00:00:05 John Daub: Hello everybody, greetings and welcome to Koyasan. In front of me is Joki-in, and this is where I'm spending the night. How you doing everybody? We've had a really great trip here in Wakayama in the Kansai region. Koyasan is about an hour, hour and a half away from Osaka out into Wakayama, the central area, this prefecture that's really beautiful. A lot of people miss it because it's so far out of the way, which is a shame. Because if you're looking for something that is a very traditional Japanese experience, it does not get more traditional than shukubo (Buddhist temple accommodation), and a lot of people have been asking me about the shojin ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine). Tonight we're going to be eating that for dinner. Maybe I'll do a video on that as well.

00:01:05 John Daub: While we have some daylight, it's a little bit before 4pm, so we get a lot of daylight to take you around this accommodation. There's so many different temples around here. This is a very protected area, a special area for Buddhism. That's different than Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, just so you all know. A lot of people who are beginners in Japanese culture sometimes find it hard to know the difference. You don't see any torii gates, the red gates. Instead we have temples here. Here it is written also in English, J-O-K-I-I-N. This place has some history to it, and I'm going to give you as much as I've learned over the last 20 minutes or so. They do speak English here, and there's a link in the description if you want to look it up. But it's a very peaceful place right now. There's not a lot of people here. In fact, I think we're the only four guests: me, Ruthie, Ruth, and a couple other people you haven't met yet.

00:02:16 John Daub: Here's the entranceway. This is the mascot for Koyasan, I think it's Koya-kun. Pretty cute, little Buddhist monk there. Beautiful grounds here. So let's walk around the outside a little bit, and in about a minute we're going to walk inside. I'm going to show you where I'm staying first in this livestream. That's going to be about five minutes in. Then I'll take you around and show you where people meditate, as well as where we're going to be having breakfast and some of the other little things. This here walkway, you have to get your shoes on, but there's also an underground passageway you would walk across to the bath house on the other side. It's a different building to take a bath in. That's pretty interesting. And it feels good to be outside in the fresh air after you've taken a bath. But around you, this is what's really special about Koyasan: nature. You are thrust into the heart of nature here, and you can feel it.

00:03:21 John Daub: You see already over here, I'm going to be taking you to this room in about 15 minutes after the livestream starts, so you can fast-forward to this part. You can see already where the meditations happen, and there's so much color in the garden on the back there. You're going to love it over there. So if you're about to go to bed, hold on because it's getting late over in the United States. Beautiful, beautiful. There's another temple over there. Tomorrow is supposed to rain, so we have to make the best out of this situation here and take a look at as many things as we can today. Zato71, nice to see you. Cheryl Phillips, welcome. Get ready for an adventure. Let's go inside to the main entrance.

00:04:17 John Daub: The lady of the house speaks English, Japanese, and Italian. So if you do speak Italian, you can challenge her. Very, very nice, and gave us a lot of really useful information. As we came in, got a welcome drink of mugi cha (barley tea). It's really good in the summer. Geoffrey French is here. You'll see little statues representing Buddhism all over Koyasan. And it's such a peaceful image, and lots of incense too. I know you can't smell it, but there's lots of incense burning in the background. You smell the fresh nature as well as incense, and it's so nice. Here's the entrance. Take some alcohol because of the times that we live in to wipe our hands with. They've reserved a spot for my shoes. I thought that was really nice. Good service. Adoso, adoso. We've asked for permission to film in here, so I'm going to be able to take you through some of this very traditional place.

00:06:11 John Daub: This is actually what they call a shukubo, a temple stay where you can stay inside of a Buddhist temple. It's very peaceful, a very cultural experience, and you are inside with me right now sharing this. That's that walkway to the bath. As promised, I'm going to take you to my room first, and I'm the only one on this floor actually. Ruth and the other people have gone hiking, and I'm staying behind to take some shots of not just this temple but of other areas around Koyasan. I guess you could say it would be a private garden.

00:07:27 John Daub: Welcome to the shukubo. The history of this temple goes back 800 years. Most of the temple here that accommodations are in is about 200 to 300 years old, which is still pretty darn old. Alright, here's my room right here. The doors are wide open. I'll be staying in this traditional tatami room. A nice picture of Mt. Fuji in the room, which is standard in most rooms. You'll have a yukata (light cotton kimono), towels, and some cushions. The cushions you can take and sit on the table over here. No, there aren't any chairs in a tatami room. Sometimes you'll have a little foyer or a little area with a chair and a table that's separate from the tatami room in a traditional Japanese inn. But this does not have that. This is a temple, but you'll see it's very much like a hotel, but it's not a hotel. It has different rules than a hotel.

00:08:58 John Daub: I think this would be a really good video to make to give you a deeper understanding of some of the norms of staying here. You just have to remember they're going to try to give you the best service that they possibly can, but this is still a temple. And you also have to be respectful of the culture here: trying to be quiet, mindful, understanding the food. Shojin ryori doesn't have any meat. It's a very humble place. If you have questions, they're very good at answering them. You should understand what you're getting when you come to a shukubo, which is a very good cultural experience. Oh, I got a little TV here, probably won't need that. This is, I believe, an armrest. Inside here, they told me there's another room where they're storing futons and blankets and things like this. Everything is really neat, and the staff here that are helping me, they're really nice and are also monks. It's really nice and peaceful. There's a clothes hanger as well. The bathrooms are separate; leave your slippers outside.

00:10:36 John Daub: Let's go over and I'll show you where the meditation room is, and I'll maybe show you some of the other areas. There's a second floor here; upstairs is where one of the other travelers is staying. So much green here. Wifi. From the second floor, you have a little bit better view of the Koyasan area. Lot of temples here. I'm gonna be walking around right after I finish with this livestream. I love the decor, the colorings. Look at the gold and shoji (paper screen) paper doors here. Really nice touch to it because it's traditional. Most of the rooms on this side are pretty similar, but it is a lot of space. There's usually two tatami here. Here is a little entrance; you can open one door, close one door. It also helps to keep the bugs from coming in. Very spacious. If you open the screen here, you can see outside some of the other temples across the street. Really nice.

00:14:03 John Daub: They're ringing the bell across the street at another temple, so you're gonna hear that in the background. And it's these little sounds, these little things that create a feeling when you're here of peacefulness. Alright, let's go back down. I'm gonna take you to the meditation room. Here's the garden from another view. There was a monk in here grooming it when we came to check in about an hour ago. Here's the bathrooms here, so this is where I would go if I needed the restroom or to brush my teeth. They've done a really good job to make sure everything is in order. They're pretty accepting of everybody. This is, I guess this is the names of the people that will be eating dinner here, maybe. I believe we're eating dinner near the meditation room. Again, across is where you would go and take a bath. If you don't want to go across and it's raining, you can take this underground passageway. It's not that secret, the sign. When they showed me around, they said that if you want coffee or some drinks, you can get that here, as well as some water. Yeah, I guess that's hot water. You don't find coffee in too many places here. Please do not use these cups for coffee. Coffee is not a really Buddhist thing. They actually have a smoking area. It's a peaceful smoking area.

00:17:19 John Daub: We walked through here, but it seems different when you're on the inside. You have the shoji paper doors and the walkways outside. It's just such a peaceful sound. It's right now summer, so you have the cicada chirping in the background. If you like this, definitely click the thumbs up button. That lets me know that you enjoy this kind of content. I believe we're eating here. There's four mats for four of us; that could be where dinner is. This is a very big tatami room. Out here, they told me that this is where the meditation takes place. The great thing about these shoji sliding paper doors is you can shut them and make smaller rooms and have a level of privacy, or you can open them up and make one big room for events. It gives you the flexibility. Also, in Japanese homes, there was no central heating or cooling, so the way was to let the air in or to let the rooms breathe. In the summer, it keeps it cool by letting everything inside. In the winter, you were kind of cold. Winters are always kind of cold. I remember my first time in a Japanese house; winters are pretty cold and drafty, no insulation.

00:19:29 John Daub: Take a look outside. This is the meditation area. You can see the red carpet here. People can sit here and look at the garden and meditate. I'm going to leave my slippers here, change into these so you can walk into the garden a little bit. This is what you would call a really nice backyard. The great thing is if I walk back a little bit further, I can look back at the accommodations now at the shukubo. Check it out. That's the building we're staying in. Look how beautiful it is set with the blue skies here that we have on a very lucky day. We're very lucky to have this weather in tsuyu (rainy season), which means rainy season in Japan. Tsuyu is a really tough time. We've had a very challenging tsuyu season, especially in Kyushu down there. They've gotten more rain than they needed, a lot of flooding. I feel bad for the people over there; I hope that they're doing okay.

00:21:22 John Daub: Tomorrow is supposed to rain, so you might get your wish. Tomorrow morning I'm planning to do a morning walk around Koyasan, so I might take you with me. Set your alarms somewhere between 6 and 8 am; I'm going to take you for a walk around. What do you guys think of this shukubo? Leave me a comment below. Would you stay here? Koyasan, quiet, peaceful experience. And no, not a lot of things happen. It's not Tokyo Disneyland, okay? Set your expectations to peacefulness, and you can come and observe. I think you leave with a peace inside of you that helps you in times like this, brings you patience and greater appreciation for the things around you. That's what's really great about a place like Koyasan. It makes you stop and think about other things and respecting the nature and the things around you that sometimes we lose sight of, especially in this digital world.

00:24:01 John Daub: As we're staying here, it's not impolite to be late either. They're happy if we can't have any time at all, but knowing when it starts, if you want to see it from the beginning, absolutely. Just when you do come late, be very respectful and have a seat. The most important thing is that you don't disturb anybody and you have a very relaxing stay. Everybody really wants to make sure if you do come and stay at a shukubo that you have a really good time. But you have to understand that what you're getting into is a temple. They're pretty good with being very patient with tourists, international visitors, and people like me too. What a beautiful scene with that blue sky. No wind today, really, and very little humidity because we're at elevation. I believe it's about a thousand meters up.

00:26:00 John Daub: I accidentally entered the office with my shoes on. They were alarmed but still very nice about it. If you've already entered with your shoes, there's not much that you can do. So getting angry doesn't help. But it's a chance for you to remember, yeah, maybe I shouldn't have done that. You can have a good laugh about it and you probably won't do that again. But again, you should be at peace, and when you're here in a shukubo stay, you'll see lots of really chubby shoes. Traditional, you just feel like you're in something larger than yourself. And for me, that's a good feeling. This part is I believe the older part, a couple of hundred years old.

00:27:11 Staff: Konnichiwa.

00:27:19 John Daub: Oh, they have t-shirts too. That's nice. Is there anything I should tell people about important notes about staying at a shukubo or Joki-in? No, not special, but please enjoy here, relax here. Just like that. Arigato. So this is another area. Everything is just so nice and peaceful and clean. They've done a really good job of trying to make everybody feel comfortable. These are a little bit smaller rooms, comfortable. Very nice. It's a lot of rooms here. So I'm going to take you back to my room. If we can get to 500 likes, it's up to you. If you like this tour, give us a thumbs up. Oh, there's the kitchen back there. That's where the magic happens.

00:28:53 John Daub: Actually, I didn't pay for the accommodations this time, so I'm not exactly sure how much it costs, but I'm sure you can look it up. Joki-in is popular, very central and a very popular place to stay. Public transport is good. Nankai is the railway that you want to take, and then when you get to the station, you have to take a bus for about 20 minutes to get to Koyasan. You can only get here by bus or by walking. Walking is kind of a hike, a couple hours I think. You can come by private car, but it's a different road. So it takes a little bit of time to get here, but I think if you do come here, you're going to want to stay for a while. It's a bit expensive, yet very tempting. If you're coming all the way to the other side of the world, probably a good idea to invest a little bit in making sure that you stay in a traditional way. Before the pandemic, there was a lot of tourists coming here, especially from France and neighboring countries. France seemed to be the biggest Western country coming to Koyasan. Not a lot of Americans would come here.

00:30:42 John Daub: Welcome back to my room for tonight. We have pretty nice accommodations. It's very different than yesterday. No, Jack, I won't be going to a soap land. It's a family show, Jack. I'll take some of your questions as I set up this tripod here about staying in shukubo. A lot of people have been asking me for a tour of shukubo and I thought that this would be a pretty cool one. It is a cool room. I'm very lucky to have had the chance to come here; I was invited to this place. This is my view. Check it out on the other side. Very nice. This is what I'm looking at. Not a cemetery, it's a garden. So if you have some questions, you can hit me up. What do you guys think of the shukubo? Is this a place that you would want to stay?

00:32:04 John Daub: Is it full board, breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Typically you don't get a lunch. You might be able to, but there are other restaurants. Typically though, if you stay at a traditional inn, you will get breakfast and dinner. You have dinner and you tell the time that you want to have it. You can have it at 6pm, 7:30pm or 8pm. You don't want to have it too late because you probably want to go to the bath and enjoy yourself a little bit in the room. So between six and eight; eight seems to be the norm for Japanese inns for meals. This is on the table too, and I probably will be reading this to get a little bit more acquainted. Why not? Because when you're here, you can learn about the teachings of Buddha. This booklet belongs to Joki-in. It's bilingual, Japanese and English. That's nice.

00:33:15 John Daub: I'm not a fan of these shared bathrooms, although I understand it would be traditional. There's different kinds of accommodations for all different kinds of people. You can find traditional Japanese inns where the onsen (hot spring) or the bath is in the room and you can have the same hot spring water in your room, which is great for people with tattoos. There's a solution or an accommodation for just about anybody. But it is quite crowded during peak holiday seasons. So I always tell people if you want a nice place that's popular, you probably want to book at least three months in advance and then you'll make sure that you lock it down. Where you stay offers an extremely good experience. The thing that makes Japanese traditional inns and shukubo and places like this add value to it is that it's not a hotel. It's an experience. I think this is very important for you to understand.

00:34:16 John Daub: The typical starting price for a Japanese ryokan (traditional inn) or shukubo is about 14 or 15,000 yen, which is about $130 to $150. That includes breakfast and dinner. And quite often there are places that are in the woods or secluded; you're going to want to have those two meals and possibly if you do stay for more than one night. I encourage you to stay for two nights so you don't feel rushed to leave. I know it's a little bit expensive, but staying in a traditional Japanese inn or a shukubo is going to offer you a traditional experience that you're going to feel like you're in Japan. You don't get that in a business hotel or in a Western hotel. It's very nice to stay at the Intercontinental, I love the Intercontinental, but it's not the experience. It's not a Japanese experience. This is sitting on tatami mats like this, right? This is what you're looking for, and it's worth every single yen, every single penny, because it's about an entire experience: the smells, the sounds, the peaceful water running in the background. All of these little things come together to make a really big experience.

00:35:48 John Daub: I want you to understand that, which is why traditional Japanese inns and shukubo and traditional places to stay in Japan's countrysides are worth the money if they're a little bit expensive. The value, the price is the price; can't really haggle about it. It's about sleeping in a tatami room. There's an air conditioner right there. So shojin ryori is what we'll be having for dinner. It's vegetarian food. Tofu is a very big part of shojin ryori. And I don't know if I'm going to livestream this. We're going to have dinner in a few hours. But if I do make a video out of it, I'd like to introduce you to it a little bit better. The cuisine is very delicious. It's amazing what they can do with very simple ingredients. You don't have to go to a restaurant; you don't need meat. And in traditional Japanese cooking, meat was an additive, not the main dish. It was just a flavoring for the cuisine.

00:37:37 John Daub: Tonight we're going to have shojin ryori, which is a vegetarian Buddhist cuisine that's really delicious and a nice experience. The presentation is wonderful as well. And I think that you can feel spiritual eating food. In Japan, food is a very big part of the culture. So when you come to a traditional Japanese restaurant, you're going to feel a lot like a traditional hotel. The food is a big part of the experience. Do not skimp on the meals and think you're saving money by skipping the meals. You're not. The meals are part of the experience and the value. It's actually quite cheap. It's much cheaper to be eating at the ryokan or shukubo, shojin ryori, than to be eating out at a Japanese restaurant in another place. Eating at your accommodations is in a yukata, a traditional Japanese dress. After I'll put this on and go to the bath in a couple of hours after I walk around a little bit.

00:38:44 John Daub: Japan doesn't mess around with food. They do not. But the reason why I think in terms of a chef, any good chef has a very deep connection with the food that they're preparing. A good chef who loves what they do and they studied this, the ingredients that you cook with are very important. It's not just a business; it's partially an extension of who you are. So when a chef creates food for customers, they don't think so much about the price sometimes. They think it gives you a lot of value. And some of it can be expensive or ridiculously cheap and you can't understand why it's so cheap. It's because maybe if there's volume or the ingredients aren't that much or he's a very humble person. But the great chefs you don't need to tip them. They do it because they love what they do and complimenting them and telling them that their food was really delicious is a huge compliment. It's just a different way of thinking than we do in the West. But I think any great chef is kind of the same way. They take a lot of pride in what they do.

00:40:37 John Daub: Hey, Denise, is there any ryokan etiquette to be aware of on our next trip in the bucket list? Japan has the best food. Thunderbeard, thank you. Dusty's a member. Insane Brobot, it was so nice to meet you at the Furusato Matsuri back in January. That seems so ancient. Hope you've been well. We've been pretty good. We've done a good job of trying to stay healthy and make sure that Kanae is doing quite well. Pozo is always here first and BDarius. Say good morning to Zato71 always. Denise, for ryokan etiquette, first of all, it's very important to understand that you are a guest and you'll be treated as a guest, meaning that the service that you're getting is because you're a guest. Japanese are very omotenashi (hospitality), making sure that you have really good service. There's something extra in it. When you feel good, they feel good. This is a very important concept to understand. But also, this is also their job. They don't ask for a tip, but saying thank you is super appreciated.

00:42:21 John Daub: They really reciprocate well to saying thank you or the chefs telling it was so delicious, I really enjoyed it. Saying things like this means a lot to the people who prepare it. That's not etiquette, but I think that's something that a lot of people forget about. Because if you stay in a Western hotel, it's quite different. People are just doing their jobs in a different way. I always get the feeling that people working in a traditional inn do their jobs for different reasons. They seem to really love it. Other than that, take your shoes off at the genkan (entranceway), put on slippers. Be mindful that the doors are very thin. And after maybe 9 or 10pm, you don't want to even maybe turn the TV off or very low. But just remember, you're paying to stay there, but you're also a guest, one of many other guests. If you're not breaking the harmony of the place, that's important that you protect the harmony of your environment. These are really simple things, but sometimes somebody has to say them.

00:43:50 John Daub: This looks like a little confection. On the table in traditional Japanese inns, and they seem to have it here as well, is a tea set. This is the teapot. There's usually two cups, one for you and somebody else if somebody comes to visit your room. And this is the green tea here. These are tea bags, so it's very simple. Oh, it smells like green tea now. That's nice. And there's usually hot water. The sun has gone down a little bit; it's a little bit in the clouds here. Right now, everywhere has alcohol pumps. So I've been using so much alcohol on my hands. Traveling right now is really tough. I don't think that they have alcohol for dinner. You can hear the cicada really going to town here. So it came in the shell here. Is this like yokan (sweet jellied pastry)? Japanese packaging is very intuitive. Yeah, this is yokan. It becomes like a sandwich. Oh, that's good yokan. I guess it's made from red bean paste, and it's kind of like a jelly. It's very sweet, but not too sweet. Japanese desserts are delicate, very delicate sweetness to this.

00:47:33 John Daub: Does anyone want a prayer? Please remark or check below. Prayer for family's well-being. I can do a prayer for you guys, for our community to have protection against misfortunes. That looks like something that we can do. I'm sure a lot of people are praying for you know what. So maybe I might do this for a better year. Let me take you guys out and show you to the door. Sorry, you can't stay longer. I'm pretending like you're actually here and you are. Say goodbye to the room. It's a nice room. When I came in, they took my temperature. It does look like it's going to be raining soon. Guys, that's an amazing support. So I'm going to go in there and see if I can record this prayer. I'll put it on Instagram and YouTube because I think we've got enough for the biggest prayer of them all. Is the accommodation family friendly? We have two small kids. It depends how small the kids are, but just have to remember that you're not at home and people are coming here mostly for peace. But if the kids are pretty cool, this isn't exactly a place for kids though. Kids would get a little bit bored, but it's a really great cultural experience. And if they're a little bit older, why not? Everyone's kids are different, so you're going to have to make that judgment call.

00:52:25 John Daub: I'm probably won't be praying for ramen noodles. I'm going to pray for a good year. Everybody who gives super chat, I'm just going to up the prayer, up the amount that we give for the prayer. You guys are all going to be in on the prayer. This is going to be great. I'm excited now for tomorrow morning. I got to get up at 6:30 now. Look what you made me do. I thought this would be a great place to end. I just wanted to show you a little bit of Koyasan on what it's like walking around. This is the main street, but behind here, there's a lot of paths, a lot of places for you to go hiking. And it's a very natural place. The bell that we could hear ringing from the second floor was coming from this temple over here. It's very peaceful here. You can see the street is crossed between: this is where the cars go, this is where the people go. Very different.

00:53:45 John Daub: Jason loves Koyasan, did a night walk. Oh, the night walk. I was talking with one of the head monks at the association center about this night tour, and it looks like something that I might be doing tonight. I'm not sure. I think we're going to be invited to one of them and then the four of us will go check it out. That might be something that is hard to livestream. The last time I tried a night tour, the signal was so bad. So I might just record it and upload later. But a night walk is something that's very special. Thanks so much for watching from here in Koyasan, beautiful area in Wakayama, which is not that far away from Osaka. If you're thinking of staying in Osaka or Kyoto, maybe spend two nights here. It's less crowded, more traditional. You feel like you're in Japan more here than you do in Kyoto. I think that's what you're looking for. I want everybody to stay healthy. Thanks so much for watching. Do take care. Take care of yourself and your family. Stay safe, everybody. I'll be praying for you tomorrow morning at 6:30. And there might be still another livestream tonight for dinner and definitely tomorrow morning after the prayer. I'm going to tell you all about it too. Have a good night, good day, and see you very soon in another livestream from Koyasan. It's awesome to be here.