken is very famous. And look at that simmering out of the big nabe cauldron. Flavor goodness just melting all together in that. Miyazaki. And I love Miyazaki. Kanae and I were there in April. And I did the Naked Man Festival in Miyazaki in January this year. It's been a long year.

00:46:43 John Daub: Check that out. This is not nabe, but it is a kaisendon (seafood rice bowl) made with fish from Hokkaido. So some fresh fish. Every single one of these is an original taste. All of these booths have an original taste. This is an oyster kaki cream pasta nabe. I've never seen that before. Cream pasta cream oyster chowder nabe. That's original. Smells so good. Nani? I'm from here. I live in Chiyoda. I'm from America. Where are you from? From Tokyo. Cool. So cream nabe is unique. From Miyagi. Sendai area. Nice. I used to live in Iwaki in Fukushima. So this is from Miyagi prefecture. I'm a fan of that area. I lived there for about a year.

00:48:19 John Daub: So you can get a small bowl of oyster chowder for 500 yen or a large bowl for 800 yen. I'm going to appeal to foreigners in Japan right now. The weather is bad. Come to Hibiya Park for some more nabe, everybody. They're waiting for you right here. Thank you. Awesome. Well, this is mozu nabe (offal hot pot). From where? From Hakata. From Fukuoka. Nice. We were just there. Oh, is that so? Really? So this is the number one nabe. Number one nabe in Kyushu only? In Japan? All over the country? Tokyo too? They have it in Tokyo too.

00:49:12 John Daub: What do you say in English about mozu? I don't know. This is the piece of beef. Hormone. Ah, like the pieces of... Beef innards. Guts. Yeah. This is the guts and this goes into nabe and very famous in Hakata which is Fukuoka. Hakata ramen. This is Hakata nabe. Yeah. Mozu nabe from Hakata. Spicy? Spicy! Woah, she says it's spicy. Number 1! Rakuten ranks this as the number 1 nabe in Japan. Yes! Are you going to eat here tomorrow? Yes! You already ate too much. I ate too much today! Come tomorrow! I'll come tomorrow! Bye bye!

00:50:21 John Daub: That was nice! So they're from Hakata, Fukuoka area. And this one is Osaka! Woah! So every single prefecture is looking at it. Okay! They're now appealing to foreigners. What is this? Donut. It's like a soul food. Ah! Soul food of Osaka! Kind of like a donut, right? Donuts! Ah! And a stick. It's delicious. Wow! So you can have a donut with stick. Ah! I already ate too much. I'll come tomorrow! Thank you! Bye bye! Everybody is very friendly. And I've noticed that a lot of people can also speak English, which is pretty cool. A little bit.

00:51:12 John Daub: Oh! This is the beer I was telling you about. So I was here in Abashiri. This is Abashiri, right? This beer, yeah. This is the Iceberg beer. And it has a blue color to it. And you can only get this in Abashiri. But right now they have it on draft. And should I get it? I'm not sure. I said that I wasn't going to drink any beer today. I haven't had any for a while. So I'm kind of taking a break. But maybe I'm going to have to do that, huh? They're appealing for the TV cameras. Alright, let's leave them alone. I promise. Maybe I'll come back. If we can get to like 700 likes, I'll try the Iceberg beer. How's that? It's up to you now. 700 likes Iceberg beer.

00:52:01 John Daub: Yeah. There's some Yamagata. Some from more Tohoku. And then this one also has oysters. This one looks very interesting too. So there's nabe for everybody here, I think. This is Chiba. Chiba, right? Yeah, this one is famous for Chiba. Ah, yeah. This is from Choshi? No, it's from Funabashi. Ah, Funabashi! Wow! This is very close. In Funabashi, very close to Tokyo. Funabashi Sanbansei (oysters). Wow, delicious. So this is the hot pot, right? Yes. Wow, so you put the oysters. You can see them in here. And then you put it into this, and it looks like this. Wow, delicious. So you get the taste, the freshness of it from right here, Funabashi. Thank you. How much is it? 700. Alright. Come to the Chiba hot pot.

00:53:01 John Daub: And here's the one that I ate before. So I'm helping the people out there. It's nice though to introduce all of it. Help out the different businesses. And we like to support the locals because I am a local too. Cobra Bebop for the blue beer. Cobra Bebop. You're not supposed to override the like community festivals. But I will live with that decision. Alright. I came here to eat, guys. So I'm just going to keep going. Looks like we're having some fun, right? So let's do that. I'm going to first—I promised these guys I would come back for one of these cheese shiitake. So let's do that, okay?

00:53:49 John Daub: I have right now a handful of 100 yen coins. I've been collecting these. Each one is a dollar. So let's start off by supporting these guys because I said I was going to come back. Oh, they got the blowtorches out. Please give me one. This is cool. It looks fun. Oh, really? Can I have the cheese? Yes, please. Cheese tastes better, right? Yes. This is 500 yen. Wow. They got a little bit of seasoning on there. And they blowtorched it too. Anything with blowtorched, I am for that. It smells so good. That is a big shiitake. It's a Hokkaido shiitake. From Nakashibetsu? Nakashibetsu. Near Abashiri. Yeah. I came to Abashiri last year. It's close. Wow. Alright, we gotta go there next. North Hokkaido Adventure. Hokkaido's Kita.

00:55:05 John Daub: I am a YouTuber. I will give you a mission later. Thank you. I will give you my card later. That's nice. So they are from next to Abashiri. It's nice to make friends with people. Because if I go up there I might just call them. Because you know, I don't have any friends up there in North Hokkaido yet. That's why we are nice to people. I will go get the blue beer. But can we get to 700 likes? I am going to get the blue beer of Abashiri because it's on draft. Because I love Abashiri. And right now I am going to open up and show you what I just bought, which is this amazing shiitake mushroom with cheese on it from this area of Hokkaido. Is the lens okay? Because we do have a lot of rainfall in here.

00:56:07 John Daub: From every angle it looks beautiful. It's a work of art. It's so beautiful I call it art. Alright, come down here. I am developing a reputation now amongst everybody is the YouTuber. Everyone is pointing at me and smiling. Like if you ever do this job and you are doing it live, you just have to go for it and not worry about all the people staring at you. You just take it. And then good things happen when you just—if everybody knows what you are doing. Itadakimasu. Just do it. If you are going to do this for a living, you just do it, you don't think about it.

00:57:01 John Daub: This is very very heavy. The volume. I don't know if I can eat all this. Oh my word. So good. The cheese has like melted into it, into the shiitake. Now you can kind of see it a little bit. The cheese has melted into the shiitake to give it this amazing... Shiitake has such a delicious springiness to it. Oh man. I am glad I got this. And it's all vegetarian friendly. Only shiitake was killed to make this. Going in for the stump. The stump would not cooperate. It's all messed up now. Just the cheese. I won that fight by the way. Dear Super Mario Brothers, I defeated the mushroom. The mushroom king has gone down in seven bites. This is my dessert, and it's awesome.

00:59:34 John Daub: Alright, back to the trash. Actually our friend the trash man. I've been the most frequent visitor I think. So we recycle everything in Japan. This is the same. The paper is here. The end is here. That was so good. Alright let me see. Let me give them my business card. Here. I'm gonna give them my business card to say thank you. Maybe they'll contact me. Yes, I'm Macy. Please. I'll probably be back in the winter. See you then. Are you close? Do you have any business cards? I'll take a picture. So this is how I'm gonna get in touch with them through Facebook. Can you guys read that? Yeah, very cool. There's Only in Japan. Hey there's a shiitake on the QR code. It's pretty cool.

01:01:12 John Daub: And they make here. Wow. That is far. So Abashiri is right here, and this is up here on the corner. That's really far up there in Hokkaido. I'm looking to go up here. And they have good cheese. The cheese is from Hokkaido, right? Yeah, the cheese is also from Hokkaido. Look at the cows there. Alright. Thank you. Thank you for the food. Hello. Wow. Some good looking sausage. Alright. I said I wasn't gonna have a drink. And I'm gonna just have one. But I wanna say this guys. Because we did in one last one. Somebody said that I got too excited over having a drink.

01:02:06 John Daub: You have to be 20 years old to drink in Japan and to drink responsibly. Don't overdo it. I know I drink in these live streams. I might have one. But I typically will not over drink. I only have a couple of drinks a week. Usually with friends. But I don't drink a lot. Just so you guys know. I do this because I'm kinda curious. And I think you do have to say something. You know, have to be responsible. Abashiri beer, please. 500 yen. This is interesting. Yay. Look it really is blue. Wow. This came from Abashiri. Very far away. Wow, it's true. It's blue. Thank you. Come with me.

01:03:18 John Daub: It is blue. It's the blue of the icebergs. Ah, there you are. Bye bye. This is one of the best festivals in Japan, I think. Because it brings together so many friendly people who just love to eat. So this is for all of you guys. This is also for the almost 800 likes that we got. I really appreciate it every single time. Kanpai (cheers) for the blue beer from Abashiri to all of you. It's good. Cheers. Ah, how do you make a beer blue? They have their secrets. They do it—they make it in icebergs. Drink responsibly everybody. I'm taking the subway.

01:04:31 John Daub: The great thing about Tokyo is that we have such an amazing transportation system. Public transportation that we are always safe in that way. You'll see businessmen might be passed out on the platform. It's part of the culture. Usually somebody's brother. Everybody is everybody's brother. And you'll see people helping people. Look at how bright this one is. Let's get some TV action over there. Kanpai everybody. It really is blue. It's unusual, right? And this is on the iPhone 11 Pro. So the HDR should be standing out, right? Not necessarily food coloring. But it might be food coloring. I don't know. All I know is that it's not from this area. Tastes good. It just has a beer taste to it.

01:05:55 John Daub: I think the beer market is quite crowded. And in Hokkaido they might drink a little bit more than at other places because it's colder. And you just not as much to do up there in the winter. But I think it's just a little fun thing. And this brewery has been making this beer for quite a long time. Alright. For the next five minutes or so, we're gonna walk around this. I want you to absorb the sound. I know I talk too much but in a live stream you wanna keep people engaged. When you're finished with the live stream and you're watching the playback, you don't want me talking all the time. But if you're watching for the first time, definitely subscribe and catch us live. Because it is so much cooler when you're watching the live stream. Live chat go by.

01:06:43 John Daub: Oh that's some stuff cooked in crab shells. Konnichiwa. What are you making? Oh scallops. Wow. Pork? Deer. Wow deer meat. Wow. And here crab miso (crab innards)? Crab miso is like crab brains cooked inside the shell. Are you from Hokkaido? Yes. Oh you're from Hokkaido? Tokyo. Thank you. Yeah come to the Nabe Festival. Try some delicious crab. Half crab brains. It's good. It's actually better than it sounds. Besides a little bear. There's a barbecue going on. They weren't deer brains. They were deer meat and then crab brains. Oh. They're deer meat and crab brains. Yeah. Oh look they're peeling with crab. She's cool. Look at that. Yay. Hokkaido crab. Wow.

01:08:00 John Daub: Is that a real one? That might be plastic. So they're peeling with deer meat. So kani (crab). This is something. Of course. This is a real mushroom. So you could use it. I put it in the... I did it. I put it in the. Mix it up. It's actually... Oh look, check this out. You can try all these different kinds of sake (rice wine). Let's go take a closer look. This is from the Hibiya Winter Sake Festival. It's very cool, they have a bunch of different stuff. I'm holding an Iceberg beer, that's not the best. Dude, they have a beer dispenser in the back, check it out. They turn the bottles upside down and you can get the perfect pour, I guess. Blue beer is enough for me. I have one and I stop. Yeah, you don't need to overdo it. I'm nursing it guys, I don't need a lot.

01:09:50 John Daub: Wow, so this is some shio karaage (salted fried chicken). Oh, freshly baked. Wow, I'm so full. I've been eating this for 70 minutes. It's Abashiri beer. Have you ever had it? Yes. I don't know why. It's a bit strange. Hokkaido color. Where is this karaage from? Oita! Oh! Toriten is famous, right? Toriten. Oh, I see. I worked there for a day on YouTube in Takasaki. I did a video on YouTube with the Kanko Kyokai (tourism association). Oh, really? Yes, yes. You're a YouTuber? Yes, I'm doing a live stream right now. I'm appealing to foreigners in Japan. I'm sorry, but come to this festival, I'm saying. Yeah, Oita has very good, delicious karaage. I'll come again tomorrow. Yes, thank you. See you tomorrow. Is it going to rain tomorrow? It's going to rain. Oh, no! Tomorrow is also rain. Thank you.

01:11:51 John Daub: Tomorrow is also rain, guys. That stinks. But what are you going to do? Get your raincoat and just come out. Do not stay inside. Just come out for an adventure. And you never know what you're going to find. Be friendly to people. Have this, you know, when you go on an adventure, be a little bit curious. Don't be afraid to just jump in and ask what it is and cough up a couple of dollars and just eat it. What's the worst that can happen? I'm just going to say the worst that could happen is you're going to get really full and you're going to sleep super well. And that's actually a good thing.

01:12:42 John Daub: Oh, there's Hitachino beer, which is from Ibaraki, which is our neighbors up to the north of Tokyo. Makes some pretty good brew. Oh, my word. That's a shirako nabe (cod milt hot pot). Do you guys know what shirako is? It's the male version of the reproductive seeds. Yeah. Shirako is really good. What they do is they batter it in tempura. No, please explain. Really? Anime BRJB just said. S-P-E-R-M. And, um, it's a fish one. And they, if it's in tempura, it's so good. But when it's in nabe, it kind of gets hard a little bit. So, I'm not really into that. But there's a creaminess to it that's so good.

01:14:03 John Daub: I'm saying this publicly. I love shirako tempura. The best. It's crunchy on the outside. And when you bite into it, it feels, it tastes like cream. And I remember I was in a business meeting with the director of a big magazine about 10 years ago. And he took me to go eat tempura at a famous place near Jimbocho, not too far away from Tokyo Dome. And he sat me down and he said, you got to try this. And then he ordered shirako. I didn't really know what it was at the time. And it came on the plate and I said, this looks good. I ate it. He goes, oh my, what is that amazing creaminess to it? It's a little bit salty and then crunchy with the tempura. It's just melt in your mouth. I love this. I said, okawari ne (one more please). I want another one.

01:14:46 John Daub: And he goes, do you know what that is? And I said, no. What is it? Like a cream or something? He goes, shirako. And I looked it up and he told me. I never saw a bigger smile on the director's face than when he explained. And the realization of what I just ate was, and you know what? I didn't care. I'm man enough where I can eat that and enjoy it. This is fish. It's a good story, huh? It's true. It's a true story.

01:15:11 John Daub: Alright guys, this is the final bit. I got to go. But you don't have to. If you're in Tokyo, highly, highly recommend you get your raincoat out and come and have as much fun as I have just had here. I'm going to go get Kanae something for tonight to eat to chow down. And yeah, it's going to be a good night, good day. I don't know if I'm going to live stream tomorrow, but a friend of mine who's the biggest YouTuber in the Arab world is here. I'm really looking forward to seeing my friend Joe Hatab. He's here in Tokyo so I'm going to go hang out with him tonight. And we're going to see if we can do some videos together. One of the nicest guys I've ever met. Maybe I'll live stream with him and we'll talk about how we met. But he's a really good friend with a big heart. Love that guy.

01:16:27 John Daub: And I'll see him tonight and maybe live stream that story. I think he's got like 3 million subscribers or something now. But we both came from very hardworking beginnings. And you don't know what direction your channel is going to go. But if you watch his stuff, Joe Hatab, H-A-T-A-B, it's all in Arabic, but it's beautifully done. And even if I don't understand what he's saying, I think it's okay. I feel an emotion or connection to some of the content that he brings. He's unique. We're all unique as YouTubers. Adam! It's pronounced Boudreaux. Get Kanae-ized something good. Ah, Boudreaux! Okay! I feel like I'm swimming on an iceberg. Thank you, Adam Boudreaux.

01:17:11 John Daub: Here? Thank you. Two points to that guy. He got the chopsticks in the basket. Alright guys, there you go. The Nabe Festival is kicking butt and awesome. The sun is starting to set before 4:30. It gets dark here in Tokyo. The lights have come on and this festival will be going on until about 8pm. It goes on late and tomorrow it'll be going on as well. From the morning about 10am to once again until about 7-8pm. And I highly recommend you come and try all these different kinds of nabes from all over Japan. You will not regret it. It's so good, so filling and it's a very big part of Japanese culture.

01:17:51 John Daub: The fish, the meat, the vegetables, the soup base, and the service and the smiles. Go back and watch the playback and watch how many people were smiling and having fun. And that's what it's all about in the end. That's what a festival is all about. The music, the people, the fun, the food, the good times, the memories. The fun that we've had over the last 77 minutes. So see you all maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day. Everybody's watching me. Hey! Kodai! Did you eat already? I'm going home. I have work to do. You know what? Only in Japan. A lot of people are watching. Oh, now it's 1100 people. Instagram? YouTube. YouTube? Good luck. Thank you. Bye bye.

01:18:42 John Daub: New friend from Saitama, I believe. Alright. Have a good day. Good night, guys. The last 20 seconds is dedicated to this wonderful view of Hibiya in the rain. It's just weather. Never let that stop you from an adventure. Oh, there's the crab ladies over there. Very nice people. Bye, guys.