00:00:01 John Daub: Today we've got two Japanese peach varieties here. This is a very large peach from Fukushima Prefecture, very famous for them, as well as Yamanashi. But these are just massive in size. They're put in a protective case, put in not just one but two styrofoam protectors. It's pretty amazing. These are jewels of Japan. This cost about 900 yen or 450 yen per peach, which is approximately $3 a peach. And these are Okayama white peaches. I don't think these are actually Shimizu Hakuto peaches, which are the Rolls Royce of peaches, so to speak. And we'll have some information on that as well. But we're going to be trying both of these peaches. The white peaches, they do bruise easily. Look at the way they package it. It's just kind of fun. But Okayama, very famous for the peaches here. And it's so much so that Okayama's Shimizu Hakuto peach, which is the most luxurious peach in Japan, also has their own luxury haichu, which I sent to Daimyo supporters. Thank you, Stefan. I saw that you signed up for a Daimyo box. I will send it out probably tomorrow. Got the notification just now. So thank you so much for that.

00:01:00 John Daub: But where exactly are these peaches from? Let me show you where we go. The reason I'm outside doing this actually is because a typhoon is inbound right now. It is hitting Kyushu, pretty much Kumamoto, very close to Fukuoka right now. And it's a slow moving one that is moving its way up past Okayama, which is where these white peaches are. Hopefully they've all been harvested and then up through Osaka in 48 hours. And these slow moving ones really worry me. So I'll keep you up to date on this as well. But today we're going to have a little bit of fun and sort of enjoy the end of summer already. Although it's still hot, I can feel the humidity has gone down quite a lot.

00:02:05 John Daub: A couple of weeks ago, I drove through there and I got a chance to see Peach Town. Because on the highways there, at the service centers, about three hours southwest of Tokyo, about an hour from Osaka, you can see the white peaches there. They're just so famous. Look at that, you have 3000 yen for three. So about 1000 yen a peach there. And then there is a Japanese supermarket there. It's called the Shimizu Hakuto. And it's a little bit different. So just the Shimizu Hakuto right there, there about $10 each, which is a bargain compared to the Japanese supermarkets here in Tokyo, but they're just beautiful. Look at how just the color of it right and then at the service area I found them. These are not quite the same colors, a little bit of pink in there, but I think that is the Shimizu Hakuto's variety of them. There's another white one, I believe that is more of a golden peach or something, but again, they're pretty expensive. They're pretty big and they're super sweet. Not, let's not forget the Shine Muscat though, which is also grown in Okayama, beautiful grapes. These go for a pretty penny right there. But my goodness, if you do find Okayama Shine Muscat or Yamanashi or from some of the fruit baskets of Japan, definitely pick one up because it is so good.

00:03:36 John Daub: I brought the camera down as we're gonna try to unbox this, open it up and then see how they look here. More than just how they look, it's also like, how do they smell, right? The thing is that those places that I showed you, they smelled amazing, right? They smell amazing. And I have a feeling that this is gonna be pretty much the same here. Fukushima, before the accident in 2011, I mean, it's famous for a lot of things, onsen and skiing and a lot of stuff, but also the peaches are just amazing in Fukushima. This is massive. I think these do protect it from bruising, but it also makes it look bigger than maybe it really is too. Wow, that's a beautiful peach. Look how big it is in my hand. I have normal size hands. Just to let you know. Fuzzy. I'm not sure what the variety of peach this is here, but it's certainly, let me give it a smell test here. Oh my gosh, it's so sweet smell. It is so sweet smell. Let's try the other one here. This one seems like it's a little bit bigger. Oh, this smells really sweet too. I think though they might not be fully ripe, actually. One of the bad things about having them in the plastic like this is that you just don't know if it's ripe or not. It looks like this probably could take a couple more days, so I'm gonna save one. I'm gonna save this one for Leo and Kanae, and we're gonna eat this one together.

00:05:21 John Daub: Let's unbox this white one here. Now, I got this about 36 hours ago, and they do bruise easy. Look at that. Over here there's a mark. Looks like he got punched in the head there, sorry buddy. I don't believe these are Shimizu Hakuto variety, hard to tell. I mean it's you see Okayama on it you just automatically imagine it's going to be that variety but there's so many different varieties of fruits you have to check to make sure it's the right one. Usually if it's a Shimizu Hakuto it's going to cost a lot of money. This is 998 yen or about, to us it feels like ten dollars because the yen is so weak right now it's actually more like six dollars or something for both these peaches which might seem still fairly expensive. Oh my goodness there are these memes out here that this looks like a bum you see it looks like a butt. There are some gachapon underwear that you can do for the peaches it makes it look pretty funny if your peaches have a little underwear on it because a little crack going on there but yeah this one did bruise like a peach here but it's still good it's a pretty good peach it's a beautiful peach. Let me know in the comments if you guys also have these white peaches in your country as well if you've ever seen them or if you've ever seen peaches as beautiful and as big as these here. John Lopez confirms it does look like a butt.

00:07:02 John Daub: The thing with the Shimizu Hakuto white peaches and this is the Shimizu right here is that they are quite pink inside like this and they do have a little bit of pink on the top and this one does not so I'm guessing this is more of a golden peach. Yeah so it's not quite the most premium variety but these are usually a little bit more expensive than these if you compare them at the store. Michael Sasano nice to see you here aloha my bro haircut looking nice yes I did get butchered over there my favorite barber he's been taking care of me for years a lot of guys are like that though right they go to the same place they ask for the same barber it's a big deal. All right I have my Victorinox knife here which is you know acceptable out here to be cutting at a park but if you do have a knife in Japan you carry it make sure you put in case uh if you do get stopped by the police it is gonna be really bad stuff for you.

00:08:03 John Daub: The thing with the peaches in Japan is that people don't typically eat the skin and in the United States oh wow oh look at that and this and the seed just busted in half here that's still beautiful isn't it that's still really beautiful oh look it's gushing juice I'm just gonna have to cut it for the record here look at that ah smells you you have no idea this smell because we don't have smell-o-vision yet but it is really pleasant a little bit of the shell stuck in there but I like that you have that red color it's a pretty pleasant looking color there almost like it's bleeding. Typically we would also sometimes the skin of the peach just comes off real easy like this yeah look at that so you can just peel the skin off like this it's like a Japanese variety of the peaches here again I peel it because I don't want to waste any of the fruit if I cut it away I'll probably lose like five percent of the fruit so just makes more sense to sort of peel it off there you go all the skin is gone that is a beautiful peach.

00:09:25 John Daub: All right we're gonna cut open the other one first and then we can taste it together since I have the knife out here now if this was a hardcore scientific one I would have washed the knife so there would be no corruption oh yeah this is I don't know if this is fully ripe yeah this maybe requires another day to ripen but it does look pretty nice. I got it out pretty good but this one has more of an apple consistency so I know that it certainly could have used another day um or two but we're at the end of the peach season so this is going to be harder to get the skin off but this is already I can see it's quite interesting here as I whittle away the skin here just peel a little bit it's whiter than the golden one. I've got to stop intermission Space Boat for those that have been watching the show you will appreciate this it's just you have to take a second out for that back to the show this is live got to go with it gotta go with it so I think it's good enough to eat here so what we have is the golden put it right in half here it's interesting here the golden one which has a golden color after you cut it peach from Fukushima which is actually white it's bizarre like that.

00:11:12 John Daub: Now the taste test because that's why you're here right are you here for the taste test all right I got it up a little bit higher here than the other one I'm gonna go with the yellow one because I'm gonna go with the normal all right which one should I start with the white peach or the pink peach here I guess we'll go with the white peach since we cut it first here we go we went white yep that's so sweet that's got a super high Brix count. That's got Brix is the way that you would measure sugar content we do that with mangoes and the Brix count for mangoes is like off the chart in Miyazaki which is why they're so prized but this is really good wow this is really good whoa there's a boat going by this is really good okay now try the Fukushima pink peach here oh wow this is really good the Fukushima one's really good slight bitterness to it a little bit tarter but both of them smell super sweet more so than any of the you can see the crazy boat going by just went through my head there oh Fukushima peach is so pleasant. It's not as sweet as the Okayama one but your peaches just fill you with joy about summer it's peach season they're juicy they hydrate you they're just pleasant but oh man that golden peach is the bomb that golden peach is so good i think it's because it's just riper it's juicier yeah wow.

00:13:08 John Daub: I personally I think I would prefer the Shimizu one I'm kind of sad I just thought if it says Okayama it's automatically the Shimizu Hakuto so you've learned from me um that that is not the case but that Shimizu Hakuto is the Rolls Royce of peaches this here says that it is this the Shimizu Hakuto this is the uh from Okayama you can see there's a box of white peaches for what is 8800 yen these look really white I don't even think that these are the Shimizu Hakuto oh hold on it doesn't even say if it's the Shimizu Hakuto so it's probably not those are even more expensive now apparently according to that, Shimizu Hakuto peach goes for sometimes up to $70 if they're the royal. They're ranked as Ace, which is usually quite sweet, then I think it's King, then Royal. And Royal is the top of the top. So all these fruits in Japan have like this ranking system.

00:14:17 John Daub: I found this one article from Sakuraco [?], I don't know what that is exactly, but you gotta give them credit for having this article here. The Shimizu Hakuto peach is grown in the Okayama Prefecture, a descendant of the original sweet Japanese peach. The Shimizu peach is graded with three levels. Ace, which is a 10 on the Brix fruit sugar content chart, King, which is 11, and Royal, which is 12. That's pretty sweet. But 10 is pretty sweet too, it's only two different. Depending on the year, Royal varieties can reach 50% of the crop. That is a lot. When you have the best of the best at 50% of your crop, while in other years, it's only 10%. Depends on the year. The Shimizu Hakuto peaches can fetch around $70 per peach. That's crazy. And looking at the meticulous growing conditions, it's easy to see why. And I've driven past these farms in Okayama. The peaches are often put in these envelopes. They're given the Royal treatment. Literally, that's probably why they call them Royal and King. They're put in these special blankets or envelopes to keep the bugs off of them, but also allows the ultraviolet and the sunlight to get into them. And they just absorb all that goodness through the water. And Okayama's got amazing weather. If you see it on the map here, Okayama is really special because it's right off of the Seto Inland Sea. So you got Shikoku protecting it. It gets a ton of sunshine. A lot of those clouds don't break through in Kochi. So Hiroshima and Okayama probably have more sunshine than a lot of other places in Japan. You just get that feeling. So yeah, Japan does have citrus fruit that is incredibly delicious.

00:16:25 John Daub: And it's nice to talk about this stuff, you know, because we are this is a live stream. You can see the live chat going by right now. So I do think if you are in Japan in the summertime, you have watermelons. They have the Godzilla variety of watermelons. Godzilla's egg, Godzilla's tamago, that comes from Hokkaido. Those go for about $200 a watermelon. Maybe not with the exchange rate. There's also the black Densuke watermelons from Hokkaido up in Asahikawa, which are really great. There's a square watermelon, which you don't typically eat. That watermelon is still in my house. By the way, the postcard, you have three more days to get it. The square watermelon postcard, this is your last chance to get it. Here it is right here. It's one of my favorite postcards. It lays out like you'll never see this many square watermelons in one picture. Just because I was at the harvest. They laid it out all on a table before they started putting away in the box. And I said, I gotta get a photo. I went over there, took a photo, and that's this month's postcard. So I appreciate the postcard member supports for that there on our Patreon site.

00:17:35 John Daub: Yeah, you know, and maybe I'm gonna go and do an episode on peaches because I think that the peaches here are just amazing. But I think you got an idea of what it's like here. The typhoon is rolling in and I don't know what's gonna be happening tomorrow. But according to the weather report, I'll give you all a kind of an update here. This is just from 10 minutes ago. So right now, it looks like the typhoon is hitting in Kumamoto. It's pretty strong right now. It's dumping a lot of rain. And I hate to see that because I know that in urban areas, it causes just a lot of problems. And then in rural areas, landslides is definitely a concern as well as flooding. We see a lot of that. Japan has a lot of hills. The water rolls down into the streams and overflows over the side of them. Most of the places are ready for this kind of stuff. But if you're in a typhoon, stay inside. Try to stay away from canals and waterways if you can. Don't go outside except for bare necessities. And even then, follow local guidance and just stay inside. You should have prepared for this and gotten about three days worth of food. But in general, these typhoons roll out in 24 to 36 hours. They're in the rear view window. Except this one is a slow moving one. And you can see it's expected to hit Osaka around midnight on the 31st. September 1st, you're going to see the brunt of this in Osaka, Kyoto, and Okayama and Hiroshima. I hope those farmers got those peaches up. I bet you they're all scrambling to get rid of all of their produce right now. I'm talking not just peaches but everything to try to get it out of harm's way from this typhoon. A lot of water, a lot of wind. This could impact the rice as well. Because this is a straight strike through the heart of Japan. Like from west to east. That's the worst direction for this. It's literally like a broadside of Japan. Like the entire country is just like breaking it right now. And then on September 1st in the evening, it goes through Nagoya and eventually makes its way into Tokyo. So September 2nd, 3rd, 4th, probably going to be some trouble in Tokyo.

00:19:52 John Daub: I don't know if it's just going to sit in Tokyo. What's going to happen? Because you got two fronts right now that are sandwiching it. It's kind of a mess. This is going to be really, even if the wind isn't there, it's going to be a pretty bad one in terms of the amount of rainfall and the potential damage. But you just can't predict right now because there's still a few days out what the intensity of the storm is going to be. I'm following it very closely on the news for you guys and giving you updates and community posts on our Discord server. Because a lot of you are planning a trip and coming in here. Again, I told you in the first one. Typhoons are much easier to predict. Because you can't predict an earthquake. So we can prepare for that. But it's usually over in 24 to 36 hours. Keep checking with your flight, with your airline, if you have a flight coming in or going out. But in general, flights will probably be canceled. This is why you should probably call if you're leaving Narita anytime like September 2nd. And depending where you're going, if you're going from Tokyo to Osaka, it's going to definitely be canceled because it's just going through that whole area. But if you're departing or coming into Narita on September 2nd, 3rd or 4th, you should call your airline and see what the status is and keep really close attention on to that flight because a lot of them are going to be canceled. And international flights, that's really hard. If you're coming into Kansai Airport in Osaka or Nagoya Airport, probably flights are going to be canceled on the first and the second. And the news is reporting this as well. The Shinkansen has stopped in Kyushu from certain legs of it. And as the typhoon passes through. The Shinkansen will come back online and they'll start running them again. But they do that as a precaution. Probably could run in the typhoon but like slower. But look, you shouldn't be outside anyways.

00:21:41 John Daub: So I hope that this is a video on peaches. But I know a lot of you are quite worried about your trip. If not, you're already in Japan or your flight out. There's also some time for you to change your flight to try to get out earlier if you need to get out on the third or fourth from Narita. But again, we don't know what the intensity of the typhoon is going to be. If it's just going to turn into depression. If the wind is going to just die in the heart. Just becomes rain. We don't know. So keep your eyes and ears on the news and the updates. Keep bookmark your airline and the JMA, the Japan Meteorological Agency. And make sure you stay inside and stay safe. Because a typhoon at any level is quite dangerous. To go out on the fringes of it. You could probably go outside, go to the supermarket, get water and stuff. But when it hits, you want to be inside. And this looks like it's going to be fairly bad one.

00:22:36 John Daub: Anyways, I hope that this was an interesting live stream for you. I got kind of a mess here out on the river. I'm probably just here and eat it. This could be my lunch. Do bridges close in typhoons? Lisa, you shouldn't be outside. The bridges don't close that I know of, but you just shouldn't be outside. They discourage it. But if you have to go outside because of an emergency, just don't do it unless it's some kind of an emergency. An ambulance, I'm sure if they get called, they have to think about the life of the first responder. And in that case, I don't know. It's a really tough call if you have to go out in an ambulance for a phone call. I guess you're going to have to go out. That's part of the job. Ambulances are heavy enough to be able to take it. But I've seen these lighter K cars just get blown off of bridges and off of the road. But if you're a first responder. You have to go out anyways and do your job. And that's huge respect for anybody who's working on a day like that as a first responder. Huge respect to them on any day, actually, for that matter.

00:23:43 John Daub: All right, everybody. I hope this was informational, useful and uplifting because peaches are uplifting. You should have peaches should be something that brightens your summer. And this marks the end of summer pretty much. Hey, spider, get off my bag. Hey, you. You see it? I don't want to take a spider hunt. Can I going to freak out if it's an ant? No free rides. Hey, Ant, no free rides. Trust me, you don't want Leo and his magnifying glass coming after you. He's not old enough for that. But I can imagine. I didn't do that as a kid. Anyways, stay safe, everybody. I'll keep you updated and I'll be back for another live stream pretty soon. Yes, that's my bicycle. And that is a super luxury million dollar apartment complex. Probably. These barbecues on the roof. One day I might have enough to go and visit. Anybody watching who's living there? Give me a call. Love to come say hi. Skytree's over there. Skytree does pretty good in a typhoon. They built it that way. Hey.