00:00:00 John Daub: Welcome to Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture, about 90 minutes north of Tokyo. This is one of the top three gardens in all of Japan, Kairaku-en (悦楽園), the others being in Okayama and Kanazawa. Mito is special at this time of year because of the ume (plum) blossoms. This is the map right here. It's only 300 yen to get into this garden and it's beautifully maintained. But you can see on the map, it's all ume blossoms, especially in the middle of the area. There are some sakura trees but it's mostly ume blossoms.

00:00:31 John Daub: I've got a meeting here at Okochi Kobuntei for a location shoot that I'm doing for Only in Japan. But before that I thought it would be a good idea to take you around, especially right now. It is just stunning. Check it out.

00:00:46 John Daub: Let's go close to some of these ume blossoms. Now there's a couple of types here and don't get me wrong, there are some sakura blossoms here as well. But this is the most popular ume blossom. These pink-purple ones, they're just so stunning. They really come out. Wow. I cannot believe spring is already here. At least it's 20 degrees Celsius right now. Raining this morning, the sun came out and then the clouds came out again and now it looks like it could rain imminently. But I'm still going to take you around and take a look at the ume blossoms here. This is just the best time to be in Mito.

00:01:36 John Daub: Now there's a train station nearby. Let me show you here on the map again. There's a train station that goes right past Kairaku-en. You see that? And it stops there in the top left corner. So it's really easy to get from Ueno in Tokyo. There's an express train. It'll get you here in 90 minutes. There's also local trains. It'll get you here in like two and a half hours. Mito itself is also worth visiting. I've done some live streams there in the past. But let's just go walk around here. There's a ton of street food. This is the Higashi entrance. I see Bradshaw Studios in the house and Arthur Vandeley. How you doing?

00:02:06 John Daub: So outside this gate, there's a ton of street food. So we can go out. Actually, why don't I take you just to show you the street food really quickly and then we'll go back in there to film the videos. I just want to show you what they have on offer here. I have a ticket so I can go in at any time. It is February 19th, 2024. Wow, look at this. They have takoyaki here. And there's a lot of food stands just going in this direction. But that's not limited to just this direction. Check it out. If I go to the right, there's a ton of food stands in that direction too.

00:02:56 John Daub: Yoda Jedi 01 writes in here, "Food, feed me." I hear you and I can smell it. Oh, there's some amazake (sweet fermented rice drink). This is the best drink to warm you up in the winter. I might get a cup of that. Let's get that and we can walk in. First, let me show you some of the food offerings here. This is shiapan, which is Kanae's favorite food. It's like a pancake that's a gyoza. Inside there is some really savory meat. This one is sweet potato chips. There's the ten yen pan, which is the stretchy cheese. Do you see that? This has been coming really trendy over the last couple of years. I think I filmed the first place as a live stream.

00:03:40 John Daub: We also have some yaki ika, or ikayaki, grilled squid. There's some oyaki (stuffed steamed buns). Oyaki, which is my favorite Japanese food. It's like a hot pocket Japanese version full of vegetables. They have vegetables. They have nasu (eggplant), which is an eggplant. They have anko (red bean paste). And my favorite right here is kabocha (Japanese pumpkin). Oh, man, it's really, really good.

00:04:12 John Daub: All right, let's get some amazake. And oh, there's some yakimochi (grilled rice cakes). Do you see that right there? That is also really good. It's grilling right now. They're going to take a couple of minutes, but yakimochi is really good. All right, let's get some amazake, and we're going to go back in because we have a ticket. My appointment's at 1 o'clock. So, hey, moderators, at 12:50 p.m. JST, please let me know because I want to make sure I get to my appointment on time. I don't want to be late.

00:04:53 John Daub: All right, I'm getting 300 yen out. Oh, here we go. That's what 300 yen looks like. That's a cherry blossom, I believe, on the 100 yen coins. Oh, there's a line for amazake. Ah, amazake, onegaishimasu. Ooh. Ah, hai. Hai, tozaimasu. Ooh, that's easy. Oh, my. This is a happy moment. I love hot amazake. Steaming with a cup, in a cup with ume blossoms. It's absolutely a special time. All right. I would say kanpai. I guess we can treat this as like alcohol. All right, kanpai, everybody. Oh, this is good. This has got ginger in there, so there's like this sharp taste to it. Oh, this is really energizing. Mm. 100 yen is about 75 cents right now.

00:06:32 John Daub: If you check out over here, you can see there's like jumbo meat sticks. There's also some potatoes, some yakisoba. There's some other stands here. And they're going to get ready. This is lunchtime is just starting. All right, let's go inside. There's no food inside here, I think so.

00:07:15 John Daub: I noticed the last time I was here, the signal was not good. I was using the YouTube app, so that could be why. But if you do have any signal issues, just let me know. This is a live stream. I might reupload this later. Oh, it looks like we're still kind of early. There's a lot of blossoms that haven't come out yet. We go into the iPhone's main camera here. Looks like a little popcorn. Corn kernels just about to blossom. That's funny. Look at it. There's some white blossoms and then there's some pink ones on the same tree. Absolutely stunning. It is very easy to get lost amongst the trees. There's a main path to the left side. You see that. So you want to stick to it. But that's why I took a picture of the map so I can refer back to that.

00:08:23 John Daub: I can hear the Joban Line going by in the distance already. I'm finding that we're having signal issues. Didn't take long. This might be an extraordinarily short live stream. Look at this. So they've laid it out what it looks like here. That is beautiful. Andy's taxes. I'm glad you're here with me as well. Living vicariously while I'm stuck at home with COVID. I'm sorry to hear that. Hope you feel better.

00:09:13 John Daub: There is really something really unique. The branches, the bark of the blossoms are darker. So the contrast between the blossoms. It's just better. And the weather is usually not wonderful in the end of February. Because chilly. And today we have clouds, which is not a bad thing because the clouds add a lot of contrast, a darker sky to these very colorful blossoms. Again, this is me. So I put a map in the description of this video. You can just click it, take it to a Google map. You'll find out where Kairaku-en is one of the three top gardens in Japan.

00:09:48 John Daub: I've been here maybe a dozen times. I used to live here. But this is maybe my fourth or fifth time during the ume blossoms. I lived here during that festival, too. So I was able to walk here. But you have to pay each time. So I think I only came in once or twice. And this amazake is out of sight. It is so good. Senba Lake. I think that is. If I recall from my days here, I used to go running around this lake. Mito is a really lovable city. It's colder than Tokyo. It's not as exciting. It's close. But Senba Lake, if you look at Google Maps, is pretty big. And I used to do laps around that lake when I lived here in the year 2000. Twenty-three years ago. Seems like ancient times.

00:10:48 John Daub: Virtually no foreigners came to visit the park now, and I don't see any right now either. I'm here to film. I can't tell you yet. I hear the Joban Line rolling by. It's just below the park, which makes this a really convenient stop. The emperor will often make visits here as well. And this is also the seat of the Tokugawa family. You might know that name from the Shogun. And I know the 15th generation of the Tokugawa family. I've met him a few times. Super nice guy. Went to his museum in a live stream and filmed it. And he came out with his wife to show us around. So nice. We ate unagi in his tea house, which is amazing. And that live stream is actually on this channel. I believe it was with Jennifer back in the day. Hope she's doing well.

00:11:53 John Daub: Looks like popcorn kernels, but the blossoms are much more petite than the Somei Yoshino variety. The drive here is really—I have to be honest with you—in the morning, I left at around 8 a.m. And the traffic was hideous. You cannot trust Google Maps. It's telling me to go left and right, changing the route that I'm supposed to go. And then I ended up going around the city to get to the Joban Expressway, which I shouldn't have done. I shouldn't have listened. Google is great in the countryside. It stinks in the city because it's always changing, especially on the expressways. And I ended up going underground. And then the Google Maps started going crazy because the signal was dying. I thought I was on the local roads and on the highway. That's the worst. So I was lucky I didn't panic. And I was able to make it back on the Joban Line and get to my first shoot on time. And then this is my second one of the day. And then I'll be done and drive back home. But this is wonderful. I mean, I should make a main channel episode on this, right?

00:13:04 John Daub: You can find these shortcuts. This is where you get lost when you go in there. This has got to be really spooky at night. They really should light these up and do something really. And there's something because the ume blossom trees are just more like bendy, weird angles, just jutting out left and then right and then left and then right. This is the kind of tree that you see in horror movies. But absolutely beautiful. When the blossoms are out, there's an eyeful right there for you dancing in the wind.

00:13:45 John Daub: But you know, this channel has really gone a long way. I want you to look back about just two or three years ago at the quality of the live stream and then look at it today. We have really come a long way. This is the precursor to the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, which are supposed to come out a little bit earlier. I did a live stream on that a few days ago. But this really warms you up. What is the most amazing thing is that it's 20 degrees Celsius. If you don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, I can't help you. What is it like 68 degrees Fahrenheit? I could probably take off the sweatshirt and I'd be comfortable and it just feels weird. We've been going like really cold and really hot. That's when usually winter breaks. We're going to be in the summer. We have something called san-san kodo (three days hot, four days cold). And then after like four or five of this, it usually breaks and then it's warm. That's usually not until like the middle of April. But we have here such as wow. Nature is busting out.

00:14:55 John Daub: And Andy's taxes. I know your home is sick. I hope this doesn't make you feel a bit better knowing that we're at the end of winter. It feels like spring is busting out. It's going to be a little early here in Japan. Thank you. You have a Bob for the heads up. I drove here. If you don't remember me, though, that's the I forget that tower. I saw that when I was driving here. That's one of the unique towers of Mito. And for those that are joining us here, here's the map. Get a quick look again. We're somewhere in the middle. We started where that red marker is on the left center side right there. I'm looking at the map to make sure. So you have a Bob. I don't get lost. I don't want to be late. I can. I'll tell you about it in a couple of weeks about why I'm here. But I hate to tell exactly my purpose in the age of Internet. But it's not for this. Although I wish it was.

00:16:15 John Daub: That looks like—what is it?—the pomegranate fruit. That's starting to get popular in Japan, too. That looks really tasty. Like I want to take a bite of that. But that's an ume blossom. I believe I often think that the blossom that's on the apple emoji is an ume blossom. The one that you shared is actually an ume blossom, not a sakura blossom. But, you know, there's the Somei Yoshino, which is a white blossom. There are just so many kinds of blossoms. So that's why he's like, oh, am I going to be in time for the cherry blossoms this year? That's not the right question. You have to know the varieties. They all bloom at different times. There's different elevations. Japan is also extremely long country. So they're going to be blooming—here's the calendar for the Japanese cherry blossoms. You can see Tokyo is slated to be March 20th. But if you just go inland or even in Tokyo, you're going to find that they're probably going to bloom ten days later. Or if you go north, they're going to bloom two weeks later. So, you know, you're going to be on time for the cherry blossoms. Just maybe not in Tokyo.

00:17:47 John Daub: All right. Let's walk this way for a couple of minutes. This is just a taste of it. And there are some food stands here I'm noticing inside of the park. But most of them are outside. And I like to support the local vendors. So that's why I probably will get my lunch there before I get back in the car and have to go. I was so good. Ginger in there. So good.

00:18:18 John Daub: Can I just chat it in here? Hey, can I? If you're watching. Look at that. There's some girls in kimono over there. That's really nice. It's like a photo chance. Kawaii ne. Konnichiwa. Oh. Mito no ume. Taishi. Ambassadors of Mito. Wow. Kirei desu ne. Oh. Edo jidai desu ne. Kako. Mito ko. Ah, so. Oh. Kirei. Mito no president. Ah, president. Oh, sugoi ne. Arigato. Sugoi kirei desu ne. Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye.

00:19:23 John Daub: They're the ambassadors of the park. That's cool. I like that. So there you have it. You can come and see the ambassadors in kimono. That's really good. I don't think that those eyebrows were real, but I was too shy to ask. Figure it out. Thank you, UFO Bob, giving me the heads up. This is an amazing park. I put a map again in the description. This is the time. It actually started about two, three weeks ago I was here, but the park closes at 4 PM. Just keep that in mind. You want to get here by 3 PM at minimum to really walk around. It's a strolling park. It's not the kind of park where you would get a blue sheet and sit there and drink booze. You want to bring one and you can sit down and drink it. There are some benches around. Usually it's colder here, so people aren't outside as much. You stroll, which keeps you warm, which is another reason why this is more of a strolling park than it is a lounging around park.

00:20:26 John Daub: You can see there's some people drinking some amazake. There's a food stand right over here. They're serving, I think you can get some sushi. No, what is that? Usually it's going to be like a manju. Or some mochi or something like that. You can get some tea or amazake, which is sweet. There you go. Some springtime confections. You can eat it right there. Lost last time. Once you enter into the ume forest, all bets are off. If you can make it out in time. I cannot go in there.

00:21:15 John Daub: All right, I better get moving. There you go. Mito's Kairaku-en. I hope you enjoyed this live stream. Hit the like button. Let me know what you thought in the comments below. I do appreciate the super thanks. I didn't think I would get any. I just learned about what the heck. I thought they were like super chats, but they're completely different. And I want to thank everybody. I try to reply in the comments for that. I appreciate it. I'll see you guys. Mata ne. Bye from Mito.