00:02:00 John Daub: How you doing everybody? Welcome to Shinagawa. This is the Akita store here, the Akita Bisaikan. It's a great place because if you can't get to Akita Prefecture—like I can't right now because we're in the middle of a pandemic—you can come here. There's a lot of really unique foods, natsukashi (nostalgic) for Akita Prefecture. It's about two minutes from Shinagawa Station. It's snowing here in Tokyo and freezing, so I'm going to get a little bit of a look at the food.

00:32:00 John Daub: I'm going to get inside really quickly and we're going to get some really delicious foods. After this live stream, I'm going over to a restaurant in Ginza. Right there is the website—I put the link in the description so you can check it out. That's a Namahage (demonic ogre figure), which happens in the winter. Let's go inside—it's cold. Oh, they got sake. That ball means they have fresh sake.

01:05:00 John Daub: Right off the bat, I can see kiritanpo (grilled rice sticks), a very regional food for Akita Prefecture—quite famous there. They eat this more in the north of Akita than the south, where they eat more noodles. In the north, more rice. All this seems to be ingredients for kiritanpo—gosh, it's such a delicious soup. I'm going to be eating this at a restaurant right after this live stream, and uploading this video in about 12 hours. So you're going to see all these foods getting devoured at the Akita restaurant really soon. I wanted to go up to Akita, but it just wasn't possible.

01:43:00 John Daub: This is interesting—this is chicken-based soup, apparently. They have two different kinds—I'm not sure what's different. For four to five people, the price is a little bit different: this is about $10, and that's about $13. It has all the ingredients you need inside this box to make your own kiritanpo, this amazing soup made from Komachi rice grown up there in Akita.

02:56:00 John Daub: Oh, this is the best ever—you gotta get this if you ever come to Japan. This is iburigakko (smoked pickled daikon). It's a Japanese radish that's been pickled and smoked. It's got such a strong pleasant taste like smoked cheese, but instead of cheese, it's got a crunch to it—and that's what makes it so awesome. Perfect with wine or sake—of course sake, because it's so famous up in the north in Akita. There's different kinds of packs from different regions of Akita. Oh, look at this—this is the ultimate: iburigakko cheese. My gosh—they put this crunchy smoked daikon in cheese. This is the ultimate. I'm going to have to get this. You're coming with me—these iburigakko are the greatest side snacks ever.

04:30:00 John Daub: This is kabutomushi (beetle-shaped chocolate). This is real chocolate shaped like a beetle—silkworm. They look pretty real, don't they? So I'm going to take one of these too—we're going to try this. I'm going to get some of this iburigakko cheese to take home. All right, let's see what else we got. We got different kinds of senbei (rice crackers). The great thing about these regional prefectural stores—they have them all over Tokyo. It's like you're eating like the countryside. There's a feeling to it that you don't get at normal supermarkets here.

05:43:00 John Daub: This is hoshimochi (dried mochi)—you can eat it like this, but it's probably better grilled or pan-fried. Again, a really local special—you can see the kamakura (snow igloos) on there. So it's from the north part of Akita. I wanted to go this year to the Yokote Snow Festival, held on the 22nd of February, but because of the pandemic, I couldn't go.

06:16:00 John Daub: Oh, does anybody know what that statue is? It says here Shibuya Station—this is Hachiko, an Akita inu breed of dog. That statue is in Shibuya, but there's two of them—the other is in Odate, Akita. I was there in a live stream on this channel like three or four years ago. They also have very famous edamame snacks—about $8. Again, the Akita inu is very famous because Akita is such a cold, snowy place—these dogs need a lot of fur. That's what Hachiko was. We got some ramen here—sorry, I made a mistake—it's udon. All different kinds of noodles. Akita is a rice country—you know, Komachi rice is very famous there—but it's also udon, soba. This is butter mochi.

07:49:00 John Daub: I'm going to get vegetables from Akita. All these are fresh vegetables that come from Akita from the north—which probably has better farms than we have in Tokyo. You can get these fresh, take them home for your family—you know you're getting really good stuff. These are quite popular. A lot of people who come to the store are from Akita Prefecture—they're nostalgic, they miss home, they can't get home. They want to come here, get some kiritanpo, make it at home. But if you're going home back to the United States or Australia and you want something regional, you can stop here before Haneda Airport—you can get a lot of really good stuff.

09:36:00 John Daub: They have nicely made bento boxes—made from wood. A little expensive—about $100 for this—but these things last a lifetime, you use them over and over. Nice to see some cool products. They also have sake glasses. Let me turn to the booze—this is the part I like. Look at these regional beers—this is Tazawako. Tazawako is the lake in the middle of Akita—I was live streaming there about two years ago. They make their beer up there. That's a nasty-looking Namahage—he looks more evil than normal, like a real Namahage. I bet that beer's got a kick—about $5, normal for local craft beer. We also have Namahage cider—sawa, a sour with 20% apple juice.

11:35:00 John Daub: Sake from the north and west in Japan—every prefecture is proud of it, Akita no exception. All of this is brought up from Akita. You can get a bottle of sake right here—some good Junmai Daiginjo, Daiginjo from local breweries. I guess you gotta go up to Akita to get the full scope, but there's a good selection. I don't know Akita sake so well—whenever you're in Japan and have a question, ask those ladies over there—they know everything about the stuff in this store.

12:40:00 John Daub: I'm going to the restaurant in Ginza—and you know who's meeting me there? Ruth Jarman. They're going to put on a show. I was supposed to go to Akita to film an episode up there, and I felt really bad we can't do it because of the pandemic—the Yokote Snow Festival got cancelled. So the closest thing is this satellite store, where you get some of the feeling of Akita that I can't feel right now. That's the Akita shop here in Shinagawa—I put a link in the description. If you want to get your Akita on, just come out here. They also have a restaurant—they serve kiritanpo. You don't need a reservation, but if it's free you can jump right in. If you call ahead when it's busy, especially with a lot of people—very cool.

14:20:00 John Daub: I'm going to try this kabutomushi chocolate before we end the live stream. This is a silkworm—it looks pretty darn real. I thought I would try one—see if I'm grossed out, but I'm not because it looks too good. I'd eat it if it was a real worm too—it's got a lot of vitamins, I think. It's for science—a scientific experiment. I've got a silkworm made out of chocolate. Because I can't come here and not try something. Gunma Prefecture is also famous for silkworms—I did an episode on that—but Akita apparently is too. Itadakimasu. This is really good—oh, that's some good chocolate. It's got kind of a fruity taste, white chocolate around dark chocolate, some rice crunch—and that might be the Komachi rice famous in Akita.

17:00:00 John Daub: This is the Akita Bisaikan—and yeah, it's kind of neat to see all the different prefectural stores in Tokyo. I'm going right now to the restaurant for dinner, but I thought I'd share this experience because I love Akita and I love food—and I'm hungry as heck. This is in Shinagawa, everybody. If you have questions, leave a comment below—there's a map in the description. I'll see you in about 12 hours in an uploaded video from the restaurant as we dance and eat—should be a lot of fun. You're going to see Ruth again—she's looking forward to seeing you guys too. She's pretty crazy in a good way. See you everybody. Wow, there's a lot of customers coming in—the hours are from 11 to 11. I wish they'd open earlier—you know, going to work, you want to stop in and get some kiritanpo? Power up. See you everybody.