00:03 John Daub: Welcome to Nagoya. This is Sakae-machi or Sakae area, the center. I spent many nights here when I first came to Japan. It's changed so much. This is the first city I lived in in 1998. A lot changed in 2005 when Aichi, when Nagoya hosted the World Expo. It was a pretty big thing. They had the banners for it as early as 1999, six years before.

00:35 John Daub: You can see the Nagoya TV Tower right there, one of the icons of the city. How you doing everybody? I'm here for one night to film something out in the countryside. I'm staying in Nagoya. I polled our insiders on the Only in Japan Go channel—where would you like to see next? Nagoya was number two. It's a new place. It's not a place that I've actually showed a lot, or any YouTuber for that matter.

01:06 John Daub: On YouTube, a lot of Japan YouTubers kind of avoid the city. I'm going to show you a little bit of why maybe you should not. It's pretty cool. I'm going to take you over here because I myself have not been here to see this. This is Oasis 21. It's also a place where people can come and just rest—lots of benches and chairs, some grass. Kind of a green area in the middle of the city.

01:36 John Daub: In this live stream, I'm also going to take you to some of the iconic places in Sakae, Nagoya's entertainment district. You can go down to a place called Crystal Plaza, where everybody meets their friends. Then I'm going to take you to the ID Bar just outside of it and see if that still exists. Whoa, this place looks like the 21st century. Nagoya is really happening—not the Nagoya that I remember. Beautiful.

02:09 John Daub: All right, let's walk around this place a little bit and see what we can find. This is an arts hall—they have exhibitions here. Hey, Shane's posh is here. Hey, Shane. Welcome to Nagoya. So let's walk down this way. I walked past what used to be a pachinko parlor—Japan's first pachinko parlor. In fact, pachinko started in Nagoya, and they used to have a really nice pachinko museum.

02:55 John Daub: I don't know what happened to the pachinko museum or the parlor—it's gone now. We're going to cross the street here, and you're going to see a Ferris wheel and a Don Quijote. That's in the place of where the pachinko parlor was. It's crazy. Why would they do that? You can't replace a pachinko parlor with Don Quijote. I guess you can. There's not a lot of people out at this time of night. Tomorrow night is the big night—Friday night. This is Thursday night, so by default, this is my Friday night because tomorrow I'm not going out at all—we edited the video I just took. I'm so excited about this new video. It is pretty colorful and bright at night. I forgot about all the subway lines—the Higashiyama Line and the Meijo Line, which is kind of like a circle line. So different than Tokyo.

04:00 John Daub: This park right here in front of the TV Tower is very much like Sapporo's Odori Park—Hisaya-odori Park. You can see in the distance there's a TV tower. I've always been really amazed at the similarities between them. But what's the difference? What didn't exist when I first lived here was what's on the left and right—like Polo, all these brand shops. This was not here in 1998. There was a lot of homeless, some benches, grass, a fountain somewhere. Now it's so trendy. What's up with that? What happened to you, Nagoya? It's very confusing. Over there is the Mitsukoshi department store, and just like in Tokyo, they have a lion there.

05:16 John Daub: Wow, this brings back so many memories. Nagoya is the third biggest city in Japan, but it's had a shrinking population for a while. When I moved to Japan, I lived in Okazaki, Toyohashi, here in the city in Fujigaoka, and not far away in a place called Kasai. That's where I believe Ichiro played high school baseball. It's a nice suburban area to live, fueled by manufacturing. A lot of people came here after World War II, especially from Brazil—there's a big Brazilian population, Brazilian restaurants, a little bit more colorful spirit. When I lived in Toyohashi, I had a ton of Brazilian friends, which was great because it was 2002 and Japan had the World Cup with Korea. Brazil won that one.

06:43 John Daub: All right, in front of us now is Don Quijote. I'm almost positive this used to be a pachinko parlor. There's a Ferris wheel that I remember walking by but never gave much attention—another symbol of the new Sakae, not the old Sakae that I know. It's a different world. You can see the outside still has that old feeling—this was the first pachinko parlor, now converted into a Don Quijote. Super bright, all the bright lights. The street across is that Ferris wheel. If you go straight this way, get to Nagoya Station—about a 35-minute walk. I did it so many times to save 200 yen for a beer.

08:17 John Daub: Hey, Peter's here—Peter von Gomm. I visited Sapporo this year during the snow festival, so you could say this very much looks like Odori Park. Queen of Tacos—long time no see. John, in case you get hungry or thirsty, you got it. I actually have a story about that Queen of Tacos. I put that money to good use—that's why it's not called a midnight snack run. MJ Recording Studio Productions from Philippines—thank you. Nice to see Shane here. Hope everything's going well, brother. Sunshine Sakae is what it's called. I'm not really in a mood to do a Ferris wheel on a Thursday night without Kanae. I'd get in trouble—not supposed to have any fun at all while traveling around.

09:20 John Daub: This is the Sakae Chika—chika (basement) means basement in Japanese, by the way. Chika is also a Japanese girl's name, but it depends on the kanji. When you see it in romaji, there's only one way to say it. So chika means basement, one of the ways to say it. I'm going to take you down there right now if it's still open. Whoa, this building right here was the only internet cafe in 1998. Whenever I wanted to send email back home to the United States, I had no options in Okazaki, so I had to take the Meitetsu Express 40 minutes into Nagoya, walk 45 minutes or take the subway—but I'd walk. It cost 1200 yen or twelve dollars for one hour of internet. That was so slow—I could only send like ten messages to my parents and buddies. When I went back home with pictures that size on the 10th floor—now that building is still here, but the cafe is gone. No wonder they were ripping me off. In their defense, they gave a free complimentary drink.

10:46 John Daub: That building's still there. We'll walk around and see what else is still here. I hope the signal lasts. We're just going to walk through here and come out the other side. Get my mask on. This is so clean compared to '98—so many changes. Every time I come back to Nagoya, something's changed because I live in Tokyo and notice changes there but not here. Alright, where's the Crystal Palace or Crystal Plaza? It used to be right here—am I missing something? Where did it go? It's gone. Hey, Jeff Ang—hi John, enjoying the live stream, get some freshness. Nathan Simpson's here—how you doing? I'm so confused. There was a big Crystal Palace with a fountain and everything—so interesting, and now it's gone.

12:23 John Daub: There's Mitsukoshi, and back in 1999 I remember coming here one day and smelling something familiar. I walked in—they just opened the first Cinnabon in Japan in Nagoya right there. The smell was wafting down the steps. Japanese lined up for three days, then the lines stopped and Cinnabon went away, came back a few years later in Tokyo. A lot of people don't understand—this is Japan's Midwest, the Ohio, the heart of Japan right here. When shops wanted to test new products, they came here—not Tokyo, not Osaka, in the middle—it's Nagoya, a great place to test market products. Not far away in Fujigaoka, Taco Bell test-marketed tacos in Japan in 1996—it failed miserably. Everybody thought it was a takoyaki place. Japanese weren't ready for Mexican-American food—they'd go in disappointed: where's the takoyaki? Now with the internet, it's easy to get information and figure it out—oh, takosu, because tako is called takosu in Japanese.

13:57 John Daub: Whoa! How many times have I gone into this bank to withdraw cash because I was going to a club in my 20s? Wow, too many—look at my fingerprints on those ATMs. Across the street is Mitsukoshi—I'm not going to show you the lions, you've seen them in Tokyo. This is where all the nightclubs are now. It's about to get real. Hey, Marty's here. Over there is another parallel street—I never really go this way, it gets a little smuttier, sort of like Kabukicho. Unlike Kabukicho, Nagoya is just so much smaller—not in a disappointing way, it's more compact. That's not a bad thing at all. Onwards and upwards. I don't remember what this building was, but it's gone. Down this way was a Daiei.

16:00 John Daub: A lot of young people out—some not wearing masks, talking to each other. Nagoya is part of Aichi Prefecture, Aichiken—capital of Aichi-ken, one of Japan's 47 prefectures, manufacturing powerhouse—or used to be, now everything's made in China. I haven't walked down here in years, so this is very interesting for me too—see how it's all changed. A lot of other expats might be watching the playback, trying to see: do you even remember that? There's a lot of stuff I don't remember. Behind that building I used to use the internet in so many times—this was just dumpsters, now they put restaurants in there. I smell some food—I had dinner already, that's why it's not a midnight snack run, but I can get a drink. Look at the construction. Straight ahead is a Maruzen, big bookstore—was that here? I think so. I used to read a lot of books because there wasn't any internet back then—no smartphones, I didn't even have a DVD player, I had VHS in '98. Had to go to Tsutaya to rent VHS cassettes—expensive, and I was always late.

18:10 John Daub: What's going on here? Some sort of ritual—keep walking, don't look them in the eye. It's almost midnight. This is getting near the entertainment center, and not too far is the ID Bar—wow, a lot of memories were made there. Wow, it's so cleared out. This is not how I remembered it—it's so open. I think this was the Daiei, and Wendy's on the corner. Wendy's partnered with Daiei in the 1990s, awful partnership—they pulled out of Japan, came back with another partner like First Kitchen, much better now. Whoa, so first of all, there's a parking lot here I don't remember. This used to be all smutty like Roppongi in the '90s. If you went straight ahead, there was a new building 20 years ago that's no longer new—right over there, sort of dark. There's a Loft where I'd buy gifts to take back to the U.S., and the famous crab restaurant—Sapporo Beer Kaniya. This is not exactly the Nagoya I remember.

20:45 John Daub: All right, let's walk through here and wrap around. Fascinating. A lot of little bars here—don't remember them at all. With the parking lot, it's a lot more open than I remember Nagoya being. I remember walking past this—it's a horse meat restaurant, basashi (raw horse meat). Pretty hardcore. I think we're getting closer to the ID Bar because I see ID. My friend Lauren who lives in New York now—man, we went out here a lot. She'd be my wingwoman—you can't go out by yourself, you need a partner in crime. This is interesting—a kushikatsu (skewered cutlet) restaurant. This was not this clean—what is wrong with this place? And then over here is the infamous ID Bar. They have several floors where stuff is happening—sounds like music, but I don't think there's anybody inside. Looks shady—all the windows blacked off.

23:35 John Daub: I remember one time I forgot my gaijin card (foreigner registration card) and they wouldn't let me in—I had to stand outside while my friends had fun. Awful—you need ID for the ID Bar, not just any ID. Weird rules back in '98-'99. There's something going on in there. That's a tall Nana-chan come to life—look at those legs, Nana-chan from yesterday. Alright, ID Bar—we can check it off the list. It's still here. These kids are up to no good—I better keep moving, don't look them in the eyes. This feels like Escape from New York with Kurt Russell—Snake Plissken. These guys aren't wearing masks—I can't go this way, going around. That's a new bar—says W, maybe something with the ex-president, double U? It's a Pikachu vending machine—what are you doing in a shady place like this, Pikachu? There's one Pokemon mugi-cha (barley tea) drink—no, I'm not getting it, just marketing. Rika Mountain—Liquor Mountain. Liquor—I hardly know her.

27:41 John Daub: I'm a Tokyo person—out of place here, don't look anyone in the eyes. Stuff happens. It's such an interesting city—they've cleared it out, so much wider, more spacious and cleaner than before. I could see myself coming out here with bros and damaging ourselves—not good. Today I went to Inuyama, a castle town with a unique street resembling old Edo period—lots of old buildings, shops. I was thinking of going back tomorrow. So I want everybody to give a thumbs up—let's get to 750 likes, I'll get a beer. You give me the likes, I get the beer. After 750 likes, tomorrow's live stream: A, back to Inuyama Castle Town with Edo history and street food, or B, Nagoya Castle where deer roam wild in the moats. Castle or Inuyama—both fine with me, you choose. Moderators can tell me who wins based on audience brute force.

29:52 John Daub: That guy's wasted—he cannot drive. Whoa, he's swerving—danger. The good thing about being 46 is I don't do that anymore. For those asking about Jerry's Uno, taco place—still in business. I walked by Osu Kannon, ate dinner there—Osu Kannon (temple) is one of the most interesting places in Japan, a shotengai (covered shopping arcade) with really interesting restaurants, including a Japanese guy who won best pizza chef in the world one year. He lives in Nagoya—usually a line around the corner, but nobody was there. 350 yen or $3.50 for one pizza—keeps prices low in the spirit of Neapolitan pizza from Napoli. He makes sauce, cheese, crust to specifications—Ria Pizzeria. He does pizza properly.

32:10 John Daub: We're not even close to 750 likes—this is weak, very disappointed. For those in the U.S. waking up on the East Coast, it's almost lunchtime; West Coast, breakfast. Whoa, look at that samurai—pretty awesome, good restaurants out here. There's the entrance to the Loft—don't know if it's still in business. We've walked through much of Sakae—I missed some spots. There's miso katsu (miso-glazed cutlet), famous chain here, but average—I've had better where old ladies cook it outside the city center with kishimen (flat noodles). That's full-on Nagoya cuisine—good stuff, something about the miso from being near Gifu and Chubu area mountains. What did Shane write? Please hit the like button—I can't on my own video. We got it—758. Next conbini (convenience store), I'm jumping in there.

34:31 John Daub: You having fun? Click the like button—that's creepy, feel bad for this lady standing in the dark. She's ashamed, hat over her face—picked the wrong shop. This is not the Sakae I remember—so much cleaner, no filthy people or animals. Maybe wait until tomorrow after Friday and post-pandemic. Francis, 750—get a beer. Legoland is here in Nagoya because Universal Studios is in Osaka, Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo—if you have a Japan Rail Pass, doesn't matter. Let's get a brew—this one's a tribute to Shane. Shane picks it—350 or 500 ml? Shane said Asahi—official sponsor. Doesn't the alcohol kill germs? Sanitized now. To Nagoya—to the future, to midnight in Nagoya. Pour some out for your homies—just a drop for all of you. Romans spilled for the gods—wasted 20 ml, that'll trickle to you in Canada in 12-20,000 years.

40:19 John Daub: Welcome to Nagoya—this is the main street again, I think Otsu-dori. Hasn't lived here in 22-23 years, but this road has tons of brand shops—pretty quiet now. I'm gonna cross to Mitsukoshi, look at the TV Tower and Ferris wheel, then back to the hotel—tired, gotta wake up early. I need to hear from you: tomorrow, Nagoya Castle or Inuyama Castle Town? Vote—Inuyama spelled I-N-U-Y-A-M-A. It's balanced—Inuyama leading. Someone living in Nagoya two years suggests Doma City Dance Festival or World Cosplay Summit—great topics, pandemic holding them back, but Cosplay Summit would be insane—I'd cover it, maybe in cosplay. There's the Ferris wheel in the center of Sakae. Peaceful at night. Inuyama still leading, though Nagoya Castle contending—real castles only.

44:52 John Daub: These comments are awful—not kindergarten sand castles, Hooters, Don Quijote, Castlevania. I've walked much of Sakae—interesting, very interesting. I love Nagoya—this is our town. This is Spartagoya. Over there is the Nagoya TV tower. Glad we enjoyed an evening together. Tomorrow another live stream—not sure Inuyama or Nagoya Castle yet. If time, Inuyama for sure; if rush, Nagoya Castle—but doing one, bringing you Nagoya. Can't go wrong—Inuyama later for street food, but pandemic closed many shops there today, quiet and depressing, shop owners not energized. Insiders and travelers, poll up soon—vote Nagoya Castle or Inuyama, winner is where I go.

48:36 John Daub: Any questions on Nagoya? I'll take one, then home. Nagoya is my cultural home—where I came to Japan. Wherever you start, that city unites your expat hood. I know Tokyo and Osaka well, but Nagoya changed so much since I lived here—shame, gotta remedy that, come back. Famous for pachinko, Toyota—city of Toyota nearby, tax money from car manufacturing, Midwest feel like Pittsburgh or Chicago. Center of Japan between Tokyo-Osaka—test stores for national products here. Food specialties: miso katsu, kishimen, raw chicken sashimi (torisashi)—strange but interesting, good ramen. Might do ekiben (station bento) live stream tomorrow. Hayama is in Kanagawa—not here, but Hayama beef is emperor's wagyu, really good.

50:53 John Daub: Thanks for watching—hope informative. Japan maybe opening April—nothing definitive, but murmurs for spring 2021 depending on world situation. Oasis 21—I started the stream here at 11:35. Big shoutout to Shane—this chug is for you, but don't chug, not good for health. Peace out.