00:00 John Daub: Welcome to the city of Tokyo. Yes, it's loud here—hold on a second. Alright, let's get some audio. Today, welcome to Tokyo. I'm going to show you some of the history of the city, a place that people tend to walk by all the time and don't even notice, including myself. This is Kaijibashimon. Check it out.

00:41 John Daub: Kaijibashimon is one of the original gates of Edo Castle. I'm going to show you all of this in wonderful detail. First, this is where I am exactly on the map. This will give you a pretty good oversight. I'm right there at that intersection. It looks completely different than it did during the Edo period. But this is where one of the most important gates to the city of Tokyo used to be. Now it's just to the left of it, by the Willer bus station—some of the highway buses that leave Tokyo. Hard to find, but this sign is right down there, pretty much in the center of your screen right now.

01:25 John Daub: Not too far away is where Edo Castle used to be, and believe it or not, you can still see the remains of Edo Castle. Let's go over there right now. You look down here—what is the Imperial Palace near Chidorigafuchi? That's where the beautiful cherry blossoms are in the spring. Right there—do you see that? It's gonna pop in 3D. You can see the base of the castle. That's Edo Castle—this was a beautiful, massive castle back in the day. Now it's left—that burned down in a fire. You know, in the Meiji period it probably would have been destroyed, or was destroyed after the Meiji period for some reason—I can't remember exactly what happened to Edo Castle. They didn't rebuild it, and its remains are part of the past. But you can still see—yes, this is the Imperial Palace. You can see the moat around it, and this is the remains of what was once Edo Castle. You can see that clearly from Google Maps, from Google Earth. Right, that's what Edo Castle looked like—it was beautiful. On that base there, you can see the samurai practicing archery, the walls in there. But they don't do it anymore.

02:44 John Daub: Haji Bashimon—in this whole gate was right there. You can see the castle on the left side of the green circle. That bridge crossing the river—that's where we are right now. It's kind of cool. You can see it right there. No longer exists. All these plots of land were daimyo—the closer and more powerful you were, the closer you were to the inner side of the castle. The daimyo had their offices or homes or residences over there. And then you can see on the right side of the bridge, smaller residences for other samurai and people that were part of this.

03:33 John Daub: Hey, Jennifer Bridge is here! Jennifer is in Japan, but she just returned to Chicago. She was here. Jennifer, I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet up with you while you were here. I'm glad that you're here now. You probably walked right by here a couple of times, right near Tokyo Station. It's good to see you.

03:53 John Daub: The city of Tokyo, when you look at it from back in the past, you can see with the moats and the rivers around here, it was very much a canal city, similar to what I guess Amsterdam would be. They got things around by boat because they were just too heavy, and it was easier to get around just because of all the other traffic, the foot traffic. And you'd run into samurai and all sorts of gatekeepers. The river was—of course they had gatekeepers there too, but the river was just easier to get around. And this is one of those locations. That's where we are right now. So it's kind of cool. When you look back at history, you're not really looking back at history when you're walking around Tokyo because everybody sees Tokyo. It's this modern city with skyscrapers. This is the brand new Yaesu—this is the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station, Midtown that was just finalized a couple of months ago. And then you have Ginza over in this direction here. And there's another skyscraper coming up right here. But when you look, not only do you see the Shinkansen—that's kind of cool too. But this is where people would enter into the protected side of Edo Castle. Very cool.

05:22 John Daub: Let's look at a comment here that we got in from Carrie. A fire consumed the old Edo Castle the night of May 5th, 1873. The area around the old keep, which burned in the 1657 Meireki Fire, became the site of the new Imperial Palace in 1888. The Meiji Restoration was in 1868. So by the time the Meiji Restoration started, they wanted nothing to do with the old samurai era. Despite that, samurai traditions still go on. This weekend I will be in Fukushima where I'll be taking you to the Soma no Maoi in a main channel edited episode with the history of this festival celebrating their 700th year. It's crazy—every year, without fail, even through World War II. And this is a story I'll tell you in an edited episode. You start here first—even in World War II with the air sirens blasting and bombings going on, they still held on. They still held this festival. That's the samurai spirit. Now, technically back in the Meiji period, the samurai era was finished. But the descendants of the samurai continue the traditions even today—which is pretty hardcore.

06:36 John Daub: Because this isn't really a festival—this is one of the questions I got. Because if you ask them, "Hey, can you turn around so I can take a picture?" They will yell at you and act as though they will behead you, like it was the Edo period. Which is both creepy and pretty scary, but it's pretty awesome—though I wouldn't want that to happen. Let me read some of the history right off of this from Kaijibashimon. I forgot to turn the mic on to start. Oh, I hate it when there's a little issue here. Kaijibashimon was built in 1629—just before that fire, Carrie. Kaijibashi, the bridge leading to the gate, connected current-day Marunouchi 2-chome and 3-chome with Yaesu 6-chome and Chiyoda. That's where I live! I live in Chiyoda! This is my town, baby! The name comes from Minami Kaijimachi, the neighborhood outside the gate of Sotobori moat. Sotobori-dori (outer moat street) is also one of the main streets that goes through Tokyo. I used to run it in a Tokyo Marathon. It's cool.

07:44 John Daub: The official government painter was located here in the early Edo period. Inside the gate stood rows of daimyo feudal lord residences, as I was talking about—you saw on the map. The Matsudaira clan of the Tsuyama domain, Okayama Prefecture, and the Yamauchi clan of the Tosa domain, current-day Kochi Prefecture—where I'll be next month—built their main Edo residences in this area near the end of the Edo period. Not very good timing since it probably got demolished in the Meiji Restoration. Kaijibashimon Gate was demolished in 1873—ah, Meiji Restoration, five years after—leaving only its square stone walls. The bridge was rebuilt in 1876, which is what we have here, an arched bridge. But disappeared as the Sotobori moat was filled in along with other rubble from World War II. Ah yes, World War II. The name remains today in Kaijibashi Kadokyo (Kaijibashi overbridge) and Kaijibashi Kosaten (Kaijibashi intersection). That is interesting history. And this is what it used to look like back in the day, compliments of the Museum of Art. Thank you. So this is a picture taken of what that bridge looked like under the moat. And you can see this was taken, I believe, in the Meiji era. And you can see it's in disrepair—no one was really taking care of it, no one was manning the gates or anything like that. So it just deteriorated over time. Five years after the Meiji Restoration, the Edo period bridge was destroyed.

09:17 John Daub: Here it is on the other side. They filled that moat in with World War II debris. So it's now what you would call a moat. And what you see—this is so interesting. What you see on this side is a parking lot for buses. And this used to be, I guess, like a lagoon or something, which is now the bus parking lot. So underneath all of this is World War II debris. Interesting. This huge lot here. And if you're thinking about getting a highway bus leaving Tokyo, they're kind of convenient—you can get them from right here. There's the Shinkansen going by right there. Yeah, underneath here is a rubbish dump, but you know, you get creative when you have a war—you gotta put stuff somewhere. A lot of the World War II debris ended up being filled over in a lot of places on the other side of the city, creating parks with mountains of the debris underneath it. You had to make do with what you did—getting rid of the unexploded bombs and all this other stuff was really a difficult challenge, in particular for the Americans during the occupation after World War II. The cleanup was done not just by the Japanese, but by the U.S. to clear the roads for the occupation. Something that we forget.

10:59 John Daub: Michael Sassano, John—one of the reasons why I started following you on YouTube more than seven years ago was because of your love for Japan and its long-standing history. Yeah! How could you not? And this is the thing that I scratch my head about with other YouTube creators. It's not a criticism—it's like, come on! How could you not be in awe of the history? Yeah, anime, manga, food—oh that's pretty cool! But you're living in history! It's like all around here. And I think maybe Americans are—because our history stops at, you know, 1776 or maybe the 14th century with the pilgrims and all that. Our history doesn't go back that long. Here, it goes like centuries. I'm going to a 700-year-old festival that they've continued, even through the pandemic and World War II, every year in one way or another. It's crazy. It really is. Michael, thank you.

11:59 John Daub: And by the way, Michael, I have your postcards here—I could show it to you. So this is going out to you, Michael, and I put in a couple extra ones because Michael's always here giving super chats. So I'm giving you one from last year—this is my favorite, the snow monkeys with the onsen steam rising. And then this is from the month before with me and Scotty at the vending machine corner. So I put all three of these in the mail for you—this is this month's postcard. I highly recommend it because I recommend every postcard. But this is Toyo-san, a friend, great guy, amazing chef in a Netflix documentary not too long ago, talking about his life. And I've eaten here many, many, many times. And he's just a cute little panda bear—look at that. There you go. He barks at the staff though. He's a panda bear but with a bite. He really does. He's friendly to the customers more than the staff. You don't want to get something wrong with the boss there—he is definitely large and in charge of his shop.

13:15 John Daub: So if you do come to Tokyo, I highly recommend that you go take a look at the ruins of Edo Castle and notice—just take notice of some of the historical signs and posts that you have around the city. Just kind of look for signs like this. I mean, it's easy to walk by. A lot of people get off of the Shinkansen and roll their bags to the hotel. And here you have a sign explaining it all, both in Japanese—which is kind of carved in there, kind of neat—and in English with maps. How cool is that? Here's a map of Edo Castle and where we are exactly in Chiyoda. That's very, very cool. And this is how it looked in Meiji 30. You can see it's still here—oh, here it is right there. And what they did was they took Edo Castle and they built the police station, I believe, and the fire station and some of the city buildings needed in the Yurakucho area. So this became an administrative center for the Meiji period.

14:19 John Daub: Kamen Rider Rogue, what's your plan to visit the Edo Castle site in November to take pictures of the autumn sights? That's a great place. There's an ambulance. Leo has a Tomy car of the ambulance—that's his favorite. He wants to be an ambulance driver when he grows up. I gotta tell him I saw one today. Any other places you recommend like this place? You know, if you do in particular spend the night in this area, Shimbashi, you can walk and make a really pleasant morning out of it. In particular in the summer when it's so hot and nothing's open, you can walk around this area and take a look at it. There's Kitanomaru Park, which is where they have the Budokan—this is where a lot of people play concerts. They also have the judo events in the 1964 and 2021 Olympics. It's a pretty scenic place. And you can walk down Chidorigafuchi where you can also see where the cherry blossoms are. You go past the Indian and the British embassies too when you do that. It's a stunning place. You can walk all around and get in your 10,000 steps and learn a lot of history because they're signposted like this. The thing is, I still have not found them all. It's like going around looking for manhole covers, looking for historical signs. I found just the other day John Manjiro's residence. If you don't know who John Manjiro is, Google him. He goes by other names as John Mung, John Manjiro. He's the reason why I'm coming to the United States in October to go to the festival that they hold in Fairhaven, Massachusetts to celebrate John Manjiro. He's that big of a pivotal figure—I feel like a character because he's larger than life.

16:12 John Daub: He was a fisherman from Kochi Prefecture in Chiyoda who got shipwrecked—or his fishing boat got blown away with five souls—trapped on Torishima, an island just off of Tokyo, found by whalers, taken to the United States via Hawaii. He learned English—the first Japanese in America—and he was a pivotal person in the Meiji Restoration and the Black Ships and Commodore Perry and the switchover to a modern Japan. I don't think without him—well, it was a team thing, but without him I think it would have been a lot harder. And this being Japan, the guy went through hell to prove his loyalty to Japan because he had lived in America. They held that against him because Japan was a closed country until the Meiji Restoration and he came back to Japan when it was still closed. Oh my gosh, they jailed him for months in Nagasaki—not a great thing. And only then—this is a story that I love—finally, John Manjiro gets out of Nagasaki and goes back to Kochi Prefecture. They let him go, probably under strict observation. And he could see his mother again, who thought that he had died after like 15 years or something—which is incredible. But he always had this dream to go back to Japan. And the route that he did it, I'm telling you the whole story—the guy got his money. You know how he got his money? Oh my gosh—he went to San Francisco in the gold rush and he got $500 with gold. Most people would have stayed and kept doing it like Bogart in Sierra Madre—you know, you get the greed, the gold eyes, crazy eyes. And he didn't get that—he had his eyes on the prize, which was to get back home. So he took that money, got on a ship, went to Hawaii, bought a dinghy that he could sail into Okinawa—which was not really fully closed—and he used that as his way into Ryukyu. He had a different leadership in Okinawa and he was able to get back to mainland Japan through that route. If he had gone the other way, they probably would have beheaded him on sight. So an amazing story, John Manjiro. He's probably overshadowed by a lot of other people, in particular Sakamoto Ryoma, who is also a really pivotal character. I say character because they're all larger than life, those guys.

19:02 John Daub: Alright, that's all I got for you today. It was pretty interesting. I can read you this one excerpt from a local guide on Google at this spot—I like to read the Google historical guide. One second, there you go. Alright, he writes in here: there's no vestige at all—just a little bit. But it is an important place in Edo Tokyo in the Edo period. Sotobori Street has an outer moat and the bridge needed to cross it. There was a gate on the Tokyo Station side, which is right here. I was checking—passersby, not a lot of people even take notice. During the Edo period, the Tokyo Station side was lined with daimyo residences, like the one here from Kochi Prefecture. And the name Kyobashi side, home to the merchants. So there were merchants on this side, which is the origin of the name of the bridge, Kyobashi. In the Meiji era, the daimyo residences were demolished and the Metropolitan Police Department and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government offices—which I showed you on that map—located on the site. After the war, the outer moat was reclaimed by debris from air raids and became the current road. Boom! Google Maps, you've done it again. Thank you, local guide.

20:19 John Daub: So, are you excited about the history? I hope you are. There's a QR code on your screen—scan it. I want you to be curious about what is this QR code? What will it do? I'll tell you—this is the information for the fireworks festival. It's a bus trip that Ide-san and myself have put together. Ide-san is my connection to the Japan National Fireworks Association. We're taking 30 lucky souls, brave souls, to the largest fireworks festival in Japan with large mega shells. We're going to be firing off the Yonshakudama (4-shaku ball), which is 420 kilograms in weight or more. They're going to be firing that up as well as two Sanshakudama (3-shaku balls), which they don't even come close to firing that size here in Tokyo. You can go to the Sumida River fireworks show next week—they will fire nothing close to the size of fireworks that you're going to see at that festival. We've got a reserved spot for you, a hotel, meals, and a bus. And we'd love to see you—I'll be on the bus there as well. And depending on how many people come, maybe even Kanae and Leo. We're going to go on the next day, take a look at the koi (carp), the birthplace of that—pick them up, feed them, talk to some koi breeders and masters, see some of the countryside, and support some grannies and their restaurants as they cook for us.

21:43 John Daub: So I preach—if you're doing it on your TV, I thought maybe a QR code is easier. But I do what I preach, meaning I go to the countryside—I'm taking people with me. Yesterday's livestream was pretty interesting to talk about—is the boom of Japanese tourism to Japan also creating a bunch of challenges. One comment was critical, and I'm glad—I like the critical remarks because it's a different side. This person said that I was overly negative about Tokyo. So why has my tone changed? I don't think so—read the title of the episode. It is critical, but it's not a negative one. It's about the challenges that Tokyo and Japan face. And why I think too many Americans in particular go on the golden route, which is okay—but it's overly crowded. And I've seen more people that are unsatisfied with their trip to Japan because it's just too crowded right now.

22:54 John Daub: This is from yesterday's livestream. What used to be the gate to Edo Castle is now the Shinkansen track. Now we're being greeted by one of the samurai reincarnated into a pigeon. I'm sorry sir, I have no permit—you can peck me to death. As long as you don't pick up a sword, we're all good. It's getting too close. Just remember that I have fists of steel. Obviously he knows it's not. Now I'm allowed to feed the pigeons in Tokyo—it's against the law. Just putting that out there—you could be fined, maybe. They'd catch you.

23:42 John Daub: Alright, so there you go—a little bit of a history lesson. I hope that this was useful. And to go back to that super chat, places in autumn to go and see the city—there's just too many of them. I think Hama-rikyu Gardens might be one of the best. And that's an old residence that's not far away from here—you could walk in about 30 minutes, near Shimbashi and Tsukiji Market. And it's a pretty interesting place to go in autumn and in spring. They've got a ton of different kinds of trees in there that have different colors as well—so it might be worth seeing. I know a lot of you are coming in October, so we'll try to plan some kind of a meetup, I guess. But I would appreciate it if you came and met up with me.

24:41 John Daub: Alright everybody, have a good day. See you in another livestream tomorrow. Bye from Edo Castle—right there. See you tomorrow. If you've got some ideas for a livestream, leave them in the comments below. That's where we were—parking lot now. But if you use your imagination, you can see the bridge, right? Just right there—the crosswalk, perhaps.