00:05 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Kabukicho. This is in Shinjuku. It's an area infamous as being one of Asia's largest entertainment districts for adults. And they have right there a new skyscraper. I believe it's the Kabukicho Tower, which replaces the old Tokyo Milano, which was a massive cinema back in the 1950s. Has this area cleaned up its act? Is it now a must-visit place in the city of Tokyo? That's the question that we're going to be talking about here in this livestream.

00:38 John Daub: How you doing everybody? I'm in Shinjuku today! It's a warm but windy and slightly chilly spring afternoon in April, typical just before Golden Week. There's a lot of buzz in Shinjuku. This neighborhood really feels the most like New York to me. There's a lot of bustle, hustle, people, skyscrapers, a mix of diverse people, and it's an exciting place to come, especially if you're a tourist—it's a different side of Tokyo.

01:08 John Daub: This area behind me called Kabukicho has been maybe the seediest, not one that I would go to that often, because I don't go to seedy places that you know of. But I do come here every now and then to check out how it's changed, and today we're going to take a look. I've heard a lot of really interesting things about this skyscraper right there. If you've been in Japan before and you remember that old square in the center of Kabukicho, it was like a little paradise amongst the alleys, a little clearing in the alleys of Kabukicho, so we're going to walk around and check it out.

01:53 John Daub: There's Shinjuku, that's the other side of it. Kabukicho used to be a little bit of a swamp back in the Meiji era. Actually, it was filled in and eventually called the Yodobashi Processing Plant—that's how Yodobashi Camera got its name, by the way, from a processing plant back here in the Shinjuku area. The swamp was filled in, and after World War II, this was a shack place, a lot of immigrants that had come to Japan, especially from China and Korea, were living here. I think they did a study and said that 70% of the landowners in Kabukicho were of foreign descent, which you get a feel of because Shin-Okubo (Korean town), Okubo which is another neighborhood in Tokyo not very far from here—in fact, this can almost be considered Shin-Okubo—has a lot of Korean and Chinese restaurants, all of them extremely authentic in taste, so I've been told.

02:57 John Daub: When I went there, it was pretty authentic, but I don't know how it's changed over the last 15 years because I haven't been there since Gangnam Style was popular. All right, let's go down this alley. Hopefully the signal stays up. We're going to take a look at that skyscraper above us as well as the Godzilla building. A lot of you watching will be sad to know the Robot Restaurant is gone—it went out during the pandemic, they just couldn't keep the doors open. You know, it looks like from this angle the top of it is in the clouds because of the color of the crown of the building, but it's not, although sometimes it could be. I believe it's over 200 meters tall, which is quite high for Japan.

03:53 John Daub: All right, we're going to go in here and make a right. This is famous in the 1980s and 90s when I first came to Japan as being a place of crime, and there's still crime that goes on—bars, hostess bars with not great reputations, so to speak. I've been to a couple of them with clients because this is also considered to be Waseda University's backyard—a lot of business accounts here. Oh, there's the Kabukicho sign that's quite famous right there. It seems like it's blue on this side.

04:44 John Daub: Let me give you an idea—signal's not so good right here, there's not a lot I can do about that. There's a lot of color to this street, a lot of bright lights. Around 7 p.m., it really lights up, and I think this is a place you should come to see just to walk through it. It doesn't mean you have to eat here or stay here, but walking through it at night, especially after 6, is really interesting. That big TV screen used to be Yamada Denki? I don't know what it is anymore—the Yuka Vision, they call it up there. Yeah, it's a place you want to go out clubbing, I think it's a local place. If you're coming in as a tourist, still have to be a little bit cautious of scams because there's just so many people in this area—always going to be a percentage of not nice players.

06:16 John Daub: The retro vibe from the Showa period is actually kind of cool. Let me show you exactly where we are—I kind of made a map here for you on Google Earth. There's the skyscraper that we just saw. Most of them in general, it's quite a low-lying area, mainly because it used to be a swamp—filled-in land, so it's not real strong here, thus the buildings are smaller. But that's changing because as the land settles and gets harder, you can build higher buildings. You can see Meiji Jingu and the city of Shinjuku over there where there are high-rise buildings. This in front of us, of course, is the infamous Don Quixote. You can walk right from Shinjuku Station straight through to this area, and to me, this has always been the start of Kabukicho—this Don Quixote, with its majestic-looking feel in the McDonald's colors.

07:45 John Daub: Alright, you see up straight ahead? Boom—so we have Godzilla. This is a new thing, I think it came around 2015 or 2016, 2017. It really was a big deal back then because you'd just be walking down the alley and boom! There's Godzilla for you. And you have Mario as well, so it makes you feel like you're in Japan. Look at this view—it's kind of crazy. This is the New Toho Cinemas, the Hotel Gracery. You can go up there and check it out—there's a cafe as well, which is kind of cool. Looks pretty ferocious, and it is quite a high building there.

09:25 John Daub: My fondest memories were with directors of companies, people with expense accounts going out at night. Usually we would hit a hostess club in Ginza where he would drain some of his expense account, we'd get into a taxi and then come here to finish the night because as a Waseda University student, that's what he used to do. Even though it was 30 years later and the neighborhood was a lot tougher, we still would make our way to a more casual hostess club where the girls and quality of entertainment was just different. He'd been going there for like 30, 40 years, so it wasn't something where he was ever in fear because if business executives got in trouble here, all of this expense account money would dry up—so they were untouchable. A lot of those clubs are still here, but they're in the alleys. I'm not sure if it's ever going to change fully, but over the last 10 years, Kabukicho has cleaned up its act and become almost like a theme park—when you look at the big banners, that's a big Mario that looks like a theme park to me.

10:58 John Daub: I wasn't a naughty boy—I was a smart boy, because if you're going to do business, most of it takes place after meetings in casual settings where you get to know people and build trust. You just don't act like an idiot when there are lots of really pretty ladies around whose job it is to entertain you. I'd be a lot more casual and let them talk to me. I'm talking about the executives—they were friends, we weren't going out for business, but my friend had to use his expense account or he'd lose it. At the end of the month or quarters, he'd call me up. For me, I got to go to some of the best sushi shops and really understand Japan's adult entertainment from a business point of view. All I ever did was drink and go home slightly tipsy but always safe—sometimes he'd put me in a cab and give the guy cash so I didn't even have to take the subway. I would miss the last train quite often.

12:29 John Daub: Behind this building is the new skyscraper—we're going to go in this direction, and then I'm going to take you where the Robot Restaurant used to be so we can see what's there now. Body sushi thing is sort of a myth—I remember bringing it up, something I saw in the movie Rising Sun with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. Maybe happened during the bubble era.

13:21 John Daub: For me, when this building came in—the Toho Cinema, the Shinjuku Toho Building—I was just shocked because I had never realized it had gone up, since I don't come here that often. But I remember when I came here in 1998 the first time, walked and got lost in Kabukicho—it was really intimidating because the kind of people that were here... Japan didn't have a lot of tourists back then. These guys looked like gangsters—that was just the vibe. There was a lot of yamamba (ganguro girls with heavy makeup). This plaza used to have a water fountain—it's so weird, it's finished. This building is still here—this is the Humax Entertainment District, there's some game centers in here, an Apa Hotel. And then here it is—this used to be the old Milano.

14:34 John Daub: Now I'm going to stand right here and show you a picture of what this used to look like back in the day. This is the plaza right here—you can see there's like a water fountain in the middle, cars parked there, and the old Milano, the Toho Milano Cinema. The entire entertainment world would come here to open movies and stuff. You can still see on the left and right... that building on the left looks somewhat similar. There's the old Milano, but this one looks like it's more in the 70s—you can see the water fountain down there. It's not here anymore—even the lights have changed. To me, it's really interesting. I felt like this plaza was also blocked off, so it looked like a square and you couldn't go any further—events would sometimes be held here. It just felt like something you'd find in Rome walking around—you'd go through these alleys and then boom, there was this courtyard.

16:22 John Daub: Let's go take a closer look at the Kabukicho Tower. So much cleaner—I go back to the first time I came here in '98 and there were so many seedy people around. Now it's just me, the seedy guy maybe. Tokyo Mystery Circus? It has really opened up because they pushed back where the Milano used to be right up against here. There's a hotel Gracery and another cinema—so the cinemas are still here. This used to be a Sega World, Sega Game Center—now it's GiGO, which has taken over all of them.

17:40 John Daub: Back in this direction, if I recall correctly, this is where a lot of the love hotels are. See, there's still some construction going on as they change this area. There's an Apa Hotel here, probably catering to a lot of tourists—that's crazy. When I came here 25 years ago, there were no tourists, and I think that's what was really intimidating. But the streets have stayed pretty much the same. Back here is where you start to get into love hotels and stuff, and then it'll take you eventually to Shin-Okubo and the Okubo area, which is really interesting with ethnic supermarkets—other items from around Asia can be more easily found here, mostly family-run supermarkets passed down from generations going back to World War II when there were just shacks here.

19:05 John Daub: What is that there? That looks really good—some kind of bread. Should I get one? Balloumi? I'm game if you guys are—street food. Konnichiwa. Gratin? It looks like curry bread, but it's gratin. How much? 650 yen. Okay, I'll take one. Can I eat it now? Yes.

20:16 John Daub: Wow, nice warm bread—supposed to be on a diet, game over. You can smell it from the corner, so it's hard to say no. So that was kind of expensive at 650 yen—gourmet. It's got a picture of Hokkaido on it, and instead of curry, it's gratin. This is my lunch—deep-fried bread with gratin. That's what you get for 650 yen, but I guess the good stuff's on the inside. It's pretty good—you can see they have some gratin in the middle, soft like mochi consistency.

21:46 John Daub: This neighborhood is so different—it doesn't fit the image right now. This used to be the VR Zone for Shinjuku—does anybody remember that? After they got rid of the Milano, the last movie was 2014, December 31st, right before New Year's 2015. Then they tore it down, and there was the VR Zone, a little pop-up amusement shop. This is Kabukicho—you can see how vibrant it is at night. Sunset around 6:30, 7 o'clock, then the colors in the sky, it really lights up—that's one of my favorite times here. If you follow the tracks, it'll take you to Shin-Okubo, a really cool area to walk around.

23:52 John Daub: Let's go back around because I want to take you to the Robot Restaurant, which used to be over in this direction. If you go down to this side, there's Golden Gai—this is where you'd get shoulder-to-shoulder with locals and get a real vibe of what Tokyo, or at least Shinjuku, was at the time. In Japan, you're not supposed to eat and walk, but I am holding a lot of people here on my stick, so the show must go on.

25:04 John Daub: That's an old-looking building from the 1970s. There's a lot of cheese in this. Look at that building—look at the rust on it, oh man, that's a lot of character. I wouldn't change it at all. This is like a bubble era thing that just has not aged well—spiral staircases were a big deal back then. So when people go drinking, typically in this area—it's infamous, notorious—everybody makes a convenience store stop for a bottle of water, or junk food like chocolate and pastries to finish off. I'm starting to see some of the love hotels—New Grand doesn't look so grand, Hotel Wako.

27:50 John Daub: Just so you know, love hotels charge by the hour during the day, but after about 8, 9, 10 p.m., they'll do something called a stay—you can get a really good discounted price. They make most of the money during the day for people who just go in for an hour or two. Shibuya is maybe more famous for its Love Hotel Hill up in Dogenzaka. I did a couple of yakiniku events here back in 2014, and this was here, so at least 10 years it's been around. This is the Hotel Gracery with the Godzilla building—there's another Apa Hotel, they're everywhere, like Starbucks and Apa.

29:23 John Daub: This was a swamp after the Meiji era, and they filled it in eventually—it was the spot of the Yodobashi processing plant, thus Yodobashi Camera, which has its headquarters in this area. There's a lot of history here. After World War II, look at this Godzilla vending machine. This is the Shinjuku that I remember—Kabukicho like really low buildings, kind of shack-like, also fun. Almost looks like the Red Light District, but the purpose of these buildings have changed a little bit.

31:19 John Daub: For those that remember watching the movie Lost in Translation, this is where Bob was getting shot at with a cork gun or something, going down these alleys, cutting through the pachinko shops. This is not too far away from the Park Hyatt Hotel, where some of the film was made—so it's got that vibe. A lot of these are 18 and over. In 1999, they said this was the largest entertainment district in Asia—I don't know if it still is, but it's changed quite a bit.

32:02 John Daub: The last time I was here was with my friend Dan from the YouTube channel What's Inside, and his son Lincoln—pretty fun duo. And this is the Robot Restaurant—look at what it is now, just an empty board up for rent. Gira Gira Garuzu, egyo-chu—so became a girl bar? Everybody, this is the front of what used to be the Robot Restaurant. The Robot Restaurant is history—I remember when they started it back in 2008 or something, they put in an extraordinary amount of money. This is the entrance—they had wicked tractor trailers with a robot in the back that they'd go around Shibuya and Harajuku to get tourists to come. You can see they still have a sign for it—this is sort of history, because I'm sure that sign is going to be gone soon. If you do have some video of it, it has become part of the history of Tokyo.

34:36 John Daub: Some of these were really famous—I think this has been in a couple of movies. They used to have the drum beat video game in the front, taiko no tatsujin, and now it's all UFO catchers—that taiko drum game was kind of cool, but UFO catchers make more money.

36:16 John Daub: Here's the entrance of Kabukicho, Sakura Dori Street, and we're back on the Shinjuku side of things, outside of the neighborhood. I remember a bunch of Nigerians in Kabukicho trying to get you to go into the hostess clubs—I didn't really see a lot here. A study in 2004 said 70% of the property in Kabukicho was owned by... Nigeria was one of those places, just historically. Just right over there is the Don Quixote. First time since they lifted the mask requirement—guideline, I guess. In two weeks, the whole pandemic is downgraded to something like influenza—that will make a difference to people coming to visit. No longer do you have to show proof of vaccination when you enter Japan—it just goes back like hit the reset button to 2019. But if you do have a fever, you might be pulled aside.

38:02 John Daub: I have a lot of memories in this street here—this is also part of Kabukicho. I've spent some time in this Mister Donut waiting for the first train—not always did my friend pay for the taxi home. Sometimes I had to wait here with a couple of donuts. This capsule hotel is still here—Shinjuku Kuyakusho My Capsule, still in business. It's changed a lot since I filmed it many years ago. Behind this Mister Donut, there's an alley that looks uncharacteristic of Shinjuku—we'll take you to Golden Gai, which I suppose is Kabukicho.

39:29 John Daub: Don't point your camera at anybody in Japan—not purposely, never zoom up on anybody when taking pictures, that's kind of illegal. But in passing, it's okay. All right, here it is—this is the entrance to Golden Gai. I'm not gonna take you around here, but if you are going to Kabukicho, this is probably where you'll end up. Bar Champion is still here and has not changed much—they had a fire here about seven years ago and some crime attached to that. It does feel like what a lot of people consider an urban jungle—instead, we have some trees. Here's the alleyway of Golden Gai—you can see left and right, it's just fun to walk around at night. Some places have cover charges, some don't. I did a livestream here with Tokyo Sam, who knows this area well—we found some interesting places.

41:18 John Daub: There's a line for something—they call it Shinjuku New Art, so it might be art. That's the Shinjuku ward office—Golden Gai right there, you can see the Jim Beam logo, just follow that.

42:22 John Daub: Alright, let's cross the street here and get an idea of how the Shinjuku Sanchome area has changed. Kabukicho is an area I wouldn't recommend as a place to stay other than the capsule hotel—but even that has changed quite a bit, and because of the tourist boom, prices have gone up a lot. If you're into entertainment, nightlife, drinking, and you're a city guy who can handle yourself, this is a pretty interesting place. I can recommend staying on this side of the street that we just crossed because you can handle yourself. But if you're a suburban bumpkin like me—I grew up not on the streets of New York or Philly—I would get my ass handed to me here if I didn't have a protector. It's like prison—you have to ally yourself with strong people, be part of a tribe.

44:20 John Daub: And then up here, this is the last time we're going to be able to see it, that I believe—you have the building, the new Kabukicho Tower that's in the spot of the old Milano. It looks like it's in the clouds—I like the coloring at the end of it, gives it a retro feel. Half of me loves that old Showa rustic feel because it has character—that's the character we grew up through. For people who went to school at Waseda University in the 1970s, I'd be interested to hear their opinion of the changes—it's a different kind of playground now, and there's a heck of a lot more tourists that cross that street. A lot of tourists stay in this area, not the other area where we just were—for good reason, but the adventurous would go.

45:40 John Daub: The art here is also really crazy—I like it, you see it in Harajuku and Shibuya, there's a vibe. This is more of a tourist area here. Shinjuku Sanchome is the third neighborhood of Shinjuku, very famous for shopping because of a massive Isetan—and there's also a big camera shop. Down in this direction is where we're going to be going—I'm taking you here because I'm kind of curious myself. This is where the 3D Cat was—a very groundbreaking digital signage spot in Tokyo, and now it's kind of old news, but they have next-level stuff. About two or three years ago when I filmed it, looked like the cat was coming out of the screen.

48:05 John Daub: There is a 3D cat—he's off the screen, wow. It looks like they're looking down on us—that's so cool. I think every ad should utilize that 3D aspect of the wraparound screen. Just down the street is Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane), a small narrow alley where you can go and get yakitori, monjayaki nabe—some post-World War II food. A lot of these shacks are still the same as they were back in the early 50s. I don't know how long this is still going to be around—they're tearing places down for earthquake protocols. Most of them were Chinese owners, and the makeup of this area was 70% non-Japanese for property ownership after World War II—a study in 2004, land passed down because it used to be a swamp.

51:16 John Daub: This is Yatayen, and this is really breaking my heart—because this corner used to be where you would get luxury fruits, it was a fruit stand. Does anybody remember that? Now it's no longer a fruit stand—it's like a yatai shop, a restaurant. I'm kind of heartbroken seeing that it's not that fruit stand—I remember talking to the owner many times, taking pictures of the square watermelon. No longer can you see that here—they sold out, I guess the pandemic did it to them, nobody was buying fruit. That fruit stand had been here for decades.

52:19 John Daub: And now we are back where we started—Okubo Park and the entrance to Kabukicho. Pretty interesting look at Kabukicho. Don't forget that like button—I appreciate it. If you're watching this in playback, leave a comment: What do you think of Kabukicho? Is this a place you would consider staying? Where's your recommendation for staying in Tokyo?

54:12 John Daub: So this is where I started the livestream, on the corner here. A fun hour of walking around Kabukicho—I hadn't done that in a long time. Thanks for joining me, thanks for hanging out and taking a look at this area again, kind of remembering it. The neighborhood has changed quite a bit—I wouldn't normally recommend Kabukicho to anybody, but I think I might now. It seems like there's a lot more entertainment there—the drinking is still there, there's still that character. Sure, it's not the same as 1990, but you're probably a lot safer now. It's blue Kabukicho. Thanks everybody, have a good day. I'll see you again tomorrow—we'll think of another area of Tokyo to show you, or I'll get my man PBG back here and we'll have a discussion. For anybody coming to Japan, there are more tourists from the West than in 2019—it feels like, just without the Chinese tourists yet, so it has a different feel. See you everybody.