00:00:02 John Daub: Hello everybody! Welcome to Shibuya! This is the city of Tokyo and one of the most famous, iconic spots. We've been here so many times, but what is remarkable about today is look at those skies! The typhoon has cleared the air and we have beautiful autumn, cool, crisp weather. Well, I wouldn't say it's cool because the sun is pretty hot, but that humidity is all gone. In this episode, I'm going to be taking you from this spot, through the heart of this area, the city, to Harajuku via Omotesando, which is one of my favorite places to go.

00:00:34 John Daub: Wow! I got a full blast of sunshine from this side of the street. Again, this is one of the most busy intersections in the entire world. They say 10,000 people crossing, but because of the pandemic, I don't see that many actually. It's a lot less, maybe per hour. But that's all going to change soon. Because the government is signaling that tourism will return to Japan by the end of October with no visas, no restrictions, depending on the country. Not quite sure on the speed yet and when this is all going to happen, but it's going to be happening imminent. So you can go ahead and start to book your trips if you like.

00:01:14 John Daub: I'm going to take you now, as soon as the light changes, I'll take you to the middle of Hachiko intersection and then we're going to be walking down here. So the signal is going to get better. This is a live stream. By the way, everybody, if you're wondering why the quality isn't good, it's because the 4K really sharp pixels. This is the best the iPhone 12 Pro can do. Alright, here we go. Ah, it's always a treat to be here, even though this is not my favorite area of the city. It is a really cool place to be. Shibuya.

00:01:52 John Daub: You can see the Yamanote line going by here every now and then. Unfortunately, not right now. This is the 109 or the 109 building. And there's Basketball Street, also called Center Gai (センター街，covered shopping arcade). I've been here to locals that have been here longer than it was called Basketball Street. I don't think it's called Basketball Street anymore, is it? Alright, let's get a move on. We're going to be going. Follow that Hachiko bus.

00:02:20 John Daub: Actually, why don't we take a detour? We always go this direction. I'm just hoping that the signal is good. You let me know if the signal is really bad and I will do everything in my power to try to change that. And make it nice and viewable for you. Yeah, I saw that, Greg. Let's not even bring up that big giant tech company. Let's just leave it alone. Alright, buckle in for a good 45 minutes because we're going to be on the move. Wow, look at the colors. Shibuya is such a vibrant place.

00:03:01 John Daub: And you know, I guess the longer you live here in Japan, the less you really want to come here. You try to avoid it, but because there's no tourism here, it's really a lot less crowded than in the past. Alright, Jillian, we'll try to get out to a better area. Wow, you can see, it looks like a lot of these shops are getting ready for the turn in tourism. A lot of them are closed down on the street. Just not the same kind of foot traffic. And I've been seeing over the last just two weeks, places starting to open up. I'm sure that they had investment. And they just had their finger on the button just waiting for everything to open up.

00:03:49 John Daub: Again, if the signal is not great and you're watching this in playback, you can just skip ahead because it's going to get better. It has to. I must get a clear signal. But there's not much I can do about it. Even right here, I can notice... And by the way, this is the new IKEA, or Ikea as we say in Japanese. It's just weird to see that because again, I haven't been wandering around the city as much as I normally did before the pandemic. And every time I do, I see so many changes. And that's why maybe you see the episodes being the same. But they're different because the experience is different. Tokyo is a living city in the sense that it is always changing.

00:04:41 John Daub: The McDonald's is still there. All right, you know what? We're going to take a right here. And I got my fingers crossed that this signal is going to get a little bit better. This is a busy area of the city. So the signal is... Based on the amount of people using the 4G LTE signals. I can't use 5G because there's too many buildings in the way. And believe it or not, the 5G upload speed is slower than the 4G LTE. I didn't expect that one. What? Look, here's a building that has gone down. What was there? Like, this is just... You just walk around and you see... You see like these big blank spots. Does anyone remember what was there?

00:05:41 John Daub: I bet you this building looks like it's going to be on the way out too. Next to it, the Pronto. Everything that was kind of old is just getting torn down and making way to newer buildings. Wow. We're going to go past what used to be the Loft. There's the other side of the IKEA. All right, let's make our way up the hill here. Wow. How often do you see a purple Mercedes Benz? Where's Dan from What's Inside? Have you ever seen a purple one? I've never seen it.

00:06:26 John Daub: All right, this is the Loft. This has been here since I can remember. It's a really big one. And if you're ever looking for really nice gifts, you can find them there, like teapots, Japanese teapots or cups, sake sets, chopsticks, all sorts of really unique gifts. And, gosh, there used to be one in Sakae in Nagoya. That was the one I went to the first couple of years I lived in Japan. But before I went back home for Christmas, I would always make a stop into the Loft to get some stuff for presents for everybody. Wow, I see a lot of people commenting here. They're excited to make that return to Japan.

00:07:07 John Daub: I guess you can feel it, right? You can feel the electricity that people are going to be returning from abroad to Japan. As you all know, Japan has its own way of returning to Japan. It's a very unique way to do things. We don't follow the international trends. Japan likes to set the trends, which is, in this case, not a great one. Let's close the country for two and a half years. Wow, what is that, a Rakuten? So recently, Rakuten has been really aggressive in the mobile phone market. And I might actually just get a plan with Rakuten because it's so cheap. I'll get one phone with Rakuten, the other one with Docomo because that's really good for... The Disney store is still here, by the way, for anyone who was asking.

00:08:05 John Daub: If I remember correctly, the signal was not ideal in this area. A lot has changed in this area of Shibuya, too. Barbecoa! That's Brazilian BBQ! Oh, it's so good! I didn't know it was here. I thought there was only... The one I go to is in the... The Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. Man, Brazilian BBQ! They come around with sticks of meat. And they say, would you like some? And you say, yeah, and they just start cutting it onto your plate. And then you look at them funny, it's like, don't leave. One more.

00:08:48 John Daub: Audrey, timeless photos. If you look around the buildings, you still see those old Showa era 1950s, really narrow buildings. But I don't think that they're going to be here for that much longer. I bet you over the next 10 years, even these will be departing. And I think the Marui Ichiban (マルイ一番，department store), they're probably going to renovate as well. It's an old building. Probably not up to earthquake standards, I'm not sure. But the Tower Records, the good old Tower Records, will always be there. Because Japanese still love to buy CDs. As far as I know.

00:09:37 John Daub: Yeah, if the signal gets bad, just refresh your browser. And it will get better. YouTube allows me to upload a copy of... They say that you can upload an HD copy, so the upload will be a little bit better. But YouTube app is always getting better and better. Fingers crossed. I'm going to cross the street here. Okay, I'm going to cross the street here. This is the direction that we just kind of came. That's where Hachiko Scramble is. And yeah, you know, it's still polite to wear a mask when you're walking around a crowded city. I feel pressure to do it because everybody else is doing it. And I'm already sticking out like a sore thumb because I am holding a camera, walking with a smartphone attached to my right hand.

00:10:48 John Daub: I guess they're going to Harajuku. What do you think? Vote among yourselves. Alright, here's a Tower Records. The signal always gets bad around here. I forgot. I probably should have avoided it. But, you know, anyone who is alive in the 1990s, especially if you were a teenager, you probably were here at Tower Records browsing through those rows of CDs. And the cool thing with going inside of here is that you can kind of still get that experience. It's very nostalgic. And I know that there's only a few Tower Records left around the world. This in Tokyo is one of them. I think they have one in Osaka, don't they? And then there was the other one, the HMV Records. They were also all over the place.

00:11:44 John Daub: Wow. I think someone's trying to tell me something. Wow. The wars are on. Oh, my. So we're going to be going across the street here. I'm just doing this like to get blare out that copyright music that's going on. I'm going to go to the restaurant right behind me because it is so loud. Right in front of us is the Gyoza no Ohsho (餃子の王将，gyoza restaurant). GYG, I guess they're calling it now. I believe it's from Australia, but it's a Mexican chain burritos. And they're so good. There's one in Harajuku. I probably will pick one up to take with me. Load it up. Usually that pulled pork or the steak one is really good. But that chicken sure is tantalizing.

00:12:32 John Daub: I'm getting out of running out of stuff to say, but that's not possible because I could also talk about going to the left here, which is where the office for Tokyo Eye, the NHK show I used to work from J-WAVE TV had their offices in that building straight ahead, right where the TGI Fridays used to be. But I believe that they moved to a different location. Oh, thank goodness. I'm out of breath. Oh, oh, oh, fumes. Ah, I got a mouthful of that. Tastes like Hokkaido. Oh, all right. We survived. Tower Gate. It's literally the gate to Tower.

00:13:20 John Daub: Dead spot. All right. Hey, everybody. This is a dead spot in the city. I kind of expected that to be here. Just refresh your browsers. The signal will get better in about 30 seconds after I get underneath this bridge here and we get a clear shot. Yeah, there are a lot of for that comment. There are a lot of Russians that are here, but the rule of thumb when you're an expat is that everybody, you don't take other people's politics and what's happening in their country and hold that against them. So, you know, there are Russians here. There's no fight about that because it's not in their control. It's the one thing we have to always be careful about. Don't link people like individuals with political policy on the other side of the world.

00:14:23 John Daub: You know, that's happened to me before and I was not happy about that. I remember some dude wanted to fight me in Prague in 1997. We were at a bar and I was with three Dutch guys and this, I don't think he was Czech, but he came up to me very aggressive and wanted to fight me because I was American. So, I was like, I'm going to fight you. I guess because Prague was, 1997 was a different era and he goes, oh, you're Coca-Cola and you're Levi's jeans and, you know, all this other stuff. He got very aggressive. And then my three Dutch friends, two of them were over like 200 centimeters tall. They were towering. People came up and go, what's the problem? I was like, I'm glad that I had them with me because there wasn't a fight that night that I recall.

00:15:23 John Daub: I just remember that I did break dance. I remember that I did break dance in that club and I threw up and my friends took me out of there and we went to a city dormitory that we were just blown up mattresses on the floor of a dorm. This is summer. It was a dollar a night in Prague. It was crazy. Oh man, good times. But yeah, he wanted to fight me for something that was out of my control. And the funny thing was that he was wearing Nike shoes. I guess he didn't associate that with America. It's unusual.

00:16:00 John Daub: There's a city bus going by. It's always useful if you can to learn the routes for the city buses because they're kind of neat to get on, especially in the summer. They have air conditioning and wifi. So if you just want to take a break for 20 minutes, hop on a bus and steal their wifi. You're not stealing it. They're giving it to you. I knew all the routes now in my area, but I don't know all the bus companies. There's so many of them. I've noticed recently an increase in police presence downtown. So I think that that's really interesting. I guess it has something to do with the start of fall and increased crime. I don't know.

00:16:56 John Daub: Name that train line. Know that it's not the Yamanote line. You get two points if you can name that train. What a contrast to the typhoon rains in Aichi. Indeed. Gosh, I had to get outside and do this walk. The air is crisp and clear. Pause. The air is crisp and clear. It's so nice. It's almost like not the city except that motorcycle. I think I've shown this one too before. They have a brand new toilet here. Just good to remember where the toilets are. Looks like it's from outer space. Reminds me of the mushroom in Albany. Kind of a unique design.

00:18:00 John Daub: I don't know if that was the Yokohama line. I think that was, was that the Saikyo line? I'm not sure. I can't remember. That goes from Shinjuku. Come on, somebody has to know the right line. Shonan-Shinjuku line? That could be it. Oh wow. I haven't been in this area in a long time. If you ever wander around the alleys here, you will discover residential neighborhoods that are so unique. You'll see some pretty amazing cars in the parking lots too. There's a residential neighborhood in Harajuku that not a lot of people know about. A lot of famous people do reside in that area. Either they're famous or they're after the government. They're actually going to be absolutely rich beyond belief because the property here is extremely expensive.

00:18:46 John Daub: For the longest time, this road here, which leads up to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro eventually, was under construction for the Fukutoshin subway line. That construction seemed to go on forever. And now it's such a calm street again. Let's see, maybe we can make a little detour. This is like the buffer between Harajuku and Shibuya right now. So anyone who ever wants to get to Harajuku or Omotesando, just walk it. Because it's such a delightful walk, especially when the temperature is what it is right now.

00:19:27 John Daub: Oh wow, look, he's cutting it. Leo would freak out if he saw these awesome trucks. I like to get like a bulldozer license just so I can get behind it and show off and say, hey look Leo, I'm driving a bulldozer. He'd go, yeah, my dad can drive a bulldozer. Or a dump truck. Whoa. I can drive a dump truck. I wonder how many hours you have to, it's probably expensive. I'm going for a month and I'm only taking $7,000, not including money for hotels. Depending on how you want to travel, that's a lot of money. I hitchhiked Japan with $150 for a month. So put that in perspective here.

00:20:31 John Daub: You can live dirt cheap, live in tents, camp in parks, get outside the city. You don't have to even stay in a tent. You can stay in hotels. I'm telling you, you can stay in ryokan houses, which are as cheap as $5 a night. You can find manga cafes. You can find accommodations at every level and stay half the time, roughen it, and then half the time you can upgrade. That's even better because the middle of the road in Japan is kind of boring. The APA Hotel business hotels is kind of boring and they're kind of small anyways. You might as well save the money and then splurge in the last five or six days. That's what I would do because the first few days you get jet lag anyways. Might as well wander the streets at 3 a.m.

00:21:26 John Daub: Yeah, if you guys want to in the chat while we're walking here, if you've ever been to Japan before, how much did you spend in a week? What was your budget to come and visit? Try to keep it on a weekly, week-to-week budget. What do you spend for a week in Japan? I guess it does make a big difference if you're going. It does make a big difference if you're staying in the city. Versus the countryside. If you're coming in summer when you can spend more time outdoors. Possibly even camp or stay in the car if you rent a car. Different people, $1,000 a week seems to be the norm. You know right now that's ¥140,000 because of the exchange rate. You probably don't need as much. Or you'll buy a lot more.

00:22:14 John Daub: I was told from a friend at one of the big travel agencies in Japan. She started working there a few years ago. She said one of the things in their internal meetings that they discuss and one of the reasons why they have to get this tourism going and they use for the government to help open it up was the facts, the data shows that when the exchange rate is as high as it is right now, people buy more stuff, which stimulates consumer spending in Japan. And since the Japanese are probably going to decrease spending, it's up to the inbound tourism to try to keep products being bought here. Again, you can see a lot of the goods and services are going to be a bargain. Inflation is held pretty tight. So most of the products are just maybe a little bit more expensive. But comparatively, when you look at the exchange rate, it's a bargain right now, which is why you probably should be getting $2,000 a week.

00:23:08 John Daub: Wow. I believe this used to be like the Audi building. I remember when it was built and I remember just standing right here at this very spot and just looking at it and going, wow, look at that color of the glass and the shape of the building. And now it's probably about 10, 15 years old. Really pretty. It's called the Palitot (パリトット，building name), but I believe it was Audi that was the first tenants in there. Another reason to keep wandering the streets because as things change, it's kind of interesting to get your knowledge of what used to be here up because people ask all the time. It's like, I remember what was here.

00:24:13 John Daub: Wow. Some of you all have really big budgets. Well, I guess the fruit parlor's looking pretty nice. I always thought that the kakigori (かき氷，shaved ice) was a ripoff. It was just shaved ice. I want ice cream. I'm going to spend the same amount of money for ice cream versus kakigori. I go ice cream every time. Is there anybody who sees it the other way? I go ice cream every time. All right. If you take a left here, which is what we're going to do, this is one of the, like a very unique thin building here, but you can go left or right. 99% of the people go right. We're going to go left. And I'll show you that there are residential neighborhoods.

00:25:03 John Daub: I don't know how bad the signal is going to get in this direction, but if you do walk around the back streets of Harajuku on this side, you're going to find some rabbit holes. That's a small Alice on Wednesday. What? What is this, like a hair salon or something? The door is so small. I'm not going in there. People probably don't come out the same size. When you come out, you're going, that door is so big. It's weird. Yeah, misdirection. Up there, around here. I met a, was it 19, hold on a second, 2004. I lived in Hatagaya, and I met this girl at a barbecue, and we became really good friends. Just friends. As far as you know. And she worked at the Gap here. And afterwards, I went by her house, which was in here. I was shocked. I said, you live here? She goes, oh yeah. She walked from the Harajuku Gap, which is no longer there, to her house, which was about three minutes away. And I asked her, wow, what does your dad do? And he was CEO of a very big company. Very big. One that you've all heard of.

00:26:44 John Daub: What is this? This is a nabe vending machine. Where's Ericster 6? Nabesuru.jp. Whoa. So I don't think, so these vending machines, this doesn't come out as nabe. But it's a pack, I believe, that you can just use to make a nabe (鍋，hot pot). It'd be pretty cool if it came out, like all hot and stuff. Oh, they're all stuck together. How do you take one when they all come back here? It's kind of wet from the typhoon. So it's a list of all the nabe mono that they have in here. Interesting. Wow. I'm getting psyched. The nabe festival is coming back to Hibiya Park next month. It's actually all wet. I'm going to have to put this back here. Oh gosh, now I can't. It's like, OK, I'll just take it. What are you doing? Oh, it's drenched.

00:28:08 John Daub: The nabe festival is coming back to Hibiya in a couple of, in a few weeks, I think. November. More than a few weeks. Let's walk up a little bit. I don't remember exactly where she lived, but that was, oh my gosh, almost 20 years ago. So we're going to look up the street here. That's a nice looking cafe. Yeah. It was either left or right. I can't remember. These are the residential buildings. These are the residential streets of Harajuku. Yeah, I think it was up this street. There's some houses on the left side, you see. It's crazy. I'll let you guys explore on your own. But people do live back here. It's so quiet comparatively.

00:29:09 John Daub: Do you know if the sakura trees at Sakuradori are still going to be replanted? I'm not sure. Construction on that area isn't slated. We're talking about the front of Tokyo Station. Construction isn't going to be done. It's going to be completed until 2025. So we won't know for sure if those trees will be replanted until then. I have a feeling that they, how could you call it Sakuradori, Cherry Blossom Street without cherry blossoms? I bet you they're going to come back. Actually, I hope so. It's just so bare. Wasn't CEO of a big tech company. It was more food related. Travel with love. Thank you. I'm digging all these Super Chats. Thank you for the... Let's see if I can put that to some good use. If anything, it's going to go into a burrito that I take home. I need my reward.

00:30:10 John Daub: I've said this before a couple of times, but this Meiji Jingumae Station really confused foreign tourists, which is why they put the word Harajuku there. Yeah, we've arrived in 30 minutes or less. You can see the Fukutoshin line here. It comes across. I remember when they were building that thing for ages. I didn't even understand why they needed to do that other than they wanted to keep people in Metro in there. JR has the Yamanote line that does it pretty quickly too. This is the Chiyoda line, which cuts across as well. I rarely take that line or the Fukutoshin line unless you live in this region, this side. But yeah, the Meiji Jingu is the shrine, Meiji Shrine. So a lot of people didn't associate that with Harajuku tourists. So they would... People would get off here. And not see Meiji Shrine and get lost. And go to Shibuya to go to Harajuku Station. Which makes no sense, but tourists are tourists.

00:31:19 John Daub: As you can see, Condomania and the shops on this side are gone. And they're now building something massive here. Another one of the big changes to the city. This building has been redone. I think this used to be a Chicago. Which is a recycled clothing store. This used to be a UFJ Bank and a Jonathan's. Which is now gone. Turned into a yakiniku (焼き肉，grilled meat) restaurant. Get my mask on in the crowded area. So this is the entrance to Omotesando. And we're going to go around here before we end the stream at Takeshita Dori. Just going to take a quick look-see at Takeshita to see what's been going on here.

00:32:19 John Daub: That's where these top secret Starbucks is up there in the forest. On the top of the building. The Tokyo Plaza building. Hello to everybody just joining us right now. Welcome to Omotesando. I can't really take you up the street here because the signal is not good. But when they do movies about Tokyo, this is one of the sights that they show. Do you see the way the street kind of curves up there? So they get long lenses and take pictures of the vast amount of people walking. And I think the other side might even be better. That's maybe one of the most unique views of Omotesando. And then when the lights are on, there's a pedestrian bridge that crosses the street. From there you get a really beautiful shot of the lights. As well as up there on the third floor, there's a little place where you can stand and overlook this intersection. Which is comparable in a way to Shibuya's Hachiko Scramble.

00:33:25 John Daub: Gosh. I'd love to have an Only in Japan truck. Just for a day. I wonder what it is. I'm sure you have to get it for a month to pay off the amount that it would cost for the artwork on the side of it. I'll have Peter von Gomm's voice blasting Only in Japan. Please subscribe. By the way, I just put two new shorts on the new channel. Shorts is completely different from the long form videos. Love it or hate it, it seems like it's going to be here to stay. So might as well experiment and have a little bit of fun. Yeah, this one is a little bit better. The iPhone doesn't have the best zoom lens, but I think you get the idea.

00:34:22 John Daub: Omotesando Hills, that one shopping mall that I never go into because there's nothing that I ever want to buy. But there are some pretty interesting cafes and restaurants if you just want to get out off the street. And get a slightly overpriced drink and hang out there for a little bit. It's about 30 minutes. It's kind of a neat little diversion. The streets around Omotesando are so cool too. I guess it is still the Harajuku area. But if you go in the right here, you will find loads and loads of... I guess this is where the satellite shops are of the fashion designers for youth. Before, it used to be along, I guess more in here. And they've moved to this side of the street. Takeshita Dori, which was such a magnet for fashion. It's kind of changed into an amusement park. It's not... It's one of my least favorite places in the city. But for tourists, it's so bright and it's like a moth to a light. You're really attracted to the bright lights. It is a pretty lively place. It is not my cup of ocha (お茶，tea).

00:35:47 John Daub: Anybody who wants to talk about the reopening and all this other stuff, check out our Discord server. So we have an increasing amount of people. And I'm going more and more there for call-in shows to talk about this kind of stuff. It's free to join. And it's a really great community that we have. We have a ton of experienced people that are also answering the questions that you might have about visiting Japan, whether it's your first time or your 100th time. That knowledge, if it is your 100th time, it's kind of cool to be able to connect with other people. But we had one person looking. He goes, I'm a 19-year-old man. I'm a male with a girlfriend looking for a 20- to 21-year-old Japanese male. It sounded like an advertisement. I don't think that's what the server is for. In search of love, probably. And if you're trying to sell crypto and stuff, this isn't the server for you.

00:36:54 John Daub: Some weird stuff going on. But I don't know. Some people, I think when you're new to it, you're not sure how it works. But in general, it's pretty cool. That guy's been selling kebab there forever. I've never broken down and bought one. I think you'd have to be somewhat inebriated to get a kebab or really, really hungry. Oh, Kitasando. I haven't been there in ages. I used to work with a company that made movies. I was on a project. We'd always have to make this walk into the area. We'd have to go through alleys here. And they produced Japan. Netflix Japan produces a lot. Netflix Japan's headquarters is in Omotesando. And they would produce a lot of videos in the neighborhoods here, close down the streets with permits. And I think it was, hold on, when was it here? I think it was here. I think it was International Movies Company was the name of it. They've been around since the 1930s or something. And I would go there for a project I was doing with refugees. Being moved to Japan from Malaysia, I think it was. This was like eight years ago. And I would watch all of these places filming TV dramas, but mostly Netflix. The streets there are so scenic, very clean, kind of romantic.

00:38:36 John Daub: Wow, that's some fashion. Looks like you just got out of like Northern Canada. So here's the front of Takeshita Street. And it's just not, doesn't have the same personality that it used to without the ACDC Rags, that little shop in the corner. It should look a little retro to me, but it doesn't anymore. And that, I don't know, it looks too sanitized. What do you guys think? But I think if you're coming to Japan for the first time and you're in Tokyo, you still got to walk down Takeshita Street. Just don't walk down it twice or say, I love this place, I'm going to stay here. Because there's a lot cooler places in the city than Takeshita Dori. There's a ton of street food here. I probably will do a street food episode here one day. There's a lot of history on this street. And I know a lot of that history is leaving. So I'd like to do one more episode here before some of those older buildings that you can kind of see go away.

00:39:47 John Daub: And you can see there's a telephone line. There's some lines that are still lining here. I heard a rumor that they might be putting that underground. So there'll be some constructions here and they're going to make it a little bit wider. Because it is such a hub for tourism. Ugh, no offense. Should I, do you want me to go in there? Can anybody, do you want me to go down Takeshita Street? I'm going to wait. I'm going to give you 30 seconds. Let me do it. Terry writes in here, do it. Jason writes, go. Hurry, you got like five seconds. Anyone? May writes in Saya. Nobody? Yes? All right, I guess I got to do it. Okay. All right, all right. Short, just a little bit. Because Angel Forever 59X is here. Thanks for that. All right, let's see how Takeshita Street has changed. I'm so excited. I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control. Control and monetization keep on going.

00:41:15 John Daub: So it's a lot more open. I guess there's not as many people. It's kind of quiet. It is a weekday. So this does give you a vibe of what it's like. It is these narrow areas here. Like I think when it comes to tourism, this is the one thing you probably have to keep in mind. When you're in crowded areas like this, they're probably going to encourage you to wait. But when you're in a crowded area, you're probably going to have to wear a mask. Like in a shopping mall. I don't know what the right thing to do is. I kind of default to what makes, what I feel would be the right thing to do based on my experience of living here in Japan. That strawberry place is new. See, it's too sanitized. It looks like the 21st century. I don't like 21st century Harajuku. I want 20th century Harajuku.

00:42:12 John Daub: And a lot of people have been debating that the fashion has not, has moved from Harajuku. It's now in Omotesando. So the satellite, the trial fashions is no longer here. I rarely see goth. I rarely see the stuff that made this street famous. In fact, I think a lot of those stores have gone out of business. Pornhub? What? They have a t