00:00:02 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome outside of a Tsukiman restaurant. This is Sujita. Peter von Gomm and I just had lunch. Peter always eats a little bit slower than me, and I've learned don't rush him. Let him eat at the pace he wants to. We're going to see him coming out of the restaurant in just a minute. But on a beautiful sunny day, I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about what we're going to be doing for the next week.

00:00:29 John Daub: Peter von Gomm and I are heading back up to Hokkaido, traveling to Hakodate this time. In about 48 hours, we're taking the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Hokkaido. That train goes underneath the sea between Honshu and Hokkaido. It's kind of a neat ride; I've never done that before. We're going to try to live stream all of this. From the 7th to the 10th of September, we'll be in Hokkaido. Peter von Gomm for the first two days, then Kanae Daub is joining me with Leo.

00:01:19 John Daub: They're making the trip up from Tokyo to Hakodate on the 8th. Then I'm getting a rental car, and we're going to drive up to the Noboribetsu [?]. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're taking you for the ride, of course. He just walked right by. Konnichiwa.

00:01:40 John Daub: He just walked right by. I guess we're going to let him get his helmet. Let me show you the menu here. It's pretty good; this is a great place. Tsukemen (dipping noodles) is when you separate udon-like wheat noodles from the soup and dip them in. Oh my gosh, it's so good. It's a crowded place, so we can't film inside with the pandemic requirements for eating.

00:02:10 Peter von Gomm: How you doing, sir? That was good, wasn't it?

00:02:12 John Daub: That was fantastic. Yeah, it's really good. Do you come here often?

00:02:16 Peter von Gomm: Um.

00:02:16 John Daub: That's not a pickup line. Like once every couple of months, maybe. It's been a while, actually. Probably three months last time. Really good bowl of tsukemen. It was 1170 yen.

00:02:29 Peter von Gomm: Oh yeah.

00:02:30 John Daub: Which is dipping it into the ramen. I showed that. Yeah, it's so good.

00:02:35 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Not at all.

00:02:36 John Daub: We'll have to come back. They have a couple of shops. One in Jimbocho (book district). This one is in Kachidoki, not very far away.

00:02:43 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I recognize the sign. Yeah.

00:02:45 John Daub: You can recognize the sign. They have it in Jimbocho. Quite a large sign, very popular.

00:02:49 Peter von Gomm: Jimbocho?

00:02:50 John Daub: Jimbocho.

00:02:51 Peter von Gomm: Jim's Boat? I thought it was Jim's Boat Show.

00:02:53 John Daub: No, you know what I'm talking about. Don't try to play.

00:02:55 Peter von Gomm: No, I don't know what I'm talking about.

00:02:57 John Daub: You ride all over the city. How could you not know?

00:03:01 Peter von Gomm: I know Jim's Boat Show. Really nice boats there.

00:03:04 John Daub: Jimbocho's famous for books and publishing. Tuisha's there. A lot of manga is created in the buildings around there. It's close to Ochanomizu. Yeah, Tokyo Dome. Guitar stores and Tokyo Dome not far away. Major universities. Anyway, never mind that. We're going to Hokkaido.

00:03:28 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.

00:03:31 John Daub: We're going on a trip to Hokkaido.

00:03:32 Peter von Gomm: Woo! Free, not free of charge, but paid for through the Kickstarter because we hit a stretch goal.

00:03:39 John Daub: Hakodate. What are we going to be doing there?

00:03:40 Peter von Gomm: We're getting there in the evening, taking the train to Hokkaido, which I've never done before.

00:03:51 John Daub: You have very limited time. So we're taking the train up to Hokkaido, staying the first night at a business hotel. Then get bikes in the morning and ride to an onsen.

00:04:04 Peter von Gomm: What's the name of the place we rented the bikes from?

00:04:06 John Daub: Rental 819.

00:04:09 Peter von Gomm: Rental 819, yeah. That's the chain we've connected with. A chain of motorcycle rental shops throughout Japan.

00:04:16 John Daub: Picking up our bikes near our hotel in the morning on the 8th. We'll do some streaming that day.

00:04:23 Peter von Gomm: Are they bringing the bikes to us?

00:04:25 John Daub: No, we're picking them up at the shop. It's not that close to the hotel. Kind of a taxi ride.

00:04:36 Peter von Gomm: Alright, go ahead. You pick up the bikes, ride to one of the onsens.

00:04:45 John Daub: The onsen's really cool.

00:04:47 Peter von Gomm: Did you tell them about it? Or keep it a surprise?

00:04:56 John Daub: We're staying at a hotel with an onsen. We can do live streams all over. I want to share the experience with everybody. Talking about the ocean onsen.

00:05:04 Peter von Gomm: Oh yeah.

00:05:10 John Daub: Yeah, an onsen on the ocean in Hakodate near a volcano. You can only get in when the tide is out. The tide goes out and creates tide pools; it's a natural onsen. We're going to hit that in the morning and do some other riding around.

00:05:48 Peter von Gomm: How does that work? Is that because of the lava?

00:05:50 John Daub: Somebody just... It's King Wong. Hey, King.

00:05:52 Peter von Gomm: Haha. Wild King appears.

00:05:57 John Daub: Hey, Ramsey Silence here. Coffee in the morning.

00:06:01 Peter von Gomm: We haven't seen Rams for a while.

00:06:04 John Daub: How you doing, man? How does this work? Like the lava going into the ocean and kicking back hot water into tidal onsen?

00:06:14 Peter von Gomm: I haven't checked the fundamentals, but I imagine it has to do with lava.

00:06:20 John Daub: Lava. That's how John Travolta says it in Pulp Fiction with the soap. Man, you gotta get some lava.

00:06:29 Peter von Gomm: They don't have lava anymore. Remember with the pump? The ridges in the pump. It would come out with gunk.

00:06:36 John Daub: Soap. I love Lava. Especially if you're a grease monkey, a mechanic. You get the pumice in it. That's why they call it Lava.

00:06:51 Peter von Gomm: So then we're going into Hakodate town, which has cool cityscapes. Take shots up this hill on the motorcycles.

00:07:05 John Daub: Then stay one more night at a really nice hotel. Supposedly has the best breakfast ever. We're filming for the documentary too. Number one hotel breakfast in Japan. Everything's ranked here. It goes back and forth between a hotel in Kobe and this one in Hakodate. When you see it, it'll blow your mind. All you can eat. Imagine scooping ikura (salmon roe) as much as you want, ladles full.

00:07:49 Peter von Gomm: So we got the breakfast. Are you leaving that same day? The 9th?

00:07:54 John Daub: After that breakfast. So we go up on the 7th, spend the 8th and 9th, then you go back around noon.

00:08:05 Peter von Gomm: And then Kanae and you, renting a car and driving up to the Noboribetsu [?].

00:08:09 John Daub: Get some background shots with the drone around there. Never stayed in the Noboribetsu [?] onsen town. We rode through there; it was cool. This is a way to give back to Kanae because she's putting up with us being away. We've been away 10 days. Fair to treat her to an onsen; that's what she wanted.

00:08:38 Peter von Gomm: I feel bad about that. We were going to get my family up here, but work and school.

00:08:46 John Daub: Joy absolutely deserves it. We have to give back to your families. The project is almost done. We got the postcards finished, stamped, addresses on.

00:09:03 Peter von Gomm: Katayama, you didn't send in your survey. Neither did SOMTI. Neither did a bunch of people.

00:09:08 John Daub: What happened to people who didn't send their survey? You get postcards from Tokyo, not Hakodate. About 50 people. I know who you are. Kanae backed the project but didn't fill the survey. Told her automatic disqualification. She got the laptop out and did it. Might send her one anyway. She paid, so she gets it.

00:09:51 Peter von Gomm: So what about the people who got shout outs?

00:09:55 John Daub: 38 out of 51 shout outs replied. We'll do 11 here in Tokyo, maybe in your garage with bikes. We've got a few to choose from.

00:10:11 Peter von Gomm: That's a place up the road that does these. Robots that are self-guiding. Sitting there, you just take some... Have a tall cool one while it settles your mouth.

00:10:20 John Daub: It doesn't look cool. But you create the ambiance.

00:10:28 Peter von Gomm: Peter von Gomm, Japan Live. I just got my own channel called Rockago. Tall cool ones in Tokyo.

00:10:39 John Daub: Guys, lots of people come here for lunch. Pretty good deals. Got to be good food too. If Garbage Men go there, you know it's good.

00:10:50 Peter von Gomm: They're not the Garbage Men, are they?

00:10:53 John Daub: You know it's good. They're hungry; they'll fill you up.

00:10:58 Peter von Gomm: She knows it's good. She came down here.

00:11:00 John Daub: Garbage Man will fill you up. We love our Garbage Man. He's good friends with Leo. Every time the garbage truck comes, we run outside to wave, and he waves back. Sometimes honks the horn, cute quiet ones. Leo gets excited.

00:11:17 Peter von Gomm: Like bus drivers. Two kinds: ones that don't wave and ones that do and toot the horn.

00:11:24 John Daub: We divide and conquer to see which bus drivers are which. He's normal then goes bus bus bus bus. One of the words he knows. Goes crazy; we stop and wave till they're out of sight. What if another bus comes? He'd be there all day. If we went to a bus station, painful.

00:11:52 Peter von Gomm: For me if I had someplace to go. Maybe he'll be a bus boy for his first job. Bus no Otoko (Bus Man).

00:12:00 John Daub: Napoleon Dynamite. That movie. Bus no Otoko.

00:12:13 Peter von Gomm: Alright, you got to get off here. I do.

00:12:13 John Daub: We'll be live streaming from the Shinkansen at least once. Maybe under the ocean. Train ride starts somewhere between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Don't tell the exact time or car number.

00:12:50 Peter von Gomm: Look at my little motorcycle keychain. See that? Now watch this. This is really slick. You ready?

00:12:58 John Daub: Oh wow. That's a laser. You want to give that to Leo?

00:13:02 Peter von Gomm: And I'm just going to engrave my initials on your lens. The lens of your eye.

00:13:09 John Daub: Stop it. The palm of your hand. Is it true these lasers go to the moon? Artemis launching soon. If everyone points lasers at Artemis, it'll crash. Can you live with yourself?

00:13:30 Peter von Gomm: Walk me to my bike. Artemis is unmanned, the rocket going up there.

00:13:35 John Daub: Peter's going off to a job. I'm going back to edit the next Only in Japan video on the matcha and green tea harvest I filmed months ago. Slightly behind.

00:13:52 Peter von Gomm: What are you riding here today? The Vespa? Yeah. Got myself a sweet ride. Grandma bike with a battery. Black Beauty.

00:14:09 John Daub: Does anyone have questions for Peter? 30 seconds.

00:14:14 Peter von Gomm: Protective lenses even to look at the sun. Astronauts will be fine.

00:14:31 John Daub: Mubarak writes, how was your trip to Oregon?

00:14:35 Peter von Gomm: Hey Mubarak. Awesome trip. Portland's great city, struggling a bit. Amazing time: water skiing, two motorcycle rides, hiking a monolith in Columbia River Gorge, wine tasting, berry picking.

00:15:03 John Daub: Dingleberry picking?

00:15:06 Peter von Gomm: A little bit. Really fun trip. Gioji had a blast with friends. Great guy.

00:15:18 John Daub: Did Gioji want to come home?

00:15:20 Peter von Gomm: No, because he didn't do summer homework. I wouldn't want to come home forgetting homework.

00:15:27 John Daub: Rondania's here. Do you see these things? All over recently. Need a driver's license? Has a license plate.

00:15:38 Peter von Gomm: Don't know if that means driver's license. Pretty sure you need one. More garbage being found here. Popular with garbage bags? Here to take out garbage. If Leo was here, usually three or four garbage men. Tokyo garbage dudes are nice. Every now and then a lady.

00:16:00 John Daub: My Kushitani head wrap. Kushitani was our motorcycle clothing partner for Hokkaido. They gave us these head wraps; been using religiously. In summer, soaks up sweat.

00:16:19 Peter von Gomm: Gotta bring mine. Fumigate my helmet.

00:16:25 John Daub: Need to get wiring in before the train. Sanitation workers. Sanitation engineers back in '98. Refuse engineers.

00:16:46 Peter von Gomm: UK has different terms. In Japan, they do a really good job.

00:16:51 John Daub: During coronavirus start in 2020, people wrote arigato (thank you) on garbage bags. I say thank you too. Sometimes they let me throw the bag in. Won't let me push the crush button.

00:17:23 Peter von Gomm: When I was a kid, garbage man had a hooked arm. Fantasies: got it stuck in the hydraulic door.

00:17:44 John Daub: Funny. I had one too. He hooked the handle manually. Did a good job. Came every Thursday; nice guy. As a kid, you wonder.

00:18:26 Peter von Gomm: People could look at me and see what happened to your face.

00:18:46 John Daub: Looking forward to this trip. Getting warm again in Tokyo. Super typhoon coming; worried if it's this way. Shout out to the Italian bombshell. Thanks for email; worried about Kanae and me. Nice skies; we'll be okay.

00:19:17 Michael Sassano: Hey, this is Michael Sassano. Excited for Hokkaido. Tackling all-you-can-eat melon again?

00:19:24 Peter von Gomm: Finished. Until end of year? August 16th? Tabihodai (all-you-can-eat travel) melon first week June to mid-August.

00:19:43 John Daub: You put down a lot of melon. Impressed with your eating.

00:20:00 Peter von Gomm: Do not talk about sea urchin, especially next day. Mountain of uni (sea urchin). Didn't order; he brought it because filming, gave business card, permission. Wouldn't let us pay. High five. Put our picture on his site. Not big uni fan. It was huge; one of us had to eat. Don't eat rice, just top. Shoveled it down. Revenge next day; not looking good. Kicked back. Lots of cholesterol.

00:21:44 John Daub: Natural cholesterol, better than margarine. Rather butter.

00:21:49 Peter von Gomm: Damn, got high cholesterol too. How do you know? Blood test checks cholesterol.

00:22:09 John Daub: You eat same stuff except mountains. Pizza every now and then.

00:22:25 Peter von Gomm: 23andMe DNA site. Sister wanted me to do it. Results: 1780-1820, 100% British and Irish. Then breaks down; late 1800s-early 1900s, third to seventh great grandparent 100% British Irish. Descendant of Adam and Eve. If royalty, write the Queen for my cut.

00:23:50 John Daub: Mom from Maharashtra or India? India invented zero. Favorite curry; show respect.

00:24:16 Peter von Gomm: Van Gomm: mix of many German. Late 1800s-1900s grandparents German and French.

00:24:41 John Daub: Nine-nine. Move on. Hawk like you. Put a spike on that helmet.

00:25:00 Peter von Gomm: Bye.

00:25:04 John Daub: Alright, there he goes. Now that he's gone, we can make fun behind his back. Maybe a little. Still recovering from cold; could tell in narration on melon video. Had to redo parts. Probably last day. He's got a job in Ikebukuro.

00:25:45 John Daub: Really excited. Lots of packing. Try to edit video so when back, upload next Only in Japan and get main channel going. YouTube Shorts coming out. Throw hat in ring for a solid year. Can't hurt. Getting harder to YouTube. Recycle old material into Shorts; doesn't compete.

00:26:30 John Daub: Any questions? Thanks for everything. Bunch of membership sign-ups. Thanks for joining livestream. Q&A from last night: friend Alex Kerr article on why Japan not allowing foreign tourists. Check Twitter @onlyinjapantv. His breakdown incredible. Predicts not till spring 2023 fully reopen. Can't disagree; might be earlier as ridiculed.

00:27:29 John Daub: Older voting demographic. Not so much xenophobia; awful compromises where nobody wins. Report from backers Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Philippines on unguided individual package tours. Cheaper than group tours. But if program stops weeks later, upset? No faith it'll last long.

00:28:33 John Daub: Weather nice soon. Few foreign tourists; nothing crowded. Awesome exchange rate. Perfect now, not humid. Autumn coming; comfortable since Sept 1.

00:29:33 John Daub: Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow livestream. Maybe ramen. Hey, friend in garbage truck. He's one of those robots. Work on GPS, sensors to stop. Pretty cool. Future is in Japan, except tourism.