00:00:04 John Daub: Hey everybody, welcome to Roppongi. Do you see that in the distance? That is Tokyo Tower. And it's a beautiful day, sunny, pretty warm for January. I think it's a perfect day for a walk. A lot of people have been asking me, how do you get from Roppongi to Shibuya and vice versa? Well, I'm here to give you the answer. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how fast you walk, to get from here, Roppongi, to Shibuya, or the other way. I like to start here because it's downhill. You'll find this out as we go along.

00:00:41 John Daub: You can also take the subway, but it requires a change. But the fastest way is bus. And I'm going to show you the bus station as well. Tokyo Tower, exposure's not so good right here. You can actually walk from Tokyo Tower up here in about 15 minutes or so. So it's a pretty good one hour trip to go from Tokyo Tower to Roppongi and then cut across to Shibuya. There's no real direct route except for bus. And buses are always complicated, but I'm going to show you how to do that because it's very, very easy when you live here for 20 years. But we're going to show you. So buckle in for about 45 minutes.

00:01:25 John Daub: So we're going to do a 45-minute live stream as we make our way from Roppongi to Shibuya. We're going to end on Shibuya's Hachiko Scramble. So you're going to want to stick to the end. It's going to be so worth it because when you go on a journey like this, the goal, the end result feels so good when you arrive. So goodbye to Roppongi. Hello, Shibuya. It's going to take a little while, but what else? You got something better to do? For a lot of people that have been to Japan, this is going to be very nice. It's going to be very nostalgic to see the two areas. And for most people, this is the first time to see what's in between because not a lot of people do this walk.

00:02:08 John Daub: Except for me because I did it a lot when I was going out at night. I would hang out in Roppongi or Shibuya. My friends said, hey, meet me in Shibuya in 30 minutes. And I was like, okay. Here's the subway entrance. So connecting Roppongi are these two lines. Do you see that right there? And the Oedo Line, they don't connect with Shibuya well. So that's the first thing that tourists will notice to get from one nightlife area to the other. You might want to just walk it if you can find the bus. Shibuya Station has been under construction or renovation for about 10 years. It seems like forever, but it's almost complete. And we've already done a live stream showing you the brand new Ginza Line.

00:03:07 John Daub: The station up there looks pretty cool. It looks like you're inside of the belly of a whale underneath these M-shaped metal rods bent and curved. It's very stylish, very nice. For those of you who have been here before, you know where I'm heading. First, we're going to make a stop. Not a stop, but we're going to walk past Roppongi Hills, which is the old, well, this is where YouTube used to be. YouTube actually, some people working at YouTube might be doing this walk because they used to have an office in Roppongi, and I believe they moved to Shibuya. And we're going to connect them today in this live stream.

00:03:54 John Daub: I do have GoFundMe cards if you do find me, but be prepared to walk. I'm not going to do a stop and chat. We're on the move, people. There's some of Tokyo's nicer new taxis. Auto doors, not a big deal now, but 20 years ago, 30 years ago, they had these doors where taxi drivers had a lever inside and they would pull it. The doors open and close. Ultimate service. It's all about the service. And you know what? Best of all, you don't have to tip the drivers. This entrance by Roppongi Hills is only accessible by the Hibiya Line, so if you're trying to connect with Oedo Line, you have to go to the intersection.

00:04:35 John Daub: Shake Shack. It's becoming like the McDonald's of burgers now. Tully's is closed. That's interesting. Used to sit here on this AstroTurf and drink coffee and wait for friends, but now that's all in the past. It's cool. These digital kiosks are everywhere in the city as well, and they give off a Wi-Fi. If you want to connect, you have QR codes and stuff to connect to Tokyo's Wi-Fi. Touch maps to get around. So we're here and we're going to Shibuya, which is straight down here. Oh, look at that. I can move this map. There's Shibuya right there. You can see it and I'll see you right there on Hachiko Scramble in about 40 minutes.

00:05:43 John Daub: By the way, some information here. There's no smoking on the streets here. Don't leave your bikes here. No touching and soliciting. That's something that's Roppongi because it was a problem in this area, especially at night. Littering. You will get fined for that if the police get you. And they patrol the streets here in Roppongi often because there's a ton of embassies. A famous YouTuber here was trying to fly his drone in Roppongi. Within one minute of getting the drone up, the police are on him. Two cops showed up. Within five minutes, there were 25 looking for him. The reason why? There's Roppongi Hills. There are so many embassies here.

00:06:35 John Daub: That bus is the one that you're going to want to take. And we're going to walk past. We already did walk past one of the bus stops. But this bus, you see on the back of it, it says Shibuya. That one is the one you would take. It's route 01. I'm going to show you the schedule. By the way, this post box for Joseph from Virginia Beach and Matthew from Utah. Here's your postcard from this month getting sent to you. Thanks, guys, for the support on Patreon. I think I got like three left.

00:07:23 John Daub: We're going to cross the street because this side... This one is tough because these lights don't match at all. You always get trapped here for 10 minutes. It's better to be walking on the other side of the street. But we're going to cross over and route because there's something I want to show you. How's everyone doing? We had a pretty good time the last few days in Ginzan Onsen in Yamagata. Kanae got a chance to spend her birthday. We spent her birthday together at an awesome hot spring. A lot of fun. Yeah, I might have added some drama by almost missing the train. You could see that in the live stream from a couple days ago.

00:08:10 John Daub: It's always neat to look at the stickers on the post. Don't try to do this either. If they catch you, you'll get in deep trouble. The people who do sticker street poles, they move quickly. Many of them have been caught before. So we're going to look at the bus stop. I'm going to show you some information. If you do consider taking the bus instead of walking it, the bus is your best option. Well, taxi is probably your best option. The whole route is going to take you about 40 minutes. It's 3.2 kilometers to walk what I'm walking. Oh, look at the steam going up there. That's the Hilton Hotel. And Roppongi. Oh, look, we made the light. It's awesome.

00:09:15 John Daub: We're going to be walking past some top secret expat hangouts as well. Roppongi, again, because of all the embassies, a lot of traditionally expats were living here in this side of Tokyo because businesses, embassies, a lot of foreign run businesses, a lot of foreign food here in Roppongi. But it's not a place I like to go too often. Because the bars are cheap meat lockers. And that might not be my cup of tea anymore. So we're between the buildings. There's the highway above us. So I don't know how good the signal is going to be, but it should clear up and get stronger when we get past Nishi-Azabu, which is our next stop.

00:10:17 John Daub: Oh, that's a super, super deluxe. I believe that's the entrance to one of the greats. That's where PechaKucha Nights started. I think it started all in that building. Super Deluxe. Nefertiti Tokyo. This is an Egyptian restaurant. I don't have a lot of great things to say about that place. The Egyptian owners charged my friend's credit card. I've been there twice. And he asked me to go in and take care of it. He was CEO of a company. So, of course, I said yes. And they kept refusing to credit it. Then one day I went back because I don't give up very easily. I guess the guy's wife was running it. She was Japanese and she credited the card right away because I had proof that I was double billed. But just be wary.

00:11:38 John Daub: Back here. If you ever walk around here. Very interesting neighborhood. Lots of little local bars. You'll see celebrities living back in there. Price for real estate is very expensive. There's a couple of cocktail bars that I've been into with Peter von Gomm. We would hang out there. And yeah, you can see a lot of celebrities, but it's like 20 bucks a cocktail. Celebrities will hide out in corners there. We're crossing the street because we're going to be going past the Kill Bill restaurant in Gompachi called Gompachi. It's actually an izakaya (Japanese pub). But what I heard from someone who heard from someone is that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by the design and he didn't film it. He was inspired by the design of Gompachi inside of it. And if we get a chance, I might just walk in and show you the lobby because they have some pictures in there. But we don't have permission, so I don't want to bother the owner too much.

00:12:45 John Daub: But we're walking down a hill. You saw this, right? This is going down a hill. So if you are coming from Shibuya up to Roppongi, you're going up a hill, which is not so wonderful in the middle of the night, which I've had to do this walk mostly in the evening. Is this the first time I've ever done it in the day? It could be. The nightlife destination. Which nightlife spot do you think is better, Shibuya or Roppongi, for those who've been living here? I don't go out that much, so I can't say. I'm not a nightclub kind of person anymore. I don't think I ever was, actually. But I did go out, and Roppongi, 20 years ago, was the place. Shibuya was okay. But then it kind of switched over a little bit. Shibuya is now where you have Halloween parties. People go to Hachiko Scramble to wish in the new year. It's kind of the meeting point, the Times Square of Tokyo.

00:14:10 John Daub: This area is surprising. It has a lot of families living here. It's not here, but it's in the back. There's some residential neighborhoods. Do you see this? The crows got to it. Toby (crow) made a mess out of that. Speaking of which, I talked to Toby about two weeks ago. And I sent him the DVD from the hitchhiking for free because I promised him. This is a place called Hotel and Residence Roppongi. It's a nice place to live if you're going to be in Tokyo for about a month. They'll put you up in a residence with a kitchen and everything. It's a little pricey. But I think you don't have to pay any key money or anything like that. There's a lot of foreigners, expats that are residing in there who are just here for a month or two. It's comfortable because it's close to Roppongi, too. It's in Nishiazabu. This area is a very popular place if you want to go eating at stylish restaurants and such.

00:15:39 John Daub: Alright, we're here at the Nishiazabu intersection. This is one of the big intersections of Tokyo. There used to be a club on the other side that I went to a few times that was very famous. I think it went out of business because there were too many fights or something. Alright, over here on my right, the Hobsons have been there for 20-some years. Yeah, it looks like it's out of business, some of the clubs over on that side. This is Gompachi, the famous location that inspired Tarantino for the Kill Bill scene. It's an open restaurant like this you see there. And yeah, you can make a reservation and go in and eat here. They had some pretty good Wagyu yakitori. It's an izakaya. Yeah, you can go in here. There's the front door. If you're eating sushi, they might put you upstairs, which is a little bit quieter. Japanese tend to go upstairs. And then the pit in the middle where all the fighting was going on in there.

00:16:55 John Daub: But this place became famous because Koizumi took George Bush here in 2002, I believe, for dinner inside this building. And after Bush and Koizumi had a summit, just like Prime Minister Abe took Obama to Jiro's sushi, right? And that became even more famous, which is crazy. How does a place get more famous? But Koizumi took Bush here to an izakaya. This one. And maybe that's how it got on the radar of Quentin Tarantino. I'm not sure. They serve really good izakaya food. So you'll get... And an izakaya is a good place to eat at because you get a mix of all sorts of types of different things. You just order a bunch of stuff on the menu and share it with friends usually. That's how the system works.

00:17:47 John Daub: As you can see, the intersection... There's a lot of police here in this area because of the embassies in the area. So do not even attempt to fly a drone. You'll get it confiscated. I'm going to tell you what happened to my friend who did. Some of you might know who he is. But he tried to fly the drone in Roppongi, and they confiscated his drone. And he had to spend about 15 hours with the police. And that ruined his day, first of all. Then they confiscated the drone. And they told him that he can't get it back for four months. He's lucky he got off with that. He could have been deported or put in detention with the Japanese legal system under scrutiny right now. It could have been a lot worse for him. But they didn't fine him either, which is extraordinary. Because where he was doing it and 25 cops coming after him. I think he got off really lucky.

00:19:02 John Daub: Don't fly a drone in Tokyo at all in the center of the city. It's not worth it. You might get in deep, deep trouble. And we all know how tough the Japanese legal system is. You're guilty until proven innocent. So they say. I've never gotten in trouble. But you don't want to get in trouble here. No drones in Tokyo. The crows are going to be all over this. You're supposed to put a blue net over it so they don't feast on it. But they'll be back. Tokyo is pretty clean though in general. If you compare it to worldwide cities, Tokyo is probably on the top.

00:19:57 John Daub: Now we're out of Nishiazabu. Going up the hill. Nishiazabu is sort of in a valley. You can see back down there. I'm huffing and puffing up this hill. But this walk, for those that are joining us, this is Only in Japan Go. This is a live stream. If you're watching it back in playback, make sure the live stream chat is activated. Because it's pretty interesting in here, hearing everyone's thoughts. This walk is one that you should know. You pass some really interesting places. Oh! There's a pizza place that we went past there called Pizzakaya. And one of the first California pizza places to come in. They've been in business for well over 20 years, I believe. They have these craft beers. It's a little pricey, but you get really good pizza that's not like Domino's or a chain. It's American-style pizza.

00:21:11 John Daub: Let's keep moving. You see residential areas. And we're out. Sunshine. We're out of the tall building area. This is sort of a flat area. Then we're gonna hit tall buildings once again when we get closer to Shibuya. So the bus goes on this route. Here it comes again. It takes about 8 to 11 minutes. There's some express buses that'll go to Roppongi. That bus is a little bit faster. This is the one that's going towards Shinbashi. Shinbashi is the most famous route, I would say, in Japan. Shinbashi to Shibuya through Roppongi.

00:22:01 John Daub: I'm not joking. I used to play this video game at Sega World in a city called Toyohashi when I lived there. And I would walk there every weekend because I was getting better at it. And you would simulate driving a bus. This route from Shinbashi to Shibuya. And I was the bus driver. And I could never win. I think five weeks into this, and I'd lost about $30 in 100 yen coins about 30 times. It was 100 yen to play. I learned something interesting. The only way to win the game is to strategically hit a few people. So I kind of started to hit a few people and run some red lights. And after I ran the red lights, I learned you can win the game. You might lose some points, but you eventually win. That was funny. I learned a very important lesson. Sometimes a few casualties can't be perfect. Can't be perfect when you're driving in Tokyo. It's very hard.

00:23:17 John Daub: So from this point here, I'm going to show you the map here. As you can see, it is 3.2, 3.3 kilometers away. The road is mostly flat, which is a lie. We're in the valley there. We're kind of halfway there, I would say. This is the bus. It's 51. And the tobus.jp is the site for the bus. It leaves on the backside of Shibuya Station. And it takes about 8 to 11 minutes. And it gives you a live update of where the bus is. It's really interesting. This is the route for the bus. As you can see, there's five stops along the way. And it takes you to Roppongi Hills from Shibuya. That's the route we're walking.

00:24:28 John Daub: So, we have a choice here at this branch. We can walk straight and follow the highway. Or walk into Aoyama University. And then go straight in. You know what? I'm going to go this way. I'm feeling lucky. It just feels like the right way. That one might be more direct. But this one looks a little bit more interesting to me. You can't really walk on Aoyama in Aoyama. But there's a security guard. So, don't look suspicious. Don't look like a man of suspicion. And knowing that, sometimes I'll look around going, I don't want to look suspicious. And by turning my head left and right, I look suspicious. I'd be an awful criminal. Or I'd be a great criminal. Because no one would expect it.

00:25:37 John Daub: This neighborhood is pretty neat. The reason why I walked here is because it's more to see than the other way. This is Minami Aoyama. And Minami Aoyama, of course, Aoyama is a very famous area. Very rich. A lot of money here. Posh. A lot of cafes. A lot of trendy stores. Peter von Gomm's shop is here. This is where he gets all his leather outfits, I think. I can't afford any of that. He said he might do a livestream with me on the 15th, by the way. For those of you who prefer Peter to me. He'd be here on the 15th. I'd say we're about 15 minutes away from Shibuya Station. We'll start seeing Hikariie soon. And then it's just a couple of minutes to get to the other side to Hachiko Scramble.

00:26:33 John Daub: Oh, there's an apple pie shop here, I remember. Looked really good last time I went by there. But there's a line. Everything that's really good becomes popular and there's always a line. Hey Peter von Gomm, look at that jacket. Buy two, get 10% off. That's not a really good deal, is it? Buy two and you only get 10% off? I guess typically they don't have any discounts. I've never met Peter Barakhan. I've worked closely with Tokyo Eye on NHK since 2008. Was their main reporter from 2009 to 2012. And did about 40 episodes in that span. And then I've done about 10 episodes since. Because I've been focused on Only in Japan. But just did an episode for Tokyo Eye a couple months ago. Which is really fun.

00:27:48 John Daub: Oh, there's a bento shop here. So you can get some bento. This is very cheap actually for this area. It's a real throwback. You wouldn't expect this place to be in business anymore. But it is. Just across the street is a really high priced shoe store. It's good to see that these bento places... It's good to see that some of the family run businesses and even the richest of areas are still doing okay. Everything is always just a little bit pricier. And it's hard to stay in business. There's an out of business place. It's hard to stay in business here. Because the rent is so high. You have to charge higher prices. But that doesn't mean the locals want to eat here. So the end result is that you make a lot of money real fast. Because everybody wants to visit a restaurant when it first opens. And then nobody comes. And then two months later you run out of money. And it's all over.

00:28:49 John Daub: Yes, there's Gold's Gyms all over the world. Aoyama Daigaku. Aoyama University is on our left side. So we're going to walk past the gate. Also, right across from Aoyama Daigaku is the Clinton Street Baking Company. That's interesting. I guess this is from New York. All these international... Oh, that looks good. Pancakes all the time. A lot of chains from the U.S. are coming here to open up shops before the Olympics to get their brand out there I guess it's a smart play but they never last. Cinnabon when they first came to Japan they... everything Nagoya is like the Columbus Ohio. Look at that festive bus that's the Shimbashi bus you see the flags on the front going towards Roppongi.

00:30:16 John Daub: When Cinnabon first came to Japan in 1999 they started in Nagoya. Nagoya is like the midwest it's like the Columbus Ohio the Chicago the typical Japan place between Tokyo and Osaka. If you make it in Nagoya that means you probably make it in the other places. And Taco Bell also had a test shop in Nagoya in 1997 1998. I think I ate there once and then went out of business but Cinnabon also had one in Sakai in the big entertainment district and they went out of business because it was too sweet and too big Japanese couldn't handle the Cinnabon. They bought one and they shared it with five people that's not good for Cinnabon everyone wants their own Cinnabon. But these days thankfully Japanese are eating more. I think Patriot Act on Netflix went over that. He said the U.S is exporting its sugar culture and it's hit Japan people eat a little bit more than they did 20 years ago.

00:31:29 John Daub: There's a high-tech parking meter look at that. The old parking meters in the U.S my history teacher in high school told me he never got a ticket. He would put one in turn the thing and then he'd put another quarter in and not turn it and in order to confirm that the parking meter was valid the parking meter checker had to turn it to see out of money or illegal or something. The recorder would go in and you'd get another 15 minutes for free. But they don't have those analog, manual parking meters in Tokyo. Maybe for that reason. You can cheat the system by outsmarting it a little bit. That's interesting. You see we got here a maki roll. So at the end of the month in February, it starts at Setsubun (bean-throwing festival), which is the holiday, like Groundhog's Day, I guess. There's a lot of history behind that. But to make a long story short with Setsubun, I was always the one at the English school that wore the devil's mask and little kids would chase me around and throw beans at me and pelt me.

00:33:12 John Daub: There's that apple place, Granny Smith. I never heard of Granny Smith, but they have a pretty good apple place here. In Minami Aoyama. So you might want to stop by a little Granny Smith Apple Action. There's another one of the super, super popular cafes, lounge. And here's the third burger. I wonder what happened to the first two. You've got a pretty good looking avocado cheeseburger here for $6.50. It's a reasonable price. Japan has a burger boom for the last two and a half years. And I think it's about to bust. After the Olympics, the burgers will go away. And I hope it's taco time. I hope burritos and tacos make a comeback. We had that boom in for about six years ago before the burger boom. Japan is full of trends. One moment, it's very popular. Next moment, it's gone and you don't know what happened. Then three years later, it comes back.

00:34:19 John Daub: All right, this intersection is I'm glad we got to this point. We're now going to be hanging a left going past the gates of Aoyama University. Going past the gates of Aoyama University and you get to check out the United Nations University as we cut down towards Shibuya. It's a pretty neat walk. Wow, I didn't know the Taco Bell had opened up here. They still have the okonomiyaki menu? No. Looks like they're done with that for good riddance. It wasn't very good. Starbucks has the hojicha latte right now. Kanae likes that. Oh, the coffee makes my stomach hurt. It's supposed to. Don't drink a lot. Want some tea? Oh, no, no, because she has to go to the bathroom a lot if she drinks coffee. So we have to stop every five minutes. So she's not been drinking coffee.

00:35:24 John Daub: So this weird building, this wasn't here 20 years ago, but I used to go into the supermarket in the basement here and I used to live in Nagoya at the time. But when I came to Tokyo, I would buy like a six pack of cherry Coke because you couldn't get that anywhere in Japan except for there. Nowadays, I don't drink cherry Coke. But back then, 20 years ago, I was like, I wanted the stuff that I couldn't get. And cherry Coke was one of the things that I couldn't get. So I wanted it. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups was also something very coveted 20 years ago as an expat. When I came here, you couldn't find it anyways, anywhere. So any foreigner who has come back from the United States with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups became the most popular person. If being an expat was like being in prison, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups could buy you anything back then. But you know, you can get it at Costco now.

00:36:20 John Daub: Over there is the United Nations University. It's got a mountain looking shape to it. It's weird though that the United Nations has a university. Did they have one in New York? I don't recall, but they have a United Nations University here in Tokyo. It's very, very odd. Thanks for joining us live on the Only in Japan Go channel. If you want to, you can write in where you're from, where you're watching from. It's always neat to see. Oh, and by the way, guys, I have still three more KitKats to give out. I've given out three already on Instagram. If you want a bag of KitKats from Japan, go and find the KitKat photo, Only in Japan TV and leave a comment. Answer the question and leave a comment. And I randomly pick somebody. There's already 2,000 in some comments there but I randomly picked somebody and I've already sent two bags out one person hasn't given me their address yet I got three more to raffle off.

00:38:03 John Daub: United Nations University I told you it's true it's like it's under renovation sometimes they have festivals and events going on there here's Aoyama Daigaku and I think there's Daigaku University the leaves are down it's so beautiful here when the leaves are on the trees in the fall and in the spring with the new leaves but the campus is beautiful here if I went to University in Tokyo Aoyama probably be on the top. Beautiful blue sky on this side it's kind of why I wanted to cross the street I wanted some sunshine it's not cold it's very odd weather we had in Ginzan Onsen that we went to a few days ago it was the snow was melting not falling it was raining it was kind of disappointing in that sense but hey I don't think you can ever be disappointed going to Ginzan Onsen.

00:40:23 John Daub: Alright we're gonna be hanging a right soon and that will take us directly to Hachiko Scramble a destination for today so tomorrow I'm gonna be meeting up with Romita a friend of mine from Egypt and I'm very interested to hear her take on living here in Japan she was born here went back to I think she's a UK citizen but she from Egypt her parents are and she's been living here for most of her life and stuff has a really unique take on Japan because when you're from the outside but you don't really know you're getting into it your heart is here in Japan because this is your home it's unique so i'm going to talk with her she might help me out with the channel i met her through my friend joe who is a youtuber and she helped out a lot with planning some of the episodes for him.

00:41:33 John Daub: You could just walk around the city looking at cars i don't know you guys tell me what that was mama's kitchen oh they're selling onigiri in there here's the bus going towards Shimbashi this is what the bus stops look like if you just stand here one will stop best driver will open the door and say hi pay in Tokyo you pay when you get on board enter from the front of the bus i believe it's 200 or two i think it's 210 yen but if you have a Pasmo or Suica card or Icoca like i have you just touch it beep and you're in the one day passes for Toei also work phone booth gosh these things are so ancient does it look like they're not into phone booths anymore it's amazing though how clean it is isn't it they have braille on it for the phone cards big buttons for the elderly it's clean don't get that only in Japan.

00:43:34 John Daub: Shibuya's i think it's a little bit closer than 1k all right there's five roads here one two one two three four and then five this way we're going down road number three that's an ancient car toyota station wagon the thing is i think the taxes go up on any car older than five years in japan somebody had told me so a lot of people will just get rid of their old car to buy a new one it keeps the economy going because the taxes are higher for older cars. Ah it feels good to finally arrive at a goal i love these mini walks because we get a chance to see Tokyo look at the miso soup for 190 yen addition to the bus what a cool way in to a set of gyudon you get to see japan in its uncut way here's some of the background sounds but i'm not polluting it by talking so much we're here aoyama dori is the way we came and we're now going down Miyamasuzaka Miyamasuzaka is a station and then hit the back side of shibuya here is Hachiko Scramble so it's just uh that much to go not far.

00:45:06 John Daub: I bet you in like two years if i watch this stream again it'll level up a third of these businesses have probably changed. Just the turnover to make a business successful in Japan is very, very hard. I started my first business, I started in 2004. It didn't make it. I had to restart in 2005. It wasn't really established. And then 2005, and I learned some very important lessons. First off, just because you're cheaper doesn't mean you're going to win. And being cheaper is not a competitive advantage in Japan, where people look for quality and will pay a premium for something that's better. I had to wrap my head around that. Speaking of wrapping your head. After I could do that and said, look, it's all about the higher the quality, the better you can compete. And the positive on that is that you have more money too. So focus on quality. It'll pay off big. In the end, reputation is huge. I'd say it's like that everywhere, but more so in Japan.

00:46:20 John Daub: Wow, there's a little golden, golden dude from Osaka. I know you. Oh, this is a shrine. It's not too far away. It's interesting. What's Wendy's got on? Wendy's teamed up with First Kitchen, another fast food chain, and they have this Colby Jack burger on option for those that are missing some Colby Jack. Wendy's has also been up and down in Japan. They were teamed up with a department store called Daiei back in the late 90s, and they failed. They picked the worst partner. Didn't make any sense. That strategic partnership. I guess if you're a foreign brand, it makes sense to partner up with another brand because then they'll pay for the marketing more. It's kind of win-win for foreign businesses in that way. You can already see Hachiko in the distance. You see those TVs? Boom. We have arrived. This is the backside. This is the back side of Shibuya Station. Oh, there's the Yamanote Line.

00:47:43 John Daub: It feels like we've been on a journey. 47 minutes. I bet you if I didn't stop and had gone straight, I could have done it in 35. Now you can see some of the construction as the sun starts to set right in our eyes. There's the new building there. If you're interested, check out the live stream I did about a week ago on the Ginza Line. Because that overhang is all new to Tokyo. If you're looking here, if you were in Tokyo about 2-3 years ago, maybe 3-4 years ago, this wasn't here. This man cave. I don't know what you call a subway cave. But what they've done is they just took the overpass because the train would go inside that building. The Tokyo Department Store. And they just put a roof over it. And now the subway station is here. And it's got a very unique design. This is the end of the Ginza Line. You can see the iconic yellow train. Resting inside of the belly. Which used to be the runway into the station. And boom, we have arrived.

00:48:54 John Daub: So now you know a sense of the distances. This is the back side. I'm going to take you now to the bus and show you the options that you have. If you do want to make that trip from Shibuya to Roppongi now the other way, take the bus. Because it takes you about 40 minutes. See these buses leaving? One of them is our bus. That one that says Shimbashi. That also stops in Roppongi on the way. It's about five stops on the bus. 210 yen. It'll take you a third of the time as it took us to walk it. It's about 8 to 11 minutes depending on traffic.

00:49:43 John Daub: John Michael asks, can you talk a bit about adopting in Japan, please? I'm not really sure. I don't know too much about that. I'm not the one to ask. But maybe if I have some time at the end. Sarah Donnell, thank you so much. John Michael, I just met a family that had just been adopted. A child from the same prefecture that I am from. Shizuoka. Very interesting. Thanks so much for the super chats. And Bradshaw Studio, hi from Bend, Oregon. Really appreciate it. All right, let's take a look at the buses here. Again, I kind of introduced this a little bit, but I'm going to be in more details here. That's Tamachi Station. This one's going to Shibuya. 51 is the bus stop for the bus. This one's going to Roppongi. 51. This one's going to Akabanebashi, which is near Tokyo Tower.

00:50:42 John Daub: If you have the Toei subway one day pass, which is 700 yen, and it's 500 yen on the holidays. The 700 yen, only the 700 yen one. It's a plastic pass. It'll allow you access to ride on all of the Toei subway and the Toei buses. So it's a neat pass to have. Okay, here's a map of the Roppongi bus terminal. So we're right here. I believe it's... Okay, it's right there. So you walked right by it. And the other buses are leaving from here. Here's the map of the stations you want to go to. 51. R801 is the express bus. But 51 will also go past Roppongi. So they all kind of go in that direction. Shimbashi to Roppongi. Roppongi is a very famous route. But 51 is the bus stop from Hachiko. Come all the way down this road. It's on the end. Right there. And if you wait here, you'll find a direct bus that will take you to Roppongi in like 8 to 11 minutes.

00:52:11 John Daub: For those who've been waiting, your prize is about to be given to you, which is our last stop on this walking tour. Shibuya's Hachiko Scramble. We're going to walk around underneath the bridge. Still a ton of construction going on here. You can hear the cranes. You can hear the drills. The jackhammers. Do you see the kids sleeping? How do you sleep with that? With your neck bent sideways like that? It's hard. Going underneath the Yamanote Line right now. There's the Nonbei Yokocho area. What's left of it. Because of all of the construction. Tokyo's Times Square. Surrounded by TVs, loud people. Loud TVs, loud stereos, speakers. Commotion, people, crowds, free hugs. Media, media, media, commercials. That's Shibuya's Hachiko Scramble.

00:53:52 John Daub: There's a lot of flags here to celebrate the New Year's. Because it was just shogatsu (New Year's). Shogatsu is the most traditional time of year in Japan. Everything kind of shuts down at that time. Let's take a look-see at the doggy. See how many tourists are there saying hi. Oh look, there's the doggy right there. I always touch his left paw. I don't know why. I'm just going to touch his left paw. Rub it. There you go. Rub his nose there. I got to wash my hands. I think there's some ice cream on his nose. Who didn't wash his hands with ice cream? Oh yeah, those guys are... They do dancing in Yoyogi Park. Where did they go? I guess they've left. Oh, there they are. They have special shoes and they do dancing. I guess they took their shoes off. They do dances in Yoyogi Park out there in a circle doing Johnny Cool. Very cool.

00:55:19 John Daub: I don't know how the signal is. We're in a very crowded space. But I'll walk across the street with you just to say we did it. We're in the middle of a Hachiko scramble and it's a big media thing. What's going on in the world today? It's going to be 8 degrees Celsius at 9pm. It's 12 degrees right now. It's pretty warm. It's pretty, pretty warm. From my perspective, left paw, I don't know. It would be the right paw. Yeah, you're right. You have 45 seconds to cross and you have to wait for one and a half minutes. Why do I know this? I know all this useless information of the city of Tokyo. 45 seconds to cross, everybody. And start making sure when it's blinking, get off because it moves so fast. See, everybody comes here to take a selfie. Do it quick. Just do it quickly. It's not a lot of time. I'm in the middle of Hachiko now. Now move. Cross the street before you get hit by a motorcycle.

00:56:52 John Daub: So the coppers have closed down the street, huh? I wonder what's going on. Is this bonus time? Is there something going on? Alright, bonus time, guys. If you want to see bonus time, give me a thumbs up right now. If you want to see what's going on, I hear some taiko drums. Dude. If you guys are watching us on the other side, thumbs up right now. We get to 600. I'll show you whatever's on the other side of this police truck. It looks like there's something going on. Come on, guys. Give me some love. I just walked halfway across the city for you. Just click it. Wow, it's moving pretty fast. Oh, there is something. There's some sort of performance going on. If you guys want to see that, we got to get to 600. Seriously, we're at 500. Come on, do it. The power of the community right now. We can make this livestream go on.

00:57:50 John Daub: Oh, that's where I get the square watermelon from this shop too. You can also buy them there. But they're out of season now. Oh, there's a festival going on. Guys are 40 clicks away from six. Come on. Clicking like is free. It's easy. Get to see some taiko drum action in a second.

00:58:15 Rafael: Hi, I'm Rafael. I was following this stream. I finally found you. How are you doing?

00:58:20 John Daub: I'm pretty good. I'm such a big fan. I've followed you since Tokyo Eye. Wow, Tokyo Eye. I know it's ancient. Sorry. I'm like out of right now. I was on a train trying to find, and then I got the notification about the livestream. Saying that you're going to be going to Shibuya. So I thought I'll give it right away. You move fast. You move pretty fast. Oh, no. I'm tired right now. Well, just hang in there for a minute. We're going to show everybody. We got to 600 likes. We're going to show everybody this taiko performance as a bonus. See what you get.

00:59:30 John Daub: You can get a little bit of a bonus. You click like and you get a little extra. Is there something in it for you when you click like? So you get one of these. Oh, very nice. I'm looking forward to this. Oh, that one's signed. Oh, no. I've already signed it. It's already signed. Oh, I didn't see that. Oh my God. It's been pre-signed. You're welcome. So where are you from? I'm from the US. Specifically, I'm from Delaware. Okay. A very small state. I'm actually, I go to University of Delaware. I'm actually the president of the Japanese club there.

01:00:21 John Daub: Maybe we're not going to be able to get to the top of the mountain. I'm not in the center of the beat zone. Oh man, it's reverberating in my gut. Boy, that's pretty sweet. I guess during this time of year, this is a holiday today. Coming of Age Day, right? That's right. And if you're going to the shrines, you probably see the girls dressed up in the outfits and stuff. So it's a nice time to get around the city and take some pictures while you can. Usually it takes place in the morning. It gets a little crazy too. All the 20 year olds out there. Ha ha. I'm 20, so I missed the costume. Oh, you missed the costume. Hey man, I love your videos. Oh, hey, thank you. Oh, sure. Where are you visiting from? I just moved here to study language at school. Cool. Which uni? KCP. Okay. Very nice. So you're just walking around today? Yeah, with my friend. He's escaped. Ha ha ha. Just kind of hanging out.

01:01:27 John Daub: This is the end of the livestream. I just walked from Roppongi. Thanks for stopping. Ha ha ha. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Not at all. I appreciate it. What was your name again? Oh, Raphael. Raphael. Like the ninja. Like the ninja turtle. Teenager TNT. Ha ha ha. Yeah. All right. Well, it's been real. Pretty cool. Nice to meet you, Raphael. Yep. I'm going to meet a friend. Until next time. All right. Take care.

01:01:57 John Daub: This is another team coming. I had no idea that I would just be coming out here and then there'd be some people coming to some sort of festival. Who knew? I'm glad that I actually, I'm glad that I started in Roppongi and walked here because if I'd started here, I would have been all over the place. I wouldn't have ever made it to Roppongi at all. Speaking of coming of age day, there's a girl in a beautiful kimono who just turned 20 years old. You see her? Look at how beautiful that is. The shoes match the kimono. It's really, really nice. She's taking pictures out here on Hachiko Scramble. I like that a lot. It's nice to see a little bit of the culture. What is this? A boxing ring? What is this for here? There's something going on. What is this? There's some dude without a shirt on and then it looks like there's some kind of action going on here in the square.

01:02:55 John Daub: The city of Tokyo is just, it's just pretty amazing. So this Tokyo Tokyo was a campaign. I remember when they were pitching this, I was with an ad agency, a competitor. What I said was Tokyo plus, right? Tokyo plus something. Tokyo plus. So I was coming up with ideas for this campaign. Our agency lost the one I was working with and then Tokyo Tokyo won. The old and the new. It's a pretty good one. I was, I was part of the pitch of something with the campaign. If we'd won, I would have gotten jobs directing some of the promotional videos for Tokyo, but we lost. Somebody else won. I take the consequences. We're picking the wrong side. I get no directorial work, but a lot of you don't know. I used to direct TV shows, directed a commercial series for Fuji TV about in 2008. Not a lot of people know that. That guy looks tough. I wouldn't want to tango with him. Is that the ref? It's gotta be the ref. You don't just walk around with a bow tie.

01:04:02 John Daub: Dude, that dude's got a broken arm. How did that happen? Dude, what? Look, just photographers in the world, press is here. Oh no. No, we gotta stick around. Should I cut this live stream? If you guys want to see this fight and you haven't clicked the like yet, you're so gonna miss out because we need way more. Only half the people have clicked like. It's ridiculous. I'm not gonna stick around if you guys are not gonna click the like button. Come on. You do it for me. I would do it for you. You gotta reciprocate a little bit. All right, I'm gonna hang out a little bit. Kanae's waiting. We're gonna go out and eat something, dinner. I think we're having nabe at her family's house tonight, so I gotta go back. But I will hang out a little bit if we can get likes up a little bit. I know 700 is just around the corner. Boom.

01:05:05 John Daub: Can I like twice? No, don't do that because then it... You can like three times. Is that a... That guy's wearing a t-shirt of the guy... Oh, okay. That's a DJ. So something will be starting momentarily. Some people will come. The guy said don't touch the ring. The guy's gotta come and beat him up or something. Oh, it's wrestling. What? They're gonna wrestle here on Hachiko Scramble. It's for a belt. That's the belts they're gonna win. What is this? He held the belt. They're like the Intercontinental belt of... What? It's an international thing. I think they made it up. Looks like they made it up. Oh, man. Oh, here it comes. Look. Something's happening here. Oh, my gosh. Look at that. Japanese cheerleaders over there. They're cheerleading.

01:06:40 John Daub: This is one of the biggest changes in Japanese wrestling. These guys are in trouble here. First of all, the match is over. They're going back to the Morgenverein. They head over there to the stadium. This is the first time we're seeing such a big fight. And to think you're so far away. But, it's that great. And me, personally, I think it's going to be fun. This match is going to be so much fun. All right we're about to start something total bonus because you guys are still watching all right this is crazy all right they've got music this is this is copyright oh what should i do should i bail i can't bail he's gonna have to cut it out later whoa great respect to us thank you sir thank you we bow back we just bowed back to you all right this is the intercontinental the winner wins the intercontinental award yes yes roadster bros bros sydney also bowed thank you show respect for the warriors about to put it all up there's sound there's music somebody's coming into the ring that that's him right there dude he's already beat up no respect.

01:09:00 John Daub: 74 kilograms i don't know what his name is but how about a rolling ours this is pretty crazy what's he got there what is that's oh my word a voodoo doll that's the scary stuff seen some action whoa he's got his own doll too why is it they're partners in crime oh this is a this is a tag team bout this ring is so small how could this be tag team it's 177 centimeters i'm a knight i love his stash he's got a mustache whoa the doll's got a name too yamashita something catch it off oh he's doing a body check make sure there's no weapons enemas destruction on any of them Requiem that's it showing the belts that are on the line it's a lot on the line to this bout here yo it's slash martinale going at it oh it's not a tag team it's hard to know what's going on how do you wrestle guys already injured so what our man run the streets of Shibuya don't ask fight it dude fight it wait it man whoa whoa whoa no oh that was real no stop it stop it that's not no violence violence can I very pacifist no no don't do it whoa oh no no no no no no no no no no I heard the crack the crack no no no no no that hurt.

01:13:34 John Daub: The dolls alive what is this the dolls winning I've never seen that before my life what was that he was mind controlling from here he was like a mind control awesome whoa oh it's gotta hurt the doll whoa grasp of death Iron Claw whoa by the head oh my word what is going on oh my pile driver pile oh what is that oh that was an ad shot whoa no no no no no no no no that's illegal that's illegal that's so wrong oh that's so wrong oh that hit him hard that guy's evil okay they said Shibuya's ground is very clean here oh tag team tag team oh the tag team the other doll so the doll will get a belt the winner gets two belts what this is epic he's gonna tag out oh we tagged out into his doll not quite Whoa!

01:17:37 John Daub: Brendan Walker feeling the pain here. They're throwing themselves on the street on asphalt. This is pretty intense. What is this move? It's like he's giving birth. Oh! Whoa, that's gotta be painful for the doll. Whoa! It's got him on the legs. Look at that! Look at that! Oh, he kicked out. He kicked out. He kicked out! The doll's getting reprimanded. Oh, that's a cheap shot Suplex suplex Japanese ocean this move is called the Japanese ocean Back breaker Oh Reverse German suplex. I don't know some of these moves fisherman suplex side or chest oh His partner of crime just dropped off of the ring Oh What is that? Oh It's gonna bounce it off of the ropes. I've seen this before. Oh, oh, this is a fight left in that doll Oh Wow Whoa slammed him into the post I Evil evil evil man He's tagged out now they're gonna fight each other. Oh, he's got both of them together The ref got it Like he's down and out But the ref is down how long can the dolls withstand the pain?

01:22:21 John Daub: Drag them back in the ref is out cold. The ref is out cold. Oh Wow, she's a great ring. Here. It's the slap is slap his chest do it do it The ref is so out cold whoa sort of Godzilla spew Godzilla spew They're all down It's like Exorcist I don't know what that was. I don't know what it was but it looked like it was so sort of acid He's got a rope the first one out so if they get exciting conclusion right here, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa Yeah nouveaux omatene I thought that guy's arm was broken. Oh man, I am so out of it. I feel like I've been watching a ten round fight cheering on. I'm so exhausted. They're still going at it. He's got the belt. It's the Intercontinental Championship. Oh my. Oh, speech, speech, speech. It's like the end of Rocky.

01:26:04 John Daub: Now together they are the champions. The two of them did it. This is the main event of pro wrestling. Oh my god. It was really interesting, wasn't it? Yes. Now give him some money. Give him some money and I'll do some more. Oh my gosh, this is getting too violent. All right, I gotta go. That was pretty interesting, huh? I've never seen anything like that. What do you think? I've never seen anything like that. If you do like this if you did like that click the light thumbs up button definitely subscribe You don't want to miss these live live streams are better when they're live if you're watching the playback That's okay. Click the like button anyways, but there's also the the live stream chat, which is very interesting to watch I was interested with seeing what you guys thought of that.

01:27:27 John Daub: Basically. This is a Different kind of wrestling a unique kind of wrestling one in which like to see more of They're really really hardcore and they love what they do and you can get that out there Of course, it's just kind of make-believe but it's not at the same time because you can feel the authenticity of it all Very hardcore very cool. So that's it from Hachiko Scramble everybody Hope you enjoyed it Tomorrow, I'll be doing a live stream. I think in Waino maybe and then on the 15th Peter von Gomm and I are planning to do a live stream and then from the 18th to the 21st I'll be in Niigata and then in February, I'll be in Hokkaido So I really appreciate it See all everybody the last 20 seconds from Hachiko Scramble in Shibuya Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Can you believe we walked here from Roppongi?