00:05 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Ameyoko Market in Tokyo. This is one of the oldest, one of the most amazing street markets, shopping streets in the city of Tokyo. I come here very often because I love it. It's just so much fun to be here. It's on both sides of the Yamanote line here. Underneath the tracks, you'll find some more shops going from here in Okachimachi, which is the Okachimachi side. The next station is Ueno, so it straddles those two stations.

00:32 John Daub: I've noticed over the last few years, there have been changes spanning before the pandemic happened. In this episode, I'm going to be taking you down Ameyoko Market, and we're going to take a look specifically at those changes and kind of discuss what's going on and what does the future hold for this amazing street market that I love. I hate any change whatsoever, but what can you do? How you doing everybody? Sorry, I've been away. I had a cold, got it from Leo, my son, and now I'm feeling a lot better. So sorry for being away for a couple of days, but we're back.

01:12 John Daub: Today I'm going to be taking you again down this market. I do have a purpose to come here. There's really great deals on candy, and I like to find unique items, snacks for my Patreon supporters. We have about 40 or 50 supporters that are Patreon backers that I send packages to, so I've always got my eyes looking at really amazing stuff. Today we're also going to be looking at the candy and the food snacks to send people abroad. All right, let's get moving.

01:44 John Daub: I just spent like two hours watching garbage trucks in America do their job with Leo, my son. He's fascinated with garbage trucks, so I've got a newfound respect. I've always had respect for our sanitation workers, but even more so because the way that those trucks operate, it's just so cool. So it's now a little bit after 1 p.m. It's now October 26th, I want to say. So it might look like Ameyoko Market is pretty much the same.

02:16 John Daub: I think this is one of the best markets to use as an example for Tokyo's other street markets because it's just been around longer. The history of this market goes back to World War II. This is where the GIs would get their black market goods, a lot of stuff like Zippos and watches. You'll see Army, Navy. You'll see military surplus stores here. This right in front of you is one of the biggest changes in the markets, not just here, but all over Japan. More chains have been coming in.

02:51 John Daub: This was an old building that was run by a family business. The family business, I guess they sold their property and it was renovated. And now you can see it's become a Don Quixote, which is a mega store. They got everything under the sun that's possible to find inside there. And they got really good deals. So it does fit in this neighborhood that's famous for its cheap items, finding good deals. But it's just like goes away from the DNA of this street a little bit where it's just all small shops, small chains, local stores, things like that is what you would find here.

03:31 John Daub: That's the trend everywhere because the old businesses, it's not just because of the pandemic. It's just because in Japan, people are getting older. It's just a fact. And they don't have anybody to take over their businesses. And the young people that there are don't want to take over a family business on a shopping street. It's just not what they want to do. So they can't find anybody to take over. So they sell to usually the highest bidder, which makes sense. People are sentimental and you're going to see down the street a little bit how else these street markets have changed. And it's really interesting if you haven't been here in about four or five years, this will be more telling, I think.

04:17 John Daub: All right, let's move away from here. Although, you know, I do like Don Quixote and I'm still trying to get used to it. But they put stuff out on the street, the same kind of stuff that the small local businesses are selling. And they can undersell a lot of them. Also, the stores have been modernizing. I've noticed that just a little bit more and more. When somebody does buy a property here, they tend to renovate it. But if it goes against the look of what the other shops are, I don't think it's going to do very good business here because that's not what people want on this street.

05:00 John Daub: This is my favorite intersection to the market. It's not very far in. This one here leads to two candy shops that I love to go to. And it's filled with alleys. So if you do come to Ameyoko, make sure you get off of the main avenue and go off into the alleys because you'll discover some really great things. This donburi shop, maybe one of the best ones. Again, it's probably more famous for the price than the quality, but hey, you get what you pay for. Maybe you get a little bit more.

05:29 John Daub: This line that you see here is for one of the most famous takoyaki places in Tokyo because it's big and it's cheap. They've been making takoyaki for as long as I can remember. They've had a takoyaki stand here. And I hope that we don't lose this place. And that's, you know, I guess when we get a little bit older, you do get more sentimental because you get used to having certain places here. And we're losing it more and more, which again is not a bad thing. It's just sentimental.

06:10 John Daub: This used to be the stretchy cheese Korean shop, which is the chain. And then it looks like more of a local business came in. But it's still it. It still serves Korean cuisine. And chicken. I guess they diversified. But it used to be a Korean stretchy cheese chain and hot dogs. And when the tourists left, so did the business, which is a shame. This is one of the candy stores I was telling you about. I'm always looking for really interesting stuff. They have it here. It's just everything in one place.

06:42 John Daub: The Kit Kats are in the corner there to the left. Here you have the sweet potato Kit Kats, which I sent last month to my supporters. They're really good. That was maybe one of the best flavors of the last couple of years. And it's hard to outdo it. I saw that they had mini melonpan as well. The other shop, there's another one that competes right across the street from it. And I usually will buy Kit Kats here. David and Alice, your banana chocolate cakes are here. I found them here. So if you come to Japan, you can buy them. You need more to stock up. And then you can see the latest Kit Kat flavors right here. It looks like they brought back royal milk tea, which is cool. Oh, I saw pistachio. They have pistachio Kit Kats now. How cool is that?

08:04 John Daub: We've established that more chain shops are coming in because business owners can't find a successor to their business in their family. Like this shop has somewhat diversified. They've been here forever, this shop. I interviewed them for NHK over 20 times 13 years ago. And they're still here. It's just that they have modernized the shop. And I guess it's still a family business. So are the ones here on the left and the right. You can tell when maybe the son took over and it started by the grandfather way back after World War II. And this was the black market. And the number of people here was crazy back then. It was way more crowded than what it is now.

08:38 John Daub: This is a shop that has just popped up. It's selling sweet potato. Brand new. Used to be a family run business. But you can see it's so clean and so nice. It doesn't really fit. But I think if tourism is going to be returning, this makes a lot of sense. Because tourists don't really know about the DNA of Ameyoko Market. But you have sweet potato confection served here. It's all really good stuff. But again, like somebody had to sell their business. And a chain or a really nice shop took over. But it doesn't really fit the vibe of this street.

09:21 John Daub: You can see the matsutake. Oh gosh. This is autumn right here, folks. Matsutake (pine mushroom) is a very expensive mushroom that we use in cuisines because it has a not so much for the flavor but more for the smell. It's so great in rice. This is one of those army surplus stores where you can still get backpacks and jackets. And boots. And the history of this shop hasn't changed. I believe it's still family run. I think the family no longer works there. But they do have staff that they hire to do it. But I don't think it's changed much. Nakata Tokyo Ueno Surplus Store.

10:11 John Daub: I'd love to get more of the history of this. So I probably will do an episode on this shopping street. It is continually changing. But over the last three years, it has changed more than in the last ten years. Twenty-five years that I've been in Japan. Alright, the next thing that I've seen changing in Tokyo markets. Again, you can see the connection to Ameyoko is Amey America. There's two chains of thoughts on how this market became Ameyoko. Yokochō (alley market) being like an alley market. Ame can be America. Because this is the black market for like army stuff. Things that came from the U.S. But Ame also means candy. And you saw that there were two really good candy shops. So it could come from the candy side of things.

11:22 John Daub: Above us is the Keihin Tohoku line and the Yamanote line. Both those lines are right above us. I've noticed the stuff that's sold things for cooking at home have turned into restaurants too. This is Ichiraku, I guess they call this. Kind of an izakaya (pub), I believe. Where you can get beer and sit out on the street. And then across the way, this is a new shop. They have like a whiskey bar. This is so new. So what they're doing is they notice that the people who come here, nobody is really shopping like it's a supermarket. Which is what they used to do 20, 30 years ago. Now they're coming here to eat. They're coming here for like tourism and adventure. So you're starting to see that more. And those people are hungry.

12:03 John Daub: And it's a better business decision to change it from selling shoes like they do here. Because the people who buy shoes here are now older and gone. Some of them. And now younger people will buy their shoes on Amazon. So the market for this is not here. So what do they do? They change their business strategy to what people really want. Which is street food. Here's another donburi. Seeing the success of the other places. They kind of changed the menu. And they bring out places where you can sit out on the street. And you can absorb the food. And there's a really interesting ambiance of Ameyoko Market.

12:42 John Daub: Again, this used to sell seafood. This has changed over the last year. This used to sell seafood. And now it sells it so you can eat its seafood. There's an ikura don (salmon roe rice bowl). And there's more here. The other thing that I noticed is that the business owners that are taking over these shops are not Japanese. A lot of them are immigrant owners from other Asian countries. Vietnamese, Korean. Especially Korean. Chinese. I met a Taiwanese owner whose family has been in the area for a long time. So you'll see some, I guess you could say, ethnic foods here. And it's really good. Even have kebabs here. So I think in general that vibe, that immigrant vibe is really cool. That ethnic food vibe. I kind of like it. But it's changed, right?

13:54 John Daub: Look behind me here. This is not Ameyoko. But it is now. Check it out. I mean, it's bright. There's neon lights. And yeah, that looks like a chain shop. It's so clean. Like a chain shop from another country. Here's one that's a little bit cleaner. And more of a Japanese looking style. Like an izakaya. Again. This used to be a shop selling nuts and dried fruit. And seafood. But nobody buys their seafood on the street anymore. So there are different reasons for coming here than there were 20 years ago.

14:51 John Daub: The seafood sellers are still here. Here's one I think that I hope never goes away. And they have ridiculous deals on seafood too. I mean, this is way better. And usually this might be like day old. I always wondered how they make these deals. The answer is that they might slightly be a little bit inferior in some way. But you can't really tell. Especially if you're using it in cuisine. If you're cooking it with curries and stuff. You don't really need to have the best of the best. You just need to have it tasting pretty good enough.

15:39 John Daub: Here's another really interesting shop. This is from Tsukishima. Very close to my own neighborhood. And they sell monjayaki (savory pancake). Which is not, I guess I could say, indigenous to this area. It's like, what is this shop doing here? You cook on the countertop on a teppanyaki (iron griddle). It's kind of like okonomiyaki (savory pancake), but it looks gross. But it tastes great. So these kinds of places are popping up on the street. And that does take away from that vibe that this market was, again, just a few years ago. It's bizarre, right? For people who have been to Japan over and over again. And have been to this market. You're seeing revolutionary changes in the dynamic of this market. And this does not go just for Ameyoko. This is a nationwide change.

16:54 John Daub: Leave me a comment below if you think this is something that's good or bad. How would you like to see the market change? What would be exciting for you? Let me know. If you do come to Ameyoko Market, there is an institution that you have to come here. Right here. This is Shimura-san's shop. You give them a thousand yen. And he will give you an entire massive bag of confections. It's been here for almost 40, over 40 years I think he said. Since the 1970s I believe. It's quite a long time. That's really cool to see that it's still here. Again, it is an anomaly on this street now. Because everything has really gotten cleaner, better, modern. And he keeps it with a very simple sign. And this is the Ameyoko that I always knew.

18:23 John Daub: You can find a way to evolve. But make it modern too. But like I can't put my finger on why a monjayaki place is here. That's what monjayaki looks like. It comes like this. And then there's the juice. You put it on the tip. It's really hard to explain. Alright, let's go down the alley here. This place has been selling seaweed for a very long time. You see this? See her giving advice about the seaweed? This is the kind of thing that we do lose out when it changes to chain shops. This is the thing that we do lose out. We lose that professional. The senmonka (expert). The expert on seaweed selling. She knows everything about all the different kinds of seaweed. And she's helping out a customer with that knowledge. And we lose that knowledge when things change like that. People who have been working in the same industry for generations have a special knowledge. And that value. Where does that go?

19:54 John Daub: This shop has never changed. But this one has. Wow, this one looks like an izakaya. It's too clean inside. It just doesn't fit. This used to be a shop that had chairs outside. But the city really cracked down on that because of the pandemic. And I guess they just sold out. And now this is here. This is my Ameyoko that I saw when I first came to Japan. Eating out on the street like this. This is the way it was supposed to be like. And you get this feeling of being 40, 50 years ago in Japan. You don't get that anymore. But you can still find it. But you can still find it. But it's getting harder.

20:47 John Daub: This is one of my favorite tempura places. Hama-chan. I highly recommend if you're in the area. You'll get so much tempura for the cost performance. It's amazing. This shop has been here forever. And you can usually sneak in here if you're a solo traveler. And meet locals. You're shoulder to shoulder with people. Which is maybe not the best thing in the pandemic. But we're getting better. And if you feel it, then it might be a good place to hang out for solo travelers.

21:22 John Daub: You see somebody. An older gentleman has fallen over. So he's sitting on a crate of beer. And a police officer came over to see if he was okay. This is Ameyoko near Ueno in Tokyo. So a lot of the places around. A lot of the places on the other side of the Yamanote track. It's harder to see the changes here. I think the loss of generational knowledge is tragic. The heart of a place is lost at the same time in my opinion.

21:56 John Daub: We're on the other side. And I think that's sort of the key to it. If all the businesses sell out, then I think we're in trouble. But I think that there was too much of the same stuff in Ameyoko. And I guess the ones that had built the strongest businesses are going to last a little bit longer. But it's almost inevitable. It feels that way that all these businesses will be lost. And they're going to have to modernize this whole area anyways. Tokyo has been undergoing over the last 10 years, maybe a little bit more since the earthquake and tsunami. It hit Tokyo pretty hard too. Of course not as hard as up in the north. But the integrity of the buildings. We could see that the construction that we did in the 1950s and 60s and 70s here is just not up to par. So what the city has been doing is tearing it down. Probably what they're doing with this building here on the left. And building new stuff. But feels very generic. It just loses that feeling of what Tokyo was.

23:00 John Daub: So what is Tokyo? Is it a city that Godzilla destroys? It's basically a post-war phoenix rising from the ashes. And a lot of it came really quickly. And that's why you have the architecture that you have after the war. They needed to build something. And a lot of this building stayed around. And that's what makes it pretty cool. You have the like bubble era. Do you see this building here? This looks so bubble era. Like it was brand new. It probably looked so cool. And now it looks almost abandoned. Next to it is a lot. Again, probably torn down because of the earthquake construction. Looks like this place is going to be torn down too. This used to be a slot machine and pachinko parlor. Looks like from the 1980s. And it's now going to be torn down. So you're seeing a lot of this. That's kind of sad too.

24:21 John Daub: I often wondered if they could make a new building that was new but made it look modern. And still had a touch of that weird bubble era style or something. I mean if you could make the Edo period into modern buildings these days. And a lot of them are like that. You could probably do that with the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. And find a way with creativity. We've already lost the Nakagin Capsule Tower. It's actually just a pit right now. I was there just a couple of days ago. Very sad to see. But again, we have to evolve.

25:11 John Daub: Check this out here on the corner. So this one has been here for a while. Again, I love that vibe of the street foods. In the winter when it's cold. They probably put this up starting around October 20th. You have the vinyl covers to it. And that keeps the warmth inside there. And then next door. This used to be a clothing shop. And they've opened it up to make it look like some sort of coffee bar. Again, going into the coffee fad. People are really hooked on it. So it looks like it's a pretty good idea to put something like that right on the corner here.

25:52 John Daub: Can you hear the trains rolling by above? One of my favorite places to eat if I do come here is down in the alleys on this side. Again, Hama-chan is highly recommended that I walk by about five minutes ago. There's a bunch of other shops here. Although I would recommend that you get there early because it's sort of like people plant their butt down. And they don't leave for hours. And they just drink and eat. Which is part of the experience. So if you're waiting for a table, you might be waiting for a while. Get there early. Plunk yourself down and have some fun.

26:26 John Daub: This shop's been here forever selling enka (Japanese ballad) albums. They still sell the media here. Because Japan has the oldest population in the world. Things like 8-track. They still sell. But you can find it here. And I guess it's now a niche shop. Here's a hat store. Looks like Nishimura Casual Wear has had it. He's making hats or selling them for several generations. You still see shops like this. And again, like I don't know for how long. Underneath the tracks here in Ameyoko, you can see the shops are lined mostly local places. I don't think chains would go inside there. They're just too small. It's almost like a farmer's market. It has a feel inside there.

27:22 John Daub: This shop has been selling tea and seaweed for generations. I also remember interviewing them. They've really cleaned it up inside. But I interviewed them for NHK about five years ago. When was the last time I was here? Definitely in 2008. That's even longer ago. So we've gone back and forth this street here. Which is the main part of Ameyoko Market. So I'm going to take you now to the other side here. We're on the other side of the tracks. And I'm going to take you to the side alley that's towards the main road to Ueno Station. So we're getting further away from the rail tracks now. Now Ameyoko is very much that street there. But I think it would just encompass this whole area pretty much. And you can see a lot more changes are happening on this side.

28:24 John Daub: The one thing that has disappointed me with the Tokyo redevelopment is the generic buildings. I think I touched on this a little bit earlier. Generic building. Where do you go with that? It just looks kind of boring. Modern, nice and clean maybe. I guess that's the image. But that's not what the image of Tokyo's markets were. They were like post-World War II black markets. Where you could buy stuff. Families could quickly set up a shop and start to make money. On things that people needed that they no longer did. And Amazon played a part in that. Amazon in Japan has been around for a while. I guess Japan was maybe the second or third country outside the U.S. that had an online shop here. I remember coming. I guess it was 2002 or 2003. I started ordering on Amazon here in Japan. It was mostly books. Because getting foreign books, Amazon was the place. And then it started selling more than that. Shoes, I remember I think I bought a pair of shoes because I couldn't find my size here.

29:43 John Daub: Most shoes stop at 28 centimeters, which is size 10. And I'm 10 and a half in the U.S. 10 and a half or 11. So it's really hard to find that size here in Japan when the shoes stop at 28. You have to feel a little quick. Even the socks are hard to find here in Japan. They stop at 27, I think, for socks. But on this street, you're seeing more chains. Hard Off is a used bookstore chain or used goods chain. There's more game centers on this side of the street. The shoe shops used to be local. Now there's ABC Mart. I think that's been here for about 10 years now. But with tourism returning, I got a feeling that this might change again. And we might see some things that are more unique.

30:32 John Daub: I always felt like Japan will do everything it can to have zero risk. And that can lead to a lack of taking risks. Which could be boring as hell. And that might be a reason for the architectural decisions. One reason, and there are many reasons why Japanese wear face masks right now. You can see on the streets here. Even outdoors. It's because why take the risk? That's the way Japan thinks. It's just different. You can't say one way is right or wrong. You can't say that the U.S. way or the Western way is the right way. You can't say Japan's way is the right way either. Or the wrong way. It's just different. And the longer you live outside of the country, the more you can see nobody's right, nobody's wrong. It's just different. People don't why take any chance? Why take any risk? How do you know if you're sick? Why just wear a mask? People don't mind. And that thinking transcends a lot of stuff in culture here.

32:12 John Daub: The good thing about living here for 25 years is I've sort of become sort of a good idea of what's happening around here. It's interesting with these eyes I have to see the changes every time I come and take note of that. Oh, these senbei (rice crackers) look good. This is Nakata rice senbei. I wonder if this would be something the supporters like. These look really good. Fresh. That's a big bag of senbei. Halloween candy is not the same here. Because nobody trick or treats. So Halloween candy just has the marketing on the packaging. It's the same thing for Halloween but it's not really the same. By the way, the second floor of this shop is amazing. You'll find more goodies up there.

33:39 John Daub: So you can see here. That's pistachio with the little squirrel eating the Kit Kats. They have pistachio Kit Kats. That's pretty awesome. And chestnut which is the taste of autumn. To summarize, Ameyoko and the Tokyo markets have all changed. I'm not saying for the better or for the worse. It's just changed to be different. It's evolved. And we see a slice of Japanese culture, where it's going. Japanese everyday life and where it's going. And it's changing. And it's just like everywhere else. Because of the population being too old, we've been lucky I guess in a way. Because the population is older, we've been lucky in a way to have the old nostalgic feeling from the Showa era. Which is these eras go by the reign of the Emperor. Emperor Showa lasted quite a long time. And that architecture, that period after World War II, that still remains here for an extended period of time. Because they were holding on to the businesses and that style for quite a while. And they still do. Because people in Japan seem to live for a long time. But we're starting to see that kind of change. And with that comes generational changes. This one seems quite late compared to the rest of the world. But what is happening now is more or less a modernization of Tokyo's markets. Which has not been occurring. And the pandemic was just one of those catalysts to maybe accelerate things that was inevitable anyway.

35:31 John Daub: And we see Don Quixote on this street. Which at first left a really bad taste in my mouth. But now the more I come back through here, the more I kind of feel it's not that bad. At least they give deals. But we still, when you look at the people who shop here, you still have a mix of now more and more tourists. But a lot of the people you see, they're in their 70s. And they've been shopping here since they were in their teens. And a lot of people are still residing in the houses that they had after World War II. Which is pretty amazing.

36:08 John Daub: That's all I have for you today. I'm really glad that you guys joined me on this walk around. I got a bunch of edited videos to upload. I'm just struggling on a green tea episode. It's like really, I'm checking the details of it because I don't want to give everybody the wrong. I don't even know what the machinery was called. So I had to go back and get the names of the machinery. But a lot of episodes coming. And I think it's cool to go to these markets, go to these places around Tokyo. And then to see how they're changing and kind of find a way to explain it to you. Because if you're coming to visit Japan, you don't know what those changes are if it's your first time. But I kind of do because I've been here for 25 years or so. I'll probably give more insight on some of the places and areas that have changed considerably. A lot of Nagoya has changed. I was just shocked when I was in Nagoya walking around because I used to live there. If you have a question, leave it down below. I'd like to hear your input on this topic. Don't forget to subscribe.

37:16 John Daub: And by the way, I got another week here. This is the postcard for this month. This helps to support the channel. This is the Shinkansen buzzing by the Fuji River with Mount Fuji in the background. This celebrates 150 years of train in Japan. This month is the 150th anniversary of the first train line opening up from Shimbashi to Yokohama. Old 150 class steam locomotive built in the UK. Yeah, it's really evolved. Now we've got Shinkansen and linear motor cars and things like that. But thanks for the support, everybody. We had 25 new postcard signups. That means a lot. And I love to send these from the location. Meaning if it's a postcard next month from Nagoya. Maybe I'm going to try to send it from Nagoya. So it's got a postmark from there. I like the little details on the postcards. All right, guys. Take care. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next live stream. Probably a midnight snack run. I'd see the streets after dark. It's really interesting, too. What is this? Is this new, too? This looks like so much like a chain here. It's too clean. It's too modern and too clean. It's just shocking. I'll get used to it. See you, everybody. Bye from Ameyoko Market. Don't forget that. Hit that like button.