00:00 John Daub: This, ladies and gentlemen, is the shikakuisuika (square watermelon) of Zentsuji. You can see it's quite an impressive sight, isn't it? And this came from Shikoku yesterday. I brought it back on the Shinkansen just to walk around Shibuya with it. Kind of test out to see if this is really display friendly. Does it make an impact? Do people stop you on the streets? They do. Actually, we have a friend right here who... It stopped us. Where did you get this? I got it from Shikoku yesterday. It's beautiful. Would you like to hold it, sir?

00:30 Passerby: I'd love to hold it. Excuse me. I'll set my drink down.

00:45 John Daub: All right. That'll cost you 20,000 yen for that? That's not insured. It's much easier to pack in my baggage. That's how much they cost at the store if you buy it there. 20,000 yen. Actually, this one, if you buy it from the distributor, I think it's 12,000 yen, but you're probably going to get it at the resellers for a lot more than that.

01:15 Passerby: Right. That's amazing. So, John, have you actually eaten a watermelon?

01:30 John Daub: I have. How are you doing? Yeah, I have, and it doesn't... It doesn't taste very good.

01:45 Peter von Gomm: This is PBG. Everybody knows Peter von Gomm. He has a new video out, the Harley motorcycle show.

02:00 John Daub: Yeah, the Harley-Davidson annual Blue Sky Heaven. Should I even promote that? Are you going to take it down?

02:15 Peter von Gomm: No, I'm definitely promoting it. He does a lot of motorcycle stuff, but we're going to walk around Shibuya and see if anybody actually stops us if it makes a big fuss about the square watermelon. It's something that... Let's go. I'll let you hold it for a little bit, and then we'll pass the torch, so to speak.

02:45 John Daub: Baby, it's my baby. Now, is it... How heavy is it? It's not too bad, right? Well, it's like a normal watermelon. Yeah, it's pretty dense. Yeah. It's probably like 12 pounds or something. Let's go up this way. Okay, this way. Following Peter as we walk around Shibuya. Now, the signal might not be so great. We're leaving the Blue Bottle, and if you are watching this live stream and you're in Tokyo, come and join us. I'll be at Hachiko Scramble in about five minutes. How long is it going to take, Peter?

03:30 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, probably... It'll take us at least... 10 minutes to get there.

03:45 John Daub: Okay. Yeah. And we can see if anybody stops us to say hi. Well, you get a lot of looks, right? I don't know if they're looking at you with that devilishly handsome smile, sir, or if it's the watermelon. Is that a square watermelon in your pocket, or are you just glad to see it?

04:15 Peter von Gomm: It's both. Both. Two. Two square watermelons. Two, yeah.

04:30 John Daub: It's a hot and humid day here in Shibuya. Very much so. Tokyo. I'm kind of Shinkansen jet-lagged. I still feel like I got back at 10 p.m. yesterday after a very long day in Shikoku. Day trip to Shikoku?

05:00 Peter von Gomm: No, I spent one night there at Daryl and Natsu's place. You could see that live stream yesterday, which is really interesting. They're akiya (abandoned house). They bought an akiya. All together, I think it was $40,000 for the renovations, the water heater, the air conditioning, some of the repairs, and the house.

05:45 John Daub: Wow. And the property is an old akiya? $40,000. An old one, like a kominka (traditional Japanese house)? Yeah, it's pretty old, maybe 75 to 100 years old. Wow. Pretty big?

06:15 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, pretty big. Yesterday, this is me this morning, again, like I'm walking around with the square watermelon right there, and this is me yesterday. This is Yamashita-san. He's, that's me right there. Yamashita-san is the, his father created the square watermelon 55 years ago. Wow. And he gave me this one. Well, he, this is a... To bring it back, and this is an image of all the square watermelons yesterday at Zentsuji, at the shikakuisuika harvest. And got a chance to enjoy myself over there. And bring one of these home. It's a cool story. They have a population decline. It's another reason why... Another way to see Japan and how they're going to be coping with that. The square watermelon is one thing that I hope never goes extinct. As Peter holds... So what is the purpose of the square watermelon? So you've mentioned that they don't taste good. So is it more of a novelty?

07:30 John Daub: Yeah, you can't particularly eat it. Yeah, it's a display fruit, meaning you put it in the window like we saw. Are we going to go past that store?

07:45 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we'll cut down, we'll cut down here to the right. Yeah. Yeah, we can walk past that shop.

08:00 John Daub: It's a display fruit. So, and this is me, a picture of me yesterday with the square watermelon in front of somebody's farm. Yeah. Yeah. It was a really hot day yesterday. But it's like having a baby, having a watermelon like this coming around. You do get people looking. Some people ask where you got it, but most people are... Just think you're a freak. Most people are shy. They want to touch it. Yeah. They just got to ask. I will not say no. You can touch my square watermelon. We're going to cut right here. Christian writes in here, but why? Because it's cool. Well, I think square watermelons are round. And they're hard to travel. They roll around. You can't fit them in a box, which is the way you'd put them in a container. But square watermelons, you can fit them in perfectly. It's very efficient. Yeah. It fits in a refrigerator better. Right. Right. And that's one of the reasons why they started it. But they found over time that the best way to sell these were as display fruits. Cut them before they're ripe so they stay in this condition for up to six months in the right conditions. Wow. Maybe not sitting out in the sun like this, but... Wow. Yeah. It's a pretty cool fruit. We've been getting some stares. People coming up and asking us about our square watermelon. That's a fun time. Cool. Yeah. We're going to go across here and then over that way. I kind of feel like I'm at church bringing the offerings up to the altar. That's right. You know what I mean? Well, you are in a way. It's... In the sun, it's so hot right now in Shibuya. Let's pass the torch over there.

10:30 Peter von Gomm: Okay. You want to carry that?

10:45 John Daub: Yeah. All right. You got it?

11:00 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. All right. I got it. Let me see if I can attract some attention. Okay. Sometimes if you do it up and down like this... Toss it up? He's a toaster.

11:30 John Daub: This lady... There we go. Never seen this before? Have a look. Is that real?

11:45 Passerby: It's real. It's a square watermelon. Cool. It's real. You want a photo? Yeah. Right from here? Yeah. I got it from Shikoku yesterday. They make them once a year, 200 of them. Wow. Can I take a picture? Yeah. That's so cool. That's something unique. It is. It is. Bye-bye.

12:30 Peter von Gomm: This is a pretty cool place. So yeah. Yeah. I think people don't know that this is actually a real watermelon.

12:45 John Daub: Right. That girl's eyes... There are a lot of people staring at me like I might just be weird, but actually this is a real watermelon. Just listen. It sounds like it. Yeah. It's a real watermelon. It's a real watermelon. It's really square. It's real. That girl's eyes almost bugged out of her head. I know. She was shocked by this weird shape of it. Okay. Walk by these guard guys here. See how they react. They've seen a million square watermelons. I think they got other things on their mind. Yeah. Yeah. Other melons. It's pretty cool. You know, I was talking with the city and I said they really have to do more of a push to promote these. Because although we see them on YouTube, a lot of people just think it's some sort of novelty. There's a lot of history behind this and it kind of highlights Japan's ingenuity. The way that people think here with inventions, it's just different than the way we would ever see things. Like there was a guy in Japan who saw a watermelon and said, why don't we make them square? That's something that would only happen... In Japan.

14:30 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. You said it. So what other weird fruits are there in Japan? Well, right now if you're coming here... We have the end of the Miyazaki mango season, which is coming to an end. The Okayama peaches... The Okayama peaches, the white peaches just came out this week. So they're about 1500 yen each in Tokyo. Now how do they taste? Pretty darn good. They're all perfect. But the white fuzz of it is quite unique to the peaches and all very pristine and very well produced. The Yamagata cherries are still out, I believe. As well as the Shine Muscat grapes. Do you know those?

15:45 John Daub: No. The Shine Muscat grapes? Yeah, I think that's what they're called. You don't know those? Like the Native American Cheyenne stuff? Those are from Okayama. Very popular as well. The grapes from Kanazawa go for like $5,000. $20 a grape. Those are starting to come out as well. Wow. $20 per grape? For grape. And it's pretty crazy. So Japan's got this market of luxury fruits. Everybody knows the strawberries in the winter. They're pretty good. But square watermelons today, baby. This is the first one in Tokyo. I brought it on the Shinkansen yesterday, right after the harvest. They don't come out until today. I would like to try one of these Shine Muscat grapes. Seriously. Yeah, they're pretty good. They had it at Okayama, the service area. I was going to pick it up, but we're leaving for the US in 12 hours or something like that, right? 16 hours from now, we'll be on a plane going back to the US. Wow. And we can ask people as well. So this shop that has a melon for sale in the window. Oh, it's up here? It's up here to the left. So we'll go up there. Oh, yeah. So I'm noticing that there's not as many tourists here in Shibuya today as there were. We got here too early. Peter and I were here on the bus. We had to scramble at around 10 o'clock, and it was pretty tame, pretty empty. Yeah. It's got to be the heat. We're getting a lot of looks. It might be the heat. Yeah, getting a lot of looks, but not as much attention. I thought people would surround me like, look at that. Is that real? Blah, blah, blah. I want to touch it. That didn't happen so far. No. So we can cut through left here or this way. Let's go down one more block and then turn left. Okay. How's the signal? So far, so good. Yeah. I was here in Shibuya a few days ago, and on this street over here where the Don Quixote is for one whole block, it was just all tourists. Yeah. I saw no locals, no Japanese people. It's all tourists on the whole block, both sides of the street. Oh, man. It's crazy, right? It's real over tourism. I was thinking the same thing when you sent me the message. It doesn't feel like home anymore. It feels like we're living in a tourist attraction. Yeah. Although it felt sort of like that before, but we had these... Yeah. ...places where... There were pockets of... Yeah. And those are going away. So I don't know. So you were telling me that there was a target of 60 million tourists for a year. That's not going to happen. Well, thank God that's not going to happen, but that's crazy. They can't because there's not enough gas, jet fuel to get the flights back home. And there's not enough oxygen to breathe. Right. That's another big concern. I think they're going to cap off at 40 million for the next four or five years, and then we can get to 60 million. So they have to? Yeah. So they have to? Because they don't have enough refineries. They don't have enough tanks. They started to go towards EV, right? Yeah. Technology. But the result of that was you also don't have the jet fuel that's necessary to get the people in here because they are now targeting tourism as one of their industries of growth. Speaking of... Okay. So we're rounding the corner here, getting close to the Shibuya Crossing. Yeah. I'm so hot. Yeah, it's really hot. Like the sun's impacting my brain, I think. It's just pounding down despite the towel. All right, here we go. Let's make a push to get some attention here. So it's a little heavy. Would you mind holding onto this for a second? It's a little heavy. Sorry. All right, we're going to try to get some people to... Yeah, go for it. ...to check this out here. He's just hawking here. Should I shout irasshai? Yeah. I don't know. Get your square watermelon. Square watermelon's here. It's usually a display fruit that's in the window or on a counter somewhere. You don't usually see people holding it around because they're so pricey and so valuable. I'm more interested in this Aston Martin SUV across the street. Oh, hey, yeah. That's pretty slick. It's a pretty sweet looking car. Yeah. That's Aston Martin. You can get a square version of that. Of the... Yeah. Are we getting close to the Hachiko Scramble? Even squarer than it already is. Yeah, that is. Yeah, that's right. I hope that signal stays in there. Yeah, we still have a signal. Okay. Let's see if we can find some eyeballs that go, what? That girl's face is hilarious. Yeah. Is that real? I think maybe people are seeing this and they think it's some sort of plastic fruit. Yeah. I don't think people... It's so bizarre looking that maybe people's minds aren't processing exactly that this is a living thing. Yeah. This was just cut from the branch a couple days ago. That's a weird sight. Second anniversary. Watch me in there. Look at this. Look at this sight in the mirror here. Oh, there we go. That's just weird. Right? All right. It does look a little surreal. So, in a couple of weeks when I come back to Japan from the US, I'm going to do another live stream cutting this open. Oh. And sharing the goodness of the plant. And sharing the goodness that is this watermelon. So, what is the color inside? Like a typical watermelon? It's slightly pink, slightly yellow, but mostly white. It's just unripe. Okay. And it's that unripeness that allows it to sit on a shelf for three to six months or up to a year. Square watermelon. Watch it. That guy's face was like, what was that? Is this... It looks like Modigliani. Is that Modigliani? This... This art poster here? It's... Oh, it is. Nobody's second guessing my art history abilities. This is Modigliani. There's going to be a show here from June 18th to October 13th. Hey, Peter, you missed all those people gawking. What's that? You missed all the gawkers. Did you see it? Oh, sorry. Did we pass the shop selling the fruit? No, it's here. Okay. Hope the signal stays alright for this. You got a signal. We're getting into Hachiko Scramble, everybody. Alright. Boy, those are increasing, those scooters. You holding up okay, Peter?

20:00 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, okay. Just about. Ah, here we are. Peter. Okay, in the window here. How much is that doggy? They finally put the price up here. Wow. 18,000 yen. That is a little bit pricier. That's less than I thought it was going to be. I could just... Sorry, I just keep it... Wow. Is it from the same farm? Yeah, same place. Here, check out this one. I got a... Put us together here. Yeah, exactly. Wait, I need to get a shot. So this is pretty reasonable price, but they sell them... It's been marked up about 6,000 yen. Oh, wow. So you can see the price. I think that the retail is 12,800 yen. They're selling it for 18,000 yen. So that means it's about a 6,000 yen markup, so about $40 more. Hmm. It's very cheap. It's ornamental watermelon. Inedible, it says on there. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. It's just ornamental. Interesting. They also have the mango and the melons here. Yeah. My baby. You're gonna have to eat. A little heavy, yeah. It doesn't cry. But, you know, when I bring Leo out, people are looking at Leo and looking at how cute he is, what's his name, how old is he. Yeah, yeah. We get the same thing with the watermelon. So if you ever wanted to feel like what it is to be a parent, buckle around with a big square watermelon in your hands and you get something similar and no diapers. We can get the cross here. Oh, okay. Let's do it. I guess you can write in right now where you're watching from. It's always nice to see you. Welcome. Thanks for joining us here. This is Hachiko Scramble. Let's get some interesting gawking. Go wide, Peter. Woo! Square watermelon. Good story, watermelon! Let's see a watermelon. Xbox. JoySound X1. All right. Doing it Dobby [?] style. Go John. Go John. Go John. All right. This is all copyrighted music, so thank you. We're going to have to do something with that. I'm all winded here. All right. All right, everybody. We're back home. This was fun. So the square watermelon does bring in a lot of attention. I'm kind of shocked. Most people that see it don't think it's real. So they kind of see it and keep walking. But the ones that hear that this is actually a real watermelon kind of freaked out by that. So I think we need to get the word out more on how square watermelons are made and that they actually exist. Very only in Japan. Inedible, but they exist. Only in Japan. All right, that's pretty good. I can use that for the main channel too, right? Sure. Well, you're still going. Oh, hey, you guys want to see my watermelon? I'm glad to see that, but we've seen your channel too. Oh, where are you guys from?

22:00 Guests: Canada.

22:15 John Daub: Okay. Great. You want to hold it? Careful, careful. It's heavy. We need to... Well, look at the picture on it. I think they kind of stole the Minecraft. But Minecraft stole this and then they stole Minecraft. I don't know how it works, but... Nobody knows. You holding up okay? You want to get a bite? It's kind of surreal looking. I think people don't know if it's real or not. That's why. We're on a hot mic here, by the way. They're selling it over there for 18,000 yen, which is a little much, but... It's a little expensive. They keep for six months, but you can't eat them. Yeah, in heavens. No? It's not... It's unripe. So if they cut it unripe, then it sticks around longer. So this is the Shibuya Scramble, one of the busiest intersections here in the world, but definitely in Japan. This really makes me nervous. It's like when you close your eyes on the swing, you feel this kind of... That's right. Like, oh crap, what am I doing? Yeah, keep your eye on the prize, John. Oh, no. We're crossing, and we're like, hey, it's a prize. I got back yesterday from the harvest, so I'm just kind of walking around with it and seeing that people don't think it's real. Oh, yeah. We've seen pictures, and so... Yeah. We've seen if it's real. Awesome. How long are you here for? So four weeks. Wow. Yeah. So, we, tomorrow we... We're for Kyoto. Yeah. First time on a... So crowded. So, we're here for Kyoto. This is, in fact, this is okay right now, but in about an hour, I bet you it gets really crowded. Here we are. Here we are. Should we cross? Yes. Yes. This is [?Greg?]. Somebody [?Greg?]. This is the rainy season still, and to have a day like this is really, really cool. We are waiting for John to wrap things up here. So... It's quite humid. Do you wear antiperspirant?

23:30 Guests: I do. It is hard to find here in Japan. It is. I brought a bed sheet. I brought a bed sheet. I have a bed sheet up here. Do what you can. Have as much fun as you can fit in. Okay. Good. Do you wanna take a... When I go back... Can we take a photo? Yeah. Sure. Let's get a photo together here. We'll get back to this antiperspirant talk in a second. All right. Would we take just a photo or... Okay. Oh, it's okay. Here. All right. Three, two, one. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. Yeah. Thanks guys. Watch your channel. Try to get tips and whatnot. Yeah. And yeah, so, here we are in Shibuya Scramble [?]. Oh, it's crazy. This is nothing. Yeah, this season right now is when a lot of families come here. Yeah. Right, the kids and out for summer break. Your mic and my mic is on, so we're getting cross pollination?

24:00 Peter von Gomm: Yes. Yeah. Are we going to end this here? Awesome, yeah. Well, it was nice to see you guys. Be safe out there. Stay hydrated. Yeah, we will. Have fun. Yeah, thanks guys. From Canada. Wow. Pretty cool. That's cool. Alright, that's a great way to end this. I think we got, I proved the point. Nobody cares about me. They care about the watermelon. And that's... Well, that's not true, John, entirely. Well, I think they care a little bit. Maybe PBG stopped the crowd here. Could have been a little bit of PBG here. You're trapped in it now. No, that's all me. Let's get both of us in. Yeah, this is a good place to say goodbye. Thanks everybody for watching. I'll see you in another live stream. Maybe later today or tomorrow. From the airport, as I go back to the US, this guy sticks around. Yeah, enjoy. Check out his channel, PeterVonGommJapan. Always some good stuff on the... Thanks guys. Yeah, motorcycle content. If you're into bikes and cars... Please check out the channel and enjoy yourselves in this hot summer. We'll see you John when you get back. Yeah. And yes, you can see this guy on Back to the Future. There you go. Back to the Future Part 1, 2, & 3. That's right. Alright guys. Bye guys. Mata ne. Stay by the dock. Ciao for now.