Speakers: John Daub (SPEAKER_00), Alex — guest from Berlin (SPEAKER_01)

00:00:02 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Akihabara! That is the paradise for so many people that come to visit here, of things to do and see. But we're not going to be going down the main street this time, no. We're going to be going to the alleys because that's where all the action happens. That's where all the danger happens. That's where in many cities people will get mugged, and where we have some fun.

00:00:26 John Daub: And joining me on this episode is Alex.

00:00:29 Alex: Hey everyone, long time no see.

00:00:32 John Daub: You did a live stream in Nihonbashi about four years ago?

00:00:36 Alex: I think, yeah, three and a half. It was September, October 2019 when I was here.

00:00:43 John Daub: You haven't aged at all.

00:00:45 Alex: Me neither.

00:00:46 John Daub: Yes I have, yes I have.

00:00:48 Alex: Alright, we're going to walk here from Akihabara. This is Suehirocho Station which is pretty close. It's kind of on the fringe of Akihabara towards Okachimachi. And on the way there are a ton of alleys, some of which I've never shown you before. Let's get moving.

00:01:08 John Daub: I'm aware that there's an audio switch every time I switch the camera. So I'll try not to move the cameras around too much in an effort to make it a smoother experience for the playback. Hey, Michael Sassano's here. I see Kelvin. Gloria. Bago Park. Bago Pork Rinds. How you doing? Konnichiwa.

00:01:30 John Daub: Yeah, the weather looks like it's completely different from yesterday. If you look at the live stream we had nice sunny weather. And today it was raining for a little bit. But the wind is certainly pretty strong. We'll have the external mics going. We should have a nice experience here.

00:01:48 John Daub: So Alex, how was your trip? So what was it like entering Japan?

00:01:53 Alex: It was a mess actually to enter. They made you fill out two or three digital forms on the website they created for vaccine procedure, quarantine and that stuff. And I mean they had an idea. It was organized at the airport. But for example, I filled out the digital thing for also immigration and customs. So when I was at customs, the line for people that filled out the digital form was super long. And the line for people that filled out the actual paper, there was no one. And I said, I filled it out already. Can I just pass here? They said, no, if you filled out the digital form, you have to get in line there.

00:02:41 John Daub: Wait, it's because you filled out the digital already, they made you stick with that?

00:02:45 Alex: Yeah, I took out my phone with the QR code and I said, I got it already. Can I just pass through here? No, over there is the line for people with the QR code. Here it's only for people that filled it out on paper, which was no one.

00:03:06 John Daub: Only in Japan.

00:03:07 Alex: Yes. Well, I think there's a lot of countries that stick to the rules.

00:03:10 John Daub: But that's pretty crazy. But how long did it take before you could get out of the airport?

00:03:16 Alex: It might have been maybe like an hour overall. It was not too bad. From landing to getting out of the airport, it could have been worse.

00:03:27 John Daub: The reason why I'm actually here is because this is the Sony service station. And this is where I dropped my camera in the water a month ago. And they said they couldn't fix it. But I actually fixed the camera and I brought it here. This is the Alpha 1. Some of you might know what's going on. This is a very pricey camera. I actually fixed it. But just the monitor is broken on the back here. So I asked them if they would fix it. This is an interesting story. And this is actually quite relevant because it's the same sort of experience that you had. Because they previously said that it was unfixable, even though I fixed it, they will not even look at it to try to repair the screen. Which is, I mean I'm not angry because I'm used to it. That's them's the rules, so to speak. But it's just disappointing because the camera works with an external monitor. I got it to work. And well, there you go. So thanks Sony for, I guess, nothing.

00:04:32 John Daub: All right. So the first place of interest that we're going to go to is 2K540. Do you know this place, Alex?

00:04:38 Alex: I don't.

00:04:39 John Daub: Really? Well. If you're thinking about living here in Japan, you're going to have to. Because it is an interesting place. I don't know how great the signal is, so bear with us. We're going to walk through here. This is underneath the Yamanote Line tracks. And they've set up kind of, I don't know, like artisans and craftsmen selling their stuff in this neat little village. And it's not something that, I mean, it's not a... not like Disneyland, right? I'm not sure how attractive it is for people visiting Japan. But you can find some neat stuff in here. And we are underneath the tracks. And I like the way that the city is making use of all of the space. What do you think?

00:05:27 Alex: Yeah, I mean, it's like the prettiest it can get under train tracks, I think.

00:05:34 John Daub: Yeah. I can't believe we're in the center of the city in a public area. How clean it is.

00:05:36 Alex: Exactly.

00:05:38 John Daub: Anybody can enter in here. Here are some of the stores. This is a ranser. It comes from Dutch, I believe. These are the backpacks that kids have to wear when they go to school. Let me see. I'm going to zoom in for a second. These backpacks can cost as much as $1,000.

00:06:00 Alex: Oh, wow.

00:06:01 John Daub: They're made from real leather. And they're supposed to follow you through childhood for many years. They're well made. The style is very, I don't know, Japanese. But apparently it comes from Holland. So that's interesting. Did you find a shop here? I guess it's leather craftsmen that will make it.

00:06:24 John Daub: Not that time for Leo yet.

00:06:26 Alex: No.

00:06:26 John Daub: Gosh, I hope he stays this size forever. And Leo, if you're watching this and you're 18 years old, I apologize. You are your own man, so to speak.

00:06:35 John Daub: Here's a wood craftsman. They had an iPhone case that was made out of wood, which I thought that was weird.

00:06:41 Alex: Well, it does look good.

00:06:48 John Daub: There's a cafe over there. Yanaka Cafe. What is that? There's a haberdasher. Is that what they call the people who make the hats? Haberdashers? Looks like they make hats there. Japanese hats are too big for me there. Even the smalls are like larges.

00:07:20 John Daub: It's nice. I think this place could use a few more cafes and restaurants to really make it more lively. But it never gets that crowded. I think that's kind of a shame. And I think maybe one reason is that people just don't know about this place. It's located between Akihabara and Okachimachi Station, underneath the Yamanote Line. And if you're ever walking the city, and this is something I encourage everybody to do, you see a lot more. I think you would just totally miss this place if not.

00:07:52 John Daub: Here's a cafe right here. Looks like they have pancakes in the shape of devils, including a mascot that looks like a devil. That's kind of cool. There it is right there. Around the corner. I was looking for the entrance there. But we're going in this direction. So we're going to step out of here. You can hear the train above, can't you?

00:08:20 John Daub: When did you get here into Japan just recently?

00:08:22 Alex: Me?

00:08:23 John Daub: Yeah.

00:08:24 Alex: Three months ago.

00:08:27 John Daub: You've been here for three months?

00:08:29 Alex: Yeah. December.

00:08:34 John Daub: Mostly in Tokyo though.

00:08:35 Alex: Ah.

00:08:36 John Daub: Have you seen changes in the city?

00:08:41 Alex: I mean if you go to areas like Akihabara, Shibuya, all the businesses have changed. All the places since the pandemic. Other than that, I mean not as many tourists yet.

00:08:54 John Daub: It does seem like Japan has changed quite a bit since the last time you were here.

00:09:03 Alex: Yeah. In 2019 was it?

00:09:05 John Daub: Yeah, 2019. A few months before everything, before the borders closed and now I'm back a few months after the borders opened.

00:09:16 John Daub: Yeah. It seems like it's changed a lot. And you know, I've been living here through all of it. And I've seen the shops close and it was such a sad thing. But over the last few months I've seen new shops open. And you're going to see some of them on the right side here as we pass. This is the Yamanote line on the right side. And a lot of businesses had gone out of business because they really did rely on tourists or visitors. This area is a very highly visited place by tourists. Without that, places went under. But they've just started to come back. In the form of new shops and cafes and restaurants that cater to tourists. So I'm pretty excited. Especially yesterday when I went to Asakusa and I couldn't even move in some places.

00:10:07 John Daub: You can hear the construction also all around us. And smell it too. A lot of diesel engines.

00:10:21 John Daub: Okachimachi to Akihabara takes about 15 minutes to walk. It's not very — it's not a bad walk at all. But you'd usually go slower because you find places like this. This is a really neat looking restaurant. You don't find too many places that have big windows like this in Japan. This is called Tokyo Butchers. You can get craft beer and duck lamb wagyu I think they have as well on the menu.

00:10:50 John Daub: And next door is another place. Others with their brew and the beers. Jason from Canada writes in here.

00:10:58 Alex: It's Alex!

00:11:00 John Daub: Hi Jason. It's me. Hi. Happy to be back. This is the Egg Baby Cafe.

00:11:11 Alex: Oh right! I think last time I did walk here this cafe existed. They even have outdoor seating so you can sit right on the road here.

00:11:19 John Daub: Some good lunch and that Von chick is saying maybe we should get some lunch. Look at that. Adult French toast. I think I remember that from before. That does look good. We'll have to get a coffee for sure.

00:11:38 John Daub: They love to put adult in those.

00:11:41 Alex: What does that mean?

00:11:42 John Daub: Adult dessert?

00:11:44 Alex: I think it doesn't mean it's not too sweet.

00:11:47 John Daub: Is it about that? Maybe.

00:11:52 John Daub: They even put the flags of the countries that might be interested in this store. This store is a halal mart and you can get things here if you're Muslim and you need to get halal food. There are places in Japan so this is the proof right here. Nepal, Pakistan. Philippines. Vietnam I see.

00:12:18 Alex: That's interesting.

00:12:18 John Daub: They put the flags up there. That's cool. It smells ethnic doesn't it?

00:12:26 Alex: That's Chinese.

00:12:28 John Daub: Is that Izakaya? Hold on. Oh that one is Chinese right there.

00:12:37 Alex: Yeah.

00:12:37 John Daub: The price probably matches the exterior so you can tell it's not going to be too pricey.

00:12:51 John Daub: Here's a ramen place that looks like it serves up fire. And that chef looks like he could probably kick my butt with his finger. Somebody want to caption this? What would you say?

00:13:15 Alex: This finger has been in many places that you don't want to know about.

00:13:19 John Daub: And it is powerful enough to mix your soup. I can heat your soup up with just this finger.

00:13:22 Alex: I don't know. There's a lot of captions you can use.

00:13:25 John Daub: I'm not sure that he understands that could be a very meme worthy pose. I mean if I had a restaurant I would put a paper cutout of myself in front.

00:13:36 Alex: Yeah.

00:13:38 John Daub: Underneath the tracks here of course they have just roads going through here but they also will throw in a cafe. This is an okonomiyaki restaurant. This did not exist before. You're starting to see some of the chains that are popping up here as well. Hey Jeff Kennedy. Jeff writes in here I hope you enjoy your trip.

00:13:58 Alex: Yeah it's great to be back.

00:14:02 John Daub: Yeah. You're going to be here through the cherry blossom. Awesome seasons. Is there any place in particular that you would want to hit this year?

00:14:09 Alex: I just know the very mainstream touristy ones like Nakameguro. What else?

00:14:14 John Daub: Ueno.

00:14:15 Alex: Oh right. Ueno Park.

00:14:16 John Daub: Yeah they're going to be crowded this year.

00:14:19 John Daub: From today starts the first day where masks are no longer necessary to wear outside or in many places. Mitsukoshi and some of the department stores have dropped the requirement or them asking to wear a mask and it's just down to if you feel comfortable you can take it off. And it was just a matter of time before this hit and I'm starting to see more and more people not wanting to wear masks because that would be normal. The number of cases are so low right now and just I think society needs to go to that next point. But we are there.

00:15:05 John Daub: All right we're at Ameyoko now and that of course is an alley. So we're going to take a look at an alley in this alley here but you can see underneath here there are shops and restaurants underneath the tracks and there's some of the best places too. I don't know. I love to eat whenever I find a restaurant underneath here that comes up and that's new. I love to eat underneath because you can feel the trains above and there's a vibe to it. It's a really neat vibe to it.

00:15:36 Alex: Yeah.

00:15:36 John Daub: Oh hey there's some amazake. Oh wow maybe the takoyaki place is open. What time is it now?

00:15:42 Alex: 11?

00:15:46 John Daub: 11:30. All right maybe we can get some takoyaki before the crowds come.

00:15:52 Alex: Oh yeah.

00:15:52 John Daub: Oh yeah takoyaki.

00:15:59 John Daub: It was about six months ago that I walked through here and my mouth was open in shock when I saw Don Quixote had opened up right there. This is Ameyoko Market and the Don Quixote just didn't belong. It's not a place that is known for chain shops. It's a place for the black market historically in Japan where they sold everything from wrist watches like fake Rolexes and stuff like that, chocolate, like all the stuff that was hard to get would be here from the US after World War II during the occupations. There was a long history of that and now we see the family shops gone and what's popping up in its place? Don Quixote.

00:16:44 Alex: Like what?

00:16:45 John Daub: Yeah that's a shame. Are we boycotting it?

00:16:47 Alex: No I'm not going to boycott Don Quixote. There's a lot of good stuff in there. It's fun to shop in there but most of the stuff isn't made in Japan.

00:16:57 John Daub: I don't know. It doesn't really support local businesses. It's just something I like to do. But I can't not go in there because it's just so much, so interesting.

00:17:08 Alex: There's some things that I want to buy that you can only find there.

00:17:17 John Daub: So let's have a quick look-see. We're now officially in Okachimachi which is between Akihabara and Ueno and we'll walk through here and see if we can get some takoyaki and stop there on the way. My friend Shimura-san is also going to be happy to see us perhaps. I haven't seen him in a couple of months. I will not let him give me a bag of chocolate. Sometimes he'll just start handing me chocolate.

00:17:54 Alex: I might.

00:17:54 John Daub: You might.

00:17:59 John Daub: My ever-expanding waistline needs some takoyaki.

00:18:04 John Daub: Oh, look at the line. That's the line for the...

00:18:07 John Daub: Hey, Tokyo Bo Live in Japan is here. How are you doing? The line for the takoyaki is quite long but not impenetrable.

00:18:34 John Daub: This place will never change. They've been doing this for decades and I continuously make this pilgrimage here on this live streaming channel. Why? Because things change all the time and I don't know. Who doesn't want to watch me lose the skin on the roof of my mouth?

00:18:55 John Daub: How many can you eat?

00:18:58 Alex: If I wait long enough then it's fine but usually it just melts so good that you make the same mistake over and over.

00:19:12 John Daub: Yes. I make the same mistakes over and over and that's the beauty of it.

00:19:17 Alex: Exactly.

00:19:18 John Daub: I cannot wait. My mind turns off when I see hot food. My last takoyaki was in Osaka in January.

00:19:29 Alex: Oh, wow. Well done.

00:19:30 John Daub: Now you need to get it in a... Get it here. Compliments of those wonderful Super Chats. Thanks, guys.

00:19:49 John Daub: Hey, Bago Pork Rinds is going here. Burn, baby, burn. Really? They want to see us suffer?

00:19:59 John Daub: Oh, gosh, really? Thank you, Raymond.

00:20:10 John Daub: We named one. This is what Raymond... Raymond, does that... What's with the fire, Raymond? Is that for me or for the takoyaki?

00:20:27 John Daub: All right. To be polite, I will put my mask on which is basically a piece of a filter.

00:20:47 John Daub: You want to go for four?

00:20:47 Alex: Yeah. I don't think I could eat eight.

00:20:48 John Daub: I don't think I could eat eight. Well, thank you, Joshua. Right on.

00:21:09 John Daub: We've got the Fixings Bar over here. You have mayonnaise, katsuobushi, fish flakes, and the sauce here. That is some corporate-sized sauce jars.

00:21:26 John Daub: I'm going to try this. I'm going to try this. I'm going to try this. Okay, four, two.

00:21:48 John Daub: Do they have an equivalent food in Germany that's like this?

00:21:55 Alex: I mean, street food, yes, but the style with the dough, not that I know. Yeah, the only thing I can think of is the Ollibolins in Holland. They have some of that stuff too at Christmas time. Like these round little donuts.

00:22:32 John Daub: There you go, buddy.

00:22:37 John Daub: So I would go sauce first, I think.

00:22:45 John Daub: Sauce and then mayonnaise?

00:22:46 Alex: That's the way to go?

00:22:47 John Daub: Oh, I missed. I have bad depth perception as a result of the...

00:22:56 John Daub: And then the chopsticks that you would take.

00:23:14 John Daub: Oh, that looks hot.

00:23:18 Alex: It's windy though.

00:23:19 John Daub: Yeah, well, that's not exactly helpful.

00:23:44 John Daub: I guess we just eat it here, right?

00:23:46 Alex: Yeah.

00:23:48 John Daub: That should work.

00:23:55 John Daub: All right.

00:24:00 John Daub: I know what's gonna happen here. This is gonna be painful.

00:24:02 Alex: Yeah.

00:24:02 John Daub: Thanks, guys, for the food funds. There's Paul J. Thank you, buddy. Thank you.

00:24:14 John Daub: So the trick is to open up the ball. Oh, yeah. And let the steam come out, but I don't know.

00:24:28 John Daub: You can open up the ball here and let the steam out, but there's a piece of octopus in there. These are much better. They're much larger than the other ones, too. That's what makes this place infamous here.

00:24:48 Alex: Are you going in or are you waiting? Man, it looks so good.

00:24:50 John Daub: Right? Right? That's the problem.

00:24:58 John Daub: I might take the first bite.

00:25:06 John Daub: Are you going in? Dude, I can see the steam coming out.

00:25:11 Alex: Oh, it's all right. Well, maybe you just have like a steel mouth.

00:25:32 John Daub: With some water. How did you eat that?

00:25:37 Alex: It wasn't that bad.

00:25:40 John Daub: Here's the octopus.

00:25:46 John Daub: My eyes are watering.

00:25:51 John Daub: Hey, Rainer, how you doing? We'll try to find some drinks, like soon. Maybe now. Oh, my gosh. That was hot.

00:26:08 John Daub: I'm just making this up. Nobody said it. If I say somebody also said it, it doesn't make me sound like the insane person. But what if you were to take the mayonnaise, open up a hole, and then put it in the middle and put the mayonnaise inside the hole?

00:26:23 Alex: Uh-huh.

00:26:25 John Daub: Right? I mean, it mixes in your mouth eventually, either way, so...

00:26:30 Alex: That's the point.

00:26:31 John Daub: Yeah.

00:26:54 John Daub: Kelvin says he does that. All right, well, I'll do it.

00:27:03 John Daub: The mayonnaise will take off the heat.

00:27:06 Alex: Mm-hmm. Is that true?

00:27:07 John Daub: It's steaming.

00:27:22 John Daub: Doesn't look like it worked well. I'm going to put more in there.

00:27:32 John Daub: My eyes are watering again. I'm just flushing with the pollen because I'm suffering from the hay fever the last two weeks. I don't get a lot of sleep.

00:27:46 John Daub: Cheers. Love you.

00:27:51 John Daub: Mm.

00:27:56 John Daub: Oh, that's good.

00:28:03 John Daub: All right, let's go get a drink.

00:28:08 John Daub: Whoa. Got to love the alleys of Japan. And that's an alley. That constitutes an alley.

00:28:19 John Daub: Oh, let's see what the new flavors of the Kit Kats are, huh?

00:28:23 John Daub: Oh, yeah. Nikinokashi?

00:28:24 Alex: Yeah.

00:28:25 John Daub: Oh, do you ever eat the Kinkans?

00:28:29 Alex: No.

00:28:30 John Daub: Those baby oranges? They're called Kinkan.

00:28:32 Alex: Okay.

00:28:34 John Daub: And you don't peel them. You eat them whole.

00:28:36 Alex: Exactly.

00:28:37 John Daub: And they taste good?

00:28:38 Alex: Yeah. You got to spit the seeds out, but they're really sweet. And there's something really pleasant about the rind of the orange.

00:28:46 John Daub: Mm-hmm. It doesn't taste like an orange rind. It's just sweeter.

00:28:52 John Daub: So you can see here they've got new kororo are these snacks. I don't think you, if you've never eaten them, you wouldn't know what they are.

00:28:59 Alex: No, of course.

00:29:00 John Daub: But it's candy, but it actually tastes like the grape.

00:29:05 Alex: Yeah. You've had these before?

00:29:06 John Daub: Yeah, I love them. I actually prefer them over like gummy candy, regular one, because I don't know, there is just something about it to bite into the kororo.

00:29:20 John Daub: What is this? This is half biscuit. There's the banana caramel. I've never seen that before. I might have to try that one.

00:29:29 John Daub: What do you guys think? If you're a daimyo supporter, do you want banana caramel? It's an interesting combination.

00:29:36 Alex: Yeah. I'm not sure how much it's going to taste like that, but the milk tea was really good.

00:29:42 John Daub: Milk tea kick-outs were pretty good. And they've got the sakura matcha poke out too, which is pretty sweet.

00:29:55 John Daub: And if you look here, this candy shop's been here for decades, as far back as I can remember. They do have some cherry blossom confections. Here's some Hiroshima Momiji. But they have sakura flavored, which is basically red bean paste. This one, there's a white bean paste, but they put some pink zao sakura in there to give it that salty floral taste, which I just love because it tastes like spring.

00:30:25 Alex: Yeah. Sakura season is in full effect.

00:30:27 John Daub: Yeah. A lot of pink in the stores. A lot of pink.

00:30:32 John Daub: You can see the Yamanote line cruising right above us here as we go down another one of the alleys on the way to Ueno Station. Ueno Station, which is just about five minutes away. Let's see what we can find. We're going to cross underneath the line and look at the other alleys here.

00:30:51 John Daub: Oh man, I could feel the skin coming off of the roof of my mouth. But this takoyaki place is just infamous. So is the kaisendon shop too. You can usually get a good kaisendon. I don't want to say great. I could say good kaisendon for like five bucks. I mean, you know it's not the freshest, but it's not the worst. You know, it's like what? It's a good deal.

00:31:18 John Daub: The rain is keeping a lot of the people away, but it's not really raining that bad.

00:31:26 John Daub: I'm the kind of person at college I would walk around, it'd be raining really hard. Everyone's got an umbrella out. It drenched me because it just felt so good.

00:31:39 John Daub: I used to work for the newspaper at Ohio State called The Lantern as a photographer. I think back then somebody had taken a picture of me walking the outlier. The guy walking holding the umbrella.

00:31:54 John Daub: There's one time where the photographer got the...

00:32:06 John Daub: All right, we're going to turn underneath the Yamanote line here. I've walked down this stretch of Ameyoko before and there's a lot of ethnic shops that have sprung up. They were basically like dried food. Shops selling the same kind of stuff, some fish. But now they've turned into restaurants serving Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese fast food.

00:32:27 John Daub: Japan's a great place. It's where Taiwan and China can get along.

00:32:29 Alex: Yeah.

00:32:30 John Daub: That's true. Because those restaurants are right near one another.

00:32:34 John Daub: All right, this is where the alleys get super cool. Check this out. The alleys underneath the Yamanote line in Ameyoko are just as cool.

00:32:56 John Daub: I'm not going to go in there because I know that the signal will die out. Hold on a second. I'm going to switch cameras. A lot of the shops are closed. A lot of them maybe suffered through the pandemic and just... they didn't reopen. There's a lot of jewelry shops, resellers, things like this. There's always interesting stuff in there. But it is absolutely fun to walk through here and you might find something that you're interested in.

00:33:18 John Daub: I'm not going to change cameras because it messes up with the audio here, but I'm going to pan around. You can see here this is Ueno 610 of Ameyoko. And that is an alley. There's not too much stuff in there, but the signal will die if I go in there. That's where the office is as well for Ameyoko if you ever want to get actually permission to film here.

00:33:40 John Daub: I see Jennifer French is here. OHIO! I-O!

00:33:44 John Daub: Sadly, my Buckeyes lost the Big Ten tournament. They're out of the playoffs in the March Madness.

00:34:01 John Daub: This is new. So we're not going to walk down this one. We're going to walk down the next one. Because I've never taken people down there. This is called John's. Or is it John A? I can't read that. No, maybe it doesn't even say John. Jalans. Can you read that? Is it Jalans?

00:34:24 Alex: That one is Jalana.

00:34:25 John Daub: Okay, Jalana. I was like, what? That's mine?

00:34:35 John Daub: You'll see a lot of pandas here. Do you know why, Alex?

00:34:37 Alex: I don't, but I noticed.

00:34:40 John Daub: Because Ueno Zoo is right here.

00:34:42 Alex: Oh, that makes sense.

00:34:42 John Daub: And the pandas are infamous. They're notorious. Stolen from China. No, they weren't stolen. They were gifted. But China never gave Japan more pandas, so they're really old. But they found a way to breed them. So we have baby pandas. I think it's great, though, that they keep giving them Chinese names. Because the pandas are associated with China. And I think that there's a lot of friendship with the gifting of the pandas between the countries.

00:35:15 Alex: Pandas.

00:35:16 John Daub: Panda diplomacy.

00:35:21 John Daub: Colors and the vibe. This is the best part of Tokyo, I think. People ask me, where do you like to go out and walk around? Here. I know Shibuya, Shinjuku, Asakusa is also really cool. And that's not too far away from here. But there's just something about Okachimachi and Ueno, the roughness. It isn't the cleanest places, but it's still pretty clean, considering.

00:35:44 Alex: Yeah.

00:35:45 John Daub: I think it's a good place to go. It's just so many colors and rough edges and character to the facades of the buildings and the streets. The bicycles here. I mean, there are rules and laws, but people seem to break them just a little bit here, which makes it cooler.

00:36:09 John Daub: I'm starting to get that strange incense smell that kids from the 1980s will remember from Spencer's. It smells like Spencer's. Very interesting.

00:36:19 John Daub: So this is one street off of Ameyoko.

00:36:20 Alex: Yeah.

00:36:21 John Daub: It's still pretty vibrant here. This is a brand new hotel, Centurion Hotel. I'm not sure. I think they just renovated the facade, but it's still an old building, which is smart, you know?

00:36:39 John Daub: The problem is, though, that we're losing a lot of the old buildings in Tokyo because of the earthquake proofing. There's a bottle shop. Interesting. That's some high class liquor in there.

00:36:53 John Daub: Liquor?

00:36:53 Alex: I hardly know her.

00:36:56 John Daub: Oh!

00:37:03 John Daub: All right. One of my favorite tempura places in Tokyo. One of my favorite places is around here. Hey, Sushi's here! Sushi, how you doing? I love sushi. Sushi, every time I send you a postcard, I'm going, that's going to sushi. Because in your address, you have space. I like to write space. Space. 16. That's all I'm going to say because then you can be able to identify.

00:37:34 John Daub: But this whole street here, I love this alley here because it's got so much character. This is a place where you could eat outside. And then here, you have a... like a standing bar right there. And that has a lot of character. And it's a lot of fun because when you eat at a standing bar, you have to eat pretty quickly. Usually, the turnover is quite high and that's how they make the money. And that's why the food is cheaper because the turnover is so high. This restaurant here, well, I don't know. They seem to... after 5 p.m., they seem to bring a few more seats out onto the sidewalk so it'll stick out a little bit more. But these are the kind of places. You have that vibrant... alcohol-infused laughter and talk that you get at maybe... I don't know. Here. Osaka, too, has sort of a culture like this. But you don't see it too much in Tokyo. It's like... I feel like it's cozier here than in Shinjuku or Shibuya.

00:38:32 Alex: Yeah. To go out at night.

00:38:34 John Daub: Yeah. I think that that's one way to look at it. It is cozier. It's homey.

00:38:38 John Daub: And especially for people that were my age and grew up in the Showa period because it feels familiar. It feels like Japan. And I think it's gotten a little bit too clean and too washed out and you lose the character.

00:38:53 John Daub: Now, these shops here, some of them are new. But this one here is not. This is... I'm gonna just give it to you guys. This is my favorite tempura place. It's not the best. It's my favorite, okay? Right? There's a difference. It's called Hamachan. They got one in Shibuya. I think it's still in business. But this one is... you will get a bucket of tempura and it costs like 1,500 yen or something. And it is amazing quality. I think it's really good. You'll get a mound of daikon, which is grated Japanese radish and a little bit of dashi. And you can eat that. The vegetable goes really good with the deep-fried goodies that you get with the daikon. And it's really good. It's got the big jugs of beer. Oh, my gosh. This is really wonderful. Hamachan is what it's called. And they've got a few of the shops around here. It's really affordable. And you can... if you get a snag a chair outside, it's worth it. Great tempura. It's like the way... it's tempura the way it's supposed to be. It's not supposed to be over... Like, to me, tempura isn't supposed to be such an expensive food. It's just deep-fried goodness. Simple and good. Simple.

00:40:24 Alex: Yeah.

00:40:24 John Daub: I mean, there are also even high-end ramen shops popping up.

00:40:28 Alex: Oh, yeah. Even though that's, like, supposed to be more like a fast food, in my opinion.

00:40:33 John Daub: That's what they say. You spend 100 bucks on ramen, you're gonna want to stick around for...

00:40:44 John Daub: Rain's starting to come. It's starting to come down a little bit. There's a few more alleys that I want to show you guys before we end this. But you can tell the streets here have a lot of character. And I think if you're coming to Japan, you have to put Ameyoko on the map.

00:40:56 John Daub: And just yesterday, I think it was Dorothy, I received a message from one of the viewers on Instagram, and I recommended to come here to Ameyoko Market. I mean, if you come to Tokyo and you don't come to this area between Akihabara and Ueno, you are so missing out. You're missing out on the Tokyo experience. It is not just Shibuya, Shinjuku, Asukusa, I don't know, maybe a place in between. There's places like this. Another place that people seem to not put on their map is Sangenjaya. Have you been there?

00:41:30 Alex: I've heard of it, but I'm not sure which area it is.

00:41:34 John Daub: Oh, it's Joe from Virginia Beach. Hey. I plan to go in October. I hope to see you in person.

00:41:46 John Daub: I'll be here. We're gonna walk around this. This is a department store. But already, we're... We've made it into Ueno Station. There's Ueno Station right there. But we can't end right away. Can we?

00:42:04 John Daub: We can go a little bit.

00:42:09 John Daub: Now, I have some news for those people that are... So you're kind of a resident on a work holiday visa, right?

00:42:15 Alex: Exactly. So you're kind of a resident here. You know about Takeya, right? The purple store?

00:42:20 John Daub: No, I don't.

00:42:21 John Daub: Really? It's been only three months.

00:42:24 Alex: Three months is... that's not too long.

00:42:26 John Daub: Takeya is the cheapest department store in Japan. Okay. And it's here in Okachimachi. It's famous because they have purple as the exterior. But it's shut down and it's being renovated right now.

00:42:45 Alex: Probably not. Because I don't think anyone would go there.

00:42:51 John Daub: But it was interesting. It's just some news here. Because if you're coming for that department store, it's closed right now. It's just temporary.

00:42:59 John Daub: A lot of yakiniku places. Again, like the quality is not gonna be the best. You don't put in the best here. You do that in Ginza because then you can get a higher price. The clientele here are not as high paying. So you have to bring the food down a little bit. Maybe just because the area is a little bit rough around the edges, that's a good thing.

00:43:22 John Daub: But everything's always changing, right? I'm gonna make a left here. Look at this flower shop in the corner of a department store. Like the back loading dock. Those are like industrial elevators, right? So this is like a loading dock. Instead of using the loading dock, they turned it into a flower shop.

00:43:45 Alex: That's nice.

00:43:45 John Daub: They're making good use of space wherever they can. That's Tokyo.

00:43:51 John Daub: So now that you've been living here for three months, comparatively, the lifestyle from Germany... You're from Berlin, right?

00:44:00 Alex: Yes.

00:44:01 John Daub: To Tokyo, which is another major metropolitan... What's it called? Which one is better? Which one do you like? What's unique about them?

00:44:15 Alex: I don't think there's a better or worse. It depends on what you like. And for me personally, I like the organized chaos that Tokyo is. Because you feel kind of anonymous. You're just in this huge metropolis. Which is what I like, what I appreciate.

00:44:44 John Daub: So Berlin is not chaotic at all?

00:44:44 Alex: It is very chaotic. But it's... It doesn't feel... I mean it's not as big as Tokyo, and also you feel that. And I just like... I need vibrancy. Like I like a lot going on around me. So... I don't know, I feel comfortable here.

00:45:08 John Daub: Okay, good. So how are you with the language? Are you able to pick up much Japanese?

00:45:15 Alex: I think it was a hobby during the pandemic. So I already had like a base level. And I would say I can speak okay, but I don't understand that much yet.

00:45:21 John Daub: It took me a year of living here before I even decided to learn Japanese. Because I had a Japanese girlfriend who spoke fluent English. She was an English teacher at the... I was teaching kids, she was teaching adults. I don't know how that happened, but... Yeah, she spoke such good English. She was like, why would I learn Japanese? And I didn't expect to be here that long. Yeah. Didn't know anything. And then... yeah. After I decided to stay, you really start to learn it. But I... one year you get in the Hiragana alphabet, and then you start to be able to read the signs and the menus. You get... You have this rewarding feeling, and you're like...

00:46:11 Alex: And it's also for me, when I... the first time I was here, I knew like a few, just like those... those tourist... tourist...

00:46:13 John Daub: Tourist phrases.

00:46:14 Alex: Yeah. But people really appreciate it, because they don't expect it.

00:46:19 John Daub: Well, let's go up, and we can end the stream up here on the top. Because the radio is starting to come down. We're like, we're going to keep this live stream going, and then... It really is starting to come down. So, could you see yourself living here forever?

00:46:41 Alex: I mean, I'm 22 now, so I don't think I'm... I'm in the position to decide forever, but I could see myself here for the foreseeable future.

00:46:46 John Daub: Wow. Yeah.

00:46:47 John Daub: All right. You can see Ueno Station straight ahead. The signal is cutting in and out. We're in not the greatest corner for the signal. It should be a little bit better there. This is where we walked around with the signal cut out. Now you can understand why. But we're in an open space here. Ueno is undergoing its own renovations.

00:47:06 John Daub: Yeah. A long history. You'll see shots of Tokyo, Edo period, and you'll be able to recognize this. The station, especially in the Taisho era, the station's been here for over 100 years. It hasn't really changed much at all, the facade of Ueno Station.

00:47:22 John Daub: So, Tokyo Paul says to stay dry. Thanks, buddy. It's not too bad yet. We do have umbrellas.

00:47:35 John Daub: Yeah. But that's pretty much the walk here. There's one other area. I don't think we're going to get to it because of the rain. If you were to go straight ahead to the other side of Ueno Park, there is a really interesting area. That is the seedy... I shouldn't say seedy. That's the real... I don't know. The real Ueno on that other side. Especially at night. A lot of snack bars, snack clubs, people being entertained by women of the night, so to speak. There's nothing illegal, but a beer might cost you a little bit more. But you're getting service, so there you go.

00:48:19 John Daub: Yeah, I typically don't use umbrellas until I really need it. It's not too bad yet.

00:48:21 John Daub: Do you have any final comments to the people out there? What did you learn on this trip that we took?

00:48:31 Alex: You should explore the back streets of Okachimachi. That was the name.

00:48:33 John Daub: Yeah, it's worth it. Don't miss out.

00:48:38 John Daub: What's your favorite Japanese food here now that you've lived here for three months?

00:48:48 Alex: Recently, I'm having a lot of curry, Japanese-style curry. But it's so hard to pick one favorite.

00:48:53 John Daub: Since you came here last time and now that you live here, what's changed the most in your perception of Japan?

00:49:02 John Daub: In my perception? Yeah, because living here is different than coming as a visitor, isn't it?

00:49:06 Alex: Yeah. I mean, I was always kind of so much into Japan that I feel like I had a pretty realistic idea of the good and bad about Japan. But yeah, I feel like visiting is really for everyone while living here is not for everyone.

00:49:35 John Daub: I'm on a working holiday visa and if you're like among the lucky people who can get that... The blessed.

00:49:36 Alex: Yeah. The blessed people that have that opportunity, I think it's a good way to come here. Just see the difference between a two or three weeks visit and really kind of feeling part of a society.

00:49:53 John Daub: Yeah. And that's a good way to figure out if it's for you. I think the best way is, yeah, to do something like that if you can. You know, even if you're on a tourist visa, you can still get a... a weekly apartment or something and just stay in one place for a couple of weeks and then you really get to know it. But there's so many people who dream of coming to live in Japan. Just, I think it's a kind of a broken... I don't know, it's like a... They should first... The dream is not as great as it... Japan to me is an amazing place. But it's not the paradise that people say it is. It's still a place that has a lot of bureaucracy, rules, frustrating aspects to it.

00:50:28 John Daub: I think once you get underneath the belly of what Japan is, it can become... it can become quite frustrating. And most of the foreigners that I met here that were living and working as English teachers, I'm the one that's still here. They didn't last more than a year because of all those little things that just add up and eat at them. Like getting a bank account and having to wait at places and not understanding why things work the way they work. Like, why would it work like this? It's frustrating. My country's better. You know, you should learn how to do it from America. But it actually... It's just different. And this stuff works for them. And you're not them. You're somebody else. So...

00:51:08 John Daub: There you go. Alright everybody, I hope that this was fun. Take you away the alleys around Tokyo. It's so worth it. Try to get off of the subway and start to walk around the streets because you find and discover so many things. And if you've done it before, things change every few months. There's always something new. And if you haven't done it since the pandemic, I guarantee you're gonna find some new stuff around here. That might take you a while. I hope I didn't surprise you. As Japan is just continuously evolving.

00:51:40 John Daub: Thanks everybody. How do you say bye in Japanese?

00:51:44 Alex: Matane.

00:51:45 John Daub: Matane. Oh yes.

00:51:48 John Daub: Oh hey. Sorry, it's a stream sniper here. But no, I was like... You are a hard man to track. We were going fast.

00:51:57 John Daub: Are you serious?

00:51:57 Alex: Yeah.

00:51:57 John Daub: Wow, your glasses. Well, you earned this one here.

00:52:02 Alex: Oh, thank you.

00:52:03 John Daub: I mean like... So, today is my last day in Japan.

00:52:04 Alex: I'm actually leaving and I'm by the park.

00:52:07 John Daub: Oh. Yeah. So, I saw you live and I was just like, I need to go find this one before I leave.

00:52:14 John Daub: You must hurrah. Absolutely. Well, here, let's get a picture.

00:52:17 Alex: Oh, yeah. If you don't mind.

00:52:18 John Daub: Oh, okay. Thank you so much. No worries. How cool is this?

00:52:31 John Daub: What's your name?

00:52:31 Alex: Steve.

00:52:32 John Daub: Steve. Awesome. Hey. All right. Three, two, one.

00:52:40 John Daub: Check if you like it. Appreciate you so much. I watch your walking scenes every now and then.

00:52:45 John Daub: Wow. Thank you, Steve. Where are you flying back to?

00:52:49 Alex: Los Angeles.

00:52:50 John Daub: Wow. Yeah. I want to go back to the US. I know. I mean, it's still rainy right now over there, but...

00:53:03 Alex: At least in LA. Yeah. What was the highlight of your trip?

00:53:05 John Daub: Oh, let's see. I went to Shirakawa again.

00:53:09 Alex: Oh, with the snow?

00:53:11 John Daub: Yeah.

00:53:12 Alex: Oh. And it was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Shirakawa, go, he said.

00:53:17 John Daub: That's incredible. I actually got to fly a drone there, too.

00:53:20 Alex: Oh, okay. Yeah. So, I got aerial shots of just the backstreet houses.

00:53:28 John Daub: Oh, wonderful. It was still great. So, yeah. That was probably the highlight.

00:53:31 Alex: Probably the highlight.

00:53:31 John Daub: Yeah. I guess you'll be back again to Japan?

00:53:33 Alex: Yeah. Hopefully. Like, this is my fifth time here in Japan, and like, I love visiting these places. I've been probably up and down all over Japan, so pretty much all the islands except for Okinawa.

00:53:45 John Daub: I like how your glasses need windshield wipers.

00:53:48 Alex: Oh, yeah. I was like, what?

00:53:49 John Daub: Same for me. I mean, like, you can go anywhere.

00:53:52 Alex: Yeah.

00:53:52 John Daub: We're... I'm just cutting off on the last few. So, Steve also has joined us. Thank you. Hi. Thank you. Bye, Steve. Bye, everybody. Take care.