00:00:02 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Tokyo. It is a hot summer afternoon, maybe one of the hottest of the year. I am melting. Oh my gosh, it has been a brutal summer and we've had temperatures as hot in Tokyo as 38 degrees Celsius, which I believe is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. But it's not just the temperature that makes this so difficult. And I harp about this every single day. It's the humidity coupled with that heat. With these beautiful sunny skies, they look really nice, but they beat down on you just like that humidity.

00:01:01 John Daub: Do you see there's some shade from the sun? Yeah, I see some shade. So maybe we'll go hang out right there. All right, so it does appear a little bit closer because I have stabilization on. It really balances out any of the wobbles from the gimbal. It does a pretty good job, although you get to see my face in glorious HD here. All right, let me show you the list of 10 reasons why perhaps you should stay away from Tokyo.

00:01:33 John Daub: Number one is obvious: temperatures. Summer in Japan can be scorching with temperatures often exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, 86 degrees Fahrenheit. That's like all through the country, but between Sendai and Kagoshima, it can get up to 38, 39. And this year, it's gotten up to 40 a couple of times. 40 degrees is 105 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly, plus the humidity. So that's number two: high humidity. Humidity levels can be extremely high, making the heat feel more intense and leading to discomfort. Discomfort is an understatement.

00:02:10 John Daub: Number three, typhoons. We've dealt with this over the last couple of weeks as well, because some big ones have rolled through. Typhoon season in summer months can lead to travel disruptions, cancellations and safety concerns. Travel disruptions are a big deal. If you got to get back on a certain day, I've been telling everybody, make sure you go back home maybe a day before you're supposed to start work for recovery. And also in case your flight is canceled. For whatever reasons, it's nice to go back a day early anyways. With the jet lag, you're going to thank me for that.

00:02:42 John Daub: Number four, crowds. Many tourists flock to Japan during the summer months, leading to crowded tourist spots and longer waiting times. Very true. In particular, in the heat, it's even worse. So the last thing you want to do is be lining up for a dish or cuisine or a restaurant or food or an amusement park ride. The waits are longer because Japanese also have holidays too, leading to the perfect storm. And now with Chinese tourists coming back here for the first time in many years, I expect those lines to get longer now. Maybe not today, but soon.

00:03:16 John Daub: And number five is the peak tourist season. Along with the crowds, accommodation prices rise during the summer peak season. Supply and demand. It's as simple as that. It's simple supply and demand economics. All right, let's walk down this way here. You don't actually have to look at me, which is kind of nice. Vintendo writes in, going to Japan in a couple of weeks from now, staying for two weeks, hopefully gets a little chillier, cooler. I would say so. Once September 1st hits, for some reason, it really does cool down.

00:04:00 John Daub: Let's go through this list really quickly. Here's the first 10. And then I'll go through the extended 25 because there's more than this. Number six, limited outdoor activities. Extreme heat and humidity can limit outdoor activities, especially for those not accustomed to such conditions. If you're not used to this type of heat, I've had friends from Singapore come and go, this is too much. And when you have Singaporeans come in here and say, this is too much, that says something. It really does. Not every day is going to be ridiculously hot and humid. This one's not too bad. The humidity is a little lower. But when you're outside, you can't stay outside for very long. You really cannot. It's just too humid. It's like running a marathon every day.

00:04:56 John Daub: Number seven, heat-related health issues. This is so true and something that's very hard to catch. Heat is a really bad bout of dehydration. In the first couple weeks of July this year, I was getting dizzy. You can feel it when you're dehydrated sometimes. It's not just quenching thirst. It affects your mind and so many things when you're dehydrated. This is a definite concern.

00:05:29 John Daub: Number eight, attractions are closed at this time. Some attractions might close due to the heat or for maintenance. Summertime, and this is in particular during the typhoon season and during holidays, places might close. So you might get limited availability to certain places. Sometimes places are unavailable because they're already booked. You got to book months and months in advance for some popular places, because it is peak season.

00:05:57 John Daub: Number nine, uncomfortable travel. I can vouch for this. I had to stand on the Shinkansen for three hours. It's not comfortable. In the heat? And let's say you spend all day walking around. Your feet hurt. You get on the Shinkansen and it's standing room only. That stinks. And it happens so often, in particular during Obon holiday, but summer holidays. This year it was so bad because everybody was traveling again.

00:06:35 John Daub: Number ten, limited comfort in traditional attire. I thought this is funny because they're not wrong. If you're wearing a yukata (light cotton kimono) and you're trying to wear a kimono and you're in this heat, trust me, it's not comfortable. And a lot of people forgo wearing the yukata at the fireworks festivals this year because it was too hot. The last thing you want to do is wear a cotton robe. What you want to do is wear nothing, personally. But a jinbei (light summer kimono) or something even lighter than that, something mesh, something where the air goes through. It's not enjoyable. You get the picture and then you want to just change. It's all sweat. It's really bad. Heat stroke, no joke. Stay cool. Stay hydrated.

00:07:40 John Daub: I'm going to teach you guys a summer word that Japanese told me about staying in Japan. Natsubate (summer fatigue). Natsubate is this heat exhaustion. And you just get darui, like exhausted. You move slower in the summer. And by this time of year, you just don't have a lot of energy, which is why people are eating ramen and high stamina foods to try to get that energy back. But it takes the energy out of you. Day after day, you get into this natsubate dysfunction from heat. So definitely take it easier than you normally would. Try not to go to too many places. Try not to fit too many things. And do things in the morning. As I said, between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m., you could probably get a day's worth of stuff. Take it easy from 11 to 3. And then go back out and try to survive the rest of the day. Take a little siesta.

00:12:56 John Daub: Limited local experiences. Yeah, outdoor activities. Sometimes if it's too hot, they're limited in the city. To a lesser extent, I might not agree with this one. But out in the countryside, if you go to Karuizawa, the mountain areas are a lot cooler than here. The temperature might be 15 degrees cooler in Nagano than it is out in the center of Tokyo. You also have the urban heat from the asphalt, which definitely makes it feel a lot hotter.

00:13:25 John Daub: Check surface temperatures. I brought this with me. This is an infrared gun that measures the surface temperatures of places. So let's do that with the asphalt here. All right, the asphalt is 53 degrees Celsius. Let's take a couple of sample areas. 51. So the asphalt is 50 degrees. Holy smokes. And then this is in the shade. The shade is 45 on the asphalt. This is pretty accurate. I didn't expect it to be that hot. Let me check out the sides of the building here. Or some metal. All right, let's check out this metal. 41. Holy smokes, that is hot. Let's check out this metal grate. That says 41. But the asphalt, I can do it in Fahrenheit. It's 125 if I go under the middle here. 129. It's 127 on the surface. So you get this coming up from the surface, which makes the air temperature feel even hotter.

00:15:41 John Daub: Difficulty with reservations, absolutely. Too many people, in particular this year because of revenge tourists. You have to book for August, I'd say three months in advance minimum if you want to get a place that is popular. Like an onsen (hot spring) that everybody wants to go to or a particular place that's in social media all the time now. Three months minimum. Six months would be preferable if you really want that place.

00:16:14 John Daub: Number 22, less serene nature. Yeah, if it's too hot, it's not as nice. Even the animals don't come out until nighttime. The green grass sometimes will die away and it turns yellow. Hokkaido is typically great if you're coming to Japan in the summer. But I would recommend getting on a flight and going three to four days in Hokkaido just to cool off in the middle of your vacation. Or going to Nagano and jumping into a river or something. Because it is that hot. It's not a fun time if you were to spend a week in Tokyo in summer. I don't think people understand that.

00:17:00 John Daub: Expensive travel. That's true. Because of the peak time, the cost for air flights are really markedly higher. Usually I can get a flight that ANA has a limited amount of 45-day tickets. If you buy it 45 days in advance, ANA will sell it to you for a little bit over $100 for a domestic flight. But I find that those fares have been sold out. And the next available one is like the one week in advance, which is like $200. And then after that, it gets up to like $300 for a domestic flight. So those flights have been going around. And even Skymark and all the other places, it's like an auction site. Shinkansen will stay the same, but there's limited availability. As I said, you might have to stand.

00:17:53 John Daub: Sweating and discomfort. You're basically living in your own wetness for the rest of the day. It starts around 8:30 in the morning. If you're outdoors, unless you're in air conditioning, you just start sweating. It just starts coming out of your pores. You can't help it. And by 9:30, it's drenched. It doesn't make a difference if you go back to your hotel, take a shower, and put on another shirt. It's going to happen again. So you're going to just have to learn to live wet. There could be some rashes and stuff, summer rashes as a result of just being wet all the time. I wish it was socially acceptable to take off your shirt and walk around. But then again, when you think about it, you see a lot of people probably not in the best shape. I don't know if that's a good idea.

00:18:39 John Daub: Limited photo opportunities. You won't see Mount Fuji. It'll be a perfectly sunny day and you won't see Mount Fuji at all. And that is a result of the haze from the heat. This list is pretty darn good.

00:19:18 John Daub: Limited English information. I think that could be at any time. Google, I don't think it's as bad as everybody makes it out to be. And if you're going to be traveling to an international country, you better learn a little bit of the language and a little bit of the culture. Do it on the flight. Put down that little small screen movie cinema thing and just study a little bit of the language. That's going to make your trip more enjoyable.

00:20:13 John Daub: Limited transportation. Typhoons can disrupt. Language barrier. Dealing with heat-related issues could be more challenging if you're not fluent. Closed shops and restaurants. Some similar establishments might have summer holiday hours. Don't agree with that. I think the hours for summer are longer, not shorter, because the daylight is longer. Sunburn risk. Yes. I have been burned a couple of times. I had to stay out of the sun for two days, which is fine because I'm editing. But it's hot. You want to stay in the shade. With the humidity and your skin wet, it just burns much easier. Unpredictable weather. Yes. It can go from rain to sun to rain. It's very tropical-ish like that. But the typhoons can come in if you're not watching the weather report and they surprise you. They come in like once a week but they don't always hit Japan.

00:21:26 John Daub: Insects, yes mosquitoes are a problem in Japan. Out in the countryside there's always a risk of Japanese encephalitis. Some people ask me if you need to get that shot. I haven't heard of anybody getting Japanese encephalitis here in 20 years so I'm not sure if you're staying in the cities and urban regions you don't need a Japanese encephalitis shot I don't think. But if you feel like you need to, I think you should do it but I think urban areas are probably going to be fine. I'm not a doctor.

00:22:23 John Daub: Typically people don't wear shorts. Almost everyone wears pants. I think they're kind of crazy but that's Tokyo, that's the big city. You know I wear shorts and tank tops if I can. I don't mind too much. No one will snicker at you that you can hear but they might when you leave. The biggest thing with Japan is people will not confront you and complain to your face. What they do is they make a side comment from the side of their mouth and you don't do that in America because that's when you get slugged. Because we can hear that. Either come and say it to somebody's face and you know be polite but the side comments that Japanese make, like you hear it and because I can understand it, I hear it. A part of me the American side of me wants to confront that person like yeah I know what you just said say it to my face man if you're gonna why make a side gutter comment and leave. Like what that's more annoying than the comment itself. Just tell me be an adult about it. But this happened to me just a couple days ago but I always take that urge and I put it in my pocket and I walk away and I just smile. That's what they do in Japan whenever you're kind of don't confront people smile because it pisses them off more and walk away that's the best way to do it.

00:24:37 John Daub: Jules Garcia writes in, what do you think about January? I think January is after Obon, after Shogatsu (New Year) which is the new year's time it is low season so the prices are going to be right. There's going to be really short days so it gets dark around 4:45 p.m. and sun comes up around 7:30 so you get shorter days but you know it's the winter and the winter is gonna be really dry and this is the biggest in my experience the reason why I don't like winter it has nothing to do with the cold or I love the snow it has everything to do with the dryness of it. My fingers all chop up you gotta wear cream all the time because it's like extremes here in Japan summer humidity is just skyrocket hot but in the winter the lack of humidity is just uncomfortable. And the dryness leads to people getting sick more, catching colds more. I try to avoid public transportation as a result. That's when you get sick in the winter because of the dry air. It's just so conducive to transmitting this stuff to other people.

00:26:21 John Daub: Do you want to come here and sweat for 12 hours a day? And after three days of traveling in Japan, not only do you have jet lag, but you have exhaustion from sweating and the heat, and you don't even want to go outside anymore? It's that bad. And the fact that there's already so many tourists here, it might be worth taking that holiday from work in September or October in particular, or in May, which is the best season in Japan.

00:26:52 John Daub: We're now headed towards Ginza Yonchome, which is the main intersection here. And you can see they've taken away that cafe that was on the corner, which has been here since the 1980s. As far as I can tell, that building had been here forever. And I guess they're tearing it down for something else. So there's no more Doutor Coffee Shop here. And there's no more... what is it? Sanyo? I can't remember. The Cup Noodles or something like that. I can't remember. There's no more sign there. And I believe they're tearing down that whole building. Why renovate it when a circle is not an actual big moneymaker?

00:27:43 John Daub: Alright, let's take a heat sample from right here. And we're gonna heat sample this lion. Alright, asphalt. 132 degrees Fahrenheit. 55 Celsius. Oh my gosh. Alright, let's take a heat sample from the lion. 52 degrees. 126. Holy smokes, that is... Oh! It's over 50 degrees Celsius from that lion. Because it's air conditioning, the solar heat. Oh my gosh, the Ginza lion is 52 degrees Celsius. And the street is 55. 131 degrees on the ground. Coupled with humidity. Like, this is why you should be like her and stay inside.

00:29:35 John Daub: You can see the Apple Building is gone. Thank goodness. They did move down the street to Ginza Hachome. Which is the 8th street. This is Ginza Sanchome right here. There's eight intersections going up and down this street. So it'll take you about 20 minutes if you walk it. Kind of just leisurely walk. I like how on the weekends they shut down the street. So you can walk on the 55 degrees Celsius, 132 degrees Fahrenheit road. And if you try to do it barefoot... Oh my gosh. It's burning. Woohoo!

00:30:34 John Daub: Yeah, if anyone wants an update, I did get money for the stolen iPhone from American Express. The Tokyo Police didn't want anything to do with it. Tokyo Police were polite for the first couple of weeks. Then they tried to work with Apple. And Apple completely stonewalled them. And the police said that there's nothing that they could do. Apple made them write a letter for access to get the number that would be required to trace the phone. It felt like Apple did not want to help find a stolen phone. And that's what really made me upset. And even the police were frustrated. After a while, there's nothing that they could do. After I'd filed the police report and I pleaded with American Express countless times, they finally gave in and said, okay, well, why didn't you tell us you had the police report? I said, I did! And it took them a couple of months and they refunded it. And I'm thankful. But I spent more than that just in effort trying to get the money back.

00:32:02 John Daub: I don't buy this Icy Spark because they put salt in the water. And I don't like that. The Wilkinson's is more all natural. They sold out! The Hojicha is available, but it's in the smaller pet bottles. Alright, we're gonna have to get this super strong one. Apparently, it reduces body fat? It says black bean tea. They didn't have the Ocha Art O. They were sold out. You have to go with the premium stuff. That's the first to go. Oh my gosh. That is nice. It's got more of a grassy taste to it. And some salt from the sweat on my lips.

00:33:40 John Daub: By the way, this is the first Starbucks in Japan. I remember I came here when I arrived here in 1998 because it was here also. There were only a couple of Starbucks. This Starbucks was the first one that came to Japan. It was like their test shop. And the test was successful. And if you just walk in that door, you'll be able to see it. Yeah, there's still a plaque that says it's the first store in Japan. That's something.

00:34:29 John Daub: One of the great things about Ginza is that yeah, the asphalt might be 55 degrees Celsius, 132 degrees Fahrenheit. But the air conditioning being pumped out of the stores really cools you down. That feels good. It's a reason for you to stay inside the shops. So the streets are not so crowded. Most people are inside the shops. Not buying anything. Just staying cool. Or maybe they're buying something. I don't know.

00:35:06 John Daub: Is it hotter than usual in Tokyo? Every year if you ask me that, I'm gonna say it's hotter than usual because I'm outside right now. It feels the same as every other summer. We've had some summers that were a little bit milder and some summers that were a little bit hotter. It just feels hotter. But it always feels like this because of the humidity. And that's the biggest difference between Tokyo and Singapore or the Philippines, for example. Philippines also gets high humidity. But there's just something different about Japan that makes it worse. Maybe it's the urban, the asphalt.

00:36:00 John Daub: Just a heads up that Kit Kat place is out of business. If you're thinking about getting gourmet Kit Kats for a ridiculous price. Tully's has been really pumping out a lot of canned drinks lately. I'll always get the Wilkinson's because they don't put any salt in it. It's a better drink. Salt is not a bad thing. But I don't like the... I don't know what kind of salt it is. Is it processed salt? Is it sweat salt? I don't know. Right now, premium lemon is the drink for Fanta. And you don't see this Coke Zero very often in vending machines.

00:38:08 John Daub: It is hot. Oh my gosh. It is just beating down on you, the sun. Saya writes in something that's super smart. And I learned this in my first year in Japan. One of the gifts that you'll get from people when you move into a house, you'll get like hand towels. And you don't quite comprehend why the heck would you give them this little teeny towel? You can't use it in the bath. It's not even something you could put on a rack to dry. It's so small. But it's for days like this because you need something to wipe the sweat off. And the first thing that you should do if you come here in Japan in the summer is to stop off at Itoya right there. You can go to Daiso, the 100 yen shop. Get yourself some small hand towels. Because wiping the sweat is going to become a ritual for you every 5 minutes. And it's super useful. At the end of the day, wash that towel out. When you take a shower, I usually will scrub it. Leave it to dry on the rack. And then the next day, use it again.

00:40:41 John Daub: In Japan, people don't wear perfume. They don't wear perfume like in the West. There's cologne and stuff. When I go back to the US, the thing that annoys me the most, cultural shock-wise, is the cologne and the scents and the perfume that everybody wears and it smells like a garbage can of smells, really, to me. Because in Japan, people use soap and the bodies don't particularly smell bad. There's a nice pleasant smell of soap. Now, when my foreign friends come to Japan, I smell their cologne and there's like a fume that comes from it that hurts my eyes. And I think it has to do with just being here and not having tolerance for perfume and cologne anymore. Soap smells awesome. But you go to the Japanese supermarkets or the pharmacies, you don't see deodorant like Old Spice and stuff. You might see like alcohol wipes and stuff to wipe your bodies. But I haven't gotten like really nasty smelling people in Japan like I did when I was in Europe or the US. It could have to do with diet. But in Japan, it's not that bad. But it's worse when you have all these perfume smells masking it and it just stinks and then you have these fumes of a hundred different people's perfume and deodorant from the West. Since tourism returned, you start to smell people's like sprays and it's not pleasant.

00:43:42 John Daub: I had my friend. Whatever he sprayed every day, the first two days I tolerated it. On the third day, I remember we were eating lunch. I couldn't taste the food because his scent was so strong. And I said, bro, what are you wearing? And he told me. I said, do you need to wear that? He goes, well, it's nice. I said, no. I can't even taste my food. It's so strong. I think maybe people just have such an acute taste and smell in Japan that they don't want to offend other people. So they don't wear it. The perfume industry is not big here.

00:44:56 John Daub: You've never been a junior high school. Junior high school with all those teenagers might stink. But then again, that's my point. They don't wear stuff. But I think it's more like the fact that they only have one uniform and they don't wash it. It's more maybe the uniform than actually them. They probably wash it every third day or something. Because they don't have any free time, these kids. They get home. They got to go to juku (cram school) and study. By the time they really get home, it's like night time. And they got to wear it the next day. A lot of homes don't have dryers. So the only time you wash it, you have to hang it out. The only time you wash it is on Friday for the weekend. And even then, some kids got school on Saturdays.

00:46:10 John Daub: Speaking of perfume. If you look down the street, past that umbrella. If you go down about six blocks. You get to Abercrombie and Fitch. They had these dudes with no shirts walking around outside and I think they got slapped down by local association or something. Then they started cranking out their perfume scent into the streets. This made the national news. They were shamed so much that pumping of their scent out into the streets stopped and you don't smell Abercrombie's scent in the streets anymore. Yakitori smells great. I don't mind yakitori (grilled chicken skewer) smoke in the streets, but Abercrombie's perfume in the streets, it really hurt my eyes.

00:47:23 John Daub: There is a Ginza association. So there's rules for the neighborhood. You have to act a certain way. Every neighborhood actually has a certain kind of a rule. Even the convenience stores, in certain neighborhoods, they can't have like a 7-Eleven has the green and red. You can't have those colors in like Izumo Taisha in Shimane. This is one of Japan's most holy shrines. Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Family Mart, all of these national chains. Matsumoto Kiyoshi. They subdue their colors to brown and white so they don't stick out. And it's funny to see that, but that's how serious they take it, where they will subdue their brand in order to fit into the neighborhood or else they actually would have a negative impact on the consumers here for being so bright in a place where they shouldn't. They shouldn't take away from Izumo Taisha, which is an important cultural place.

00:48:50 John Daub: You can tell the tourists from other Asian countries might be wearing really bright colors or like neon orange shoes or like white pants with pink underwear or something. Those are usually tourists from other Asian countries. You can tell by the way people dress where they're from. I couldn't for the first 10 years. Then after a while and having a lot of Japanese friends and hanging out with them, they mostly for the most part would dress pretty similar, similar styles because of the trends.

00:49:44 Passerby: It's nice to meet you. Nice to see you. Where are you from?

00:49:46 John Daub: I'm from Italy. Oh, wonderful. Yeah, so I was checking out some YouTube.

00:50:00 Passerby: How does this compare to Australia in summer? Is this hotter?

00:50:02 John Daub: This is way hotter. It's way hotter. I'm from Sydney. It's like this humidity, right? By the way, is this always closed off on Saturday and Sunday?

00:50:12 Passerby: Yeah, 12 to 5.

00:50:21 Passerby: Can I take a photo of you?

00:50:22 John Daub: Oh, yeah, sure. It's nice seeing you. Nice to see you too. Good job on Sunday. Yeah, take care. Yeah, it's way, way hotter than Sydney. I lived in Sydney in December, January, and February. It was like the hottest months. This is so much worse.

00:51:04 John Daub: That Ginza spot is on my bucket list for next year. You should. I think in the summer to get some bento, and you can get some food from the bakery, and then bring it here to sit down. People do that. Just make sure you clean up after yourself. The trash cans are at the convenience stores. So if you're looking for a trash can you can find it there. But the reason why I walked away right now is for the exact reason that I've been talking about for the past 10 minutes. They're wearing such strong perfume. It's like you could just smell it right away. I would rather have BO than the perfume that they were wearing. Is there something wrong with me? Leave it in the comments below. I want to know.

00:52:06 John Daub: That 7-Eleven is gone. Used to be 7-Eleven across the street from this you have Jig Bank. It's been out of business. So don't listen to me. Don't put your trash there. I really like the Eggs 'n Things up here. You can see there's some trees. It's nice in the fall and spring to sit outside and have your breakfast or if you can get there early enough. But they stopped doing refilled coffee. Can you believe that Eggs 'n Things what a ripoff? It's not even Kona coffee. It's Kona blend. It's like 5% Kona coffee and they won't give you a refill anymore at Eggs 'n Things. Like what I remember when they told me that I said well at least give me a refill because you're giving me bad news. I'm like no can't do it policy. You guys are such a Japanese chain.

00:53:22 John Daub: I could deal with antiperspirant but not cologne. Yeah. I'm cool with antiperspirants. Nothing wrong little Old Spice original I can deal with that but the Old Spice like the other versions. This is too strong of a scent. I should change the title of this livestream to scents that disturb John. Things that disturb me we're really strong perfume. I'll be tolerant for like 20 minutes and then I will walk away and say goodbye. It's the only thing I can do. Perfumes. Can I wear some scent but it's again. It's like delicate. Like well, you know people you know the scent that would be really good like the scent of melon or peach I would like that, you know, like fresh peach not like this chemical peach fresh summer peach smell. Can you rub a peach on you? I would be into that. Why do you need to get like this chemical mixture stuff that people wear. I don't think it smells that good. Smells like a man. You know what? I think you should rub a watermelon on you. That smells like a man. It's sweet like a subtle bittersweet. Rub some vegetables on you like a eggplant now. What would be a good vegetable to rub on you with a good scent goya (bitter gourd). Smell like a man bitter gourd. That's to be the new scent of the summer.

00:55:06 John Daub: Couldn't find big window fans. You remember the ones you'd open the window and put a window fan in there these big rotating 30 inch blades and you'd have the air and then at night you turn the other way and suck all the windows that were open out that one window creating a breeze. Oh man. Those are the summer of the 80s right there. Now it's air-conditioned everywhere.

00:55:38 John Daub: You have to give credit to the Cozy Corner. They do have some good cakes in here some nice-looking cakes. It's hard to be on a diet in Japan. Look, they closed that business underneath the bridge as well the amount of companies closing in Tokyo has been extraordinary like things that I'm just starting to notice. In fact all the first floor of this building is closed and I don't think it's just because of the holiday. I think they're just destroying a lot of stuff and building new buildings all over Tokyo. I don't know where the investment is coming from. Japan's got a shrinking population, but I think perhaps they think do it now because you're not gonna be able to do it later. But the police box that'll stay the same. It looks like a dwarf's and the seven dwarfs one of those huts from Fantasyland. I like it. That's the police box of Ginza very classical.

00:56:42 John Daub: Alright everybody. Thanks so much for watching. I'm gonna head back and do some editing. It's a lazy Sunday. A lot of things are closed today. Oh my gosh that my hat is all sweat. But you could see the salt from sweat on it. I'm gonna have to wash it out. It's crazy. Great thing about Sunday is you could park just about anywhere. Just not as many local KB or cops. There's a Toyota Century. See that across the street. These are the Rolls Royces of Japan. It's made by Toyota and I would say that the Toyota Century might be better than a Rolls Royce. That's a bold statement.

00:57:49 John Daub: They need to come up with a truly manly smell something like wet dog or fart in the elevator. Do you think they would make that? You could find that at Spencer's. I wasn't me or was it? No, I think it was my younger brother. He got this fart something from Spencer's which is like this 1980s mall shop of ridiculousness. They might even still have them and he opened it up at school and I think he got in trouble because it smelled worse than somebody who let loose in their pants. It was really bad. And in fact if you get it on you, that's how they can find you you have to wear gloves. The fart spray I think they evacuated the classroom or something. But in the 80s, you got stuff like that cherry bombs and fart sprays and things like this. The cops are always watching by the way. Even though he's inside that police box. He had a megaphone and he's watching the traffic and he can tell people to behave themselves. The fart spray was really bad and I was shocked that they sold it at Spencer that stuff should be illegal. You know what if you want to get if someone's attacking you forget the pepper spray use fart spray. I would instantly get away from that.

00:59:47 John Daub: Take care. I hope this is useful for you. The top five are right here. And if you do come to Japan you might want to consider summer not being the best time to visit. But there are some other great points about summer too like the festivals the longer days the food the kakigori (shaved ice). Going to the beach, you can take off your shirt maybe, I don't know. Chill a little bit, go to the pool. You can't do that in the winter. You can do that now, but you don't want to go to the onsen in the summer. That's uncomfortable. Some people do, but I prefer in the fall. I can wait a couple of months.

01:00:30 John Daub: Tokyo Disneyland is too crowded. Universal Studios Japan is too crowded. And with the summer heat and the sweating, it's not fun to go to Tokyo Disneyland in the summer. It's just not fun. So you know, try coming in September. If you didn't like your first trip to Japan because you said it was too hot, come next time in October or May and you're going to love it so much better. May is great because the flowers are out. There's some cherry blossoms up in the north and the flowers are out. It's nice. So it's my recommendation to you.

01:01:08 John Daub: The typhoons are real though. This is my experience. Just last week, coming back from Hiroshima, the typhoon that rolled through Osaka, you could see how bad the sky looks. These hit Tokyo and Osaka and Japan, in particular Kyushu and Chugoku quite often in the summer. And again, just make sure you book a day early to come back early so you can have a rest day at home or typhoon day with your flight canceled. I think it's a good idea if you're coming in July, August, September. Maybe even end of June. All right, everybody, take care. I'll see you again tomorrow. Bye bye.