Tokyo Dome Street Food Adventure
Tokyo Dome Street Food Adventure
Overview
This nearly 97-minute livestream captures John Daub celebrating his birthday at Tokyo Dome City — one of Tokyo's most iconic entertainment complexes — alongside his longtime friend Peter von Gomm (PVG). What begins as a casual walk around the largely quiet, pandemic-affected amusement area transforms into a wide-ranging conversation touching on Japanese culture, generational attitudes toward aging, the state of the 2020 Olympics, K-pop vs. J-pop, coffee culture, and more. The pair manage to find street food despite many rides being closed on a Monday, with takoyaki from Takoyaki Land serving as the culinary highlight. Peter also uses the platform to promote his new true crime podcast, The Serial Talker, and surprises John with a special birthday beer from Yatsugatake Brewery. The stream is notable for its intimate, unscripted feel — a birthday party that happens to be broadcast live to thousands of viewers around the world.
Highlights
- 00:03 John greets viewers at Tokyo Dome and immediately notes the emptiness — "Kind of lame. I brought the king of lame" — as Peter von Gomm appears beside him.
- 00:44 John reveals it is his birthday and is flooded with Super Chat birthday wishes from viewers worldwide.
- 01:07 They discuss riding the karaoke Ferris wheel, one of the unique features of Tokyo Dome City's Sky Bubble — currently closed.
- 06:05 John spots the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame with photos from Babe Ruth's 1934 visit to Japan.
- 11:44 They head down to Takoyaki Land and order two varieties: negi mayo and mochi cheese mentaiko, 600 yen each.
- 13:15 Peter gives John a Rock Bock beer from Yatsugatake Brewery as a birthday gift — featuring an illustration of a man kicking a field goal on the label.
- 24:46 They enjoy their takoyaki with John performing a quick "dirty mouth" version of itadakimasu and commenting on the automated takoyaki-making process with vibrators underneath.
- 32:36 A thoughtful discussion about aging in Japan, the graying of politics, and how younger Japanese are holding older officials accountable — referencing Prime Minister Mori and the Olympics controversy.
- 41:50 Peter promotes The Serial Talker, his new true crime podcast, live on the stream — episode five was released that day.
- 54:14 Peter takes over the stream briefly and shares a Candid Camera story, a true crime anecdote about a $29 million ruby, and his love of cappuccino and glamping.
- 56:27 They walk past a crane from a 1950s Godzilla film set and discuss a past accident at Tokyo Dome that led to a ride's permanent closure.
- 60:01 John spots the Shonen Jump Store and shares memories of working with Shueisha's magazine division, gaining rare access to unreleased One Piece material.
- 92:19 Near the end, they discuss Prefontaine, pronunciation of "Oregon," and John bids farewell to viewers as the stream wraps up.
Timeline / Chapters
| Time | Event / Location |
|---|---|
| 00:00–00:30 | Arrival at Tokyo Dome entrance; John reveals birthday; Peter joins. Empty due to Monday/COVID. |
| 00:30–02:00 | Walking the Tokyo Dome exterior; discussing Super Bowl Sunday (Tampa Bay vs. Kansas City). Ferris wheel closed. |
| 02:00–04:30 | Chatting with live viewers; Super Chat flood of birthday wishes; Peter teases John about birthday; John rides bicycle here. |
| 04:30–06:30 | Passing the Baseball Hall of Fame; discussion of Babe Ruth's 1934 Japan visit; Thunder Dolphin roller coaster seen but closed. |
| 06:30–09:00 | Viewing the closed amusement rides; John recalls the karaoke Ferris wheel; they discuss the 3 C's of pandemic caution. |
| 09:00–11:00 | Walking to the basement street food area; John recalls picnicking here with Kanae when they were dating; pandemic restaurant closures at 8 PM discussed. |
| 11:00–13:00 | Browsing Takoyaki Land; mochi cheese mentaiko and negi mayo options seen; John's cash moment; Peter buys the food. |
| 13:00–14:00 | Peter gifts John the Rock Bock birthday beer from Yatsugatake Brewery; they look at Moomin cakes in the adjacent bakery. |
| 14:00–17:30 | Eating takoyaki outdoors; pigeons arrive; conversation about Super Bowl parties in Japan; Tom Brady and aging athletes. |
| 17:30–25:00 | Wide-ranging cultural conversation: aging in Japan, Prime Minister Mori's Olympics gaffes, younger generation holding officials accountable. |
| 25:00–29:00 | Discussion of K-pop vs. J-pop quality and training; John's son Joji's "stealing my mojo" moment; Dave Spector's agelessness. |
| 29:00–33:00 | Peter takes over stream briefly; talks about Serial Talker podcast; Candid Camera story; Bigfoot sighting teaser. |
| 33:00–41:00 | John returns; walking through amusement ride area; past accident at the park discussed; Shonen Jump Store spotted. |
| 41:00–45:00 | Peter promotes Serial Talker podcast; John tries mochi mochi blueberry bread; pigeons multiply to 17 after Peter feeds them. |
| 45:00–54:00 | Extended conversation: tonkotsu ramen health benefits for voice, Costco condiment habits, Ikinari Steak driver with a platinum card. |
| 54:00–60:00 | Peter takes over second time; cappuccino recommendations (Coffee Valley in Ikebukuro); glamping plans in Fujiyoshida. |
| 60:00–65:00 | Walking toward Suidobashi Station; Shonen Jump Store visit; John's work with Shueisha editorial staff; One Piece unreleased material. |
| 65:00–75:00 | Starbucks near Suidobashi; John gets large coffee with two espresso shots; Peter gets hojicha. |
| 75:00–85:00 | Post-coffee conversation; True crime ruby theft John witnessed; airplane windshield blowout story; golden parachute discussion. |
| 85:00–92:00 | Wrap-up conversation; Peter and John say goodbyes; John's upcoming Akita trip and Ohagi festival; episode dropping tonight about a Japanese condiment factory. |
| 92:00–97:27 | Final moments; postcard from Aomori shown; train on the Chuo Line passes; stream ends. |
Japan Travel Tips
- Getting to Tokyo Dome City: The complex is exceptionally well-connected by train. Access it via Suidobashi Station (JR Chuo Line, Toei Mita Line), Korakuen Station (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi & Namboku Lines), or Kasuga Station (Toei Oedo Line). Multiple stations make it easy to combine with visits to nearby areas like Akihabara or the Imperial Palace.
- Best time to visit: Weekends and holidays are lively but can be crowded. A weekday afternoon (as John did) offers fewer crowds, though many restaurants and rides may close on Mondays — an important consideration.
- Street food at Takoyaki Land: The basement food area offers a variety of takoyaki (octopus balls) starting at around 600 yen per order. Try the negimayo (scallion mayo) variety for a classic experience, or go for the mochi cheese mentaiko for something richer and more indulgent. Eating outdoors with pigeons is part of the charm — but guard your food.
- Rides and attractions: Tokyo Dome City's thrill rides include Thunder Dolphin (the roller coaster through a building) and the Karaoke Ferris Wheel. These are not always operational on weekdays. Check the schedule in advance.
- Rakuwa Onsen: If you miss the last train, Rakuwa is a 24-hour open-air onsen near Tokyo Dome, with massage services and meals available for a reasonable nightly rate (approximately ¥3,000–¥4,000).
- Budget tip: Tokyo Dome City has a supermarket nearby where you can buy drinks and snacks for a budget-friendly picnic on the outdoor terrace, as John and Kanae did when they were dating.
- Shonen Jump Store: Merchandise fans should not miss the Tokyo Dome location, featuring One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, and other major manga franchises.
Japanese Language & Culture Notes
- Itadakimasu (いただきます) — The standard pre-meal phrase meaning "I humbly receive this food." John jokes about saying it quickly as a "dirty mouth" version that sounds like something else entirely — a recurring comedy bit from his friend Yuki.
- Otsukaresamadesu (お疲れ様です) — Used in Japan to acknowledge someone's hard work, often said when leaving work or after completing a task. John references saying this after eating.
- Mottainai (ったいない) — The concept of not wasting something. Peter applies this philosophy to licking hummus from a Costco container; Kanae filmed him doing it and laughed.
- Omotenashi (おもてなし) — The spirit of wholehearted Japanese hospitality. John shows a postcard of an Aomori airport staff member giving a deep bow to a jumbo jet — an omotenashi scene that moved him to take the photograph.
- Generational respect in Japan: John discusses how in Japan, getting older traditionally commands more respect. However, he notes the current generation of younger Japanese is breaking from this convention — as seen in their pushback against Prime Minister Mori's controversial comments about women. This represents a significant cultural shift.
- Company transfers (furikakasu): Japanese companies routinely transfer employees between departments every few years. John explains how this opened doors for him at Shueisha, where friends who transferred from the magazine division helped him gain rare access to Shonen Jump's editorial staff.
- Aging and the entertainment industry: John references how Dave Spector never reveals his age in Japan — a deliberate strategy to avoid age-based prejudice. In entertainment, as long as people don't know your age, they treat you as you are rather than as a number.
- The 3 C's of pandemic caution: John and Peter discuss avoiding closed spaces (michi?), crowded places, and close-contact situations. The karaoke Ferris wheel presents a particular challenge as an enclosed space.
Food & Drink Guide
| Item | Japanese | English | Notes | Price | Timestamp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Takoyaki (standard) | たこ焼き | Octopus balls | Crispy outside, fluffy inside, with octopus chunks, bonito flakes, and tare sauce. | ¥600 | 11:44 |
| Negi Mayo Takoyaki | ねぎマヨたこ焼き | Scallion Mayo Takoyaki | Topped with sliced scallions and mayonnaise. | ¥600 | 11:47 |
| Mochi Cheese Mentaiko Takoyaki | 餅チーズ明太子たこ焼き | Mochi, Cheese & Spicy Cod Roe Takoyaki | John calls this "the best takoyaki in the history of this chain." Chewy mochi, melted cheese, and spicy roe. | ¥600 | 11:47 |
| Rock Bock Beer | ロックボック | Rock Bock | Beer from Yatsugatake Brewery featuring a man in a three-piece suit kicking a field goal. | Gift | 13:15 |
| Mochi Mochi Blueberry Bread | もちもちブルーベリーブレッド | Chewy Blueberry Bread | Soft, pillowy bread with blueberry flavoring. Peter's accidental purchase. | — | 54:14 |
| Starbucks Coffee (large) | スターバックス | Starbucks | John's order: large coffee with two extra espresso shots. Peter's order: hojicha. | — | 65:00 |
| Tonkotsu Ramen | とんこつラーメン | Pork Bone Broth Ramen | Discussed as a high-cholesterol, high-sodium but mineral-rich broth, beneficial for vocal cords. | — | 78:00 |
| Ikinari Steak | いきなり Steak | Stand-and-Eat Steak | Chain with deliberately awkward English signage. Popular with John's NHK drivers. | — | 60:39 |
People
- John Daub — Host and birthday boy. American expat who has lived in Japan for 30+ years. Warm, self-deprecating, and genuinely curious about culture. He rides his bicycle to Tokyo Dome, shares memories of dating Kanae at the venue, and reacts to takoyaki with characteristic enthusiasm. He also teases Peter about music choices, pizza condiment habits, and being "out of range" in terms of coolness for his son Joji.
- Peter von Gomm (PVG) — John's longtime friend and fellow American expat in Japan. A professional voice actor and narrator who has worked on NHK productions (including Japangle and Three Day Daredevils). He promotes his new true crime podcast The Serial Talker, shares cappuccino recommendations, tells Candid Camera stories, accidentally feeds the pigeons leading to 17 arriving, and gifts John a birthday beer. His motorcycle and his love of Ikinari Steak feature in conversation.
- Kanae Daub — John's Japanese wife. Mentioned as having a birthday party planned for John that evening and being the one who purchased his cake (which he is not allowed to know about). She once filmed John licking hummus from a Costco container and laughed. She disapproves of him licking sharp knives.
- Joji — John's 11-year-old son. Appears in a story about refusing to clean the house and declaring "Dad, you're stealing my mojo" — a Dr. Evil reference. He is a teenager now (at time of writing, per Peter's comment that John is no longer on the same level of cool as Joji).
- Dave Spector — Mentioned by John as a highly respected American expat in Japan who has been on Japanese TV for decades and never reveals his age, making him "ageless" and immune to age-based prejudice in the entertainment industry.
- Jefferson Huntsman — Live chat participant from Alaska (possibly Anchorage or Fairbanks). John recently sent him a mystery box.
Key Takeaways
- Tokyo Dome City is a multi-transport-hub paradise — easily accessible from at least four different train lines and stations (Suidobashi, Korakuen, Kasuga), making it an ideal starting point for exploring central Tokyo.
- The pandemic significantly altered Tokyo Dome City's atmosphere — most rides, including Thunder Dolphin and the karaoke Ferris wheel, were closed on weekdays during the state of emergency. Street food in the basement area was still operational.
- Takoyaki is an ideal Tokyo Dome street food — inexpensive (¥600), quick, and delicious, with specialty varieties like mochi cheese mentaiko being particularly memorable.
- Japan's generational attitudes toward age and respect are shifting — younger Japanese are increasingly willing to hold older officials accountable, as demonstrated by the petition against Prime Minister Mori following his controversial remarks about women and the Olympics.
- Expat life in Japan involves creative social distancing — John rode his bicycle to the venue, chose a weekday afternoon, and sat at an outdoor table away from others to minimize risk while still enjoying the outing.
- The true crime podcast space is growing among Japan-based expats — Peter's promotion of The Serial Talker reflects a broader trend of content creators using their expertise and networks to build new channels.
- Japanese companies' furikakasu (transfer) system has unexpected benefits for expats — John's contacts who transferred departments at Shueisha opened doors to exclusive interviews with Shonen Jump editorial staff.
- Even the pandemic cannot stop the pigeons — Peter's act of feeding one pigeon resulted in 17 pigeons descending on their table, providing unintentional comic relief.
Notable Quotes
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00:44 "Happy Birthday, John. 30-some years ago, I was born on a winter night in the back of a taxi cab." — John Daub, immediately undercutting his own dramatic birthday reveal.
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01:07 "This is not our first time here. And in fact, it was about a year ago I was inside of here and we went on a street food adventure. They actually have a Furusato Matsuri which is all these hometown foods inside of there." — John, referencing his previous Tokyo Dome livestream.
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25:10 "In Japan, you don't want people to know how old you are, because then there's ageism. Because people start to judge you based on your age." — John, on why Dave Spector never reveals his age in Japan.
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25:16 "As long as they don't know how old he is, they're never going to treat him too old or too young. They're going to treat him as who he is." — John on Dave Spector's agelessness strategy.
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33:20 "The Japanese younger people are not giving him a pass. They're actually saying he has to be held accountable for the words that he says." — John on the generational shift in Japanese attitudes toward political accountability.
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48:23 "I think K-pop is more professional than J-pop. J-pop's gotta step it up." — Peter on the comparative polish of Korean vs. Japanese pop music.
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55:09 "I'm also known as PVG. That's a small v, capital G." — Peter von Gomm, struggling with the pronunciation of his own name on camera.
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79:20 "Nobody owns that. Nobody owns day in the life. Day in the life episodes have been around since the 1930s." — John, defending creative independence against accusations of copying other YouTubers.
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85:47 "And he just goes, you're on Candid Camera? And the police come and take him to that. Oh, son of a..." — Peter, mid-anecdote, censored.
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96:47 "I don't really celebrate my birthday. This is the first time I think ever in a live stream on the internet. But I appreciate it very, very much." — John, closing out the stream.
Related Topics
- Tokyo Dome City previous livestream (Furusato Matsuri street food edition)
- NHK's Japangle series (Peter von Gomm worked as Professor Ero)
- True crime podcasting and expat content creation
- K-pop vs. J-pop culture in Japan
- Japanese baseball and the Yomiuri Giants
- Amusement park culture in Tokyo
- Tokyo 2020 Olympics controversies
- Coffee culture in Tokyo (Coffee Valley, cappuccino recommendations)
- Dave Spector and American expats in Japanese entertainment
Search Tags
#only-in-japan-go #tokyo-dome #tokyo-dome-city #street-food #takoyaki #suidobashi #korakuen #tokyo-travel #japan-amusement-park #peter-von-gomm #tokyo-stadium #baseball-giants #john-daub-birthday #tokyo-stream #pandemic-japan #state-of-emergency #shonen-jump #manga #one-piece #dragon-ball-z #japan-food #coffee-tokyo #true-crime-podcast #serial-talker #japangle #NHK #aging-in-japan #japan-culture #tokyo-transport #bubba-gump #ikenai-steak #mentaiko #mochi-cheese #bunkyo #tokyo-winter #super-bowl-lv #tom-brady #yatsugatake-brewery #rock-bock #mottainai #omotenashi #rakuwa-onsen #thunder-dolphin #karaoke-ferris-wheel #hikikomori #prefonaine #oregon #pigeon-feeding #mottainai #itadakimasu #japan-expat #live-stream
Full Transcript
00:03 John Daub: Hello and welcome to the Tokyo Dome. That's what that is right there. It says so. That's how I know. This is where the Tokyo Giants play as well as a lot of concerts and amusement. But today, it's not very crowded as you can see. Kind of lame. It's so lame. I brought the king of lame. I didn't say that you said that with me. But you put those words in my mouth deliberately. How did I do that? I literally picked it out of my mouth and put it into your mouth. That's Irvine. Ignore that message. It's not true. It's so true. We're going to be taking you on a trip around the Tokyo Dome. There's actually a dead spot over there so we've got to be careful. This is not our first time here. And in fact, it was about a year ago I was inside of here and we went on a street food adventure. They actually have a Furusato Matsuri which is all these hometown foods inside of there. Yeah, it was so crowded last year but it was right before the pandemic started and that's one of the best live streams on this channel because we ate so many different kinds of foods here. So you might want to go check that out. But there's a lot of other restaurants that are available here at Tokyo Dome and Peter and I are gonna be on the lookout for some of them and hopefully... Because we're hungry.
01:20 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, actually I am kind of hungry. And tonight we're gonna be having a party.
John Daub: You're not invited though, Peter. Sorry. Digitally you are. Online you can join.
Peter von Gomm: What's the party? What's the theme?
John Daub: It's something. Nobody knows?
Peter von Gomm: Nobody.
John Daub: Do you know?
Peter von Gomm: I do know but...
John Daub: No. I don't know. I didn't know I loved a party. I don't know. Over there is Shake Shack and Taco Bell.
Peter von Gomm: Oh right, yeah. Which one do you want to get?
John Daub: My treat.
Peter von Gomm: Your treat?
John Daub: I didn't say that.
Peter von Gomm: No, you totally did. It's on the record.
John Daub: I tripped. It was like my squeak.
Peter von Gomm: He said my treat. My squeak. We were also looking to maybe go on that Ferris wheel. But it's not moving.
John Daub: Yeah, it's not moving. Maybe because nobody wanted to get on there. Well, those are pretty enclosed spaces. That's one of the C's that you're not supposed to be doing here. Which is closed spaces, crowded places and... what's the other one? Well, you're usually in there with your family or somebody that you know. So it's not like you're in there with a bunch of coughing strangers, right?
Peter von Gomm: No. And the roller coaster's not working and that is a huge shame.
John Daub: But it is a pretty nice day outside here. Hey, Ervin. Today is... Ervin writes in really, really clearly. You don't get clearly than bright red. Thanks for blowing it, Ervin. Yeah. Thank you for that very, very generous contribution. Ervin says, Happy Birthday, John. Which means that, yeah, today is my birthday. And 40-some years ago, 30-some years ago, I was born on a winter night in the back of a taxi cab.
Peter von Gomm: Wow.
John Daub: No, that's not true.
Peter von Gomm: In India or in America?
John Daub: No, in the US. Oh, okay. Yeah. Why would it be in India? My mom emigrated here.
Peter von Gomm: Oh. I thought your folks met in India.
John Daub: I think they did. Spike021, that Thunder Dolphin roller coaster is super fun. Please. Plus, so are the Giants games. Happy Birthday.
John Daub: Thank you, Spike021. Let's turn it around here. I'm just kind of sad that Thunder Dolphin is not on the move.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It could be because it's Monday. Some of these restaurants are closed.
John Daub: Ah, yeah. It's Monday. Raymond Centeno writes in, Happy Birthday. And John, and hey, PBG.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, Ray. Greetings.
John Daub: Tigra Hoff sharing lottery winnings. Whoa. You mean that super jackpot with $1 billion? You should be sharing more than that. He's so good. What, uh, well, today, so is your, does your birthday always fall on Super Bowl Sunday? It doesn't, does it?
Peter von Gomm: No, it's, that's right. The Super Bowl was today.
John Daub: Right. And I saw that, uh, I actually couldn't watch it because the CBS app crashed. So there was, there was no signal coming into Japan, I guess. I don't know if it was just Japan, but nobody could watch it online. But apparently they totally crushed the Chiefs. I'm so proud of, uh, proud of, um, Tom Brady.
Peter von Gomm: Well, Tom, you're on, man.
John Daub: Yeah. If you need any more proof that someone can, can, uh, you know, be an overwhelming factor in, in the success of a franchise. That'd be Tom Brady.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It's so obvious.
John Daub: Hey, Suzette's in the house. Hey, thank you. Thank you, Suzette. Hey, Suzette. Happy birthday, John. I hope you get your cake and buttercream frosting. Yes! Kanae said that she won't tell me what cake she got. Bela writes in, happy birthday, JD and PVG is in the house.
Peter von Gomm: Thanks, Bela.
John Daub: Brentania's here from Hawaii. Aloha. Happy birthday, John.
Peter von Gomm: I, I actually sang that in my head just now.
John Daub: Matt Engstrom's a new traveler. Welcome. Matt. Hello, Matt. I know Matt.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, you know Matt?
John Daub: Yeah. Really?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Andrew. Matt loves Barney.
Peter von Gomm: Andrew Rogue writes in, um, Roque, right, right, Roque? W, writes in, happy birthday. The Hawaiian knack. Happy birthday. Aloha. Mahalo. Bear is now a traveler. Wow, a lot of super chats coming in. Oh, my gosh. Shoot, man. You gotta have birthdays.
John Daub: Bob Joe, happy birthday. We gotta put this to good use. Uh, Ramsey Shaker, happy birthday. Hello, PVG.
Peter von Gomm: Hi, guys.
John Daub: Christian Hansen's here. Happy birthday. Oh, look at this. This is great. Boxster Nation, happy birthday. Wow. Wow. Yeah. I've gotten comments on the Discord server, too, and I've been singing happy birthday in my head. I can't get that song. What was it? Happy, happy birthday.
Peter von Gomm: Not that one. No, stop. Don't sing that one. It's gonna get copyright striked. No, no, no. That one's even worse. No, they're all pop songs. Make up a new, like a new one to a new tune.
John Daub: Old MacDonald had a birthday. Okay, look at this. This is, um, the Baseball Hall of Fame. I don't know if any of you have ever been here, but Japan has, I guess not. That's the Baseball Hall of Fame for Japan, and they have some pictures in there of Babe Ruth when he visited in 1934.
Peter von Gomm: Is that right?
John Daub: Yeah. I like to go in there one of these days, but I think it's closed. It's Monday.
Peter von Gomm: Is that right? Not Babe Luth?
John Daub: No, it's Babe Rusu. Rusu, I believe. You can't make a mistake with Katakana.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it's hard to make a mistake with Katakana.
John Daub: So, hang on a second here. So, let's think about food. We're both hungry.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Now, as I mentioned over here, we got Shake Shack, we got Taco Bell, and...
Peter von Gomm: That's it over here.
John Daub: What about in the pit over there?
Peter von Gomm: Well, that's where there's more variety on there. Like that, uh, that, uh...
John Daub: There's Takoyaki.
Peter von Gomm: What do you call it? The, uh, skimen? Where you put the, the ishi in there?
John Daub: Oh, yeah. The rock. The, uh, skimen.
Peter von Gomm: That's pretty good.
John Daub: Yeah, skimen. That sounds pretty good. I'd say look down in there in the pit.
Peter von Gomm: Pit. You know what Taco Hell?
John Daub: Uh, we're in Japan after all.
Peter von Gomm: That's true. So, you know, so you, you know, you know, like, Baba Gump Shrimp.
John Daub: Why not? Baba! Oh, they have one in, they have a few of them here in Japan. They have a few of them here in Japan. I saw Jason chiming in here. How you doing, Jason? Thanks, Matt. Wow! Thanks, everybody. Appreciate the birthday wishes. So, we're really hoping to go, here's the, here's the close-up of the Ferris wheel.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, yeah. We're really hoping to go in here.
John Daub: Yeah, I wanted to ride that thing and go take a look at the view because it's such a nice day. But it's obviously not working and that's, that's a shame. Thanks, Ash. What's great about this Ferris wheel...
Peter von Gomm: Thanks, Cosmic Crunchdown.
John Daub: Ferris wheel. ...is it has karaoke inside some of the cars.
Peter von Gomm: Are they still doing that?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: All right, let's go take a quick look-see.
John Daub: I didn't know they're still doing that.
Peter von Gomm: Well, they're permanently in there, right?
John Daub: Now, Tokyo Dome opened about 20 years ago, right?
Peter von Gomm: No, more than that.
John Daub: Tokyo Dome City.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, when Tokyo Dome City opened, but how long has Tokyo Dome been here?
John Daub: I think since 60, since the 1960s, right?
Peter von Gomm: Not positive about that, but a long time.
John Daub: It's all, yeah, it's all closed off. Ah, it's on there. Oh, this is the entrance to Thunder Dolphin for those that ride the roller coaster and it looks like it's closed up here.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, today's, yeah.
John Daub: Oh, so we got to come back.
Peter von Gomm: Well, the weekend looked like it was pretty busy and was such a nice, beautiful day.
John Daub: I'm sure it was, it was so crowded. They're playing music for you. This is your song.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, how did you know?
John Daub: Look, that, look, the birthday water fountain.
Peter von Gomm: I did it just for you.
John Daub: You liar.
Peter von Gomm: I did.
John Daub: And they timed it perfectly.
Peter von Gomm: I said at 3, 1.35, start playing the music.
John Daub: You know what would make me happy if you got in there too, Peter, and did a ballet dance among the rushing water.
Peter von Gomm: Didn't bring my wetsuit or my, my, uh, water wings.
John Daub: You just kind of free ball it, you know. Look at the waves. It's the wave. How you doing?
Peter von Gomm: It's waving at me.
John Daub: Have you been into Rakuwa? Have you used that before?
Peter von Gomm: Uh, yeah, once.
John Daub: I think there, it's 24 hours, isn't it?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: That's the onsen bath that's up there, Rakuwa. Which is great. Boom. Boom. But behind the tree. A lot of people go there if they miss the last train. Cause you can stay there all night.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: For a very, for a very nominal price.
Peter von Gomm: Right.
John Daub: And, uh, nice baths. How much is it?
Peter von Gomm: I think it's like $30 though, right?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: It can, it depends on if you go into, there's other parts of it that are a little more expensive. And they have massages. You can get massages as well. But, uh, it's well worth it. It's worth checking out when you come to Japan. If they can ever come.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Hey, this is the typewriter song.
John Daub: It's definitely copyright, uh, uh, people ask me what kind of music do I listen to? I say royalty free music. I don't, after, after the year 2000 I stopped listening to pop music. I literally don't know what's going on. I listen to music a lot.
Peter von Gomm: Do you?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Who's your favorite group?
John Daub: I don't have a favorite group. I listen, it depends on my mood. I listen to all genres. Hey, thank you, Rotunner. And Photo Luke Hawaii. Aloha. Hey, Austin. Is Austin watching?
Peter von Gomm: How you doing, Austin?
John Daub: Hey, Joy. Happy birthday.
Peter von Gomm: Thanks, Joy. Philippines. And James Boardman. Rock and roll. Oh, there's no, nobody on the stage here too. Sometimes there's some idol bands here. And I remember one time I was trying to film them and some guy came, came from all the way over here and he said, no video.
John Daub: And I said, what? Like, why are these idol groups so, um, strict with filming them? You think they'd watch it? I thought they would want to have more attention and they were kind of a low ranking idol group. So I didn't, I just don't understand. I guess to their, to their 200 fans, super fans that were doing Otage down there, they buy all the merchandise and I guess it's valuable to them. Thing is that their, their, their handlers are very strict. They keep them on a very short leash and they want to control all of their publicity.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. So if you've got a bad angle or something, they don't want that to be out in the public domain. So they're really, really strict about that kind of thing.
John Daub: Well I've never heard of them and I don't think I ever will again.
Peter von Gomm: Probably not. Thanks a lot. Um, handlers. Look at that. There's like a food truck.
John Daub: Yes. Let's stop talking about food and let's go eat it.
Peter von Gomm: All right.
John Daub: How do we get down here?
Peter von Gomm: Oh, there's a stairway to, to the basement there. Just go do it.
John Daub: Oh, it's, it's kind of a shame because I wanted to ride that roller coaster. Thunder dolphin. The roller coaster that goes through a building.
Peter von Gomm: It really does. Do you see that hole in there?
John Daub: Thunder dolphin goes through the building right there. Do you see that? It is so awesome. Even the Ferris wheel.
Peter von Gomm: Peter, no!
John Daub: Look at this. They closed the Ferris wheel.
Peter von Gomm: I'm sorry. The, um, um, um, carousel. What do you call them?
John Daub: The merry go round.
Peter von Gomm: Merry go rounds.
John Daub: No.
Peter von Gomm: That's my favorite one. And it goes a little faster than normal Ferris wheels or normal, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, merry go rounds. Do you call it a merry go round or a carousel?
John Daub: Carousel.
Peter von Gomm: That, so you're from, from, uh, the West Coast. They call it carousels.
John Daub: We call them merry go rounds, I think. Well, I guess you could call it a merry go round. But the, uh, merry go round has more of a playground feel to it. Carousel has the, the animals and things. It's more sophisticated, John.
Peter von Gomm: Are you serious?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: So a merry go round has animals. That's why.
John Daub: Really? Well, I, I'm, I think. Oh, this is the log fume. Do you know the log fume?
Peter von Gomm: This is the one where the, um.
John Daub: That sounds kind of.
Peter von Gomm: Well, I, that's what they call it, a great adventure.
John Daub: Yeah. And. Log fume?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I guess.
John Daub: I, it would be burning the trails down into the water. But today there's no rides.
Peter von Gomm: Flume.
John Daub: Oh, sorry. Flume. Yeah, I was gonna say, fume is like smell.
Peter von Gomm: Oh. Log smell.
John Daub: Well, I thought it was log, I thought it was log fume. This guy's doing the, uh, with alcohol.
Peter von Gomm: You missed it.
John Daub: That was the highlight of this video. The highlight of the video is the cleanliness of this place. This man with blue jacket walks around. Spraying stuff down. Um, spraying stuff down.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, you chose the wrong day to have a birthday, John.
John Daub: What, Monday?
Peter von Gomm: Monday is nothing, there's nothing going on.
John Daub: Yeah, it's kind of quiet. But we can at least get some food. All right, speaking of which, down, do we go down or? So what do you all think here? And I appreciate the birthday. We're gonna sit down and I'm gonna, I'm gonna say hi to everybody. Um, we're just gonna go down and we're gonna go to the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh. We're gonna sit down and we're gonna go down here. We're at, we're at Tokyo Dome today, um, to celebrate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl or as Peter likes to call it, John's birthday.
Peter von Gomm: It's a super birthday?
John Daub: You know what's interesting about this is it's the, uh, it's the Louis Vuitton Super Bowl. Do you know why?
Peter von Gomm: No.
John Daub: Why is it the Louis Vuitton Super Bowl?
Peter von Gomm: Oh, no, because of the date. Was it LV-
John Daub: Yes!
Peter von Gomm: Oh, John, you are sharp.
John Daub: Yeah, I know. I saw that on the internet.
Peter von Gomm: I made it up.
John Daub: Somebody else say Louis Vuitton. Man of style and fashion, Peter Van Gomp calls this the Louis Vuitton Super Bowl.
Peter von Gomm: I was so angry when I woke up this morning and I couldn't watch it.
John Daub: I'm looking at the Gamecast on ESPN. Hold on a second, let me introduce this place here. So this is down kind of in the basement of Tokyo Dome City. They have a stage and they have a couple of street food type of restaurants. I did name this a street food episode because there's random foods that you can just pick up. You don't have to pick just one. This is a bakery right here. And actually behind us, Peter, there's a supermarket right there. So you can get drinks in the supermarket. So if you ever wanted to come. So when Kanai and I were dating and I didn't have a lot of money, we would get drinks there and we would just picnic here.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we'd picnic on here. Something.
John Daub: And we'd spend our money on the rides when we were younger. But now I kind of will just take her to a nice restaurant. Except for tonight because we can't go out anywhere. It's all stay at home. But during the daytime, some of the places are open. All the restaurants in Tokyo are closed at 8 p.m. right now.
Peter von Gomm: Right.
John Daub: Some of them at 7.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Some close at 7. They're supposed to stop serving alcohol at 7.
Peter von Gomm: Right.
John Daub: The restaurant food service ends at 8 o'clock.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, that's a nice looking bakery there. Where's the Tsukimi?
John Daub: Look at this. Look at this nice cute little book.
Peter von Gomm: What?
John Daub: They drew a butt on it.
Peter von Gomm: They drew a butt on it?
John Daub: What? So I know that they have takoyaki here, Peter. This is the famous one. And I like the negimayo. I like the playing like the Disney-esque music in the background here. It does feel like I'm at an amusement park. But there's not a lot of people here. Oh, what is this food truck here? That looks like some kind of spaghetti or something.
Peter von Gomm: Potatoes?
John Daub: Yeah, it's like a baked potato. They got rid of the Tsukimen, Peter.
Peter von Gomm: It's at a bit...
John Daub: Oh, no, that's not Tetsu. Wait, wait, wait.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, you're right.
John Daub: It's gone. They got rid of Tetsu.
Peter von Gomm: Is it?
John Daub: Yeah, that's shocking.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, that's too bad.
John Daub: Yeah, that's what I wanted.
Peter von Gomm: Me too.
John Daub: My second though was...
Peter von Gomm: What about...
John Daub: Don't say Bubba Gump.
Peter von Gomm: What's wrong with Bubba Gump shrimp?
John Daub: You don't like Bubba?
Peter von Gomm: Oh, I do. I do. It's, you know... What's your birthday? Whatever you want. Shrimp. You can have lemon shrimp, shrimp saute, tempura shrimp, raw shrimp, tiger shrimp. It's up to you. It's your special day, John.
John Daub: Tom Brady shrimp.
Peter von Gomm: Louis Vuitton shrimp.
John Daub: Louis Vuitton shrimp. We don't have designer shrimps. I'm okay with just takoyaki, to be honest with you.
Peter von Gomm: Let's do it.
John Daub: Let's get some takoyaki. What do you think? How do you like them apples?
Peter von Gomm: All right, let's go. Let's go get it. This music is kind of Disney-esque. This guy should be wearing a costume.
John Daub: Oh, look. They're playing Johnny's TV on there. It's pretty cheesy. Speaking of cheesy, let's go get some takoyaki.
John Daub: This mochi cheese and mentaiko is addictively good. Like, you just... This one?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, that is...
John Daub: That looks good. You can't stop... You just... You won't share if you get that.
Peter von Gomm: I'm not sure. I'm not sure I'll buy it. We can always get two orders.
John Daub: Let's start with that. Let's get that one.
Peter von Gomm: Let's get that one. The nigimayo is really good too. It's all pretty good stuff.
John Daub: Why don't you get two of them? Here, let me give you some cash. Can we get one of each of these?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Just get a double decker here.
John Daub: That's okay. I got it.
Peter von Gomm: You sure?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: It's your birthday.
John Daub: Did I get you something on your birthday, though?
Peter von Gomm: You did. You got me a nice light.
John Daub: Oh, I did. Very nice light. Thank you for that. Okay. All right. I got you the... I got you the... So it's 600 yen, Tokyo Yaki, please.
Peter von Gomm: Oh yeah, I forgot it's only 600 yen.
John Daub: I better just stay outside here. Let's have a little talk. Let's talk a little bit, huh? So today is kind of hanging out with PVG because it's been a long time since I've gotten a chance to get out and meet any friends here. So the infections here in Tokyo have gone down, so you can go out a little bit. We're still in a state of emergency, but we do have to take care, remain socially distant. But there's very few people here, which makes it ideal. And it's also the afternoon on a weekday, so a lot of people are not going to be out and about. I rode my bicycle here, get some exercise, and then I have to go back and finish up a video that I'm uploading tonight. It's going to be a really, really busy day. But I'm having a pate with kanae. We're going to do that tonight, so you're invited to see what kind of cake that kanae buy. I'm really interested. Nice hat, writes in Raji. Thank you. This is my favorite hat. This one's a black one. Tony P's here! The not-original Toby. We love you, Tony. Thank you. That's nice. Jeff Ang, happy birthday, and hi, Peter. Thank you, Jeff. No, tasty, sunny, happy 25th birthday.
Peter von Gomm: Ah, sunny. I have to say hi. Hi, sunny. Thanks for that.
John Daub: I just, and I saw sunny, we were talking just last night on the Patreon livestream. It's nice to see. Hey, John Kimura's here. Thanks, John. Happy birthday. Whenever I see John Kimura, I think that I have to get something for kanae. It's just like, oh, you got it already? That was fast. That was really fast. And Roe Tunner, I appreciate that. Wishing you happy birthday. And Carl and Chloe Adventures from California.
Peter von Gomm: Where?
John Daub: Where at?
Peter von Gomm: One of the tables that's got a heater on it.
John Daub: Okay, but I want to sit away from the music. The speaker's right there.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, right at the end with the pigeon.
John Daub: Are they for the Moomin folks?
Peter von Gomm: No, they're not reserved for anybody except for us.
John Daub: So let's sneak this table. Sit over here. Sit there.
John Daub: Hey, look, we got some friends. How you doing?
Peter von Gomm: Oh, they're so fast.
John Daub: They're so fast. I told you they made this takoyaki so fast. I was surprised with the speed at which they were moving. Here's yours.
Peter von Gomm: Ah, some alcohol?
John Daub: Yeah, please.
Peter von Gomm: Jeez. Spray it, don't say it.
John Daub: I didn't want it on my jacket.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, did I? I'm so sorry.
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Is it going to leave a stain?
John Daub: I don't think so. It's a nylon, right?
Peter von Gomm: It's not.
John Daub: What is nylon?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Well, I know it's your birthday, but can I get in the picture too?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I'm trying to find a good spot where...
John Daub: Yeah. Yeah, okay, just move on over. All right.
John Daub: Thanks for sharing the stage, John.
Peter von Gomm: Not at all. Can I make sure I have an alcohol pump for wipes at all time?
John Daub: So, always be prepared.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: How y'all doing? I know some of you. Everybody ganky. I know John is.
Peter von Gomm: And...
John Daub: I just put my mask in my pocket. It's not the best way to treat a mask. I know there's just like a percentage of people, but we're not in any contact with people.
Peter von Gomm: Really?
John Daub: So, it's like either me or...
Peter von Gomm: Oh, so you're saying I'm not a person?
John Daub: No, you are.
Peter von Gomm: You're a person.
John Daub: There it is, guys. This is like a birthday cake.
Peter von Gomm: Thank you, Peter.
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: I asked them for a candle, but they didn't have any.
John Daub: But why do you get the mentaiko cheese?
Peter von Gomm: We're gonna share it.
John Daub: We're gonna share it. Show them that one too.
Peter von Gomm: Okay.
John Daub: What's that?
Peter von Gomm: They put some...
John Daub: It's a...
Peter von Gomm: I think there's some tare on there.
John Daub: It's like Rice Krispies.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, that's tempura.
John Daub: Oh, okay. Just kind of like the left over. Left over tempura. And you can see the negi, the leeks on there, and some mayonnaise. And there's a tare on there that's kind of savory on here.
John Daub: But yours is the best one. I love this one.
Peter von Gomm: This has mochi and some mentaiko, which is the spicy fish eggs, the little eggs you see there.
John Daub: Wow. Cheese. It has cheese on it.
Peter von Gomm: Seaweed.
John Daub: Is that mochi?
Peter von Gomm: That is mochi underneath there. Mochi, cheese, and mentaiko. That is the combination that is the best taco. It's the best taco in the history of this chain, actually.
John Daub: I can't wait.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Without further ado, itadakimasu. Or as we say with my friend Yuki, it's a dirty mouth. You say that really quickly. Nobody knows that you didn't say it. Itadakimasu. It's a dirty mouth.
Peter von Gomm: Well, you know, in Japan we say, otsukaresamadesu, when you're finished with a job or something.
John Daub: I know someone that says dirty sandwiches.
Peter von Gomm: Seriously?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Why?
John Daub: Dirty sandwiches.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, no.
John Daub: It's not dirty. It's scary sandwiches. Scary sandwiches.
Peter von Gomm: If you say that quickly, you wouldn't even know.
John Daub: That's true. Scary sandwiches.
John Daub: Hot.
John Daub: Takoyaki is always good. It's really good.
John Daub: They do it, it's almost like automated because they have like vibrators underneath it.
Peter von Gomm: John. Only Peter would react to the word vibrator. What do you mean?
John Daub: Underneath it, there's some vibration that turns them automatically.
Peter von Gomm: Oh. So they'll do this for a little bit, and then like a roller hot dog, they keep doing this to...
John Daub: Oh, okay. No, it is, but they found a way to automate it a little bit.
Peter von Gomm: Okay. So it would be more perfect, more uniform.
John Daub: So it does end up being very tasty. Speaking of tasty, Tasty Chronicles tasty. Hey, Tasty Chronicles tasty.
Peter von Gomm: Yes. Jefferson Huntsman. Jefferson, I just sent out your box to Alaska. So...
John Daub: Wow. Very cool. What part of Alaska?
Peter von Gomm: Where do you live in Alaska, Jefferson Huntsman?
John Daub: He's not going to give you his address. I don't want the address. I want the city. Let's keep it. Anchorage or Fairfax.
John Daub: So I'm having... This is the Mochi Cheese Mochi. I stole one of yours.
Peter von Gomm: Look, pigeon, I'm not giving you a bite.
John Daub: Mmm. Mmm. Winner. Winner. Mmm.
John Daub: Takoyaki. You always have to eat with a bit of caution because that octopus can be so piping hot inside.
Peter von Gomm: Right?
John Daub: I think if you've ever watched these live streams, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You know exactly what happens when John eats takoyaki. But this time... Woo!
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, this time is not too bad.
John Daub: I think it's cooled off a little bit because it is a little chilly out here.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Have you tried this one?
Peter von Gomm: No, but I'm going to. I want to get a tissue out of here, though.
John Daub: Oh. Napkin. There we go.
John Daub: So, yeah. So, today's the Super Bowl. Now, when you... You've been in Japan a couple of years longer than I have.
Peter von Gomm: I've been here for 20, 21 years.
John Daub: Oh, wow. And, of course, it's part of our culture back home to go to Super Bowl parties, right? I'm sure you did the same thing.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Where would you usually go? Like, to a...
John Daub: I mean, when you were younger, I guess you just stayed at home, or did you go to a friend's house? Or what was the culture like?
Peter von Gomm: You know, when I was in college, of course, we would watch it in our dorm rooms, and that was always a lot of fun. There were some sports bars, but we pretty much stayed in our dorm rooms because when we were underage, it was the only place we could not drink alcohol.
John Daub: Oh.
Peter von Gomm: But here in Japan, I don't think I've ever... I usually would just watch it by myself.
John Daub: Oh. Mm-hmm.
Peter von Gomm: The reason why is because of the time. It's on... Super Bowl Sunday is usually on Monday morning at 8 a.m.
John Daub: Right. It's not exactly the time you want to go to a sports bar, so...
Peter von Gomm: Right. Well, a friend of mine went this morning, invited me, but it was...
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Didn't want to do it.
John Daub: No?
Peter von Gomm: Up too early, and...
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: But, yeah, I miss... I miss Super Bowl parties.
John Daub: Mm. You know, back home, when it was at a decent time on Sunday.
Peter von Gomm: Well, why didn't you have one?
John Daub: Well... I don't have any sort of sports TV con... How big is your TV?
Peter von Gomm: Pretty big.
John Daub: What, 77 inch?
Peter von Gomm: No. 65?
John Daub: Uh... One... Keep going down.
Peter von Gomm: 55.
John Daub: Probably 55.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, well, mine's a 65 LG C9.
John Daub: Ooh.
Peter von Gomm: So I should probably be having the party at my place.
John Daub: Mm. Although my TV's on a TV stand that's half the size... It's made for a TV that's 32 inches.
Peter von Gomm: So...
John Daub: So every earthquake, I get... I get nervous. I run and hold the TV.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Let me see. Is it stable?
Peter von Gomm: I don't know.
John Daub: You have to hang onto it while you watch it. It doesn't fall off.
Peter von Gomm: That's pretty good, too. That's pretty good, too. Now, only when there's an earthquake...
John Daub: Right.
Peter von Gomm: I run, I go, earthquake! I run and I hold the edges of the TV to make sure...
John Daub: Right. ...it doesn't fall off.
Peter von Gomm: That's how I feel about my motorcycle.
John Daub: Really?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Do you run to the garage, or do you sleep with it?
Peter von Gomm: Well, I wait, and if there's a really big jolt, then I will... I will go down and just watch it. You okay, baby?
John Daub: All right. Oh, never mind Joji. Go straight to the bike. It's the best way. It's the best way to do it.
Peter von Gomm: Well, priorities, John.
John Daub: Hey, Adam. Yo, happy birthday. I might be visiting Japan in May 2022. Now, having... hearing you say that it's a good time for people to visit, big fan thanks.
Peter von Gomm: Adam, I think 2022 is gonna be fine. In fact, I think autumn is gonna open up a little bit, but I get a feeling that it's gonna be...
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Mostly package tours, and there's gonna be a lot of testing, and maybe a quarantine, and there'll be hurdles to... like hoops to jump through. It won't be the same as traveling here, but I think travel will start up in the fall after the Olympics.
John Daub: Yeah. Speaking of hurdles, the Olympics, like track and field.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, the Olympics, right. Right.
John Daub: Well, it's off to a rocky month, thanks to Prime Minister Mori, ex-Prime Minister Mori.
Peter von Gomm: I was just... I keep... I feel... I almost feel bad for him, but this is... He's also one of the people, like, the... You should know by now. The reasons why more... Like, equality is not possible because of that generation that's just so...
John Daub: Right.
Peter von Gomm: Taro Aso, and... They're good people. They've done some good things, but they're so out of touch.
John Daub: I know, but can you... Can you still use that generation as an excuse for that sort of comments and behavior?
Peter von Gomm: They're around enough young people, and they've been exposed to TV, and we're in the 21st century, so I don't buy that generational excuse.
John Daub: Well, it is the greatest generation. A lot of them are baby boomers, the ones that have gone through the war, man. They've seen a lot.
Peter von Gomm: Sure, sure, sure. The thing is, in Japan, we show a lot of respect the older somebody gets. So, actually, in Japan, getting old is not a bad thing. It's kind of a good thing.
John Daub: I'm quite happy. People, you know, might show a little bit more respect to you just because of your age.
Peter von Gomm: And the graying temples has nothing to do with that.
John Daub: That's not gray. I did that myself.
Peter von Gomm: Right.
John Daub: It's just a fashion decision.
Peter von Gomm: What are you laughing at?
John Daub: It matches your dead cat here.
Peter von Gomm: Don't touch that. You ruin the integrity of the audio.
John Daub: Actually, it's very nice.
Peter von Gomm: What?
John Daub: You blend right in with that... the muff on your mic here.
Peter von Gomm: We do get along. The microphone cover has that because it's a little windy out there.
John Daub: Yeah, you know, I do think, though, that Japan is changing and it's a generational thing. But you can't kick out older people just because younger people are so respectful of them. You can't just fire ex-Prime Minister Mori, although he probably should be fired. But it's not that easy here.
Peter von Gomm: I don't want to talk too much about politics.
John Daub: This is beyond politics, though. The comment... When everybody has to apologize for him, including the Olympics Committee, that's a bad start.
Peter von Gomm: But the Olympics are going to happen no matter what. That's something I think... Unless there's like a mutant strain or something.
John Daub: It's going to happen.
Peter von Gomm: Well, did you... You heard that. The volunteer group... The Olympics, of course, has thousands... tens of thousands of volunteers, right?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: They... Yesterday... Yesterday, they threatened to quit all the volunteer staff in the Tokyo Olympics if Mori doesn't resign.
John Daub: You didn't hear that?
Peter von Gomm: I haven't heard that yet.
John Daub: Yeah. Like, this news that happened a few days ago is still getting bigger and bigger.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. There's a petition with a quarter of a million signatures as well on Change.org started... And the Japanese younger people are not giving him a pass. They're actually saying he has to be held accountable for the words that he says. And it's up to the younger generation to do that.
John Daub: But traditionally, the younger generation would not criticize him. It would be his peers. And that was sort of the problem.
Peter von Gomm: Now the younger generation is saying, look, we can't do this. We can't take it. And that's... That's kind of interesting.
John Daub: And the older that I get, the older that we get, we kind of feel like... I think it's easy to stop being open and acceptable of changes because the older you get, they say it's harder to get used to change.
Peter von Gomm: I'm pretty good though at it, right? I actually don't mind it at all.
John Daub: Well, you're kind of embedded in the whole internet and stuff and with your YouTube channel. You're in there with it. So you're seeing the changes and you're comfortable with the changes.
Peter von Gomm: But people who are not so involved with social media and stuff, they don't get it. Especially the old people. They don't understand, you know, what it means to tweet.
John Daub: And you're not in that group?
Peter von Gomm: I've got... My big toe is in it.
John Daub: Do you tweet?
Peter von Gomm: Occasionally.
John Daub: You tweet?
Peter von Gomm: I'm a tweeter. I got a tweeter.
John Daub: What do you mean? Why are you laughing?
Peter von Gomm: No, I... Why are you smirking? Are you trying to look down on me, John?
John Daub: Does Joji think you're cool?
Peter von Gomm: Yes.
John Daub: Really?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: What would he say?
Peter von Gomm: My dad's cool.
John Daub: I got to tell you something that's so funny. So yesterday, Joji and I had a little... a little skirmish. Joji is my 11-year-old son. And he didn't want to help clean up the house. He didn't... He doesn't understand that when I was a kid, I always had to clean the house and other stuff.
Peter von Gomm: You also walked three miles to school every day, right?
John Daub: Yeah, with no shoes. So he's like, I'm not going to clean. You clean it. You clean it. So anyhow.
Peter von Gomm: So he was in tears.
John Daub: And he's like, Dad, you're stealing my mojo.
Peter von Gomm: You said that?
John Daub: Yeah. And I had to turn around because I started laughing. I was like, Where the hell did he get that? So we had seen... Right. We had seen it like last week. He's like, Dad, you're stealing my mojo. This is Dr. Evil.
Peter von Gomm: With...
John Daub: He's like, I'm hip. I'm cool.
Peter von Gomm: He's trying to convince...
John Daub: Yeah. Convince his teenage son that he's cool.
Peter von Gomm: Man, you'll never be at the... In the same level as Joji in terms of cool now because you're out of... You're out of that range.
John Daub: I know. I know. I've given up. I'm not. You know, I was reading an interview with Dave Spector, who is one of the big expats living here in Japan. In fact, I see him as Japanese, to be honest. He's American, but he's been here since... American... Japanese blonde hair. Yeah. Dave Spector. And I watch him on TV all the time. Have a lot of respect for him.
Peter von Gomm: He has not aged at all, has he?
John Daub: Right. I know. In fact, I never even... He's definitely older than us, and I've never... You know, his age never even once came up. I never wondered how old he is, just because he's ageless.
Peter von Gomm: And so how old is he?
John Daub: I don't... He won't tell anybody. And even in the interviews, he dodges the question, and he says, in Japan... I'm saying this because it's my birthday. In Japan, you don't want people to know how old you are, because then there's ageism. All right? Because people start... They start to judge you based on your age. So as long as they don't know how old he is, they're never going to treat him too old or too young. They're going to treat him as who he is.
Peter von Gomm: So sometimes telling your birthday or how old you are is not advantageous, because it doesn't really matter in the scheme of things.
John Daub: Well, it's a little bit... Well, I think for on-camera work, if you're on... If you're doing variety shows like he does, or news or something, and you're on camera... At a direct, thank you. They tend to have a different... prejudice against that than they do for voice work. Where, you know, when they know that even though you're my age, I can still do little kids' voices, there's no question, no prejudice against ageism.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. I used to do kids' shows. So it's a little different now.
John Daub: Arnold 3000, hey, PBG, I have no idea who that dude you're with is. Be careful. He looks shady.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I agree, Arnold. And thank you for your message. This is Ozzy's... Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the podcast. You flipped Branson here. If you are the dynamic duo, who is Batman and who is Robin?
John Daub: Batman, Robin.
Peter von Gomm: Obviously.
John Daub: I'll let you have that because it's your birthday.
Peter von Gomm: Yes. Well, you're the one who rides the motorcycle, and I'm the one who drives the car.
John Daub: Well, you rode your little Mama Cherry bicycle here today.
Peter von Gomm: It's true. A three-speed.
John Daub: And how long did it take you to ride that?
Peter von Gomm: G-Man three-pole. 40 minutes to ride here?
John Daub: We should probably get a cup of coffee or something. In fact, at the bakery, we could get a cake.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. There's a bakery right there.
John Daub: These are done. I ate the last one.
Peter von Gomm: Sorry.
John Daub: No, no. You eat. One of these is yours.
Peter von Gomm: Okay.
John Daub: You can have the one with all the toppings here.
Peter von Gomm: Thank you so very much.
John Daub: Look at it. It's so beautiful.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, yeah. It's lovely.
John Daub: I didn't share with the pigeons at all.
Peter von Gomm: I'm so... I feel selfish.
John Daub: It's okay to be selfish on your birthday.
Peter von Gomm: It is.
John Daub: It's never okay to be selfish.
Peter von Gomm: Yes, it is.
John Daub: No.
Peter von Gomm: On your birthday, it's totally okay.
John Daub: No. I want to... I want to... I want this. I want that. How come you didn't put butter frosting on my cake?
Peter von Gomm: That's a good question. I don't... What kind of cake do you like?
John Daub: I like chocolate cake.
Peter von Gomm: Really?
John Daub: I love butter frosting.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, butter frosting is so good. But it's hard to get a really good cake.
John Daub: Excuse me. In Japan?
Peter von Gomm: In Japan.
John Daub: Yeah, that is a problem. The cake shop that I introduced you to that we went to before, Angeline...
Peter von Gomm: Angeline?
John Daub: Yeah. Angeline's in Asakusa has shut down.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, wow.
John Daub: Hey, Mike Chan. Happy birthday, John. Thank you. Yeah, Angeline's shut down. They were open for like generations, right?
Peter von Gomm: They were open for... Since the end of World War II.
John Daub: Wow. And they closed down last year.
Peter von Gomm: Wow. It was... They had the best butter cake, very European cakes, and they're gone now.
John Daub: And that was one of the only places that I could find a decent butter cake.
Peter von Gomm: Right. Well, I think a lot of these businesses... We're kind of teetering on survival. And then the pandemic came. It was just this final kick in the gut.
John Daub: Yeah. And they just closed. It was like they forced their hand. I can't scroll and see the Super Chats. Peter, what's going on here? I wanted to read some of the... How do I see the... What if you... I don't want to close that. I'll turn it off.
Peter von Gomm: Don't do that.
John Daub: Yeah, I can't. Touch that thing. Touch this little bubble down here.
Peter von Gomm: No, no, no. There you go.
John Daub: Live chat. Top chat. Touch top chat.
Peter von Gomm: You want to show me there?
John Daub: Yeah, there you go. But I don't see him.
Peter von Gomm: I always try to say thank you to everybody who has given a Super Chat. I can't scroll. JS Pictures, happy birthday, John. There's a bug there.
John Daub: Well, sorry. I'll let you touch it.
Peter von Gomm: That's all right.
John Daub: Yeah. Anyhow, thanks in advance. Yeah. I'll go back and thank you all in the comments. I can't see a lot of the Super Chats, but...
Peter von Gomm: You can't scroll through them like before.
John Daub: Yeah, I can't scroll. There's a bug with the Super Chat. It's probably too many.
Peter von Gomm: It's never too many. Do you want to go check out that bakery?
John Daub: Yes, look at the cakes. Look at the cakes.
Peter von Gomm: Well, actually...
John Daub: And you're coming with us. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we go, I have a gift for you.
Peter von Gomm: What?
John Daub: Let me just... Don't look. Don't look. He got me a gift.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, and it's perfect for today. It's very apropos.
John Daub: He's hiding... He's shielding it from us.
Peter von Gomm: So, being that it is the... It's your birthday, but more importantly, it's the Super Bowl.
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, did it say that?
John Daub: Sorry. It's my birthday, but... It's to belittle your birthday. More importantly...
John Daub: Happy birthday, John.
Peter von Gomm: Wow.
John Daub: This is very fitting. Right?
Peter von Gomm: Thank you, buddy. I didn't even realize that. This is very fitting.
John Daub: Check this out.
Peter von Gomm: Thank you, Jennifer. Hey, Jennifer. Jennifer Santos. Thank you. Let's check this out. He got me a football beer.
John Daub: It says, Rock Bock. And it's a dude who's kicking a ball.
Peter von Gomm: And it says, touchdown. Yeah, but actually, it shouldn't be field goal, right?
John Daub: But, actually, it's a... It shouldn't be field goal, right?
Peter von Gomm: No, really. Well, you see that he's like in a suit. He's wearing a three-piece suit.
John Daub: I know, but he's kicking a field goal.
Peter von Gomm: Those guys were classy back in the day.
John Daub: Yeah, but he's kicking a field goal. That's not...
Peter von Gomm: Well, whatever. It says, touchdown. Touchdown.
John Daub: Well, thank you. I'm gonna drink this tonight.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, you should.
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Enjoy.
John Daub: Enjoy. I'll put it in here. It's from the Yatsugatake Brewery.
Peter von Gomm: Where's that?
John Daub: Which prefecture?
Peter von Gomm: You know.
John Daub: No, I don't know.
Peter von Gomm: You don't know. It's okay. You're from Japan.
John Daub: Yeah, yeah. It's in Japan. It's one of the prefectures in Japan.
Peter von Gomm: No, it's not. It's a city, but I don't know which prefecture it's in.
John Daub: All right. Let's see what else we got here. Oh, you want more gifts?
Peter von Gomm: No, but they did have a bakery.
John Daub: Oh, okay. And I do like bakeries, but... Actually, I'm quite full.
Peter von Gomm: Do you... Can I get you a coffee?
John Daub: Do you want a coffee?
Peter von Gomm: No, we'll get a coffee.
John Daub: But show them the Moomin cakes.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, there are... Aren't these sweet? Are they Finnish or Swedish?
John Daub: Because I saw... Yeah. Hey, DC. Look, they're sitting at a table. Hey, it's Diana. Thank you. Have an awesome day. Spir... Uh... Spirilighting also writes in, happy birthday. How do you switch back from front to back camera while streaming?
John Daub: No, I've been able to do that. Just a little switchery switch button on the screen that allows me to switch from the front to back camera. It's pretty cool. I wasn't making it up.
Peter von Gomm: You can see his butt. Oh, there's a...
John Daub: Cute.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: That's the butt end of the bread.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: And there's the front of the bread.
Peter von Gomm: The brand of the big butt on it.
John Daub: Yeah.
John Daub: I think it's okay. I don't need to stop at the bakery. You get Slim Pickens.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Wasn't that the name of a character, Slim Pickens? Wasn't there?
Peter von Gomm: That was an actor. He was in... An actual actor's name?
John Daub: Yeah. Slim Pickens. What's the... Doctor Strangelove. Remember he rides the rocket?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Oh, yeah. I just got that on 4K Blu-ray. That's Slim Pickens. He was on that.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Doctor Strangelove.
John Daub: We need a garbage for this.
Peter von Gomm: The rubbish bin?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Peter's going to take it back to the shop.
John Daub: It's pretty cool. I can switch from back to the forth like this.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: I do really appreciate all the birthday wishes. I can't, for some reason, see some of the back Super Chats to say thank you, but I'm really... I can see some of them now.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, here they are.
John Daub: Oh, here they are. Tig, I got to talk to you, Tig, about this lottery. I think you mentioned it before. Hey, Carlos Mitchell's here. Hey, Carlos. Thanks for that.
Peter von Gomm: Ryan K is speeding repairman. Jeff Ang, happy birthday.
John Daub: Raji Sabra, JS Pictures, Carl and Chloe, Chicago Africans here.
Peter von Gomm: Brenda.
John Daub: Hey, Brenda. Hi. You're not as young as you used to be, but not as old as you're going to be.
Peter von Gomm: No truer words have been said before.
John Daub: Larry Fisherman's a new traveler. Awesome. Vic Vic's in the house.
Peter von Gomm: Jennifer French said buy some cupcakes.
John Daub: Jenny French. Is there a Jennifer French that's here, Jennifer French?
Peter von Gomm: No.
John Daub: Oh, she's French, but her name's Jennifer, but... It's Jennifer Julia. KT Lovett from Hong Kong. Thank you.
Peter von Gomm: Let me help you out.
John Daub: ...
Peter von Gomm: ...maybe it just depends on the kind of food. That's a good observation. It's a very good observation but not a reason not to come to Japan. Yeah, right. Not a good reason. Carrie Larson's here, happy birthday from Australia. Hey Carrie, hi Carrie. And Suijin one is here, happy birthday, John. Have an awesome birthday. Thank you for that. You guys are awesome. Those kids are like twins. They have the same costume on. Should we make our way upstairs?
John Daub: Yeah, let's do it. Oh, Baskin Robbins. Look at Johnny's world. Well, do I just make you happy seeing these? I ordered that for you too. Do you... Are you... Am I the only one that thinks that, um, K-pop stars are much better than the J-pop stars and Japan doesn't practice enough? Like, Korea is just much better at this than Japan. It's like the dancing and the...
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, the synchronization.
John Daub: Yeah, I agree. I agree. It's a little more polished. I think it's K-pop is more professional than J-pop. J-pop's gotta step it up. And I don't know why. That is... Are they just lazy? Or...
Peter von Gomm: I think they just... Why would you put in all the extra effort if you know you're still gonna sell a zillion albums and not have to put in the hard work.
John Daub: Yeah, okay, I think you have to train in Korea in order to be good at J-pop. Uh, you want to get coffee right?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. But this... Look, this is looking pretty nice too. Let me just take a quick look-see. Just a quick look-see.
John Daub: Oh.
Peter von Gomm: Are these the same flavors that they have in the United States? They do have matcha. Melon, rocky road. Ooh. Vanilla, jamoca, coffee. That one looks delicious. Standard flavor. That's not even an ice cream. Trying to be smart. It's a little too pink for me though. I'm not... I don't know. They... they lost me with the pink color. Should have something more...
John Daub: So it's your... It's your... I'm not gonna ask you how old you are, but is there anything in particular that you're aiming for this year?
Peter von Gomm: Um... Thank you, Michael Sasano. It must be... It... It's a must to get a sweet birthday treat and share your share with your buddy. Happy birthday, John. Thank you, Michael. And your question was... My question was... Anything in particular that you're aiming for or a goal that you're you have set forth for this year?
John Daub: Yeah, um, I want to try to get the content out of the channel to grow. Uh, the new channel. Um, a lot of it is really dependent on the pandemic, isn't it? A lot of my goals and I think a lot of your goals too, just have to do with how long are we going to have to stay at home and how long are we going to have to... We're not going to be able to travel. And um...
Peter von Gomm: Right. Well, for you, for your channel, most of it virtually, all of it is travel within Japan, right? And although you know, I'm not sure if that's true. The travel hasn't been completely restricted, but when you get to your location, there's not a whole lot you can do because things are closed.
John Daub: That's right. That's the problem. If you go outside and do things outside, it's not... not a big deal. But, um, but we've all certainly felt the... the hit, um, lack of work, lack of work has... Has your... You... You've been still been able to narrate and get jobs like with this because... He, I ended up buying the camera because... uh, you were doing the narration for that. The Sony... Are you gonna get the Sony A1?
Peter von Gomm: No, no, no, no, no, six thousand five hundred dollars. No, I'm not gonna get that. But it does 8K. I'll borrow yours if I may. May I?
John Daub: When you narrated it, did you get a chance to touch it when you were doing the commercial?
Peter von Gomm: No. Can you just say 15 stops of dynamic range? Can you say that please?
John Daub: 15 stops of dynamic range. That's pretty cool. Beyond sensor, beyond sensor. Did you have any problems pronouncing some of those words? Beyond. But then I channeled Beyonce because I love Beyonce.
Peter von Gomm: No, you didn't help me to deliver it. Oh, did you want a Starbucks? I can get you a Starbucks. What do you want?
John Daub: Um, well I had a cappuccino when I was waiting for you.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, so why not have another cappuccino?
John Daub: Though yeah, it's really crowded. The Starbucks. Should you go to another one? Is there something over there?
Peter von Gomm: How about we walk back towards the other where we met and then you can uh wrap things up there. There's a Saba over at the other end.
John Daub: All right, yeah. There's a cafe over there. No one was there. All right, let's go through here. We can cut, cut through here to get... go past um some of the amusement rides to get there. So we're gonna walk now through Tokyo Dome to get to the uh to the cafe.
Peter von Gomm: Did they have any interesting coffees at this at the Japan Starbucks right now?
John Daub: They do. Uh, what was the one they had? It was a like a butterscotch thing, I think. What? But you know what's coming up in just a month away will be the cherry blossom, right? Sakura. I never get that stuff. They're just... You know what you want to get a cervix? I'll have a coffee.
Peter von Gomm: All right, I'll have a coffee, please. Tall coffee. That's it.
John Daub: But do you buy those like sophisticated ones?
Peter von Gomm: No, I don't. I don't... come on, admit it. You do.
John Daub: I don't, I don't, I don't like sweets. Caramel macchiato.
Peter von Gomm: Look at the colonel. That the colonel was up there on the stage. No, he wasn't on the big screen.
John Daub: No, I do not go for the... the fruity lots of whipped cream and stuff on top. I don't do that. Do you get shots of stuff in your coffee and admit it? Shots of syrup. I get an extra espresso shot.
Peter von Gomm: Really in your normal coffee?
John Daub: Okay.
Peter von Gomm: I suppose you could. They would look at you weird.
John Daub: But you're used to that.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I'll have a large coffee and give me two shots of espresso in there.
John Daub: Really?
Peter von Gomm: Would they allow? Is that okay?
John Daub: I guess they've heard it all.
Peter von Gomm: They've probably heard it all. You can have whatever you like, writes in Kerry Larson.
John Daub: I like Kerry's way of thinking.
John Daub: Hey, can I ask your people to tell them about my podcast?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, absolutely.
John Daub: He does have a new channel. It's not a new channel, you just have a new concept.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, well, it's a new channel that comes with it. Well, talk to them directly. Shall I hold it?
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: So, hi. Hi, guys. I forgot what I was going to talk to you about. Help me out, John.
John Daub: Your new channel.
Peter von Gomm: My name is Peter. Peter Von Gaum. I'm also known as PVG. I'm also known as PVG. That's a small v, capital G. You're not enunciating, you know.
John Daub: Big P, small v, big G.
Peter von Gomm: Pretty good. And I am a professional voice actor and narrator. I live here in Japan. That's where John and I met. And I have a new channel. A new YouTube channel. It's called The Serial Talker. That's spelled with an S. We're not talking about Captain Crunch or Boo Berry or Flake Serial. We're talking S-E-R-I-A-L. As in Serial Killer.
John Daub: Come on, don't freak people out.
Peter von Gomm: They're about to go to sleep in the East Coast and you're giving them nightmares, okay?
John Daub: Right. Be polite.
Peter von Gomm: I'm being polite. I'm being direct with you because the genre is true crime. So the podcast is The Serial Talker. And it's true stories and true crime. And I would love it if you would check out the podcast and subscribe, of course. You can hear it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And iTunes. But I also make... it's a weekly podcast and I make a video that goes along with it for YouTube for those who are into videos. But I would also like you to send me your true stories. So John will share a link in this video. And I need your true stories. So if you have a compelling true story, something that's worthy of sharing.
John Daub: You do take suggestions.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, of course. So check out the podcast, The Serial Talker. Okay, back to you, John.
John Daub: Can you hear a scary story?
Peter von Gomm: My life.
John Daub: Do you have guests on your podcast?
Peter von Gomm: Yes, I do. I had a sommelier and I'm going to have you on there as well.
John Daub: Check this out. This is the one that makes people hurl. This is a total rip-off.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, it is?
John Daub: It's like a thousand yen... minute drive around the track. No, this thing is supposed to go all the way up and back and forth like this one. And then it goes all the way up to like the tippy-tippy top there and then some guy hurls, but well in mid-hurl he comes back and then the hurl just stays in the same spot.
Peter von Gomm: Have you ever seen that happen? I've seen that at Six Flags.
John Daub: It's an anti-gravity puke.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it's nasty. And then it hits somebody in the face.
John Daub: Well, it hits somebody in the face because the thing is oscillating and it's not...
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: And then some wise guy goes, I want to sit on the end and then they're the ones who hurl.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, Tina Mae! That guy's...
John Daub: That's pretty nasty. What is this thing here?
Peter von Gomm: It's some sort of crane from the 1950s that's going around, but that's the extent of the ride. This is from an old Godzilla set, John.
John Daub: It very well could be. Look at those cars, too. Those are antiques. Nothing is open because it's a Monday, apparently.
John Daub: I guess it's... right?
John Daub: Yeah, let's go. We're walking through the amusement rides. Now, there was an accident here a couple of years ago, right?
Peter von Gomm: Oh, several years ago, yeah.
John Daub: It was several years ago now and they closed down the park and had to do some repairs. That ride is gone.
Peter von Gomm: That ride in particular is gone. It was like a rabid teacup ride.
John Daub: Was that the one?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. The teacup car.
John Daub: And the guy was... Wow. They couldn't get the belt around him. He was like, eh, it's alright or whatever.
Peter von Gomm: And they didn't buckle him in properly.
John Daub: What?
Peter von Gomm: And when it spun around the corner, he was ejected from his seat.
John Daub: This could be on your podcast. Is that crime, though?
Peter von Gomm: It's a crime against amusement parks.
John Daub: Why would he have a seat belt on?
Peter von Gomm: Honestly.
John Daub: Yeah, I know, I know, I know. But I think that the excuse was he was too large to get the belt on.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, there's a Shonen Jump store.
John Daub: Look at the people social distancing to get in there.
John Daub: Oh, hey! Do you remember we did a live stream in there about three years ago?
Peter von Gomm: Donkey? Yeah, we were looking for your underwear.
John Daub: And I found them.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, there we go. There's like a one hour live stream. You got busted in that one, didn't you?
John Daub: Yeah, well the one in Akihabara.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we got in trouble.
John Daub: Check out those dudes climbing the tree.
Peter von Gomm: That's awesome.
John Daub: Alright, let's get out of here. At the other end of the street...
Peter von Gomm: At the other end of the street there's a cafe. For every...
John Daub: Wow, look at the rules here. No lounging, Peter.
Peter von Gomm: Lying down on benches is not permitted.
John Daub: Look at how relaxed he is though.
Peter von Gomm: I love this.
John Daub: Oh, wait a second. Film and video photography without permission.
Peter von Gomm: Okay, let's keep going. Nothing to see here.
John Daub: It doesn't say anything about ejecting passengers from the meeting spot.
Peter von Gomm: Nothing to see here.
John Daub: Yeah.
John Daub: That's true.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, they didn't follow the rules.
John Daub: It's cool though that they do have the Shonen Jump. Yeah, you can see inside of here they do have One Piece and Dragon Ball Z. There's some good stuff in there if you're into Shonen Jump.
Peter von Gomm: I used to work at Shueisha about 10 years ago.
John Daub: Yeah, I helped out the magazine division. But I made a lot of friends there and some of them ended up transferring to departments. Because every three years in Japan, Japanese companies will transfer to different departments. So that opened up some doors.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: I was able to get through my friends access to go and interview the editorial staff of Shonen Jump. Which is one of the most infamous manga series, weekly series that's been going on for decades. I got to see some of the One Piece stuff that was not released yet. Things that were coming out that weren't released yet. For people, that's like valuable gold. But they wouldn't let me publish it until after it had been released. So there was a catch.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. What's that there?
John Daub: It's a kid's playroom.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, there's some stuff here.
John Daub: So this is Suidobashi, actually. This is the Suidobashi side of Tokyo Dome. And you can walk around this area. Probably spend an entire day here, right?
John Daub: It's a shame though about the karaoke Ferris wheel.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we'll have to come back on a weekday. We've already done it in a live stream, actually. So you can go and see it.
John Daub: Where Peter sings the blues.
Peter von Gomm: What did you sing? Do you remember?
John Daub: Wasn't it that song by... Abba? Frank Sinatra. All That You Want Is Another Baby?
Peter von Gomm: No. One's enough.
John Daub: I'm a Barbie girl.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, that's copyrighted music.
John Daub: No cover songs, Peter.
Peter von Gomm: No cover songs.
John Daub: They don't pick up on that.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, they do.
John Daub: Even if it's just ad-lib. Look, you might be a little off-beat off-key there, but they could somehow the analytics picks up these things.
Peter von Gomm: I'm scared of the analytics.
John Daub: Oh, this is the bicycle parking lot. I should have parked here, Peter.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I didn't even realize that. It's just around the corner.
John Daub: Yeah, it's usually free for two hours, but this one is... oh no, they still got spots open. Shoot.
Peter von Gomm: We'll go get you a bike and bring it over here.
John Daub: That defeats the point.
Peter von Gomm: I'll just go get it later. If I gotta go there to pick it up now, I'll just go there later.
John Daub: That's how it works.
Peter von Gomm: Pretty interesting.
John Daub: I have... not that one, but I've eaten it before. Every time we do a location shoot for NHK, the driver always says, I know a great restaurant, and he takes us to Ikinari Steak.
Peter von Gomm: The last driver that... So we get... when we do TV shows, we get driven around in vans, and the driver always knows the good restaurants. He had a point card, and it was a platinum card with like 30,000 points or something.
John Daub: For Ikinari Steak?
Peter von Gomm: Apparently he eats there every day for dinner.
John Daub: He's unmarried, doesn't have a wife and kids or anything, and he just... eats out at Ikinari Steak.
Peter von Gomm: I think he got us a discount too.
John Daub: So what about it? You've eaten there before?
Peter von Gomm: Their signage is a bit weird. The English is really weird.
John Daub: It says, This is the first big bunch of steak.
Peter von Gomm: They do that on purpose to get people curious about it.
John Daub: That's the Sobu one. Yeah. We're heading towards Akihabara.
Peter von Gomm: Right, to Akihabara.
John Daub: All right, what can I get you as a coffee? Out of appreciation for...
Peter von Gomm: I don't want a coffee with two shots of espresso in it.
John Daub: If that's what you're thinking. Okay, so we're now here by Suidobashi Station. So we've pretty much started from here and walked all the way around to the amusement area, to the Takoyaki Land, which is right here, and then we just walked on the outside of the park here. The other Starbucks is right here. This place is so convenient because you can come to so many different stations. There's the Oedo Line, which is Kasuga Station. There's the Marunouchi and the Namboku Line, which is Korakuen Station. The Marunouchi going towards Ikebukuro. And then if you come to Suidobashi, you have JR and the Mita Line, which is really convenient.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, look, here's that hurl zone.
John Daub: Oh, the hurl zone! For Vikings. I got some friends in the doorway that might take offense to this.
Peter von Gomm: Actually, I think they would love it.
John Daub: There's a Moss burger inside of there, but you can only eat it if you have tickets or something. Alright, I'll get you a coffee. You want to stay outside with the people?
Peter von Gomm: Alright, and then I gotta go. I got a video to edit and a birthday.
John Daub: I think I can hang out with you all day.
Peter von Gomm: Be nice.
John Daub: Peter's gonna... You want a hojicha coffee?
Peter von Gomm: Okay. I'll surprise you.
John Daub: I'm gonna put on my glasses so I can see these people. Tell them a story.
Peter von Gomm: I'll tell them a story. A cereal story? Maybe.
John Daub: Fruity Pebbles. Fruity Pebbles. How you guys doing? Now don't go away just because John walked off.
John Daub: I'll take this off so you can actually hear me.
Peter von Gomm: It's good to see some of you guys. I know some of these... some of you people. Hey, what's my... Hey, Carrie. Was that... That was a PVG uh... Avatar?
John Daub: What was that?
Peter von Gomm: Are you guys making fun of me?
John Daub: Mario, nice. I like that.
Peter von Gomm: That's like... I totally look like The Rock in that.
John Daub: He wishes. Nice, nice.
Peter von Gomm: Linda, hey, hey, hey. How funny.
John Daub: How funny.
Peter von Gomm: So you guys all doing good? It's nice to be out for John's birthday. And uh... Yeah, it's... This table's not...
John Daub: I've got the day off today, so I'm...
Peter von Gomm: When I go back home, I'll be working on my next podcast.
John Daub: Which is going to be a true story from one of my friends about Bigfoot, or maybe... It's a suspected Bigfoot sighting. Maybe you can't even call it a sighting. But... It's a thriller. So tune in for the next Serial Talker podcast.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, thank you. Somebody just posted the link.
John Daub: Yeah, cheers. Thank you. Hello, I'm...
Peter von Gomm: Oh, hi. Hachini Ichi. Thank you for your help.
John Daub: Hey, Brenda. My birthday is in August.
Peter von Gomm: I'm a Virgo.
John Daub: And actually, I'm right. I'm a... I'm a confused Virgo. And I'm a confused Leo. Because it's right on the cusp. Some of the... The horoscopes say that Leo is... uh... August 23rd, the ending. And some say it's the 22nd. So I'm so confused.
John Daub: And thank you, uh, Nicholas. Thanks, Nick.
John Daub: Tokyo's best cappuccino. I know, I'm on a bit of a hiatus from that. Thanks, Nick. Uh, the best? To be honest? Well, I'll tell you. The best beans that I've found in Tokyo to make your own coffee, your own... your own um, drip coffee is from, uh, Coffee Valley in Ikebukuro. So if you go back to my live channel, you can see um, the Peter Von Gaum Japan live channel. Uh, so live streams around Tokyo and Japan. And I did a coffee series, uh, cappuccino series. Um, and I will do more of those. It's just a bit... The weather's not great and because of our... our state of the world right now, I will do more. But for beans, Coffee Valley and they do an awesome cappuccino there too. So I would say it's a toss-up for the cappuccino between Coffee Valley and Shibuya for in, I-N-N, coffee. Their... their cappuccinos are my favorites of that. Of what I've found so far. So in a roundabout way, I hope that answers your question.
John Daub: Yeah, hi. The Hawaiian. I am going to do, uh, more camping stuff by camping car when the weather warms up, um, uh, as a collaboration with the, uh, the camping car company that I... that I teamed up with this last summer. So stay tuned for that. Um, but right now, I'm focusing on stuff that's sustainable. Um, which is doing podcast stuff. And I, as I mentioned, I would be thrilled if you guys uh, have an interesting true story that you would like me to consider, I will check it out. So you have to email that to me. And John will put that, uh, in the link, um, of this live stream. So... It's the Serial Talker Podcast. And, uh, there's a YouTube channel of the same name. And all the information's on there as well, so. Arigato so much in advance.
John Daub: Yeah, glamping, glamping. So this place that I went to in, uh, Fujiyoshida, um, in... when did I do that? Was it October? I guess it was towards the end of October. Um, it's a glamping spot that's just amazing. And they're opening, uh, the beginning of March. They're planning on having everything done and ready to accept visitors. Um, it's a beautiful area, Fujiyoshida. So I'm looking forward to going back there.
John Daub: Yeah, yeah, that's right. John, don't bother coming back. You're not wanted.
Peter von Gomm: I've taken it over.
John Daub: We want John back.
Peter von Gomm: I've got nothing else to say. Hey, Jay. How was the guy that was... How was the guy that was in the Smithsonian Magazine?
John Daub: Oh, oh, oh! Uh, oh, yeah! I totally forgot about him. What was his name? The fashion designer. That was in, uh, uh, Tsumago-juku. Cool little town. Yeah, check out, check out that livestream. That was a trip. Uh, what's his name? I totally forgot his name. But he's a, he's a very, he's a real character. A very eccentric fashion designer that we stumbled upon in Tsumago-juku. Hey, Tasty!
Peter von Gomm: Oh, thank you, Peso. Japangle! That's, that's just the most awesome show. Are you, you... You're gone, man. This is, this is now my... I spilled the coffee inside. Sorry. What do you mean?
John Daub: It's right there. I spilled it.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, great. Spilled the coffee. Um, so, yeah. Japangle. Check out, uh, NHK, the Japangle show, which is just awesome. It's won a bunch of awards, and, uh, it's, it's, it's the best, it's the best show that I've worked on in Japan for educational, it's historical, um, things like the history of sushi, the kaiten sushi, the conveyor belt sushi, and it's just done in a really creative way. And, uh, I was Professor Ero.
John Daub: Professor Ero!
Peter von Gomm: Oh, thank you for that coffee, John! Wow.
John Daub: Look at that. That's pretty cool. Is the seat taken?
Peter von Gomm: Uh, it is now.
John Daub: For your lovely buns.
Peter von Gomm: Speaking of lovely buns. I spilled the coffee. How did you manage that?
John Daub: I, the door. Look at that. I thought it was interesting. That's mochi mochi blueberry bread. I never seen anything like it.
Peter von Gomm: Swing it around here. Let's get up.
John Daub: Yeah, check this out. Mochi mochi blueberry bread. Bru-brary?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Bru-belly? Yeah, but you have to see it from an angle here. Hold on.
John Daub: It does look really mochi mochi. So I figured I might as well try it because you just pack on the pounds today.
Peter von Gomm: Why not? Tomorrow's a new day.
John Daub: You're only 57 months.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, you are not kidding. Who do you think you are? What are you doing here? What is your name?
John Daub: Just come to the right place. Here you go.
Peter von Gomm: Don't share with...
John Daub: No, he's gonna bring his friends now! Oh, no.
Peter von Gomm: Okay, how... What are you doing?
John Daub: No, they're all coming here. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that. Don't do that.
Peter von Gomm: Don't encourage them.
John Daub: Okay, I won't. Just one more.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, gosh. No, no, you idiot!
John Daub: Oh, dude.
Peter von Gomm: You idiot!
John Daub: Look what he's done!
Peter von Gomm: Oh, my God. I told you not to do that!
John Daub: I thought you were just joking.
Peter von Gomm: No, I never joke about the pigeons.
John Daub: Okay, I won't do it anymore.
Peter von Gomm: Look, they have very short memories, so...
John Daub: we should be okay.
Peter von Gomm: Like, literally, there's a... There's one, two, three, four, five... There's 17 pigeons here now, Peter. Oh, wow. Sorry about that.
John Daub: I do hope you forgive me for that, John. Who's the adult here? The guy with two thumbs.
Peter von Gomm: All thumbs.
John Daub: Uh... Interestingly, I did a narration for a... It's called Three Day Daredevils. Another fun show on NHK.
John Daub: Yeah, this stream is all about me now.
Peter von Gomm: And it's about a falconer who... You all know falconers. They fly falcons. But they use, actually, hawks. And this guy trains these hawks to scare off the pigeons.
John Daub: Oh, dude. Something happened.
Peter von Gomm: He uses hawks to scare off the pigeons. And actually, they can do it... He flies them in Tokyo, in the city. And, uh... You listening to me?
John Daub: Yeah, what?
Peter von Gomm: Are they the only ones listening? He's flying hawks in the city. Yeah. So... He, uh... He takes these... These hawks out to scare off the pigeons.
John Daub: Really? Don't you wish there was one here right now?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: That's a nice copy. Which one did you spill, by the way?
Peter von Gomm: Otherwise, it might have a bunch of weird stuff floating in it.
John Daub: It's flavor.
Peter von Gomm: Flavor pellets.
John Daub: Thank you.
John Daub: Now, so... For me to get here, it's about a 25-minute bicycle ride. Um... I do like this area. What do you think of this?
Peter von Gomm: I have friends that could live... That live around here.
John Daub: It is quite expensive, but actually, Laurent has his bar. Is he still open?
Peter von Gomm: I don't know. I have a Belgian friend... He's hilarious... who owns a bar.
John Daub: Is he, though?
Peter von Gomm: I think so. He's one of the most original people that has his good and bad points. Um... But he's definitely a fiend and a ladies' man.
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Really? Laurent, uh... Yeah, if you... I don't know. I'll see if I can do a livestream at his bar or something, because that'd be pretty cool. Yeah, it's Belgian beer. Good beer. Wow.
John Daub: You just got a friend...
Peter von Gomm: Angel? Angel investor.
John Daub: Nicholas? Hey, Nicholas!
Peter von Gomm: Lazak is here. Did you ever find Tokyo's best cappuccino? I've already answered that question.
John Daub: Okay. I held down the fort when you were gone, by the way.
Peter von Gomm: Angel Forever 59.
John Daub: Mmm! I like that. I like the name. Happy birthday, John. Hi, Peter.
Peter von Gomm: Uh, cute pigeons for the company.
John Daub: As long as they don't doody around here, we're all good. Yeah. I've seen pigeons walk into restaurants. The door was left open and the pigeons just go straight in. I've seen that, too.
Peter von Gomm: They did not have a reservation.
John Daub: You're yucky at night, Canto.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Can I dip this in here? Mar says you can.
John Daub: Thank you, Mar. Did you ever watch uh, Candid Camera with Alan Funt back in the day? Some of you oldsters remember that show. Back in the 80s. Before that, man. It was the 70s, I think. They had reruns.
Peter von Gomm: No, they had reruns. Well, there's the classic one that I loved. He goes to this coffee shop. He's sitting at a coffee counter, and there's a guy, a tough guy, sitting next to him, and Alan Funt has coffee and the guy next to him's got a cup of coffee. And Alan Funt takes his, when the guy's not looking, he takes his his donut and dips it in the guy's coffee. The guy looks at him like, he gives him one chance. And then he does it again. He dips it in there. And the guy just goes, he didn't hit him or anything, but he gets totally pissed off. And then he goes, you're on Candid Camera? And the police come and take him to that.
John Daub: Oh, son of a...
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. That's how you tolerate rude people, because there might be a camera on you.
John Daub: I remember that. Those shows led the way to a lot of the pranks that happened in the 1980s and 90s and even on TV today. Shows like Punk'd. It's all been done before, people, right?
Peter von Gomm: Yep.
John Daub: Somebody once told me, you can't do day in the life videos because Paolo from Tokyo does it. Our friend Paolo. And I said, are you kidding me? Where the heck do you think he got those ideas? Day in the life. That's his take on day in the life. Day in the life episodes have been... He made up that expression, day in the life. They've actually had those TV shows, day in the life, since the 1930s. So he actually, he takes more ideas from me than vice versa. But there's nothing holding back another YouTuber other than a few people would say, oh, you got that idea from another YouTuber. But actually, day in the life's been around for a long time and we all have different takes on it.
Peter von Gomm: I think it was, who was it, Chris Broad, who won't do day in the life because Paolo did it or something. One of the other YouTubers wouldn't do it because Paolo had done it.
John Daub: It's a pride thing too. You don't want to be like a...
Peter von Gomm: Nobody owns that.
John Daub: I know, I know, I know. But, but, as a YouTuber, I think you would kind of... Your pride would get in the way. You know what, I have no pride. People will think, well I know that. I run around in thongs in the winter, naked, and show people my gut and butt.
John Daub: Dude, I'm eating. I'm eating.
Peter von Gomm: No you're not, you're done.
John Daub: Oh, you're right. Wait, you didn't lick the knife. The pigeons are eating. Wait, Rox is paper to see who licks the knife.
Peter von Gomm: Rox is paper, go. Rox is paper, go. Alright, it's all yours.
John Daub: No, that means you get to lick it.
Peter von Gomm: No, no, no. I choose. The licking was not a punishment. The licking was a reward.
John Daub: I'll try to do it like, uh, what's his face from, from Dracula, the actor. I do it like this. Like this. He kind of takes that blade, he's like...
Peter von Gomm: what's that actor's name? Help me out. From Dracula.
John Daub: Gary Oldman.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, Gary Oldman. He's an awesome actor. He's very good. I remember I was licking, um, I was licking a real knife, and Kanae got really angry at me, cause like, this is stuff that only guys would do, right? Like, I'm licking the knife, but I'm going to get, you know, with the grain. Although it's quite dangerous. Don't lick the knife. Like a sashimi knife or something? Yeah, it's very sharp when I'm licking it. I was like, it's no problem if I lick this way because I've washed it with sponges and I never cut the sponge, so why would I cut my tongue?
Peter von Gomm: But she really freaked out. She was like, what are you doing? And I said, look, you know what? Mottainai. Get in there, put your pride away and you lick every single piece out of that plastic. All remnants of that. The only thing left in there was like like enzymes.
John Daub: Ew. It was really no waste, right? And this is stuff I like. Why would you waste the hummus in there? It's really good hummus.
Peter von Gomm: Have you heard of a spatula?
John Daub: You ever heard that word?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, but then you gotta wash that. What is better than the good old human tongue?
John Daub: Well, I want to get one of those things. If my cryptocurrency goes through the roof, I'm buying one of those.
Peter von Gomm: You gotta get a special license.
John Daub: Well, that's fine. You can drive one of those?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: How fast can they go? I wonder. I've seen them on the roads going pretty fast.
Peter von Gomm: They're more of a cruiser, but great for dates. Because you park somewhere and you can lift you and your date way up in the sky and have like romantic dinner.
John Daub: Oh yeah, that's every girl's dream come true.
Peter von Gomm: Well, they just don't know it yet.
John Daub: Oh, Peter.
Peter von Gomm: I'm gonna rent it out. I'm gonna date you again because of your truck.
John Daub: Yeah, and two or three years later she wants to hire it to build a new house or something, right? Oh, Peter, my boyfriend's got a truck. Of course, we're talking 20 years ago before either of us was married.
Peter von Gomm: Right, right, right. 20.
John Daub: Hasn't been that long.
Peter von Gomm: No.
John Daub: But I don't like to waste anything. I will lick. Do you lick?
Peter von Gomm: Like even at Costco when I put onions, I put onions on my pizza because it's free. Everybody does that, right?
John Daub: You just put the onions, Costco onions on your pizza. The free condiments?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I even eat, I make sure I eat every single one of those chunks of onions, too. Don't tell me you're licking the condiment bowl when nobody's looking.
John Daub: If there's sauce on it, I will.
Peter von Gomm: Especially Mossburger. I'll get down and, look, I get my nose into that envelope and I make sure that all that sauce is taken care of.
John Daub: You ever get some on your nose?
Peter von Gomm: Nothing goes to waste. That's hard to deal with, yeah.
John Daub: Yeah. Yeah. So you have, yeah, you use wet wipes.
Peter von Gomm: So I'm guessing in your little carry bag that you always have with you is wet wipes.
John Daub: Well, there's a caveat to this. When you're eating ramen, I don't drink all the broth, and that's kind of a waste, but it's not because health issues are a concern because it's so high in cholesterol and sodium, right?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, yeah. It is.
John Daub: But, oh man, especially the tonkotsu.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: That's just dissolved bone. Do you eat all the cabbage?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: Yeah. Tonkatsu comes with cabbage. Tonkotsu, that's so thick you can't drink that broth. And it's kind of stinky.
Peter von Gomm: I do, though.
John Daub: Do you?
Peter von Gomm: Not always.
John Daub: Not always. That explains a lot.
Peter von Gomm: If I'm extra hungry, well actually it's good for your voice. Really?
John Daub: Yeah. They've done some studies and the tonkotsu broth is actually good. It's so high in minerals. And when you drink it warm, it's good for your vocal cords.
Peter von Gomm: This is just everyday, normal coffee.
John Daub: I think this is an Indonesian coffee. Java.
Peter von Gomm: That's pretty good. Shout out to Satrio.
John Daub: The Honjitsu. Yeah, Honjitsu no coffee. Coffee of the day. Like, you know what? You can't go wrong with that. No milk, no sugar, just black coffee.
Peter von Gomm: All that fancy schmancy stuff, I gotta tell ya, just makes me blow it up. I'm all bloated. And I'm all sugared up. And you don't want to get any bloated. More bloated than you are.
John Daub: No. No, no, no, no, no. They do have a Cinnabon in Tokyo Station, but I got a cake, so I can't stop.
Peter von Gomm: That bread made me... Cinnabon? Where? Around here?
John Daub: It's not a real... They don't actually bake it there, but they sell the Cinnabons in a box that you can just pick it up and go.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, this is so good.
John Daub: Well, you know what? We've been there together and I brought these guys to Mai Chai in Ryogoku. Remember Richard's Mai Chai?
Peter von Gomm: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got a new shop. And I used to go there for his cinnamon rolls exclusively, which was just awesome.
John Daub: Cinnabon was a very, very distant second. His cafe smelled so good. Is it still in business?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's booming. Okay, good, good.
John Daub: He moved to a better location up the street.
Peter von Gomm: Close to, uh...
John Daub: Sorry, Jason, I'm getting distracted by something.
Peter von Gomm: Now John is too.
John Daub: Why are you shaking your head?
Peter von Gomm: This is 1200 people watching Peter. What were we talking about? Oh, the Cinnabon. So, anyhow, Mai Chai, they're not doing the cinnamon rolls anymore, so now I gotta go back to Cinnabon. That's why I'm so depressed.
John Daub: Jason wrote, look, don't touch.
Peter von Gomm: It's okay. That's right, Jason. I can't look.
John Daub: Well, you told me to look.
Peter von Gomm: Alright, if you looked, if I looked because you told me to look, it's not my fault.
John Daub: I don't think I said look. I said Jason. I said Jason.
Peter von Gomm: So it's Jason's fault?
John Daub: It's not Jason's fault. Jason and Canada's fault.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it's not his fault. But he's in on it. So he has partial blame.
John Daub: He instigates it. He is an instigator.
Peter von Gomm: He is. Telepathically. Right, Jason?
John Daub: There's a little Toby in Jason.
Peter von Gomm: Jason's like my Paul Schaefer when I do live streams.
John Daub: If you rearrange the letters of Jason, you can make something bad.
Peter von Gomm: Oh.
John Daub: You're thinking about Santa, not Jason. Sanjo's.
Peter von Gomm: Sanjo.
John Daub: Sunja.
Peter von Gomm: There has to be something. He can't be all good.
John Daub: Jason's all good.
Peter von Gomm: How did Jason get dragged into this?
John Daub: Jason's probably not even there anymore. Jason has left the building.
Peter von Gomm: Jason's still here.
John Daub: Just blame it on the train.
Peter von Gomm: Blame it on the rain.
John Daub: There's no rain.
Peter von Gomm: There's no rain around here.
John Daub: It's a song, John. Blame it on the rain.
Peter von Gomm: Blame it on the rain. What happened to them? Did they recover from the lip-syncing thing from the 1980s?
John Daub: One guy passed away.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, Vanilli.
John Daub: They got busted lip-syncing.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. And their career got in the tank, but everybody was doing it. They were just the ones who got busted.
John Daub: Mildred Vanildred. That's what I called him.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, really?
John Daub: Milly Vanilly.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: One just passed. Right.
Peter von Gomm: Thanks to Brandania. I'm kind of out of touch with the... Again, I stopped listening to music in the 1980s.
John Daub: Blame it on the train.
Peter von Gomm: Blame it on the train. No, listen. Don't even start with copyrighted music.
John Daub: Don't mess with the algorithm and the analytics here. Don't mess with the algorithm and the analytics here.
Peter von Gomm: The coffee is good, again.
John Daub: I always get the same thing. It's easy.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it is easy. It's very nice. People waiting in line. There's always one person who looks at the menu and they don't know what's on the menu.
John Daub: Look, you know what you want to get at a cafe as soon as you walk in the line. You make up your mind.
Peter von Gomm: Hey, Spencer.
John Daub: I'm riding on the backbeat of the Vespa.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, wow. Great plan, John.
John Daub: Oh, hey. Speaking of which, I have two postcards that I'm sending out. This one's going to Chris in New York and Jake in Oregon.
Peter von Gomm: Do you know where that is?
John Daub: I do. Eugene, Oregon. That's where the Ducks... Jake in Eugene, Oregon and Chris in New York. These are going in the box right there, Tokyo Dome.
Peter von Gomm: Nice. What's on the cover?
John Daub: Let's have a look. This?
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, show the cover.
John Daub: This is a omotenashi scene in the snow, really cold weather. The staff of... Aomori, the snowiest city in the world. It is. The staff went out and they always give a really low bow. It's funny to see the small little people bowing to this massive, massive jumbo jet. And this is the scene when I was filming an episode there. It just really moved me and I took a shot of it.
Peter von Gomm: It moved you?
John Daub: It did. It moved me to click the shutter button. I saw on TV last night, there's a recreation show here in Japan called Unbelievable. Have you ever been on one of those shows as an extra? They always have foreigners that are living here as actors in it.
Peter von Gomm: Oh yeah, I've been on a couple of shows but never that one.
John Daub: Okay. Well this one was a recreation. There are always true stories that they're recreating and it was actually really well done. Have you been on that?
Peter von Gomm: No.
John Daub: I always wanted to be a recreating actor.
Peter von Gomm: They did Titanic. They did the Titanic sinking for... Okay, go ahead. Sorry about that.
John Daub: They're really low budget. But if they get creative with the camera angles and stuff, they can pull it off.
Peter von Gomm: So they pulled off this one last night, which was a true story about this British Airways plane incident where the front windshield blew out.
John Daub: And the captain got sucked through the front windshield.
Peter von Gomm: What?
John Daub: And one of the first officers was hanging onto his legs all the way back to London while this guy's hanging out on the fuselage of this plane.
Peter von Gomm: And he survived.
John Daub: What?
Peter von Gomm: He totally survived. They landed finally after a long flight back.
John Daub: Was this on Netflix?
Peter von Gomm: I think they made it into... Maybe.
John Daub: Yeah, there's a couple of really good airplane tragedy, airplane challenge Netflix shows now.
Peter von Gomm: Hmm. Nothing is scarier to me than getting on an airplane and having turbulence. I can't even imagine.
John Daub: Yeah. Makes you pee a little. Why don't they have safety things that... I always thought that an airplane should have separate pods in there. And if there was... The plane's gonna go down.
Peter von Gomm: Oh, so it floats?
John Daub: Yeah, the airplane just breaks apart into pods with parachutes. So you...
Peter von Gomm: That way you really would want to do first class, cause you'd want to make sure that the pod had a golden parachute.
John Daub: Golden parachute? Why would it have to be gold? I've heard that term before.
Peter von Gomm: Like the people in first class get golden parachutes or something. I've heard this term before. Is that the doge?
John Daub: Dogecoin on that bus?
Peter von Gomm: No, it's a dog.
John Daub: Oh, okay. Oh, you're talking... Cause you're talking to... There's crypto coins.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah. So I was saying, what's with the dogecoin? And you said, no, it's a dogecoin. And then you... I started singing Who let the doge out?
John Daub: Don't... No title band stuff.
Peter von Gomm: Alright. Bob Joe writes in here, representing Eugene, Oregon. Is it Oregon or Oregon?
John Daub: Bobby Joe. Oregon. Oregon. Because I've heard a lot of people saying Oregon.
Peter von Gomm: Olympic trials.
John Daub: Oh, cool. Eugene, Oregon. Nice. That's where the runners are from. All the good runners are from Oregon.
Peter von Gomm: What was that guy's name? Fontaine?
John Daub: Yeah, Prefontaine.
Peter von Gomm: So it was before... He was before Fontaine. After him came Fontaine?
John Daub: No, it's just because his name is Prefontaine, doesn't mean that was his full name.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
John Daub: It's interesting, huh?
Peter von Gomm: It's Irvin, Tasty. It's Irvin.
John Daub: John blew it and called him Irvon.
Peter von Gomm: Well, I did for months. Nobody corrected me, but now I know it's Irvin, so it ruined it. Alright? You're the one who told me, it's not Irvon, it's Irvin. And I corrected it.
John Daub: So for a couple of months I called him Irvon Irvin, or Irvin Irvon. And now I just call him Irvin, and sometimes I call him Irvon.
Peter von Gomm: Does that make me a bad person? Probably.
John Daub: No.
Peter von Gomm: Sorry.
John Daub: Just a little less respected by Irvon.
Peter von Gomm: I'll still be able to sleep at night. Barely.
John Daub: Yeah. Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: Well, John, it's been a pleasure.
John Daub: Yeah, I gotta go, too.
Peter von Gomm: Happy birthday.
John Daub: Thanks for sticking around for 93 minutes. Has it been that long? Oh my gosh.
Peter von Gomm: Wow. Yeah. Check out his podcast, The Serial Talker, which is...
John Daub: You have a couple of episodes already out.
Peter von Gomm: Five. I just released episode five yesterday.
John Daub: Wow. Which is about a true murder here in Tokyo.
Peter von Gomm: Murder. An unsolved murder. Murder. From the year 2000.
John Daub: Yeah.
Peter von Gomm: So, yeah. Please check it out. And... I was kind of a witness in a crime. A ruby that was not stolen was reported stolen and created a big fiasco.
John Daub: How were you a witness to that?
Peter von Gomm: I was nearby. On the day it happened? Yeah. As it was unfolding? I was a couple hundred meters away. I was in the area. And then I did a live stream. You saw the police cars and stuff? I saw all the cop cars and I got to the scene at the end of it, but...
John Daub: You flashed your badge?
Peter von Gomm: No, I didn't flash my badge. John Dobb, what's happened here? It was a $29 million dollar ruby that was stolen. But it wasn't. It was just a misunderstanding. But the media reported it as like a lupine type of theft.
John Daub: Lupine? You mean?
Peter von Gomm: Lupine. Yeah, I don't know. Look, I can't speak that good French. Alright?
John Daub: We know that, John. And... Well...
Peter von Gomm: It ended up being a big farce and I think they did it for publicity to help to sell the diamond. Now it probably will get sold at that price.
John Daub: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good... Wow. I was there on the scene of the crime and I reported about it on YouTube before I knew it wasn't a crime. And I said, like, this is one of the great crimes of the century we'll be talking about for decades. Was it a crime of passion? It's hard to tell. I was going over all of the things that a TV crime reporter would talk about. But it ended up not being a crime. But then the case was solved within minutes. We actually, in that livestream, I saw two two people suspiciously walking away, slowly.
Peter von Gomm: Was one of them Lupin? No, they were... I mean Lupine? Two people walking down an alley.
John Daub: Oh. But it ended up that nobody had left with the ruby. Did you see that wrapper that had a pink diamond embedded in its forehead?
Peter von Gomm: Oh, I saw that. That's nasty.
John Daub: Yeah. How did they embed it? Is it like fused to the bone or something? How do you do that?
Peter von Gomm: I don't know. Why would you do that? And it's not even centered. That would drive me nuts. I gotta have everything like perfect. Imagine if it was like .1% off.
John Daub: Right? And then it just irritates you so much.
Peter von Gomm: Well, his is way off. I don't know if you noticed it. It's way off center.
John Daub: Excuse me, can you remove the diamond and reposition it?
Peter von Gomm: I think that's one of those things where you have to get it right the first time. Madness, man.
John Daub: I don't know. All right, Peter. It's good to see you. You too.
Peter von Gomm: Thanks for the birthday beer.
John Daub: Yeah, enjoy it. And I'll celebrate this tonight.
Peter von Gomm: Kanae's got a little bit of a birthday party going on tonight.
John Daub: So we'll chime in this evening. But yeah, some big stuff happening this month. I'm going to Akita next week.
Peter von Gomm: This weekend, actually. So it's gonna be pretty fun to be up there.
John Daub: It's cold now.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, Ogahanto.
John Daub: There's a festival, the monster festival.
Peter von Gomm: The Ohagi festival.
John Daub: Oh, cool.
Peter von Gomm: Cool, cool, cool. That should be a lot of fun.
John Daub: Are you gonna live stream that?
Peter von Gomm: I'm gonna see if there's a signal to do it. So, take you up there.
John Daub: And some trips that are planned. An episode dropping tonight. So I gotta get back and finish the edit on that.
Peter von Gomm: What's the episode tonight?
John Daub: It's about one of my favorite Japanese condiments.
Peter von Gomm: Okay. The onions at Mossburger?
John Daub: No. I went into the factory. I went from the harvest all the way to the factory. Oh, I know this one.
Peter von Gomm: And they're processing it. And it's pretty cool to watch them make it into a condiment.
John Daub: She knows. Somebody knows the answer.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, Joy knows. I've kind of been tipped it off a lot there.
John Daub: Yeah, big shout out to all of you who made this a really special birthday. I don't really celebrate my birthday. This is the first time I think ever in a live stream on the internet. But I appreciate it very, very much.
Peter von Gomm: So thank you, and thank you Peter for making me come out of my shell and to come out.
John Daub: Yeah, sure. Out here on a nice day. Thanks for riding out here.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, look for the upload tonight. And we'll see you really soon.
John Daub: Enjoy the last 15 seconds. Looking at McDonald's.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, McDonald's.
John Daub: Across the street.
Peter von Gomm: Across the street.
John Daub: And a train if you're lucky. Oh, there's the Chuo line.
Peter von Gomm: Yeah, that's the Chuo. You're right.
John Daub: It's going to Yotsuya.
Peter von Gomm: No, coming from Yotsuya.
John Daub: Yeah. It's headed to Tokyo Station. See you guys.