00:00:05 John Daub: That right there is what's left over of the Nakagin Capsule Tower. There's not a lot. They're closing the gate now. You can see it's pretty much gone. And that's really sad. But there's a second story to this. I was looking at it online and was reading. Kisho Kurokawa is the man who created it—of course he's no longer here, but his associates are. He created this capsule tower in 1972. And it's been kind of an iconic building in the city of Tokyo, looking at the future back then. Now the future is gone. It's all the version of the future from the 1970s. However, the story is that this building will live on forever in the metaverse. That's right. They're selling this Nakagin Capsule Tower as an NFT. Something that I'm not really into, but maybe some of you are. So they're selling the rights to be able to create this in the metaverse. You'll be able to recreate the Nakagin Capsule Tower as an NFT somewhere in your own metaverse, wherever that be. And you can also recreate it in real life. They're selling that as an NFT as well. This is the architectural agency and a Japanese internet firm that's doing this.

00:01:30 John Daub: Now it's literally no longer here. You can't see it at all. This is proof. And I just thought it was really cool when I read that online. I was like, what? Okay, first of all, weren't they supposed to be turning these into like a museum or something? Putting these capsules somewhere else? I don't know. The story is always changing. But I thought for the next 15 minutes or so, I would just walk around the corpse of a building that was once here. I still don't know what they're going to be putting here. So if you've got some ideas, you can leave them down in the comments below. But this very well might be the very last video of any Nakagin Capsule Tower ever. But it's just funny that the architects found another way to kind of make a business out of this. Here's where the entrance used to be. Of course, it's all boarded up with metal. So no chipmunks can get in through here. We'll go on the other side and then I'll take you on the pedestrian bridge from a view that was so iconic and now no longer is.

00:02:38 John Daub: The typhoon is gone. It's still kind of raining on and off today. A lot cooler. I just had to buy a sweater. Here's from the side. And of course, as I said, no building. It's just so weird to see nothing here. Oh wait, there's some wood. Chipmunks, let that be known. So this is supposed to end pretty soon here, I believe. They started here on April 18th and this goes on until... Oh wait, it's not here. I guess that was a tearing down of it and now they're just cleaning up the site until December. Maybe. I'm not sure. I'm not going to read those construction forms. Let's go over now across the street. We got to kind of take a hike. So it's going to be talking about what once was.

00:03:47 John Daub: And I've been riding around because I had to deliver some things at the Tokyo Post Office. I've been riding around the city for the last 30 minutes. And I've been seeing so many buildings getting ready to be demolished in Ginza. Now there's a bunch of... Look at these ginkgos. Oh it stinks here. We're going to go across the street here and get that iconic view that once was. For everybody who's nostalgic like I am. Now there's a bunch of buildings here. There's a businessman who bought up a lot of property in the Ginza region. He ended up moving to Hawaii, where he became a very controversial person. I think it's called Marugen [?]. And he has about 15 or 20 buildings in the Ginza area. And they're all decrepit and falling apart, in very disrepair. And I know that's not a good thing. But I noticed that 4 or 5 of them are getting ready to be torn down. Like there are no tenants. And in the center of Ginza, that's such wasted property. So I'm guessing we're going to see a massive change to this region over the course of the next 5 years.

00:05:41 John Daub: From up here you get even a better view. Tokyo is absolutely recreating itself. Even that pedestrian bridge I think is going to get redone. There's the Don Quixote right there on the right side. It's just weird because there's absolutely nothing there. Alright, up we go. We're going to go to the highway here. I think we're just about a minute away. Shimbashi is over there in this direction. This is probably the last time I come to this spot as well. I've been coming back here like once a month to take a look at it. And they finally brought the walls down. And then there was nothing. This is the Shiodome area. It was completely redone in 2000 as a business park. And Shiosite. You all know this because I cover this a lot. Hey, Michael Sassano was here. But the point of this livestream is not just to show you a pit. But to tell you that they're trying. There it is. You see there's nothing there.

00:07:27 John Daub: I'm just kind of curious to know, like, is this a good idea? They're selling the Nakagin Capsule Tower as an NFT. Meaning you'll have the rights to recreate the Nakagin Capsule Tower in the Metaverse. Whatever that is. And you can also recreate it in its physical form anywhere. Now I don't think that they're going to be doing it for you. You're not just buying the capsules. You're buying the rights to make it again. Because again this is Kisho Kurokawa's design. That doesn't mean he loses the rights. That is so bizarre. I'm not really into NFTs. I kind of looked at it. What's the purpose? We're not quite there yet.

00:08:36 John Daub: Now it's just space. Weird. Alright, the gimbal is kind of jumpy. Give me a second here. I tried something new today. When Peter von Gomm and I were riding motorcycles around Hokkaido, I actually lost the magnet and the holder to this. So I glued a magnet to the case here. And it doesn't work very well. Alright, now we're good. Now I gotta put the clip on. So, this didn't work. But the Nakagin Capsule Tower did, for as long as it lasted. Alright, here we go. Clip on. This is a new gimbal too. And we're back. It's a lot more stable now.

00:10:01 John Daub: So looking back at this pit. Again, the whole reason I brought you here was not to look at an empty space. But I want you to close your eyes and visualize what it used to look like. And realize that it's going to be back again somewhere else. Someone's gonna buy it. I'm not into NFTs. I think it's kind of a waste of time and money. And I don't see it being a great investment. But somebody's gonna buy it. Perhaps. Like, I don't know. You would own... I don't know what they have to do as an NFT. Why can't they just sell the rights on a deed or something, right? Isn't there some sort of piece of paper? They could sell the copyright of it or something. Or the designs. Why do they need to go and sell it as an NFT? I'm not sure. But that seems to be the way the world is working. And that NFTs are working. And empty space has still a value in a way. What was once there.

00:11:00 John Daub: Now, if you buy the NFT, you don't have the right to build that building right next to it. There on the left side here with the really beautiful neon lights. You don't see a lot of those anymore either. You just have the right to build what once was the Nakagin Capsule Tower. Oh, it's so weird that it's not there. They just took down the nets and the walls as well. They had like a really high metal wall that's gone. And now it's just bare. It's actually... Some of them went to a museum. But I believe they were for sale. But you probably would be better served just buying, you know, a freight container for the shipping freight. And turning that into a home. I think there's even more space. And they're cheaper. But the Nakagin Capsule Tower was really a big part of Tokyo's history.

00:11:52 John Daub: And you know, we had all these things that were iconic in the city of Tokyo. There was the Tokyo Skytree. The Tokyo Tower. There's the buildings in Shinjuku. There's Hachiko Scramble and the statue of Hachiko. There's Yoyogi Park and the samurai walking the dog. There's a lot of things that represent the city. And this was one of them. Because it was just so unique and so cool. I guess they really couldn't keep it around. Because it just was not safe for earthquakes. And the trends that Tokyo is taking to renew itself. There's no way that it could stay on even if they wanted to preserve it. Nobody wanted to pay for it. Nobody wanted to really stay there. And even as an Airbnb, you can't really charge that much. I mean, who's really that nostalgic to stay in a capsule tower from the 1970s that doesn't have a bathroom? So, you had to go across the street to the bathroom. You had to go to the public bath house in order to take a bath. Which is not too bad. But that's the way people lived a really long time ago. It wasn't until the 1960s that they started to really escalate in home bathing.

00:13:27 John Daub: So, that's all I have for today. It is really cool to think about the potential of what could be built there. How this area could change. Like, in my mind, I can kind of see it. But I will absolutely miss seeing the Nakagin Capsule Tower in the background going past it. And this is the last dream of it I will ever do. It's sad, isn't it? We all have to move on. Oh, by the way, Kanae, I took the bicycle. It's over here. I'm coming back home right now. Sorry. I didn't really know you wanted that.

00:14:26 John Daub: Alright, I'm done with that. Anyone have any questions? Thank you. I saw Michael Sassano was in the house earlier. Appreciate that, buddy. I'm so impressed with how Japan is constantly making changes all around Tokyo. It is crazy. In fact, the Shizuoka Shimbun building, this one in Ginza, that is just a pole with houses around it. I think that that is another Kisho Kurokawa building. That was just painted black. It was like a brown-red color. And I thought that was really interesting. But you see like a really mix of styles just on the street here. I don't think a lot of these older buildings are going to be around much longer. They're just tearing them down and adding bigger and bigger. And it seems to be a really positive thing. It has a really positive effect. More people are moving in here. More people are seeing Tokyo as a hub. And I think that that's probably the best course for the city of Tokyo to compete with China. Because you have places like Shanghai where everything is just brand new and high-tech. Tokyo's got to be that city too. And they're doing a pretty good job of it. But it's just hard to let go, I think, of what was once.

00:16:02 John Daub: And they might just stop into that Don Quixote and get a drink. The typhoon is gone, but there are some remnants left here. A little windy. There's a reason why you might not want to come in September. There are typhoons and the weather can be unpredictable. But it can be like that at any time of the year. But it is certainly a lot cooler now. And you can smell and almost taste autumn. No humidity. It's getting drier. All right, everybody. Do a midnight snack run. I was thinking of doing that tonight. But tomorrow morning at 6 a.m., we're leaving to go to the countryside. Kanae, Leo, and her father and I are going to be driving out to Tochigi Prefecture to spend a night out there. Because it's Silver Week. And Kanae's father doesn't have... He's still working. So he doesn't have a lot of free time. So we're going to go stay at an onsen over there. So I might do some livestreams out in the countryside tomorrow and the next day. And then I will do another livestream out on the side of Shinjuku. I've been reading a lot of your comments and I get it. I'm going to go over to some different areas of Tokyo to end September. And then in October, I'm making a trip to Kyushu. And I'll be there for a good solid week of filming for the main channel. So there's a lot of stuff going on.

00:17:26 John Daub: By the way, you have 10 days left to get that Tokyo Skytree from 650 meters up. I was on the outside deck. It got a photo in 360. It's pretty cool. So you might want to check out that postcard. I think it's one of the best ones of the year. And helps to support the channel. Thanks, Jason. I'll be doing a lot of traveling coming up here. So that's all I got for you. It should be a really interesting end of September. And hopefully we can get out of Tokyo. But if I'm going to be doing livestreaming here, I got another travel update. And I'll take you to some other neighborhoods that I have yet to visit now that tourism is back. And Peter von Gomm and a bunch of other my friends have been telling me they've been seeing more tourists all over the place. And yesterday I was really happy to meet somebody who stopped to take a photo. That's something that hasn't happened in a very long time. So I'm looking forward to the changes and getting everybody to come back. And if you're still wondering if it's a good time to come to Japan, the answer is yes now. It's pretty much open. It's going to be visa-free pretty soon. They've already sort of semi-announced it. But the official announcement isn't here yet. So we can look forward to that coming in the next probably week or so. Maybe after Prime Minister Kishida comes back.

00:18:42 John Daub: But it's not something where you probably need a speech to do. If you really want to keep track of this, go to Kyodo News, which has a very excellent English page. And then you can get the news of what's happening here in Japan the moment the story breaks. And it's free. There's no paywall like the Japan Times. But, you know, Japan Times is a really old newspaper. And I don't want to see them fail. So perhaps investing in the Japan Times is also helpful for them. But Kyodo News doesn't have a paywall. And that's probably where more people are going to go. That's where I go. And then there's the MOFA site. You probably want to keep in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And they give updated, pretty well-updated versions of the news. And then you can get a little bit of information about what's happening right now in terms of policy. And they'll be the authoritative force, of course, because they are the last people to make that decision. Once it's on their website, it's done. That's the rule. That's the policy.

00:19:47 John Daub: All right, everybody. Thanks so much, Rainer, for being a member for 19 months. I appreciate that, buddy. Really do. Shout out to you and your mom back home. See you, Jason. See you, guys. Are they moving or are they tourists? I see people with suitcases rolling around more and more. Maybe Tokyo's back just at the start. It's going to get so much more exciting.