00:03 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Harajuku. This is a trendy neighborhood in the city of Tokyo where a lot of youth fashion and style is created in the subcultures of Japan. These back streets are so famous because this is where you'll find a lot of the amazing stuff. You just have to know where to go. How you doing everybody?

00:27 John Daub: In this episode we're going to walk around the back streets of Harajuku and show you some of the interesting areas around here. A lot has changed over the last couple of years because of the pandemic. I'm excited to explore today. It's a sunny day. The weather has gotten a lot warmer. It started this morning at like zero here in Tokyo and now it must be around 7 or 8 or even 10 degrees Celsius, which is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. A very pleasant day. Let's get moving. We're starting here deep in the heart of Harajuku.

01:04 John Daub: This is a really interesting shop that's changed over time. You see they're using these pipes here to give it a really interesting exterior because it's an un-extraordinary building. But with these pipes, it is extraordinary. That's all about this town. It's all about style. It's all about getting people excited. This is a gallery here and it looks like a really old apartment building from the 1950s or 60s that turned into a cafe and a gallery. That's cool.

01:45 John Daub: The signal might cut in and out too by the way. This is a live stream. If you want edited videos, check out the other channel. A new video coming really soon. Only in Japan main channel. It's been a while since the last live stream on Go. So it's nice to be back. It's February 1st here.

02:03 John Daub: I don't know what a lot of these stores are. This is called WizTokyo. What do they do? Is it a cafe? Is it a clothing shop? I'm always so confused when I walk around Harajuku because I don't know the purpose of the shops. HelloHi821 has recognized the cawing. There's a lot of crows in the city of Tokyo. Toby (crow). They're everywhere.

02:33 John Daub: This is an interesting building. I just love the architecture in Tokyo. They got a really small plot of land and created this what looks like an apartment. I don't know what that building is at the glass front. I guess it goes down to the basement. Here's another really interesting looking building in the alley here. It's all dark. It's been painted black. Looks really stylish. I could tell you the rent here is super high. If you have a trend, you better go and be popular because you're not going to be able to afford the rent for very long around this neighborhood.

03:12 John Daub: I've already seen just walking around a ton of people using social media and the internet to use Harajuku as a background for photos. You see it a lot in Japanese magazines. This is the area where you want to get your photo taken in the back streets of Harajuku. Everybody here in Japan knows where it's taken when you see it. It's just iconic. You have a lot of glass, a weird eclectic mix too. You see like these low rise houses. This looks like a house that could be in the countryside of Japan. Do you see that beige house in the middle? And here it is in Harajuku, the trendiest neighborhood in Tokyo, one of them. It's really interesting.

04:05 John Daub: What is this place here? This is a haircut place, but it looks like it's leading up to some jungle cafe. That's the mystery of Harajuku because these businesses, a lot of them are satellite shops. They're trying to introduce some sort of new fashion or trend and they're not around for very long. Like a lot of brands that you've probably seen, or you might never even heard about, but you'll find them in the back streets here.

04:37 John Daub: We might just go around the block here, have a quick look. There is some street food around here too. We'll see if we can find some of that. But again, a lot of this has changed over the last couple of years. Let me just take you. There's so many different directions I can go. If we go straight, I can take you to the main street and then we're going to come back to the back streets. Let me just show you the main Harajuku Avenue that leads between Shibuya Station and Shinjuku Station. Harajuku is right on the way. If you're riding on the Yamanote Line, if you've ever been to Tokyo, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

05:16 John Daub: Right, the giant cotton candy, which is not media friendly. They don't like people filming. Is this a used clothing store? They have Ralph Lauren there. That's interesting. A lot of name brands get recycled and you'll see them in the stores here. Alright, this is more people are on this side, but I'm telling you, if you come to Harajuku, you need to explore and get off that main street. And I'm talking about like this one and Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street), which is where I'll take you right now. There's some dancing going on there. That sounds like they're speaking Korean. Wow.

06:10 John Daub: The reason why there's a lot of people coming here is because just across the street, and the reason why I didn't start there is because I have a love-hate relationship with Takeshita Dori. There it is. This is the one street that every tourist comes to go and see because it's just so infamous, notorious. This street has changed just in the last year. A lot of businesses have gone out of business. The iconic ACDC Rag, which used to be right there on the corner. ACDC Rag had this weird satellite shop of their other business inside there. That got knocked down, unfortunately. They lost the zoning battle in court and they had to get rid of it. Hopefully they were compensated. I was going to get in touch with them again and making another episode.

07:03 John Daub: Down this street, there may be some lag in this side. There's a lot more people here. That's where the cotton candy is. That's where the tourists go. That's what we're going to avoid. Alright, let's get back down the side streets. This will take you straight to Shibuya Station in this direction. And there's the only Galaxy Samsung store maybe in Japan.

07:43 John Daub: If you're making your way to Japan real soon, this is the weather you're going to get. It's pretty nice right now. Cool, Roadie's going to be here in 11 days. How cool is that? Alright, let's walk in this direction and we'll go around the block here. Again, the shops, they don't make any sense at all. But that's what makes so much sense here. It's just like some sort of fashion shop here. Somebody will rent it out. They have an idea for fashion or food or something. This looks like a ramen shop. This wasn't here before. Oh, that smells really good.

08:32 John Daub: What we got here. Avocado? That's interesting. What do you guys think? This looks more like pasta, not ramen. Like udon pasta. Which is a pretty good idea. Hey, MBCA. Thank you. Look at this sneaker shop. SNKR. Do you think that means sneaker? There's a lot of amazing shops in the back here. A lot of this stuff is so expensive. They don't particularly care if you're bringing in the mass amount of people. It's like they're more interested in people who really want to buy their stuff coming in and shopping. It's not like the Gap, of course. It's more like, yeah, we got something you want. You got to come out and find us. Attraction. That's a good name. Established 2006. That means they've been around for quite a while.

10:05 John Daub: I could totally go for some food. Wow, look at this. I've never seen a shoe store like this. Those sneakers are probably really expensive in order to have a place like that on the street in the middle of Harajuku. But I think Kicks Lab is one of them. I think I've heard of them. Sneakers in Japan are quite a big deal. Sneaker aficionados. Sneakerheads. This is like one of those places in the world you got to go for your sneakers. I'm not into that yet. I never saw paying so much money for sneakers, stuff that you're going to wear around on the street to have much value. But there are people that do. And that's kind of cool.

11:08 John Daub: Wow, this is like a Chinese type of ramen here. And the prices are pretty cheap. So I'm guessing they get a lot of people coming to this shop. But it's interesting to see a Chinese restaurant in the middle of Harajuku. But honestly, kids don't have a lot of money. All these shops around here are super expensive. None of them are really like premium things. And I guess kids don't have a lot of money. So you think a cheap ramen place would make a lot of sense. But maybe they have money. Because everything is not cheap here. It's weird, right? Another sneaker shop. Like people buying sneakers here. That's interesting.

12:17 John Daub: Check this out here. This is the year of the rabbit. So the Coca-Cola machines have rabbits on them. That's kind of neat. So the Coke has rabbits on it. Very cool. It's lunch time right now around 12:30. It's just not so crowded on the weekday. A lot of people, especially kids from neighboring cities, they come here on the weekends. Harajuku is quite crowded. And right now, the kids are in school too. So during the weekdays, you're probably not going to see it unless they're playing hooky. Like Spider-Man is playing hooky. Shouldn't you be in Gotham City swinging around?

13:48 John Daub: The streets are so bare today. Hey, I found the other eggs and things. I didn't know there was one back here. That's Hawaiian chain, I think. It's interesting they have something in the back. Alright. Let's take a left here. We can go down the alley. Whoa. This looks like a red light district. I don't have what you're looking for. Let's move on. These back streets are not great for live streaming, but they're great for walking around. So we'll just give it a try.

15:02 John Daub: Is this street food? There's nobody there. I would get something. I don't think they're open yet. Whoa. Is that like recycled from... Why is there an NBC sports jacket here? That's weird. Do you see that? How did that get here? I think like one of the cameramen must have left it and they got put into a recycle shop. That's funny. Because I had a friend from NBC visit me during the Olympics. Amanda from NBC in Miami. That was funny.

16:01 John Daub: Japan has some of the best umbrellas too. Like do you see this umbrella here? This one, it's more of a dome so the water doesn't get onto you if it's coming down hard. And they also make umbrellas with see these here? They have like a lot of different sticks in them. You see that? So they're stronger than regular umbrellas and look really nice. I think getting an umbrella in Japan, I would probably pick one up. There's some really good ones that they have here. They're not for just the sun. But I think it's really interesting to get one from here, especially if they look like a samurai sword. Katayama got me... He sent me one of these from Amazon or something. I thought that was pretty interesting. So you can get these umbrellas that look like samurai swords.

17:21 John Daub: This is Omotesando (Omotesando), which is really connected with the Harajuku neighborhood. If I pan to the left here, you can just see right up the street. There's a lot of people. And this is like what they would call the Champs-Élysées of Tokyo, the big famous shopping street in Paris. We have something similar to that here. Omotesando. Lot of tourists. It's getting really windy too. It feels more like March than February.

18:12 John Daub: Today, if anyone watches NHK World, I'm in a video on NHK about Wagyu beef. I was at the Wagyu Olympics. I'm uploading that video in the next couple of days. You can see me giving my expertise. I think they dubbed me a Wagyu expert, which is really funny. I'll take it. I think moderators, if you can find the link to that, put it in the description because it's nice to see. They did all the editing and video work on that one. I kept bumping into them. I was there for the entire five days at the Wagyu Olympics, and they were there as well. I thought that was pretty cool. I am a Wagyu expert. I've eaten more Wagyu than... Well, I've eaten a lot, but not in volume. I kind of don't eat a lot. I don't eat more than 100 grams usually, which isn't a very big amount.

19:21 John Daub: This is the famous Tokyo Plaza with the mirrors. It's still a new building to me because when I moved here, this didn't exist, but it's been around for such a long time. It's really an interesting architectural building right in the intersection. Today, I released the Kickstarter documentary. It's been in the works for a very long time. So if you're a Kickstarter backer, you can go and download that off of the link in the update. This is why I didn't do a live stream for a very long time. I was bunkered up. That's what happens when you have these big projects. It's like an hour and a half long Only in Japan episode. It's crazy good, and Peter von Gomm put a lot of love into that video too. So you can see his fingerprints on there and mine as well. Yeah, it's all mirrors. Check that out. Go in there. You see yourself at all different angles and shapes.

20:31 John Daub: This building is coming along nicely. I'll show you a little bit of the documentary. So it gives you an idea of what I've been working on. Here we go. Hey, it's me. Alright, there you go. There's a little bit of the introduction to it. There's another hour and a half of that. We worked really hard on it. Whoa, Ferrari. So, you know, shout out to Peter von Gomm for all the work he put into that documentary. It was just a labor of love. But now that it's done, I feel like a huge weight is lifted off of me. So back to work we go. Let's head back to the back streets here.

21:50 John Daub: The last few weeks, I've been quite busy going out for location shoots. Another YouTuber was here. Joe Hatab, a really good friend. A great guy. He's a visionary. And we got a chance to go to... I'm filming Yamanashi Prefecture. Hey, Jeff Kennedy. Long time no see. How you doing? That's Mount Fuji. That's what we saw last week. That's awesome. Look at this. It's going to open up in a second. That's what I'm talking about. There's so many reasons not to be in Tokyo. That's one of them. It's just such an amazing sight. We were there last week. I drove past it. I was the one driving the car. Mount Fuji just dwarfing the city of Fuji Yoshida. It's just an incredible scene. And in the winter is the best time to be going to Mount Fuji. There are advantages to coming here in January. Clearer skies, especially if you're going to Mount Fuji. It's snow-capped, so it's so much more beautiful. You get that. You can't tell about May, but the best is right now. Maybe end of January and all through February. Mount Fuji is just epic with the snow cap on it.

24:33 John Daub: I'm kind of happy that this is still here. I never really eat at TGI Fridays, but they do have a shop here in Harajuku. And it does feel like going back to the US, sort of. I don't think that they're doing too well, though. So if you need a burger, maybe give them a little bit of support so they don't go under. I'd hate to lose more businesses that make me feel like I'm home a little bit. I know they did close down some of the other branches. Alright, let's go down the side streets here, because I know that there's going to be something more interesting than this. Cat Street. And I'm pretty sure we're going to lose signal inside of here.

25:19 John Daub: There's like a lobster place. I thought I would get a snack at that lobster place. Oh, this is a ramen place, too. There was a Thai restaurant. Is this it? Yeah. I would always go here when I lived in Futako-Tamagawa, and it's been here the whole time. Look at that sukiyaki ramen. Oh, that looks so amazing. Look at that broth. It's been worked over for hours and hours to make it super delicious. Yeah, here's a... I think this is still the Thai restaurant? Chow Bamboo. Yeah. This has been here for years. And there used to be a really cool cafe, but now there's this glass building here, which is a shame.

26:14 John Daub: So two businesses that you have to know for food. The back alleys have a gyoza (dumpling) shop. The gyoza is at that counter. Everyone sits around the counter eating gyoza. It is so good. And it's pretty cheap. You can get a platter of gyoza for 340 yen right there. And then right next door is this Thai restaurant, which has been here for ages. And you can sort of sit outside in the summertime. The vinyl is up off of the back of the restaurant there. And it's just a really pleasant place to stay for a meal. Thai food in Japan is pretty good too, I have to say. The business has changed so quickly in Harajuku, Shibuya area.

27:14 John Daub: Gary writes in here, is the Harajuku rent expensive? It is. I have a buddy of mine who had an office. He's crazy. Because there's this thinking that your address, and back then maybe 15 years ago, your address is really important for the success in Japan. This is Cat Street here. Do you see this road here? Cat Street is a really famous street that connects Harajuku with Shibuya. And if you walk down the street, you see some office spaces and apartments and things that. It is pretty pricey. Apartment, like a 1K, one room apartment starts at about $1,500 a month. Starting, right? That's probably pretty small. And the prices go astronomical from there out. But you can see this. If you look around, there's more high rise buildings in the distance. That's near Shibuya station. Those rents are pretty high, but with more accommodations coming in, I think the prices are going to go lower because you just can't find enough people if the prices stay that high.

28:26 John Daub: This shop is new. This used to be a Luke's Lobster. What? We lost Luke's Lobster? For a wedding shop? Really? Guess it's still a pretty big business. It's called Cat Street because it was just a lot of cats here. It's pretty self-explanatory. This is the back streets of Omotesando. I guess it's still considered hot. It's a lot of Harajuku, but there's a lot of satellite shops here. And in fact, I get these shoes from a company called Keen, a US store, and they have their shop here because it fits the clientele like young hipsters. So this is like the young hipster street, I guess. Nothing wrong with that.

29:31 John Daub: They got takoyaki (octopus balls) over there. Shout out to Linda Morita. Thank you, Linda. I think I'll go get some takoyaki now. Click the like if you want to get some takoyaki, click the like button and I'm going to go back and return there. I just want to have a quick look in this direction and we'll end the live stream with some takoyaki. How about that? What could go wrong with hot takoyaki? Nothing, right? So I think you're getting the vibe a little bit. This place has changed a lot. Oh, there's the Keen shop. So you can get your Newport sandals and your Austin shoes here. Interesting. There's Puma shop. Main shop is there. So they have a lot of the brands are all in here.

31:28 John Daub: Alright, let's go get takoyaki. And if I find something else, we'll get something because I am hungry. Let's do this. I'm looking forward to seeing Irvin if he's back here again, hopefully January. I was so bunkered up from that documentary. I just didn't get a chance to get out. So it's nice to be able to get some fresh air and light. I felt like a zombie for the longest time. I'm going to mask up.

33:07 John Daub: I think I'll go with this spicy cheese. Maybe the negi ponzu (green onion ponzu). Boy, there's a lot of choices here. Negi ponzu. Okay, 350 yen. Okay, thank you. Thank you. So I can get the tripod here. I put it in my pocket there. Hey, how are you doing? Thank you. That's so cool. I think that's the Korean one, right? Thank you for that. And Stephen Tice, beer to go beer. Alright. I guess it's 5 o'clock somewhere, right?

35:25 John Daub: We'll be ending mask era for Japan soon. I think it was like May 8th or something. It's long overdue. What's with Strong Zero? Everybody likes a Strong Zero. This is a negi ponzu. You can see the negi, which are the green onions. Takoyaki are basically grilled balls of dough with some beni shoga (pickled ginger), which is this pink ginger, and pieces of tako (octopus). So they call it takoyaki, grilled octopus balls. You have to add balls in there. There you go. You can see the shop behind me. I have a very strong feeling that I'm going to burn my mouth here. So should I give it a little bit of time? I think I should give it a little bit of time here. I just have a feeling I'm going to get burned. It's always the case. Alright, itadakimasu (let's eat).

36:48 John Daub: Oh, hot, but good. My eyes are watering. Oh, man. The thing with takoyaki is they have the fish flakes on the top of it. This is katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). No, that is not acting. It's tears. Do you see them? Tears of happiness. So the ponzu that they put on it, it's like a really tangy sauce. It makes it moist, kind of like mochi mochi (chewy). Cat Street. It's the only takoyaki place on Cat Street. That's it. That's all you need to know. Omotesando Station or Meiji-jingumae Station, which is Harajuku and Cat Street. You don't need an address. Cat Street.

39:04 John Daub: It's good. Hot. It's not polite to talk with your mouth full. What can I do? These are not normal circumstances, sharing takoyaki with hundreds of people, thousands. While I eat this, let me show you some of the streets. I've got three left here. It's not pleasant to watch them do to eat. So these are some of the streets on the other side of Harajuku, which I thought were really scenic. Check this out. That was good.

41:02 John Daub: Alright, we're back. Thanks for standing by. I did a video a couple of days ago, and I think I teed off a couple of people out of thousands. There's always one or two. You don't have to wear a mask walking around the city in Tokyo. People do it because they have hay fever. They do it because they want to. Societal pressures. But literally, the government has released information packets saying that if you're outside, unless you are talking directly to somebody, which I'm not, you don't have to wear a mask outside. Just on public transportation in crowded locations or any place that says wear a mask. But I'm starting to see more and more people not doing it, and it's just about people feeling comfortable. Japanese culture is great. It's great because you do feel safer. But you've got to get some vitamin D. May 8th. I don't know how you can put a date on this, but I think it's getting people more accustomed to this because the pandemic has really done a number on the economy here, and we can't let that happen anymore.

42:54 John Daub: This is Cat Street. If you're looking for it, look for the woman, and then go straight. That's it. Look for the woman and go straight. It's that simple. Hey, Tokyo Paul. Sometimes there's a basket of cats. There's a lady who has, or is it a guy, who has a basket of cute cats that just makes the pilgrimage back and forth here, and you get some really Instagrammable photos of that. I haven't seen that person in a while. Alright, I'm going to take you down to the intersection here before I head back home. Did the Shakey's Pizza go out of business? What? Shakey's is gone? If Shakey's is gone, what's left? I didn't know Shakey's Pizza was gone. That was like an institution at that spot. Oh, no. Kittyland's here, but I think they moved from another shop.

44:07 John Daub: You know, a lot of the really interesting shops that were here because of tourism just went out, and they were taken over by other properties, other businesses that have nothing to do with tourism, which is kind of a shame. Because now tourism is returning, and they're finding some places in the wrong place. It's true. So we'll see how this all looks in the next. Hey, Case Freedia, I thought you were going to bed, buddy. I hope you were able to download the video. I'm telling you right now, I'm going to come back. I'm not a huge fan of TGI Fridays, but I'll probably be back with Kanae Daub because it just feels like America in there. And no, you don't have to tip, which is weird. No tipping. Don't do it in Japan. Unless it's Uber Eats, and then maybe do it because they don't get paid a lot. If they get your stuff to you pretty quick, throw them a few hundred yen, but it's just not a culture where tipping is common. It's actually insulting to tip in many situations. Don't tip your cab driver. If you tip them, they feel like you think they're not making enough money or that they picked a low-paying job or something like that. So it can be insulting too. Just be really careful.

45:54 John Daub: So I want to point this out to you as well. Smoking on the public streets is prohibited. And if you do, you can be fined. It's a fairly significant amount. But you have to be in smoking areas to smoke on the street, and that's what this booth is for. Also, the recycling is also quite good in the city. Just make sure you put trash in the right place. These recycling bins are getting more complicated, which is great, I guess. Japan is using less and less plastic, but it's probably not enough for so many people. This is going to be so interesting when this complex is built. This is where the condominium was, the shop on the corner. It's been demolished, and now something new is coming. This building, I don't think it's going to be here much longer. This was a Jonathan's, but that Jonathan's is out of business, as well as the UFJ Bank that's here. I think they're just going to get rid of all the stuff. They're going to get rid of all the shops, and then it's going to be a new building over here. I don't know how long this Laforet is going to be here, but I bet you it'll all look like the Tokyo Plaza building. Up there is a top-secret Starbucks if you need a drink. You want to support a massive chain. I do, often. Enough.

47:20 John Daub: Any last questions here, guys? Yeah, Justina. Exactly. Starbucks is my vice. I feel you. Alright, guys. This has been a lot of fun. I just like to get out about it, especially after being bunkered up for two weeks working on that documentary. If you're a Kickstarter backer, go ahead and check that out on Vimeo. Really cool. If you have any questions about Harajuku, you can leave a comment below. If you like this, make sure you subscribe, because I'll be doing another livestream tomorrow. What is the name of these streets? I don't think locals even know the name of these streets, unless you have a business there. The thing is, when I come to Harajuku, I just get lost. It's not that big, but it's very easy to get lost. And my suggestion to everybody who comes and lives in this area, get lost. Get lost in the back streets, because all these things that I just showed you, they're probably not going to be there. There'll be something else there in its place that's even better. And that's really the great thing about Harajuku.

48:29 John Daub: This neighborhood is awesome. This neighborhood is always changing, and that's what makes it really unique. It doesn't matter if you're into the subculture and the fashion and all that. It's just kind of cool just to walk around every now and then. And I hope that you enjoyed this Omotesando and the back streets of Harajuku over there. That's where we were in the beginning of the livestream. It's interesting to see that in this direction. Takeshita Dori is over there. I try to avoid that street, but that's changed a lot too. It's more like a Disney store now. It's like too commercial for my taste. I think it's interesting to walk through there once if you're just visiting Japan. Get a Suica card or a Sugoca. I use Sugoca. I like the frog and his little playtime friend. Sugoca is the card from Kagoshima in South Kyushu. So you want to be cool. Get an out of towner card.

50:11 John Daub: Alright, everybody. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time. A little love from Meiji Dori, the street that goes between Harajuku and Shinjuku and Shibuya. Shibuya is in this direction. I'll see you next time, probably tomorrow, for another livestream. We're going to do a lot more in the month of February. Sorry I haven't been around in January, but I'm back.