00:04 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Ryogoku. This is the area most famous for sumo wrestling, but that in the center of your screen is the Tokyo Skytree. How you doing everybody? So I came to this park because it's a place that I wanted to go to. How you doing David? I wanted to come here in February, in March, to make an episode of Only in Japan, but I couldn't because of the pandemic. And it's gotten to a point now where we can go outside and finally walk around. And I wanted to come here to scout this, but I thought I would go live and also bring you this story of this tragic park.

00:48 John Daub: This area that I'm in right now. If you look at it on the map here, it's this green area. Ryogoku is right here. It's on the Oedo Line (都営大江戸線, Toei Oedo Line) and the JR Sobu Line. You can see the station here. And this is the Kokugikan (国技館), which is where sumo wrestling takes place. So this area has a really deep history just by that. And there's the former garden. And across from here is where I'm going to be showing you today. This is Yokoamicho Park (横網町公園).

01:20 John Daub: Yokoamicho is a place with a very, very tragic past. And I've been walking through here for about 15, 20 minutes just to look around the area. It's got a really pretty lake in there. And I'm going to show you why this is considered probably the most tragic park in Japan. As we say hi to the Skytree. I don't think we're going to be able to see it again from inside of the park, but it is a really beautiful day here in Tokyo. Now this is, here's the sign. We're going in through the north entrance. And I'll show you the map once again.

02:06 John Daub: So Yokoamicho Park. The park is dedicated to the remembrance of many victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the Tokyo air raids of 1944 and 1945. To commemorate and preserve the history of these tragedies. So they have here a memorial hall as well as a Great Kanto Earthquake memorial museum. And here's a map of the park, which you probably won't see in other places around there. Some of the places that I don't know about. We're going to be walking in and looking at this and then over here to the memorial of the air raid. And this is the museum to the earthquake victims. And this is the Tokyo Metropolitan Memorial Hall. In the corner, we're going to take a look really quickly at the Statue of Spirit to remember the children who died in disasters. So you can see it's a very somber park. There's one here for the monument of Korean victims as well. I'm not sure why they're separated, but they were not forgotten here. And there's a Japanese garden. So let's go take a look.

03:15 John Daub: Thank you, Bear. Welcome to the Travelers. To the left and the right. The left is construction for the museum and to the right is a beautiful park. We're going to take a look at that. The construction is for the earthquake museum. Now, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 happened in September. It struck in Sagami Bay, which is not too far away from here. And I believe it was like a magnitude seven or something like that. But it was so close to the city. It had a devastating impact. And with earthquakes, fires happen. All the buildings back then were made out of wood. Well, the vast majority of them in 1923. And people are cooking. Earthquake happens. Fire. And it burnt down a lot of the city. And fire was probably the most devastating part of that earthquake.

04:15 John Daub: This is the entrance to the museum, which is closed today because it's Monday. But I'm not sure I'd want to bring you in anyways. Here's a sign. This sign tells you about the earthquake from 1923 up there. It happened on September 1st. What I found really interesting was outside. And you can see here remnants from that day still exist in the park. These are like melted parts of a building. It looks almost like rubbish. It's hard to know. But these are from the 1923 fire that happened that day. And they left it here to remember what had happened. There's a piece of metal that was really melted. During the war, there's a pigeon that's eating off of it here. How you doing pigeons? And then this is a dissolved steel pole that they have written from the 1923 earthquake. It's very important to have these reminders for the generations that are very young right now.

05:23 John Daub: And you can see from that tragic day where fire wiped out 44,000 people in this park. There's a bird that was just also forgot all that history too. And found life in it, which is really good. 44,000 people lost their life in this park. All right, so I want you to wrap your head around it. And that's why this museum like this is very important. This area of Ryogoku is a pretty old section of the city. So it's also a very populated area of the city of Tokyo. This is a tough episode to do, but it's a part of the history. A lot of people stay in this area. And I think it's really good to come here and pay respect to the people who lost their lives in these tragedies. Because this is so much a part of the city of Tokyo.

06:24 John Daub: It's a manhole cover. It's a nice pretty one. This one here. So this is the memorial hall. I don't believe it's a temple or shrine. I think it's just the memorial hall. And maybe we'll go up to the steps and just take a quick look in there. But we want to be very respectful when you come to a place where people come to bow their heads. To remember. But this is still a park. This right here is what I wanted to come and film in March. March 10th, 1945. Was one of the most horrific. It was the biggest aerial bombing in the history of war. More bombs were dropped on Tokyo than they say Germany. In any one day. And it burned down the city. And over 100,000 people lost their lives. And this is sort of a memorial.

07:23 John Daub: But on that day. Every year. March 10th. People that were alive in that war. That were kids. Come here. They come here to remember the victims. To remember that day. To remember the people who lost their lives. And they'll all come to this area here. And I wanted to come. And was. I think I was invited. By the war museum. To come and film. But since everybody was in their 80s, 90s and 100s. I couldn't. It was not a good time to do it because of the pandemic. I didn't want to be. I had that on my conscience. That I might have gotten somebody sick. So. I was not able to do that episode on the 75th anniversary. As these ducks go in there to. Pay their respects.

08:17 John Daub: Watching live as two ducks go in. And. I'm going to. Take a swim in the. Memorial lake. It's nice because from. From something so tragic. We still have. Life. Or as a part of it. So. For me. That kind of made me feel really happy to see those duckies. There. Let's go take a look here at the. Meaning of this here. They also change up the flowers every now and then. But if you are in the area. Do come and say. Pay. Pay your respects. And say hi to those ducks. So the monument here is the memory of the victims. Of the Tokyo air raids. And in the pursuit of peace.

08:58 John Daub: The second world war repeated air attacks on Tokyo by the American forces starting on April 18th, 1942 and continuing till the end of the war. On August 15th, 1945 inflicted untold damage on the city and cost the lives of a vast number of. Of its. People who are mostly civilians. This monument was created so that the memory of these air raids and the victims will not. Fade but live on to remind succeeding generations of today's peace and prosperity was built. On the sacrifice of many precious lives. It embodies the profound hope that this peace will be everlasting. The building of this monument was supported by contributions from countless individuals and organizations in response. To an initiative led by the associations for the remembrance of victims of the Tokyo air raids pursuit of peace.

09:46 John Daub: Like I. One of the reasons why I wanted to do this episode and just bring you this history is because people. The young people in Tokyo are forgetting about this is why. They're not even aware of the fact that they're here. And I think that's a sad thing to. To not share those stories. I think you need to feel them and to understand them and from that learn. Learn them. It's not just that the. The. Tokyo bombing. That day. And those. Raids. You know. Seeing from this side were horrific. And hearing that. And hearing stories from people. Was. It's mind blowing because I did get a chance to talk to some people that were. That had been through that.

10:37 John Daub: As you know I made an episode not too long ago with the survivor of World War Two the atomic bombing. It's very close to Hiroshima and he told me his eyewitness account. Of seeing. It dropped on Hiroshima coming outside after hearing it and seeing that mushroom cloud he told us in. In. Details. With his own eyes that he had seen. Was it blew me away to be to be in his presence and. And right here. As well to see this memorial. It's I believe it's worth a stop especially if you're in the Ryogoku area going to the Edo Museum. It's a five minute walk from the Edo Museum to come here. It's not very far. Just to take a look at. A little piece of. History to remember the these people.

11:24 John Daub: What do you learn you learn that. Horse stinks. And behind me. Behind here is a really nice. Mr Das Welcome to the Traveler. I see. That's in the house. Might. Need something after this. It's a beautiful Japanese park. This is history. Right right. And I try to bring you a lot of things on on food and. And neighborhood walks. But every single neighborhood every single. Area of Japan has some sort of history to it. And you really have to know that if you. Want to get to know Japan. You have to. Get to know Japan. really immerse yourself in it and it it's so tragic because on during the uh i'll say this again for those that are joining us everybody who oh look at the carb of the um in in september 1st 1923 44 000 people lost their lives here in a fire imagine 44 000 people burned in a fire right here on the spot that's what happened in this park and they're remembered in the museum over there that makes it tragic but also they decided to put the um tokyo air raids uh victims memorial here which is we're now right behind uh so what we have is the memorial to about 150 000 people in this one area it's a very somber and sobering place to visit this is a memorial hall the metropolitan memorial hall and we're going to go take a look at the children's statue to remember them once again.

13:16 John Daub: i came here to i wanted to come here because i wanted to come here to see the memorial hall couple of months ago but it's a it was just cancelled so i'll have to do it on the 76th anniversary of uh to remember the victims which is not quite the same this year because of the pandemic a lot of the politicians cancelled as well so it was a very small event i know we're losing a lot of the people from the greatest generation and and uh just hang on for another year guys so this was built in um uh taisho 12 which was 1923 uh to remember the victims of the great kanto earthquake and i i do quote the great i do talk about the great kanto earthquake many times when i walk around tokyo because it's so ingrained in the history of of this city a devastating earthquake that wiped out everything and they had to rebuild mostly from the fires that ensued after it this is the memorial to children and this was also created uh way back in the 1920s so you can see the form of of of art in this you can see the look in their faces it's a tough subject to cover i think when you when you you stop and and you look back at history here's the sign uh talking about the earthquake actually this this was made in showa 6 which is 1931 and some of the history when you when you it makes you really appreciate what you do have it's really important to stop and and go to your not just the happy stuff but the tragic stuff to it or to learn from the past if you don't talk about it you can't learn from it mir's here once the people with my first-hand memory have left a life becomes just a story and stories solely become forgotten places like this are important absolutely especially for the kids in this generation who need to remember where they came from how hard their grandparents had it you could see the left side the air raids i'm so lucky to get to see the anywhere hehe memorial and then the museum to the great kanto earthquake next to each other and again on this spot this is where 40 000 44 000 people lost their lives so this would again make this probably i i haven't been all the parks but i can't think of any with more of a tragic history.

16:45 John Daub: now here is a um it says here radio uh looks like it's a bell here it is a bell for the memory i'm sure maybe they ring this on days to remember um on march 10th when the bell rings out as a way to remember the victims of that day i read the accounts of pow american pows that were being held on march 10th and it was very very it was difficult to to read that as well they there's nothing that they could have been they were held this is now the i believe there's the south entrance to it and tells you once again the information here sorry guys you want to try to refresh refresh george lopez welcome and regina nail welcome to the travelers a black screen hopefully the screen has has uh fixed up a little bit better can you is am i still darkened we back it's fixed okay sorry about that i guess i was going in and out i don't know why i updated the app today it's weird there's another sign just to show the um the layout of yokoamicho park and from this point on you know i i really don't i really don't have too much more to say um i'm glad that i came today i think because i'll be back here and probably film later on in the summer and see if i can get some of the uh i don't see victims but people that were here on that day and a lot of them really want to share their experiences because they know that when they're gone it's gone their stories go with them and they have a lot of stories to tell some of them are still really important to me and i'm really excited to be able to share that with you and i'm really excited to be able to share that with you so if you're joining me in the future you're gonna be able to see the story of the museum of the tokyo raids museum which is not too far away from here i think it's about a 20 minute bike ride uh he's in his 90s now but he was a kid when it happened and some of the stuff that i heard was really i you nothing that we've ever experienced in our own lives let's just say but i'm really glad that i can hear those stories and report on it report on it to you guys so thank you so much for joining me i'm going to go So that's Yokoamicho Park.

19:25 John Daub: I'm going to loop around now. This is the post office where I sent the postcards. It's the Yokozuna post office, which is very cool. I'm going to walk this way and then show you a little bit of Ryogoku now for the next 10-15 minutes. Share a little bit of the area on a really nice day. That's a tough story to cover. They have elections going on. Politicians will put their posters up here. And the numbers are allotted to each politician. And I guess the election is on July 5th.

20:25 John Daub: Thank you, George Lopez. Thank you, everybody, for joining up on the memberships on the Travelers. I'm going to do a video tomorrow. I'm going to do a video tomorrow that kind of explains about the memberships. I wanted to give this a week to try to get some feedback from all of the people who are our members. And not members. But once again, it does not cost you anything to watch the live streams. You do not have to be a member. I get a question, do I have to pay to subscribe? And the answer is no. It's just something that we... I'll explain it tomorrow in detail and take some of your questions about it.

21:12 John Daub: It's a very quiet day today. Now, at this light in front of us, I'm going to loop over to the left. Loop over because I got to jump this thing. There's a post box there. I don't know. Should I break the law? I want to go to that post office box. Oh, I guess there'll be another one. Don't break the law. Thank you. I need to be reminded sometimes to stay in line. What would Kanae say? Listen, you guys are so bad. What would Kanae tell me? All right. That's it. Here's the question. But what can I be okay with me jumping this fence and then going to the other side of the road? The answer is no. I'm a whipped man. I know my place.

22:32 John Daub: Should I cross the street or should I? Oh, this one's green. There's another park right here. And I think I'd shown you this on the map in the distance. Just underneath the traffic light is the arena where the sumo tournament takes place. With that funky roof on there. That's part of the postcard that you guys are getting. Cha-ching! It's part of the postcard for this month. You're getting sumo cards. That's right. I sent the sumo cards from across the street from the sumo arena. The little details are important.

23:24 John Daub: This is the Kyu-Yasuda Garden (旧安田庭園, Former Yasuda Garden) in the Genroku era, 1688 to 1703. A feudal lord in the latter. In the latter, Hitai. The Katsuyama clan of 50,000 koku. 50,000 koku was the money, I believe. Honshu Inabano-Kami Munesuke, who was a younger blood brother of the biological mother. There's a lot of stuff. Just I can't follow the story. Okay. It's a pretty garden. Let's go in. Let's take a look. See. So we're going to walk now through here past the Japanese Sword Museum. Yes. And then over to the other side. Sword museum. It's right over there. Beautiful. Beautiful. Lovely day. Thanks for joining me. We started off with the park that had a tragic story. Yokoamicho Park. And now we're walking through the park across from there.

24:57 John Daub: I love in Japan. They tell you which way to go. If you were ever in doubt, just follow the arrows. But as a man who leads a rebellious life, a whipped man, I'm going to go this way. Because that's what we do. Do not follow the beaten path. Oh, that's awesome. Dude. Dudes. Wildlife. Check that out. He's deep. He's a scooting scooter. Awesome. Somebody put their hand in there. He's gone in the reflection. He's coming back for more. Yes. Hey, dude. He's chasing the tadpole. Did you see that? He was chasing the fish. He's trying to go for lunch. How you doing? You're famous. Look at all the people. How did what a turtle say? How did turtles make sounds? They just kind of that's a crow. I can't do a turtle sound. I figured something like a dinosaur, but really silent. It's hard one. So anyone can make a turtle noise. Please speak now. And look at those ducks. It's very beautiful here.

27:01 John Daub: Too far away. I can't make a duck if I have to project. Best thing is to go and chase them down now. I'm going to get to the other side. Whoa. This is Turtle Park. Awesome. Kids, get away from night ducks. Are they similar? Is that so? Wow, the turtle. Wow, be careful. What are they doing? Be careful. Is it dangerous? Isn't it dangerous? Look at his trained them. Look at the turtles taking it. That's awesome. Awesome. They got along well. Oh, I got it. He saw me and got scared. Now he looks like a rock underneath there. I got it. Look at that. They're feeding the turtles. They're like little dinosaurs. Here they come. Oh, he's submerged. Some of them are going for it. Well, the whole herd is here. I think they wanted Wagyu or something. What do you want to eat? What do you like? I like Chinese food. Chinese food? What about Chinese food? Carrots? I want to go swimming. This looks like a really good swimming pond. There's so many turtles.

30:23 John Daub: Kids said that they like to eat Chinese food, which is like an Asian cabbage and carrots. I think, personally, I think they like bugs. I don't know. Interesting. It's very interesting. I can learn a lot. You know, Sherlock Holmes used to employ kids to do detective work. Everyone underestimates the intelligence of kids, but they're everywhere and they're very smart in Victorian England. It's a pretty cool bridge. Sherlock Holmes wasn't real. What? Didn't you see the movies with, um, what's his name? I did prefer Jeremy Brett. This is a beautiful little park. The west exit is this way. So we want to get out of here. How do I get out of here? Yeah, with Iron Man was played Sherlock Holmes, didn't he? I can't get out of here this way. I'm trapped. It's like a mini Central Park. Those kids are like turtle whisperers.

32:06 John Daub: It's an old, old house right there. Nice window into the park. Welcome Ben Hodgson and Thailand 20. That's a pretty shot of the Tokyo Skytree. And you can see the top of the Memorial Hall in the park we were just at. Yokohama-cho. Oh, mosquitoes! Ah, swarm of them. A scale of one to five. That was a five. All right. So we're here now. I'm going to be going back. I'm going to wrap around the Sumo Arena now. I'm going to get a drink. So if you guys want to see the Sumo Arena, give a thumbs up. We'll give this a happy ending. Not that kind of happy ending. Who said that? Sorry about that. It's kind of a windy day.

34:39 John Daub: This is where you would go to see sumo wrestling. But today it's closed. One of the things I love about Ryogoku is you'll see little pieces of history all throughout the city. One of the prints from the second of the three volume comic tanka picture book. Interesting. You don't see those that often. They're behind bars. I once caught a fish this big. Mine was even bigger. Pretty cool. That's the entrance. What's that there? I'm not sure what that was. Oh, that's cool. Here's an Olympic signed countdown. 410 days. And they've written the year 2021. That's interesting. And the Paralympics is 32 days later. And there's a Sobu Line taking off.

37:40 John Daub: For those joining us right now, I was at the Yokoamicho Park, which is the most tragic park in all of Japan, where about 150,000 people are memorialized. 44,000 of them died in a fire during the Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1st, 1923. And after the great World War II bombings of March 10, 1945, for those three years, all the people who lost their lives are memorialized in the Air Raids Memorial. Also in that park. It's a very, very tough place. Those of you who are looking in front right now, look at your screens. That's Ryogoku station. And it looks like school is out forever. Da na na na na na na na. School's out for today.

38:53 John Daub: Who's getting these postcards here? Um, Spencer? Oyama-san, George, Joseph, and Kumamoto, and David down in Okinawa. This is all the domestic postcards. I only have five postcard club members here in Japan. That's pretty nice of them though. Alright, let's put this in the Ryogoku post office box. And the one going to Spencer's like going like just across the river. It's traveling like one kilometer to get to Spencer. Alright, there it goes. Spence, it's on the way. International, domestic. Oh, that looks so good. Soba. What looks good here? This drink is brought to you by Kelly Trujillo. Hojicha? That sounds pretty good. Um, Mugi-cha? Oh, Mugi-cha. This is a taste of summer. That's a good one too. Alright, let's go for it.

40:50 John Daub: Oh, it's 130 yen. Oh, this one, 150. He has been on all the labels for 20 years. Looks good. News days. It's a commercial where they're sitting on the train and watching food and then they go, Oh, wait. I'd like some sandwiches. Oh, that's a pie. Good bakery items here. And right next to it, Gotcha-pon! Gachapon (ガチャポン)! Check that out. Hey, look, there's Astro Boy. Skytree Tower. Ebis. Very cool. Let's see what else they got here. It's a good idea to put Gachapon right in the front. Hey, Jaden. John, get a haircut hippie. Hey! I added that hippie, by the way. Get a haircut hippie. Glenn writes in Sumo, If you insist. Who wants to tickle him? It's kind of neat to see the hand sizes of the sumo wrestlers. Some of them are massive. That guy's palm. Oh my gosh, that's so much. So huge. Some of them have monstrous looking hands, the sumo wrestlers. He wants a high five. I gave him an air high five.

44:05 John Daub: So there you have it, everybody. I'm going to end it right here. Bring back the blonde hair. That's not going to happen, Matsumi. That's more for your safety than mine. Today, just to reiterate here, We walked past the Ryogoku Kokugikan, which is the sumo arena, the sumo hall, which is this month's postcard club. And I want to say thank you to a couple of people who just joined the postcard club. I saw that the notifications come in. There's the Edo Museum, which is closed. But we started here. And I do want you to go in here and visit this at the end of the month. Yokoamicho Park is where the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum to the victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and over here to the air raid victims of 1942 to 1945 from World War II.

44:53 John Daub: It's a good place where you can see some of the history of the city and show your respect to those who lost their lives in war. And we have to remember the people who came before us. It's all part of history. So there you have it from Ryogoku. I'll be on again tomorrow morning. And I want to talk about memberships to make sure that you guys can understand what's going on with these people with the green font. And no, you don't have to be a member. It's up to you. Somebody, I guess people like to rub his belly. But his belly looks like lungs. Your lungs are supposed to be up here, buddy. It's a pretty cool shot. To be a member, you have to, be on your computer. Or I'm supposed to put the link in the description, but I didn't do that. On the computer, there's a join button next to the subscription button. And you don't have to pay to subscribe. Everybody can, and you can be a subscriber for free. But if you want to be a member, it costs, I think it was like 90 yen or a dollar or something. Yeah, there you go. Do not tickle sumo wrestlers. They don't take kindly to it and they will deck you. Eventually they'll hunt you down and find you. But you can't focus on that either. Alright guys, have a good day. Have a good night. Thanks so much for watching. I know her. She's a tennis player. Have a good day. And I'll see you tomorrow morning. If not tonight, I intend to do a midnight snack run in the next couple of days. Have a good weekend. Weekday. Week!