00:00:05 John Daub: Hello everybody and greetings to Roppongi in Tokyo. This is the center of the city, I guess you could say. It's pretty central. This is the famous Roppongi sign at the intersection. That's the highway going over it. And in this episode we're going to walk around this entertainment district. But more than that, we're going to see how crowded it is.

00:00:35 John Daub: I just was on Japanese TV. There's a news program that I love to do. They called me when I was in Okayama filming for Only in Japan, a main channel episode. I was there at a school. They wanted to show a little bit more about Japanese culture, that side of it, the everyday life. And they asked me if I would come in and talk about the over-tourism of Japan. About how there's too many tourists here and some of the challenges that have been going on.

00:01:10 John Daub: So I thought I would walk around here in particular since it's actually not that far from the studio. Kanae was recording it. She was watching me about 30 minutes ago in the studio. I guess I was having not a great hair day. I still am not. But it's really fun to be on the show and then be able to share my points of view with everybody all across Japan because the show gets millions and millions of views.

00:01:35 John Daub: Yeah. But it's actually... Roppongi is a great spot. Roppongi? Does that look that crowded? Does it? Let's walk around. So in this direction we have Roppongi Midtown and over here we have Roppongi Hills. It's very easy to find some of the attractions here in Roppongi. It's all pretty much around this intersection. This is where I am right now, the blue mark. And you can see it is very central. There's not a lot of trees in this area.

00:02:10 John Daub: There's Roppongi Hills that we just went by there called Maruyama [?]. And we're circling around that intersection. We're coming to Roppongi Midtown which is another huge skyscraper filled with shops inside of there. This is considered the entertainment district. This is where the nightlife is of Tokyo. At least that's where it used to be 25 years ago. This is where I would come out to... 25 years ago... And a lot of you who are watching that have been in Japan for decades used to go there.

00:02:50 John Daub: So I'm going to come here as well. First let's walk over towards Roppongi Hills. And the thing that I noticed about... the reason why is strategic because I live on the other train line so I know where I'm going. Over the course of the last four years I've not been out as much as I usually do. Let me get over here. And I notice all these things have changed. I used to come to this area often. Not for entertainment but for... I guess because Google is just over there. They used to be. Google Japan moved their offices from... I believe they still might have some office there. I'm not sure. From this area to Shibuya where they have brand new skyscrapers with state of the art high tech next generation technology inside of there.

00:03:40 John Daub: The Wi-Fi was like giga... like I never had faster Wi-Fi than at the Google office in Shibuya. The new one in Shibuya streams. So this area is not... I don't know. It's not old. But it's not new. So I usually come down this street and will pass where they have... they used to have a Tully's Coffee which is now Shake Shack. And there's some interesting businesses back here too. I'm not sure how the signal is going to be.

00:04:15 John Daub: This... you know what I can show you this is a kayak [?]. This... at night you'll find a lot of Instagrammers because I've never seen so much content on Japan then right now on social media. This is a kayak gets a ton of attention because when at night it lights up and then you have what looks like a traditional Japanese building with all of these chōchin (lanterns). You also got in the distance Roppongi Midtown. You see that big skyscraper there. So you have like what looks like modern and traditional Japan all in one picture. It's kind of cool.

00:04:55 John Daub: This is a chain I believe. Uh... Uohama right? Yeah. I think it's a chain. It's a chain shop. But certainly you can't get a better location than this. A lot of foot traffic.

00:05:15 John Daub: Um... I'm trying to think. Hello. I'm from America but I live here. Where are you from? Alright. This is the... a falafel restaurant. He had a cowboy hat. How cool is that? Giddy up. You know what if I said I'm from here. That wouldn't have been a fun answer. So you have to say I'm from... I have to say I'm from America because it sounds more exotic. Right? Yeah.

00:05:50 John Daub: I still have the makeup on. They said... They gave me a towel to take it off. I said you know what? I'm going to live stream. Just leave it on. How bad could it be? It's caked on there man.

00:06:10 John Daub: I wanted just to take you across here just to show you some of the old timers. Because I know a lot of you have lived in Japan before. Some of you. A few of you. In particular we have viewers that used to live here during the occupation. I got emails from viewers that were here during the 1950s. And I heard stories that I love. I wish... If you were here during the occupation in the 1950s or 60s, please send me an email message. I would love to hear your stories. And kind of get an idea of what Roppongi was like during that era. Because it was totally different.

00:07:00 John Daub: This is where a lot of the GIs came back during the occupation of the late 40s and early 50s. The US I believe was here until 1956 when MacArthur gave them the Liberty Bell as a parting gift. The Brew Dog is still here I see. Oh this business is out of business. That's prime real estate. This whole building looks like it should be condemned. At night you can't see the imperfections.

00:07:35 John Daub: This building is out of business. This used to be like the Wendy's or something. What? This is empty? Holy smokes. And there used to be a Hub Pub. Which is where the expats would drink. But I haven't been there in about six years. That's gone too. What? No that Hard Rock Cafe cannot be gone. That Hard Rock Cafe is like... That was the first Hard Rock Cafe in Japan I believe. That's like... Okay good. Okay. Not that I go there but it would be sad to lose that.

00:08:20 John Daub: There it is. I'm not a Hard Rock Cafe person. I'm kind of happy that this building still exists. It hasn't changed much at all. I should take Kanae here just for a very disappointing dinner. But I think everybody who's been to Japan maybe ten years ago had stopped here because it was one of those... It was like one of those things in the 1990s and 2000s where you had to get a t-shirt from the Hard Rock. And it said Tokyo or London or whatever. I don't think people do that anymore do they?

00:09:00 John Daub: Here's the Udon place. The noodle place that's always crowded. I thought it was okay. They just have big bowls which make it look real cool. And then there's a Don Quixote. Whoa! There's a Don Quixote. This used to be a club. So a lot of these places used to be clubs. I think that was Gas Panic. Wasn't it? You know what? I'm going to cross the street here. Now I'm really curious. I've done this walk before. But I'm shocked at how Roppongi has changed.

00:09:45 John Daub: Like look at that boarded up building over there. What was that before? I have no idea. It's like abandoned. And this is also under construction if not abandoned. Oh yeah it's abandoned. They're going to knock this down. There used to be a couple of bars down here. There's two businesses inside here. The... On the 9th... 8th and 9th floor there's only a WDI group still left as residents. They're going to knock it down and build something else? That's crazy.

00:10:30 John Daub: Gai and Higashidori. They even took away the Hobgoblin that used to be down the street I believe. It's not like an Iowa barbecue steak place. Which actually looks pretty good. I have to admit. Alright they still got the Two Dogs which used to be... Let's cut across the street here. There's the Two Dogs which used to be... I forget. Some club. I went with my Israeli friend. Back in the day. I have friends from all...

00:11:15 John Daub: You know what? You want to hear something funny? Like I know the Middle East has a lot of issues. But in Tokyo as expats. I have Israeli friends that are hanging out with Iranian friends. They don't really care about that when they're here. Like that stuff doesn't play. Politics that happens back home. Here everybody just is... Everybody is like friends. I haven't gone out for a very long time but... We all share something in common. For expats we live here. And that's a very bonding thing. Because we all go through the sometimes frustrating parts of Japanese culture.

00:12:00 John Daub: Yeah yesterday I was here. Check out this photo. These are some students from Okayama Minami High School. And I was able to make an episode with them at their high school. Which is coming really soon. I got one more scene to film later this week. But these... Look how... They are really good at modeling. It feels like they're an idol group. I look like I'm young enough to go to that school, don't I? What do you think? You know what? Keep it to yourself. Don't tell me what you think. Keep it to yourself.

00:12:45 John Daub: There's a site that I love to see. That's actually a pretty cool photo. Whenever you can get signs in your photo it makes it pretty special. Because it puts it in the place. Roppongi Gochome. So I think from here it's about 10 minutes walk to get to Tokyo Tower. It's not too far away. Alright let's walk down this area. It's changed quite a bit. It's clean. The changes are welcome. I've done this walk at night time. Which makes more sense. But at daytime... I don't know. You just see a little bit more. Because it's bright out.

00:13:35 John Daub: Alright so it's still Two Dogs. It's just weird. Now my Israeli friend is a little bit of a nut job. Not anymore. He's pretty... He's calmed down quite a bit. But I remember... I'm the shy one and he's the outgoing one. And he'd have a lot of girlfriends. And yeah. This used to be Gas Panic. And these stairways a lot of people were making out there. Back in the day. These restrooms were not clean. People would be making out in there too. And there's a park down here. And I've seen people making out there too. So there's a lot of making out here. Okay. You just have to put that out there.

00:14:30 John Daub: So I... The fact that it's cleaned up is an extremely good thing. And then you could go to the basement here. That black door would lead to a club in the basement. And I celebrated New Year's there like 2004 maybe. It was a pretty nasty New Year. Went home early. Let's not talk about that. What happens in Roppongi stays in Roppongi. Or gets promoted here on the show. I... Give it to myself. Hey! Tell me what happened last night. Report the news. It's a Roppongi bird.

00:15:15 John Daub: Nowadays I think it has changed quite a bit. But in Tokyo in general, I've noticed that a lot of the places that have a reputation of being really nasty, actually have cleaned up quite a bit. In particular during the pandemic. And now they're places that I could enjoy a little bit more. But it wasn't always like that. Food love is here.

00:15:45 John Daub: Would you say Roppongi is one of the must visits in Tokyo? No. Besides Akihabara, Shinjuku, Shibuya, thanks for the content. No. I think if you're coming out at night, there's some good restaurants here. The attraction of Roppongi in particular is that it's central to the city. And there's some good restaurants. And there is some nightlife. And it's more of a nostalgic value. But this neighborhood is changing. And I think that it could be one of the places to visit. But right now, as I'm showing you, the places are being torn down.

00:16:40 John Daub: This building is going to be gone next year. It's already only... All the businesses are gone except for the eighth and the ninth floors. What takes its place? Probably something really cool. But then there's old places. Like Propaganda. Like I've heard of them. And sake bars and stuff. It's just changing because what people want are changing. I think in the past, Japan did not have a lot of tourists. Arthur Vandelay is here. Hey. Japan didn't have a lot of tourists. But it had more like expats that lived here. And they had bars that were here. And there was just a different audience.

00:17:35 John Daub: Now since 2013, tourism has been really on the rise. And that's the next thing I want to talk about. The over-tourism that's happening. In particular on the Golden Route. Which is Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Himeji, Kobe to a lesser extent. And even Hiroshima which is in there now. Mike Da Silva is here. Rare hatless. I know. I'm probably... Who knows how long it's going to be there. So it's all good.

00:18:15 John Daub: Here's that Udon restaurant which is quite famous. It starts to get really crowded around 5pm. For dinner and then all through the night. You're going to see on this side. I see massive changes. The Wendy's. Is that even here? I know there's a 100 yen shop. Daikokuya. I don't remember. This is like a pawn shop. I don't see the 7-Eleven. Oh there it is right there. The 7-Eleven is here. Personality of brick walls here. Hey John. Roppongi bird. Roger versus Toby (crow).

00:19:00 John Daub: By the way I choose my future apartment in Singapore. Now to save for my next trip to Tokyo. And you got the next trip. Awesome. Everything's working out. This is empty. And this building is abandoned right now. So it looks like they're going to be putting in some really nice stuff. But a lot of these older buildings are very narrow because of the property that they could... It was back in the Meiji era that... I think after World War II a lot of it changed. But they had families and places had larger plots of land. And then they split it in half and then into thirds.

00:19:50 John Daub: And that's why you get these... These thin buildings because a larger plot of land where family used to live got split into three plots. So this one might be two and this is one for example. And people got creative. So the building used to be five stories and they became eight stories. And they find a way to get around it. But this will be history and so you're probably going to see a building three times higher.

00:20:30 John Daub: Down here... Holy smokes. Is that... I think this is where Lexington Queen used to be. Lexington Queen is one of the old clubs. Ninety-eight. I remember going there once. Never again. Oh my god. Nasty place. I'd never seen... First of all, I don't think I'd ever seen models like this. There are a lot of models. I've never seen... Like VIP area which I could not enter. And then just models doing drugs on tables. It was like right there.

00:21:15 John Daub: So I went with my friend. We had drinks. There was this weird girl going around. She looked like she was spaced out. I found her on the floor of the men's room. We picked her up, put her in a chair and then we left. It was really, really nasty. And from then on, I would only go out if we were going out in groups of friends. Then I guess around the 1990s, there were more people grabbing. A lot of grabbing people. A lot of like strange behavior. Druggings, things like this. It got a really notorious reputation.

00:22:05 John Daub: About when the tourist boom happened, there were a lot more police crackdowns. And they started to clean up this area. There were signs warning against people and touching other people. Like trying to drag them in. In particular, people from, you know, would try to get people into the bars and would just drag them in. How scary is that? Just different cultures, I suppose. But not anymore.

00:22:45 John Daub: Yeah, there are drugs here. I don't see it. I'm a family man. I don't go out. Ever, really. Even when I travel, I don't go out. I like eat in my hotel room if I'm by myself. Yeah, people, someone just got in trouble. An actress did in Roppongi, Shibuya for having something. So just don't do it in Japan. We all know that Japan has a like 90% conviction rate. You know, don't get caught doing something. The laws here are not in your hands. They're not in your favor. They're not.

00:23:35 John Daub: I'm not going to, I'm going to not take you down towards Midtown or to Roppongi Hills because, let's cross the street here, because I don't think that there's anything interesting. You know what? I need some music to play. I got to get another smartphone and play some music. Every time WRX Turbo is in the house, we have to play the song. So we'll try to, I'll try to work that out and get some, get some music. But it's nice to see you. WRX Turbo is in the house. Does anybody know the history behind this one?

00:24:25 John Daub: Yesterday I showed you, I went through a really beautiful place in Okayama. And to the gardens, Korakuen and the castle, Okayama Castle. And we saw some really interesting statues. And in the heart of Roppongi, we have this. So I'm going to make it a tradition. You shouldn't be touching people. So touch the guitar. So when you come to Roppongi, you have to, you have to play the guitar. There you go. Help her make some music. Very cool.

00:25:10 John Daub: I don't know the history behind it, but what is this? Haru Deru Derumu Jose [?]. I can't read that. Spring Ladies. Otani is the spokesman for my bank. One of them. I don't know. It doesn't make me like my bank. So that right there is Roppongi Hills or Mori Tower. And I think that this is one of the better observation decks. You can go up to the top outside and see the city from up there.

00:25:55 John Daub: Everyone's going to Shibuya to see it. And of course, the view is good. But I think this is a great, great view too, because you have, you're pretty much central. So you got Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Skytree, a lot of other places from this point. So yeah. I think it's a good, good observation deck to go and see, especially if you're, if you're staying in this area.

00:26:35 John Daub: Now, I got to point out one thing. If you are going to this area, there's a restaurant that I kind of recommend, but I have to tell you, a lot of foreign tourists are starting to go there and it's almost exclusively foreign tourists. But how can you blame them? It's called Gompachi in Nishiazabu. Gompachi is famous for being the Kill Bill restaurant. I think it, that movie's gotten a little bit old. It's over 20 years old now. I think it's 20 years this year, isn't it? 2001 or 2003. I can't remember.

00:27:25 John Daub: Anyways, if you go inside of the restaurant, you will know that this inspired Tarantino with Kill Bill to make that big restaurant with the samurai scene where they're chopping everybody up. That was based on Gompachi and they noticed that. And you'll see this, the movie. There will be pictures from it inside of the restaurant and you get that vibe. So it's kind of cool. 2003, right? It's at Kelvin. Yeah, so it's 20 years.

00:28:05 John Daub: You can get to that restaurant, 10 minute walk downhill in this direction past Roppongi Hills, Mori Tower. I took, I guess I can tell you now. So Sam Wendover and team from Jetlag: The Game were here and I had dinner with him and Scotty a couple of months ago when they filmed. And I remember the film Jetlag: The Game right before they went. And those guys were kind of like cheating to try to figure out some Japanese words that might help them along their game. But it's one of the best YouTube series highlights like turning countries into games and they did such a great job of that with Japan.

00:29:00 John Daub: In the center there, there's actually a shrine. I believe it's a temple. So there are some unique corners to Roppongi kind of secret things. You wouldn't even notice it if you cross on that side of the road. But there's in the alleys and in the streets or all over Tokyo, there are shrines and temples and places where neighborhood where people in each neighborhood can pray. And I always thought that that was really special because despite the fact that Japan is not the religion doesn't seem so strong here. It is quite strong in that sense. There is a spirituality to Japan. I guess it's hard to feel in everyday life.

00:29:55 John Daub: In the distance is the NTT Docomo Tower which came in I think 1995-ish. I believe it was here when I was here. This is new. This REM Hotel. I stayed there once in Kagoshima actually and it was a pretty good modern like boutique type of room. The best hidden shrine is one in my mind. There's a ward, Chuo Ward I live in. There's a place called Tsukuda [?]. You should go and visit that. That might be the most surprising place of Tokyo that you ever visit. It is quiet.

00:30:45 John Daub: And this month, this month they have the festival that they hold every two years but they haven't done it in four years. It's the Sumiyoshi Jinja Festival. And the entire island which is an original island in Tokyo Bay. Now it's been built out with man-made islands to make it larger. But the Osaka, there were Osaka fishermen that were stationed on this island that could only get off and on by ferry. And it wasn't a very big place. Created this shrine. So this festival is very lively as you would expect from Osaka. I think it takes place in a couple of weeks and I will be there with Leo and Kanae most likely.

00:31:45 John Daub: But I also want to ask you guys if you're going to be in Japan on September 9th. And 10th. And you're interested, join us because I'll be taking a bus tour with a bunch of viewers. Right now we're at 30% capacity. We need five more people to make, we got to get at least 50% full on this bus to make it a reality. But it's, I'm going to be leaving Tokyo on the morning of the 9th and taking some people with me. So if you want to meet at Tokyo Station, we'll get on the Shinkansen, go to Nagaoka, get on this bus. And we're going to go to Katakai Fireworks Festival.

00:32:45 John Daub: Where they have large shells. It's, I don't know, I want to say like a hundred times bigger than anything that they shoot up in Tokyo. It is massive. They got the Yonshakudama which is the end of the event. It's massive. And then they have two Sanchakudama which is like, it's pretty massive. And I wanted to share my love of Japanese fireworks. So we have 30 people can go on this trip. I'll put a link in the description. But yeah, my friend is a great guy. And my connection with the Japan National Fireworks Association has helped me put this together. And I'm really excited.

00:33:45 John Daub: I know Diana and Joss are coming. There's a bunch of other people that are going to be on this bus from all over the world. So I'm super excited about that. Trust me, you will never in your life see anything like this show. Not only is the festival better because the food, because it's not as crowded. It's like the countryside. We're going to get immersed into the, into like, we're going to go to an oba-chan restaurant where an old lady is creating the food. I want to support local businesses on this.

00:34:40 John Daub: We're going to a local hotel. There's a chain hotel. It's a nice hotel. You get an onsen there. We have, we're going to be going to Ojiya which is the birthplace of koi carp. And there's going to be a chance where we can hold the koi, get a photo with that. Learn more about how it works. Learn how they raise koi and what makes Ojiya special because it's right next to Katakai. And then we get to meet Honda-san who's the insane genius who created the largest firework shell in the world. That's shot up every year.

00:35:35 John Daub: Other people have done it like one-offs. He does it two times every year. He used to have the Guinness Book of World Records. You're going to see that. It's just an amazing event. It's 70,000 yen and everybody gets a free hoppy as well. And with the hotel and the reserved seating. And everything. I think it's a pretty good deal. I wanted it to be something that was, I don't know, not too expensive. But it's not like chump change either.

00:36:25 John Daub: So this is Roppongi Midtown. And I've noticed that Roppongi is not that crowded. A lot of it is stuff that you would go to if you were living in Japan. Like restaurants and overpriced shopping. Things like that. If you're like a diplomat's kid. You might be hanging out here. But I don't think tourists. It doesn't seem like a lot of attractions. By the way, if you're looking for the link. I put it in the last live stream. So you can find it there. I think I forgot to add it in here. But we'll see if Nightbot can add that link in there.

00:37:15 John Daub: Hello. Hey, John. How are you guys doing? Pretty California. Oh, wow. But the humidity makes it seem like a lot hotter out here. This is not bad. Yeah. I don't even have shorts on. I'm doing okay. Well, they didn't recognize you because you're all dressed up. I just got off of a TV shoot over there. It's still freaking hot. Cool. Okay.

00:37:55 John Daub: Where do you guys come to Roppongi? Is there anything here? I met up with some friends. I'm actually meeting my wife around here. She's with her friends. And we're here to visit relatives. Okay. Actually, I'm a relative. Fujiko Heming's relative. Oh, that's really cool. I might have a You Found Me card. Because you found me. I found John. Yeah. Hey, can you hold this for a second? Okay. This is your new gimbal? Yeah. I don't think that gimbal's doing too well, though. Here it is. You've got to get a picture. This is my boy, Eddie. Oh, how you doing, Eddie? I have one. Okay. You got the one. Sorry, Eddie. Let's just run all night. All right. Here you go, John. Well, thank you. Okay. Great. All right. Good to see you. Stay cool. All right. You too. See you. All right. Cool. Very nice.

00:39:25 John Daub: Well, thank you, Ken, if you're watching this in the playback. It was nice to meet you. Oh, there they go. Oh, it's so hot now. Try to kind of walk between the ... Walk in the shadows of the tree line. I think it's just not a lot of trees around there. Now, let's turn ... You get an idea. This place is pretty modern. It was built after Roppongi Hills. I remember when they were building it, and you could see the building coming in.

00:40:15 John Daub: Konami used to have a ... It was a little bit of a conglomerate. They had a little bit of a conglomerate office here, but I don't see the sign anymore. It's funny. A lot of businesses have been moving to the newer skyscrapers and leaving the older ones, which I can't believe that this is older, but I just noticed that. I have friends that worked at a marketing company called ADK, and they moved from Higashiginza to another newer office because it shows more prestige by doing so.

00:41:00 John Daub: You see a ton of restaurants here, lots of shopping. Hey, Christian. I am not Mr. Rogers. I'm Mr. Daub. Don't you forget that. I just got ... You could call me John Sensei. I just left the school in Okayama. That was so cool. I have a scene in the next video where I enter the classroom, and they do what they would do if the teacher comes into the school, and it reminded me so much of the military. I was a little bit overwhelmed by all of that.

00:41:50 John Daub: Roppongi Midtown is kind of cool to walk around, but I'm going to be honest with you. Number one, not very crowded, and number two, I don't know. This is not a place that I would come and hang out at very often. I think it's a good place where you would meet friends and go out and get a drink, but I don't know. For a tourist attraction, I think it would be hard for me to recommend this place unless you're looking for nightlife.

00:42:40 John Daub: A couple of the other places I would recommend are ... I don't know if you can see it, but the old bars are still around, but I noticed walking through here, I didn't see Wall Street, for example. I didn't see a lot of the old bars. I think if they got in trouble, then they were shut down. Probably not a bad thing, or they just shut down the building, and they're going to build something better.

00:43:25 John Daub: There's a point where what existed after World War II, maybe the 60s and 70s that they built, maybe before the Olympics in 64, they've got to renew that area of the city because it's not earthquake-proof enough. In case a big one happens, and one is expected to happen in the next 30 years, and the other to Tokyo, a big earthquake is expected to happen underneath Tokyo, right underneath it, in the next 30 years, which makes me think it might be time to leave. Just saying.

00:44:15 John Daub: There's also ... A lot of buildings are not up to standard. If that were to happen, there would be a lot of loss of lives, and there's not enough places to evacuate to, I think. The city is really doing a good job of doing that. Renovating old areas. It's very sad, but when the worst one does hit, Tokyo is in a good position to weather it a lot better than if it were anywhere else. Anywhere else.

00:45:00 John Daub: I'll take some questions here. Is DisneySea busy in October? Yes. It's very busy because of the Halloween events that they do, in particular. Japanese ... I would say Halloween is even ... The best time to go is November 1st, when they take the Halloween stuff down. To right before they put up the Christmas stuff. It's not as crowded then. But if you go in October, you're probably going to have the same amount of people as you do in the summer.

00:45:50 John Daub: One note, the Japanese students' holiday just started. Everything's going to get a little bit more crowded and a lot busier. So not only do we have way more tourists in Japan right now, in particular from America, making up the differences from the tourists from China that we don't have right now, the Japanese are traveling now, too. And tomorrow's livestream, I'm going to give you an update a little bit on the tsunami, the human tsunami that's happening right now all over Japan, where the Japanese and foreign tourists are now clashing. And there's a lot of stress and there's a little bit of anxiety because of it.

00:46:55 John Daub: You go to a tourist attraction on the Golden Route, in particular Kyoto, you do not feel that zen. And a lot of foreign tourists are complaining. You don't feel... You go to Kinkaku-ji, you don't even see the temple. It's like this... It's so crowded. And you're like this walking through. It's not pleasant. And everyone sort of smells a little funky. It smells like a Six Flags at 4 p.m., but it's still noon. So it's not a good time to travel to Japan in October.

00:47:50 John Daub: Rolex, that's not true. It's a good time, just not for Tokyo Disneyland. The only issue with October that I have, besides Disneyland and Halloween time, is the typhoon season. Other than that, it's cooler. The weather's nice. The days are still fairly long because in January it gets dark really early. October, it's still fairly long-ish. And the food starts to get really good. Autumn Japanese cuisine is so good. That's maybe the best season. You get the harvests going on. The mochi, the rice in particular, it's all new rice. A lot of fruits and vegetables. They reach their harvest in the fall. The chestnut season is there, so a lot of modern desserts. It's really good.

00:49:00 John Daub: Would Christmas be right to visit Japan? I guess so. I'll tell you what. At Christmas time, I want to get the heck out of Japan. Because I can't feel Christmas here. It's... If you love Japan, then any time you want to go to Japan, any time's the right time. Christmas, you have illuminations, you have some light-ups, but there's no feeling behind it. And I've always felt after 25 years in Japan that Christmas here stinks.

00:49:50 John Daub: So that's why you'll find me in Germany, in Switzerland, in Austria, in wherever, France, Europe, because I kind of feel Christmas more. And then we go home to America, and then we really feel Christmas. Basically, I prefer to go home the long way through Europe, visit some Christmas markets, and then go back home and see family. And that's what Christmas is all about, right? I don't feel that in Japan. Shogatsu is a good, interesting time to be in Japan. That's, I'd say, the 28th or 29th of December to January 5th. A lot of things are closed, but that also makes for interesting opportunities to see Japan in a new way. So I'd recommend that time, maybe, over Christmas.

00:51:00 John Daub: And then there's Christmas Eve, which is kind of nasty. They call it, that's when couples get together and the love hotels are booked out. There's stories I could tell you that I won't. Hey, John, I'm going to Japan for the first two weeks of August. Whoa! From Australia. Any main tips on dealing with craziness of tourism at this time? Yeah, I'm glad that I talked about this earlier. Yesterday's livestream, walking through Okayama, wake up early.

00:51:50 John Daub: If you've already, and you're coming from Australia, so you don't have jet lag. But if you can get up, if you're an early riser, like 5 a.m., do some stuff, like for two hours, then eat breakfast. Then do some stuff for another two hours. Then in the afternoon, I'd say around, the time that you should avoid, maybe 11.30 to 4 is usually really crowded. Maybe that's the time you just kind of hang out in a cafe or you stay somewhere cool. Go shopping. And then after like 3.30 to 4 o'clock, maybe hit some of those attractions at the