00:00:06 John Daub: Welcome to Tokyo Station. This is the modern Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station, and I came to this exact spot right next to the Tokyo Central Post Office. This is where I deliver most of the postcards every month for the Patreon postcard club. This view is kind of significant because in 2027, you can already see the cranes there, right? It's going to change, and you're going to have Japan's tallest building in this exact spot. Do you see the picture there in front of us? Right now in the picture is the Torch Tower. It's not there now, but it will be.

00:00:45 John Daub: This is a mock-up done by Mitsubishi Estate, who's going to be constructing this. We're going to walk over from this point and take a look at the construction site to see what the area is like now. This will be used in historical references to see what this area used to be like. So I'm going to share some information with you about the Torch Tower. This was announced just about four days ago, and it's going to radically change the landscape. Look at that building right there in front of where the Torch Tower will be. That's a pretty tall building, right? Now the Torch Tower is going to be 390 meters, dwarfing all the other tall buildings in Japan.

00:01:29 John Daub: Right now the Abeno Harukas building in Osaka is the tallest building in Japan at 300 meters. Before that there was the Yokohama Landmark Tower, which was the tallest for quite a long time at 296.3 meters. You can see that building from so far away. We're now walking over and checking out how the dynamics of the city are going to change, keeping that building as your landmark as we walk. Mitsubishi Estate is building it right there behind this building. It's going to stand in the sky. A little further down, it's going to be the Tokyo Torch Tower. So let's go over there right now and check it out.

00:02:25 John Daub: This is the modern Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station, a historical site because of the red bricks, which is kind of unique for Tokyo. I've brought you here many times in the past. I believe it was constructed around 1912-1913, built in the style of Amsterdam's Central Station. Japan Rail took a lot of notes from European railways, especially in Holland, because Japan and the Dutch have always had a pretty unique relationship. Now the Torch Tower is on the north side of Tokyo Station; this is the modern Marunouchi south side. So let's get over to the north side.

00:03:10 John Daub: On the way, I'm going to share some photos and information about this Torch Tower. I'm so excited—when you hear about the city that you've lived in for so long evolving and changing, that's exciting stuff. Construction won't start until next year, which is going to be interesting because we're going to get a chance to see what it looks like before it turns into something incredible made for people. The design seems highly influenced by the pandemic, with a lot more open space and higher ceilings to make it less possible for viruses or infections to spread. They put a lot of thought into this, and they might have even changed the plans as a result.

00:04:15 John Daub: In the next few years, it would be really cool to talk with the designers and get an idea of what that building looks like. It's never too late to get started, so let me know in the comments if you guys want to save some space-time for a new video of mine.

00:04:31 John Daub: Thank you for joining me today, and I appreciate you watching this video until the end. I'll see you in the next video. Bye.

00:04:59 John Daub: 305 days to go—it's kind of exciting to see that too. There's been so much uncertainty with the Olympic Games. Oh, it's weird—it says 337 days on this side. What's the correct one? Oh, this is the Paralympic Games countdown; that makes sense. So 337 days to the Paralympic Games, and that clock has been reset and set many times. To be honest, it's been a disaster—there were times it said like 1000 days. When I saw the two different dates, I got extremely confused because it's been so inconsistent.

00:05:39 John Daub: Here is the modern Marunouchi north entrance—this is the north side of Tokyo Station, and both of these two towers on the Marunouchi side are pretty significant in themselves. Let's go take a quick look—enter in and exit out. As you can see, the roof is beautiful in here, and they put a net in between to keep the pigeons from pooping up there because there was a pigeon problem back in the day. It is a very beautiful historic side of the city of Tokyo.

00:06:26 John Daub: All right, let's move on. If you do have a Japan Rail Pass, this is where you would get it validated, as well as buy or pick one up—it says Japan Rail Pass on the corner. This is the north exit of Tokyo Station.

00:06:58 John Daub: Now the Go To Travel campaign has started, and again there's that building I showed you before—it's really tall. You have no idea how small this is going to be compared to the new building. It's crazy to think how different this is going to be. We're walking over to that spot now.

00:08:21 John Daub: On this side of the station, there's not a lot of people—it's okay to remove your mask a little bit. This side of Tokyo Station—I've lost my notes; they fell off my bicycle, I believe—but I think I remember most of it. This is the Tokiwabashi entrance to Edo Castle back in the 15th century before the castle burned down. Tokyo Station was the first to be built in the 19th century, so this is where the Tokiwabashi (eternal peace bridge) is. Technically it's like Nihonbashi-Tokiwabashi area.

00:08:51 John Daub: I want you to picture this back in the 15th-16th century when Edo Castle was here—it's completely different than what you see today: a modern Tokyo and an ancient Tokyo all coming together on this spot. When we get to this intersection, if we look to the left, you're going to get a view in the distance of the Imperial Palace, which is pretty much where the site of Edo Castle used to be, built in the same area. This side is also called Otemachi—there's a lot of office buildings.

00:09:28 John Daub: This 67-story, 63-story building called Torch Tower—a lot of people have been scratching their heads. Does Tokyo need more office space with this pandemic and uncertainty? People might be moving outside of the city. There are some questions, and I believe the Mitsubishi Estate CEO said they're not sure what the demand is going to be post-pandemic, but the project is planned to go on. Instead of 100 stories, they have 63 stories—they just make more locations for the public, a larger observation deck set at 350 meters high.

00:10:31 John Daub: All right, here's the intersection. If you look straight at the end of the street, you'll see all those trees—that's the Imperial Palace where the Emperor lives, about where Edo Castle was. Right over there is Tokiwabashi, one of the ancient gates to Edo Castle. It's crazy to think the observation deck of this new Torch Tower is going to be taller than Tokyo Tower by like 20 meters. The building itself is 390 meters.

00:11:24 John Daub: This is called Tokiwa Gate right there from the old Edo Castle. This building here will be completed next year—also called the Tokiwa Building. This building in front of you, the Asahi Insurance Building or something like that, is going to be demolished. It's already been deserted—this is going to be a big construction zone; it's been cleared out.

00:12:03 John Daub: We'll go across the street—let's go around this Pasona Building, owned by Pasona, a staffing company, like a competitor to Recruit. Pasona will be moving into this building. This is the Tokiwa Building, which was pretty unique because before they started construction of this massive building—going to be almost 200 meters high—it was famous for being about this high with all these plants around it. It was really striking. When they tore it down, they put this sleek office building up pretty quickly. Some offices look like they're in use already, but it's slated to open next year.

00:13:00 John Daub: Looking down here, you can see this is the Pasona Building behind it—all going to be demolished. It's an old-looking Showa-era building with smaller windows and tile construction. Nothing wrong with that, but there's going to be a massive courtyard between the two buildings—a place where people can go. Now we're behind that building—do you remember that building that didn't look so high? The Torch Tower is 66% taller than this one. I'm going to hurt my neck looking up at it—that's so insane.

00:14:01 John Daub: From where we started at the Tokyo Central Post Office, it doesn't look as tall—that's a good starting point. But when you get right here on the spot and use that building as an indicator, wow. Let me get to the other side and show you the picture again—lining this up, that Torch Tower was in the news four days ago. 63 floors, 390 meters—what's that in feet? About 1,280 feet. Pretty significant.

00:14:50 John Daub: Here's where we started—that was the exact scene. Do you remember this building right there? That's this one right here, and it's pretty tall. When you think about it, I can't imagine how much taller this is—more than twice as tall. My neck is going to hurt looking at that too. It won't be until 2027. Here's a timeline: Step zero started in 2016 when they planned this project. They've been talking about redevelopment since 2002 as part of Tokyo's urban redevelopment program.

00:15:26 John Daub: In 2021 June, construction starts on the Torch Tower—they start tearing down and prepping in 2022, putting in underground pipes and water for the building, completed in 2027. That's massive. We're gonna take a look at some other areas with these pictures—I'm really excited I came here today.

00:16:37 John Daub: One of the things they promoted is you'll have an amazing view from this building of Tokyo Tower, and I think it's going to stay like that. On top, they're intending to make a park—looks pretty amazing. A lot of you couldn't be here, especially buffs of new construction. Here's what the courtyard is going to look like, but I wanted to show you the observation deck. I think that's Mount Fuji in the distance—this is indoors or I don't know, but this is the top of the Torch Tower, like a park where people can chill and look at the city from 350 meters up. Is that not the coolest thing?

00:17:43 John Daub: This is the rendition—it looks really nice. I've seen the city of Tokyo evolve. This is going to be the courtyard between the two buildings—this darker one is the one right above you. In between is going to be a courtyard—about 10,000 square meters of space. Looks like shops in this new building over here—Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei Inc., a branch of the Mitsubishi Group. You can see the Torch Tower shopping center, which looks very futuristic, next-decade looking, with a lot of trees—the trend in Tokyo, like the Olympic Stadium with its natural wooden look.

00:18:34 John Daub: Loads of space for the courtyard—beautiful, outdoors cafes, life post-pandemic. You can see Nihonbashi in the distance. This is the most interesting part—this whole design is Nihonbashi. I don't see the highway going over Nihonbashi anymore—that's breaking news; it's pretty significant. During the 1964 Olympics, they constructed the highway around Tokyo so quickly, using canals and drying up rivers. It looks like part of the redevelopment, they're putting the highway underground or redirecting it—beautifying Nihonbashi, like in the ukiyo-e woodblock prints with Mount Fuji in the background. That's awesome—I'm pretty stoked.

00:20:28 John Daub: There you can see Tokyo Station represented in gold right there, how close it is—just across here, Tokyo Station's Nihonbashi entrance where the buses are. We're in a wind tunnel—hold on. We're going to get nice views of Mount Fuji—Fuji-san in spring, autumn, winter. But we have to wait because right now this building's in the way—the old Pasona Building is going to be demolished soon. I've been making videos about buildings leaving us in Tokyo because of the pandemic—this one is just urban planning.

00:21:38 John Daub: Before we go, I want to show you the Torch Tower at night—this is the view from the Tokyo Central Post Office, and that's what it's going to look like. Wow, it's so tall—hard to see the perspective, how much sky it'll cover. Where we're standing, it's more than double the height of this building right there. Crazy—how are the flying cars going to get around this? Up here is the observation deck, that amazing park I showed you—beautiful up there.

00:22:44 John Daub: I cannot wait to be sitting up there. According to the designs, there's also a 100-room hotel as part of the Torch Tower, right next to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and other luxury hotels—this area is famous for that. Probably a helipad—there's a lot in Tokyo. We're saying goodbye to the Pasona Building; they bet they'll start tearing it down pretty soon, especially with the Tokiwabashi Building construction. This building will be completed next year—you're going to see a lot of new shops and evolution in Tokyo Station. I'm excited because I live in this area.

00:24:00 John Daub: Oh, there's some more pictures—I'm getting excited for something new. The Olympics next year, then gone—what do we have to look forward to? A massive koi pond! How can I move out of Tokyo now? This confirms rumors they intend to get rid of the highway near Nihonbashi—they're really opening it up, beautifying it like they've talked about for 15-20 years. Look at that koi pond—that could be you.

00:24:53 John Daub: I had a friend who used to hock and spit, and the koi would eat it—really disgusting. That was not me—it wasn't Peter von Gomm; somebody else. Isn't Japan overall building heights limited due to earthquakes? Very true—over the last 10 years, technology has changed, enabling taller buildings. I did an NHK special with Tokyo Eye inside Skytree, the world's largest freestanding tower. I saw the earthquake resistance—the Skytree survived the 2011 earthquake well.

00:26:12 John Daub: Landmark Tower in Yokohama has a big ball inside that counters earthquake movements to stabilize. There are unique materials like carbons with greater bend. Historically Tokyo was limited, but technology pushes limits—dream plans like a three-kilometer high building.

00:27:36 John Daub: That's the Tokiwabashi Tower—opening next year across the street. This is Nihonbashi with the highway above it, but in the other picture it wasn't there—we want Nihonbashi beautiful; that's Japan's bridge. I'm kind of angry about the ugly highway. This is the Torch Tower next to the new Tokiwabashi Tower—you can see how tall. This building is double the size—my neck hurts looking up; I can't fathom how tall the Torch Tower is. It has a lot of width and floor space—500,000 square meters or something.

00:29:14 John Daub: Here's the highway over Nihonbashi—such a shame; hope they beautify it. Here we see cranes—Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei Inc. are constructing. This is also the spot of the remains of Zenigamebashi bridge—historically ukiyo-e views of Mount Fuji, but now you just see Shinkansen.

00:30:36 John Daub: This is part of the construction, backside of the Pasona Building on the chopping block. There's a lot of construction that ended for Tokyo 2020 Olympics—now post-Olympics, construction for the future of Tokyo starts, including Torch Tower and others.

00:32:02 John Daub: Above us is the Shinkansen—Torch Tower will have epic views of Fuji and Shinkansen from 350 meters. Anjin-san, good question—who's the architect? Specifically, um... This is another look back at the spot behind Pasona—this will be completely different in 2027.

00:33:37 John Daub: Just walking backwards—it's so tall; Torch Tower more than double this building. 390 meters—hard, but we have Tokyo Skytree at 634 meters for scale. Oshiage where Skytree is is flat, but here lots competing for sky space.

00:34:43 John Daub: This is the left side of Pasona—tile style unique, 1950s institutional windows. I'll put pictures in our Discord server—almost 10,000 members, where we discuss after live streams, ask Japan questions—headquarters for travelers like Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree: discord.gg/onlyinjapango. Free and awesome for community.

00:36:24 John Daub: Here's the back loading docks of Pasona and parking for Mitsukoshi department store. Tokyo's population decreasing—do we need the office space post-pandemic? Developers aren't sure. Here's Tokyo Station where we started by the International Post Office—we walked across under tracks around the Torch Tower site, across is Tokyo Station Park, which stays. Between buildings, beautiful courtyard with cafes—pretty excited.

00:37:38 John Daub: I got a new video on Omi beef and Wagyu history coming in 48 hours—just final subtitles. This is a pretty interesting live stream. This building above is less than half the Torch Tower—insane, more than double, right over here. They're getting rid of this building—fascinating.

00:38:54 John Daub: For those joining now, this is the courtyard between Torch Tower and Tokiwa Tower—size incredible. This is that tower I showed. I cannot contemplate how tall. This is the park on the roof—golden area like a park in the sky. Extraordinary.

00:40:03 John Daub: We're walking back to Tokyo Station—this building gets knocked down; looks abandoned. Behind is Pasona—this whole square becomes Torch Tower, double this building. A lot of you been here traveling—going to be completely different, Otemachi Station entrance changes, more crowded. Not many attractions on north side unless office job.

00:41:04 John Daub: Jordan, you'll love Omi beef episode—coordinated drone shots, music with cuts; connects with people. This road is Eitaibashi Dori leading to Eitaibashi bridge—important from where I live down to Imperial Palace. Five-minute taxi to Tokyo Station—jump on Shinkansen if needed, or to Haneda for $30. Pays to live here; older building not too pricey.

00:42:46 John Daub: That's north tower, north entrance to Tokyo Station. I've been with NHK World since 2008—over 12 years. Freelance reporter for Tokyo Eye, Journeys in Japan, etc. Salary trickles up by years. Did Teach Me Ninja Sensei as Indian Ninja—don't ask. Friend Josh was American Ninja.

00:44:37 John Daub: Honor working with NHK pros—learned production, equipment, shots. Before YouTube, directed for BS Fuji English series with DHC—TV background cool, slower but different product.

00:45:55 John Daub: UHO Finger—did I like new Torch Tower design better than 2015? Planning started 2016, so not sure. Demolition 2021—they announced name four days ago, exciting mock-ups. Now where it would be—no sunlight mornings. Too many shops? Building massive above north Tokyo Station.

00:46:57 John Daub: Another building for Godzilla—keep him busy marching from sea, aiming for Torch with laser eyes. Movies with Tokyo taller—Gojira sees from Pacific, Hawaii.

00:47:23 John Daub: Walking back to post office—more people due to Go To Travel, moving out of Tokyo. Infection rate way down vs. worldwide. Everybody masked—even outdoors, pockets inside. Like prophylactics—reduces risk with distancing.

00:48:31 John Daub: There's Imperial Palace, Shinmarunouchi and Marunouchi buildings. Tokiwabashi project—first building done next year; tore down iconic plant building. Tokyo Station Hotel—overpriced; $30 pot of tea once, they paid.

00:50:28 John Daub: Tonight interview with Paul, Penguin Latte podcaster in Vegas—humbled, helping creators. Neat name—penguins drinking lattes.

00:51:22 John Daub: Cross street—remember Tokyo Station for last look. Many can't make it to Tokyo—this is what I live for. Tomorrow 21st or 22nd-23rd to Tokorozawa for LED manhole covers and new anime hotel—inside look. Why Saitama? One Punch Man? Figure it out, live streams multiple time zones.

00:52:49 John Daub: Back at start—Hato Bus here, domestic tourists. Waved at kid. Story: Ariake two weeks ago BMX venue—Hato Bus made bus maze labyrinth like English mazes, tickets for small crowds. Buddy invited but leg issue.

00:54:51 John Daub: Last thing—looking back at Tokyo Station scene. Soon view changes completely—started and ending with this, cool. Absorb how tall. Tokyo always recreating—every 10 years changes; Torch Tower revolutionizes landscape, taller than Shinjuku.

00:55:45 John Daub: New skyscraper in Roppongi by Mori 330m in 2023—tallest for 3-4 years before Torch. View I showed many times changes—next Japan trip 2023 see buds, 2027 done. Exciting—Olympics first. Subscribe for 2021 coverage, venues live. New channel youtube.com/JohnDaub. Wagyu soon, earthquake sim next week. Thumbs up, bye.