00:04:00 John Daub: Hello everybody, greetings to the city of Tokyo. This is Ginza. Some of you might know where I am in a second. All will be revealed as we get down to street level. Whoa, that was a fun escalator ride. Welcome to Ginza's very exciting intersection here. I just got out of the Tokyo Plaza Ginza shopping mall over there.

00:33:00 John Daub: Today we have a very special episode. We're going to walk from here, Tsukiji-bashi intersection, all the way to Hibiya Park. It's not that far. On the way we're going to discover some things that you've probably seen before, but it's all about the adventure. Because doing the Paralympic Agitos flowers is something that I wanted to do. I can't cover all of the attractions for the Paralympics like I did for the Olympics, but this is one of them that I just wanted to go check out. Because I know that the gardeners at Hibiya Park are working pretty hard to keep it nice and beautiful for all of us to enjoy a little bit of green in the city of Tokyo. It's going to be really nice.

01:16:00 John Daub: So we're going to leave from the poshest area of the city of Tokyo. We just came down this escalator to the Agitos. Wow, so I guess they're going to be building something here soon. That's still the old Sony building. It's just a park. They got to do something with that prime real estate. All right, let's get moving. Tsukiji-bashi is famous for Sushi Jiro, which is down the steps there. They have a very strict no-filming policy.

02:01:00 John Daub: Shinkansen alert. In both directions. So it's about a 10-minute walk from here, and we're going to go maybe a roundabout way because I think you've come in this direction before. The Shinkansen is on the move. That one's coming from Osaka, Kyoto. They come very frequently. Right now it's about 2:15. There's an Olympic bus. You won't see those for very much longer. The clock over there says it's about 2:14 p.m., and we're about to strike out this way. Follow that bus. Oh, wow, I just got a blast of air conditioning from it.

03:07:00 John Daub: 330 meters, folks. That is our goal. If you've never been here before, we are right here at Ginza Yonchome. The main intersection is right here. This is where Wako is and a lot of the big stores are on Chuo-dori. Underneath the Shinkansen tracks is Hibiya Park, and the Imperial Palace where the emperor lives is right there. So it's a pretty prime location to have this flower display, and I'm really interested to see what it looks like. I can go this way and follow the Olympic bus, but I'm going to go the other way because it's just different. We always go this way.

03:58:00 John Daub: Actually, I'm emperor of the Discord server. So if you join our Discord server, discord.gg/onlyinjapan one word. I'll be doing a Twitch livestream tomorrow incorporating our fireside chat, which means you can call in like a call-in show. Ask me questions about traveling to Japan or anything you want. Sunday's Twitch livestream is actually for me on Monday, but it's Sunday night for you. Right now it's scheduled for 11 a.m. Japan time, which is 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. That's twitch.tv/onlyinjapantv one word. A lot of plugs today. What's going on here? They got the lights on and it's 2:15 in the afternoon. And there's another Shinkansen. You see how frequently they go by?

05:10:00 John Daub: These are all restaurants. I wanted to come this way to show you the things underneath the Yamanote Line tracks are still kind of hanging on and living. We want to keep them that way. As soon as it gets safe, I'm gonna come this way for a day and get a babysitter for Leo, because I don't think these are the kind of places Leo would like to hang out. But you can see even during the daytime they have the lights on because it's so much more festive that way. This is a chicken place. You can smell it. And you can even go inside here if you wanted to. Let's duck in here for a second.

05:53:00 John Daub: This alley is usually haunted after midnight. It's kind of creepy. But in this direction there are a lot of izakayas (Japanese pubs) and bars. It's covered too. You're right underneath the Yamanote Line, and there are restaurants on the left and the right. They have not been doing very good business, and it's kind of sad. So just note this: if you're staying in the area, you might want to eat inside the Yamanote Line tracks. Can you smell it? Here's inside of the restaurant here. It's pretty cool to take pictures here too at night. If we're going back to 2019, it's normally pretty lively down here. You can walk all the way to Yurakucho Station in this direction if it's raining. But we're going out this way.

06:57:00 John Daub: That's my bicycle. Don't tell anyone. I put it right next to a do not park your bicycle thing, but it's a weekend. Wow, that ramen looks good. I love sitting out here with a beer. You can hear the sounds of the city. They made the table out of two crates of Hoppy. The ambiance at night around 10 p.m. is really nice. Now you can go straight. This street is pretty creepy walking towards Shinbashi Station.

07:56:00 John Daub: This is Ginza Corridor, loaded with restaurants. If you don't know what to eat or where to go, just walk down here and you will find it. Alright, there's the Yamanote Line. We're going now underneath it and crossing to the other side, the Hibiya side now. I'm kind of shocked at how many people are about. I'm social distancing a little bit here. Oh, on the other side is that Ramen Avenue. I forgot about that. Do you remember this? It's brand new, like an avenue full of really good ramen shops. Check it out. They're drying the squid with a mechanical spinner. It's like a party. I bet they got some pretty good sashimi.

09:58:00 John Daub: Underneath the Yamanote Line, we're now on the other side. There's a Sushi Zanmai here. You can tell from the chef having his arms spread out like, I once caught a fish this big. He loves this pose. It's even on his posters. He's showing the whole menu. Everybody comes here. It's like the Colonel. I bet he got the idea from the Colonel. A little selfie there. He should be wearing a mask. It's a crowded area.

10:39:00 John Daub: I don't come that often to this side, but this follows the Yamanote Line again all the way to Yurakucho. A lot of the shops that were here before are gone. There's a couple of German restaurants just hanging on, but it's changed a lot. On this side, all new restaurants. They've really renovated it. There's a Thai restaurant here. It's all about the craft beer and the pizza at Drastand. That looks pretty good. Beer and pizza. I don't think you can go wrong. The pizza looks pretty cool. They have a Quattro Formaggi. I can see that going with a couple of these IPAs on the menu. It's pretty expensive, about $8 to $10 for a pint, and usually it's not the same size of a pint.

12:34:00 John Daub: This is the Imperial Hotel. The history here is just oozing out of it. It's renovated quite a bit. I once worked for an MPO that had an office here, and it was pretty amazing because I would go there quite often just to sit in the real leather chairs. You just sink in there. But they have a really good restaurant right here. It's pricey. They have an ebi katsu sando (shrimp cutlet sandwich), which is very competitive with the other ones in Ginza. Ginza is well known for its ebi katsu sando, and this restaurant will set you back like $30 for one, but it's really good.

14:08:00 John Daub: If you go this way, we bypassed it because we've been there too many times. That's the Hibiya Midtown shopping mall, and there's a big Godzilla in the plaza there. It's kind of nice. One of the cool things with the Imperial Hotel is the lobby. It's worth just going into the lobby. I'm always afraid to film in there without permission because I know that they're quite strict. By the way, shout out to Jeffrey Kennedy. This is on the way. Thank you for sticking with the postcard club. Just got the notification and your Olympics postcard is on the way to the east coast of the US. Actually, this is a stamp that has rugby on it. That's pretty cool.

15:17:00 John Daub: We are officially in Hibiya because the subway station says so. Wow, it is a hot one. The humidity is pretty tough today, but I've been in worse. It felt like for the last week that summer had broken and fall had come in, but it's hard to say. Let's go in and sneak into the Imperial Hotel's museum. I want to show you Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe on honeymoon. Such a historic hotel. This is where the Queen of England stayed when she visited Japan, and they have her menu and entrees on display.

16:56:00 John Daub: This is beautiful. It hasn't changed at all. This wall of fame here is so cool. There's Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe right there at the hotel. That looks like Margaret Thatcher. Oh, that looks like the Prince of Monaco. Is that Sammy Davis Jr.? Richard M. Nixon with a woman in kimono. He's probably on his trip to China back in the 1970s. That's Babe Ruth. This is the original picture when Babe Ruth came to Japan in 1934 and again in 1936 to promote Major League Baseball in Japan. From that it blossomed. Look at the Babe. He was just so good with the kids. I hope I can be as good of a father as Babe was to the kids that idolized him. The stories are so inspirational. These are the plates from Hayate's creations for the Imperial Hotel logo. The menu of the Queen is here. Again, it's worth stopping in here to take a look at the history of Tokyo. A lot of it is in this hotel.

19:26:00 John Daub: Alright, let's get out of here. The cafe here, I once bought a tea. It set me back $30. So... Check it out. Every season, every month, they seem to have a new flower arrangement inside here. That's just beautiful. This one is showing off summer. And up there, you can see a bride on the stairs. A really popular place for weddings. It's like an older feel to this hotel. Some people like it and some don't, but it's a comfortable feeling. They even have a little rock garden going on here. So if you want to see a rock garden, you don't have to travel any further than the hotel.

21:01:00 John Daub: You know, it's funny though, because when you do come here for a tea or coffee, you do it for business. It's never you paying for it unless you're paying for somebody else. It's always about business when you come to stay or eat here. Nobody does it for pleasure unless you're just loaded, which I would never pay $30 for a tea normally. Sometimes you don't have a choice. You can't order a water. In the end, it comes down to whose company is bigger. That company will pay for it. Sometimes the bigger company picks up the check. And every now and then, if we do it often, I'll pick up the check too. It just depends.

22:16:00 John Daub: A lot of people were saying that the Domino's pizza that I ordered, why was it so expensive to have it delivered? I looked at it the other way. It's just half price if you go to pick it up. See what I mean? I'd rather lose $30 on pachinko. It was good tea though. It depends who you're with. I once took a very rich and famous person I worked with at the MPO out to lunch because he was paying for lunch all the time. I decided to take him into Hibiya Park to a place that has all-you-can-eat curry rice. I'm not sure if that was his cup of tea. It was my cup of tea because that's the only one I could afford. And the curry rice line was so long, 45 minutes to get in. His time is money. So he just turned around and goes, I know a place. I'll take you. He took me up to the top floor where there's a Japanese Wagyu steakhouse. He ordered me a 300-gram Kobe steak and he got a 200-gram one. The chef cooked it in front of us, and it was crazy good. The bill came out to something like six figures in Japanese yen.

24:20:00 John Daub: I'm looking for the Agitos now. This is our goal. I know that the gardeners put a lot of effort into the display that they have here right now. This is where they have the German beer festival, but I don't think there's anything going on right now. Usually the tables are around here with tents. The Christmas market is here too quite often. I don't see it here, so I'm guessing it's going to be over there on the other side. Oh, this is where I did a live stream and some guy was hitting on Kanae. I think it was the Halloween Kit Kat episode. Did not take kindly to that stranger's innuendos. Serves me right for leaving. I'll always remember Hibiya Park as the place where some dude tried to take Kanae. I don't see the Agitos there, so they must be on the other side.

25:56:00 John Daub: You know who else I walked around here with? Paulo, two years ago. Paulo and I did a live stream and just kind of talking about stuff, life. We both weren't fathers yet and we were just hanging out. Had lunch and we did the live stream on a rainy day here. I was trying to get him used to talking on a live stream. It was a good live stream. I learned a lot about my friend and he about me. Those were safer days and I didn't mind the rain. Often when it's raining, I don't even use an umbrella. I just let the rain drench me because that's a good feeling.

27:23:00 John Daub: For those joining us, we're going to the park. There's Midtown with the trees growing out of the floors there. They had the Olympic rings here by salting the ground, and they're gone. They're trying to get rid of the memory of the Olympics already. That means they must have the Agitos on the other side. Jotty sees it. Good. I'm guessing that's it right there. Let's just go around here.

29:05:00 John Daub: This is the park here. Paralympic Agitos, where are you? This is it. Oh, this is beautiful. I think I need a drone to really capture it, but can you see this? This is the Agitos in flowers and the three different kinds of colors: green, purple which I guess is blue, and red. Really beautiful. It's something really small, but it's pretty, and it's honoring the Paralympians, and I like that. I wonder what the Olympic rings were like. The thing is, the Paralympics, there aren't a lot of attractions like with the Olympics. There is a place though in Odaiba where you can try wheelchair basketball and some of the sports. I'll try to go during the weekday because the weekend I'm sure it's gonna be more dangerous. I'm gonna go check it out. No promises. I just got the link sent on the Discord server, but definitely want to show off more of the Paralympics if I can. Nobody's covering it. That's kind of a shame.

32:22:00 John Daub: Boom! The Paralympic Agitos, which are Latin for symbols of motion, I think. They couldn't use a swoosh because I think Nike trademarked that. I have to be honest, I didn't know what the Paralympic symbol was until Tokyo got the games and I started seeing it on everything. It is a real shame that they don't show enough of it. These are two cafes here, very often booked for weddings because it's so pretty. But you can also eat lunch and get a beer. I've done this a couple of times and just sit outside in the park. This is a much better place sometimes to just sit on the balcony here amongst all the trees. But wear long pants because there are mosquitoes. If you do go this way, the Liberty Bell is there. General MacArthur donated a Liberty Bell from the people of America to wish Japan good luck in their democracy when the American occupation ended.

33:34:00 John Daub: That's a pretty shot from Hibiya Park looking over the city. That's Shimbashi and Shinagawa in this direction. Pretty chill day. I just released a video on the main channel. Please check it out. It's not getting any love. Leave a comment, share it, like it. I beg of you. I know it's not going to do too well because the Olympics are over and it's not a very popular theme. But I didn't say anything that could be considered part of the pandemic so much. I just wanted to keep it: what was my experience like the other side of the bubble outside of the Olympic bubble? Because you saw it on the media, but you didn't see how we were living. I showed you the sights and the things that we could do. I think it's pretty interesting because that's what Tokyoites had to live through for the last month of these games, and it's still sort of going on now. Just one mistake: I said in the script I had the torch for Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, and Sydney 2000 in the same shot, but I wrote Barcelona 96. It was Barcelona 92, Atlanta 96.

35:21:00 John Daub: Alright, let's say goodbye. I'll take you to a place where you can see the Shinkansen rolling by. It's pretty cool. It's going to be great when the Olympics go to Los Angeles. They're set up for it. And I hope L.A. doesn't have to do too much to fund this because I know that Tokyo took a beating. They did not need to make all these new things. The new stadium, nothing wrong with the '64 Olympic Stadium. Just get some renovations. It was the only place in the world in the basement that had female urinals too. I'm really angry that they tore it down before I could film an episode on Japan's female urinal push of 1963 and '64 in an effort to try to get the lines down in crowded areas for events. Japan initiated female urinals where women could stand and do the deed. I'm serious. It's not a story that's on the internet because they tore it down and it was in the basement of the stadium. 1964 Olympics was pushing the envelope on technology and cultural changes for the city. That's one of them.

36:57:00 John Daub: There's the Imperial Palace. I got a lot of stories. This is my 24th year going into now, so I've heard a lot of weird stuff here. Here's the Peninsula Hotel. I remember when they built this. I was teaching at an English school not too far away and teaching the concierge and some of the staff how to speak English for the guests who would pay a lot of money for them not to make mistakes. That's where we started the live stream about 40 minutes ago. It's a quickie. I'll have some more content tomorrow. I'm trying to stay inside, not going out very much. Every time I go to the Kings, I see weird cars. Does English teaching not pay nearly as much anymore? I've been doing this for over 10 years, just doing YouTube for a very long time.

39:21:00 John Daub: Even the electronic box says Tokyo 2020. And there are the Agitos. That's what we just saw in flowers. Where's the Shinkansen? We're supposed to end on that. At night this is a pretty cool bridge to look at. You see the lights glowing. I've done this many times: I go to Shibuya this way, rode my bicycle around the palace and then towards Shibuya. But when you're coming back around the palace, which is really dark here, and you ride this direction, it's just a ball of light as soon as you get underneath the Shinkansen tracks. There's the Narita Express. Just after you get through the Shinkansen tracks, it's so much brighter and I'm home free because it's my backyard. Can I end on the Narita Express? I wonder if there's anybody even on that thing. I have to go to Haneda Airport soon as well, so expect the live stream from Haneda. Hope everyone's doing well. I guess we're gonna end on that. You got it, Shinkansen. Have a good day everybody.