Speakers:

• SPEAKER_00 = John Daub
• SPEAKER_01 = Sam (Tokyo Sam)

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Full Transcript

00:00:06 John Daub: Hello, everybody. Welcome to Golden Gai. This is one of the famous streets here in Shinjuku. I like coming here, but it's been a long time since then. How you doing, everybody? Now, Golden Gai is a street that goes all the way back to post World War II. I guess a lot of these buildings could trace back to the 1960s. And it is a private street, so there's a lot of things you can't do. One of them is talking really loudly, so we're going to have to be quiet. As well as drinking alcohol outside or sitting down and staying the night, there's lots of really interesting rules here that apply. And of course there's no peeing, no standing. Anyways, I guess you could sit technically. Anyways, we're gonna be going on a tour of the alleys here in Shinjuku's Golden Gai, including this street and all these things. This is such a beautiful walkway. And then you look down this alley and you see tons of shanty type bars and restaurants. And the best person to help me out with this live stream.

00:01:19 Sam: Ah, they found me. Oh no. I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids and that dog us. How's it going? Yeah, smoke weed every day.

00:01:30 John Daub: Whoo.

00:01:30 Sam: Oh, wait. Am I allowed to make any of my references? Or like, is there anything that I should not or should I censor on purpose for your stream? See, I don't mind about my stream, but for your stream, you know, I'm respectful, sensitive to your needs.

00:01:46 John Daub: There are. There are kids watching.

00:01:49 Sam: Wait, really?

00:01:49 John Daub: So talk? Well, no, but

00:01:54 Sam: maybe they might be watching.

00:01:56 John Daub: They might be watching.

00:01:57 Sam: They might be watching us walk that sleazy alleyway with that in mind.

00:02:00 John Daub: I sort of have that mindset. But anyways, I guess be yourself. But, you know, like, you were talking with kids, which I kind of am, but in an adult form.

00:02:10 Sam: Okay, okay. I will purposely censor myself. To be fair. I don't cuss around kids.

00:02:17 John Daub: Okay.

00:02:17 Sam: Or at least I try not to. I mean, like, sometimes I'll be saying something, they come around the corner and I'm like, ah, you know, and it's okay. Do you like this? I bought two 100 yen mittens from the 100 Lawsons and I put my bike gloves over it so I can get some grip. It's very nice. And also the bike,

00:02:39 John Daub: those are actually really nice gloves. Look at that.

00:02:41 Sam: Yeah, Alibaba, dude, like eight bucks. And then if, you know, if you're in Shinjuku. This is actually a good glove to have in case, you know, somebody starts something with you.

00:02:50 John Daub: Now, the first thing I want to ask you, because you've been living in this area more or less?

00:02:55 Sam: Yeah, pretty much.

00:02:56 John Daub: Pretty much the whole time you've been in Japan? Over 10 years now?

00:02:59 Sam: Well, I mean, not in this area, but, I mean, for the last couple of years, I've been living in, like, around this area. But, yeah, I mean, I've been living in Tokyo for, like, 10 years.

00:03:07 John Daub: Yeah. Is it a tough area? Is it dangerous here? That's what I want to know. At night.

00:03:15 Sam: Well, there's no tourists here right now, so it's like, the only people that have to work. We're in Gold. Did you tell them we're in Golden Guy right now?

00:03:23 John Daub: Yeah, we're in Golden Guy.

00:03:24 Sam: Yeah. So this is Golden Guy. And the only people that really have to worry about anything are, like, new Japanese people that are new to Tokyo or foreigners that come here and don't spend five minutes to Google scams in Tokyo.

00:03:38 John Daub: Right.

00:03:38 Sam: So. But I mean, compared to, like, 10 years or even 15 years ago, this place is so, like. Like, dude, they have, like, an informational box, like, center over there. Like, they didn't have that before.

00:03:51 John Daub: Now, technically, you're not allowed to film in this area. This is a private.

00:03:55 Sam: It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Fine. It's fine. I'll take responsibility for any of this. And to be fair, it's mostly. They don't want you to film in, like, go. Like, that's the thing, John. It takes one person to ruin a party.

00:04:10 John Daub: It takes one person. We're not that people.

00:04:12 Sam: Yeah, because, like, some dumbass foreigners would be like, hi, who's in here? And then these open and, like, shove the camera in.

00:04:19 John Daub: Speaking of alleys, this place has a lot of alleys.

00:04:23 Sam: I meant to do that. Yeah. Isn't this, like Blade Runner?

00:04:29 John Daub: This is pretty cool. All right. Do you want to walk it, Walker? Let's walk.

00:04:33 Sam: Yeah.

00:04:34 John Daub: Yeah, let's walk around here. So before 1958, this is a place very famous. Well, it'd be where you would go to get prostitutes.

00:04:44 Sam: Yeah. Like, ironically, it was prostitutes and bars. Hello. Hi. How you doing? Yeah, you're too beautiful to be cleaning windows. It's good lady up there, please be considerate about us. Loud voice. I love it, too. How? It's not even in Japanese. Japanese people know, like, they already know. It's the foreigners. The smoke outside, drink outside. The. Yeah, it's. It's. You know, it's ironic because like the most people. Like the people that do. Cause the most like, like, is like the problems are Japanese people. But look at. This one's funny too. All of this is in English. Like. But the thing is, is that the Japanese problems, in my humble opinion, you know, like, the. Those ones are like so predictable that it's like, it's kind of fun. Like, because the only people that do that are like people that are purposely starting. But like, for this stuff, it's like foreigners don't even know. Like, you know, you gotta. You gotta pay a cover charge for all these places and then they'll come in and then it's like, you know, like all this stuff that everybody already knows what not to do.

00:06:10 John Daub: But the tourism. This was the number one spot in Tokyo for a very long time. This Senhachiko scramble for foreigners. Visitors that wanted to come to see Tokyo would come here to this alley. I think maybe it's because of Anthony Bourdain and the show that he did here.

00:06:29 Sam: How long ago was that, though? That was only like five years ago though.

00:06:32 John Daub: Like five, ten years ago maybe.

00:06:34 Sam: Really? The uncharted places or whatever.

00:06:36 John Daub: Right?

00:06:37 Sam: Well, I mean like, no reservations. Well, I knew about this place through Lonely Planet. That's back in the day. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 6.

00:06:47 John Daub: 6 alleys here that to explore.

00:06:50 Sam: Yeah, I like. All these names are so funny too. Like, like Anchor up Out. My buddy Go runs a bar here. And that's all. That's his right here. The Death Match in Hell. I don't know if he's open right now.

00:07:04 John Daub: Wait, his bar is called Death Match?

00:07:06 Sam: Yeah. Death Match in Hell. It's awesome. It's.

00:07:09 John Daub: They missed the. In Hell. I guess you're only limited to two lines.

00:07:11 Sam: Yeah, you got. You got. You know, not a lot of space here. Yeah, he's so.

00:07:15 John Daub: What?

00:07:16 Sam: Yeah, yeah. Like I. I don't know. Like, I always wondered when I met like Tokyo Cooney like when I first came here. He always liked to hang out in like this area or like Omoide yokocho, like small areas. I was like, why? Like, you know, let's go like to Hub or something. Like. But now I get it. It's like the older I get, I'm like, the smaller, like, place. I want to just hang out and have, like, more of an intimate feeling to it. And, like, all these places are great because it's like. It literally is like, they have the punk bar, whereas I think it's. It's in the same place as Go. So maybe one of these is a punk bar.

00:07:52 John Daub: All right, let's go down alley number three next, then.

00:07:55 Sam: It's very cool. It's very fun.

00:07:56 John Daub: Yeah, yeah. Speaking of Tokyo Kuni.

00:08:00 Sam: Yeah.

00:08:01 John Daub: Kevin. He's restarted his channel, so you might want to check that he's traveling around the U.S. dude.

00:08:05 Sam: His channel. I was so happy when I saw his channel back up and regularly uploading. I purposely waited. Like, I was like, I can't do. I can't do this one at a time thing. Like, so I waited, like, a month and a half for him to upload a ton, and then I just binged it. It's nice.

00:08:21 John Daub: So for those searching online, the link is in the description. This is Tokyo Sam. You can find him on YouTube.

00:08:26 Sam: Yeah, just type Tokyo Sam.

00:08:28 John Daub: Tokyo Sam.

00:08:29 Sam: I love this scenery, by the way. It's just whenever you see something, like small in the foreground and then, like, big in the background and then like, some guy with his Escalade that obviously costs a lot for import tax. I love it.

00:08:45 John Daub: Yeah, you do. You'll see some very unusual things in Shinjuku the longer you stay here. We're talking a little bit more about the history as we go in here. This is number alley number one, right?

00:08:56 Sam: Ichibangai. Yeah, yeah. No, this is. I just. I love it how it's like, if you notice, like, everywhere in Tokyo, if you look at, like, Shibuya or Shinjuku or even Ikebukuro, like, they're. They're. They're busting down all these smaller places to make room for skyscrapers. Perfect. Perfect place to throw away your trash.

00:09:17 John Daub: Look at that. That actually works really well. Like, what is. They'll take it away and then somebody else will put it. You have to have a 500 milliliter can to make it work.

00:09:26 Sam: Yeah, right. You know, it's all about the. It's all about the small details, you know? Like, I love this too. Like, Members Only. And do you know what this means?

00:09:40 John Daub: Well, it was a jacket in the 1980s, maybe if you have one of those Members Only, they had the little straps on the top. They're really nice jackets.

00:09:47 Sam: Well, normally, probably that, but Members Only is only put up there because the reason why it doesn't say it in Japanese is because they don't want random foreigners coming in. That's all. So, like, if it's like they have like, every night, their place is full pretty much. So there's no like, official like, like time card or what? Oh, my God, he's gonna smash into that car.

00:10:11 John Daub: Oh my gosh.

00:10:12 Sam: Look how close he is.

00:10:13 John Daub: That is.

00:10:14 Sam: He was like, literally, like, wow. Anyway, it's not really members only. I mean, there's no official, like, membership. They just don't want random foreigners coming into this bar that has no advertisement.

00:10:24 John Daub: Would you be random if you went in there?

00:10:26 Sam: I think if I went in and I was like, I don't know. It really just depends on their mood that day. But if I came in and I spoke Japanese, I think they'd be more willing to work with me. Yeah, but more importantly, if you can't get into a place like that and you want to get into a place like that, what you do is you go into another bar that like, allows foreigners here, and then you make friends with that bartender, and then all of them know each other here. So then they give you the. That you go with them to that bar.

00:10:53 John Daub: Let me ask you this though. Like, is this with this is it. Some people would call it racism, right?

00:10:58 Sam: It's not racism, right? Foreigner, like, racism means, like, you know, I hate you because of your skin color. That, like, that's not how. That's not the reason here, though. Like, the whole point is, is that there's. So there's. Think about it. There's way more foreigners that are tourists here in Tokyo than there are that people that live here long term. And most of them don't speak Japanese and they don't know Japanese customs. So if they come in like, hey, barkeep, give me a fucking effing beer. Yeah, I caught myself. Yeah. Effing beer. And what. What is this? 500 yen? Like, you know, table charge. What the heck? Like, do you really want to go through that every night explaining. No, no, no. Like, you know, you. The bartenders don't want to be cultural ambassadors. They just want to make money, you know? So like, anytime people spouse spout racism, it's like, shut up. You just don't know the culture. You don't know the language. You know, it's like the whole reason why they have that image of foreigners is because the majority of foreigners that they encounter are tourists that don't know shiza. So there you go.

00:11:57 John Daub: Good catch. Now let me. Let me push this a little bit. Further, somebody wrote recently to me on Twitter that they went into a restaurant to go and eat this. The restaurant was completely empty, and the owner told them that they were full. And I said, it could be they have an event coming. Maybe there's a wedding coming in here.

00:12:12 Sam: Maybe yoyaku. Yeah, like a reservation. Well, I mean, I've had places like, literally, like two, three weeks ago, there was this, like, mom and Pop Izakaya that's like, right near where I live. And I've always wanted to go down there. It's like something like this. It's like, there's no advertisements, but, like, outside is like a beautiful Japanese garden. And it's like, been there for probably like 50, 70 years. And I go in and the woman said, no ramen. No ramen. And I said, what? And I was like, you know, and then I'm like, you know, I just want to come and get a drink with my friend in Japanese. And. And she's like, oh, nihongo jōzu. No. You speak Japanese? Yeah, yeah. And she's like, oh. She's like, we only have seafood and. And beer. Is that okay? And I said, yeah, that's fine. So, you know, I mean, like, I was like, why did you say no ramen? She's like, we had so many people come in and ask us to make ramen. And. And I said. And I was just like, do you speak English? She's like, no. And I was like, well, there you go.

00:13:08 John Daub: You know, that's what I love about Tokyo, Sam. Doesn't hold back. Doesn't hold, right? I mean, the viewers all know this too. You don't hold back and you just say it as it is, and it's.

00:13:18 Sam: Well, I mean, if I'm wrong, please point it out. You know, I'm not above criticism. I don't have an ego like that. Currently, the use of marijuana is prohibited in Japan. Golden Guy is a very delicate pastion. While popular as a tourist destination, there have been talks of redevelopment the area many times. Even now, there's a possibility of being torn troll as a number of individually who did not obey the law. Increase Golden Guys increase the chance of, you know, that's. That's. That's. That's bullshizza. That's. Yeah, people smoke weed here. Like, there's not that many. There's no cops, so people smoke it. I mean, I'm not saying that you should come here and smoke it, but I'm just saying, like, there's no cops in this area. There. There's. There's like, like touts or I mean like there's like security that comes by. But I mean like there's nobody like cops do their patrols here. But I mean if this place was going to get shut down, it's not for weed. It's for, you know, people. Like literally. I came here last week to film with my buddy Go and there was just a guy right there in front of the green spot, that green like bar. And he was just, he just took his, his member out and he was just like all drunk and he's like. And the, and the bartender just laughing, she's like, ah, your dick, your dick is out. And he's just like, my dick is out. And she's just like, put your dick back in. And like he like, he like bends over, she just kicks, falls down. It was pretty funny. But I mean like you could tell they're they're friends or he's a.

00:14:51 John Daub: There's some washing machine. I bet you there's some really interesting stories just walking around here, Mr. Das. Thank you. Kampai. If you're not driving, we'll see. It's 10am Mind you. So Michael Sasana's here and Irvin. We'll take a look and see what we can find.

00:15:03 Sam: Look at the, look at the cables. Dude, look at this.

00:15:05 John Daub: I love the.

00:15:07 Sam: It's like so India.

00:15:09 John Daub: This is what I hope. And then you see the lamp right here, this 1960s retro lamp in the middle of it. It's just a characteristic and I hope they never bury. At least here they don't bury these underground. There's now a movement to bury all these wires underground. If you had these underground, it wouldn't work.

00:15:27 Sam: Well, you seem to be the Japan guy who knows the Japan stuff. Why did they put them above ground when every other country puts them underground?

00:15:34 John Daub: Well, it had something to do with the earthquakes and the seismic activities. But nowadays with technology you don't really need to do that so much.

00:15:43 Sam: Yeah, exactly, because if you have an earthquake, it's a lot easier to have a cable sway in the. Sway around in the sky versus like having to maybe if like a part of it part of like, you know, you have to go through a whole little tunnel and, and see what part like crashed on your cable and stuff crash on the door.

00:16:03 John Daub: It's just easier to fix the stuff too. Yeah, above ground because you can find it. You don't have to dig up stuff and see the COVID charge is 900 yen. So typically when you come here, you don't move around from place to place in bar hop, you kind of sit there for while.

00:16:17 Sam: I mean like you can bar hop, but it's usually like Instead of putting 30 bucks for a club entrance for one club, you put like 30 bucks aside and jump around to like two or three bars around here.

00:16:28 John Daub: Right.

00:16:29 Sam: I don't know. Like, you go out. Oh, you budget, you know, like whenever I go out, I usually have a budget of like a hundred bucks, you know, and I can do whatever I want.

00:16:36 John Daub: That's a pretty good way to think of it. Have a budget of a hundred bucks when you go out. And then you don't have to worry about it so much. Mr. Das, it is 5pm somewhere, but it's not right here.

00:16:45 Sam: This is Ron Barth and I love it because like, they have like this turtle aquarium in here and it just makes it smell really bad. But it's fun.

00:16:53 John Daub: This is the. This is punk bar. And they, they're, they are adhering to the COVID policies. I don't see anything in there.

00:17:01 Sam: You can fit like five people in there. Like, there's no, like, I don't know how they could have adhere to Covid stuff. Maybe they just keep the door open the whole time.

00:17:08 John Daub: That could be it.

00:17:10 Sam: There's a random broken old ass electronics.

00:17:13 John Daub: This is what, this is what I love about it. You know, this is probably from the 1980s. This could have been in that. Did you see that Netflix show, Naked Director?

00:17:21 Sam: Everyone keeps telling me to see it, but I just, I feel like it's, you know, when like something is way too CGI for it to be fun. Yeah, Like, I don't know, I get that feeling of a lot of their shows. So I'm like a little hesitant to watch it because I love 80s stuff. Oh, man. Bambi bar Bambi.

00:17:42 John Daub: Where's Thumper?

00:17:44 Sam: I love it how they have like little sinks just dedicated for people. I don't know.

00:17:48 John Daub: Except for vomiting, I think.

00:17:50 Sam: For washing your hands maybe. Okay, this is the informational booth.

00:17:53 John Daub: Oh, wow. So this is the actual like tourism office information. I don't know if it's tourism office. Nothing's in English. But I mean, do they want foreigners to come here? It seems like.

00:18:04 Sam: I think if they do because they, they want the money probably.

00:18:09 John Daub: Right?

00:18:09 Sam: What does this do? It's a show doku button. Should I push it?

00:18:12 John Daub: No, no, no, no.

00:18:14 Sam: But it says, it says like shodoku. I want to, I want to push it. I want to push it. I'm gonna push it here just in case.

00:18:21 John Daub: All right, do it. Nothing happened. Make My getaway. It's probably a button somewhere in the world.

00:18:30 Sam: Just some place just blew up for.

00:18:33 John Daub: Yeah. Pushing it multiple times too, to make done. We'll go down that alley in a second. This is alley number three, right? Or was that number three?

00:18:43 Sam: That was number two. This is number three.

00:18:45 John Daub: Yeah. So this is number three.

00:18:46 Sam: Well, technically, like, there's the.

00:18:48 John Daub: Check this out. Look at this. You see the plants here? This is part of the characteristic of old Japan, that Showa era alleys and stuff. Yeah. It doesn't look. It looks kind of rough around the edges. And then you see stuff like this.

00:19:00 Sam: Yeah. You got like abandoned VCRs. Then you have like.

00:19:03 John Daub: But no one steals this, right? This is just.

00:19:06 Sam: Yeah, this is America. Somebody would have come over and throw it on the ground probably or something. You know, it brings a nice little bit of nature to it all. You know, they've got. Oh, and I just like. I love this too. Like seeing the balconies.

00:19:23 John Daub: Yeah.

00:19:24 Sam: And stuff. Like you can actually go up there and like hang out in most of these bars. Like each one of these shacks is.

00:19:31 John Daub: Is different. It's just a different style to it.

00:19:36 Sam: Hey, John, what's this thing for? I wonder if you know what this thing's for.

00:19:40 John Daub: Those are candles, aren't they?

00:19:41 Sam: Yeah. No, I mean the things in the middle right here. These. These things. Those aren't candles. John.

00:19:48 John Daub: Oh, oh,

00:19:51 Sam: John's here for this too.

00:19:52 John Daub: Christian's kind of large. I've seen movies.

00:19:57 Sam: I'm cool. I'm hip. Is your friend cool? Yeah, man, don't worry, he's cool.

00:20:03 John Daub: I know what it is. But it looks like the original owners for some of these places aren't here. They might have been bought out by younger people. Have you seen different kinds of. I mean, I'm sure they've renovated some of these places. Right. To make it a little bit nicer inside or newer.

00:20:21 Sam: Yeah. I don't know the percentage though. I wonder. I wonder how much it is. See, this one is a members only bar because it's actually in Japanese. Kaiinsei.

00:20:33 John Daub: There you go.

00:20:34 Sam: And it's. They have like a different cute bartender every day of the week.

00:20:38 John Daub: Oh, really? Yeah.

00:20:40 Sam: Look at how small this door is. I don't even know can I fit. Can I fit through that? It's like, look, look, this is how big the door is.

00:20:46 John Daub: And then like we would push you in there.

00:20:48 Sam: Like, I could not get in, like from the front. I'd have to.

00:20:51 John Daub: You would get in there. I'd have to get in through the

00:20:53 Sam: side and then just like jello it up and go.

00:20:56 John Daub: We would get you in there.

00:20:57 Sam: This is a fire violation.

00:20:59 John Daub: Could be. Yeah.

00:21:00 Sam: A fire inspector would have a field day with this whole area.

00:21:03 John Daub: And should there be an emergency, we'd have to get you out too.

00:21:06 Sam: Yeah, well, don't worry. Fat melts, you know, it's talking about a fat melter. Oh, yeah. Now this place. Yeah, like, you're right. There's a lot of new buildings around here.

00:21:18 John Daub: This looks like something in Amsterdam in the red light district. These large windows, usually with a curtain for a purpose.

00:21:23 Sam: Huh.

00:21:24 John Daub: But I wouldn't know. I've never giggity there.

00:21:28 Sam: It's like that. It's like they said from that.

00:21:30 John Daub: Am I wrong? I know we have some Dutch viewers here. This doors and windows like this. It does look very much like and albatross.

00:21:39 Sam: This is a place Tokyo Cooney took me. It's like one of the first places I went to. Yeah, they used to be in Omoide Yokucho. I thought, oh, well, this. This place is cool because you actually can go on the roof. Not just the second floor. You can go up to the roof.

00:21:52 John Daub: And the COVID charge is reasonable. 500 yen is just one coin.

00:21:56 Sam: Yeah. And it's all red and just like brass ornaments and stuff all around there. It's very cool.

00:22:01 John Daub: Oh, pretty sweet.

00:22:02 Sam: Yeah. Yeah.

00:22:06 John Daub: So Cooney was kind of a mentor, huh?

00:22:08 Sam: Yeah, Cooney was the first guy who really gave me a chance. He helped me when I was still green. John helped me get my feet wet.

00:22:17 John Daub: Yeah. I've been on. On the record saying he's one of the reasons why I do YouTube. He introduced it to me. Many long days of filming Tokyo Eye in TV vans, talking about what he was doing. He's the first celebrity I met in Tokyo. In Tokyo too. Walk around and tourists would come and say, hi, this is 19. Not 19. 2008, 2009. Coming up to Kevin Cooney and saying, I know you.

00:22:42 Sam: Yeah, you're that guy. You're that guy. You're the guy who hangs out with tko, Sam.

00:22:47 John Daub: Yeah, I didn't say that.

00:22:48 Sam: But they thought it.

00:22:50 John Daub: They thought it. I'm sure they did. He had what, 40,000 subscribers or something back then? That was a huge deal.

00:22:55 Sam: That was a huge deal. And I remember people, other YouTubers, thinking that they were better than him, but they weren't. Evil kangaroo court decision. I like that. Kangaroo court. This is kangaroo court. I didn't even know what that meant until like a couple years ago.

00:23:12 John Daub: Really?

00:23:13 Sam: Yeah. Because I never had really seen in pop, like culture or whatever. So it's like. But then that Rick and Morty, like somebody made a Rick and Morty animation of like this court proceeding in America and they were saying this is kangaroo court. This kangaroo court.

00:23:30 John Daub: This might be the worst time to visit this area. I think 10am I'm like, let's see if we can get a vending machine or something.

00:23:37 Sam: I told him this beforehand.

00:23:39 John Daub: Yeah, but you don't stay up as late as you used to.

00:23:42 Sam: I actually do now a little.

00:23:43 John Daub: Oh, you do?

00:23:44 Sam: Yeah. So. So just recently, the last two, three

00:23:47 John Daub: weeks, so Sam has changed quite a bit his style. I guess you're going back to your New Year's resolutions. Yeah, that we all forgot about.

00:23:55 Sam: Yeah, I kept. I was able to accomplish like five of them, so.

00:23:59 John Daub: Good.

00:23:59 Sam: Yeah. Yeah. Five out of ten. Not bad.

00:24:01 John Daub: So this is actually alley number five. Yeah, so we skipped number three. Where's your friend's place?

00:24:07 Sam: It's over here. Yeah, they.

00:24:13 John Daub: Whoa.

00:24:16 Sam: Run, run, run, run. Get in there, get in there. Yeah, I don't know if it's still here, but there's a great game bar that used to be on the second or third floor and. But I don't go down there because it's scary because of the earthquakes. If earthquake happened, you'd be not just like dead, you'd be crushed by concrete.

00:24:35 John Daub: This area. Hey, Ramses Ramsay. Silent. We. We will try to see if Sam will push some more buttons here. Yeah, we'll do our best to find something that's open again, like between 10 and 11. Shinjuku is a weird place because the shops don't open till 11.

00:24:52 Sam: Yeah, they. Well, no, I mean like these. These places that are open up until like 5am or something, they don't care. But this, like, what is it? This is. This is the parking spot I always park my bike in because my friend's bar is right over here.

00:25:05 John Daub: Oh, right.

00:25:05 Sam: So you're not technically allowed to park here. But the cops aren't going to come because it's private road.

00:25:10 John Daub: Right.

00:25:10 Sam: So unless they get a tow truck, that's the one thing that you got life hack. For all you guys out there who want to break the rules, tow trucks cost money. And yeah, you have to pay for. You have to pay first. It's not like America where it's like tow them and then charge them later. It's like now the business. Whoever called the tow truck has to pay. So they don't really call tow trucks that often here to like move your car.

00:25:34 John Daub: That's Good info. I'm new to driving, so I didn't know about that.

00:25:37 Sam: Yeah, so this is. Yeah, but I always park here because he always comes out and checks the bike.

00:25:43 John Daub: So there it is. Death Match. You're right. They did. They did. Right? Yeah.

00:25:50 Sam: Wow.

00:25:50 John Daub: I like the. I gotta come here one of these days. That's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 1970s best movie.

00:25:55 Sam: It's too. I mean, we could come back here when it's night. We can have a daytime version and a nighttime version of the, of the live stream.

00:26:04 John Daub: Yeah, well, they're very, they're very clear on that. They have no cover charge. Why is that?

00:26:09 Sam: Well, because like 80% or more of his patrons are actually foreigners. So he specifically want, like out of everybody here, he specifically wants foreigners. And his whole bar is themed around two things, 80s horror movies and heavy metal. And he also dresses like Wayne from Wayne's World.

00:26:27 John Daub: That's pretty cool.

00:26:28 Sam: Yeah, like he's got the hair and the hat and everything.

00:26:31 John Daub: So I guess to make it up, drinks might be a little bit more expensive.

00:26:34 Sam: No, actually there's a drink. They're only like six bucks. They're cheaper than any other place around.

00:26:38 John Daub: Really?

00:26:38 Sam: Yeah. That's why this, this place is like. It's super, super, super fucking. Like. I mean, everybody really loves this place, especially the foreigners. And also he speaks English though too, so, you know, like, he's a great dude to know. And his bar is always packed, but because the Corona recently. No, no tourists. So less people here. But this place is great. I mean, like, how much is the

00:27:03 John Daub: rent on something like this? I mean, I don't have to say because it's your friend's place, but I mean, for the other places, I can't imagine it would be too much because they're all kind of old. Although the location is Shinjuku. Right?

00:27:14 Sam: Honestly, I mean like, it's either two things. It's either like they're ridiculously cheap or that you're paying extra stuff, you know, like, like you're paying. Like before when the, the Yakuza were around this area, you'd pay them security money, you know, to make sure they don't come by and screw up your bar.

00:27:31 John Daub: But you get an only in Japan bar here.

00:27:33 Sam: Yeah, you should do a pop up only in Japan bar. Yeah.

00:27:37 John Daub: What would I call it?

00:27:39 Sam: Call this guy Fs.

00:27:42 John Daub: This guy Fs. Is that a button? It's not a button.

00:27:46 Sam: Those. Those are all fire but. Or fire alarms. Because it's like, because one of the. Was it because of that big fire that happened like a year or two ago.

00:27:57 John Daub: Oh, right, yeah, A year or two

00:27:58 Sam: or a couple years ago.

00:27:59 John Daub: I know that organized crime, I won't say it by the Y word has yakuza.

00:28:08 Sam: It's fine, John. You're like, you got a family, you. You got like a family. You're afraid.

00:28:13 John Daub: I can run pretty fast too, but I feel bad leaving you behind.

00:28:15 Sam: I got the knuckles, I got the bike. The bike gloves with the knuckles on, man.

00:28:19 John Daub: They'll delay before they catch up to me.

00:28:21 Sam: Yeah, it's fine. It's tiny Asian people for the most part. I'm afraid of the dudes who do judo, and they're not around here. They're fine. This bar's still going? Yeah, yeah. Getting it in, no charge, no tax. Yeah. What's up, dude? You guys aren't closed, right? New York, New York. Hey, nice to meet you, man. Nice to meet you. Keep going. Keep it going. Guys smoke weed every day. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Those guys are pretty badass.

00:29:05 John Daub: Yeah, they are. I can't believe they're still drinking at

00:29:08 Sam: like 11am right now.

00:29:09 John Daub: Did they start now or did. Are they just going?

00:29:11 Sam: No, they've been going.

00:29:13 John Daub: I see.

00:29:15 Sam: What is that? Like. Oh, my God.

00:29:20 John Daub: Oh, my gosh. Are those real?

00:29:22 Sam: Nah. What Nah?

00:29:23 John Daub: Well, I don't know. It's hard to tell. Police can't come here because it's private unless you get a warrant.

00:29:28 Sam: When I die, I want to donate my skeleton only if it's used for this and nothing helpful medical wise.

00:29:33 John Daub: Is that a bulldog? It's pretty cool.

00:29:36 Sam: It's Iggy from Jojo. Easy Rider. This is like American salute, like motorcycle saloon. Look at that. Harley Davidson.

00:29:45 John Daub: I love it.

00:29:45 Sam: I haven't been here. What did this place freaking come up?

00:29:48 John Daub: I think a lot of the old timers, they don't have anybody to replace them, so they have to sell out. And usually they want to sell to someone who wants to keep it going.

00:29:56 Sam: Yeah.

00:29:56 John Daub: So a lot of these places, I believe, have been renovated a little bit, which is good here.

00:30:02 Sam: Hey, how's it going? Yeah, they had. But if you look here, there's actually two doors.

00:30:07 John Daub: Random guy shouting.

00:30:08 Sam: I love that they got two doors here. So it's like this door actually goes to the second floor.

00:30:12 John Daub: Oh, yeah.

00:30:12 Sam: And this one goes to the first floor.

00:30:14 John Daub: That's pretty cool.

00:30:17 Sam: I love this too. Karaoke. Oh, I've been here. This. This bar, it's only like, like four stools big, and like, you can go up here and, like, you just party. But I don't. I don't like, because the stools are kind of high. Like, I don't know. When you're fat, you got a gravity thing going for you. And like, usually if there's like a stool and then like a little, like leg area to rest your legs on, it's okay. But I don't think. Unless they changed it, but yeah, this place is great. Come here for anime. They don't. I think they have a cover charge,

00:30:46 John Daub: but I like the fact that they don't clean these things. This is probably has not been cleaned since 1960.

00:30:52 Sam: It's all like, mossy and stuff.

00:30:55 John Daub: Yeah, it's a natural stuff here. Yeah. We got to come back in the evening. I would love to get some drinks here.

00:31:03 Sam: Yeah, yeah, we should. We'll. We'll come back. Like, I can taxi it from home. Like, to home from here.

00:31:08 John Daub: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:31:10 Sam: Let's go and let's get drunk and then I'll. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get drunk, John. Yeah, yeah. Come on, man. Let's do it. Yeah, Go fight some people. Oh, wait, we didn't go to the last. Last place over here. It's like stretched.

00:31:22 John Daub: Okay.

00:31:23 Sam: They got.

00:31:25 John Daub: Hey, Tony P's in the house.

00:31:26 Sam: Here's the funny thing. Do you get the joke?

00:31:29 John Daub: Carrot.

00:31:31 Sam: Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z Haircut. Oh, Kakarot. Kakarot. Yeah, John's cool.

00:31:40 John Daub: John's cool.

00:31:42 Sam: Yeah. It's like, I. I get it.

00:31:44 John Daub: I get it. I'm cool. I'm cool.

00:31:46 Sam: I don't. I don't need town Dr.

00:31:50 John Daub: Evil trying to be cool.

00:31:52 Sam: Cool. I'm Heap. This is like Suzy Q. What is. You gotta love the thing for the doors, though. That's nice.

00:32:04 John Daub: They're very narrow, aren't they? And they're all different shapes. I like this. Is that a test you do? You'll go in if you can fit in. Now. These are good. This is great for tall people. Yeah, you can get in there. I think you can get it sideways.

00:32:21 Sam: Oh, no, you just go sideways and jello.

00:32:23 John Daub: It says, another members only.

00:32:28 Sam: No photography without a permission. Was it Sanko, Shorthand guy, Foodie cure or foodie call Gumier? Yeah, screw them. I do what I want. Do what I want. I don't have the citizenship yet. I do what I want.

00:32:51 John Daub: Okay. Golden Guy has rules.

00:32:53 Sam: No, no, I mean, honestly, it's just if you're being a. If you're being like a. Try hard and you're like, hi, guys. What's up, boys? Yo, boys, it's your boy. Back here we're shouting out the good stuff. Yeah, it's like. If you're being a tryhard like that, then they're like, shut up. Go away, poser. It's not just a Japanese bar, John. It's an Asian Japanese bar.

00:33:14 John Daub: Yeah, that's pretty weird.

00:33:18 Sam: I forgot if it's this one or this one, but there's actually. This bar is really cool. And they got. They got decent burgers here.

00:33:27 John Daub: Yeah, they do. And they have a skeleton.

00:33:30 Sam: Yeah. Five gallon hamburger. So I forgot the name. Oh, route. Maybe Route 66 is the name of it. But yeah, this place is cool because it's actually two bars. You go on the. The top or the bottom, and then you order food and then you can go upstairs and. And. And then they have like a secret, like, exit that goes out there. Pretty fun. I mean, like again, like, I guess when you're older, you want more of the small experience without the stupid people bothering it and being loud or being too loud.

00:33:59 John Daub: I think that's a. That's what probably Kevin was doing when he came here. He liked his privacy. And also he likes to get to know the owners. I noticed that too. Get to know people. You go back in there.

00:34:09 Sam: Well, you know, it's all about the connections, you know?

00:34:12 John Daub: Absolutely.

00:34:13 Sam: We can walk around here and then walk around the grassy area to get back to that.

00:34:18 John Daub: This is a great alley for restroom. I'm glad they have that sign there. I'm sure people have used the sign. How high can you aim?

00:34:27 Sam: I don't know. It depends on if I did my kegel exercises.

00:34:32 John Daub: So what? I guess you were waking up pretty early then.

00:34:35 Sam: Yeah, I was waking up around like 5, 5:30. But then it got cold in winter and so I just. Like. I've been sleeping in a little bit more, but only the last two weeks just because I've been doing editing jobs.

00:34:48 John Daub: Oh, right. Oh, okay. We can't go to Dead end. Yeah, there's a. There's actually a path that wraps around here. I think that'd be pretty neat. And there's also a. Is that a shrine? That's. That's back here too. I came here with Peter in a live stream before, but I know it's kind of a dead area for luck, for signal. So I'm not sure it's very good there. And you do get a little bit of a lot of the crows in the morning ripping apart the trash. Guess we could just walk back to Champion. We didn't show Champion. Really? Champions. I guess that's the one right in the front that has. I don't know, this might be the most well known one for foreign visitors.

00:35:23 Sam: Well, I mean, it's the first bar that you see and it's got a big sign that says Bar Champion. And then also it's just like, you know, they, they have open karaoke. They're one of the few places in Tokyo that has like open bar karaoke. Like there's none. Like, like if there are, please tell me because that's the only one I know where you can do open karaoke in front of everybody. Even with Corona.

00:35:52 John Daub: This is why I came with Sam. He knows this stuff.

00:35:58 Sam: Come on, John.

00:35:59 John Daub: A lot of stories I don't.

00:36:00 Sam: You're hip.

00:36:02 John Daub: I haven't. I'll be honest with you, I haven't. I've been here maybe five or six times over the 20 years. 20 some years I've been here, I just didn't come here that often. And usually it was with friends. I would be in the other. The other alleys, the other Yoko chooses. But this one wasn't one of them. Yeah, this is too much about Golden Guy.

00:36:21 Sam: Well, I mean, like, that's the cool thing. It's like. It's kind of like its own separate. I wouldn't say as far as like universe, but it's definitely like. Like, if you think about it, it's kind of like a cool, closed off strip mall that like. Like nobody, like everybody, you know, it's not a mall, strip mall. You have to go from the outside. It's like a cool motel 6.

00:36:43 John Daub: Yeah.

00:36:45 Sam: Hi. Hi. But what is it? There's always. Yeah, this is the Bar Champion.

00:36:57 John Daub: Actually, I filmed on the old channel. There's a capsule hotel right over here on the corner. The Shinjuku Koyakushomai Capsule Hotel. So a lot of people who stayed there would be coming here. So I shot the opening scene there. Yeah, this place is always happening. It's a little bit larger than the other places, right?

00:37:16 Sam: No, well, no, you don't go on the second floor. There's nothing there. But this one, it has like two exits, or I mean, entrance and exit. And actually they have another like sister bar right next door. So if this one gets too crowded, you can go to that other one of your buddies. And they like this. And this one you can't sit down. And the other one you can. And look here. This is my favorite thing to do. They know it's cold sitting down on. Yeah.

00:37:41 John Daub: Is that your cardboard?

00:37:42 Sam: Yeah. Well, no, I mean, I found it over There. And I just brought it here when I was waiting for you. And then look, you have, like a fancy. How much is this?

00:37:54 John Daub: What is it? Which. Wait, hold on.

00:37:56 Sam: It's a crystal. Lewis, push here. What is this?

00:38:02 John Daub: It comes in a box like that. I know. It can't be cheap. It's also soundproof. I.

00:38:10 Sam: Here, wait, I gotta take my glove off or something. Like, somebody just left this here. Yeah, it's probably the bottle's gone. But it's just so funny that someone's like, yeah, we just need the bottle.

00:38:19 John Daub: Yeah, Grazi says 20 grand, but that means the box must be worth something too, right?

00:38:28 Sam: It says, luis Roeder champagne, 2013 crystal. How much is this?

00:38:32 John Daub: I don't know anybody. 40,000 yen. Somebody just wrote in.

00:38:35 Sam: Oh, 40. $400.

00:38:37 John Daub: So, yeah, 400 bucks. Yeah. Look at that.

00:38:39 Sam: Somebody just was like, yeah, I'm kind of in the mood for this, but I don't really need the box, so I'm just gonna leave it here.

00:38:46 John Daub: This big fluffy friend might get you into some trouble. Yeah, I'm kind of hoping for that too. But he's. Look, he's a good guy. I. And. Oh, here we go. He's a good guy. And I recommend that you go and watch his channel. It's unfiltered. It's all authentic material. You get on Tokyo Sam's channel. And now you're doing something with gaming too.

00:39:11 Sam: Yeah, so like. Like, up until now, I do, like. I usually did, like a vlog, like, once a week on Sunday where I would go around and just talk to Japanese people. And don't worry, there's. There's, like, subtitles in the videos too, so even if you don't know Japanese, you can watch it. And then, like twice a week, I would get on my motorcycle and go around Tokyo or outside Tokyo, and it's kind of like a motorcycle podcast. I just, like, talk while I'm on my motorcycle. And you get, like, HD, 10, 80p, 60 frames per second. Super highly saturated something. Anyway, that series wasn't popular, so I'm moving it to a separate channel now.

00:39:47 John Daub: People don't care.

00:39:48 Sam: Yeah, Tokyo rants. So I'm moving that to a second channel. And now from next year, what I'm gonna plan on doing is doing more tourist fluff because I want the goddamn views. So I'm doing, like, food, kind of like what he does, except I'm gonna be doing, like, arcade tours, food tours, and definitely a lot more hot chicks in the videos too. Look at this. Look at this. Fucking random Car going through here.

00:40:18 John Daub: So there you go. That's what you're gonna get when you subscribe to Tokyo Sam, who's been one of the first YouTubers, one of the first J vloggers, I guess.

00:40:26 Sam: Yeah, dude, I was doing it before you did it, and you've been doing TV stuff before me.

00:40:31 John Daub: But I mean, you were the originals.

00:40:34 Sam: I. I was the. I was part of the tok. The Tokyo Cooney generation.

00:40:38 John Daub: And that's right. Apple milk.

00:40:40 Sam: Yeah. If we're gonna go to Kabucho, let's cut through here.

00:40:45 John Daub: Now there's a walkway just to point you out, a really nice walkway that you can walk around here. No cars allowed. It continues past Golden Guy and wraps all the way around. So if you do go off road, just note that it wraps around.

00:41:00 Sam: Yeah. What is it? I wanted. I was gonna point out, but this is like, this area. The one thing you would think that you would have to be careful of Japanese people, but actually there's a ton of, like, people from Africa, mostly Ghanins. They used to be Nigerians, but now it's Ghanins that come in here. And they have like this revolving door thing in Japan where it's like, take in mind, not all ganonds are like this in Japan, but there's a certain group of them that like, is connected to certain groups here where basically they get used for illegal stuff and then when they get caught, they just get sent home and then another one comes to replace them.

00:41:34 John Daub: Right.

00:41:34 Sam: And. But they're usually hanging out in this area. So if a African dude comes up and he's acting really nice and cordial, don't talk to him like it's that simple. Just like, just joke around.

00:41:47 John Daub: Here's the Hub.

00:41:49 Sam: That Hub is actually really nice. Yeah, I like, you know, people always like people who have been in Japan for a long time. They like to bash the Hub. But I love the beer that they got at Hub.

00:42:01 John Daub: Yeah, they do have good stuff. This is the. This is the Shinjuku Kyuk show, the Shinjuku ward office for the city of Shinjuku in here to get stuff done. It's funny that they put it in the most, I don't know, notorious area.

00:42:14 Sam: Well, you know, the funny other funny thing is there's a police box right over there. And those police are supposed to be here in case any of those touts from Japan or Africa or whatever tried to take advantage of people. But they won't do anything because Japan is, you know, they don't do anything because actually Cooney told me this, which I still think is true.

00:42:36 John Daub: Wait, is it. Is this where the Koyakushomai Capsule Hotel was? Are they gone?

00:42:42 Sam: I don't know.

00:42:43 John Daub: I thought.

00:42:43 Sam: I never use capsule hotels. I live in one.

00:42:45 John Daub: Yeah, I filmed them once for. For a show, but you heard, a sona. Maybe that's it.

00:42:52 Sam: Sauna. But they.

00:42:55 John Daub: Where is it? I was gonna say out of business.

00:42:59 Sam: The cops don't do anything because they like to isolate those problems to a couple areas around here.

00:43:06 John Daub: So this would be the start of the notorious area, right? Where crime happens.

00:43:11 Sam: Well, like, we're kind of in a buffer zone right now.

00:43:14 John Daub: Yeah.

00:43:14 Sam: So, like, from here to, like, maybe a little bit. Because this is the Kuyak show building, right? Like, see, Shinjuku was, like, kind of stupid. Well, or maybe they did this on purpose. But normally, if you go to, like, a City Ward building, it's just a giant building. But here they split it up into, like, five different buildings for some reason. But I love this building. And the reason why is they have cheap motorcycle parking here.

00:43:44 John Daub: Oh, okay. That'd be really sad if the Capsule Hotel. It says here, right? Koyakusho, my Capsule Hotel. But I didn't see the sign on. On the ground floor. So I wonder if they're still there.

00:43:56 Sam: I think it was there.

00:43:58 John Daub: It's still there.

00:43:59 Sam: Yeah.

00:44:02 John Daub: He'd done a lot of work and money to make it foreigner suitable, because foreigners would come with big suitcases and stuff and kids, can I get a capsule for my kid? And that's not exactly what they are. And they had, like, you know, porn on TV in those capsule hotels. It's made for adults, right?

00:44:19 Sam: I mean, to be fair, it's like, foreigners. Like, again, if you did five seconds of research before you came here. That's the thing I hate about all those new foreigners coming to Japan, John. All those entitled little whiners that are complaining about CORONA shutting down Japan. Me, me, me, me, me. I'm like, okay, look, look. One, you probably didn't learn any Japanese. The whole time you've been whining about wanting to come to Japan, so you did no prep work. Two, if you really want to be in Japan for a long time, who cares if you have to wait another year or two? You're gonna be here a long time. Oh, I only want to be here for a year or two. Then who cares? You want to basically work, vacation, you're whining about that?

00:44:57 John Daub: That's right. We've been here for, like, 10 years or more. So this is our Home.

00:45:02 Sam: Yeah.

00:45:02 John Daub: Stop crying.

00:45:03 Sam: So this is where the fun sketchy area happens.

00:45:07 John Daub: Oh, it's nice.

00:45:08 Sam: But most of these places are closed at night, so. But the funny thing is it's like this area, it's the party area. And then like right here is the government building, you know. Oh, sorry, sorry. Yeah. How you doing? Yeah, but I just love it because it's like official government building. Hookers and drinking and everything right across the street.

00:45:31 John Daub: That's pretty funny. Well, I don't think. It's not that they don't care, right, if bad stuff happens, they do investigate

00:45:39 Sam: it, but no, they don't.

00:45:40 John Daub: Oh, they don't? Really?

00:45:41 Sam: Yeah. Because this is one of the areas where unless you got video proof or something, they won't do it.

00:45:45 John Daub: That's why I got the camera.

00:45:46 Sam: Hey, Murio Joho Khan. It's free information, John. What kind of free information do you think they're given there?

00:45:54 John Daub: I'm not sure, but I'm getting the picture.

00:45:58 Sam: It's free information, John. It's free.

00:46:03 John Daub: Oh, this is where the robot restaurant is.

00:46:06 Sam: Ah, yeah. Are they still in business?

00:46:08 John Daub: I don't think so. Because who's gonna go there? I mean, residents aren't gonna go there. It's a tourist thing.

00:46:15 Sam: Yeah, I remember when they first came, like when that restaurant first had like. What do you call it when they first made it. I went there for an interview to be like one of their domestic salesmen.

00:46:27 John Daub: And that looks like I failed the

00:46:29 Sam: interview because they had me do a test from English to Japanese. I passed the Japanese to English one, but not the Japanese or English to Japanese. Yeah, I did an arcade tour video of this place.

00:46:41 John Daub: Oh really?

00:46:42 Sam: But I haven't released it yet. Those are my hot chick friend from Portugal.

00:46:49 John Daub: I did notice that you get a lot of really nuts. Pretty good looking lady pals there going on pal friends.

00:46:56 Sam: Yeah, don't worry, John, it's strictly platonic. All we do is go to church and hold hands. It's nice.

00:47:06 John Daub: Hey, WX servers in the house. Let's see. Franco358 well, is there. What? Is there a place? Do you want something to eat or drink or something?

00:47:15 Sam: Yeah, let's get some. Some sushi or something or. Well, you know me and my experience of sushi and cameras, but I'm pretty sure they don't care. It's Tokyo Shinjuku. So this is the whole robot. Oh, wow. This is a screen.

00:47:31 John Daub: What is that restaurant here like?

00:47:34 Sam: Dude, they made a whole screen billboard. Wow.

00:47:37 John Daub: Oh yeah, check it out. Well, it's not on now, because I. I don't think they're operating. I don't know.

00:47:42 Sam: It says Mukigen. Oh, no.

00:47:46 John Daub: So they shut down Rewatch kind of permanently.

00:47:50 Sam: Wow.

00:47:51 John Daub: So the robot restaurant. Looks like it. I guess. This is for the robot restaurant?

00:47:54 Sam: Yeah, it says that's 20.

00:47:57 John Daub: 20. 20.

00:48:09 Sam: Was a yoku. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, to be fair, when you put a bunch of like 100 people in a small room, two floors, two stories below the ground, and probably with no ventilation. Yeah. It's not good for.

00:48:24 John Daub: No, it is not.

00:48:25 Sam: But, I mean, this is what Japan should have been, you know?

00:48:28 John Daub: Yeah.

00:48:29 Sam: This is what Japan. Like, what everybody who watched Lost in Translation thought Japan was going to be, you know, and then it's just like.

00:48:35 John Daub: They played in on that and it's not. It wasn't authentic, but it was just. It was a pretty cool experience.

00:48:40 Sam: Oh, no, I. I liked it. I'm just saying I wish that there was more. Why does it only have to be that place?

00:48:44 John Daub: Right?

00:48:45 Sam: Why can't they just, you know, like, really just kind of blow it up, you know?

00:48:49 John Daub: I think we were getting closer to moving towards that because tourism was. Was so such a big growth area for Japan with the population shrinking. Right.

00:49:00 Sam: Hey, John, look, I found your son in 20 years.

00:49:03 John Daub: Hey, Leo. No, I hope he.

00:49:08 Sam: Because he's a handsome boy. He's a handsome boy.

00:49:11 John Daub: Renji. He's an eyebrow plucker.

00:49:15 Sam: Yeah, he's gonna be. Don't worry. He's still hetero. He just, you know, he really is in touch with his feminine side, you

00:49:23 John Daub: know, I don't mind. Leo can be anything that he wants to be.

00:49:27 Sam: No, no, but I'm saying, like. Like, what is it? It's like, son, pick a side. Or you can't be like this. The metrosexuals was my time, okay? You don't get to take my time. You get to. You have to choose sides now. This is. This is America. You're either Biden or Trump. You can't be both. There's no. There's no reasonable.

00:49:46 John Daub: The world is so polarized and. Wow.

00:49:51 Sam: Yeah. This is a sex tool. Sex toy shop. Actually. Don't. Don't film that because that's. You're gonna get in trouble on YouTube. My buddy got banned on YouTube for.

00:50:00 John Daub: I wasn't gonna go in.

00:50:01 Sam: Oh, no. I mean, just for going to the penis festival.

00:50:04 John Daub: Hey, hey, hey, that's. I think that the pee pee.

00:50:07 Sam: Okay.

00:50:07 John Daub: That's an anatomical part of the body. It's okay.

00:50:11 Sam: Hey, John, look. A giant building that wasn't here five years ago.

00:50:15 John Daub: Yeah, I noticed that. And you can see the claws here. I think many of you probably know what this is. Whose hand? Whose claw is that?

00:50:23 Sam: Michael Jackson.

00:50:25 John Daub: He's been reincarnated.

00:50:30 Sam: What is the deal of Krispy Kreme?

00:50:32 John Daub: I don't know. I don't even think they're that popular anymore. You remember when they first came here, like, 12 years ago? There's a line three hours out the door.

00:50:39 Sam: And Cooney was making fun of everybody. But then he still went.

00:50:43 John Daub: Well, we all did.

00:50:44 Sam: We were all like, yeah, I'm not gonna wait there.

00:50:46 John Daub: And then you'd see us right before closing.

00:50:48 Sam: Well, they had Dunkin Donuts before I came here. Apparently

00:50:54 John Daub: they did have a Taco Bell in Nagoya in 98 when I was there. This is Donuts. I don't remember.

00:51:00 Sam: Is this the main road? No, no, it's the second one, the one with the Kabukicho name on it. But.

00:51:06 John Daub: Oh, well, there's the. I love Kabukicho is right here.

00:51:09 Sam: Ah. Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:51:11 John Daub: I love Kabukicho.

00:51:12 Sam: No, I was talking about, like, the one that you see in that. The. The Y game. John doesn't like me saying the Y word.

00:51:19 John Daub: Oh, right.

00:51:20 Sam: Wait, wait. Can I say it? You just can't say it.

00:51:22 John Daub: I think it might be this road here has the most sign. This one's a little bit wider. And this road will take you down, is more narrow, and you get all the signs up and down there. Whoa.

00:51:35 Sam: Nozoki hair. Nice. That's a peaking room.

00:51:39 John Daub: So what is your favorite area of Tokyo? Is it here?

00:51:42 Sam: It's so funny. It's a good question. You ask that, John, because it used to. I don't know. I'm guessing. I want to ask you that too, because it used to be Shibuya, and now it's Shinjuku. And when I first came here, Cooney was like, I hate Shibuya. Shinjuku.

00:51:58 John Daub: He was an Ikebakuro guy.

00:52:00 Sam: Yeah, but I mean, he was still like Shinjuku. But they have.

00:52:07 John Daub: This used to be a big game center and cinema. Right. I guess it's.

00:52:11 Sam: Well, this used to be the Kabuki theater that nobody went to.

00:52:14 John Daub: Right.

00:52:14 Sam: That was boring.

00:52:15 John Daub: Now it's a cafe, hotel, hotel, and massive skyscraper.

00:52:18 Sam: Oh, my God. I still remember the name. Colma Theater. Yeah, this used to be Colma Theater. They smashed it down to make kind of like a food court with a movie theater.

00:52:29 John Daub: Yeah.

00:52:30 Sam: And this used to be Oyoshinoy and all these ghetto places. And then over there I love. Like right. Right when I was coming here, there was a guy who you could pay to box. What? And there was. Yeah, there was like. There's this area over here we can go check out. And there's. It used to be like kind of elevated above the ground. And like it was like this whole area used to be way more dirty and not nice.

00:52:57 John Daub: I remember when I came here to first time I came to Tokyo, 23 years ago, I came here, I was. I felt, wow, really was pretty nasty around here. Rainier, lunch. Thank you.

00:53:07 Sam: Yeah, but there was a guy that you could box. You could pay him 10 bucks and for two minutes. And he was a ex boxer. And for a while like the cops didn't do anything. Actually, if you play the first Ryua Gotoku or the first yakuza game for PlayStation, he's a character in that game.

00:53:22 John Daub: Oh, really?

00:53:23 Sam: Yeah, there were characters.

00:53:25 John Daub: I do remember there are characters back here. Just like. I guess if you're in America and New York, you know about the naked cowboy, like weird fixtures on Times Square. What was it Tokyo had that has those kinds of people here too, too.

00:53:37 Sam: What were the guys names with the. The red berets on their head. Something. Heaven's Angels or Heaven's Gangsters or something.

00:53:43 John Daub: Yeah, the. I forget. They kind of patrolled the streets looking for crime.

00:53:48 Sam: Yeah. Being badass. Doing bad.

00:53:50 John Daub: The cinema's gone. What this used to be.

00:53:53 Sam: No, no, the cinema's here.

00:53:54 John Daub: Massive skyscraper right here.

00:53:55 Sam: Whoa. What?

00:53:58 John Daub: This used to be like an old school movie theater and now it's just. It's a cinema. And this used to be be a game center that's still there, but I think it was a SEGA World. Lots of game. Panic Crane games or something. That's pretty interesting. I did not know that. This square has changed a lot. This is the dirtiest, scariest square. 23 years ago when I first came to Japan.

00:54:20 Sam: I want to know what's with the group over there. I'm gonna go ask him. What's going on?

00:54:24 John Daub: There's a group of foreign expats, but it's. It's interesting.

00:54:27 Sam: Hi guys. Is this. Is this Tokyo Pub Crawler? So what's. What's the event? I. I was just curious.

00:54:33 John Daub: I guess the cinema moved.

00:54:36 Sam: Okay.

00:54:37 John Daub: One of our co workers is fighting.

00:54:40 Sam: Oh, oh. He's doing the boxing match. Oh, okay. Okay. Oh, I was just. Okay, that's cool. I was just like. I was like, wow. Because my friend does the Tokyo Pub Crawl in Roppongi. But I didn't I was wondering if he maybe moved to Shinjuku. So they saw everybody's still drinking. I was like, okay, cool, cool. Oh, yeah, Come on, guys, you know, step up the game. Come on, man. Okay. Oh, cool. I'll have a good one, guys.

00:55:09 John Daub: Oh, don't eat that. No dog. That dog should not be eating that.

00:55:13 Sam: No, no, John, John, that's.

00:55:15 John Daub: Oh my gosh.

00:55:16 Sam: John, the children. Think of the children. Think of the click baiting loving children.

00:55:21 John Daub: Why would the. He's letting the dog lick it. Oh, God. Okay, just keep. I got literally eating vomit. I gotta. Sam, I actually have to get back. I just got a message from Kanai.

00:55:30 Sam: Okay.

00:55:33 John Daub: Leo's. Little Leo's got a fever of 39 degrees, which is like 102.

00:55:37 Sam: Yeah.

00:55:37 John Daub: So I gotta get back to. Get back to that. She needs me. Thank you so much for the tour. Yeah, actually I don't know anybody else that I could have come here with except for maybe Tokyo Kuni. That could give us a kind of insight.

00:55:49 Sam: Yeah, well, you know, I do what I can. By the way, those guys, they. Apparently there's a boxing event area around here. They're all the Air Force and their buddy came to fight somebody like in an official boxing match and that's why they were all hanging out here.

00:56:00 John Daub: Holy moly.

00:56:01 Sam: That's cool. But what is it? Yeah, yeah. John, thanks for having me around. You know, like, thanks for hanging out. We got to come back and do a part two at night time.

00:56:10 John Daub: What do you guys think? Click the thumbs up button. If we get a thousand, fifteen hundred likes, I'll come back here right away and it's everything's on me.

00:56:17 Sam: Yeah. And don't forget to go and click on that link down below. That takes you to Tico Sam's YouTube channel and subscribe and same username on all the platforms and stuff. I mean, that is if you, if you like me, like, like John likes me. I like him as a friend chronically supporting on YouTube as a co worker.

00:56:36 John Daub: I could talk all day with him. We have so many stories. We could talk for weeks. We could be in quarantine together and come out having a lot of fun.

00:56:45 Sam: Yep.

00:56:47 John Daub: All right, well, thanks so much, Sam. And if you have any questions, you can leave a comment below, check out his channel. Make sure you subscribe. Do you have your old content from when you first started still on there?

00:56:56 Sam: Yeah, yeah. If you just go to the videos and type in or like click the view from oldest. Yeah, a lot of them are still there, so. Wow. Yeah, you guys can see videos from 15 years ago of Baby Sam. Yeah. But now. This is really fun. John, thanks so much, man.

00:57:10 John Daub: Yeah, you're welcome. There you are. Thanks so much.

00:57:13 Sam: Yeah.

00:57:13 John Daub: See you. Next. Oh, there you go. Oh, there's the pose.

00:57:16 Sam: Oh.