00:04:00 John Daub: Welcome to Tokyo. That's Tokyo Station on the right side. This is the modern Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. As you can see, we have a very wet day today, which means we have to do a live stream inside. How you doing everybody? I'm at Tokyo Central Post Office. If you have an Apple iPhone, you're going to find this is the post office symbol for Japan. It's like a T with a little hat on it. And that's where we are right there. There's a post box right there. And I'm going to be sending our Patreon supporters their holiday cards.

00:37:00 John Daub: But first, this is all about Christmas cards in Japan. Christmas cards are very unique because as you know, Japan is very much a paper culture. We love paper. We love cash. You can see people still use banknotes in Japan. And they also like origami, you know, the folding of the paper cranes and making objects out of paper. Thus, it's not a giant leap to think that the Christmas cards here are going to be crazy beautiful and high tech. Now, Christmas is not a big deal in Japan like it is in the West. Christmas is sort of a holiday that is celebrated by couples, people that are in love. Husband and wife might go out on a date. It's a romantic time, maybe because of the Christmas lights.

01:37:00 John Daub: So let's go from across the street from Tokyo Station into the Central Post Office. And then we're going to go take a look at the Christmas cards. I hope you're ready. This is going to be pretty exciting. Oh, there's Britt and Henko from Germany. Hello.

02:04:00 Britt and Henko: You do it. Oh, you got the, what's that in your hands?

02:04:00 John Daub: This is the Only in Japan postcards for the Patreon supporters. Very cool. I know. There's like 500 of them. Thanks for helping me to send these. Yeah. So let's go send that right now. Let's go to the post office post box. There's the Christmas card selection over there. So let's just go look here. The international post box. They're on the way, guys.

02:34:00 John Daub: All right, check this out. These are the ones that light up. This one has LEDs in it. Hey, do they have these? Do they have these in Germany?

02:48:00 Britt and Henko: Like this and these? Uh no I haven't seen. Yeah I've never seen an LED thing.

02:58:00 John Daub: And they come in these envelopes like this. Yeah which you can use. I guess it's about ten dollars for each one. Let me zoom out to more wider. They're about ten dollars to send. This one's sixteen dollars. But I mean is that not the most beautiful tree though like lit up with LED lights? So I really like this one. This Hello Kitty with some fluff on it. It's almost like sending a plushie right. How much is that one? Do you see it? Oh here it is right here. A Santa Claus airplane. Check that out. It looks like a JAL flight. Yeah these are all made by Sanrio. This one is 14 and it's like sending a Hello Kitty plushie. How cool is that?

04:04:00 Britt and Henko: How do you how do you sign this on the back?

04:04:00 John Daub: Oh I guess in you can open it up and you can see it on the inside. I don't know do you know this character? Look at this little doggie it's so cute. It's so cute. So these are more traditional looking cards that could be America. Oh this one plays a song. Is that copyright music? Awesome. Imagine it going off every five seconds in the envelope on the way to an international destination. That would drive the postman crazy.

04:42:00 John Daub: Origami is a big deal in Japan. You can see with these Christmas trees and some of the colors. They're all made out of the cutouts. How elaborate they are. Which one do you like? Kind of all of them are pretty nice. I'd like to get one of these. This one looks like a on a stage. It has um some gold coloring on it and pink cherry blossoms. Let's see here. Here's the card before it's sent and uh it is six dollars. About five fifty six dollars that's pretty good. Hey Antonio thank you so much happy holidays.

05:24:00 John Daub: All right I want to take a look at this. This one here is a Jessica and this one is a winter Caroline. My favorite. This has been a design that I've seen for the last many many years. It says Santa Sushi on there and you see all these little Santa Clauses going in to get some sushi. There's some ramen on the side. You see the ramen how funny is that. And this card costs three dollars and fifty cents about 350 yen.

05:49:00 Britt and Henko: And inside check this out can you open this one?

05:49:00 John Daub: Check this one out look at that. There's all the little sushi on it and little Santas are the ones serving the sushi. And it says here tanoshii koto (fun things). Yeah like please have a good have a fun holiday merry Christmas right there. And there's tons of little sushi on there. Thank you. I like that you can sign right there. I usually will sign my name and I send this one to my brother and niece and to some of the supporters too on Patreon. It's nice and there's a sushi menu on the back wall. How cool is that. That is the ultimate Japanese Santa Claus card and yeah from Japan.

06:46:00 John Daub: So they got a they got a few of them. Here's another one from Japan um what do you call this one. This is a karaoke Santa and there's an onsen (hot spring) for two nights and three days you see that advertisement there. There's a some of the little presents that they give out at the shogatsu (New Year's) holiday season in Japan. There's a Santa bin where he's sending deliveries by the post office. And there's even a pizza truck it looks like Pizza-la look at that. This is such a this is Japan at Christmas time I think. And inside of course Santa is singing some massive karaoke with a selfie stick that looks like me doing the live streams. And once again have a have a really great holiday. Okage sama deshita (thank you for the hard work this year) everybody. So I guess this is something you can give to one of your co-workers. And I think it's a really cool card and this one costs um yeah same three dollars and fifty cents about.

07:47:00 John Daub: There's another Japanese Christmas card. These are all made by Sanrio. Oh look at that Santa's naked in the onsen. You guys are gonna going to um to an onsen right?

07:57:00 Britt and Henko: This yeah this is really cool.

08:06:00 John Daub: I like this card this one's nice. You might meet Santa there. And then of course there's the typical holiday cards for for this time of year but Japan does do it their own way I think. They go really high tech um these are the more traditional cards here. This one look like um it's like very origami-ish. It's made out of paper it's got some moving parts on it but they've really put a lot of details into it. From the side you can see the 3D aspect of this card. They use gold paper to make it look really good. Here's another holiday card with the calendar on it and it and it spins out into uh 3D like origami. This one costs about four dollars at 400 yen.

09:01:00 Britt and Henko: Which one's your favorite do you have a favorite one? Oh that one's really nice it's like you're looking into a window. Can do these close? Oh these they don't close but but it's like looking into a new another world. I'd love to have this on my desk right it's so so pretty.

09:17:00 John Daub: And then of course they have um characters that Japanese love. There's Anpanman with a Santa hat. Oh this one plays music too. Oh did you hear that Christmas kawaii (cute). If you push it again it turns it off that's pretty smart. Here's a Mount Fuji with the the Edo period Christmas sunny. Actually I love this one it looks very um that's a ninja ninja card how cool is that how cool is that.

10:05:00 Britt and Henko: Can you oh you can't open it up can we take it out take a look at it oh this is so nice all right can you open that one sorry oh look at that that's nice it's gold.

10:26:00 John Daub: And there's like a little ninja in his Santa hat. I love the creativity merry Christmas with ninja stars that's that's pretty violent Christmas but I don't know it looks like he's having fun. And we have a merry Christmas cake because in Japan we have Christmas cake that's how we celebrate it. There's some wrapping paper under the tree with your ninja friend I love it. That's a good one that's that's one of my favorites. Here's another one with um the Peanuts at a Japanese bridge look at that. Charlie Brown is hanging out with uh Lucy is that Lucy with the black hair? I don't know I always forget uh Lucy and Linus yeah. And they're at a table serving Japanese uh she's serving Japanese to him how cute is that. Look at Woodstock with the hat oh my that's a good one it's Lucy yeah.

11:37:00 John Daub: Oh this one goes over here which one oh that's beautiful yeah that's cool. The torii (shrine gates) are coming out like 3D how nice is that how nice is that one. And there's a bunch of other very Japanese themed a lot of gold a little bit darker. This one has Asakusa Sensoji check that out it's like a Tokyo Christmas there that's so nice. Here's one sumo wrestling a holiday card you don't see that a lot. I like that this is from Hallmark too that's that's unique that's unique. And let's look at a couple more here there's an Anpanman Christmas card there's um curry pan Meronpan Dokin-chan is there I love Dokin-chan that's Baikinman's friend girlfriend maybe I'm not sure how deep their relationship goes. And then that's happy birthday okay so these are birthday cards but Japanese Christmas cards are cute man look at Santa's got his puffy beard that's four dollars.

12:59:00 John Daub: Oh oh hello hi A21 I'm definitely gonna get something for Kanae do not you worry. Oh that's pretty what what are cards like in Germany is it similar to this?

13:06:00 Britt and Henko: Yes it's similar to those cards but um I don't think so that you have uh yeah LED lights is next level.

13:27:00 John Daub: Christmas cards merry Christmas with my Fuji oh look at Santa Claus he's climbing Mount Fuji like he's like like he's on the top of the chimney going down do not go into the lava Santa is he going into the lava it's a volcano just so you know that Santa Claus I don't know don't try to that's the wrong kind of chimney to climb down. He's not going to come back if he climbs down a volcano. This one's nice too these are just best wishes some simple ones they have all sorts of price points all the way up to 20 for one card.

14:08:00 John Daub: Let me see if I can go over to the other side here let's just go back to this high-tech one here. Here's a train and this one look at this this this one lights up all right it's a melody card and it's in three dimensions. They don't have this one out which is a shame but you can see creates a city check that out it creates a town and there's a button you can push to play the music and it's the song here on the the first noel we wish you a merry Christmas it plays all these songs that's pretty crazy. This one costs yeah only 1400 yen about 14 dollars that's oh here it is that's so cute and the door and the lights of the houses coordinate with the sound oh I love it maybe I'll get this one for Kanae that's a good one.

15:27:00 John Daub: All right it's funny to put it back when it's lighting up one song these are some of the ones that you can also buy you can tell the post office which number and they'll find it for you um there's number three an ice skating scene number one looks so peaceful do you see that it's like a scene from a fireplace it's so warm looking. This one if you don't have a Christmas tree you can't afford a Christmas tree your house is too small for a Christmas tree I highly recommend the Christmas tree card that's blue blinky LED lights. And then this one is also a more traditional Christmas tree I think if you turn off the lights it's really nice. Here's a scene from a of a chilly forest with a deer and a Christmas tree actually the cards are right here right do they have the one of the ultra oh here it is that's that's this one the one that with all the blinky lights oh okay how much is this one that's only 16 dollars all right that's it's made out of paper and LED lights so you gotta you have to give them credit for innovation. This is the yuletide joy in paper nice only Japan can can take paper and make it so cool.

16:38:00 John Daub: Here's the fireplace card I think I might get Kanae this one because we don't have a fireplace.

16:44:00 Britt and Henko: Do you have a fireplace?

16:44:00 John Daub: No no you don't have a fireplace either I think I'm gonna get this one for Kanae this one is fifteen dollars so thank you Jim this is what I'm gonna get for our our um mantle and I'm gonna put it by her desk and there's even a song Jim it's like an old record player and you can hear um the fire you can hear the fire crackling this is awesome I love it there's only a few left there's only a few left.

17:16:00 John Daub: All right let's is it is it safe a fire in the paper I guess it's I'm just gonna put it there and just walk away just walk away walk away from the fire. All right that was fun so this is at the international post office in Tokyo you can come and check out their their Christmas cards and maybe even pick up a few of them I know I will I know I will um the international post office just a couple of things so you know you can get cash for foreign ATMs here for foreign cash cards some of the Japanese banks don't do that there's the ATMs and then over here is the mascot for for the Tokyo post office right here I think if you've seen the stamps that I've sent this is the mascot here right here um they're really cute Kumamon has been in with the stamps with these guys so yeah.

18:13:00 John Daub: Do you guys want to take a let's take a thumbnail a postcard let's pose in front of the the bears click all right cool very cool um there's some more Christmas I want to show you guys over here. Outside the main post office is and by the way this is open 24 hours a day seven days a week this window right here so if you ever want to send something come to the Tokyo post office the main branch and you can send it anytime especially if you need to get something postmarked on this certain day. This is called the Kitei building (stamp building) and inside the Kitei building you have whoa usually they have a more traditional tree but today they have this and it is a Christmas tree just super high tech look at that. This building is pretty cool especially with super wide on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

19:28:00 John Daub: We're going to go underneath this we're going to go underneath the tree now I'm starting to feel that how the Christmas spirit do you feel it too feeling the Christmas spirit looking at Christmas cards and stuff and sending sending postcards and holiday wishes to everybody around the world wow feels good feels good everybody all right let's go underneath this this tree this 3D looking tree underneath the skirt here wow it's pretty neat it goes up all the way to that high ceiling I'll pan one more time what do you guys think is it like worthy click the like button if you like unusual Christmas trees it is pretty weird though from this angle it does not look like a Christmas tree oh it's changing colors changing colors.

20:56:00 John Daub: From this angle it doesn't look like a Christmas tree but if you go from the other side it really does. Last year and every year it's going to be different last year they had one of the most beautiful Christmas trees all white looked like it was snowing in the middle of this building. This is called the Kitei building K-I-T-E-I it's on the modern Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station and kitei in Japanese means stamp okay it's a key thing Japanese means stamp very cool um let's go and show some people some more Christmas spirit shall we.

21:24:00 Britt and Henko: Do you guys have a little bit of time?

21:24:00 John Daub: Yes of course all right we look there he is this is Britt and Henko from Germany and they're visiting it's funny though because we're going to Germany next week no in like four days we'll be in uh hey guys um I just want to remind you the weather is not has has been less than ideal in Tokyo and if you're asking for snow yeah it rarely snows in Tokyo basically you have rain most of the time there's precipitation but there's a moment usually in January or later in the month of December where it might snow but it'll snow for like like 30 seconds and then in sono soko (just a little bit) and then melts really quickly.

22:20:00 Britt and Henko: I don't know, actually isn't there, wait there's a Christmas tree in the Shin-Marunouchi building, right, did you see? Star Wars Christmas tree. Star Wars Christmas tree. In the Marunouchi building, is that the one across right there?

22:32:00 John Daub: Star Wars Christmas tree, who's in on this? Click the like button, if we can get the 400 likes, we're gonna go see the, let's just go! Ah, I don't care about rain, it's Star Wars Christmas tree! Rainy and windy and stormy, be careful guys, be careful. Star Wars Christmas tree, how, you tell me this, this changes the stream, this is now turned from boring Christmas cards, which were kind of pretty extraordinary, to Star Wars Christmas tree, what? How could you combine the two? And how does Santa get, does Santa become intergalactic? Does Santa's sled have some sort of strange, unusual powers that are beyond that of, oh, we're missing the blue green light. Santa has strange, unusual powers that allow him to go to different universes? So Luke Skywalker as a kid, little Anakin, as well, got presents, is that what you're saying? That's incredible.

23:41:00 John Daub: Thank you Jim, the force is with somebody else today, because it's, I feel cold and wet. Some guy, I thought he was a storm trooper, I thought that was a storm trooper! It's Star Wars fever, there's a Christmas tree right there. Inside of the this office building done done done done done I won't finish that copyright doesn't he look like a stormtrooper seriously this one right here yes okay this one yeah yeah okay we're going into this building guys to see the Star Wars thing click the like button if this excites you and if you hate Star Wars click the like button anyways because you you don't like Star Wars and you just i asked you to click the like button.

24:24:00 John Daub: This right here next to the Marunouchi building is the new Apple store Apple's first store outside the United States in 2003 was opened in Ginza that was their first non-American store in Japan and this is their newest store in Marunouchi it looks beautiful they do a great job making it look modern I almost want to buy a Mac but I'm not it's a little pricey it's pretty nice thank you.

25:17:00 John Daub: You don't know what's copyright somebody said the birthday song um belongs to someone else so we can't use the birthday song that's unbelievable all right we got a green light we say blue in Japan but you know that because i say that every time i see a green light they call it blue light looking bad at the historical Tokyo stations there's always a black color on the sky [inaudible] girl i see my friend that's a girl um shun's got a letter from a guy in china that's okay i'm not yeah but um you know what one of the things you can't make from white spotlight is that in Japan you can't put a green light on people's faces i see more yellow in Japan so you can't put a green light what are you trying to do man i'm trying to make this thing into a black light i'm trying to make a bunch of things into a blue light.

26:23:00 John Daub: I have two more things i have in front of me one more thing when you can run. Oh, man. All right. My gimbal's wet. I took a chance. I believe in Star Wars and the Force to protect us from water damage. Lead the way. Oh! Check it out. The sign is right here. Oh, is that... That is not a Darth Vader ornament, is it? That's a Darth Vader ornament! What? No way! There's a 3PO ornament and a R2-D2 ornament. What? This is bizarre. All right, let's do it. Let's do this. Star Wars Christmas. This is insane.

27:24:00 Britt and Henko: Was it good? Did you like it? Don't ruin it. Wait, wait. Don't tell me. Did you get excited? It was cool? Okay. It's a normal Christmas tree, but it's nice. It's nice. It's different and nice.

27:46:00 John Daub: What? This is a Christmas tree from a galaxy far, far away. Whoa. What? This is like a Hoth Christmas tree. Looks like it's made of ice. What do you guys think? This is definitely unique. I'm feeling of a white Christmas. I don't feel it, though. I don't know. I see. This looks like a mountain to me and not a Christmas tree. What do you think, everybody? Send me your comments right now. Do you get the Christmas spirit from it? Sarah likes it. Jason says lightsaber. Nine says cyber tree. You have a Bob, a Darth Christmas. Florencia says, this is amazing. Tasty says, Tesla? Hua says, sharp, shardy mountain. It could very well be sharp and shardy. Linda says, the Death Star tree. Mrs. B gives it a meh. Ice mountain. Christmas mountain. We're getting a lot of mountains. And the music is pretty weird.

29:12:00 John Daub: We're going to go take a look from the escalator. I think if we go up there, we'll get a better view from here of the Death Star tree. They also, of course, they have Star Wars goods because I believe there's a new Star Wars movie coming out. And Japan loves their Star Wars. So do I. I don't know. But I think, though, you get the Darth Christmas behind us. The Death Star tree. Japanese love Star Wars, but I have to tell you something. I don't know. There's just too many Star Wars and too often. They're not generational now. It's just, I don't know. It's a lot. And to be honest, I've seen the first six and I haven't seen the last six. So there's that. I don't know what's happening with the Star Wars thing. I guess we should watch it. Maybe we'll binge watch all the, all of the, all of the trees here.

30:17:00 John Daub: All right, here we go. We're now looking at from it, from the second floor at the Star Wars Christmas tree. Do leave your comments. What do you think? Is this Christmas tree worth it? I mean, worth the visit? Oh, oh, thanks. Yeah. Is the Christmas tree worth a visit? Do you think that Star Wars has done a good job making the Star Wars Christmas tree? Does it look like, does it look cool? It's too cyberpunk. It's nice for a small visit. More red. I think so. That's, that's it, right? They didn't, they didn't give any like Christmas colors to it. It just looks like ice. Right? Right. It just looks like ice. I think that's what's missing. There's not, it's too much Death Star, not enough like warmth. And I think the point of Christmas is bringing people together and holiday spirit and, you know, like laughter. This looks like, like cold and dry and dark and violent and action. Christmas is like, I don't want any action on Christmas. I want like peace on earth. I want stalemate between the empire and the rebels. I want, you know, love, hugs, warmth, warm spiced wine, blue wine. Yeah, that's a big, a big smile out of that one. Blue wine. Blue wine. Yeah, I'll be partaking in that in a few days. So very cool.

32:00:00 John Daub: All right. Can you hold this for a second? I have to tie my shoe. Safety first. Safety first. Safety first. All right. Cool. Um. You guys want to, did you go up to the fifth floor?

32:16:00 Britt and Henko: Oh, you didn't go to the observation deck. It's not the terrace or another point? Oh no, then I will take you up there right now.

32:31:00 John Daub: This is a great place to show you an overview of Tokyo Station. You all know where I'm taking you. A lot of, some of you might know. As we leave the Death Star Tree. I've got mixed reviews. My friend John from New Orleans came and he said that it was interesting. But he wouldn't elaborate. Or he said it was okay. I forget. It was vague in his description. I'm glad he kept it vague. He kept it mysterious. So I still kind of wanted to go, but my expectations were low. I got, I get excited though, for everything. As you know. This is the modern building across the street from the post office. Um, if you're watching the live stream, go on the playback and check it out. This is what you subscribe for. This is exciting to be here live. Make sure the notification button is clicked on the bottom right. So you don't miss one of these. I will take you on an adventure.

33:25:00 John Daub: This is from an even higher point. If you're on one of these vehicles that fly, you're going to see the Star Wars tree from it. From this point. From the air. It's a bird's eye view. We were down there like two minutes ago. Just showing the movie in the side there. Looks exciting. All right. One more flight up and then I'm going to show you where we just started from. And you can see the post office. Can I and I are going to Vienna and we're going to take a train to Prague. Spend two nights in Prague. Then we're going to Nuremberg for two nights for the Christmas markets. Then we're going to Innsbruck for two nights. Then go back to Vienna for one night. Then fly back because we want to feel Christmas. And it's hard to do here. But our families are all living. My family's living abroad. So it's harder to do.

34:25:00 Britt and Henko: Oh, we can't go outside because of the rain. But.

34:27:00 John Daub: That in front of us is old Tokyo Station. It's pretty cool that they got living trees up here. Feels pretty nice and warm inside. So. But it's nice to go. You can on sunny days. You can walk out here to the thing. You can see the International Post Office is right there on the side. And it's open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There's a window open for you can send packages and gifts back home. You don't have to wait until the morning. You can always send it from Tokyo Station's 24 hours a day. And it's open 24 hours. International Post Office. Yeah. Cool. And this is where Kanae and I have a burger. We always get the burger there. What is this? They really want to promote the Star Wars. Check it out.

35:16:00 John Daub: So in front of the Kua'aina Burger, the Hawaiian burger chain that makes massive burgers that they charge you $20 is this Star Wars exhibition. Take a quick look. See Galaxy's Edge. Japan has their own take on on it. Apparently. That's Mickey Mouse looking like R2D2 hat. That's weird. That's weird. Wow. So these are images from the movie. It's pretty cool. Oh, look, there's AT-ATs. AT-ATs are back. That's so cool. I think I would love to see this on like a 4K UHD DVD or something. Look at that kid. He's walking around with a lightsaber. Isn't that dangerous? Chop off his sister's arm or something. It's not a pretty sight. Oh, what are these called? I used to have one of these. This is Lando Calrissian's thing going to his planet. But the wings go down. Or is that the bounty hunter? I forget. Some of the Empire Strikes Back, I think. Yeah. Very cool. Technology makes it easier even to make these movies even more real like. But Star Wars in its day in 1977 was impressive. Although 2001: A Space Odyssey was there first. I thought that that movie did an awesome job with very Hawaiian burger like things.

37:00:00 John Daub: All right. Last look down at the Star Wars Christmas tree from Super Bird's Eye View. We can't get any higher than this. As I say that, you can, I guess. Was he holding a lightsaber? This is pretty high. And that's kind of neat to look down on the Star Wars tree. What do you guys think? Once again, always appreciate it. Click the like button. Hit that subscribe button as well. This modern Marunouchi building is a very cool place just to chill. If you need a place to sit down and kind of relax, I highly recommend here. The chairs are free behind me. You can eat your burger there and they have these seats here and I sometimes have a business meeting here, but come to the fifth floor of the Marunouchi building. Great view of Tokyo Station as well as free seating where you can eat stuff, relax. And if you're lucky, come at this time of year, you're going to see the Star Wars Christmas tree, which looks like a tree. I think it's from Hoth. Kind of icy mountain depressing. I can see Darth Vader sitting there and little kids sitting on his lap and going, what would you like for Christmas? Little one turned to the dark side and he does the little Jedi trick and the kids go backside, backside. I can see that happening. And then he has a little army of clones over here. So after the kids sit on his lap, they all go into the rank and file of the lines, perfect lines. And the parents are shocked with stormtroopers pushing the parents back as their kids get recruited into being part of the dark sides fight future. This is why you subscribe. There's no meaning. Stuff just comes out. Everybody.

38:44:00 John Daub: There you have it. I hope that you enjoyed the postcard, the Christmas card episode. Japan's cards are very unique. I think that we can get inspired by some of the designs. Christmas is not a big deal in Japan. Not the same as in the West, but it sort of is becoming that way. And it's really neat to see the innovations on something that is so, I don't know, two dimensional as a card now is 3D origami with LED lights from, from just paper to high tech. That's Japan for you. Leave a comment below. If you want to tell us where you're from. I always like to hear from you. Hope you enjoyed this and see you in the next live stream, everybody. Bye bye. Merry Christmas. See you tomorrow. I think we'll be live streaming from another place. I'll give the last couple of seconds to the death star tree. I'm dreaming of a death star Christmas. Choo!