00:00:04 John Daub: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the heart of Tokyo. That building that you see in front of me is nearing completion. I'm kind of shocked. This is off of my radar. It is actually right now higher than Tokyo Tower, they said. And this is the tallest building in Japan. At least it will be when it's finished in 2023, but it looks pretty close to finished. It's a beautiful building. Japan typically doesn't have a lot of tall skyscrapers. How you doing, everybody?

00:00:45 John Daub: I'm actually in the area for a luncheon that I was lucky enough to get to. I don't know if I could even talk about it. I got the chance to meet or at least see the ambassador to the US, which is pretty cool.

00:01:05 John Daub: This is the Azabudai (あざぶ台) area. Well, this sign's not right there. But I wanted to bring you here because it says Azabudai. Boom. That's the name of this neighborhood. And it is such a luxurious, elite neighborhood in the center of Tokyo. Very close to Roppongi. Actually, across the street from the Russian embassy is this building. So they got a good view into the compound.

00:01:35 John Daub: And I'm going to take you to walk around this building. When this is done, it's going to be extremely beautiful. The entire area is going to be green. At least they say. There's a link in the description to the literature from Mori Building Company. Really well done English site on their plans. And you can see right now it is still under construction but nearing completion because we're just about a year away. And they're on schedule.

00:02:15 John Daub: I think they kind of have to be because I'm going to pan up here once more. The top floors are luxury apartments. And I was looking at how much they possibly could cost. Several billion yen for an apartment. This is to buy it, of course. And I guess that they're aiming for the elite, the richest of the rich. If I had that kind of money, I probably would live there too.

00:02:45 John Daub: Now if I take one side step out, you can see Tokyo Tower is right there. This building is taller than Tokyo Tower, which was one of the tallest buildings. Now Tokyo Skytree is a tower. Tokyo Tower is considered a building apparently in the list that I saw, which is weird. But this building is taller than that tower, which is pretty amazing. I don't know if I'd want to live here though. In an earthquake, it's going to be shaky shaky.

00:03:20 John Daub: I've seen, I kind of fit in today. I'm wearing a necktie. I have my Japan America pin on right there. So I kind of fit in today, maybe. So in light of partnership with our beautiful friends Japan, as me being an American, I'm going to take you around this area and show you a little bit of this Azabudai area and show you what it looks like right now because everything is about to change for good.

00:03:55 John Daub: That looks like it's a school there. I know they're going to be putting in an international school in the area and I'm guessing that it's going to be way too much for little Leo to be a part of it. Oh, the last time I was here, I was working with DHC, which is a cosmetics company. This is their head office, which you'd think would be a little bit bigger, but they certainly got prime real estate.

00:04:25 John Daub: Wow. Even that bakery looks expensive and rich. Rich with butter. Wow. Very nice. All right, we're gonna go around here.

00:04:40 John Daub: I know that there's a lot of embassies including the Russian embassy so I'm a little bit nervous to be around here. There's actually a Ferrari shop right there so you can get a Ferrari and drive around if you wanted to from that shop. Do they do test drives? That would be really cool. As you saw they did, we've seen a lot of Ferraris going around here already. You see them in Ginza all the time. Weather is awful, it's rainy, it's cold.

00:05:15 John Daub: Wow, please one day. It's so tall. You don't see buildings this tall in Tokyo. All right let's cut across the street here.

00:05:30 John Daub: Hey Chan's in the house. I can't hang out today but I have an important question. What do you have on your waffles? Bacon and syrup?

00:05:45 John Daub: Oh look at the little doggie. He's getting a haircut and that haircut probably cost more than my haircut because I paid ten dollars for mine. That is a luxury dog haircut in place. Oh my gosh that looks so nice. Dog grooming. That's right, I'd like to be groomed. Even when I was a groom I wasn't that well groomed.

00:06:15 John Daub: All right let's walk around the area here hopefully the signal lasts. Michael Sasada's in the house. Now if we walk this way and I'm gonna circle back around and walk this direction if the weather doesn't get worse and take you towards Roppongi because I think it would be pretty cool to get a better view of this building from afar and from Roppongi you probably have a better view and there's also a burrito place and I'm gonna get a burrito to take home because they're really good.

00:06:55 John Daub: Now the apartments are going to be run by the hotel group that does Aman Resorts and the Aman hotel is one of the best in the city of Tokyo. It is incredible. They have a hotel in the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. It's like a thousand dollars a night. I took Kanae there for our anniversary lunch inside the Aman hotel. You could eat really nice cakes and tea type of a thing. So I know it's a nice hotel and the apartments are going to be run by them so you're going to of course get the best of the best inside of them.

00:07:45 John Daub: And I'm going to call them and see if I can get a tour of some of these apartments before they sell them just to see what is it like in the lap of luxury. These apartments are going to be several billion yen so yeah I think YouTubers are going to want to cover this stuff. I'm licking my lips out of excitement.

00:08:15 John Daub: All right I'm walking down this tube here and you can see this is how we got to go through around the building because of the construction zone. It's a massive area that they have under construction and you can see up here they're really doing a lot of work. I have not seen this many cranes before. Look at them all. Wow that's a lot of construction. I'm glad I came around this direction.

00:08:50 John Daub: Whoa all right he's moving me through I guess you're not allowed to film for a long time. Wow there's Tokyo Tower in the distance. Check that out that's an incredible shot.

00:09:10 John Daub: Whoa this neighborhood is changing so fast. I can't remember what it was before here. There you got a view of the tallest building in Japan and Tokyo Tower right now and probably in a few months it's taller than Tokyo Tower right now. The structure I believe is just recently became the tallest building in Japan. That's what Google review said. Somebody works in there already are the offices. Some of them offices might be done. A Google reviewer said that his office is inside that building already so maybe some offices are functional.

00:09:55 John Daub: The building apparently says 330 meters but maybe a bit higher than that. What I thought was really unique about this building and is that it's more than just this building. It's this whole area is going to be renovated and they're going to make it really nice like a park but a lot of low-lying buildings. It is a behemoth of an architectural project. It's awesome and I'm seeing this all around the city of Tokyo.

00:10:35 John Daub: We're going to have another massive construction project in front of Tokyo Station. I'm shouting because it's just loud so I apologize I can't even hear myself if I don't shout right next to the road. The Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station is being completely redone. Shibuya Station has been redone and that's almost finished. We're getting close to the completion. This will be completed in 2023 next year so it seems like the timing of the projects around Tokyo couldn't have been any better as tourism starts to open. This city is going to blow you away.

00:11:25 John Daub: So for those that are waiting until 2023 you're just not going to be able to recognize the city of Tokyo I don't think. It's just going to be completely changed. Wow all right let's walk around a little bit more. I'm going to come back this direction to walk towards unless it starts to rain really crazily then I might stop for a bit so let's go to the end of the corner here.

00:11:55 John Daub: I asked him when's it going to be completed. He goes I got no idea. I guess the people that are working as security guards they just like to stand here. I feel bad because they're also standing in the rain. Wow fascinating. You can see this the construction is very all-encompassing. It's just everything this whole block.

00:12:30 John Daub: Let's make a right here walk around in this direction perhaps we'll see something interesting and you can see in this direction that's I guess Roppongi Ichome. This is a very urban central area of the city of Tokyo. Those that have the money to live in apartment complexes like this you can't live more centered than this. Again, this is where all the embassies are. On the other side of this building is the Russian Federation, the Russian Embassy.

00:13:10 John Daub: And you know what's really funny? So I had this event that I had to go to at the Tokyo American Club. Oh, this is an embassy here. Hold on a second. I don't think it's good to be... Oh, this is the embassy of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia. See, there's like a sword and a palm tree. That's kind of cool.

00:13:45 John Daub: All right, let me get out of the way because I know it's sensitive to film around embassies here. Yeah, you have to be really rich in order to live in one of these apartments here. The rent is extravagant. Like, I can't even... Billions of yen to buy it. Forget millions. A billion yen. It's at like $10 million or something. Same with these apartments here. They're all going to be really high-priced stuff. In the shadow of the tallest building in Japan.

00:14:30 John Daub: Yeah, Wayne, thankfully we're in Japan, but I'm probably not going to step foot into the embassy. I don't know. That's an apartment complex there. I can't imagine. How could you have the money to live there? Gosh, I wish I... Please, if you're watching this and you see me outside in the rain, invite me in for a cup of tea. I'm cold. Just put that out there.

00:15:05 John Daub: All right, going to take a right here and we can take a look at another area of this construction zone. Now, they said... On the website, I put a link in the description. This area is going to have a lot of small buildings around here, too, to make it look like a village from the Edo period. So I'm guessing that this is going to be a super pretty building complex area.

00:15:45 John Daub: And when it opens up in 2023, you can be sure that I'll be here. And then we'll look back on this and take a look at the massive project that they had to do to get this beautiful place up and running. Here we are on the other side of the building. I'm not sure what this building is next to it. This also might be a residential place. Tokyo Tower, again, is right there. And the Russian embassy is over there, too.

00:16:30 John Daub: That's kind of... Didn't Peter and I ride on a motorcycle through here not too long ago? And I'm surprised we didn't even mention this building. And this is some sort of temple here. So after we walk down here for another 50 meters or so, I'm going to turn to the right and you can see the building from another angle. But the project is just massive, even from here. Check this out. Wow, look at all the cranes. Mega Man Joe.

00:17:15 John Daub: Yes, they are making another tower. The technology... And I was reading some of the literature as well in the link that I put in there. This building, the construction of it was very dependent on the technology and the new materials, the carbon-based materials that they could use. And it's construction to be able to make such tall buildings in an earthquake-prone zone like this. The materials that they had just wasn't good enough to do it the traditional way that they would make skyscrapers.

00:18:00 John Daub: So with the advent of new technologies, new materials for construction, they're able to make taller buildings. And Japan being the second or third richest economy in the world, you'd think that there'd be more skyscrapers here, but there aren't. Mostly because of the earthquakes and the inability to make tall buildings.

00:18:35 John Daub: And when you see something like this, this is taller than the Abeno Harukas in Osaka, which was the tallest building in Japan. This is taller now. So this is taller than Tokyo Tower, which you can see right underneath this tree behind the crane. Look at that. The crane is obstructing the Tokyo Tower. There you go.

00:19:15 John Daub: I thought this is super funny that they made it the same height and just higher than Tokyo Tower to become the tallest building. Look at that. The clouds are starting to go past it. It's so high. Yeah, they started the construction on this in 2019. So it's gone up pretty fast. I wish I had a wide-angle lens.

00:19:55 John Daub: I don't know if there's going to be an observation deck here as well. It's supposed to be luxury apartment complexes, but I can't see why they wouldn't. I think they're going to put a lot of money in the Japan Cells building, put in an observation deck somewhere so that they can charge people $50 to go and check out Japan's tallest building.

00:20:35 John Daub: And I'm looking at Tokyo Tower. It's not that tall compared to this. The observation deck for Tokyo Tower's highest deck is 250 meters up, I believe. And this building dwarfs that. So this is higher than you would see from the observation deck Tokyo Tower. In fact, this building probably blocks the view of Tokyo Tower.

00:21:15 John Daub: This is why buildings like the... Oh wow, that was pretty industrial looking. Wow, massive construction elevator there. Buildings like the Nakagin Capsule Tower has to come down to make way for progress. And buildings that are earthquake-proof like this. And it's sad to see the old buildings go, but seeing projects like this makes me pretty happy.

00:21:55 John Daub: I guess there's something else. This project actually wraps all the way down to here? What? If you guys want to see more content like this, don't forget to click that like button. I appreciate it very much. It encourages me to walk around these new areas, developing areas around the city of Tokyo.

00:22:40 John Daub: So when you come here, you get a better idea of what it was like before. All these live streams are like... I like to think it has some sort of historical value as well. Because even NHK used some of my video of Shibuya Station walking around it live from years and years ago. History must be preserved in 720p sadly.

00:23:20 John Daub: Look over there, there's another building! How does Japan have the money for the construction? This is crazy.

00:23:35 John Daub: Alright, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about what I just heard from the presentation that I went to. But a lot of it was just political. And the one powerful person said something... A lot of it has to do with investment. And we all know that Prime Minister Kishida in London made a speech. And he said, invest in Kishida.

00:24:20 John Daub: Which I think is a really good thing to hear. Because Japan is very stable. And in the speech that I just heard, there was a question about the falling of the yen's value. And how the dollar equals 130 yen. And what impact that's going to play. And the geopolitical issues of today.

00:24:55 John Daub: And I'm not going to tell you who it was, but it could have been the ambassador. And he said, look, would you want to invest in Belarus? In Russia? Would you want to invest in Hong Kong right now? The answer is no. Because it's so unstable.

00:25:30 John Daub: Well, you wouldn't want to put a business there. Because you wouldn't want to grow there. But Japan's been closed for two years. And this has been a hindrance to growth. And we think that, at least everybody in the room, that Japan's going to open up a lot quicker. I think so too.

00:26:05 John Daub: Because if you're going to grow a business, you're going to want to do it in a country that's stable and open. And Japan is going to be that country. It's just not right now. But it's going to be. And that's exciting.

00:26:35 John Daub: I don't know if they're tearing it down or building it. Now, look at that. Wow. All right, let's walk back the way we came. I don't think I'm going to be able to go all the way to Roppongi with this livestream. It's just too wet. I'm freezing.

00:27:00 John Daub: Okay, we're going to go back to the way we came and get one more last look around the neighborhood. And I'll take some of your questions here. The name of the building, Jun, is not determined yet. They haven't named it. But this is the Azabudai neighborhood between Toranomon and Azabudai.

00:27:40 John Daub: So it's unofficially named the Azabudai Toranomon Building Project or something like this. We're not quite sure. Do you have any name suggestions? If you do, let me know. I'd like to hear it. Something more exciting than Toranomon Azabudai Project.

00:28:20 John Daub: Again, I believe it's the 40th to the 56th floors are going to be luxury apartments that cost several billion yen. They're available. So if you've got several billion yen to buy a complex, this is probably the best address you could ever have.

00:28:55 John Daub: This isn't my streaming wardrobe. This is my... I went to lunch at a really snazzy event outfit. Wow, look at that from up here. I'm wearing the pants for my wedding. You can recycle clothes. All the only things that I have that still fit me are stuff from when I was getting married. So I might have recycled some of my wardrobe. Got a lot of sweatpants, lots of T-shirts. I have many hoodies. Not a lot of dressy stuff.

00:29:45 John Daub: Thank you, UFO Bob. There is Roppongi Hills. Do you see that in the center of your screen beyond the cranes? Roppongi Hills for a very long time was a very large structure in Tokyo. You could see it from all over.

00:30:20 John Daub: But in the next 10 years, it's going to be dwarfed by a lot of these towers. So it's going to be funny to me as somebody who used to be able to look up and you'd see Roppongi Hills and go, wow, that's massive. Now you're not going to be able to... Well, there's trees that are blocking us. But you're not going to be able to see Roppongi Hills as well because the other tower is twice as high blocking it. And that's pretty freaking awesome.

00:31:05 John Daub: The city I live in and call home right now is on the move. And maybe in the next 10 years, we'll have one of the tallest buildings in the world here. Japanese architects are really good. A lot of them have had their hands in some of the world's tallest buildings, I've heard, in some of the designs.

00:31:45 John Daub: But you can't build it in Japan because of the earthquakes that we have. And we're expected to have a really big earthquake in the future. So that's something that's going to keep the buildings lower until recently with the construction and the technology, the construction of the buildings, things that keep these buildings safe even in the worst of earthquakes.

00:32:35 John Daub: That's something that they always focus on here in Japan. So any apartment that you live in in Tokyo, these are probably apartments that survived the great Tohoku earthquake that had a very strong shake here in Tokyo too. So that says a lot about Japan's safety record with buildings in natural disasters.

00:33:20 John Daub: Let's take a look here. I'm going to go past the Saudi Arabian embassy again. Just to kind of keep it low profile. Man holding camera. Japanese don't need visas to go to Saudi Arabia. And Kanae said that she would like to go one of these days. So came out of left field. I said, yeah, why not? Maybe.

00:34:00 John Daub: Keep a low profile with a tie. In this neighborhood, that's how you would do it, okay? If you're wearing a hoodie in this neighborhood, that's not low profile. That's a profile.

00:34:25 John Daub: So we're going to go next, take a left here and walk around the building. I thought it was really interesting when I was eating lunch today that... All right, we're past the embassy. There's an officer there. I don't want to make any trouble.

00:34:55 John Daub: I thought it was interesting that the American Club, which is an old building, and I was with the American Chamber of Commerce. They have a very long history, too, in Japan after World War II. Very long and interesting history here in Japan.

00:35:30 John Daub: But if you look on the map that I put the link to, very close to here is the American Club, which is a very prestigious club. A lot of people have meetings here. Very famous, important people give speeches here. It's connected or right next to the Russian embassy.

00:36:10 John Daub: And to me, it seems like almost hilarious that this was built during the Cold War. The embassy and the American Club meters next to one another. That's perestroika, maybe. I don't know what you call it. Love and peace. Maybe perhaps we can find some peace somewhere. In humor. I don't know.

00:36:55 John Daub: But it's just... I'm smiling the whole time thinking that the Russian embassy is on the other side of this wall. And there's all these Americans, including people from the American embassy. So, interesting.

00:37:30 John Daub: Japan's tallest building is Tokyo Tower. All right. Right, like a spy versus spy comic strip. It's very comical to have the embassy. Like, for me, I'm just biting my tongue. I don't know if I want to say anything about it.

00:38:05 John Daub: But there it is. There's Japan's tallest building, folks. And below that is Tokyo Tower in the distance. That's pretty funny.

00:38:25 John Daub: All right. So if you have any questions, you can leave me a comment below. I'm always happy to hear from you. I'll try to do another livestream tomorrow. But I really wanted to share with you a little bit of this because I'm walking by it today.

00:38:55 John Daub: Now I've got to go home, get warmed, have a really big hot cup of coffee or cocoa, and get back to editing the next video. Take care, everybody. I'll be back here later in the year, maybe, or when it gets closer to completion. Because it'll be interesting to see how it's changed this construction zone to a park. That's what they're promising. It's going to look like this. Bye-bye.