00:00:01 John Daub: We are now rolling in on the Shinkansen to Nagoya Station. In this live stream, I'm going to be taking you inside of Nagoya Station, JR, and then walking over to Meitetsu Nagoya, another station just next to it, and looking at the amazing layout. So, welcome to Nagoya Station. We're just arriving right now. Wait for it. Wait for it.

00:01:25 John Daub: Welcome to Nagoya Station. What an opening that was. For the next 15-20 minutes, we're going to be looking around Nagoya Station. Let me take you to the front of the Shinkansen. I am so excited to be here. I've come here to film an episode for the main channel, the new channel. And, oh, he uses the windshield wiper fluid to clean off this amazing train. Wow. And above us on the Shinkansen, you see Nagoya Station right there. That's one of the hotels and the towers there. Here comes another Shinkansen going by real fast.

00:02:22 John Daub: Not a lot of people were on the train. Not a lot of people were getting off the train here in Nagoya. So, this should be a pretty good tour. Let's take a look inside of the Nagoya Station Shinkansen platform and terminal, and then we're going to walk over to the JR local trains where the Tokaido Main Line goes by, see where the Nagoya subway system starts, and then make our way over to Meitetsu, which is a local train I used to take to get to Okazaki and Toyohashi. But there are other Meitetsu lines. Meitetsu is really big in the Nagoya area.

00:02:56 John Daub: A lot of construction back here. This is the backside of Nagoya Station. That Mikawa-Anjo Station, many people consider to be the shortest station where you can go full speed. So, that's the short one. There was in the news about two or three years ago, Indonesian tourists were coming to Nagoya, and they would get tickets to go to Mikawa-Anjo, because it was the cheapest and the shortest experience to ride the Shinkansen in all of Japan. And they're actually right. I've ridden that many times to get back to the Toyohashi area. You can also go on to Toyohashi, which is the next station.

00:03:47 John Daub: I can smell it over there. That's tsuyu (plum rain season). The dashi. A noodle stand right on the Shinkansen platform. How cool is that? There's also ekiben (station bento). Lots of vending machines. The usual. The JR highway buses are right here outside of the back entrance to Nagoya Station. You can see one highway bus right there. They go to places that might be convenient if you don't want to take the train, save a little bit of money if you're on a JR rail pass. Highway buses are not too bad.

00:04:24 John Daub: How you doing everybody? Goodbye Shinkansen. Hello local trains. It is really really quiet right here in Nagoya Station. Let's make our way out towards the local trains. Get some miso katsu (fried pork cutlet with miso sauce). So within the JR station here, if you want to take the Tokaido or something, you can just jump on to the local trains. There's a transfer right there. If you want to go out to the station, to Meitetsu, you might not want to go this way. But that's pretty much it. Pretty neat. The Tokaido line and a couple other lines are over in that direction.

00:05:25 John Daub: We're going to exit into the Nagoya Station itself and take you to Meitetsu. That's the line I gotta take. Gotta get my ticket out here. Here it is right here. Tokyo to Nagoya. It was 10,500 yen or about $100 to get here. Oh he's fixing the ticket thing. You can see how complicated these ticket machines are. They're so complicated, aren't they? Alright, let's get out of here.

00:06:23 John Daub: Meitetsu is this way. But before we go to Meitetsu, let's take a look around Nagoya Station. Now this station was renewed way, way back in the year 2000. I moved to Japan in 1998 to a city called Okazaki on the Meitetsu line. And back then Nagoya was undergoing a huge transformation for the 2005 World Expo. It came to Aichi-ken, which is Nagoya. So all these new buildings came, including renovations to Nagoya Station. Now I wasn't, I moved away before all those renovations were done. And when I came back like several years later, it was really nice.

00:07:14 John Daub: So let me take you to the front part of Nagoya Station, which is just stunning. And I think we can wrap around to the Meitetsu off of the street. This region is, I believe just a little bit north of here, is called the Mikawa region. Very famous for stone masonry, fireworks, miso katsu, really good pork in this area. Kishimen (flat noodles), which is kind of special for Nagoya. And you can find a lot of that right here. Let's see what they got on the menu. Some bowls of noodles. That looks really good. That looks like miso katsu right there. Unagi (eel) is also good in the Shizuoka area, not too far away, Hamamatsu.

00:08:12 John Daub: Here's the central entrance to the JR lines. Get the Takayama from here. Alright, here's the new part of the station. It does look a little aged. Probably the same floors that I've run through here with my mom about when she visited some 10 years ago. By the way, the Suica card here is called Toica. Just so you know, it's a different card. But you can use Suica here. Just like I use Kitaca, which is from Hokkaido. So they're regional, the IC cards, but they're all in the same system.

00:09:05 John Daub: Alright, see where this brown floor starts is the new part of the station. And it is stunning. Well, it was in 2004 when I came back here and saw it. It's like, wow, everything's new. The meeting clock. People are usually waiting in front of there for their friends or family. I'm going to take you up to the second floor just to get a look of the Nagoya Station area. Takashimaya (department store) is inside of here. And I'll take some of your questions when I get up to the top here. Wow, Nagoya Station. It's been ages.

00:09:47 John Daub: Coming down the escalator into this lobby foyer. I've done that so many times when I was so much younger. In the middle there, you see that needle? It's like a cone needle. I don't know exactly what that is. But I just know that's been there for at least as long as I've been in Japan. And that street, if you go straight, will take you to Sakae, I believe, which is the entertainment district. It's about a 30-minute walk or two stops on the subway.

00:10:24 John Daub: Now, if you want a really good view, that's a lot of meat. It's called a niku fair (meat fair). Nice. So if you want a free view of the city of Nagoya, just jump on the elevators here for Takashimaya all the way up to the observation deck. There's a Panorama Salon on the 51st floor. You get an amazing view there. But there's also observation decks in the hotel lobby here. And there's also so many different kinds of stores in this building. Big cameras here. There's Yodobashi Camera. There's an amazing restaurant floor up here on the 12th and 13th floor. Loads and loads of restaurants. It looks like a garden up there. I highly recommend taking a trip to the top. And the elevators are right there. All you got to do is jump on one of these to go up to the top. The JR Central Towers. Those are the ones that I showed you at the start of the livestream.

00:11:37 John Daub: Let's stand here in a second and set at Nagoya Station. It's cool to be here. Mike D., love your streams, brother. Keep up the good work. Cobra Bebop's here. Jennifer French is here cheering on. Mad Hata. Get something to eat. You got it. Luke C., enjoy the time in Nagoya. Actually live here now. Hey, you're just down the street. Neighbor, Jeff Ang. A little something to get some lunch. Thanks, Jeff. And Katayama's in the house. And Al Brassard is here. Welcome. New traveler. Awesome. Cody S., any festivals in the future? Just the ones that we're putting on, Cody. I'm going over to Katakai next week on Wednesday to do our own festival there. We're shooting off two star mines and ten shakudama (spherical fireworks), which is a pretty significant amount of fireworks.

00:12:28 John Daub: I love the view of this lobby. This didn't exist when I first moved to Japan to Nagoya Station. And I think they finished it around 2002 or 2003. And usually there's some banners hanging from the ceiling, make it look really grand. Not today, though. Nagoya Station is not as big as Tokyo Station or Osaka Station. Or I think even Hakata Station might be about the same size. And Sapporo Station as well. So I think that Nagoya Station is comparable in size to maybe Sapporo and Fukuoka. But Tokyo Station just has more train lines and more basements. And it's pretty massive. I love coming from the second floor down here. You see your friends waiting there and start waving from the top of the escalator.

00:13:33 John Daub: If you used to live in Nagoya, you're probably having flashbacks of Jerry's, Uno's, Taco Stand, and all the other neat places that are hidden in Osu Kannon, Sakae, Fushimi, Gaoka, where I used to live as well. We're now going out of the Sakura-dori side exit of Nagoya Station. You can also jump onto the elevator here to take you up to the observation deck. And you know, from up there, if you have a long lens, you can get amazing pictures of the Shinkansen. It looks like a drone shot from above. It's very cool. Now I used to do this run many times to get back to the train to Okazaki. The Higashiyama Line right there. This is the subway line. It'll take you, I believe, to Sakae, which is the entertainment district and a lot of hotels. Nagoya TV Tower is there. It's pretty easy to get to the subway. All you gotta do is exit the Sakura-dori side and boom, you're on there.

00:14:45 John Daub: Meitetsu is also down there. And I'm gonna go around to the other side, because that's the way I always came. We have 10 minutes to get on that Meitetsu train. Now there used to be, Meitetsu has a department store here. And there used to be a mascot. And that mascot's name was Nanachan. And Nanachan had massive legs. And you could walk underneath her legs. And you could tell who the sickos were, because they would look up. Well, they walked underneath. I never did that. Ever. Maybe once. Whoa! It is sunny! It was cloudy when I left.

00:15:44 John Daub: Somebody play the song to 2001: A Space Odyssey as the monoliths pop from the ground. Look at that. Beautiful observation deck up there. We'll hit that next time, because we're on a mission. I know you birds. Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me the direction to Meitetsu? How about you? I don't think that's the right way. Nagoya has pigeons too. Wow, he's sunning himself. No, I'm sorry. I didn't, I'm trying not to bother you. That was awesome. He's sunning himself. I didn't know pigeons do that. Like, sit in the sun and take in all the, uh... Okay, this is the entrance to the Meitetsu. I used to have to leave the Sakura-dori exit and then come all the way around back in 1998. And then run really fast into the Meitetsu.

00:17:03 John Daub: And that's where we're going. The Meitetsu Nagoya station. Which used to be called Shin Nagoya, I believe. Now it's called Meitetsu Nagoya. Or Nagoya Meitetsu. The next station is Shin Nagoya. Used to announce it like that. Now it's Meitetsu Nagoya. It's interesting. Did not know that. A lot of changes have happened. Although that sign looks like it's from 1998. Whoa, Nagoya smells like McDonald's. It's weird. Bird sounds sick. Usually the chirping is a little bit... Genkier? Alright, I'm doing a quick run. This is the central entrance to the Meitetsu Nagoya station. I usually would take the side entrance, but... We're going here to see if Nanachan still exists. Or if after all these years she just decided to leave.

00:18:17 John Daub: She's been standing in the same spot for ages. Because underneath here. Oh, by the way, here the Nagoya manhole covers. Manhole! It's a water strider. I like the Nagoya ones. Like a water bug. There's another one over there. Alright, Nanachan. If she's not here, I'm gonna be very upset. I might throw a temper tantrum. It's not pretty when you're 46. Hey, Alice is here! We got our snack box yesterday. Awesome! The daimyo boxes came by sea mail. Finally, two months later. Partially melted. I'm so happy. Is she there? She's there! She's there! Dudes! She's there! No way! Do you see it? It's creepy at the end. Do you see it? This is awesome.

00:19:38 John Daub: Alright, we gotta go see Nanachan. Do not look up. Oh, what? She's been there since 1998 as far as I know. I remember walking through her legs and then going to the movie theater to see a movie called Armageddon with Bruce Willis. Where he... Him and Ben Affleck saved the world by drilling into an asteroid and blowing it up with a nuke. It's pretty cool. Firstly, that was one of the first movies I saw when I came to Japan and I walked underneath Nanachan's legs to get there. Awesome. She's a... A five... four meter tall woman. With legs spread for peepers. I don't know why. I don't know why.

00:20:23 John Daub: We're just gonna go take a quick spin around. Shit. I'm not a big Bruce Willis fan but I've met him before. Ohio State University came for a rally. It's kinda neat. Like me, he had a lot more hair then. That guy's running at Nanachan. Look at that security guard. Stop him. Don't look up. Hey. That exit of Nagoya Station is where I learned Lady Di passed away. Aw, man. Yeah, that was 1997. That's a year before I came. I was in London three days after. Remember all the flowers at Buckingham Palace? Look, that's the ladies are gonna go right underneath Nanachan's legs. Oh, they did it. They did it. They shouldn't have done that.

00:21:27 John Daub: Nanachan. Oh, it's been so long. Have you changed your name? Are you still Nanachan? No, it's Nanachan. It's right there. Confirmed. Nanachan. Oh, how the days have passed and you have not aged at all. I'm not a... I'm now a different man, Nanachan. But I shall walk underneath. I promise not to look up. I didn't look up. I looked down. You looked up. I didn't look up. You looked up. Alright. I didn't do it. You did it. Alright, I'm just walking through. It's not a person. Calm down.

00:22:25 John Daub: Alright, we're going underneath one more time. Nanachan. Just hesitated. Okay. Nanachan. I miss you, Nanachan. I hope in the future we'll spend some more time together. Now I gotta take a trip somewhere else. It's pretty cool. Yeah, I know Nagoya Station pretty good. I know the routine. Gotta make a round. I totally didn't. You... What are you supposed to do? You walk underneath there. It's a tunnel. Alright. Just relax. Internet.

00:23:24 John Daub: I used to walk this way too towards the Hilton Hotel. And that's where the Hard Rock Cafe was. And there they had a Sega World which had House of the Dead. The original one. Man, I used to play that for hours. Didn't have many friends back then. Hard Rock Cafe was the only place to get a burger that wasn't McDonald's too. Alright, this is Kintetsu. This is a very alternative route to get to Nara from Nagoya Station. You have to go up the steps and you'll get to the station. There.

00:24:31 John Daub: I'm pretty excited about this Meitetsu trip now. My train's at 12:11. I think there's a train every 10 minutes though. What are they all buying? Oh, it's the Hokkaido Royce chocolate potato chips. They're really good. Alright, here's the tickets to get onto the Meitetsu line. Wow, it's been ages. How much is it to get to Higashi-Okazaki? Everything's in Japanese. Shin Anjo. Ah, Higashi-Okazaki. 680 yen. That has not changed much. And Toyohashi is still about 1000 yen. Interesting. Alright, in we go, folks. We got two minutes. Platform 4.

00:25:55 John Daub: Platform 4. Oh, Platform 4 is right here. I think there's another one. I'm not sure. It said 4. Unless there's another one. Let's see here. Nagoya-iki [?]. I hope that's not my train. That would suck. Hold on. This doesn't go to... I'm lost in the Meitetsu station. Uh oh. I think I missed my train. Ah, yeah. I should have gotten on that last train. Higashi-Okazaki. Oh, there's the train I used to ride. Higashi-Okazaki. Wow. Wow, it's hard to read the signs here. So I gotta wait for the next train.

00:27:57 John Daub: I'm going towards... I guess Nagoya Airport. I should have gotten on that last train. Oh, here it comes. The Meitetsu Super Express bound for Higashi-Okazaki. I think the trains come every five minutes. Hold on a second, I gotta check my train. Do you hear it in the background? Do you hear that? There's a sound that I've heard on the Meitetsu line. And I asked my friends, do you hear that? And nobody's ever heard it. It's just... I want to get on the 17 train. The 13 train is on the other side. I think it's the other side. Excuse me, I want to go to [inaudible]. What's the number of the train? It's 13. 13. Thank you. I was on the completely wrong area. It's at Platform 1.

00:29:48 John Daub: I think by instinct, I just wanted to go to Okazaki. I have to enter the platform. I have to interview somebody at 1 o'clock. I need to be there on time. Oh, there it is. Meitetsu for Gifu and Inuyama. Oh, is that the buzzer for mine? No, don't go. Oh. Do you also hear that sound? It's in the background. I hear a sound. It's been like that for 23 years. Just on the Meitetsu line. He said 19. It's 17. I'm getting on this train. No one can stop me either. Okazaki station, Kanagawa station. We will take the train to Inuyama from here. The train is in Inuyama. Okazaki station, Kanagawa station.

00:31:13 John Daub: Alright, folks. So we've successfully gone from JR's Shinkansen platform to the Meitetsu Nagoya station. Next stop, Sakae [?]. Did you hear that? Den den den den den den den. Alright folks, have a good day, have a good night, wherever you are. Hope this is useful if you come to Nagoya. Bye everybody, local train time. I hear it. I'll have another livestream tonight from downtown Nagoya's nightlife. Sakae. Get ready. It's gonna be awesome. Going down the tunnel of despair. Later guys.