00:04 John Daub: It's always such an amazing sight to see Tokyo Tower. I don't know if I'll ever get tired of looking at it in the city. From this angle, it just dwarfs over the buildings, but it's getting, in the whole scheme of the city, shorter and shorter in terms of size. It's 333 meters, I believe, just a little bit over the Eiffel Tower, but it might have been shortened. I'm not sure, but I can tell you one thing for sure. I'm here, and if you can find me, I do have You Found Me cards. I already gave a couple out. Some people saw me at the train station.

00:45 John Daub: Speaking of people who are here in this area, over there, you see our friends Peter von Gomm and Carrie, who is visiting from Australia, hanging out in front of a cafe. Any lip readers here? Because maybe they're talking about world peace. Who knows? Or the opposite, world deception. Oh, they caught me! Hide behind that black box! Let's go see what they're up to. And in this episode, we're going to take you around this area. At least Peter von Gomm will be showing you this particular cafe area, because he can't even go anywhere because he's on a motorcycle. Well, I can't go anywhere because people recognize me and start chasing me down the street.

01:32 John Daub: Oh, here you go, sir. All right. Yeah, Carrie, let me get over here. Let's talk a little bit to Carrie here.

01:40 Carrie: Hi!

01:42 John Daub: How was your trip in, Carrie?

01:43 Carrie: It was great. Hi, Jason!

01:47 John Daub: Other side of the world, in Canada.

01:50 Carrie: Hi, guys!

01:51 John Daub: What was your highlight?

01:53 Carrie: Ooh, a five-day trip around the world.

01:54 John Daub: Having coffee?

01:55 Carrie: Having coffee with us. Yeah, having coffee with you guys. And being on an only-in-Japan-go-live-stream.

02:02 John Daub: What do you recommend people do here in Japan? What should they do?

02:07 Carrie: Oh, a tour of Tokyo Tower, which is just up the street here.

02:13 John Daub: I knew you were going to say that because of the man whose head is popping out from behind us. He's the voice of the Tokyo Tower audio guide. Just crazy.

02:22 Peter von Gomm: Welcome to Tokyo Tower.

02:24 Carrie: Yes.

02:25 John Daub: You've got to do the full tour right up into the top floor, and then you get all the dulcet tones of Mr. Peter von Gomm.

02:34 John Daub: So what's more impressive, the view or his voice?

02:36 Carrie: Oh, Peter's voice.

02:37 Peter von Gomm: Oh, gosh.

02:38 John Daub: Really? All right. Shall we walk a couple of meters away so he can't hear us?

02:44 Peter von Gomm: Here. Is that maybe going to be better? Here. For that hair, Carrie.

02:48 Carrie: Oh, hey. Thanks.

02:49 Peter von Gomm: Here you go.

02:50 John Daub: Oh, no, hey, hey. We just saw something. I don't even know if that's legal anymore. Let me get away from this cafe. Because there's people in there enjoying themselves.

02:58 John Daub: Well, Carrie, I'm glad that I got a chance to see you again before you leave today for parts unknown.

03:14 Carrie: You're welcome.

03:17 John Daub: All right. Talk to you. Take care.

03:20 Peter von Gomm: See you, man. Yeah, safe trips back to, well, first where you're going and then finally, yeah.

03:25 John Daub: All right. See you. Enjoy your yogurt.

03:29 John Daub: This area is actually kind of nice, isn't it, Peter?

03:30 Peter von Gomm: So you've been, so you actually suggested that we would meet in this area. What's so special about this place?

03:41 John Daub: Well, it's the loud sirens from ambulances. It's a nice area.

03:46 Peter von Gomm: Keio University is right here, so there's a lot of little good eateries. And Carrie was staying somewhere near here, so she recommended this shop. And this is called Passage Coffee. And this is the first time I've been here. It's quite good. They've got a really nice selection of drinks from all over the world. So that's why we ended up here.

04:11 John Daub: Yeah, it was pretty good coffee, I think.

04:13 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, well, you're not much of a coffee person.

04:16 John Daub: Well, I could tell you that olive oil coffee that I had at Starbucks really goes through you.

04:22 Peter von Gomm: In what way? Please elaborate a little bit.

04:25 John Daub: Let's not and say we did. Like adult safety pants type coffee? Let's not go there.

04:36 Peter von Gomm: All right, yeah, okay. That's where you're heading with this? Maybe. Why don't you show them my bike?

04:40 John Daub: Is that better than, which is more impressive, the tower or your bike?

04:46 Peter von Gomm: Well, we'll start with the bike and then we'll move on to the tower.

04:50 Peter von Gomm: So this is, this is my bike, my custom Bonneville. And as you can see, it's kind of my tribute bike. I've been in Japan for almost 24 years.

05:06 John Daub: Is he touching himself?

05:08 Peter von Gomm: I wanted to have kind of a tribute bike. And my thanks to Japan for, for my.

05:15 John Daub: Isn't this the de Milo, the.

05:17 Peter von Gomm: This is Botticelli. Botticelli. The birth of Venus is the inspiration. Right, the birth of Venus. So I swapped out the, the original characters with some iconic Japanese characters. Obviously we got, we've got a Godzilla here. And the sumotori, sumo wrestler. Instead of in the giant clam shell, he's in a dohyo (sumo ring). Did you know that before you created this artwork?

05:43 John Daub: Yes I did. What are these called?

05:47 Peter von Gomm: And then Ultraman. I do one of the, I do the voice of Ultraman. Ultraman Ginga and Zed. I do those character voices.

05:58 John Daub: Is that Mount Fuji or are you in...

05:59 Peter von Gomm: Mount Fuji back here.

06:00 John Daub: And this is a, a, a deciduous tree?

06:04 Peter von Gomm: That is not deciduous. Deciduous means it loses its leaves. That type does not lose its leaves.

06:09 John Daub: Alright, yeah, I know because you're from that part of the world. And these are cherry blossoms or ume blossoms?

06:15 Peter von Gomm: They're cherry. What variety of cherry blossom?

06:17 John Daub: The cool ones. The cool variety. But it's not Somei Yoshino because there's one in her hair.

06:21 Peter von Gomm: Isn't that cute? Isn't that little kitty cute?

06:25 John Daub: And why is the sea green here? It looks algae.

06:28 Peter von Gomm: Well, you know, it's... green is an auspicious color.

06:35 John Daub: Yeah, of algae and dirty water.

06:37 Peter von Gomm: Well, algae is good. We eat algae here. We eat seaweed.

06:40 John Daub: Okay, I'm just saying it does look a little swampy in this area. Like Gilligan's Island, luckily most of them were in old Technicolor, so you can't tell exactly how swampy it is. This is basically like... It's like a lagoon. It's a lagoon.

06:52 Peter von Gomm: So this artwork was drawn by an incredible artist. An incredible artist named Kurt Jones. So if you're into illustrations, check out Kurt Jones online. Incredible illustrator. And then I had a world-class airbrush painter named Marcus Berlin Airbrush in Berlin. I sent the tank there and he painted it. But everything else on here is customized as well. I got a custom seat, leather seats. I made the... I customized the covers. I put the leather seats here. I covered them in silver leaf and oxidized it.

07:36 John Daub: How many CCs is this?

07:37 Peter von Gomm: I had these bags made.

07:38 John Daub: Like I wouldn't be legally allowed to ride this at all.

07:40 Peter von Gomm: No, this is too big for the... You need a big boy license, John.

07:45 John Daub: Yeah, I got a small... You have the chugata. A chugata, yeah.

07:48 Peter von Gomm: This is an 860 CC bike. But it's a fun kicking around town bike. Not a touring type, but more just having fun, getting out.

08:02 John Daub: It's like Godzilla from this angle. That's Scooby Doo.

08:19 Peter von Gomm: The last video that you posted was on the Motorcycle Show. How's that doing?

08:22 John Daub: It's doing very well.

08:24 Peter von Gomm: Tokyo Motorcycle Show 2023 has 560,000 and change views in two weeks time. So, very happy about that. Yeah, go check it out if you want. It's always the best rendition of the Motorcycle Show, I think, on YouTube.

08:44 John Daub: Did you focus on the bikes or the girls?

08:47 Peter von Gomm: Oh, the girls. Are there girls at that show? I'll have to look into that next time. No, I think it's in your thumbnail. Ah, yes. You're right. Remember that now? Did you recall? Yeah, now that you mention it, yeah. I couldn't tell if it was the girl or the bike. I think you cut off half the bike. Perhaps, perhaps. But yeah, it's a fun show. There's bike manufacturers from all over the world and it's one of the world's biggest motorcycle shows. Right here in our neighborhood. So, please check it out. If you're into bikes... Or girls. There's something for everybody there. Or girls. Or bikes.

09:29 John Daub: I'm not into bikes either.

09:31 Peter von Gomm: So, how about you, John? What's on the plate for you? Any new videos coming out?

09:37 John Daub: Yeah. I just filmed... Actually, Scotty from Strange Parts was here and we filmed one at a vending machine corner with the owner of the machine corner, which was interesting. The background on it is fascinating. More so than the food. So, I'm not sure why every YouTuber goes to do the vending machine food. The food is not... There's nothing special about the food. The story is the actual... The machines and the history of them are... That and the owner. It has nothing to do with the food and the stuff out of it, but seems like nine out of ten YouTubers who do it, it's about the food, right?

10:10 Peter von Gomm: The story, but I always thought... And he was really happy to show us. He runs a tire company there and I thought that was a fascinating little story.

10:20 John Daub: When do you think this video will drop?

10:22 Peter von Gomm: Well, it depends on Scotty for this one, but the next one is the chicken episode... Chicken farm episode. And then right after that, the sakura episode. I've been editing them back and forth.

10:34 John Daub: A bit late for sakura, isn't it?

10:36 Peter von Gomm: No. That's like three weeks ago it finished. It's not even blooming up in Hokkaido yet. Yeah. It starts... Actually, this week it will start.

10:45 John Daub: How do you not know this? You'd be cranking on that. I'd say you're a bit behind the curve.

10:50 Peter von Gomm: It has nothing to do with the cherry blossom. It's just a thousand year old tree. It's about the tree. Just happens at that time of year to be really beautiful but the tree in itself is a symbol of Japan because we can see even in your in your thing right you have cherry blossoms on it that's a tank John yeah your tank you have cherry blossoms on it so obviously that is one of the many things that is a symbol of this country.

11:16 John Daub: That's it would be right it's something I should cover what and where's this tree located okay when I actually slept in the car I drove up in the middle of the night I slept in the car and got up at 5 a.m. they said I slept in a car like I said I saw about desperation well I had a nice muffler look it was zero degrees in the middle of the night I didn't realize that it was really cold but I survived you stayed in all night yeah I didn't want to waste gas I kept the engine on I should have kept it on they had a big parking lot great great carbon footprint you know I'm not gonna lie I've been waiting for the the city wouldn't allow me to fly a drone near the tree because of all the people there and it's a World Heritage thing so they're sending me drone footage so I'm just waiting for them to send that to me the city is providing that yeah because they had a guide who did the drone shots for them so I said they would share that with me then they sent it with a logo oh so now I'm waiting for them to send it without this stinking logo but I'll probably use that topaz AI soft and then they sent it in HD I want 4k and I'll use the software to enhance it presto change-o yeah you like that software it's pretty cool it is cool very cool yeah did you did you buy the paid version yet you still have the watermark no oh yeah I'm gonna upload I want to take away to the logos but I'm happy with the watermark which is even worse well you didn't tell me you bought it yet you're playing with it it's at $2.98 yeah pretty much pays for itself the first a couple times you use it if you're doing what we do you can upscale HD videos and make them 8k and it looks pretty darn good but the most impressive thing this is not a commercial for them what am I why are we like the thing is it I could take 24p 24 frames per second and make it 240 frames per second in a super slow motion because it does the AI does a good job of guessing yeah like butter park yeah park I mean you you maybe can tell but you can't really like it tastes like Butter but it You can't believe it's not butter? It's not exactly the same. Well, even within that, not all butters are equal. Sure, sure. Yeah, you've got your ghee. Right. So yeah, it's really cool. So you can do 120p from a 60p, and of course it'll look better, but it does an amazing job of guessing the things. Instead of the jerky thing, if you were to slow it down without having, yeah, the AI software will fix it up. AI is having a big impact on this industry, so you can either work with it or you work against it.

13:58 Peter von Gomm: Are we done, John? Are we done with this table?

14:00 John Daub: I've seen Terminator. John? You don't want to work against the machines.

14:03 Peter von Gomm: He can't hear me, so I'm just going to talk about it. I think you get a lot of sleep. I think we're done with this table.

14:12 John Daub: So yeah, Peter's going to skedaddle, and I'm going to walk over to that station over there. Go ahead, you can say bad stuff about him. He won't hear you. And yeah, it should be a pretty good walk. That's the entrance right there on the left side of your screen to Keio University, that brick building, if you've never been there. If you've never seen that before, it's pretty neat. You can walk in there. The cafeteria is open to the public, but it's not cheap, apparently. I don't know. I haven't eaten at that cafe in 20-some years. No, like 15 years. I think I've been in there for NHK, on that school cafeteria episode.

14:45 John Daub: Excuse me. David Brown said he found me. Excuse me. May I?

14:50 Passerby: Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

14:51 John Daub: I just want to see David Brown. Where?

15:00 Peter von Gomm: All right, you're off? You going home?

15:01 Passerby: Yeah, I was just putting those dishes away.

15:04 Peter von Gomm: We're done with that table, right?

15:06 Passerby: I hope so.

15:07 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we are now. Somebody took it.

15:11 John Daub: Yeah, so I've got nothing else really planned for today other than getting some food. So were you talking while you were in there with the mic on?

15:20 Peter von Gomm: Oh, yeah.

15:24 John Daub: All right, so that was really great for those of you that were listening to two people. Only one of the conversations was, like, oh, I'm going to go. I'm going to go. So I think that's worth listening to. Well, all those. You'll find that out on the playback. All the praise I was giving you was overshadowed by yourself. Reinforcing that praise.

15:40 Peter von Gomm: Oh, you were praising yourself in there, I see. Absolutely. I was surprised you didn't walk into the restroom with that mic on. That would have been really interesting, huh, Peter? Oh, yeah. It was. Yeah, talk about 24p. Yeah. Well, no, you should have done 60p with that. Smooth as butter. Oh, God. Smooth as butter.

15:59 John Daub: Yeah, so what's on for you later?

16:01 Peter von Gomm: Oh, my gosh. Did you have food? Are we gonna get some food?

16:05 John Daub: Are we gonna get some food?

16:06 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we could. You know a place around here worth it? I mean, by the station there were a ton of places and the lunch rush is over in a minute. Right. So after one o'clock things get a little bit better. On the back streets here there's some restaurants. I just have to be careful about the bike. Well, you can't leave it here. Yeah, no, it has to be within sight.

16:28 John Daub: They're taking a picture. They're taking a picture. Taking a picture of us. Together. Yeah, I think it's of Tokyo Tower. Tell them that you're the voice of Tokyo Tower. Tourists. Tell the tourists.

16:44 Peter von Gomm: They're not tourists. I think they're Japanese gentlemen. Somebody wrote in here, we can hear you pee. Is your pee as impressive as your voice? Pee as in Peter. I don't know. I guess I could go in this direction or towards Azabu Juban. There's also that... There's really nothing this way, I guess is what you're saying. Well, yeah, there's... Azabu Juban is dead ahead and then off to the left.

17:22 John Daub: Would ramen work for you?

17:24 Peter von Gomm: No. You don't want ramen? I'm on a diet. I mean, is it good ramen? There's a chochin (paper lantern) right there. Ramen shop right there. Yeah, I can smell it. I'm not impressed.

17:42 John Daub: I am. You are? You've eaten there before. There's a Jiro ramen. Do you know that place? It's like eating a bowl of everything. I know Jiro sushi. There's a Jiro ramen? Oh, yeah, it's huge. Is it pretty good? You never heard of them? No. It's a pretty big chain. I think they started off in Kyoto, right? Well, let me... They have branches all over the place. I'm going to walk over here and have a look at this ramen, see if it's worthy of a John Daub.

18:10 Peter von Gomm: We can still have your audio. Tell us what you see. The computer's not moving its mouth. I think we should try it. Tonkotsu ramen. What do you see? We can hear you. Yeah, I think we should try it. I've got Tonkotsu ramen, which is the bone. The thick, heavy one? Yeah, I like that. Yeah, that's not what I wanted. All right. Well, you're on your own. Well, what else did they have? That's it? Just Tonkotsu? Well, I saw Tonkotsu, and they had me at Tonkotsu, because I like Tonkotsu. So you're going to eat there? They've got Tonkotsu. Tonkotsu? If you're going to go, I'll go there. Why don't you go have a look over there and see if something catches your eye?

19:23 John Daub: All right, what? Don't say anything so we can hear you on the mic. This guy is so... He can't tell I'm using my ventriloquist voice. No, stop talking. He can't tell I'm not moving my lips. He's so picky. He's so picky. He can't see me because his back's to me now. But yeah, in case you haven't figured it out, John is so picky. This is a pretty guy. It's a Hakata-style. And it looks like you get it from a vending machine. Okay, let's take a quick look at the menu. Wow, that has some egg, pork, gyoza. That's impressive. Now I can see why Peter was so happy. All right, let's see down this alley here.

20:36 Peter von Gomm: You were talking.

20:38 John Daub: I'm not talking.

20:39 Peter von Gomm: I was describing the menu. I'm not talking at all. I didn't feel like this. I saw your drool on the menu. I found that. Did you? Yeah. And when you were over there, DNA analysis says you're hungry. The drool was on the tonkotsu, I bet. Yeah, you drooled all over it. Yeah, you bet. 1,000 yen. It's so pricey, isn't it? You paying? Not for a guy like you. Your treat? You found it. Your restaurant. We'll see. Are you in or no?

21:11 Peter von Gomm: All right, I'll do ramen, but I can't live stream in there. It's packed. Yeah, okay. So I've got to back the bike up closer to that shop. I'll see you over there.

21:22 John Daub: So nobody could find us. We were quite hidden. Down to a... from Mita Station. I came out here to meet Carrie. She's on her last day, and she's leaving to go back to Singapore. Peter told me that they were meeting, and I had to come out and say hi. And that was a lot of fun. Lisa O is here. Hey, Lisa. Does the ramen shop pass inspection?

21:51 Peter von Gomm: It didn't fail. It didn't fail.

21:56 John Daub: I actually have a sweatshirt on, and the sun has come out, so it's gotten really hot. And that coffee I had is sitting in my gut. I need some beets. So I'm not feeling...

22:11 Peter von Gomm: I've had bad experiences doing this. Backing up bikes? Yeah, sometimes they don't stay upright. They don't back... So you're moving forward when you had bad experiences.

22:23 John Daub: Oh, right. Mine was moving forward at traffic signals. Peter! Only people who have seen the Hokkaido documentary can get that joke. You enjoyed editing that, didn't you? Over and over and over and over. And I laughed every time. In fact, I started editing it again yesterday, and I was laughing again.

22:49 Peter von Gomm: Oh my gosh. So I should be able to put up a shorter version in May of that motorcycle trip, so we'll finally get that out. We're making a shorter version of the ten days we did last fall of riding around Hokkaido. It's hard to edit it down because it's all morsels, delicious morsels. I would feel bad putting the whole thing up as is. We have to cut it down a little bit. No, we're just being chopped up. How long was it? An hour and a half, right? Yeah, 90 minutes. 90-minute documentary. Motorcycle and RV. You're going to do the RV one. I was going to cut it all down. Rent a camping car and have bike and RV. I'm just doing bike, bike version. Oh, that's true. I don't have to do the RV, really. But then there were so many fun things that happened on that side. No, you need to do the RV. Oh, you told... Yes. Yeah, anyway, we're not going to talk about that on your show. Anyways, a version of it is coming. We got to work that stuff out there. Tig Rahoff says, no, put it all out there. Can't do that. That wouldn't be fair to the backers.

23:59 John Daub: All right, everybody, any questions for PVG?

24:01 Peter von Gomm: Give me a minute. It seems like there's no seats in there. Do you have any questions for the people? Anything you want to proposition them? No, not really, no. That's a good thumbnail. Yeah, my squinty eyes in the sun. What's your skin regimen? Looks good. I just, I bathe. Soap? Yeah, you soap. Irish Spring? Lava. I like lava. Do they still have that with the pump? It has little, like little granules stuff in it. Yeah, right, to get the grease off. You don't use that on your face, though. Lava was awesome. It's like sandpaper. What do you do if you got oil on your face? You got to lava it. It's nice grit. It explains why I look the way I do. Yeah, rough around the edges. You don't use Nivea or one of those creams or anything? Nothing? I just, yeah, stuff from iHerb, just normal bar soap. Oh. Yeah, I use the face pack every now and then. Oh, really? You sleep with it? No, you saw me once, right? That's right. That was before we got on the train to the, the, we took that train to the, the, the, the, What is it, Avocado or something? It makes your skin like feel alive again, you know. And it attracts the flies. Male face packing is a thing. It's good, you know. Back in World War II, that's when they had all the gunpowder, the, the boys came home with the gunpowder in their skin. So they had this chemical stuff that removed it and then they all looked like they were teenagers again. That's how they started with that, uh, chemical peel stuff. Is that true? Yeah. Wow. Wow. According to the internet. Huh. That's my source. Pretty good source. Pretty good source. Yeah, it refreshes and revitalizes, writes Jason here. Thank you, Jason.

26:00 John Daub: All right, looks like we didn't have any finders, but I didn't give you a lot of heads up here. But we'll be eating ramen, and if you're in the area, knock on the window and wait until the manager kicks you away, and then we'll come out out of pity and give you one of these cards. Yeah. Because I have a- He's got lots. I got lots of them. It even has the old logo on it from before. Hurry, let's go.

26:22 Peter von Gomm: All right, let's go in. All right, see you everybody.