00:01 John Daub: Greetings and welcome everybody. There's Peter. He just paid for the ramen. This is Onishi-san's — this is miso butter milk curry ramen. I think it's like this. This is the number one famous ramen here. Miso curry milk ramen is what it's called, with butter. And one bowl of it is 880 yen or about $8. It is so good. And you can see we're finished it. Oh no, I lost a spoon.

00:33 John Daub: You can see how the curry adds this amazing dimension to the ramen. There's — it's not the spicy curry. It's like a Japanese curry, but it's just so well blended. It's been here for 50 years, Onishi's curry, and you have to stop for sure. We're about to leave here. You ready, PVG?

00:53 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, this is one of the best ramen places that I've been to. It's a different kind of ramen, right?

01:05 John Daub: It's just a different kind of ramen. And in this livestream, we're going to be taking you from this milk curry ramen to Aomori Station and walk across there. So you'll be able to find your way here. But more importantly — so it's not very crowded right now. All right, let's get out of here.

01:25 John Daub: Good work!

01:28 John Daub: Onishi-san is actually just gone upstairs. He's the owner. I filmed him from an episode a few months ago. He's having ramen for lunch upstairs. So we just missed him.

01:41 Peter von Gomm: You'd think you'd be sick of it after 50 years.

01:43 John Daub: After 50 years. I can't get enough of this place. I love this Onishi-san's ramen. There's the ramen shop right here. Onishi is written really big and red, so you're not going to be able to miss it. And of course, he's quite famous. He's been on TV. That's what it looks like. Oh man, it's so good. It's raining here. And not a lot of stuff is open because they're doing so many renovations in the city of Aomori right now.

02:17 John Daub: 10 minute walk and we have a train to catch in about 30 minutes. So it's going to work out pretty good. Welcome to Aomori City!

02:24 Peter von Gomm: Aomori City? I'm just going to copy everything you say, Chad.

02:30 John Daub: I'm going to copy everything you say, Peter.

02:33 Peter von Gomm: I'm going to copy everything you say, Peter.

02:37 John Daub: I'm going to copy everything you say, Peter!

02:39 Peter von Gomm: And this isn't fun anymore.

02:41 John Daub: I lose. I'll take a zero.

02:44 John Daub: Now, this place really intrigues me up here. Show them the fifth floor of this building.

02:50 Peter von Gomm: You can choose to go there before or after the ramen.

02:55 John Daub: It's called Arms Hair.

03:00 Peter von Gomm: That is a pretty weird place.

03:00 John Daub: Yeah. We have no idea what it is, but we recommend that you go there.

03:05 Peter von Gomm: I don't recommend you go there.

03:06 John Daub: This is Prime Provisional.

03:08 Peter von Gomm: Thank you so much for that pink cake.

03:11 John Daub: That's our dessert. Yeah, it's weird, right?

03:17 John Daub: Fifth floor. It's a hairdresser for arm hair.

03:22 Peter von Gomm: It's a beauty salon, I believe.

03:27 John Daub: Kind of weird. The name.

03:33 John Daub: It's unforgettable. Arms Hair.

03:40 Peter von Gomm: Really?

03:42 John Daub: But we don't have time, sadly, to go there today. Do you want to go there?

03:46 John Daub: Wait, do they have any Aomori drinks here? I wonder. Anything Aomori-ish? Apple juice?

03:53 Peter von Gomm: No, nothing.

03:56 John Daub: I know they have milk coffee, which is a little bit different. I think they... Maybe you see it in Tokyo. The sparkling yuzu looks good. Oh, my God.

04:11 John Daub: My mask is filled with the taste of milk curry. You know, when you told me we were going to have milk curry ramen, I couldn't imagine it until we tried it. And actually, it works. That curry flavor with the milk and that patty of butter in there, it was all really tasty. Super rich. It doesn't sound that appetizing until you try it and then you love it.

04:36 John Daub: Milk curry... Butter milk curry ramen. Miso milk curry ramen. It just... He's originally from Sapporo, which isn't too far away from Aomori, but he moved here about 40, 50 years ago and started the shop. And it's been a hit ever since. I think at first he said that it wasn't such a popular because nobody had understood the concept. Or he had made something and it wasn't popular. Then he came up with the recipe and then it just became a hit. And now, when you come to Aomori, it's just... It's one of those things that you just have to try.

05:08 John Daub: I love the manhole covers here. This has the Nebuta festival.

05:18 Peter von Gomm: Wow, gosh.

05:19 John Daub: I'm not that happy when they put in all these chain shops, even though Dean and DeLuca is a New York thing. You have them all over New York, but it's just not the same to have them. Aomori around the station here clearly is in need of some upgrades.

05:37 Peter von Gomm: Well, they're renovating the station.

05:39 John Daub: Yeah. Well, that always makes a big difference. In Tokyo, near where I live is Otsuka Station. They have changed that dramatically and it's made a huge difference. As soon as you start to gentrify these old neighborhoods, it really... As long as you're not taking away the charm of the old neighborhoods, but they've really spruced it up, made it interesting.

06:05 Peter von Gomm: Well, you get rid of the charm, though, that show a feeling.

06:08 John Daub: This is Aomori, which is the town of apples here. Minori is a small administrative unit named... Oaza of the old Fukukawa-mura. So I like the fact that they put some of these historic...

06:21 John Daub: I love his hat! Lookit, he's got my hat!

06:22 Peter von Gomm: That's me a hundred years ago.

06:25 John Daub: Peter, that's my hat! 1974, that's when I was... That's when I was born!

06:33 John Daub: I wear black shirts all the time!

06:35 John Daub: That guy, that's me! It looks like he went to the Arms Hair place because he's got no arm hair yet at all.

06:44 Peter von Gomm: Well, I went to the Arms Hair place, too. The irony.

06:47 John Daub: There's so much in that photo. All right, let's get moving because it's raining.

06:54 John Daub: I'm sure you can get to the arcade part where the roof is covering us. Yeah, it's right here. We make a left turn towards the station.

07:03 John Daub: Oh, we can't show the Aspam Building! The Aspam Building is in the shape of a triangle, and it used to be where you would get all of your gifts and things, but that's sort of been replaced by the A-Factory, which we livestreamed yesterday, which is a pretty nice place to go. In fact, we met a couple of viewers who saw our livestream yesterday. And they were there, and one nice lady came and said hi to us. Yesterday, there were a couple of people from the train that we rode that had made their way to the A-Factory.

07:38 John Daub: So this is a shotengai, sort of, but it's not. It's a shopping street. This is where the Nebuta Festival comes down this road in the beginning of August. It's got these covered shops here. The sidewalk is covered, which is nice. Some of the hotels.

08:09 John Daub: When I was hitchhiking, I used this Daiso to get some tape to tape up my... My hiking boots were falling apart, so I had to buy duct tape to tape it together. The soles had fallen off. It was hitchhiking. They had some shoe glue too, but it didn't work.

08:27 John Daub: It's chilly here.

08:31 Peter von Gomm: It is kind of chilly. Mad Hata's in the house for your next ramen experience. Actually, maybe we'll get an ekiben on the way home. You can put that towards it. More food. Are you fooded out?

08:44 John Daub: I wouldn't say I'm fooded out, but I can take a little bit of a break. Yeah.

08:47 Peter von Gomm: I feel like I'm ready for foie gras.

08:50 John Daub: Foie gras?

08:52 Peter von Gomm: My liver has been stuffed to its limit. Fatty stuff.

08:59 John Daub: I hope Aomori's 4G is as clear as it can be because...

09:06 John Daub: I love the fact when you walk around Aomori, you see all of these little statues and stuff. You have to kind of look for it, but... This is Jomon.

09:13 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, that's Jomon.

09:14 John Daub: So, Aomori's 4G. It's very famous for the Jomon period, and you'll find little teeny remnants. Not remnants, but markers that remind you about the history. I like that Aomori does that. But Jomon Zidai. That's like 10,000 years ago, the Jomon period. I did a documentary on the Jomon with NHK. We came here and filmed at a museum and saw some artifacts. It's pretty cool.

09:46 John Daub: I was a little bit shocked that Aomori Station... Oh. That's kind of... It's kind of voodoo-ish. It kind of looks like you.

09:59 Peter von Gomm: A little bit?

10:05 John Daub: I don't know. It is kind of creepy because... That picture where the guy was wearing my hat from the past, and we're now in the present. There's a lot of weird stuff happening.

10:19 John Daub: They had a lot of outdoor tables and food stands, but because of the pandemic, I guess, and the rain, they probably shut it down. This area's a little festive, but not today.

10:33 John Daub: So Aomori Station, as I was saying — this is, for many of you who have been here before, you're going to see the old station, which is right in front of us. But in about a year, it's going to be a completely different station. They're redoing it. So there's a ton of shops that have been shut down that are on the outside of the station. You're going to get a chance to see that today before we jump onto the train and head to Shin-Aomori.

10:57 John Daub: Now, to catch the Shinkansen from here, you have to jump on a local train. But the thing is, there aren't that many of them. And we arrive at Shin-Aomori Station 30 minutes in advance. Here's some apple desserts. The freeze-dried apples here are really good. Peter's holding some gifts that we got at the A-Factory. Oh, no! This is the cup — This is the ramen from the shop we were just at.

11:24 John Daub: Oh, yeah. Onishi-san has his own butter miso milk curry ramen. And it has the Nebuta on there just to show it's from Aomori. That's so cool. I'm dying to try that.

11:40 Peter von Gomm: I'll give it to Kanai.

11:43 John Daub: Are you going to give it to Joji or Kyoko?

11:47 Peter von Gomm: They can share it.

11:48 John Daub: They can share it? That's the spirit.

11:50 John Daub: You can hear the noise, the traffic light music.

12:04 John Daub: There's the old station. Do we need to be on this side over here?

12:07 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we should cross.

12:18 John Daub: Maguro is also so delicious. And you can see there's a maguro shop there. Loads of delicious foods. Ikura seafoods here in Aomori are wonderful. Get some with — I have a nice bottle of sake. You can make a good evening out of it. I don't remember too many times that I've come to Aomori and not gotten a little bit sloshed from drinking too much sake here. Because it's so good up in Tohoku.

12:43 John Daub: The Nebuta museum has a type. Oh, right. This is the Nebuta Museum. And next time I come here, I'll take in a livestream through there. It's pretty cool. This is a great museum. I think they built it about seven years ago. It's been a while. But the design is really nice. Six, seven years ago.

13:09 John Daub: I once, when I was hitchhiking in 2003, on the side of Aomori Station, on this side, I pitched my tent at 10 p.m.

13:18 Peter von Gomm: Wow.

13:19 John Daub: Woke up at 5 a.m. and got back on the road. Nobody bothered you?

13:23 Peter von Gomm: No.

13:26 John Daub: I put my cardboard signs down to make it a little bit softer. Got a good night's sleep.

13:35 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.

13:36 John Daub: Some good memories here. I guess it wasn't such a good night's sleep. Great memory, but it was a memory. That's where your hitchhiking began, was here in Aomori?

13:43 John Daub: No, in Wakkanai in Hokkaido. And I hitched down to Kagoshima. But I camped in, I camped behind that police box. There was an open area.

13:59 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.

14:04 John Daub: A little bit. Shooter FPS. Thank you from India.

14:16 John Daub: Here's a map of the area. So this is Aomori Station. Where is it? I guess it's right here. So we walked this way. It's, sorry, this way. So the milk ramen place is over here from the station.

14:34 John Daub: What time is it? Oh, okay. We got time. It's I think 12:41. Aomori Station in Hiragana. So this is not going to be here much longer. And this is kind of sad. As you say goodbye. If we do miss it, Peter, I'll just go. I'm going to buy a taxi. Yeah. I think we'll be fine.

15:03 John Daub: It's a five minute train ride to Shin-Aomori.

15:08 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It's not too far.

15:19 John Daub: There's the A-Factory straight ahead. That's the Corny in Japan headquarters. Corny in Japan. Somebody bought the URL. Corny in Japan.com is gone. 'Cause they spelled it wrong.

15:42 John Daub: Yeah, they spelled it wrong. It's C-O-R-N-E-Y in Japan. Bwahaha. Jokes on you. Jokes on you. You spelled it wrong.

15:55 John Daub: That's the — uh — La Seu Wa La Seu Museum. And there's the station that's going to be changed real soon. The buses are really complicated here. 'Cause I don't know where they go.

16:24 John Daub: It's inside the train station. We don't need a ticket until we get to Shin-Aomori. 'Cause we have the pass. You remember?

16:33 Peter von Gomm: Right. We gotta get a reserve ticket 'cause the Tohoku Shinkansen is...

16:38 John Daub: Now this part is all gonna be gone. Already all of the restaurants and the lockers and stuff that was on this side has been vacated. So you can see this is a kind of a Showa-era-looking front to the station. All of it has been vacated and getting ready for destruction. I think the toilets used to be here. It's now closed down as I retaste that milk curry ramen. Kinda sad. Got a lot of memories hanging out in front of the station before hitchhiking and before the Nebuta festival.

17:26 John Daub: August. It's my favorite summer festival.

17:34 John Daub: All right, let's get a move on. Okay, and you can see the east entrance to the station has been closed.

17:50 John Daub: So the milk curry ramen, let's see if I can show it to you on the map. We walked, we're now here. We walked down the main street. One, two. And then right here is the milk curry ramen Onishi.

18:03 Peter von Gomm: Oh, I see.

18:04 John Daub: So you can see it's not that far away. This is what we walked today and it's on the map. Aji no Sapporo Onishi. So bring your empty stomachs and get ready for some milk curry burps.

18:41 John Daub: There's a Starbucks in here, but I prefer the one at A-Factory. Yeah, we got to go that way to the station. This is the shopping mall. Yeah, the toilets in the Starbucks are now in the Rabina of Aomori station.

19:00 John Daub: Shall we? Let's shop. Shall we?

19:07 John Daub: So the construction has shut down again. This was Aomori station's entrance here before, but you have to walk down this space here. There's lockers right there though. It's not a lot. So they're going to have to finish. They're going to have to put lockers in before the Nebuta. And I'm pretty sure they're still going to hold it this year because I don't know. I can't imagine two years in a row without the Nebuta. That's pretty crazy. It was right there.

19:55 John Daub: So the West Egg. You can get, you can go up this way here. It's the West exit to Aomori station. So you kind of have to wrap around. It's a little bit hard with the construction. No escalators. PVG's got to carry his bag. One of mine's a backpack.

20:20 John Daub: Tripods on this side. Hey, Andrew, Fort Wayne's in the house. You guys need to get some hot drinks and warm up.

20:35 Peter von Gomm: Absolutely. We do.

20:35 John Daub: I'll get PVG something. This is super dry for your meal. That's a good idea for a meal. I'm going to get some hot drinks. All right, we're back to the Shinkansen back. Do you need a brewski for the train?

20:51 Peter von Gomm: Mr. Daub is buying.

21:05 John Daub: All right, we can get it at Shin-Aomori.

21:10 John Daub: So this is where the Shinkansen. So it's 260 yen, but we have a pass. Can you hold the stick for a second? I got to get the ticket.

21:27 Peter von Gomm: You betcha I can. Thank you for joining.

21:36 Peter von Gomm: John's looking through his stuff. I've got my shoes. Sorry, guys. I am, uh, thanks for coming along yesterday. It was a blast. On the livestream. So hope you all had a good time.

21:52 John Daub: Did for sure. It's been a fun trip. Yeah, it's been pretty cool. I have my ticket. This is the JR East Pass. JR East, uh, past Tohoku area. This allows us access for five days. It started yesterday.

22:08 Peter von Gomm: That's right.

22:09 John Daub: Let's get on. So our train departs at 12:41, right there. Oh, I like. You can see out the window, and some of the trains going by.

22:52 John Daub: Oh, there's the Jomon village. Yeah, got a head there. Oh, okay, Peter, this is the train that we would have taken but from Asamushi Onsen. The trains are like once every two hours. It's pretty — you could see on the schedule that water was just so hot. Yeah, that onsen was pretty hot. It was about five degrees, two or three degrees Celsius more than I think was comfortable for me.

23:34 John Daub: They added 52 degrees Celsius at Fukushima at one onsen. 52 degrees Celsius — that cannot be healthy. I guess you guys are coming with me? I don't know. You can't — you can livestream in an onsen if you have permission, but we didn't ask in advance. We were kind of tired. Yesterday was a pretty tough day. But yeah, it's nice to be able to share with you a little bit about the local train trip here.

24:17 John Daub: Shin-Aomori. You can tell with the Shinkansen logo. It's easy to find. I think the train's already here. That's not. The train is it? What time do you have? 34. Okay, we got five minutes.

24:42 John Daub: This can't be the train. It's too nice. I guess this is the train, Peter. What? This one's going to Shin-Aomori, or is it? Did we mistake the platform? It doesn't say. I don't think it has to say. Part of me just don't want to miss the train. Hold on. I've done it before.

25:35 John Daub: Uh, Shin-Aomori. This one — he said it's not a shinkansen but it's a different company. He said, "Oh, it's not JR." He's checking with the driver. Oh, oh, he's from a different company. Yeah, oh, there's a JR guy in here. Wow, so I guess we could take this train. Hey, Peter, you want an apple juice? Is it local? It is. But of course.

26:21 John Daub: It's a great performance commercial. Oh, yeah. What have you said? Would you happen to have any real Aomori apple juice? Those are great. I don't think I have enough money on it.

26:43 John Daub: Oh, he offered me a gift, but he can't afford to buy it. Ah, I just got to use hard cash. I might have uh — again, it's here. Here, we've got 100. All right, put her in there. Wow, 170. Well, listen, I told you, it's real 100% Aomori juice.

26:57 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, that's good.

26:58 John Daub: Thank you for your service.

27:00 John Daub: The train at Sanbasu station is 12:41 from Konhatsu to Shinhagori. It's a special train from Iwasaki to Tsugaru-Gyongo. It's an Akita train. The train at Sanbasu station is 12:41 from Konhatsu to Shinhagori. It's a special train from Iwasaki to Tsugaru-Gyongo. It's an Akita train. The train at Jiyuiki is a three-car train.

27:40 John Daub: It's a three-car train. You get to keep the juice. I get the change, you keep the juice. That's a fair deal.

27:47 Peter von Gomm: Fuji apples. Fuji apples are one of the famous breed of apples here.

27:52 John Daub: Alright, let's get on this train. Why not? This is reserved, so I guess we go to the non-reserved. They all look pretty uchade.

28:01 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.

28:02 John Daub: That's an ice cream machine, but I'm not really in the mood. I think they're all reserved. Yeah.

28:19 John Daub: We're only going like five minutes away. Wow, it's pretty much empty. I guess we can sit here, huh?

28:31 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.

28:32 John Daub: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the North Sound Akita. We will be starting at Shinhagori. Alright, I'm gonna social distance from you. Over Nonsen, Ikarizaseki, Odate, Takanosu.

28:49 Peter von Gomm: I don't think it has anything to do with the gas.

28:51 John Daub: This is the ticket, once again. This is the JR East Pass Tohoku area. It allows us access on almost all the trains. But make sure you get seat reservations in trains that require them. And you can do that pretty easily at the windows in the stations. We're gonna have to get a Shinkansen seat reservation when we get to Shin-Aomori. But you can, if you want to hang out with us for another couple of days, we can do that, too. We can hang out for a couple minutes. That's cool, because we got nothing else to do. Why don't I, uh, as long as we got nothing else to do — how about if I plug my podcast?

29:30 Peter von Gomm: Alright, do it.

29:31 John Daub: So, if you guys are into podcasts, check out the Serial Talker podcast. It's on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, as well as my YouTube channel of the same name, The Serial Talker. It's a true crime genre.

29:49 Peter von Gomm: It's not about cereal?

29:52 John Daub: Uh, I can't say that it isn't one of these days. There may be a serial-related crime that takes place. Oh, The Serial Talker. I'd love for you to come check it out and subscribe if you like it. Onegaishimasu. Hey, didn't you have your Suica card?

30:06 Peter von Gomm: Mr. Daub makes a good question. Don't you have your fancy Suica card?

30:10 John Daub: I do. It's got a thousand yen on it. So I should have paid for that drink.

30:18 Peter von Gomm: Well, I would have given you mine and we could have substituted. Okay.

30:24 John Daub: JC writes in $4.99. Thank you.

30:25 Peter von Gomm: PVG is Swiss.

30:27 John Daub: No, I'm not.

30:27 Peter von Gomm: Are you?

30:28 John Daub: No. It's from — it's a German name. Is Vaughn your middle name?

30:33 Peter von Gomm: No.

30:34 John Daub: It's a family name. I'm going home. Um, yeah, and also, uh, Clubhouse — if you're on Clubhouse, by all means, you have to check out my Clubhouse, which I do twice a week. It's called Eigo de Seiyuu Voice Actors Club. And we read television and movie scripts in the Clubhouse. Check — Peter von Gomm is my username on Clubhouse. Would also love it if you came by there. It's good fun.

31:04 John Daub: John joined a couple nights ago. Yeah, that's it. That's my spiel. Yeah. And I'm sticking to it. Thank you, PVG. We're always very happy to have you in our presence.

31:14 Peter von Gomm: Thank you, sir. Talking about Aomori — Warren Von Toronto writes in here. Is the trip to Hokkaido in the itinerary for tomorrow? Make sure to get some ekiben.

31:24 John Daub: And the event at Shin-Aomori Station. The — this pass does not cover Hokkaido. It basically covers from Tokyo to Tohoku. And then if you want to go to Hakodate, which is continued on underneath the Tsugaru Straits — there's a tunnel, which is really fun to go through. It's just actually a tunnel. You have to pay extra for that. That's not included in this pass.

31:48 John Daub: Tim Lawson just subscribed, Peter. To the podcast, so your applause is awesome.

31:52 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Tim.

31:53 John Daub: Yeah, so this ticket won't take you there, but it'll get you most of the way. And if you're thinking of going to Hokkaido, you can use this ticket because if you're going for a few days, this will actually pay for itself by going, like, most of the way to Hokkaido. So there's a — the fun part about traveling is to find out how to make it very economical, right? Try to find how can you save a little bit of money instead of — fun by doing the route and planning it out like this.

32:41 John Daub: Yeah, this is great. I'm really loving this uh, this all-access pass on the Tohoku JR. So, actually, I might even take another jaunt up here within the five days. Really?

32:54 Peter von Gomm: For — yeah, maybe for just for a date trip. We'll see. I think I have a relatively light schedule coming up this coming week.

32:42 John Daub: Guess who's here?

32:61 John Daub: That Vaughn chick.

32:44 Peter von Gomm: Vaughn?

32:44 John Daub: Yeah, from Australia. Hi, Vaughn.

32:50 John Daub: Elvis Cameron's here. Happy Easter, everybody. From Xander's-yaran-yaran. Zarin?

32:55 Peter von Gomm: Zarin?

32:55 John Daub: I'll just not forget. Yeah. Today's Easter. Easter holiday. Awesome.

33:05 John Daub: It's — you know, I actually remember the last time — I've been from Shin-Aomori to Aomori Station before. But in 2003, I took this train — not this particular one, but this route to Shin-Aomori — because that's where the highway starts. And that was a good place for me to hitchhike from. Shin-Aomori and right at the interchange. I had to walk out there a couple of kilometers. But uh, it took me about 20 minutes to get there.

33:30 John Daub: No, no, no, no, no. About five minutes, I got a ride. And he took me all the way from Shin-Aomori to Sendai.

33:39 Peter von Gomm: No, no, wait, hold on a second.

33:41 John Daub: He took me to Morioka Interchange. And he was going to Sendai. And I got up at Morioka. That was a good ride. He was a vice president at Seiko, uh, clockmakers.

33:58 Peter von Gomm: Watchmakers.

33:59 John Daub: You hungry?

33:59 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we'll get him a super dry.

34:07 John Daub: Mr. Das, Mr. Das insists.

34:13 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, that's a local beer from Japan.

34:16 John Daub: Yeah, it's not the best weather. It's been — it started raining in the middle of the night. And the weather cooled off quite a bit. I'm glad I brought a rain jacket. One of the reasons I'm going home is because I can't do the shooting that I wanted to do. I wanted to get the drone out and get some shots at the Tohoku Shinkansen. So instead I went to the milk ramen place. Took Peter there and had a bowl. Now we're just heading home. I also want to back up and start to edit and I have a video to release maybe tomorrow. I'll try to tonight. But I want to release the video on — in the next 36 hours. And then I have to finish up the fireworks project this week. That's my goal. A lot of work.

35:15 John Daub: Last month was really hard because of taxes, too. That's what really put me down — doing the taxes preparing. It feels good when you finish the taxes, right?

35:25 Peter von Gomm: For Japan? Once a year.

35:31 John Daub: Complicated. It was complicated because of COVID and all of the money that they gave. And how much of that is taxable and trying to figure it out. It's hard for me to figure that out.

35:50 John Daub: And Peter's very interested in true crime. And I'm just supposed to — he's right now on the internet to... Let me ask you guys here. Are you — do you think Clubhouse is good or Discord? Which one would you be more interested in? Discord or Clubhouse?

36:09 Peter von Gomm: I like Discord.

36:10 John Daub: He's a Clubhouse guy. So we're both torn between the two platforms. US vs Japan — which tax return is more complex? Japan? Maybe. US? I don't know. Let's just say they're both complex. There's nothing simple about it.

36:28 John Daub: Here's Shin-Aomori Station, which is beautiful. This has been redone over the years.

36:38 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we're getting off here. So it's just a five minute ride. I wanted to bring you here just to show you how close it is.

36:41 John Daub: So if you're going between Aomori and Shin-Aomori —

36:46 John Daub: Alright, off we go. You ready?

37:18 John Daub: Time to get on the Shinkansen. It's not very classy looking at the — you and your plastic bag.

37:31 John Daub: So this is Shin-Aomori Station. It's very close and very convenient to get between the two of them. By taxi, it's about a ten minute taxi. And I think it's about — what, how much do you think it costs?

37:45 Peter von Gomm: It's about 5,000 yen.

37:46 John Daub: No, no, that's to the onsen. So, from Shin-Aomori to here? Yeah. I think it's about a thousand yen. Maybe a little bit over a thousand yen. I don't know, we didn't — I've never taken it by taxi.

37:57 John Daub: This is Shin-Aomori. This is Shin-Aomori, yeah. Shin-Aomori is behind the train ride on the local. So I'd say it's probably about 1,200 yen. Just whenever you walk on the station — stay on this side of the yellow line, please. That's really important when you're walking there.

38:29 John Daub: That's a special goodbye for PVG. That blew my ears out. That hurt. Alright.

38:53 John Daub: I'll let you win. Look at that guy there. He's going the wrong way.

39:05 John Daub: Isn't the Shinkansen this way?

39:07 Peter von Gomm: Oh, we can go this way too. That's right.

39:11 John Daub: Phantom is a new traveler, welcome. Wow, Peter, they have it here.

39:21 John Daub: It's all apple juice, vending machine.

39:35 John Daub: He's not interested. Alright, we're transferring but we need to get a reservation.

40:11 John Daub: It's a beautiful Nebuta. It's made out of paper, do you see that?

40:24 Peter von Gomm: Um, I don't.

40:28 John Daub: Ask him if you can get the seat reservation here. Just let me know if you can. 'Cause I gotta say goodbye to everybody.

40:36 John Daub: The Shinkansen's here, leave it there, please. I'm gonna leave it about once every 30-some minutes. Towards Tokyo, the next one's at 1:16. Which means we got some time. But the Tohoku Shinkansen is all reserved.

40:51 John Daub: Hold on a second. Peter, where are you going?

41:03 John Daub: Oh, we can do it 'cause we have the pass. Okay. Alright, we got the pass. So we can just go to the other side by going through here.

41:19 John Daub: Without having to go all the way around again. Oh, there's the Eki-Bento shop. Then we can get the reservation here. So we go out.

41:54 John Daub: Whoa, it's been stamped a bazillion times. Alright, we'll be back in one minute. Let's get the seat reservation, we'll be back in one minute.

42:02 John Daub: Welcome back. So we got the tickets. I found this, which is really cool. Check it out. So they have these inside of Shin-Aomori Station. I've seen these in Tokyo Station as well. These are like station booths where you can set up your laptop and do some work in here. It's really quiet. You can even take a nap inside of here.

42:47 John Daub: I guess you have to make a reservation, you get a QR code. 15 minutes. Yeah, here's the QR code. And then it'll, you scan the QR code here and it'll open up. But I think you can even register here. So it's 275 yen for about 30 minutes. It's 1,000 yen for two hours.

42:57 Peter von Gomm: Wow, it's a little pricey.

42:59 John Daub: Really? But I don't know, it's kind of expensive, don't you think? If I'm in a pinch, I'll go to a cafe right there.

43:17 John Daub: I'll go outside. Which one is yours?

43:22 John Daub: Hold on, I remember by looking at it. Yours is — this is yours.

43:36 John Daub: Are you in the same car or did they separate us for good reason? Car 3, that's right next to the green car. It's kind of nice.

43:46 John Daub: Green, car 1 is the grand class, car 2 is the green car. Car 3, that's who we are. So if there's a third class, that's who we belong.

44:01 John Daub: Yeah, oh yeah, just leave it right there. Yeah, I'm not going anywhere. Leave him behind, take his bag.

44:14 John Daub: We'll be here, don't worry. Take your time. Number 1 or number 2, just want to know how much time I have. 3? Wow.

44:24 John Daub: Check out this Nebuta. Wow, look at the details on this. We can get really close. Wow, I love this.

44:50 Peter von Gomm: I don't know what number 3 is, fan of fear, Kira. It's weird, only in Peterland.

44:54 John Daub: Everything is handmade. I've seen them put together, the Nebuta masters. It takes a long time and very, very delicate meaning. If it gets wet or it's in the rain, it can fall apart. So in this kind of weather, they have to put a rain tarp over it. That's really tough. But they pick the beginning of August for the Nebuta festival, because in the beginning of August, it doesn't rain that much. But sometimes it does. But August, that first week, it's usually pretty clear. I don't know why, just the way the weather works out. So it's a good time to do the Nebuta festival. This is one of my favorites. It's just so much to see these massive floats going down the street with the taiko drums. By far the best festival in Japan.

45:45 John Daub: Alright, let's take his bag and just move and freak him out.

46:56 John Daub: Alright, I'm just gonna hide behind the corner here. He should be coming any moment now.

46:26 John Daub: I don't know how long a number 3 is though. Anybody know? What was he referring to? Alright, stay behind the wall, okay?

47:23 John Daub: Again, I figured number 3 would be pretty quick. Alright, I'm gonna give up in a second. Our Shinkansen is in like 15 minutes. We got plenty of time. I don't know, Nagoya John, what's a number 3?

47:51 John Daub: That wasn't an Ace Ventura Pet Detective. Alright, I sense he's coming out. Just stay behind the wall, alright? Don't try to be a hero.

48:18 John Daub: There's the Nebuta, that's where his suitcase was before. Where that flashing is over there. Alright, should be any moment now. Unless the number 3 is meaning he misses the train. Or maybe he's trying to freak us out on the other side. He's hiding from us. He knew we were gonna do this. He's gonna come around the back end or something and sneak up on us. That's what I would do. Or he's watching the livestream while he's on the hopper and he knows that we're hiding.

49:16 John Daub: No, don't call the — no no no no no, we're right here. We're right here. Don't call the cops on us. You saw me, you saw the camera sticking out. Because the 1,300 viewers couldn't — stay behind the wall. Alright. Don't use my full name. People don't know my full name. Hey, you don't —

49:43 John Daub: Shinkansen. What? You have to put both tickets in at the same time. It says contact JR staff.

49:57 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, just put one through there.

50:04 John Daub: Yeah, I think I ruined it by going through there and taking the ticket.

50:21 John Daub: So I redid it and I got in trouble. This is an interesting vending machine. What are the suggestions to you?

50:30 John Daub: Oh, it's got a sensor in there. It sees you're wearing a hoodie and a mask. Based on your height and how old you look. So for you they might offer some prune juice. Yeah. Well, what about you?

50:46 Peter von Gomm: You're wearing a mask and a hood. It probably thinks you're, you know.

50:51 John Daub: Give me like a 45. Go up there, let's see what it writes there. Because you're hiding yourself. Where's the slip — mask? It just changed. What's it? It said number one — Ninkies water jelly. For you. Because I don't have any teeth, right?

51:17 Peter von Gomm: Water jelly, you know teeth?

51:18 John Daub: That's what we recommend. Well what about me? Get out of the way.

51:22 John Daub: Hi everybody. Oh, it's sticking with it, Peter.

51:27 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it's something for your constipation. The budo juice. There it is.

51:33 John Daub: Well it doesn't even — hang on, they're sold out out there. Alright, playtime's over, let's get to the train. Um, I was gonna get some apples for Kanae.

52:12 John Daub: So you gotta go slow. Welcome to the station, this is Mission Okunedu. As a virtual guide, we will guide you to the facilities of the station and nearby shops.

52:24 John Daub: Okay. Can you talk to me, please? You can talk to her. Where is the convenience store?

52:29 John Daub: You can operate at the left touching screen. Okay. Uh, John is supposed to buy me a beer, beer. Where can I get a beer?

52:43 Peter von Gomm: Where is the beer? Come on, give her a question she knows the answer to. Convenience store, please.

52:54 John Daub: Convenience store. Yeah, she knew that answer. Alright, you know what? I'm gonna go — she's cute, so she probably knows where the makeup is. Um, I'm gonna go and buy the gifts here and then we gotta get to the Shinkansen. I don't wanna miss the train.

53:19 John Daub: Yeah. Oh, she wrote in here. Oh, that is useful. So you don't touch these, get your finger clipped. They should put the time on there. What time is it? Ask her what time it is.

53:38 John Daub: It's at the right corner of the screen, so can you check it? Uh, okay. It's actually a contactless screen, you just get your finger close. Oh, so you don't touch it. I was touching it, so I need to alcohol my hands. Yeah. Sorry. I don't see the link, or the — you know, I don't know, she's not being truthful. Oh, gachapon. It's four after, we got about ten minutes.

54:07 John Daub: Okay, can you take this? I gotta go get Kanae some apples.

54:20 John Daub: Okay, oh yeah, let's go over here to check out the Nebuta. When you say something to John, like surprise me, things go completely haywire. So I recommend not saying that, and I'm regretting saying that. Uh, good to see you guys, hey there. Definitely in good hands, let's check out the Nebuta.

54:46 John Daub: So, Aomori is an awesome place. This whole area of Tohoku is so steeped in diversity, and the Nebuta festival here in this small town is awesome. Even if you can't make it to the festival, the museum displays these — their actual size. These are the small ones, they're scaled models. But they're made from washi, and they're all hand painted, and they're just beautiful. And they take them down the streets like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. These giant... They're all lit up, I would guess now, these days, with LED lights. But in the past they were probably used some kind of flame, I would imagine. Very carefully encased open flame. And I also imagine that some of them probably went up like the Hindenburg when one of those flames touched the washi. And that would be a sight to see. Pretty cool. But they always have these fantastic expressions on the faces. And their hands are in a odori, a dancing form. I just love it, really bright, rich colors.

56:41 John Daub: So yeah, we've had an absolute blast on this trip. I wasn't expecting it to be as fun as it was. But John and I always have a good time together. And especially to be on that train and the ceremonies along the way and stuff, it was just... It's been a blast, it's been a very fun weekend. And it's been nice to have you guys along as well. And I hope that we can get you all here in Japan one day soon, when all this nonsense starts to clear up.

57:24 John Daub: Oh look at this, it's like an apple. I didn't even realize that, how funny. Isn't that cute? It's a little baby apple. Hey, why are you so angry? We're not gonna eat ya.

57:53 John Daub: Check out Serial Talker if you have a chance, by all means. And Clubhouse, I'm curious, how many of you are on Clubhouse? I think Japan is the second biggest market now besides the US. And I'm really enjoying being on Clubhouse and discussing topics and doing voice acting, reading scripts. It's so much fun. So it's kind of a... You have to be invited, and you have to have an iPhone. And I find that... What I'm finding is a lot of Americans use Android more so than Apple. But yeah, sharing the invites would be a good idea.

58:42 John Daub: Oh god, now the party's over, thanks Killjoy. Look, they gave me a special bag I can reuse. That's really cool.

58:47 Peter von Gomm: Echo bag? Yeah.

58:48 John Daub: I got you a Sessions IPA. I don't know what that means. That's a nice surprise.

59:01 John Daub: Platform 26. Sorry, Platform 11. It's right here. Maybe we can see the Shinkansen coming in, come on. I got us some Apple chips.

59:15 John Daub: Oh, there's the Yudukyara on the side here. I couldn't — they didn't sell the apples here. Just, I wanted a regular apple. She said no. But the service is really nice. They upgraded my bag for free.

59:37 John Daub: Apples are a big deal in Aomori. Oh, the Shink is here.

59:52 John Daub: Car number 3! Car number 3!

60:07 John Daub: Shinkansen! Do you want to see the front?

60:24 John Daub: Hey Prime Provisional, thank you, good helper. That just paid for his beer. It's a combination of Mr. Daub and good friendship. Right here, right? Do you remember the seat number?

60:35 Peter von Gomm: Seat 4.

60:35 John Daub: Seat 4, you want to take this in and I'm going to show the front of the train. Alright. See you later. We have time to see the front.

60:53 John Daub: There's nothing cooler than the front of the train, right? So this is where we end the livestream. I can't believe we did this as an hour. Walking from Milk Ramen to this point. It's pretty cool.

61:15 John Daub: Oh, so the Grand Class is here. Grand Class, green car, all the regular cars. So that's good to know. It's awful weather. Oh, look how nice this car is. Wow.

61:48 John Daub: It sounds like I better get on. Everything is going to be on speed.

61:59 John Daub: Alright everybody, thanks so much for watching. Joining us for an hour, keep us busy. I'll see you in the livestream. Oh there he is, okay, I'm safe, I'm safe. I'll see you in the livestream sometime tomorrow. We're back in Tokyo. I'm coming back here to Aomori. My pass is good for another four days. So I gotta get some background footage and get some drone shots. It's gonna be a pretty good episode that I made aboard the Shinkansen.

62:33 John Daub: Thanks so much everybody, I'll see ya a little bit later on. Have a good day. Stay dry.