00:02 John Daub: Oh, look at them kissing. This is the Yamagata Shinkansen, and they detach in route. Oh, look at that, joined together. It's so cute, isn't it? Almost like Valentine's Day. Today is Kanae Daub's birthday. We're going on a trip to Ginzan Onsen (銀山温泉，hot spring town) and Yamagata. We cannot board yet and we have eight minutes, which is more than enough time to get an ekiben (station bento). We're going to show you the pride of Tohoku, the Shinkansen ekiben up there. Tohoku is known for a lot of stuff, but Kanae Daub is over here. She has not boarded the train. So let's go say hi to the birthday girl. They put these railings here so you don't get onto the train.

01:00 John Daub: Oh, happy birthday. What bento do you want to eat? Anything is fine. Wow. Okay. All right, I'll go get a bento right now. You okay? All right, I'll be back. It's Kanae Daub. All right, let's go get a bento right now. We're live from Tokyo Station. This is what you subscribe for: interesting live streams from train stations where we eat bentos. Okay, we're gonna get a bento from right here.

01:35 John Daub: This is from the same shop that's down there in the basement, but today we're gonna get one from this booth here. They don't have as many choices, but hey, when you're on the Shinkansen platform, you get what you can take. Let's see what their options are. We got to get Kanae Daub something really delicious here. I think I'm gonna get her that one. That's like $18. Oh my gosh. Okay. And then there's this one, the Onago one. The karaage (fried chicken) one looks really good too. Oh, the Murage. Okay, the Tokyo Assorted box lunch. She's gonna like that one. Actually that one is pricier than the one down there I think. Hokkai Umaimon bento. I like the ikura (salmon roe) on that. I'll let Kanae Daub choose.

02:36 John Daub: Please give me your receipt. Look at the cat that they use to rest the money, to keep the money from flying away. 10th car, Green car, 9th car. Well, you don't have to have it. 10th car, 1st car, 4th car. Oh, you have your receipt? Yes, you can have this. Thank you. 10th car, 231, Omiya, Fukushima. Thank you. 10th car, Sendai, Niigata [?]. Wow, look at that. They just put an egg in there. That's the gyusuki... ah, sukiyaki (beef hot pot). Gyusuki-to-gyuniku bento. Oh, I should have gotten that one. It's alright. They also have drinks and beer, but it's like 9:30 in the morning. We're not going to drink. We're not going to get a beer.

03:35 John Daub: So you can see, I've been telling people this before. If you are disabled, the staff will help you. Call them in advance and there will be somebody to really make sure that you get on there. But it's also to make sure that other passengers aren't... It just makes the transition smoother. So if you do come to Tokyo or Japan disabled, make sure you let the staff know in advance. The hotel can call them and then there will be a staff member to guide you and make sure that it's so smooth. You get like VIP service. It's kind of worth it.

04:10 John Daub: Alright, so this is the train we're getting on. I wanted to show you the front of it. We have four minutes. I think I can do it. We are going to Yamagata. This one here. This is the Tsubasa train 131 departing at 9:24. There she is right there. Are you okay? I want to take everybody to the front. I'll go ahead a bit. I'll go ahead. Alright. Let me take you to the front of the train. I live dangerously. Oh, they're letting people in. So that means I have very, very little time. I like to live dangerously on these train runs. You all know that. We're going to be fine. So the train breaks apart somewhere in mid-journey. I've only ridden a Yamagata Shinkansen once in my life.

05:09 John Daub: I'm going to show you what's on the train. There's a train on the floor too. It's super interesting. Alright, check this out. Alright, here we go. We're at the front of this. The Yamagata Shinkansen has a different color, right? She's a beautiful train. But she's so much different compared to the Tohoku Shinkansen on the other side. You see, that's the 700 series. This one doesn't have that same duck bill. But it's a pretty train nonetheless. On the ground here, it tells you to wait for non-reserved. It tells you where to stand. The orange one is for the second train, the time after the one scheduled. So it even gets more complicated as you get on here. The green ones you see in the distance, it lets you know where to stand. So everything is so orderly. They're the third departure, I believe, right? I don't know, the second departure. But it tells you which train car. So this is for the Komachi. So it tells you which train to stand on, which line to stand on. So everything is so orderly.

06:31 John Daub: I forgot to get Kanae Daub a drink. Okay, I got her some green tea. Alright, I better get on to the train, huh? Oh, he's announcing the train! 15! Oh my gosh! Alright, we better just get on. Yamagata Shinkansen. Alright, I'm safe. I made it. I got you the Tokyo bento. Okay. Yeah. I got one tea. But it's alright, we'll get something. Camera equipment. I intend to film on the train. Kanae Daub, can you hold this?

08:15 John Daub: Alright, I want to show you some stuff here on this train. Okay. We're now off. It's exciting, huh? Hey, Ellis! We're gonna buy dinner in Ginzan Onsen with that, buddy. So, thank you for that. Bye bye, Tokyo. Hello, other side of Japan. Going into the mountains, baby. Oh, there's the Keihin-Tohoku Line. What a beautiful view. There's the Yamanote Line. This is cool. I'm gonna start picking up steam. We're going north towards Omiya now.

09:00 John Daub: So, I want to show you down here. You're gonna be able to see where to put luggage. If you come in with big luggage, come a little bit earlier and try to put your bags here. Because there's not a lot of space. Hold on. There's not a lot of space. There's some space here for big luggage behind the last row. And if you get here early, you can put your luggage there. And it's really more convenient because up here, it's very hard to get big luggage on there. There aren't any luggage racks. And if you do ask, this one is closed. And this is for JR East Company only. So, in Japan, there's a lack of space on the Shinkansen. Men have a special restroom. Check that out. It's just for guys in and out. I like that. And then, here's a multi-purpose restroom. Look at how clean and spacious that is. You could use that. I could use that. And I'm not a public restroom kind of person. I could use this. Oh, here comes the lady with the drinks. All right, better get back to our seats. Get back to our seats. And here's the sink area with auto soap. That was pretty cool 10 years ago. Now, everywhere has that. Let's go. Jedi mind trick. Alright.

10:40 John Daub: We're live again. So, you have your choice of bento, Kanae Daub. Which one did you pick? Alright. Let's see. Which one do you want? There's a lot of tunnels to get after Tokyo Station going north. You have to get to Ueno. So, Arabesta stream. And the signal will get better once we get out of the Tokyo area, get onto the road. So, this is the Tokyo Station bento. The box is beautiful. You pay for that, by the way. This was about $17, $18. And that's the front of Madarao Uchi [?]. I think in live streams, you probably have seen this side of the building like a dozen times if you watch Only in Japan Go. This one here is the Hokkai. Hokkai Umaimon Bento. Yeah, from Hokkaido. Yeah, this one looks really good. The box isn't as beautiful, but it is a nice black box. Look at this. It's styrofoam. They recycle that. I hope so. Yeah. So, as soon as we get out of this Ueno area. Oh, they put all the ingredients in there. How smart is that? It has egg, wheat, crab, salmon, milk ingredients, chicken, gluten, apple, soybean. Half the stuff picky people can't eat. Seafood bento. We're going to open that up and show it to you. Maybe try a little bit of it. We're now outside, finally. Really appreciate the support, guys.

12:21 John Daub: Oh, no, wait, wait, wait. Which one do you want? Or, you want this one? Oh, I knew you would go for the more expensive one. That one. It is good. It is really good. All right. You want this one? No, no, no. It's okay. It's your birthday. Okay. Unwrap your present. Okay. Open this one. I'm going to put this one. We have another seat here. This is the Yamagata Shinkansen again. This is kind of like the Tohoku Shinkansen, but it separates. When it goes towards Yamagata, it starts to become the Yamagata Shinkansen. Of course. All right. Do it. Unboxing. Whoa, that's such a beautiful box. I think it's like wood. Is this wood? Oh, I think so. Yeah. Thank you, Austin. Oh, look. Your ohashi (chopsticks) was... The chopsticks are connected to the box. And the oshibori (wet towel) is in the chopsticks. The oshibori is the wet-tip tissue, napkin you'll get. It is really good. I removed the protective coating. It's like when you buy an iPhone, they put a protective coating on it. You got to remove the plastic. Totte. Whoa. Look at that big piece of salmon. It looks good. All the ingredients are really premium on this bento. And they come from famous makers in Tokyo. Of course, salmon doesn't come from Tokyo, but it tells you where all the shops, the famous shops that each of the ingredients comes from. And then is there a postcard? Hagaki? Oh, there's no postcard. They used to give a postcard. Oh, it's about the rice that they use. Interesting. Wow. Organic Akita rice. That's good. The Komachi is pretty good rice up there.

14:17 John Daub: It's not a really pretty day, guys. If you look out the window, there goes another shinkansen coming into Tokyo. It looks pretty cloudy and that's a good sign. Maybe it's snowing up in the mountains where we're headed. But I like how they stamp the egg. They branded that egg. What does it say? Aoki. The shop. The famous shop. Yeah. Now I'm going to unbox this thing because I got stuck with this Hokkaido one. Never turn your bentos upside down. Um, it's okay. What do we got here? Oh, that's the menu. So it'll tell you the ingredients again. Oh right, in Hokkaido, they don't call karaage karaage. They call it zangi. It's weird, right? It's zangi in Hokkaido. Well, bacon with cheese. All right. I made the right choice. Are you on a switch, right? You want to switch, right? Admit it. I'm on a switch. Oh, oh, you want me to share. Oh, okay. We can do that. Yeah. Marshall, if you turn it upside down, sometimes it gets discombobulated. Is that a word? It'll just become detached. No, this is not. It's not as nice as your box. It does come with a nifty purple rubber band. The chopsticks come with a toothpick and a shibori. All right. Three, two, one. That looks good. Again, another protective wrapper like on the iPhone. I love ikura. They look like little teeny explosives. When you bite them, they'll explode in your mouth little by little, releasing a salty deliciousness. There's crab there. Oh, that's the zangi. This is the karaage, deep fried chicken. We call it zangi if you're in Hokkaido. They call it. What am I saying? It's pretty nice. And a little piece of salmon. Your salmon's bigger. Hey, hey. No, it's your birthday. I like the little corn though. Young corn. We say young corn. You say young corn too? I call it baby corn. Oh, baby corn. Young corn's good. Yeah, it's all good.

17:11 John Daub: All right. So, why don't you try a little bit of it and we will stop this live stream. Okay. So, unboxings are good, but you have to try something. Let's just try it a little bit. Go ahead. That's right. Right now, we have an emoji contest on the Discord server. So, if you have some emoji ideas from past episodes, some of the ideas that people have are hilarious in there. Emoji contest is running for another week. Another tunnel. Yeah. Yeah. Wash your hands. It's kind of a small one though. I think for $18. Yeah. For $18 they should give you a full-size shibori. That's up to you. Are you going to go for the egg first? Because it's stamped with Aoki. No, no. That's all you. Yeah. It's strange. The iPhone, the YouTube app stopped with the Super Wide. They've gone to just the main camera now. So we lost super wide in the iPhone app. That's interesting. What's so good about it? What makes this better than the sweet? Okay. So a good balance in the sweetness, yeah. Oh, very nice. Sharing is caring. Oh, that's for me? Oh, wow. That's very generous of you. Really? Okay. Soft, moist, not salty. A little sweet, a little salty. Good balance. Yeah, I like it. Okay, thumbs up for the ikura. All right, try one more. Which one do you want? Maybe a piece of that salmon. Or maybe that shiitake. Oh, look at that shiitake. Ekiben is a big part of the experience. If you're on this Shinkansen, you need an ekiben. How's that salmon? It's good. How good? That good. Wow. Hey, Derwey. Derwey Chan's here. Happy birthday, Kanae Daub, from Derwey. Thank you. Thank you. All right, my salmon doesn't look as good. Is it inferior salmon? Let me open up these chopsticks here. I don't think it's inferior. Fengov is here for the train ride made. Thank you. That pays for the bentos. Thank you very much. Thank you. How do you eat the ikura in a bento? I don't know. You just open it up with the rice like this. I would never drop it. Nice? Fresh? Mm. It vinegared the rice a little bit, so. It's a sumeshi (vinegared rice). We say sumeshi. Sumeshi is for sushi. Okay. Yeah, some rice vinegar. Here's the salmon. So you want to try this one? How different? I'm trying Kanae Daub's salmon. This is totally different. All right, now that I've opened it up, this is kind of hard, and it's not bad. This one has been marinated in, I think it's like miso or some kind of sake. Yeah, sake kasu (sake lees), like the remnants of sake. And it's moist and has a little bit of a sake taste to it, which is so delicious. Yeah. Okay, yeah.

21:50 John Daub: So, Kanae Daub's getting all the happy birthdays. Oh, thank you so much. Thanks, guys. Yeah. Shortcuts in the house. Have a, shortcut C, have a great few days. Happy birthday, Kanae Daub. Can't wait for the emoji coming soon. That's right. So one of the reasons why we're doing the emoji contest is because we're going to be doing a little test on Discord is that I'm going to be picking some emoji to put in the livestreams here, too. So we're going to have livestream emojis, new ones for Only in Japan Go starting this month. It's a couple months delayed, actually, but starting really soon, we'll have emoji, which will be pretty cool. Maybe we'll do one of Kanae Daub. We'll do one of bento. We'll do one of Shinkansen. One going like this, maybe. I don't know. But it's up to you to come up with ideas. Somebody put the Kanae Daub emoji. Fundo-shi weji [?]. Picture from the first episode as an emoji. Yeah. Saidaiji, the naked man festival. How did that become an emoji? I'm not sure. But it's on the Discord server. We're now in Saitama, I believe, going towards Omiya. So we'll stream until Omiya. Wow. Do you see that sign up there? Is that Yamagata beef? Oh, they got Yamagata steak on there. On the advertisement inside the Shinkansen. I want to try it. Yonezawa. Yeah. It's good. Have I tried Yonezawa beef? Who do you think I am? How many times have you been to Yamagata? Three. Oh. Yeah. Yamagata's a little bit out of the way. It's not some place that's easy to get to. Akita and Niigata, which straddle it, are more famous than Yamagata. But Yamagata can hold its own. It's got Ginzan Onsen. It's got cherries, sakuraebi (cherry shrimp) [?]. It's got really beautiful nature, and it's got snow, and that's one of the reasons we want to go, is see some snow. Yum. Some snow. Yes, we are alive. If you do have some questions for Kanae Daub, go ahead and ask them. Yeah.

24:07 John Daub: I'm gonna take you, I want to find that lady, because I want to get another drink. Because I just have this tea. So from the vending machine, I got this. The vending machine, and there's, that's the can. This here is... Oh, from Kyoto. Yeah. Iemon. This says from Kyoto on the red label there. And yeah, Iemon. Good. So this could be yours and I will just drink a sip of it, maybe. I didn't have time to get two, but this was 160 yen. It says cha (tea) on the top. Here we go. We're in Omiya already. That was fast! I don't think that the Shinkansen will gather full strength until we get past Omiya and then we start going really fast. It's one thing to point out, the Shinkansen does not go fast in Tokyo. It starts to cruise after Yokohama and then, man, does it go fast. But right now we're kind of cruising at normal speed. But it's so smooth. Smooth, right? It's so smooth to go. Yeah, I think it's under 200 km per hour. I'm not sure. But once we get out of Omiya and we're out of the urban areas, it starts to go really, really fast. It was really, really good. Marshall says... Marshall Ellis, thank you. Thank you so much. Happy birthday, Kanae Daub. Alright, so we're gonna say goodbye to Kanae Daub and I'm gonna take you to... To the modete (aisle). I'm gonna take him to the window out there. We'll be back. Alright, bye-bye, Kanae Daub.

26:02 John Daub: Alright. Oh, look at the flower. They take their job seriously with JR. What's he doing? I guess it's a safety call. There's an engineer driving the train, meetings. And they love to point at stuff with Japan Rail. But I learned this by studying the trains and talking with people. Kanae Daub knows somebody who drives the trains. They point because body language helps you remember. So by pointing, it's a way to confirm and it's scientifically proven to help you remember stuff. Now, this train is not very crowded and it's okay to... She's looking at me. It's okay to talk lightly inside of there. But if you're gonna talk at full power and it's crowded. If it's crowded, you're gonna wanna talk in the compartment. So if your phone starts to ring, you wanna leave the compartment. Make sure it's on manner mode, silent mode. It's very important to adhere to the cultural norms of Japan when you visit. Put your phone on silent or manner mode. We call it mana-fon (silent mode) in Japanese, but silent mode. And if it starts to ring or vibrate, come out here and talk here. Never have your phone ringer on in public. In Japanese, they never do that. There goes the Tohoku Shinkansen. There's Omiya, Saitama. Japanese never ever use the ringer in public. You'll never hear phone rings. If it does ring, it's 99% of the time a foreign tourist. Or some old lady who just forgot to put her phone on manner mode.

28:03 John Daub: I used to do something stupid, okay? I can explain. When I got into the stations, I would run to the vending machine and get one really fast to save 20 yen. Because the lady's selling it. Her drinks are always more expensive. It's a stupid thing. But maybe we can try it. Or maybe we shouldn't. Wouldn't it be funny if the train took off without me? Wouldn't that be funny? If we stop... Oh, we stop right next to a bento shop? Oh no. If we stop next to a vending machine, there's a chance. Alright, it looks like there's no chance. I'm just gonna get off and then get back on. Let's have a look around. I'm gonna open the door. In this kind of a situation, the vending machine's way over there. I'll never make it in time. So I'm just gonna get back on. Kanae Daub's like gonna be freaking out. Alright, I would never make it. Alright guys. Now the train is crowded. Now the train is crowded. Okay. I brought you back. I don't know. I wanted to go and do a vending machine run. And run to that vending machine. But I would never make it back in time. I'd never make it back in time. Kanae Daub's getting some more happy birthdays. Oh, that's nice. And Sony. Enjoy your birthday. Thank you so much. And... Suede Hightower. Happy birthday, Kanae Daub. Love the channel. Thank you, Suede. And David Kimura is in the house. It's always nice to see David. Yeah, thanks guys. Really appreciate it.

30:12 John Daub: We're gonna be doing a bunch of livestreams when we get to Ginzan Onsen. I don't know if you've ever been there. If you have, very cool. Give us a thumbs up if you like this kind of content. And if you wanna see more, let's see if we can get this video to like a thousand likes. Okay? Just something crazy. When we get to Ginzan Onsen, I wanna show you in three hours the Shinkansen station in the middle of nowhere. Oishida, right? Oishida. We're gonna do an Oishida station tour. Guess what? There's nothing there. And that's the story. It's like the middle of nowhere. Hey, there's Terry! Hey, Terry. Thanks. Love from India. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. So, in about two and a half hours, we're gonna do another livestream from Oishida. Oishida. Big Rock Field is what it means in Japanese. And I'll show you. There's nothing there. It's gonna be really interesting. I love that. And I'll put the notification in Patreon and Instagram stories as well as... Well, just look for it. We'll be there in about two and a half hours. But until then, we're gonna eat our ekiben in peace. It's Kanae Daub's birthday. She shouldn't have to do it publicly. As we depart on the... You can relax a little bit, Kanae Daub. I think there's the ticket checker guy. Our bento box is right here. I kind of... It's on ice. Actually, it's already cold, so it doesn't really matter. So, there you go, guys. We're on our way. We'll see you in about two and a half hours on the other side in Yamagata Prefecture in the middle of nowhere. Remember these buildings. Remember all this life buzzing around us because we're about to go to a place where there's, like, nobody at all. Because it's her birthday. Goodbye, everybody.