00:00:06 John Daub: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to a lovely Tokyo morning. It's about 7:12 in the morning. We just went over Shimbashi and we're going to be driving around Ginza. We're going to first go towards Tokyo Station, drive around Ginza, and then come back. I'm not going to be looking at the camera. I want you to focus on the road, people. But I have attached it right here.

00:00:39 John Daub: And we're going to return this car back to the rental area. Have some fun. Drive safely, everybody. Always remember to use your seatbelts. And in Japan, bicycle riders and pedestrians have right of way. Even if they do something foolish, the driver is at fault. But I can, at traffic lights, stop for a second and check to see if everybody out there is okay. Doesn't look like there's a lot of people out this morning.

00:01:51 John Daub: I can't hear what Tokyo is going to be doing. Good morning. What Tokyo is going to be doing for the next two or three weeks, how it handles different situations. I believe everybody's making this up as you go along. But it was very nice to get out and take a look around the area. I was looking at a lot of license plates to see where everybody was from. And there were, believe it or not, a lot of people from Tokyo out there getting out and about.

00:02:26 John Daub: Stay in this lane here. We're going to be heading now straight to Tokyo Station first. At Tokyo Station, make a left, loop around. There's a garbage truck. Very light traffic. This is a working day morning. Despite the state of emergency being lifted, most people are staying put, it looks like, which is probably the best thing to do. It says 23 on the back of that garbage truck. 23 represents 23 wards of Tokyo. And if anybody can name them all, two points to you.

00:03:23 John Daub: In front of us now in the distance, you can just see Tokyo Station. There's Tokyo Station in the distance. Some people are going to work. Not a lot. It still is kind of early. But that's Tokyo Station. That's where the Shinkansen leaves in front of you. And I think in this live stream, you're going to get a chance to take a look at and see what some of the other people are driving to in the city of Tokyo. Not everybody has a Toyota or a Honda. A Volkswagen which is pretty interesting. We'll be making a right turn when we get to Tokyo Station.

00:04:28 John Daub: Now I wanted to initially do this yesterday, last night, but I've been driving for about eight hours yesterday. We went all the way around Mount Fuji and then just came back on the Tomei Expressway and we were looking and seeing what the situation was like outside. After eight hours of driving I just parked the car and I just could not go anymore. I think it was a little bit dangerous too if I had done that live stream yesterday. So yes, taking a right turn is like taking a left turn. Taking a left turn in Japan is like taking a right turn in America because we're on the opposite side of the street here. All right we're getting closer to Tokyo Station here. Follow me on Twitter.

00:05:25 John Daub: Follow that dump truck. I've been driving now in Japan for about two years. Wow that's not a lot of traffic going to Tokyo station. Pedestrians first. Very polite bow to say thank you. You're very welcome. And now we're going from Tokyo Station. Thank you for that. So it's a little bit shaky there. Hey Kelly Trujillo's here for the drive-through. Here's some cash to get something if you're out. I don't think there's any drive-throughs in Tokyo. I've never really seen a drive-through in Tokyo. In the city it's not that kind of culture.

00:06:53 John Daub: We're now heading towards Ginza. Hey Ando1135 you should make a video about the rules of the road. What signs mean and how much it costs to own a car etc. That'd be pretty cool to know. Good idea. In fact I might be making that one of those videos. So stay tuned. Tokyo is a really beautiful city. Hey Ando again thank you so much. All right when I'm moving guys I'm going to be focused on the road 100 percent. And I thought this would be nice we can get kind of a glimpse of what it's like here in Tokyo at the moment. We'll go past Yurakucho Plaza and then come back around Ginza. We'll go around to Shimbashi and then come back around through Ginza.

00:08:18 John Daub: So a lot of you who have been to Tokyo probably know exactly where I am. A lot of red lights that sign up there says Shimbashi straight ahead. Shimbashi'll be up to the right so let's see. It doesn't look like I can make a yeah you can make a left turn. That truck up there on the right side of your screen is making a right turn sorry. So you're gonna try to make a right turn. Phase life's here beautiful city. Hey everyone I'm so glad that you're about John for now. Raymond. Did you rent a Toyota Mark X I did not this is a Toyota Aqua I wanted to rent a Prius but Kanae said that she had a hard time driving the Prius like the stick and everything is really weird.

00:09:26 John Daub: So let's go on this side here they're making a left turn so we're now going around Ginza here that was Shimbashi intersection underneath where Sushi Jiro is and now we're going straight we're going there now that green area that you see is Hibiya Park on the left side and the Imperial Palace we just made that yellow light and the Imperial Palace on the right side everybody that's where the Emperor lives on the right we'll be making a left turn. Jeff Ang's here miss the streets of Tokyo yeah you know my friend Peter von Gomm's got a he's been going out and about with his motorcycle and something and he's been doing that for a while so I'm not sure he's doing that sometimes in rental cars as well. The Peninsula Hotel is right on my shoulder right there. So you'll be able to just get a glimpse of it. That orange color building. Very very expensive hotel but beautiful suites. I used to teach students to some of the employees for guests that were staying there.

00:11:00 John Daub: Hibiya Park is beautiful. Spent many lovely afternoons chilling with my friends there. Have a good day John. Thank you so much. Welcome to everybody who is joining us. Gonna wait for the pedestrians to cross. I probably could have snuck there but I'm gonna let them all go. I'm not really in a hurry. There's nothing really to rush about.

00:11:28 John Daub: Okay here we go. There's some people running about around the Imperial Palace. I don't know if you can see that over my shoulder. It's a five kilometer loop if you run around the Imperial Palace. It's really nice. I got friends that have been doing that for years. But I actually will come down here and run but not very often. I like to run along the riverside. Now on the Hibiya Park is on the right side and on the left side we're gonna go past the Imperial Hotel. And the Imperial Hotel that's on this side here in about 30 seconds after this traffic light. The Imperial Hotel is where the Queen stays when she comes. The Queen of England stays when she comes to Tokyo. But more than that to me that's where Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe took their honeymoon. Believe it or not. Yankee Joe DiMaggio stayed with Marilyn Monroe when they were looking out of one of the windows. And there's a picture in the lobby of the history inside of the Imperial Hotel. It's kinda neat to pop into the Imperial Hotel and just take a look at some of the history that has stayed in there.

00:12:39 John Daub: This is going towards Shiba Koen. You know what? Maybe I'll just keep on going straight and take you to where Tokyo Tower is. I don't know. I'm just gonna keep on going. And then we'll wrap around and I gotta head back. I'm supposed to return the car by 8am. But you can be like one or two minutes early because the shop opens at 8am. So the shop opens then. It's a pretty crummy looking day. It's kind of cloudy today. I didn't get a lot of sleep. I was really tired. But I was answering messages to people. They were messaging me last night until about 1 o'clock. And I had to back up some of the video that I took. I had a reason that I had to go out yesterday. I filmed the introduction to one of the videos at Kawaguchiko in an isolated spot that I know. And Kanae helped me out. And I kind of dragged her with me. I think she was hesitant to go. But she loved every minute of it. She even got a suntan.

00:13:55 John Daub: It's important that we get outside. It's actually quite dangerous around where I live. Everybody is outside and not as many people are wearing a mask anymore. I guess because there is some complacency here. We are now entering Minato-ku. Minato ward. And we're heading straight for a little bit. We're going to come back along Chuo Dori which is where Ginza is. I ride my bike and I run around here a lot. I've done so many live streams in this area.

00:14:39 John Daub: This is Uchisaiwaicho. The next stop is Shimbashi. Please exit on the left side. It's interesting to see how many people are going to work at this time. So every time I have to stop at a red light, I'm not that sad because I get a chance to see a slice of life walk by. I'm still looking for a gimbal to make sure that the video a little bit smoother when I'm driving around. Just some micro jitters because the stabilizer on the iPhone camera is not very good for working. And I think it's not even on right now. Oh wow, okay now we have Tokyo Tower coming into view I think on the right side. I don't know if you're going to be able to see it. But I might be able to turn the camera just for a second. Do you guys see Tokyo Tower in the window? Boom. It's a nice day.

00:16:16 John Daub: I'm going to go one more street and then make a left. And then I think that'll take me through one of the torii gates that leads up to the park. To Shiba Park and the shrine. A lot of dump trucks. Is it trash day? Wait, no trash day is Tuesday. Yes it is! Alright when I get home, remind me to take out the garbage. Monday is unburnable garbage and then Tuesday is burnable. For the area of Tokyo that I live in. This is Onarimon Station. Onarimon is on the Mita Line. Which is a blue circle. It's one of the stops that would get you to Shiba Park. And also you can walk to Tokyo Station from here in about 10 minutes or so. It's a pretty nice walk.

00:17:26 John Daub: There's Shiba Park on the right side. I'm gonna make a left turn here. A lot of morning joggers in this area. Follow that car. There's no left on red by the way. You can see the shrine on the right side. Zojoji Temple. It's a Buddhist temple. The road that leads to the temple. Hey Chris. Chris Barrett's here. We are going to Tokyo in July and we are not waiting. Do you think in July things will be better? I don't know. I don't think about this July despite Japan wanting people to come back. But I know that next July I think it seems fine because the Olympics are coming, right? So the hope they're putting a lot of hope on us having a vaccine by that time. So I'm pretty hopeful.

00:19:15 John Daub: This is kind of a gate. And this is a famous gate. I forget the name of this gate. Usually I research it to refresh my memory but it's kind of neat to drive through something cultural right there. And I'm just taking my time watching out for bicyclers and people on motorbikes that might scoot by you. And right here we can make a left turn. Really slowly. Yeah. There's garbage on the side of the road. It's trash day. Oh there's the garbage man. He's taking out the trash. He's putting the trash in the truck. He's in a hurry. He's in sanitation duty. Yeah. I like our trash guy. He's real friendly. It's always nice to say hi to people who keep our city going. There's a Domino's Pizza on the right side. I didn't know. It looks like a new branch.

00:20:40 John Daub: Waiting for the light. This is a very quiet area of the city. This is very, very quiet. There's not a lot of traffic here. I'm what you would call a very slow, cautious driver. Because things just pop out at you at the last second. And it's very, very worrying for me because things will pop out at you at the last second when you're driving around the city. But I've been learning the roads a lot. I've been learning the roads and it's different than riding a bicycle. So that sign says Nihonbashi and Ginza, one kilometer. So we're on our way towards Ginza and you can see the Keihin-Tohoku line going above the tracks there. Oh, there's the Shinkansen. You guys see the Shinkansen going by? That's so awesome. Now that is a slice of life in Tokyo right there.

00:22:07 John Daub: See that motorbike just right in front of me. Oh, there's the Yamanote line. Check it out. So life is moving. You know, Driac, I actually have a license for manual transmission, but I can never find a car to rent that's manual. So I have to buy one, maybe. That's the only way to get a manual transmission car. But this is an automatic and it's boring for me to do automatics. Proteome. Hope to see a video on a military base in Japan. Yokosuka, Iwakuni, Atsugi. That'd be great, you know. I'll see if I can get permission to film and bring you with me in a live stream. We have a lot of people here stationed in Japan. And by the way, happy Memorial Day. Thank you to the veterans out there. It's Memorial Day in the United States. You cannot forget them.

00:23:31 John Daub: This is Shimbashi. Let me get that straight for you. Patty Hyland's here. Nice to see signs of life returning slowly. I think I got in a little bit of trouble with the Japanese community for leaving the prefecture. I didn't really know all of the rules. But now that I know, I won't be leaving for a while. Tokyo. Well, that bicycle rider looks like he's kind of drunk. He was like going all over the place. Alright guys, welcome to Ginza! Oh, this is so exciting! This is Ginza. Oh, we missed the light. That's Ginza in front of you. This is a pretty cool image. You can see the signs on the left and the right of the buildings going up. Lots of businesses, small businesses in these buildings. On the first floor, a lot of very expensive shops. That's Don Quixote, Shimbashi branch over there.

00:25:48 John Daub: I'm not complaining about missing these lights. It gives us more time to absorb in the views of Tokyo. There's the Sapporo Lions beer hall. Which has been closed because of the pandemic. See that guy? That bicycle rider just went through a red light. Why does he think he's special? There's very little traffic. Pedestrians and bicyclers are a little bit looser with the laws. Ever since I started driving and learning the traffic laws, I've been a lot more careful on bicycles as well. There's the world's biggest Uniqlo as we pass that. We're getting now to Ginza Yonchome. This is what many consider a great place to go. It's the most expensive intersection for real estate in the world. At least it was 20-30 years ago. I'm not sure about today. Wako department store is in your sights, everybody. Right there. The bells go off every hour. Starting at I think 9 a.m.

00:27:05 John Daub: And Mitsukoshi department store has been under construction for a while. You can see some of the stores behind me. I do like driving Ginza. I remember because I've run the Tokyo Marathon. Maybe about six times since it started in 2007. I was one of the first people to run the Tokyo Marathon. The first ever Tokyo Marathon in 2007. And I remember when they first paved this road, repaved it for the 2009 Tokyo Marathon. It was so cool. And now the color has changed again from just use. It does not stay that color forever. That car got pissed off at me driving the speed limit. Tokyo drivers are insane. They totally bust past the speed limit. It is so scary to drive in Tokyo. Everybody's really not driving the speed limit inside. And just like no police ever to monitor them. I've never seen a police, a patrol car pull anybody over in the city.

00:28:11 John Daub: So everyone's, you guys are seeing a slice of life through the window here. There's a light on every single city block. We're now going downtown. Chuo Dori. If I were to stay straight on this road, I would go straight through Akihabara. But I'm not sure if I'm going to do that. Because I have 20 minutes to get this car back. But I will take you to Nihonbashi. I can do that. We're going underneath Kyobashi. Oh, I missed another light. I'm not that sad. This is the, as soon as we get to Ginza Ichome, this is the entrance to Ginza. And we're going to the Kyobashi. And if I were to make a left in about three blocks, we'd be back at Tokyo Station where we started this live stream. So I've just taken you on a loop around. There are a ton of traffic lights. In fact, I'm a little bit unsure because of all the traffic lights if I can take you to Nihonbashi. Because I wanted to drive over the Great Bridge.

00:29:32 John Daub: A lot of runners out. That's good. This is a safe time to run. There's so many people out and about. It's not, I don't feel too safe when I'm running in the afternoon because there's just too many people out and about. In the mornings, it looks pretty light. Oh, there's Mitsui on the left side. That's an old 19th century trading store. They make a lot of really good products. This road, we're catching every light outside of Ginza. That's nice. But I can see not that many people, businessmen, going to work. A lot of people are working remotely now. The speed limit, I never go over 50 in the city. And I try to go even a little bit slower just because things will dart out at you. We're now crossing over the road that we crossed about 20 minutes ago. And there's Takashimaya on the right side. That is another historic department store. As you can see, people going to work left and right. It's a very light traffic. But it is only 7:44 in the morning. So I think it's going to pick up around between 8 and 9:30. The traffic is going to be a lot heavier. There are more people out. I'd say, I think the TV news said that the flow of pedestrians is down by 70%. Which is a good thing.

00:31:08 John Daub: Here, most people are wearing masks. There's some areas people weren't wearing masks at all. So it just makes, I think, other people feel uncomfortable that when you don't wear a mask. And I have my mask with me right here. This is my government issue mask. Which I actually like it. And I wear that when I get out of the car. But as long as you're trapped inside, you're okay. We're now heading towards Nihonbashi. And we should be there in about 2 or 3 minutes. And I'm going to circle around and then come back. And take you to the car rental agency.

00:31:56 John Daub: Koredo. That's the store on the right and on the left. And we're going right over Nihonbashi. This is exciting. Nihonbashi is that bridge that you've seen in ukiyo-e woodblock prints. We have Tokyo or Edo at the time. And you used to be able to see Mount Fuji. That's Nihonbashi straight ahead. Do you see that right there on the bottom of your screen? That's the marker signifying it. But we're going to be driving over Nihonbashi. For the 1964 Olympics, they put that overpass over Nihonbashi. Just to get the infrastructure going before, after post, after World War II. But it just kind of takes all the beauty away from it. And I really hope that they go through with plans that they've been considering for a long time. To beautify this bridge. I think it's a really important piece of the city of Edo and Tokyo. And you're going to see on the left and the right of it some old lanterns. This is where the original fish market was before it went to Tsukiji and now Toyosu. And there's a marker in the center of the road right there.

00:33:10 John Daub: We're going to drive through Mitsukoshimae. And then I'm going to take a left near the Mandarin Hotel. Alex Shozo and I walked down here about six months ago. Shout out to the great Alex in Berlin. Let's see if I can make a left here. I think I can make a left. Yeah, it's one way. If I were to go straight, it'll take you to Akihabara. And Ueno eventually. That's Kanda Station in the distance. So you go underneath Kanda Station. And you get to Akihabara. But I don't have time for that. I'm going to make a left here where that bicyclist is going. Bicyclers just come out of the woodwork. You have to be really careful with pedestrians and bicyclers.

00:34:38 John Daub: Hey, Jeff Kennedy. Konnichiwa. It's good to see you here too, Jeff. Stop sign ahead. Tomare is what it says right there. I have to make a right. This is one way. Stop for three seconds. So I can make a left here. I know I'm going to get lost. All right. I just got to make a left turn and then get back. Stop sign ahead. Thank you, ma'am. The good thing about the navigation system here is that you can turn it to English. And Kanae was studying English last night. There's the Shinkansen going too, by the way. Do you see it? That looks like the Tohoku or the Akita Shinkansen.

00:35:49 John Daub: We're good to go. We're heading back towards Tokyo Station and Nihonbashi. We're going to go straight. This is where the currency museum is. And I wanted to get permission to film in there. They have a lot of neat things in the currency museum. This is all where the original Bank of Japan was. And there's a lot of banks in this area. Nihonbashi, Mitsui, Mitsukoshi. This is a very historic area. In fact, it's not too far away from here. The fish market started on this side of the river. And there's some neat little izakaya also that have little teeny decks on the backside of it that overlook the canal. But in the summertime, it's not the most pretty place to be. And there's sometimes bug infestations. See the highways going above here.

00:36:52 John Daub: Tony P, hit like and help me out. Thank you. That's right, guys. I always do. If you like this content, you will like it. And if we get enough likes, I do it again. So if you like the driving around Tokyo, I might be able to do it again with Kanae. So click that like button as we head now back towards Tokyo Station on the Yaesu side. If we take a right, it'll take us to Otemachi. I'm really hungry. I wish there were drive-thrus. The center city of Tokyo, Chuo-ku, Chuo Dori, I don't think Koto has any. There's no drive-thru. Maybe Nerima has some. Nerima is where Ikebukuro is on that side.

00:38:02 John Daub: Tokyo Station on the right side. We just made it through that light. We're going to be turning left. And we want to be careful of the pedestrians. Oh, they're already building. They're already building the skyscraper there. That was a park before. I believe we can go. Just go real slow. This is like a little restaurant park. And now they're building the skyscraper. Sony's doing the same thing with the Sony building in Ginza. They had a park there for about a couple of years. And then they're going to be putting the Sony skyscraper there and rebuilding it. But they're turning it into a park for a while. Which is really nice to have a little green area in Ginza.

00:39:15 John Daub: Thanks guys. I think we can get to a thousand likes. You have to ask. If you do like this content. This is an Aqua which is called a semi-economy car. They have economy cars which are even cheaper. And the Prius which is a standard. Standards are actually not that cheap. But I do like Prius. Because they're a little bit safer. And I don't have to pay for the gasoline as much. They're pretty inexpensive. And I usually rent an ETC card. Which is like E-ZPass on the East Coast. It allows you to go through the tolls. The E-ZPass is 300 yen to rent. Or about three dollars. And I have to pay the fees on top of it of course. Going through the tolls. And we paid about $60 in tolls yesterday. Driving around Mt. Fuji. Which is crazy.

00:40:26 John Daub: I'll be on Twitch later on today by the way. I've been doing some streams there. See if I get the Discord and the audio to work together. So I can take some phone calls. And talk to you about this. I know a lot of you couldn't make it to Tokyo. Because you had to cancel your trips in February, March, April and May. And probably June, July and August. But I'll do what I can and everything that I can to take you around with me. Now that Tokyo is now opened up. And I have to stay in this prefecture a little bit longer. I will take you outside a little bit more as the situation improves. But I do have location shoots lined up for June. And work has to continue. Just what we're doing is being very, very cautious. We're being very, very cautious with the way that we go about it. And for the next few days, Kanae and I probably won't be going out that much. We're going to just keep self-isolating. Except for yesterday. Because I think that a lot of people are going to be going outside. Because the weather was so beautiful yesterday. It was actually outside in Tokyo. And the parks were jammed packed with people. So leaving the city was probably the safest thing to do.

00:42:02 John Daub: Nice even pace. There's no cars behind me. We're entering in Shinkawa over this bridge. Shinkawa is a man-made island. It's the first man-made island in Tokyo. And then they filled in Tsukishima. With Tsukishima and Kachidoki. So we have about five minutes left here. We're well short of the thousand likes. I can tell you one thing though. Skytree. We're going to be able to see Skytree on the right side. On the left side, you will be able to see Tokyo Skytree. But I'm going to focus on the road. Again, guys, when I'm driving, I'm not looking at the screen. It's basically a dashboard camera.

00:43:50 John Daub: I can make a left turn here. So you have to go up to this line. And then make a left turn. I'm going to stay behind this bus for a second. I want to say thank you to everybody for watching this. Drive safely when you're in Tokyo. I hope that this helps you out. Also, for those of you who want to be here in Japan. But I'm going to be returning the car in about two minutes. Because that's when I have to return the car. And I'm not that far away. Take care of yourself. Let me know in the comments what you think. And I'll see you later on Twitch. And then another live stream. Bye, guys.