00:00:02 John Daub: Greetings everybody. Welcome to Sensoji in Asakusa. This is one of the famous temples of Tokyo. This is a place you've got to go if you're in Tokyo. The cultural heart of the city, this area—Sumida-machi, I'm talking about everywhere away from Shibuya, sort of in the north. It's such a beautiful area. This is where most of the people are gonna be coming in a few days for New Year's. A lot of people been asking me where exactly do you go for New Year's holiday? If you come to Tokyo and you're here for the holiday, where do you go?

00:00:36 John Daub: Do you go to a countdown party somewhere in the city? Do you stay at your hotel? Should you go out? Where should you go out to? And the answer is in Japan, most people that are here will go back to their hometowns. Japanese don't stick around in Tokyo. If they're from somewhere else, they'll go back either to Hokkaido or they'll go back down to Kyushu or Osaka, wherever they are from. In the background, you can hear people taking out omikuji (fortune-telling slips). And on New Year's Day, on the first, there's more to it than just what I'm telling you right now. There's a whole story involved.

00:01:12 John Daub: So you might want to buckle in for a good 30 minutes as we go through this area and then talk about some of the food, some of the things that you can expect should you even come to Tokyo during New Year's. It's an important question. I know there's a lot of people that are here because, well, this is the only time that they can get off, the only time that they can visit. Here's Sensoji before New Year, but in a couple of days, this place is gonna be packed and everyone lining up to be the first people to pray when the first hits. Just kind of soak it up now because it's just gonna be really, really like 20 times more crowded than it is right now. Most of the people here are tourists, by the way. Nothing wrong with that. Really want to soak it in here.

00:01:54 John Daub: So let's get out of here. Let's walk around this area. Maybe we'll go get some street food and we're gonna have this talk. It's important to start off here. This is where maybe we'll be coming for our own shogatsu (New Year's) on the first. But at midnight, do Japanese go to countdown parties? And I'm going through questions that people have asked me. Countdown parties. The answer is no, not really. And it goes back all the way to the history and why do the Japanese celebrate New Year at all on January 1st when in China they have a different lunar calendar New Year schedule, usually in February or March.

00:02:37 John Daub: Why do Japanese celebrate it on January 1st like the Western world? And then you have to go all the way back to the Meiji period to the 1870s. I think it was 1872 or 1873 when Japan started to adopt the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar being like 1995, 96, 97, you know, like the years that we know in the West. It wasn't until the 1870s that they started to do that. Before that, they had more of like the Chinese calendar. And yeah, that changed things in Japan. Now time and space continuum sort of was a little different in the Meiji period. They switched all the way over to the Western style of things. That meant that, yeah, what do you do on New Year's? And then traditions started to come. Cuisine is different. Culture is different.

00:03:25 John Daub: And at this time of year, Japanese tend to do nothing. They just watch TV and relax with family, go to the temple or the shrine, and they'll pray. And then they'll do the first prayer of the year, hatsumode. So if you're in Japan, you can do that. But you do have options, right? If you really, really want to go to a countdown party and do the typical Western New Year countdown, which is not what we do here in Japan, but some Japanese will go there. It's a foreign thing. You can do that. Roppongi, Shibuya, they might have people on Shibuya Hachiko Scramble counting down there. Should you do it? If you really want Japanese culture and immerse yourself here, I wouldn't. I would not. But you can.

00:04:10 John Daub: They've already started to set up the festival booths. So we have some street food on the side here. And this is significant in all part of what I'm going to be talking about. These food stands here are important because on the first, when there's a ton of people, there's going to be a ton of people who want to eat. And it turns into almost a festival. So instead of going to countdown parties where they want $100 or 10,000 yen for you to go in there, all you can drink booze, you get sick, you're hanging out with a bunch of strangers, come to the temple or the shrine. And you can have the same kind of, a better kind of feeling. Just dress really warmly. Bring a stack of cash and then you can eat and drink outside with everybody else.

00:04:48 John Daub: The Buddhist temples are maybe a little bit better. We have Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Buddhist temples at midnight, they will ring the bell 108 times. And when CNN goes around the world and says, okay, the New Year's happened in Sydney, and they show the bridge and the opera house. And they show the fireworks off of the bridge. And then they come to Japan, which is usually second on the list here. And they do the New Year's here. They show Zojoji Temple at Shiba Park. And that's pretty significant because instead of going to like Shibuya Hachiko, they've been showing the temple. And what they do at the temple is they ring the bell 108 times to represent the 108 sins in the Buddhist religion. And every time they ring it, it dispels the Japanese citizens of those sins. So it has a symbolism. And it takes a long time.

00:05:51 John Daub: So you hear these bells 108 times. That's when you run and try to get some street food. And usually there's street food around where the bell is being rung. So you get a picture of the dude ringing the bell, the monk, and get some street food. And usually I get, I'm in bed at around 1:30. Or you can stay home and do what everybody does. Most people will just stay home. They'll watch NHK, the Red and White Song Battle, where musicians, popular musicians are competing against one another. And you do it with your family. New Year's is all about family and not so much about going out and getting wasted.

00:06:26 John Daub: So, although I was on both sides of that. When I first came to Japan, I didn't know what to do. I didn't have a Japanese family. And Kanae Daub's family will celebrate New Year's. And of course I'm going to be there with her sister, her brother, and her father. And her uncles and aunts and cousins. Which means I'm about to get a lot poorer. Because we have something called otoshidama. And otoshidama means at this time of year kids are super psyched up and energetic because of one reason. Money. Hard cash. Talks. In Japan you gotta get a special envelope and put your otoshidama. Or, like for elementary school kids it's like 3 to 5,000 yen. Or 30 to 50 dollars. For junior high it's about 50 dollars. 5,000 yen. And then for high school kids you gotta give more. Which is like 10,000 yen or 100 dollars.

00:07:17 John Daub: And it's a gift that only happens once a year. And you can give that to them in a special envelope. And usually you feel the pain. But, I mean, they're kids. So you need a little bit of money. So you end up spending a little bit. Depending on the size of your family. So if you marry into a big family, just get ready to pay your otoshidama. It's part of the tradition. And because you're at home with your family at New Year's in Japan. That's when you give the cash and the envelopes. And the kids get all excited and thank you eternally. As they spend it on Pocky and junk food. That's what I would do. Or save it. Kids save 10%. At least.

00:07:58 John Daub: Alright. We're here. We're gonna keep walking around here. This is where it's gonna be really, really crowded. And I don't think I'll be able to livestream on New Year's Day here. But I might just film it and then upload it right afterwards. So you can see it in glorious 4K. I'll show you. I'll show you how it's done. There's the Tokyo Skytree. It's a beautiful day. Pretty... Yeah. It's slightly cool. There's a crispness to the air. A little breeze. But it's warm enough where I can open up my jacket and let it go.

00:08:25 John Daub: Hey, Antonio. Advance Happy New Year. Thank you. Thank you. I might try to livestream it. Why not, right? Just a little bit of it to celebrate it. Because it'd be pretty cool to be watching this on 2020. Because I'm gonna be livestreaming a lot of the... Let's try to go this way. Wow. They got melonpan hats. That's like totally what I would do. Can I even go this way? I'm like, blocked in. Oh, no. I can go around. So I would totally do that. Hey!

00:09:09 John Daub: So, yeah. Kanae Daub is probably gonna be cooking up a storm with her sister. They make something called osechi-ryori (traditional New Year's cuisine). Osechi-ryori comes in boxes. Usually it's lacquerware. It's very nice. It's very presentable and it's almost always the same kind of food. After a couple of years, it's kind of boring but it's tradition. It's culture. You have to eat it just like pizza during the Super Bowl and nachos and cheese wings. We have osechi-ryori. And here's some of the artwork just walking around Asakusa. It takes a long time to cook and people start buying the ingredients for it. Kanae, I think, has already bought it. Things close down during New Year.

00:09:58 John Daub: You are now a tourist. You've decided to come to Japan during the shogatsu time of year. That means you're going to be here between December 30th and January 4th. Take notice. Everything is closed from January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Like 95% of the time. 95% of the stuff is closed. 1st, 2nd, 3rd. People have off from work. The streets are super quiet. Take note of that. Which means that it's a great time if you want to go hiking, go to the onsen (hot spring), go to the countryside, get out of the city, or stay in the city and just see how quiet the streets can be. Nothing is open. Just so you know that. Like very, very few things. The first, even the supermarkets are closed. The convenience stores might be open, but some of them might even be closed out in the countryside. On the second, they have limited hours usually. And then on the fourth, operations typically go back to normal. So keep that in mind when you do come here.

00:11:03 John Daub: Things will be closed and you'll be out in the cold. Your hotel will be open. Don't worry. I'm just kidding. So plan for that. Meaning you can get on the Shinkansen, but a lot of Japanese are traveling at the same time. Look at this shokudo (set meal diner). It's like all locals in there. That's pretty cool. Looks like a local shokudo, which is set menu meals. Oh, let's take a look at the menus here. Wow. So it's all the typical Japanese fare. Omurice, kimchi rice, curry rice, some udon, and some donburi down there. There's a katsudon. I love katsudon. Oyakudon, and some ramen. Reasonable prices. Teishoku usually have prices under 800 yen for really good set menus. You'll get a miso soup. And right here in the front, they have oden. Check that out. Look at that. Simmering oden right there. Very nice.

00:11:56 John Daub: If you're thinking of coming to Japan at this time, it's pretty cool. If you want to on the 31st, go to Roppongi. You'll be able to walk around and get, you might want to get the tickets in advance for countdown parties. Let's say you do want to go to a countdown party. You can get the tickets online, but some of the popular ones will sell out. However, if you just are in your hotel and say, I got to go out there and countdown, you can go to Shibuya Hachiko. I think they do something there. Or you can go to a club in Roppongi. And typically it's very crowded, but you can get tickets if you get there early or online in advance, but you want to get there well before 12 midnight.

00:12:49 John Daub: The last time I did it, like go out to Roppongi type of thing was 2007 with my friend Robin and I don't know. We kind of went home at 1am. We spent a lot of money. We were a little toasted and was it worth it? I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's good when you have friends or family and if you're alone traveling, maybe you want to think about hanging out with other travelers and you feel a little bit more of that spirit. Antonio Basinga vlogs Starbucks, even the Starbucks is closed. I think on the first I don't know about Starbucks. Some shops might be open, but in general, historically in the 20 some years that I've lived here, even the Starbucks have been closed. Some of the train stations will be open. But even then it's very, very limited and you won't be able to get a lot of food because factories are closed.

00:13:30 John Daub: A lot of the fresh food at the convenience stores are very limited on the second and the third. But I know that they're bringing in more staff from abroad that don't celebrate the New Year's the same way. So maybe the foreign workers are going to be stocking the foods at the convenience stores. I'm just trying to go back through experience. I know that because of immigration and a lot of people coming from other countries, neighboring countries. They're working harder for less money. It also means that it's kind of profitable for convenience stores and other places to stay open, make the food and the bentos and the stuff like that. But my advice to you is just to stock up and have some extra stuff because the supermarkets are definitely closed on the first like things are changing in Japan. I just you just don't know how much they're changing.

00:14:19 John Daub: Look at these jackets here. These are pretty cool jackets. Look at that Adam boy. I love these designs. I'd love to get a little Only in Japan logo like this would be pretty sweet. Yeah. Let's walk down this way a little bit. Click the thumbs up if you like this kind of content. I'll bring you if you want me to live stream the New Year's at midnight. Click the thumbs up right now too because I need encouragement big time. I'm on the fence with that. A lot of people are out now. They're done with work. The businesses have let out so they have free time. So there are lot of people are going out with friends. There's a lot of Japanese tourists that came to Tokyo maybe to come to see their cousins. And then they'll go back to their hometowns. That happens to a lot.

00:15:11 John Daub: So on the 31st I'll eat soba with Kanae Daub's family. All right. That's what's going to happen. Hey Michael Kelly. Welcome to the stream. On the 31st I'm going to eat with Kanae Daub's family. We have soba usually kind of cleanse ourselves before the New Year. I'm probably going to be going with Kanae and her sister to Sensoji to celebrate. I've never been to Sensoji at New Year. It's gonna be pretty crowded. But I might go there just to film the experience and get some street food and then we come back and we have another meal and everything is like special. Everything during those days has a meaning to it. Osechi-ryori is deep and it is strong. There's also sake involved. So everyone is drinking Japanese sake. Sake has a I guess like a cleanse. It's cleansing holy water in a way I guess.

00:16:09 John Daub: There's something called kagami mochi. And mochi is something that's very significant in Japanese culture. If you're walking around, there's not much that you can do during the New Year. So if you're walking around local neighborhoods in the countryside, you're going to see family members that have taken these big, like, wood cauldrons on the ground, like big logs hollowed out with hammers, and they're beating the heck out of rice. They're making mochi, and that's a tradition that families have. Just walking around my neighborhood on New Year's Day, people will say, hey, look, there's that foreigner guy. Come on over here, take this hammer and start pounding it, and make some mochi with us. Then you get to bite into mochi like this. It's really nice. So that's something that you might want to look for. Go into local neighborhoods and just walk around the streets. It's really quiet, but you're going to find people spilling out in the streets, local communities making mochi. And mochi is a huge part of Japanese New Year's culture.

00:17:06 John Daub: This is really festive here. This alley of Asakusa has a lot of hotels and tourists, but it also has a lot of little izakayas (pubs) that you can go in and drink. A lot of action going on. Kenneth Lee writes in something important. Kenneth, you're absolutely right. Mochi kills more people than fugu (blowfish). Mochi kills more than, like, anything else. At this time of year, the governments in Japan, local governments, usually put out warnings and say, please chew and swallow your mochi properly. Because if you don't, you start to choke. And it's more deadly than fugu, the Japanese blowfish. So be careful. Don't try to swallow all your mochi in one bite. Let it chew properly is what I'm trying to say. Right, Pikachu? Chew properly and don't drink too much.

00:18:00 John Daub: I don't think there's anything in there. It's interesting to see Pikachu just hanging out right here on the corner. How you doing? Channel, all the time. Oh, I'm on live streaming. Is it okay? Yeah. I'm John. Adam. Adam, nice to meet you. Yuchiro. Yuchiro. Nice to meet you. It's funny. Yeah, where are you from? From America. Okay. Yuchiro. I'm from Tokyo. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here you go. You found me. Okay. Go. Thank you. Yeah, I love your channel. I like watching you walk around different areas. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah. We're right now doing the New Year's.

00:18:45 Adam: Do, do, what?

00:18:45 John Daub: So you're here for New Year's? Yeah, I'm just... This is my ninth visit. Wow. Yeah, we're planning to move here. Yeah. Next May. I love it here. And you live here? Yeah, and I'm a sushi chef, so... Yeah. Okay. Sushi. Woo! That's how we met. I met him at a sushi restaurant. Oh, how cool is that? We became friends. So, showing you around a little bit. Yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah, we try to hang out every time.

00:19:09 John Daub: I'm trying to tell the audience here. A lot of people come to Japan during shogatsu, during New Year's, but Tokyo actually shuts down and gets really quiet. Oh, yeah. It's the time for family. Yeah, most people have left town. Right. Most of the people I know, I don't get to see this weekend because they're... They go back to their families. Yeah. So, what do you plan to do over shogatsu then?

00:19:28 Yuchiro: Oh, I'll just go around. I might go out to Akiruno. There's a... Keisei? Or, no, it's a... Oh, it's a fancy restaurant.

00:19:38 John Daub: Oh, wow. That's a fancy restaurant. There's an old restaurant out there, so I might just take a trip just to get out of the city and see surrounding town. That's a good plan. I like doing that stuff. Whenever I take a trip during shogatsu, people are making mochi and they recruit me in and say, come on, get the hammer and start making mochi. It's dangerous. It's a little bit dangerous if you chew it all in one bite, but it's fun to get in there. With the hammer flowing. Well, I don't think you're doing the hand thing, like a nara with the mochi, but just the banging of it. It's hard, actually. It's hard work to make mochi. So they turn into Popeye. Yeah.

00:20:12 John Daub: Are you staying here in Tokyo?

00:20:14 Yuchiro: I will go back to my hometown.

00:20:17 John Daub: Okay. Oh, what's your hometown?

00:20:19 Yuchiro: Hokkaido.

00:20:20 John Daub: Hokkaido! Whoa! Yeah, the biggest city in Japan. Which city? Hokkaido. Near Sapporo. Tomakomai. Okay. All right. Very good. Yeah, I'm going to... It's snowing, skiing. Is it already snowing up there now? Yeah. Oh, how cool is that? The food's nice. Yeah, local seafood, beef. All nice. I'll be there for the snow festival this year, and I'm thinking of going to Noboribetsu for the onsen festival before. Oh, yeah? You know the onsen festival? Because my neighbor's city. Okay. Yeah. I'm excited. Oh, Noboribetsu? Yeah. Oh, how cool. Yeah, I'm going to try to film that. That's February 3rd and 4th. Everyone gets in their naked man, the fundoshi (loincloth), and they run around the streets in the snow. Yeah, Noboribetsu's pretty cold up there, so I might do that. Yeah.

00:21:11 John Daub: Does your friend participate in the...

00:21:13 Yuchiro: No.

00:21:15 John Daub: No? Oh, interesting. Okay. How fun is that? So you guys are walking around? Yeah. We're going to get some beer. Good idea. Good idea. Yeah. I guess from the 31st, everything starts to close, and then it gets real quiet. Yeah, I have to go back home on the 31st, so I don't... Oh, really? Yeah, I won't be here for New Year's. So you're going to celebrate on the airplane? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. That's what I planned, maybe. Yeah. That means you can do it twice in a way. Yeah. Almost. That's the dream. Oh, double. I've always wanted to do that for Christmas, to get double the presents. You can get kind of double the presents. Oh, pretty nice. Yeah. They don't give out presents on the plane usually. No. Well, it depends if you're in business class or not. Oh, yeah. I'm never in business class. I'm in economy. They just look at you.

00:21:59 John Daub: Well, cool. Thanks for stopping around. Yeah, it's good to meet you. It's really good to meet you, too. Thank you. Yeah, keep in touch. You know Japanese? Yes. You can speak Japanese? Yeah, I can speak Japanese. Oh, that's good. I can speak Japanese. You've lived here 20 years? Yeah, 20 years. Over 20 years. You're Japanese. Yeah? You're Japanese, right? My wife's Japanese. Oh, okay. So, yeah. I've lived all over the country. Over the 16 times I've moved. The first video of yours I saw was where you bicycle over the bridge in near... Oh. In Tottori Prefecture. Tottori, you're blessed. Yeah. Yeah, Shimane, Tottori. Yeah. I tried to go to that bridge, but it was too far. I went to Sakai Minato in last May. It's beautiful. It's an optical illusion. It's respect... I mean, it's not as crazy as from the angle, but it's respectable, right? It's kind of neat. Oh, it's a serious bridge. It's worth going to see. Serious bridge. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. All right, well, let's get back to it. All right, guys. Yeah. All right. Thanks for stopping. All right, that's awesome.

00:23:03 John Daub: So, he's from Hokkaido, and he's going back home, and he's a sushi chef. I love this. I love this. He made friends with Adam. He's a chef, and he's off, and he's showing Adam around. How cool is that? That's so nice. Oh, man, that's omotenashi (hospitality), which is the Japanese spirit of showing hospitality to visitors. Very, very cool. So let's get back to it here. Shogatsu... Where was I? Osechi-ryori. So I'm going to be eating a lot and drinking a lot just for family over the next week, and it's good because you really shut down during the shogatsu. This is the Japanese time where you put work on hold, and I'll be live streaming, of course, but typically, you want to just stop what you're doing and rest, and it's a good thing. And the country opens back up on the 4th, and then probably the first three days until the 7th, it's slow going. It really is slow going. I kind of don't mind that at all. The slow going is good. It's very good.

00:24:08 John Daub: Look at all these tents. It keeps the heat in with the vinyl. Asakusa is such a vibrant part of the city. I love this area way, way more than Shibuya and Harajuku and Roppongi. You could spend... That's why I always say, if you're going to get a hojicha (roasted green tea), do it here. Oh, street food. Oh, okay. That's sweet potatoes. Satsumaimo (sweet potatoes). Wow. All right. Let's see what I can find. I was going to go get a taiyaki (fish-shaped waffle), if you guys want to come and get a taiyaki with me. So we're talking about, for those joining us, this is a live stream. We're talking about Japanese New Year's.

00:24:48 John Daub: If you're coming to Japan during the Japanese New Year, it's extremely quiet. You can leave a comment below if you have some experiences. Look at that. Friends meeting up, that's kind of cool. If you've stayed here during shogatsu during New Year's leave a comment below and tell us about your experience. What are the things that you did, and was it difficult? Was it easy? People are usually more relaxed and friendly at this time of year. So it's something that you should consider visiting. We'll go over some of the traditions here. Alice is here! Alice, I forgot the peanut butter cups. Alice sent me some peanut butter cups. That was really nice. So right here, they're selling some stuff for shogatsu. You can see the bamboo. Again, I told you about kagami mochi, which is something that people will display with mikan (mandarins) or tangerines next to it. It's just sort of something that symbolizes New Year's, and I don't want to get too much into it. But yeah, this flamingo has nothing to do with New Year's. Sorry. It looks like it's made out of crab meat. That's just the name of the restaurant. Looks good. Good stuff.

00:26:01 John Daub: All right, let's hang a left here and see if we can get some taiyaki. So shogatsu is for families, for Japanese. No countdown parties for 99.999%. We'll do that at home. We'll celebrate it at the temple and the shrine with people outside. It's cold. Bring warm stuff. There's these pads. There's these pads that you can heat up and put it in your pocket. Kanae Daub will take these pads that when you rip off the top of it, she slaps them all over her body, and it generates heat inside of her blanket, so she's like on fire inside. I try to suffer because I know that in the winter, build your body up for the cold, and then for the rest of the winter, it's not so bad. But she needs to be next to a fire the whole time.

00:26:50 John Daub: But being outside for the cold, have some street food. It's a great way. It's a great way to celebrate the new year. And that's sort of what I like to do. So I'm going to go to the temple and shrine. I want a peaceful new year. Another thing that Japanese do during the new year is some of, well, I did this once in 2004. People will go to climb a mountain, a local mountain. Japan is a volcanic island with lots of mountains on the inside. The Japanese Alps. Not all of them are super high, but many of the mountains have temples on them. And you can go there, temples and shrines, and to the mountain temple and shrine, and see the first sunrise on the top of a mountain. And a lot of Japanese friends that I know, adventurous people, go to the mountains to celebrate on the top there. And it's actually a pretty good idea.

00:27:37 John Daub: When I did that, I was just freezing cold. But we had gas burners and we were making coffee and tea. And hot amazake (sweet non-alcoholic drink), which is Japanese sake without the alcohol. I guess that's the easiest way to say what it is. It's really, really good. And we would heat that up and drink it. And we'd stay hydrated and have lots of food. And find a tree to go to the restroom and not get in trouble. But, yeah, that was a really peaceful one. And some places will have tours. In Tokyo, Okutama was really good. Even if you just go to Okutama, you're going to find a ton of people that are going to the mountain. If you just go to Okutama station around 7 p.m., everyone's going in the same direction. Oh, look, the taiyaki has a massive line. Look at that. Ah, I don't know. I don't know, guys. Alright, you know what? I'm just going to wait in line. At least then I can talk to you in line. I can talk to you in line. I need this taiyaki. It is a big line, Jason. It's worth it. It's worth it. Selfie.

00:29:03 John Daub: So, there's that. Prices for hotels are usually expensive because people are traveling. Hey, you know, if you're going to get Shinkansen, you need to reserve tickets as well. Do that in advance. I would say anytime between December 27th and January 7th. Prices are high. Shinkansens are full. You need to reserve in advance. At least two months in advance, I think, and you'll get a better price for hotels as well. Onsen are booked out because couples and families, they want to visit their families, and then they go to the onsen to relax for the rest of their winter holiday. So you want to kind of make sure that you have reservations at the holiday period. A lot of Japanese used to travel abroad, but now more people are staying domestic, mostly because of the family. This is a time of year for the family, but the airports aren't as busy as they used to be at this time. But as I said, like, countdown parties is such a Western thing. Japanese have their own way. They want to eat that special food because it brings them luck for the rest of the year. So not so many people are traveling internationally as they used to back in the 1990s and 2000s when I lived here originally.

00:30:22 John Daub: Which temple should you go to? Which temples or shrines should you go to visit if you do come to Tokyo? That's a good question as well. Hekireki ne yonetsu arigato. Arigato. You know, I'm going to say Sensoji is really a good temple to go to. This is a Buddhist temple. I'm getting 210 yen for the taiyaki. I think that that's a great place. But the problem is that it's very, very crowded. So sometimes the best places are local places. Places in neighborhoods, local smaller shrines where the lines aren't so long. If it's very, very cold outside, you sort of want to avoid going to Sensoji or Meiji Jingu in the center. The line... I did Meiji Jingu once. The line was three hours long. And it was so long. People go there, they pray, and they move on. Usually more than one at a time. The line was over three hours long. It's like Tokyo Disneyland. So you have to be prepared. That's why going at midnight, sometimes just get it over with. Be ready. Hatsumode is an important time of the year for Japan.

00:31:47 John Daub: The other tradition... I think you're going to see this. You'll see lots of traditional things all around Japan at this time of year. In the thumbnail is some of the shogatsu stamps. The year coming up is the year of the rat. Or nezumi. I like to think of it as a hamster. My friend Kevin as a guinea pig, maybe. Any kind of rodent. I suppose. See, you're the rat. So you're going to see rats all over the place. On designs and things like that. This time of year is nengajo (New Year's cards) time. Nengajo is the New Year's card. It's a postcard that you send to everybody for business. And you send it for families. And Kanae Daub and I have had to prepare not just for our Patreon supporters, but for family and friends. Like over a hundred postcards. And most of them we send out before Christmas. The post office will hold on to that. And then they'll deliver all the nengajo to those people on New Year's. So they'll get a packet wrapped in an envelope in their mailbox of all the nengajo from all the people that they know. And if you send it late, like I usually do, they'll get the postcards like on the second and the third and the fourth. There's some late bloomers, late arrivals. That's usually mine. Yeah. The line is moving pretty quick. That's a positive thing.

00:33:16 John Daub: Custard. Hot custard in fish-shaped pancake. Fish shaped pancake. Pancake shaped fish would be pretty weird. I am sort of a... It's not that I'm a procrastinator. It's just that there's like so many things to do. And nengajo is not really high on my list. Oh, you're making it there. Marty! Hello, Marty! So this taiyaki is on Marty here. Jeffrey, you know exactly. It's like an explosion of hot custard. You could burn your mouth as much as you would for like takoyaki or something. It's very dangerous. So I have here, one is 210 yen. So there you go. Gonna get one.

00:34:20 John Daub: Oh, there's the ingredients right there. It looks like anko (red bean paste) and a mix. A little bit of custard in there. Oh, nice. Oh, look, that's a lot of custard. The custard's 240. The custard's 240. I want that one. There's a lot of taiyaki going on here. Red bean, sweet potato, and now premium custard. Thank you very much. I want one of the first 150 and a potato. I can sense it. And a potato on the right, 150. 150. On the piece on the other side the second one on top and the one on the left. The 220 and the 150. One of 120. 150 yen. Okay, cheers. Here you go. So 260 yen. One of 120. A piece of one yen? Yes. One 250. Here you go, custard. Thank you! Two custard taiyaki please. Two? I'll eat them right away. 500 yen please. Please. I'll take the one with the sugar. Get one for Kanae Daub. 300 yen please. Oh, 510 yen. Oh, I forgot the tax. I'll take the one with the sugar. Here you go. 100 yen. 500 yen please. Please take your order. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, it's so hot. Alright, I got one for Kanae Daub. I'll put that in my bag. Oh, it's so hot. It's nice. Kanae Daub, I got a premium custard for you. I know she's watching. I like this taiyaki place.

00:38:12 John Daub: Yeah, he's like just peeking out of his little envelope here. Hey there, custard taiyaki. Why is it fish shaped? I don't know. Tai. The tai in the taiyaki represents tai (sea bream), the fish. So just lucky maybe. But the question is, it is like a pocket warmer. The question is, do you go head first or tail first? This is an age-old question. Head first or tail first? And where you bite, sometimes it decides your personality. Are you Asahi or Kirin or Sapporo? Are you head first or tail first? These are questions you ask your best friends. Decide if they're really your best friends. Alright. I go head first. But today I'll go tail first. No, no, no, I'm gonna go head first. Because then the custard's gonna get all mushy if I go. I'm not gonna go, I'm just gonna wait a little bit. It's really hot. Hot. Hot. It is really good though. Pretty good incisors. Pretty good shape to my bite, huh? Call that. Perfect bite. No overbite. Mmm. Is this premium custard? Maybe. Oh! Oh! You don't need to see me burn my mouth.

00:40:02 John Daub: This is called the Orange Road. Because it's orange. You see some people wearing kimono. I'd say 90% of those people are wearing kimono for cosplay. Like dress up. A lot of companies in Japan allow tourists to dress up in kimono and walk around for a fee. So most of the time, most of the people are from Taiwan or China or from Hong Kong. And westerners who don't know the difference. Some of them will take pictures with other foreign tourists and not know. They're just in cosplay. It's kind of funny for me. But, you know, makes people happy. I'm happy. It's all about being happy. And I got custard. I got hot custard. So I'm pretty happy. Whew! You can see the custard. Nobody wears a cotton kimono. A yukata (light kimono). So they got yukata on. Nobody wears yukata. So they're definitely tourists from China, I think. Oh, that crying kid. I think he needs a taiyaki. What? Oh! That's Angelina's. And they've closed. This is my favorite bakery. They've closed. And a Sanrio shop? What's happened here? It's weird. One of the biggest cafes in Tokyo. And it's now closed down. And it's what? A Sanrio shop? That's weird. Or is it that coffee shop? I don't know. They made incredible cake. Angelina's is gone. That is premium custard, man. Now I know what cheap custard tastes like. Because I've had premium.

00:42:26 John Daub: Alright. Let me show you around a little bit. If you have some questions about shogatsu, lay them on me. About Japanese New Year. For you. And leave a comment down below. It's always good to read the comment. And if you're watching this in playback, make sure your live chat's on so you can see what everyone's writing. Because that's pretty useful. See, the tail doesn't have as much custard on there. I got one for Kanae Daub. I'll try to keep it warm. Look at the tour group. Stay in front of the tour group. Hey, Seb! Alright. You know, Seb, I'm going to have to buy a sixer for the family. Because there's not much that we can do in a couple of days except for booze. So I'm probably going to get a sixer of Sapporo. Yeah. I'm going to be doing livestreams all through the holidays. So when you see that Sapporo, it's like... One of them is going to be named Seb. I never heard of this azuki bean alcohol.

00:44:00 John Daub: Alright. Up ahead, I don't think it was designed by Kengo Kuma, the guy who designed the stadium, but that's the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center. So you can get information in there. On the first floor and across the street. From there... I can cross here. Across the street from there is Kaminarimon. The big torii gate. Sorry, not the torii, but the big chochin (lantern) gate. Chochin is the big red lantern. It's in the front of it. I'm going to take you there. Right now. When I stay in... When people ask me, where should you stay, I always say, here. And I say, if you can avoid it, try not to stay in Shinjuku and down there. It's really more expensive and... I don't know. There's not as much culture there. There's a lot more culture here. You can feel it more. The spirit of Japan. That guy's really cruisin' there. He's using taiyaki power. Maybe. Could be. Could be. This is a great place to live as well.

00:45:33 John Daub: I think if you're going to live in Tokyo, you might want to live where the culture is. And this area back there, even behind Sensoji, has a lot of it. At New Year's, because this is a livestream about New Year's, it's really, really crowded here. Just so you know. You will not be alone. It's easy to make friends. Meiji Jingu is kind of neat. Sensoji Shiba. Shiba Koen has a park there in front of Tokyo Tower. There's a couple of other big shrines in Japan and in Tokyo that you can go to visit. But I'm partial to going to your local shrines and temples. The best places are local places. There's not a lot of lines and you get to talk to people and it's much more relaxed. But I'll tell you this. Almost all of the temples and shrines that are maybe small to medium size have a few food stands as well. So you always have a chance to get street food.

00:46:32 John Daub: If you do go there at midnight at the temples and the shrines, I know that the temple that I went to had a fire. Like a really big bonfire out in the middle of a forest. This is my last apartment. And people would take some of the charms and some of the things from the year that I was there. And burn them. Put them in the fire so they could renew themselves. And I like that culture. And I like to stand by the fire and eat street food. You can go and get some taiyaki or go get some takoyaki or okonomiyaki or something. And just sit there near the fire and talk with people. Usually young people that are off school will go there with their friends so it can get a little rowdy. But if you want to experience Japanese New Year, go to the temple and shrines and stay away from the countdown parties which is not part of Japanese culture. That's part of Western culture. And there's nothing wrong with it. But I think Kanae Daub needs a drink not a beer. E from Canada, you got that right. Alright, we'll take care of Kanae Daub. There's a place on the way home that sells organic orange juice. I'm going to get some for her. That's such a nice thought. Thank you. And Ash D, thank you so much. From Ash D. I believe from India. Much appreciated.

00:47:56 John Daub: Aloha. What is more celebrated? New Year's Day or coming of age day? I'm an ox. What year are you? I'm not sure. 1974. Is that the year of the tiger or the dragon? There's something ferocious I believe. Or is it the monkey? I can't remember. Mahalo for all the adventures and being good company. Please say hi to Kanae Daub. Take care Kai. Thank you Kai. That's really nice. You know, in terms of craziness, of course coming of age, especially down in Kyushu near Fukuoka, it's insane. I might go there this year. Maybe that's what I should do. Let me see if I can go and do that. Go down in Kyushu for it. It's insane. People are crazy. New Year's though, because it's a family holiday, it's more subdued. I don't know. Your whole family is together. You don't really go home and it's just young people for coming of age day. And maybe some family members will go. But most people are working in Tokyo. They stay in Tokyo. They don't go back to their hometowns for something like that. Maybe some university students. I don't know. So definitely shogatsu. Japanese New Year's is much bigger and it's quiet. It's so quiet here. Wood Tiger John. So I'm a tiger? You're the tiger! Yeah baby! Gregory, thanks for that. 74 is you're the tiger. You got that right. I think Kanae Daub was like a monkey or something.

00:49:15 John Daub: It's my first super chat for you at Kanae Daub. Ice cream! Ash, you got it! Cool. Alright. We'll get an ice cream. It's kind of cold for that, Ash. But we'll try it. Any particular flavor? Any flavor you're interested in? A lot of roosters here. Monkeys, sheep. Everyone's writing in their sign. Rabbit. Lily, I like rabbits. Your other rabbit was what? Five, six years ago I think. Yeah. I like it because now in the city when you walk around everywhere, like the post office especially, you'll see rats on everything. Again, I like to think of them as hamsters. Rats not exactly friendly. Rats can be friends, but I don't know. Any shogatsu questions to end this livestream? Not really. Pink. I'd love to go back to Aogashima. I'll probably go to an island. Maybe go to Hahajima or go back to one of the islands this summer. But winter's the... If you go out to the Tokyo Islands in winter, the ferry ride is very, very violent. It's very hard to ride. So you might not want to ride in the winter.

00:51:01 John Daub: Just checking out that vending machine. There's a pretty good ramen shop. When you start walking away from Asakusa, you start to find more local stuff. This is a pretty decent ramen shop. They have this chashu ramen here. Let's see if I can show you the menu. Look at that. It's all like chashu steak. That one looks good too. Yeah, ramen. Kanae Daub's famous favorite ramen place is straight down here about 15 minutes from Asakusa. You can get there. We're walking along the Sumida River right now. Dead spot.

00:52:14 John Daub: So to sum up, everybody. Coming to Japan during shogatsu, the new year, it's a pretty unique time because it's a chance to see Japanese culture. It's a time where the city kind of shuts down. Everything gets quiet. But most people are off work. People are a little bit friendlier. Things are more relaxed. But if you're trying to come here to do a lot of stuff, just be aware that many of the shops and activities are closed. Especially from the first to the third of January, which is not a bad thing. Prices are high. You want to get your Shinkansen tickets in advance. Make travel plans in advance. I would say at least a month in advance if you have certain times. Hey Cindy, Kanae Daub needs everything. Kanae Daub needs a lot of orange juice. Yes, that's true. My husband and I will be in Japan for April. Cindy, I was thinking of doing a meetup on a boat and rent one of the riverboats and then getting everybody onto one of the riverboats for a dinner or a meal or just to have coffee or tea or something. I usually put it on Instagram and Facebook, all the meetup information and the Discord server. It would be great to catch up with you.

00:53:30 John Daub: I'm going to go get Kanae Daub now a six pack of orange juice. Which is good because the supermarkets are closed on January 1st. She's going to need to stock up on orange juice because she can't drink alcohol. She has an allergy to it. I've been cutting down a lot on my consumption to the chagrin of Mr. Das who always gives me money for Asahi. Which is okay. Look at that. This looks like a pretty festive place. Look how quiet it's gotten away from Asakusa. It's a great little building and they put these trees out here to celebrate to toshon (New Year's pine decoration). I believe this is a shrine, right? That's not a restaurant, is it? I smell food coming from there. Interesting. Because this is across the street from the Bandai building. I guess that is a restaurant. It's interesting. Because this is across the street from the Bandai building and you can see they put these statues out here. Not a lot of people know because it's quite separated from Asakusa all the tourist places. Is it Hamtaro? Hey, I know you! Don't graffiti this. Please do not climb on the character. And don't spray paint them. Try not to. Ellis! Look who's here, Ellis! Ellis loves taiyaki. Pretty cool right in front of the... Oh, look! This is Ultraman! Whoa, you're a pretty big Ultraman!

00:55:24 John Daub: Ultraman's pretty big. Happy New Year everybody! What does this do? Does this activate? I guess you have to have this secret code or something. It's interesting. It's pretty cool. And then this is... What is that? Bugman? I really don't know a lot of the old school stuff. There's nothing to explain who these people are. Bugman? Pshh! Masked Rider. And then there's some other ones. It's kinda neat. Kind of neat. Who here would like to work at Kamen Rider? Who here would like to work at Bandai, huh? Imagine that. That'd be pretty fun. Take the back road. Here. Don't touch Ultraman. You can't touch it! If it can take rain on it. I said don't climb on it. You can put your arm around Ultraman. He's not gonna mind too much. I didn't really touch it. Just kind of grazed it. I did not have malicious intent. In any ways, I think Ultraman can defend himself. Right? That'd be pretty cool if Ultraman would come to life. If anyone climbed on him, he would come to life. That'd really freak people out. They should do that. Like as a gag. I would totally love to be there to livestream that. Yeah, Kamen Rider. The button launches a missile somewhere in the world. You don't know from where. Yeah. I think it was summoning up. That's what it was doing.

00:57:23 John Daub: To sum up, yeah, shogatsu is pretty chill. If you can, a homestay would be really good to do, I think. And definitely, if you go to a hotel or something, I know it's gonna be pricey. I know it's gonna be expensive. But if you can, try to get a hold of some osechi-ryori. Osechi-ryori, which is the New Year's cuisine, because it's interesting. It's different. It's not... It's only time you can get osechi-ryori is on New Year's. So, if you're interested in Japanese food and trying all sorts of stuff, that's a reason to come to New Year's. Sort that out with your hotel in advance. And if you can't, if they can't, they will usually recommend a place where you can go. And they'll give you a box of food with a lacquer box filled with food. And it's interesting. I'm not a big fan of it. The ozoni (mochi soup), the soup with the mochi inside of it. It's okay. But you know what? I prefer my buffalo wings and pizza and all the junk food. Sorry, Kanae Daub. It's good. I'll eat it. It's really good.

00:58:32 John Daub: I kind of like, you know... I'll tell you a secret, alright? Don't tell anyone. Three years ago, I brought my toaster, my toaster oven, a pizza oven, to Kanae Daub's house. And I made some pizza dough and I made everybody pizza for New Year. So I started my own, a new tradition that was kind of funny. And the pizza's pretty good. Pizza's pretty good. You have to get good cheese and good... But I started my own tradition just because, you know, there's a tradition. If I'm gonna be drinking beer a lot with the family, I want some pizza. Alright. Chicken wings maybe in the future sometime. But pizza, yes. Don't tell anyone. The 850 people watching. Sorry. Yes, that's true. Field offerings is here. Have some food? My treat. Enjoy New Year's. Thank you. Oh, trust me. We are gonna do a New Year's street food episode. We're gonna find some food stands on New Year's and oh my word, we're gonna have a really, really roaring good time at midnight. That's the ultimate midnight snack run, wouldn't you say? Can you think of a more ultimate midnight snack run than going on New Year's and hitting as many of the food stands? I'm gonna be starving. I'm not gonna eat maybe the soba because I have to. I'm not gonna eat until midnight and I'm gonna go to all those food stands. Have a really good time.

00:59:55 John Daub: Ah. I'm psyching myself up for New Year's now. I usually don't like this time of year because it's so cold. But now, because I'm sharing this with you, it's gonna be pretty cool. So, you're all invited! It's the New Year's. So we'll do a live stream after the New Year's has rung and we'll go and get some street food in Asakusa if the signal allows us. So, New York time, that's like what is that, like 10am? California, that's like 7am? Sorry, this is really early. I think something like that. But you'll wake up and we'll be in 2020 and you'll be in 2019! Awesome! We're a day ahead of you. We're gonna be like 14 hours ahead. 17 hours ahead of California. So, you're gonna see the New Year the next year and see how it's like and I'll report to you live on how I'm feeling and if 2020 feels different than 2019. It's like a completely different world. Just note that Japan did not start the Gregorian calendar, which is like 2019, 2020 until 1872. So it's not really a tradition of Japan. A long tradition to be celebrating this. They would celebrate the Chinese New Year in 2020. So this is sort of a new thing from the Meiji restoration. But I'm really excited about it and hope that you are too.

01:01:15 John Daub: Thanks for watching. I'm going home now. If you have any questions, once again, leave it in the comments below. Hit the like button and encourage me right now to do the New Year's livestream so that you can be here with us as we celebrate on location like at I think maybe Sensoji Temple or Meiji Shrine, someplace big. I'm gonna take you with me. We're gonna rock this 2020 celebration together. Sounds good, huh? See you guys then. Have a good day, have a good night, wherever you are in the world. Bye-bye, guys. Thanks for watching.