00:00:00 John Daub: Welcome to Akihabara. There's the Yodobashi Camera mega electronics store over there—one of the largest in Asia, if not the world. And this is Akihabara Station: the Keihin-Tohoku Line right there, Yamanote on the left. We're going to be exploring in this direction. This is Chuo Dori (中央通り，main avenue). I've been coming here over the last several months—sorry, I haven't been here for several months. This is the first time in a while. I'm going to see what has actually changed and how crowded Akihabara is.

00:00:30 John Daub: Now tourism has returned—it's a different element than during the pandemic. You can see the trains coming in heavy here. I like sometimes just standing on the JR platforms watching trains go by. You can make this an afternoon adventure for people who love trains. Again, there's the Keihin-Tohoku Line—this one goes around the east side of Tokyo, the light blue one. And then there's the Yamanote Line coming in right now, which goes around the city. But on this side, they both compete sometimes.

00:01:12 John Daub: Let's make our way into Akihabara Station and onto the streets. Right now, I can tell Akihabara looks a lot more crowded than a few years ago—more so than just a few months ago. This is going to be interesting. Let's move. Michael, Brandy, check it out—Hawaii is promoting here in Japan. Shout out to everybody on Maui; we're thinking about you guys here in Japan. It's nice to see our image of Hawaii here is untainted. Look at that—it truly is paradise. I was happy to be there a couple months ago.

00:02:11 John Daub: Let's wait until this crowd gets by. South Bank still has that white dog. I think they fired—that's the American guy, unfortunately. Obligatory JR sign. All right, let's get on the move. You don't want to go up—you want to go down, probably the Denki Town exit, the best one. I have my IC card here—this is the Fukuoka version, the Hayakaken (はやかけん). It's a tongue twister.

00:03:00 John Daub: We're going down now, so no more elevated view. But it's interesting to see on this side of the station—the other side is where more tourists go. You can get Chuo Dori from this direction, so let's go to Denki Town (電気街，Electric Town). For a lot of you, this is probably nostalgic. Oh, it's one of these flat-out escalators that go in a weird direction—it flattens out and then goes back down. You can see the anime and manga on the walls. That's pretty tiny—yeah, we are here in Akihabara.

00:04:01 John Daub: Here we go. You can see the egg—it says Electric Town. That's probably the way to go. Sometimes these vending machines have something interesting; sometimes they don't—so you have to give it a quick look-see. There's Aomori apple juice, 100%. Again, more anime and manga. Oh, check this out—is that Maid Dreamin'? The maid cafes, I think, have gone past their prime. Yeah, this is Akiba Zettai (アキバ絶対，definitely Akihabara). And you have maids here, probably out on the street.

00:05:09 John Daub: All right, let's go to Electric Town. Apologies if the signal goes Minecraft—I will respond to your feedback because this is a live stream, and that's what we do. It's not always perfect, but it's definitely exciting because you're here with me right now. Look at the temperatures—oh wow, Tokyo is hot. It said 38 degrees on the map—that's very close to 100 Fahrenheit. I basically have a whole T-shirt with a bunch of holes in it. And if you're lucky, my chest hair will pop out and cringe the entire viewing audience—as well as the visitors of Akihabara, which we are here now. Thankfully, this is not 4K—it's 1080 HD, so you don't get it.

00:06:09 John Daub: It's really vibrant here. When you look at the landscape, you can definitely tell the boxes—electronic boxes inside. Some good stuff in there, lots of lights. The marketing is always somewhat over the top for Tokyo—Osaka is definitely more vibrant, no question. I thought that this building was going to be kaput, but it is still here. The hamster tubes used to be another company—Softmap bought them out. And once the tourists came back, they brought back the hamster tubes. It's a cool experience to ride because you do feel like you're in a hamster tube. I actually live-streamed before they closed it down when I heard the news, but they brought it back.

00:07:06 John Daub: This is the story of Akihabara. In 2020, I noticed a lot of businesses starting to close. 2021 and 2022, it got really bad. 2023, here we are—it's summer, and it looks like we're doing okay. You can see there are crowds, but it's not overcrowded. Maybe it's because it is so darn hot, ridiculous to wait around outside in the sun. Luckily, it's not too bad. Look at this poster—looks like she's had her eyes done; it's kind of creepy to me, not that there's anything wrong with that.

00:07:54 John Daub: That used to be some kind of cheesecake place, right? Pablo or something—and now it's a ticket booth for discounted tickets. For those my age not really interested in a maid cafe, you can go to the Ginza Lion. I like what they've done here—they've taken that German look and instead of young girls, they now have people more my age. I want some raw beef and ham and beer, and you get that here. It's funny that the workers who serve the beer are the maids—in the town of maid cafes. All right, let's get out to Chuo Dori. You're going to notice it's quite loud—you hear ambulances, the sirens. We are in the center of Tokyo, right on the Yamanote Line.

00:09:26 John Daub: Here it is, folks—the end of the street. I'm going to pan the camera to the right, and you'll absorb in all its glory Chuo Dori and the Sobu Line above it that will take you to Shinjuku. How crowded is it? Not crowded enough—we have a long way to go. I thought they were going to close down the street this weekend, but I guess not. Sometimes they'll close down Chuo Dori, but I think after Obon Holiday, which we just finished a couple days ago, there's not much need. That's a cool—is that like a 1980s Mazda? Those are some badass cars.

00:10:31 John Daub: Let's get underneath here—the temperature is super hot. Again, we're in Akihabara—if you don't know where that is, it's right here on the map, the blue spot. I'm walking around the station today. The station is quite big—it's got this T-shape because lines go in different directions: Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku Line, which we arrived on, and then the Sobu Line, which cuts across. Oh, this is the bad one—whoops, I had two renderings. Sometimes the Wi-Fi will accidentally connect, which is why I turn off Wi-Fi for live streams. But when you have Wi-Fi on, sometimes it's not as powerful as 4G—true story here, especially for upload speeds.

00:11:36 John Daub: This has been the most controversial thing here—Sega is gone; they've closed all their game centers. It's been replaced by GiGO. And if you've been watching the live streams here, it's not new. That's dangerous—you're not supposed to stand in the middle of the street. That's really dumb—I guess they're trapped; are they taking pictures? This is how people get hit—please don't do this; this is not a safe area. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be using your smartphone either—that's really bad. I just saw the Chuo Line going by—you see that? The orange one is the Chuo Line. Folks, you just saw what not to do—seriously, Japan's not a place you want to go to the emergency room. Trust me.

00:13:18 John Daub: So we'll look back here at the shops. That store we just passed is still out of business—I don't see any signs saying something is coming. Oh, that's a reflection of a maid. I see on the fourth floor, that's a reflection from across the street. After you cross the street, what I like to do is go straight in—take the first right because this is what we would call maid cafe alley. It's where a lot of maid cafes have the girls out trying to recruit you into their shops. They're also the shyest ones to be filmed, so we'll just walk through—don't want to put anybody on the spot. As a local, which hotel booking website do you recommend for scoring the best deals? As a local, I don't use hotels in Tokyo—I go home. But Japanese use Jalan.net—that's one maybe you don't know. Or just book direct, because some places jack up prices on booking.com since it takes a ridiculous percentage.

00:14:55 John Daub: It's nice to see that's still there—the vending machine of despair. You put in 1,000 yen and you could win something magical inside—often you win something worth 300 to 400 yen, so it's not junk, but there's a chance you might not, and it gives people hope. I know the CEO—he's a really nice guy; he gave me access to film inside a few years ago. As a business, he's smart. We already see some maids down Maid Cafe Alley on the right—they're staying cool; those maid outfits are not made for summer. It's really hard to get people to go to maid cafes—again, for Japanese, the boom is sort of over. You get that feeling it's not the same as 15 years ago. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go—doing it once is a unique experience because they don't have this stuff really outside Japan. And this is where I was born, I think—because of the anime and manga culture.

00:16:41 John Daub: I don't remember this shop. The old Sega Akihabara Building Number Two has reopened—it's not the same; it opened back up as GiGO 2. Maybe we'll walk by there. Here's Super Potato—I don't see as many maids, possibly because it's lunchtime. You got things on it—three-headed cats. It's such a cool view when you add the train rolling by. Let's take a look and see how Super Potato is doing—they're doing fine, as thought. You always wonder if one of these places important to everybody—Japanese and foreign visitors for retro games—will survive. Game center—you can buy stuff, take them home; great souvenirs. The US and Japan have the same voltage so you can use the machines in both countries—you need adapters for Europe.

00:18:07 John Daub: They never give me access to film inside, but that won't stop me from trying—there's some history behind Super Potato. Boy, they stand outside like they're selling something. We cannot cross the street here. This is an amazing view from this direction looking back at Akihabara. When you look back down the maid alley, you can see there's just not a lot of maids anymore outside—basically maybe a lot have shut down. Typically there'd be 100 or 200 of them. So I'm not sure how the maid cafes are actually doing—if you take a look, look hard. It used to be like this ninja maid cafe with provocative costumes—you can't look away; they're very beautiful costumes.

00:19:43 John Daub: At Home is one of the originals—that's good to see. This isn't the original location—the original is inside the Don Quixote building, which we'll go by; that's still there. At Home, definitely one of the originals—you get a pretty good experience; I covered that for NHK in 2008 with Kevin Cooney, but not at this location. Sean Lee says stay hydrated—let's do that; let's get a drink at a vending machine. I'm looking forward to hearing from you what you thought of the changes when you come in November—which is just around the corner. That's not like an average sight—this is only in Akihabara, really. I hope Akihabara never changes.

00:21:12 John Daub: We're going to circle around—let's go to some vending machines. Ten years ago, I made a vending machine episode on another channel. One of the places my friend Patrick—who used to be the king of Akihabara, the spirit still roams—showed me a vending machine that had ramen in it. Now it no longer exists—I saw ramen at the Sagamihara retro vending machine corner; they've got 108 food vending machines on display. But it's hard to find ramen in a can—so here, they still have it. This is the same vending machine as before, but they just do oden in a can—it's not bad, but not the same. Just be careful—this is cold and this is hot; make sure you look at atatakai (熱い，hot) and tsumetai (冷たい，cold).

00:22:26 John Daub: I've tried this many times—the melon soda with cream; it's not for me, but different strokes. This one looked really good—the Italiano, and it's cold; does look interesting, a lot of sugar I bet. I'm just gonna go for green tea—they have a design for caffeine. Look at the small fine print—it says it's designed for caffeine; is it a selling point? A little bizarre. Silvia, you can join the postcard club by going to Patreon.com/onlyinjapan. Alright, let's try this green tea—get some green tea with matcha. Oh! It's sold out! What the heck? It's sold out here too. Let's give it a try—here we go. This is green tea with matcha—there's one way to find out. I drank it—oh my gosh, it's so hot; I'm melting. Let's get into the shade over here.

00:25:07 John Daub: Let's go hang out with these dancers underneath the tree. They're giving us a toast—kanpai (乾杯，cheers). Ah, it's nice—it does taste like there's a little bit of matcha in there, a little matcha bitterness. We're going to walk past Gachapon Kaikan to see how they're doing. But this street continues around the back side of Chuo Dori, and I like coming down here because you can see a lot that have also ended. You can see these are two maids—what looks like could be something like that ninja thing, but they're covered up better; it's good because you don't want to get sunburned standing out here.

00:26:21 John Daub: If you're walking down Akihabara, you definitely should go through the alleys because there's a lot of stuff hidden back here. People want businesses in Akihabara, but the rent is ridiculous on Chuo Dori, so they come to the alleys—this is where the real subculture is; it's not in the main area. I love this ramen place—haven't had ramen here before, but they're utilizing that manga connection; looks like it's shio buta (塩豚，salt pork). This place is good—I've had the curry rice here before; it's really good. Think there's a couple of restaurants down the alley—100 yen shop; here's a hidden love hotel, which used to be like a garage—they built this up really quick; pretty good location. This is the Akihabara Station Denki Electronics Hotel—looks like a bunch of rooms for short stay, what you say for a love hotel. Really? So if you just needed to sleep from 12 to 6—6 hours for 4,000 yen. I haven't seen that before in a non-love hotel.

00:28:51 John Daub: At love hotels, where couples go—it's not a nasty thing. Sometimes Japanese homes are too small—how are you supposed to make a family if you're living with your wife's parents? Couples go to love hotels to get away from the family; it's not smutty, though people have affairs there too. When I first moved to Japan in '98, I couldn't understand why couples would live in a hotel. This is Kyushu Jangara, which looks like food from Kyushu—so good. Oh, this is some kind of Nagasaki dish—yeah, champon (ちゃんぽん). Kyushu food is so darn good—interesting to see a Kyushu restaurant here in Akihabara. That's the great thing with traveling—I'm walking around, there's a Chinese restaurant that looks really good. The great thing with traveling around Japan and getting out of Tokyo is the cuisine changes from place to place.

00:30:11 John Daub: There's a Don Quixote—the building next door has been knocked down. Let's go to Chuo Dori so you can see it better—this is where Maidreamin and AKB48 used to have performances, but AKB48 has moved out; they no longer give performances in the Don Quixote building. Weird not to see that. The building across the street is where the hamster tubes were—Tsukumo was the business that left and moved here. Let's try to go across the street, but first we're going to stop at Gachapon Kaikan. I know they're in business—you'll see maid cafes, maids on Chuo Dori too. I have not been to one in over a decade, so I don't think they're so good. There's a lot of recycled computer shops where you can get a used Mac fairly cheaply. The air guns are pretty freaky—they look real, but they're not; but they are real air guns.

00:32:20 John Daub: Let's walk on to Gachapon Kaikan. Funny, the maids are holding cards—I'm not videoing any of them because I respect privacy; you don't need to shove a camera in someone's face. They have signs that say no photos—so tourists ask, can I take a photo? The answer is no, because it's all business; they're here to make cash. Our favorite, Gachapon Kaikan—this is the McDonald's of maid cafes, Maidreamin. Nothing wrong with them—you have a pretty good experience, prices are right. This is 60 minutes for 1,600 yen—what do you get? This is the Akihabara Maid Cafes Flyers—or Fiu, French I suppose. I think it's tourists driving them—definitely not a Japanese thing anymore. So the maids should learn English to survive.

00:34:01 John Daub: Usually they'll put the best stuff on the back and front—sometimes I find something that grabs my attention. They always have the cat hats—makes your cat look like a piece of candy; we need more of that. The ones I like are usually on the other side, but the signal... I know historically it's lousy here. These things light up—like restaurant signs; this one looks really interesting, like Korean restaurant signs. Not too many things that make me excited—it goes in waves, but it's worth looking around. There's a Yamano DeLango—I think it's good to look around; you'll find places with different things. For the most part, if it's a very large gachapon complex, they have the same stuff—it's just finding older stuff, limited edition that you wanted; they're not there forever.

00:36:33 John Daub: Alright, let's walk on this side of Chuo Dori—we're going to get a chance to see the secret shrine just a little bit. There's a lot of secret shrines—this one, because of its location in Akihabara, makes it pretty special. Oh, there was a crossing right here. I didn't think Carl's Jr. was still going to be here—I thought they were gone, but somehow they made it out, and they're packed. I think there's three or four locations for Maidreamin—they take the fourth floor of this one. Meat Winery—ooh. Where's a good place to eat wagyu in Tokyo? I don't really have an answer—hotels do a really good job at their restaurants with wagyu beef because their reputation is behind it. Me, I usually get wagyu at home from the butcher shop.

00:38:11 John Daub: Alright, so it's through here—and this is actually illegal to be here, but you can go around. They didn't block it—just keep in mind they put cones there, which I think is illegal because this is a public road; it's grandfathered as a public road. That blockage is on Google Maps too—they should have a sign, but it is considered public, so to block it is somewhat illegal. I say somewhat because I'm not a lawyer.

00:39:31 John Daub: This is the part of the livestream where I'm looking for a gift to take back to Leo—because you guys give nice super chats; that's really kind of you. I like this one—they have key rings for your finger. If you've been to a Japanese sento (銭湯，public bath), these keys you get to put around your wrist as you take a bath—but this is size for your finger with fake numbers. I don't think Leo would like that, though—the Anpanman looks like he might. These are little balloons—I can get Leo that. It's Anpanman character—let's go to the front of the big camera building where there's about 150 gachapon machines; perhaps there's something better. Leo loves these—like bus stop buttons, and they drive me crazy because he pushes them like crazy, running around laughing. Rubber chicken on a string keychain holder—he'll push any button; he's really good at it. Which might be great for a piano, but the harmony might not be what I expect.

00:41:57 John Daub: Alright, we're coming up to one of my favorite photo spots of Akihabara looking down the street towards the Sobu Line—which is going by right now. Little things like that elevated train make Akihabara what it is—part of the atmosphere. Where can we find poutine in Japan? I don't recommend it—it tastes really bad; I had it from a food truck two years ago, gross. I just saw one of the double-decker hop-on hop-off buses—I was thinking of doing a livestream with that experience because I'm not a tourist, but I want to understand it. If you're interested, I might try a hop-on hop-off bus for a day.

00:43:03 John Daub: Now we're in front of the Gachapon—look at that, gyoza plates of gyoza? Sometimes it's hard to understand what it is—which is part of the distraction; if you don't know until you buy it. Okay, see—I got Leo this last time; he got the tendon man, who's basically a tendon (天丼，tempura on rice). So I could get the watch or the inflatable Anpanman—which would be great for bath time. I think we should go for the inflatable Anpanman. Who did we get? Believe it or not, it is Anpanman—woah. Hold on—it's so hot. Check it out—did I just smash you? Sorry, I just smashed you against the wall. So it is a beach ball—hello, hello. Yes, that's wonderful. Thank you. Do we still have sound? Sorry if we lost sound. Yeah, I got what I wanted—I think. Because I want to keep the capsule to give to him and let him open it. He's going to love this little beach ball with Anpanman on it. Thanks, guys—thanks for the super chats.

00:45:47 John Daub: I wanted to show you this view—one of the more popular shots because you have the really colorful buildings of Akihabara. This here is a pawn shop, discounted tickets—they'll sell some items; lots of anime, manga signage. And if you can catch the yellow Sobu Line above jetting by—particularly when the street is shut down on weekends, but isn't today. Nice shot—sunset, if it rains, reflection off the street. That is the Akihabara experience.

00:46:46 John Daub: I am now going off the mic—sorry, apparently the audio might not have been good; it's windy, that's why I was using this mic. But now you can hear the difference—I'm going to be signing off anyways. Oh, here it comes. Basically, Akihabara is pretty crowded—more than a few months ago, which is good, but definitely not like 2019. Maybe people are picking other places, or the kinds coming here are different. It just seems not as crowded, and this is peak time—could be lunchtime, or just too darn hot outside.

00:48:14 John Daub: All right, everybody—thanks for hanging out with me and going for a walk. See you next time. Bye bye. Big, big camera.