00:03 John Daub: Hey everybody, welcome. Good morning to the city of Tokyo. What you see on your screen, there's Tokyo Skytree and Kaminarimon (thunder gate), which is typically absolutely crowded, but look at it at six in the morning. There's no one here except for those people. It's really interesting and important for you to know that Tokyo doesn't have to be such a crowded place. Since tourism returned in November of 2022, it has been an extremely crowded place, but not in the morning. If you have jet lag, you should be ready for some fun. Everybody who has jet lag, it's a reason to maybe even skip your hotel's breakfast and just come out in the morning.

01:08 John Daub: At the end of this live stream, I bet there's five times the amount of people that have woken up and come here to get a photo of this. I came here at five in the morning to shoot the opening of a main channel episode because it is absolutely peaceful and quiet. There were only a few joggers and every now and then somebody who might have had a little bit too much that was still awake. In this episode, I will take you around here and show you a little bit of the vibe that makes up Asakusa in the morning. We got a cute dog. He's going for a ride. So where exactly am I in the city of Tokyo? Well, I'm right here.

01:58 John Daub: Down there, that is Kaminarimon. That's where I'm in front of this big gate and you can see just above it Nakamise-dori (shopping street), which is filled with street food, but not yet. That opens up at around 10 a.m. This is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. Here's my bicycle. You can even park here until about 7 a.m., but not for too much longer. Even the Starbucks is closed. Manjeet, hey, how you doing? I see a couple of people in here that are also early morning people.

02:34 John Daub: It is really hard to get shots with nobody looking straight ahead. About an hour ago, there was nobody. So now you can see traffic starting to pick up. It was so empty. The sun came up. I started to see the first sunlight at around 4:15. It was already bright. By 4:44, that's when the sunrise was today. But by that time, it was already bright enough to be able to get around. You could hear the cicadas chirping all over the city despite the early time. Some of the crows were out as well.

03:20 John Daub: The traffic on the street usually takes me about 22 minutes to ride here. It took me this morning about 17 minutes, which is significant. I was going pretty fast too. Because even when the traffic lights are red, you could sort of go because there's nobody around. It's just so deserted. It's almost like an apocalypse because the sun comes up so early before anybody really wakes up. The wire to the wireless mic is broken. So the audio through the camera, this is old school. I ordered a new one. It should be here later today.

04:24 John Daub: There are more pigeons out here than there are people. But there are also a lot of hotels and a lot of early morning flights. I've been seeing a lot of people visiting from out of town getting into buses and even taxis to go back to the airport. If you get off, you can't see the street usually. So if we go even off of the alleys here, it's even quieter. The downside to waking up this early is that in Japan, if you're a breakfast person, you're gonna want to get it at your hotel or if you're satisfied with McDonald's, you might be able to do that. A lot of the Starbucks if you're one of those people will not open up until 7 o'clock. There's always the convenience stores, but I highly recommend that you might eat something healthier.

05:53 John Daub: This is relatively clean for a place that is always packed with tourists. I'm surprised and pleasantly so. Breakfast is a meal that I skip so we're good unless we see something really good. Look at this, this is a public restroom for ladies and there's somebody over there picking up the litter. Michael Sassano, how you doing? Michael, good morning, aloha. This vending machine is stocked with green tea which I don't want. Look at this, this is Nakamise-dori. This place is always packed. It's surreal.

07:06 John Daub: Here's a sign: please don't eat here. They sell the food but they don't want you to eat the food here. They want you to take it away and eat someplace else that doesn't have a sign. This is so Japan. Sky writes in here, thank you for the years of video John. I'm finally making the trip in October with my family. Oh that's wonderful. Hoping to ride the Sunrise Izumo. I think you will be able to. I talked to them recently and they had spaces still open even now for this nobi-nobi zaseki (roomy seats). You can get compartments but you might want to reserve that at least two weeks in advance.

08:10 John Daub: Sean, how you doing? 808s here, I second what Michael says. I'm gonna look for some water at the bare minimum because it's gonna be a hot one. Yesterday look at the sun. What is that? I never see the sun this early unless I'm still editing because I didn't go to sleep. And that's in that case I will have seen the sun. Oh wow, look, a lot of places are open. Look there's Gil. Hey Gil, I was thinking to get in touch with you and here you are. Gil is a wonderful author and I have your book on my desk and I got to call you and we have to get you on the show to talk about Japanese food, please soon.

09:02 John Daub: It is really empty. [Japanese phrase, inaudible]. Good to Tommy, nice sushi. Thank you very much, that's very kind of you. We have one of the best audiences in the world. Okay, I found this machine here, this is promising. They've had to write green tea in Japanese because foreigners wouldn't be able to read the labels, so they wrote green tea. That's hilarious. Oh this is my favorite drink, just carbonated water. Let's do that for right now. We gotta stay hydrated. They don't put salt in it either and that's something that I can't understand why Coca-Cola put salt in there. Maybe it's a useful mineral but it makes you thirstier.

10:33 John Daub: Here's the trash truck. You don't see them too often because this is a highly touristed area so you can't get the trash truck to be able to move anywhere unless it's this early. You can see my shadow because the sun is coming up. Aloha, it's been like two months I still have some aloha in me. I wanted to go around and take you to Sensoji Temple so let's go and do that as you look straight into the morning sun. Oh my gosh it's strong. Young Peruan, you deserve a tip for the early wake up. Well thank you. I had to wake up this early to get the shot so that there wouldn't be any people around because it ruins the mood.

11:43 John Daub: Oh that stinks because of garbage truck. Look at this, that is a massive bowl of udon and they use a special dashi soup stock as well. Interesting, it's right on the corner of what must be an extremely touristy place. There's nothing wrong with touristy places in the morning. Breathe this in for a second: Skytree, the tallest freestanding tower in the world, with a person hanging out on the street roof there. Nice. We're gonna give our prayers in the morning because there are no people here and I happen to have some money thanks to these super chats to make a prayer for all of you. I got some coins out.

13:32 John Daub: When you do put money in for prayers it's also interesting because I have a signal. Typically you wouldn't have any signal because there's so many people here, not today. This is also a good time and maybe the only time you would want to go for a run because it is just so hot and humid. When I came here I'm hardly breaking a sweat. When you start to see salt lines that's when you know I've been out since 5 a.m. The good thing about black shirts is that you don't see the sweat so bad until the salt starts to come through and it leaves behind waves. In Japan it's unavoidable.

14:17 John Daub: If you are going to be walking around, Uniqlo has these shirts that are really good with taking the sweat and then drying quickly so that's something you might want to invest in. I think they're telling me that I should have gotten a bottle of tea instead. This is the Itoen which is the number one and the Guinness world record holder of green tea produced. Guinness has sort of lost its meaning, there's a record for everything. This is under construction for quite a while. Never walk down the center, I'm going diagonally. If you come to the Sanja Matsuri (Sanja Festival) where there's like three million people, if you can make it up here you have an amazing view looking back out there.

16:27 John Daub: Hey Jerry's here, aloha John watching from Fukuoka. Whoa you're on the other side. Seriously the jet lag is real, the humidity is on another level but still enjoying the trip. Make sure to hydrate. Thank you. You have to wake up, I'm glad to see you up this early because it is not so bad in the morning. Okay let's give a prayer, hats off. I pray for all you guys that you're doing well and you stay cool and healthy. Number five yen, or no five yen, it was a five and a fifty and the fifty is for all of you because there's a lot more so you add another zero.

17:47 John Daub: Typically when I do live streams I'll pick five yen for me and then I'll take a larger denomination. I don't have 500 yen but 50 will do. They do take notes I believe, I think that this temple does. It's really unique to see it this early in the morning and it's so empty too. By the way if you do write in #KarateKid you get a tip every time in the live stream that will help you in your life. Felix Hughes here, this walk brings back memories from my June trip. Really were you up this early? Jessudev writes in here hoping you and enjoying the beautiful view of Tokyo John. Here's something for your morning coffee and tea, thank you.

19:03 John Daub: Oh let's go get a coffee, good idea. I am curious what the heck is a telephone doing here. I don't remember seeing a telephone but I guess if somebody gets lost or needs it. This is the kind, it still takes 10 and 100 yen coins so you can make calls. Looks like it's been burned out from the sun hitting the screen but you could also plug in your computer. I used to download my email on America Online in 1999 from there. Welcome to Tokyo, this is the best time, you beat the heat and you beat the crowds. Oh no I think I shook it, it's shaken up a little bit too much. But it's summer so a wet shirt not too bad. Oh that's refreshing.

20:42 John Daub: Thankfully I'm wearing sandals which is sort of a necessity in Tokyo to wear sandals in the summer, it's just too darn hot. The tourists are here when you're wheeling a suitcase through one of the largest temples in Tokyo. I love that. For the longest time we hadn't had tourists because of the pandemic and I didn't get to travel because I didn't have tourists and I'd come here quite often. I even came during the pandemic when they released the state of emergency. I came here with Eric Berg and we made a street food episode. We still had to have our masks on pretty much, but it was a really good experience because we got a chance to see the temple without any people.

21:57 John Daub: And now I'm kind of reliving that because it was daytime afternoon and there was nobody around. It's an exclamation point Karate Kid no space. You get a life lesson that I learned in my many appearances on the Karate Kid and now Cobra Kai. I'm the main character. I'm actually going to be filming. I actually have filmed a couple of scenes here for an episode and I want to tell you that episode is going to be released next week. But this tree is very significant. There's a history behind that carved out there. I want you to remember this live stream because when I explain it to you, you're going to feel something I think. I learned about it from a guide, as well as this tree here. The trees still growing. Look at that, it's definitely over a hundred years old.

23:33 John Daub: You can tell why it's all burned out. That's an episode that I've been working really hard on and that was the opening for the episode that I took in front of the gate. The guide brought me to this statue in particular. And this is also the statue where I left my microphone and lost it, my shotgun mic. Couple hundred dollars. That's okay, it still might be at the lost and found. I believe this has to do with the mother and daughter and the kids that were lost in the Tokyo firebombing. Today they have caps on and they're not forgotten. On March 9th and 10th, because of the international dateline I suppose, Tokyo was bombed in World War II and over 100,000 people lost their lives. The number is more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki for those that were lost here in Tokyo, believe it or not. They have over 100,000 names in the memorial at a shrine in Ryogoku.

25:14 John Daub: Check this out, I showed this to you not too long ago. These pumps still work. I don't know if you can drink it but it's good for washing your hands. That sounds so annoying. He does not sound happy. I tell you this, he's not going to be happy in about two hours when it's a lot hotter. But the thing is those cicadas fly and they'll come at you. I've had them come and attach themselves to my shirt and you just whip them off and throw them and sometimes they just die. That's why they're in chaos, that's why they're not happy. They did their job, their job is to annoy us and then they move on.

27:01 John Daub: If you do come early in the morning nothing almost nothing is open. Convenience stores are still open but this is how you beat the heat in Tokyo: you wake up early, you get out and you do stuff before the sun gets up. That's the only way and you don't need air conditioning, not yet. It's a win-win if you have jet lag because you don't have crowds. You get to see crow families. What do you call a group of crows? Hellohi821 here, look at them flying. He's trying to claim that building. Do you see him? You have wings, stop trying to break into that hotel, get them thief. Toby (crow)! He's very much like these statues here on the roof which are I believe celebrated burglars, what I was told.

28:46 John Daub: Shop owners starting to get ready, one shop has already opened I guess they open at seven o'clock. Nakamise-dori as I showed you before is still quite empty, it's just crazy. That crow agrees. It's great to see everybody, I typically don't stream this early in the morning. Let's go out to the alley on this side, see if there's anything going on. Whoa, they've torn down the melon pan place you remember that. You used to have melon pan with strawberries and stuff, it's gone. They moved to another shop and the arrows are pointing so they have a new shop over here. That's I did not know that.

30:24 John Daub: Look at this old building. Sometimes you have to look up. A lot of buildings are being... Oh, here's their new shop here. They're still closed though. They make 4,000 every day. This isn't Kagetsuro though, that's the best one. That's my friend Yuki-san who's the owner of it. I think he might have sold, I'm not sure. I haven't seen him in a while. He treated me to melon pan and a melon soda as I filmed my third YouTube video there. Since then it's become so darn popular. He moved the shop to a larger place that's more just like a bakery. People just line up and eat outside. Even the shotengai (covered shopping arcade) is deserted except for those two people that are walking.

32:02 John Daub: Every time it says stay hydrated I have to open up a drink. It's good to be reminded of it. Nothing suspicious. Fireworks Festival January 29th coming soon. Enjoy Tokyo travel. No charge. No tax. What? Beer is 900 yen. Tax. That's a tax. If a beer costs 900 yen and you get it from the convenience store at 230 yen, I think the tax is in the price. But if it's a cold beer it's not too bad. But John has stopped drinking beer, so at least for now. Oh look, the Dark Lord. Alright, let's take a look at the Skytree. Here it looks quite different.

33:18 John Daub: I'm starting to smell coffee brew. I smell coffee. Oh that's why I forgot, they're starting to brew the coffee. In fact it might even be open now. That's my bicycle right there. So it's not ticketed. But at 7 o'clock I definitely want to move on, I got a full day today. Surprisingly not a lot of people in front yet. If you're here in Japan just take note that on Saturday is the Sumida-gawa Hanabi Taikai (Sumida River Fireworks Festival). It's a historical one that they haven't had for four years. Here's the artwork for this year's festival. The streets are heavily closed because it's just too many people that want to come out to see it. It's so crowded that they do it on television.

34:47 John Daub: These fireworks are not large shell fireworks. They're all number two, three, and fours. There might be a five. But if you want to see some tens, twenties, thirties, and even forties, you're gonna want to touch that QR code right there because it'll take you to our bus tour to Katakai. We still only have about eight people signed up. So join us if you're in Japan for the Katakai Fireworks Festival. We're gonna be taking a bus from Nagoya and going to Oga and looking at some koi farms. But more than that we've got reserved seats in Katakai for this. On this map we'd be right here, here's Asakusa Station. So we're like right here.

35:32 John Daub: These places are all kind of closed. You're not allowed to be on the river because the fireworks launch is here and here. So the fireworks are right between Asakusa that are gonna be going up. And it's taking place on July 29th, almost always the 29th or it's on that Saturday at the end of the month. I didn't even notice this sign was in English now. Tells you about it in 628. Sensoji I believe was destroyed in World War II. I'll have some pictures of it. In fact that main channel episode is going to be pretty extraordinary. Typically this is filled with people but it's still quite empty.

36:25 John Daub: If you want to get this photo you're gonna have to wake up at like 6 in the morning because the background look at it, it's really empty. You can actually see until the end. And there's the Golden Poo which is just the event hall. But it looks like a head of beer right? Doesn't it? A little bit? Alright everybody, that's all I got for you. Oh that's like the gyukatsu (beef cutlet). There's always a line. No one lined up yet. I think that's like a wagyu that's been breaded and deep fried. I don't think it's A5 wagyu, that'd just be super oily. Maybe A3? I'm sure it's wagyu. That place always has a line and there's no line.

37:40 John Daub: I'm almost tempted just to wait in line until lunchtime. But we've had it before, it's so good. That's important. And I think it's a little bit pricey but it's worth it because if you're gonna travel halfway around the world you better try some of the best foods that's available. And this is one of them. Here's the view. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you in another episode. Maybe tonight for a midnight snack run, maybe tomorrow, but really soon. On the 28th if you're in Harajuku I'll be around Harajuku and probably will do a live stream there. So you can catch me for You Found Me card. I'll be actually in Japanese school uniform for an episode I'm making. So you're probably gonna wanna come and snap some pictures. It's gonna be quite an event. I'll be with some high school models that'll also be modeling their high school uniforms. So I will see you then perhaps, 28th of July. Bye. Stay hydrated and wake up early.