00:01 John Daub: Welcome to Tokyo Station. This is Yaesu Central Entrance to Tokyo Station. And inside here, they have this really unique display that's not going to be here for very long. Some of these things come here for a few days and then they're gone, magically, quickly disappearing. So I thought I would do this live stream to catch it because the book that was written on it—it's a Japanese novel called Bullet Train. And it's kind of interesting that Hollywood has adapted it. There it is through the window. In this episode, we're going to go in there and just take a quick look around.

00:35 John Daub: How you doing, everybody? I was just here not that long ago, yesterday, and I saw this. I was like, wait. Alright, today's a rainy day. You can see it's kind of crappy outside. So I switched it up, took a break from editing, and I've come out here. And believe it or not, even though this movie has already been playing in the U.S. for a couple of months, it doesn't start here until September 1st. If you have any questions, I guess there's other places we can see memorabilia. That's kind of cool. Like the movie set is here. Oh, that's Brad Pitt's outfit over there. Wow.

01:22 John Daub: Even though this is called Bullet Train, you think in Japanese they might call it Shinkansen? The reality is that they don't. They call it Bullet Train. And I don't know if that's because of an issue with JR, the use of the Shinkansen. I don't know if that's possible to do, if there's an issue about it, but you can take a look here. The movie posters are now out in Tokyo, and it's kind of cool to see that. Has anybody seen the movie? What did you think of it?

01:51 John Daub: I guess if you're going to ride the Bullet Train, you might as well get a picture sitting on the Bullet Train seat. But those aren't the same seats as on the Shinkansen. They're completely different. I don't even know if they're the ones in the movie. But it's kind of cool to sit in the same position that... I don't know, the same seat that might have been used. You can get a picture here. Should I get a picture? I guess I can get a picture. I'll come back and get the picture because I have a video camera.

02:42 John Daub: This is kind of cool. There's some information here from JR Central Japan Railway Company about the movie. You can get an original smartphone stand. That's kind of neat, to 2,000 people. There's lots of different presents and stuff. I guess there's the QR code if you want to scan that. I guess that's the Hayate that's from the book, right? They have this different Shinkansen train. They couldn't do it the same way.

03:10 John Daub: I have to be honest. Let's take a look at the display here. In my video animated opening, I had copyright issues with the design of the train in my animated opening. I had to make sure that DR Studio, Stagio, which is the animators of my YouTube opening, made the train different enough so it wasn't exactly like the Shinkansen. I think they did a pretty good job. I actually had Japan Rail check it out just to confirm that it was different enough. They said it was okay. It's different enough. That was a relief because you don't want to have a copyright issue with Japan Rail.

03:52 John Daub: There's the movie poster. Bullet Train. That's what it says. Brad Pitt. It's kind of cool. Looks pretty tough. That's so cool. Check out the train seats. They kind of look a little flimsy. Wow. And it's right behind the Shinkansen. There's the entrance to the Shinkansen that you would probably use to get on the train that might have been in the movie. This is the Tokaido Shinkansen that goes towards Kyoto and Osaka.

04:51 John Daub: Hey, Brandani is here. Thank you. I might just get a ticket and... I can get a platform ticket and if we get enough likes I might take you to the Shinkansen platform. I guess it's on the Yaesu side, first floor. Maybe they change it. So these seats are going to be here on display. It looks like it's going to be here until October 10th. Wow. So it just kind of started the promotion for the movie.

05:25 John Daub: That's the real Mount Fuji apparently. But nothing else in the movie seems like it was going to... it's real. Skytree is real. That's kind of cool that the Skytree is in the poster. And of course they've got Japanese mascots. I think it's more of a comedy. Like an action comedy. But one of the reasons why it doesn't start until September 1st is because Hollywood movies have to book way in advance to get the theaters. Sometimes they can't do that. Sometimes the Hollywood movies can't book in advance. So what's left over is a date that's very inconvenient. So they have to book further in advance than their budgets allow for the promotions. That's sort of what happens for most of them. That's what I've been told by some ad executives as well.

06:29 John Daub: I saw this in the US and the movie was awesome. It's just kind of cool that it's here in Tokyo Station, where the Shinkansen actually is. So there you go. That's the display from Tokyo Station for the movie. I hope you enjoyed it. It's a Sunday so there's not that many people roaming around as usual. Usually people are returning home from taking trips out. But because vacation just ended here in Tokyo, not a lot of people are going out this weekend. And the weather also kind of deciding that for me. I didn't really want to travel too far away.

07:25 John Daub: By the way, everybody... Hey, Aloha Craig! Everybody's trying to correct me for my pronunciation... Well, a dozen people trying to correct me for my pronunciation of Asakusa. That's how they announce it on the Tokyo Metro. But they never correct me when I say Tokyo. So I don't understand how the word snobs want me to say words in the way that they think it's correct. Like foreigners want me to say words in the way that they think it's correct. But they won't correct the other things. Just the word Asakusa. This seems to drive some people so mad that I'm just going to keep saying it the way I want to say it. The way that it's announced on Tokyo Metro. Next stop, Asakusa. So take that. If you want to, go ahead and correct every single foreigner when they say Tokyo. It's actually Tōkyō. You never correct me when I say that, do you, trolls? So, suck it. That's how you tell them off. You want to be consistent? You better pick up every single Japanese word. So just stop picking on Asakusa. Asakusa. Alright? Take that.

08:31 John Daub: It's a cool afternoon. Here we got Mukund already telling, it's technically not incorrect. That's true. It's phonetically correct. It's kind of cool to see the displays through the windows of the station. So in a hundred years when this becomes a classic Hollywood film, this might be worth something. When Hollywood pictures come to Japan and make a video on it.

09:10 John Daub: Why do they do that though? If anyone watched the movie, I don't think that the movie really follows the book. I think it's more made for Hollywood. I don't get anything wrong with that. I think it's just cool that the concept was taken and turned into a movie and now it's coming here to Japan. So I'm certainly going to go and see it. But like I always wonder why Hollywood wants to ruin it and Americanize non-American culture so it's palatable for the audience. The audience is a little bit more sophisticated. Japan is no longer this weird place. It's now a place that, you know, almost 40 million tourists come here. 35 million tourists came here in 2019. So it's a pretty big deal. People know more about Japan. You don't have to fake it. You don't have to force it. People get it. At least on this channel.

10:12 John Daub: The movie did pretty well. And it's exciting that it's coming here. And in the end, I don't really care about the inconsistencies. I'm just a little bit curious about how Japan gets so messed up in the Hollywood translations of everything. You look in through the door. It's kind of cool. You see the buzz of Tokyo Station from a distance. All these people were in an action movie. Hey, there's a tour group! Are these foreigners? Should I wave to them? They look Japanese to me. You could tell if they were other Asian tour groups by the shoes sometimes. Welcome to Japan. Just having fun.

11:19 John Daub: Thanks everybody for watching. It's the last day to get a postcard. This is Furano from the Patreon. This is the August postcard. That's a volcano steaming and the beautiful lavender of Furano. That's this month's postcard. And it'll change coming in September 1st. So you got a couple of days to get that one. Boy Scout stamps. 100th anniversary. Celebrated here in Tokyo this month. And, gosh, what else is going on? I got the video release coming soon. I just haven't been happy with it. The Japanese melon auction. Why do these melons cost $46,500? Who would pay for that and why? So I went to Ubud and I interviewed everybody. Went to the farm three months ago, four months ago and then at the auction about two and a half months ago. So I'm pretty excited to release this episode. It's a long time coming.

12:09 John Daub: But with all the travel and the filming I've been doing over the last couple of months, I guess you can assume that there's a barrage of content coming. And a lot of filming going on, everybody. There's a story behind everything and it's just fascinating. The more you look at the bizarreness that is Japan, the more you start to understand the culture and learn it's not that bizarre. When you think about it, it's not that bizarre. And I'll be talking about it in a director's interview. So I'm going to take on this probably next week. There's a lot of stuff that's going to be going on. I'm kind of glad that summer's over. The seventh wave has killed a lot of the ambition. But everything comes to an end and life has to keep on going. That means the end of the tourism ban and I bet you we're going to have some pretty positive announcements coming in the next six weeks. So I will be here for you and ready and able to charge. We're going to make some... and we're gonna make some music. I'm so excited. All right, see everybody.

13:13 John Daub: John's bizarre adventure. Yeah, you got that right. I like how they're putting QR codes on billboards and stuff. Does anybody actually use that and look at stuff? Should I make it Only in Japan QR code for subscribers? Actually, that might be a pretty interesting idea. Science project. How many people actually subscribe from a QR code posted in a station advertisement? Oh, look at the rain's coming down now. How am I gonna get home? I don't have any rain gear. That's my problem. You guys stay dry. See you again in the live stream. Bye from Tokyo Station.