00:00:01 John Daub: From up here on the Ginza 6 building, you get a really nice view of the city of Tokyo down there. There's the Uniqlo building. Just over there in the corner, this is the view where there's very little signal. You can just see the Tokyo Skytree on the top there. There's Wako, the department store with the bell that chimes every hour, the taxis, the cars going by. They close the streets down on the weekends, so you can walk down Chuo-dori (Chuo Avenue). It's so nice from 12 to 5 p.m. here. One of the nicest neighborhoods here in Tokyo. And of course, this is my backyard, so yeah, I'm here quite a bit.

00:00:41 John Daub: I'm sure a lot of you have made your way to Tokyo. It's a lot more relaxed than Shibuya and Shinjuku because the streets are wider, in particular when they shut it down here. But we're not here to talk about the view at the top of the Ginza 6 building, are we? We're here to talk about something even cooler. That's right. In Tokyo. I think it's the fourth floor of the building.

00:01:06 John Daub: There's this huge opening, and they have what would be space cats here. And this exhibition, I guess it's going on, it just started about a couple of weeks ago. And if you are in the area, I think this is worth checking out. It just brings a smile to my face with all this stuff that's going on in the world. Sometimes you have to stop and say, praise the cats. Because it's funny.

00:01:33 John Daub: So this is the exhibition here. You can see the cats dancing on the inside of the shopping mall here. It's called Big Cat Bang by Kenji Yanobe inside of the Ginza 6 building. It's a pretty neat exhibition. This is from ground floor, from the, I guess it's the start of the fourth floor before you go up there. And you can see the cats in their orange jumpsuits. Sort of a 1950-ish look, I guess, of what space was like in the future. Which is, it's kind of cool with the big glass helmets there. You can see their big cat eyes as well. Their tongues sticking out looking like they're going to be licking up a bowl full of milk.

00:02:10 John Daub: It's so cute and I like the little details they did, including these little teeny kittens on these strings dangling from there. Makes you want to like, I kind of wish they had like key chains or something with these little space cats on there. That'd be a lot of fun to collect. From above you can look down on them. Although I would never look down on our cat friends. Because they're just too cool. Look at the way that the tail is made into a question mark as well. It's like, what's going on here? Look at the cat popping out on the right side. Do you see that from the hatch? Up on the top you can also get some pictures real close up of it.

00:02:56 John Daub: This is something cool, I guess with that glass helmet. Then look at the posture of the one kitty cat. You can't see that from the ground floor standing on top of the spacecraft from this planet. Of course. But it's a little bit more of a cat than a cat. I think it's pretty cool. So that's the exhibition inside there. You can go and check it out. I guess it's going to be going on through the spring.

00:03:25 John Daub: All you got to do is jump off into the Ginza 6 building. I like this. There's always really interesting urban art going on. In fact from the top of the roof here, this is where I am right now. Check it out. Ginza is pretty much in the heart of Tokyo. Not that far away from the Imperial Palace. This is the Ginza 6 building. It's a brand new shopping mall that opened up a few years ago. Maybe about five years ago. The roof is also kind of a garden. This is the 14th floor, I guess you would say. You can walk around the entire thing. 360 view of the city around it.

00:04:01 John Daub: I kind of like coming up here every now and then. Again, this is sort of my backyard. It's not very far for me to ride my bicycle here. I like to come on the weekends, walk down the street and stretch my legs. Take a break from editing and all the other stuff. The Chuo-dori. This is the Ginza 4-chome (Ginza 4-chome), which is kind of the Golden Mile. Used to have some of the most expensive real estate in the world back in the 1980s when the yen was super strong. And nowadays, it's just kind of cool. And that's where we are in Tokyo.

00:04:29 John Daub: Just a note, because this is a new building, check this out, okay? So they also have these really cool places to park your bicycle. Do you see these little elevators that you can put your bicycle in? And I guess you need to have a card to pay for it or something. That guy standing there, I guess he's some sort of security guard for bicycles? I don't know. But he's kind of intimidating with his mask there. So I decided to park illegally on the side of the street. But I'll have to figure out. I'd like to put some cameras on my bike and send it in there. Because I wonder what the carousel is for the bicycles down there. But when you have a guy dressed in Secret Service outfit, it is somewhat intimidating to want to leave my bike in there. But then again, my bike is probably in the most secure spot.

00:05:14 John Daub: This is Ginza street level right now. And maybe we can make our way down there. Probably not. I think I just wanted to show you the space kittens. But this is a great time to be in Ginza on the weekend. They have these umbrella places. So you can get a bento. You don't have to eat in one of the restaurants. You can save some money, get a bento, and just go for a stroll. Just kind of stroll around Ginza and eat your bento. There it is. Kimura-ya Pan (Kimura-ya Bakery). Down there in the center of the screen. They have these ebi katsu (deep-fried breaded shrimp cutlet) sandwiches. They're so good. You can pick up some stuff from the Kimura-ya Bakery right next to Wako department store at Ginza 4-chome. And eat there on the street, which is kind of neat. And this is only on Saturday and Sunday, by the way. They don't close down the streets from noon to about 5 p.m.

00:06:15 John Daub: Yeah. I can try to take you around there. There is no signal at the end. It's bizarre. We can kind of experiment, but in these live streams, I kind of want to show you everything in the first 5 to 10 minutes. And we're pretty much done here, so we're in bonus time. So let's go take... Let's see if we can walk around here. We're just going to test the signal strength. But you can see they also have these water sprays. I have to bring Leo up here. Leo hasn't been up here yet. But they have kind of a playground for kids up on the street. And they have a little water tank up on the top. And these water will come up every now and then and then spray the kids in the head. And you see them run around and escape. It's just kind of funny. Skytree has a really good one, too.

00:06:58 John Daub: The great thing about having a kind of a bird's-eye view of Tokyo is that you're starting to see more greenery, right? Is it just me? Look over there. I guess this is where the Imperial Palace is. Look at all that green. You don't see a lot of cities that are... Maybe Singapore? I don't know. I don't see too many major cities in Tokyo that have, like... You see green amongst... And Tokyo has been really moving towards this over the last... Since before the Olympics started, they wanted to do stuff like that. Even on that building over there, they've got some trees on the roof.

00:07:40 John Daub: So let me show you in the corner here. I don't know if we got a signal or not. But this is walking towards Shimbashi. There's a lot of people here eating bento. Spring has sprung. The weather is great. This is... This will take us up to Shimbashi. And you can see a little bit more of the walkway. This is live, guys. So Jason in Canada, you're with me live. Chris from Hawaii, how you doing? That's the place that had the robbery. You remember? Last year, there were a couple of... A few teenagers that tried to rob a watch store. And they didn't get away with it. Of course not. But you can see the street is closed down. And look at all that empty space to jump around in.

00:08:34 John Daub: That's why... Another reason why I like to bring Leo with me. Because he can run around the streets here. Not have to worry about cars. You can't ride your bicycle on this. So you have to stop your bicycle and walk it. But you can see, pretty cool. There's an Onitsuka Tiger store. Nike's mortal enemy. Phil Knight's mortal enemy. If you ever read his book, Shoe Dog. You know. They were not the best of friends. And you can see trees lining the streets here in Ginza. I like that. It's something nice seeing the greenery in the city.

00:09:11 John Daub: We're going to walk a little bit more around the Ginza 6 building. And of course, that tower there. Can anybody name it? I think... I think you can. I wonder if the signal that you're getting is from Tokyo Tower. After... A little note. After the 2011 earthquake. The great Tohoku earthquake here. The very top of the Tokyo Tower, it bent. Because of the earthquake shaking. And since... It used to be taller than the Eiffel Tower. And since then, I think they had to take it down. And now it's... Eiffel Tower is now taller. I think it was 333 meters high. And now it's officially a little bit shorter than that. Not that it really matters that much.

00:09:55 John Daub: Going towards the back side. Yesterday I was at Shimbashi with a busted live stream. And this is Shiodome in this area. There's a lot of hotels in the new part of Tokyo. That Shiodome opened up in the year 2000. And there's a little Italy where you can get some pretty good pizza. Believe it or not. Just on the other side of there. And they have some Roman statues. And it's a little bizarre. I did a live stream there maybe six or seven years ago. I might have to go back. But it's kind of neat to see the top of the buildings.

00:10:40 John Daub: Tokyo is a big contrast to New York City. Which is having some issues. A lot of it's kind of a mess. And I'm watching on the online. On Instagram reels. And the short media where people are comparing the two cities. And there's no comparison at all. Just Tokyo is far ahead of what New York is. And I think it could have to do with the Olympics. I think having... I'm not a fan of the Olympics. I think it's way, way, way gotten into corporate sponsorship. And beyond the purpose of what it probably was intended. It's more of like a marketing... Marketing media circus. And now it's all about the money. But there are some good things with the Olympics that happened. We were in Tokyo very inconvenienced with a lot of infrastructure projects. That probably wouldn't have been able to take place unless we had the Olympics. And now that it's all done. We are left with a city that's more set up for the future. Than I think places like New York. And a lot of the aging infrastructure of the United States for example. Which makes Tokyo a really livable city.

00:11:48 John Daub: And as much as I have kind of like a love-hate relationship with living in any city. You know, this one is probably one of the nicest ones I think. And coming to a place like this and looking down on it. You kind of have a new found respect. And all this is earthquake proof. It's gone through some really strong earthquakes. So you know you're going to be pretty safe if one comes. Look at this. This is a new building. What's this one? This is very artistic looking. It says Sakura Marks Ginza 612. Is that like an apartment complex? Are people living there? I think that's somebody's house. Oh that's got to be somebody's house. That's got to be so expensive to be living right behind Ginza 6.

00:12:37 John Daub: I was looking when I was moving apartments back in 2005. At apartments in Higashi Ginza on this side. And the rent was reasonable. It was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. I had a one, a quite spacious one room kitchen dining apartment. For I think it was 120,000 yen per month in Higashi Ginza. Which is about 800 dollars a month. I don't think that exists today. But it was an amazing deal when I come to think of it. Oh wow. That is. That really does look like we're looking into somebody's house. Reminds me of that movie Rear Window. There's a vacancy. Maybe we'll see something live. Oh no. I'll be pulled into some sort of... Oh there's somebody there. That looks like a restaurant on the top. I don't know. That could be somebody's house. I don't know. It's a pretty...

00:13:53 John Daub: See you can bring a bento up here as well. Bring some food. There's a Starbucks on the sixth floor. You can get some coffee and a cinnamon roll. That's what I usually do. I like their cinnamon rolls. And sugar donuts. All the other stuff's not so good. Probably those are not so good for you either. But if you're going to get a happy time snack. That's the way. That's the way to go. And I think you can see some of the hotels that are around Ginza right now. Many of them sprung up over the last three years during the pandemic.

00:14:32 John Daub: Vasily Konstantin, thank you. Welcome. All right. I have a feeling the signal is really bad over there. So if it cuts off then this is going to be the end of the live stream. But we might as well keep it going. Well I'm going to walk just a little bit. I'll show you the space cats for those that are joining us one more time here. As I'm kind of testing the live stream. Just listen to my voice. This is the installation on. You can see it from the fifth. I think it's the third, fourth, and fifth floors. And it's kind of neat. And if you're in the Ginza area it's worth stopping in and taking a look. The little teeny kittens on the strings are so cute. I'm glad I came in and made a little video about this. Because these art installations are not around very often. For very long. And you have a very short time to get around.

00:15:18 John Daub: So I'm going to go ahead and take a look at them. Look at that. Alright. I like this stairway here. See that? It kind of reminds me of Squid Game. And it looks like a Johnny on the spot at the top. It's kind of neat because you can't see this at street level. And then this apartment building right here. You can kind of get a look inside there. A lot of vacancies. I know Tokyo might be in some sort of housing bubble. Alright let's walk around. I know this signal is going to conk out.

00:16:12 John Daub: We gave it a good try here. Tomorrow I was thinking of taking you to the Olympic Village. They've opened it up now and there are people moving in. These are million dollar apartments. I don't know why anybody would want to live there. There's not a lot of infrastructure. Sorry, public transportation. You kind of need your own car to live in this area. Not a lot of schools. But they do have a shopping mall that has opened up in there. So the Olympic Village has changed quite a bit. Including a restaurant that serves the food that they had at the 2020 and 2021 Olympics. Which is kind of neat. I might go check that out tomorrow depending on the weather. So we'll see what we can find.

00:16:48 John Daub: Alright, I don't know. Now we're... Brandania, you're in Okinawa. How dare you watch a live stream. You should be enjoying the nice sunshine down there. Oh, there's another little stairway. It's kind of neat. You'll see sometimes little gardens. That's another thing. Come in on the roof. I haven't seen them. I think a lot of them have gone. A lot of the people have left from the older generation. But when I came up... Up above the city like this. I used to be able to see little bonsai gardens. Where residents had set up... Any kind of nature that they really loved. And put it on the roof. Because that's where you get the sunshine.

00:17:30 John Daub: And now you can really see the city of Tokyo. This is over in this direction. Tokyo Station. The Marunouchi side. These tall buildings would be where Tokyo Station is. You see a ton of construction. Those cranes right over there. Do you see that? Those cranes are the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station. And there's so many more skyscrapers that are going to be coming up there. And Tokyo Skyline is just going to get taller and taller. So every time you see a crane. That Azabudai building near Roppongi is not going to be the tallest for much longer. It's going to be overpassed by 2027, I believe. And then the skyline is just getting taller and taller. As the technology allows. Because we are in an earthquake zone.

00:18:17 John Daub: Abrandanya, you're still in the air? I hope you've landed. One last thing here. There's a shrine. Which is kind of neat. You can come and say a couple of prayers. Leave a 5 yen coin. Any kind of modern structure. If there was a shrine there. Usually they build around it. Which is why we have these secret shrines like in Akihabara.

00:18:40 John Daub: I just want to say thank you for spending the afternoon with me. We got about 20 minutes of looking at space cats. Taking a look at some weird parking lots for bicycles. And getting a bird's eye view of the city of Tokyo. This one is really a nice place to look. But if you look across here. You can see. You see this one building. The black one right here. There is a really great view. From right at the corner of this building. The Tokyo Plaza. Do you see it? From that triangle looking building. You can put your head on the glass. And look straight down on the Tsukiji-bashi intersection. And this shopping mall is right there. This shopping mall came in about 7 years ago now. And it's really beautiful. There's nothing I would buy inside there. But that's not true. They had a Birkenstock store. And I bought some rubber Birkenstock shoes about 4 years ago. But that store doesn't exist anymore. They used to have a burger place in there. But now there's nothing that I want. It's like one of those overpriced shopping malls. Like Omotesando Hills. It's like yeah it's kind of cool to walk around. But unless you have a credit card with a million dollars on it. There's no reason to spend money and buy anything there.

00:20:01 John Daub: And there you go. Alright everybody. Thanks for hanging out at the top of Ginza 6. I'll see you again in another livestream tomorrow. Matane (see you later).