00:01 John Daub: It is September 1st in the city of Tokyo. I'm near Shimbashi in Ginza. And you know what that means? It's autumn in Japan. That means the end of Japanese summer. Well, in my opinion. And I have proof right here. What's in this bag? Oh, you can kind of see through it.

00:21 John Daub: Japanese summer is one of the worst times to visit in many ways. There are some advantages. Longer days, more attractions. It's hot, so you can go to the beach, water sports, things like that. But that humidity, the heat, it is oppressive. It's so much so you can't go outside without just sweating because it's like going in a sauna. It's hotter than Singapore. My friends from Singapore say it's hotter than Singapore. That's a bold statement.

00:52 John Daub: So there's a green tea truck going by right there. I'm also here for another reason: to see if the Shinkansen is going by because there's a typhoon down near Nagoya right now that's been causing all sorts of transportation troubles. I've seen two Shinkansen going by. We'll see definitive proof soon enough. I want to see how frequently they go. But my theory is that on Japanese September 1st, you really do feel the end of summer. And it comes out in the food. It's not just in the temperature, but in the food.

01:25 John Daub: I'm going to try to get a little bit of a taste of the donuts here. Chestnuts are one of the great flavors of autumn. This is a Mister Donut chestnut donut or kuri dorē (chestnut doughnut). Kuri means chestnut in Japanese. This is a flavor of autumn and it came out yesterday, I believe. So we're going to sink our teeth into that and get a taste of autumn. But look, it's not just Mister Donut. It's like every single chain right now has some sort of autumn feeling to it. And when September 1st hits, if not the last couple days of August, they switch that marketing into autumn mode. And actually, I start to feel it.

02:04 John Daub: Maybe the last two, three days of August, the humidity starts to melt away. It is pretty comfortable right now. There is some humidity in the air. It might be influenced by the typhoon. You can see the clouds over there. It's not the best looking day. There was a little bit of rain coming. But you can definitely feel that the humidity is melting away on September 1st. I've been here 26 years. More often than not, that humidity just melts away. And you have this feeling. You can smell it. It's autumn. It's wonderful.

02:39 John Daub: Mister Donut isn't the only place that has this autumn feeling. Their autumn campaign is right here. These chestnut shaped donuts with sweet potatoes. This is maybe the best time of year for food. You got sweet potatoes. You got chestnuts. The harvest here. You've got the pumpkins. The Japanese pumpkin harvest. You got the rice harvest starts now. So a lot of foods start to really come. It's just such a wonderful time to eat in Japan. Autumn. Especially with that humidity gone.

03:15 John Daub: So Mister Donut is doing this. Now, Starbucks, everybody's favorite chain—maybe not right now—has their yaki-imo (grilled sweet potato) grilled sweet potato caramel frappuccino, which will probably not be the healthiest looking drink in the world. I stick with black drip coffee. That's it. I'm out of there. No more of the sugar stuff. But it's interesting to see the very unique seasonal drinks that the companies have here.

03:48 John Daub: For the burger chains, this is so interesting. My first experience of Japanese trendy, freaky foods might have been McDonald's Japan because they're so creative with it. Right now they've got the Tsukimi burger coming out. The announcements are here. They'll be coming out on September 4th. And you have a custard pudding. Why is custard pudding the taste of autumn? Tsukimi (moon viewing) is considered the harvest moon. So it's usually bigger than most. So they have a tsukimi pie, which has mochi in there and anko (sweet red bean paste). They have yuzu tartar sauce, which is a very sour citrus, going to be a pretty pleasant taste in there.

04:31 John Daub: Look at that pie right there. I can't eat it. Oh, my gosh. It's too much sugar. And there was the first one where like, what? McDonald's puts eggs on burgers. This isn't breakfast, man. This is lunch and dinner. Why would they put egg on there? And then I remember I was like, oh, I got to try this. This is 1998, many years ago. So I got a Tsukimi burger. And the egg was not completely cooked through. It was somewhat congealed. It was so good. I was like, is this safe? Because in America, we don't have runny eggs. It's like salmonella and all these other outbreaks have happened. They cook the eggs through, especially at fast food. Not here. But I remember eating it. Wow, this is just so darn good. And I don't really like McDonald's. But McDonald's Japan, that's something. And they've been having the Tsukimi burger ever since.

05:20 John Daub: McDonald's came here in the 1970s. The first one not that far from here in Ginza, where the Mitsukoshi building was. It was like prime real estate. McDonald's. They came here with a bang. They had it in the most expensive intersection in the world for a very long time. People eating on the street. Imagine luxury food in McDonald's. Back then, that was sort of the feeling because the yen was not as strong as it once was.

05:49 John Daub: Arthur Vandele in the house. How you doing? I'm Michael Sassano. Aloha, brother. Was looking forward to seeing you stop by Mister Donut. How did you know? Pick up more. Well, thank you very much. I think I will. I'll get some for Kanae and for us, too.

06:02 John Daub: Now, McDonald's isn't the only one who's going in on the Tsukimi burger. I think they might have invented this. I'm not sure. There's no proof. But seems like they might have invented the Tsukimi burger. It's this kind of food trend. KFC, which is Kentucky Fried Chicken, they have their own Tsukimi burgers. And this looks better than the McDonald's ones. I'm sorry, McDonald's. But look at that runny egg right there. Remember I told you Japan does the runny eggs? It's so good. Like an ajitama (soft-boiled egg) type of thing. I don't know if it's going to look like that. But that Tsukimi, I'm digging it. Like, I can't wait for this stuff to enter. And I'm not a fan. Oh, how tall can these burgers get? If it's chicken, is it a burger? That's a lot of questions. Is it a sandwich? I've never really been sure about that. But they have a Tsukimi wrap. A little weird. I can dig it, though. It's interesting.

06:59 John Daub: So, fall is here. Mister Donut seems to be the one that's out of the gate early. Now, over there, you see across the way, there's a FamilyMart. You can see the colors. It's hard to miss. And across the way, there's a 7-Eleven. And in there, they have a bunch of sweet potato, chestnut, pumpkin, you name it. They've all got it. They've already got it out there. So, it's starting to smell a lot like autumn, and it's starting to taste a lot like autumn.

07:34 John Daub: Speaking of which, one more thing here. 7-Eleven also has some pretty good stuff. Can you see it? It's between the buildings there. Burger King will not be outdone. They have their Tsukimi Pine Burger. I guess egg is too much for them. So they go pineapple? Does that make sense? I guess it sort of looks like the sun. Because the reason the Tsukimi Burger exists is because the white around it and then the yellow yolk is the moon. That's the harvest moon. Pineapple? I guess it's something. Tsukimi Pine Burger with pineapple. Alright, go for it, Burger King. They're a disruptor. There's not a lot of outlets actually around here. And then there's the pineapple pie. Looks good. I'm not going to knock it. It's just weird. You know, what do you guys think? Leave me a comment below. Which one would you go for? The KFC? McDonald's? Or the Burger King Tsukimi Pine? Or the Mister Donut? We're going to dig in in a second. Christian already says he'd rather have the pineapple. Really? I don't know.

09:53 John Daub: Alright, so I went in the Mister Donut and they have the campaign going on here. Mister Donut, of course, famous for its donuts. But they also have ramen, which is weird. So they always have these seasonal donuts. The Pokemon donuts are making a comeback, I heard. I got this one, which is 198 yen. The price has really gone up. This would be about 158 typically. And this is 237. Really? That's pretty high. This is a kuri... chocolate. And the other one was a kuri whipped cream, I think. So this is kuri dough. And I got the goods. What a geek.

10:44 John Daub: Alright, it's time to taste autumn. So what we have here... Oh, it's got a little mushed up here. Now these are the Pon de Ring. These have like this mochi-mochi texture. These came out the first time when I was here in Japan, like around 20 years ago. I remember, what the heck is a Pon de Ring? And they had the Pon de Ring Lion come out, a lot of marketing. That's while I was here. So I feel like a connection to the Pon de Ring because I ate the first one. So yeah, it's pretty. It looks like the Tsukimi Burger. It looks like the harvest moon. Oh, that is sweet. Oh my. I already feel the insulin boost. That's not good for you. Alright, it's autumn. It's September 1st. You can enjoy it a little bit more.

11:51 John Daub: Alright, let's go in here. This is the chocolate one. On iced coffee. I was looking around for a vending machine. Oh, there's one across the street. Should I go and get one? Guess who's in the house? WRX Turbo. Alright, let's do it.

12:20 John Daub: Shout out to Michael Sassano. There's one right here. It's Pokka. Okay. Let's just do it. I better use my Suica. Oh, they got the Red Bulls here. Maybe by the time the light changes again, I'll be done. Oh, I got 10,000 yen left. Oh, look. It turned green. Good timing. Hey, look. Nice pink bus. Do not stop in front of my bicycle. No! No! You stinky... There are a lot of Chinese tourist buses and they just kind of stop in the middle of the road and let people out and then pick them up later. Oh, man. Right in front of my donuts. Stinky tourists. All tourists are stinky because it's summer, so... kind of hot. This is not good. Really? Come on. This is not good. I can smell it! It's ruining my autumn taste! Look at him getting off there. Guilty, guilty. Really? Um, it's getting into my donuts too! It's like the exhaust is right there. I think they're going to move. Do you know what? Okay. Ah! Some kind of exhaust came out. Um, dudes, can you move? How slow can you go? I think they need some sugar. All right, close the door. Come on! Come on! Dude, you are not sitting here. This is a violation of my civil rights, which I don't have in Japan. Do we? I think the Constitution allows me to have some sort of rights. They've all walked into this restaurant here. Really? Oh, that bus is just sitting there. That's so not nice. All right, I'm moving. I'm going to leave the bicycle there and then just take the donuts. That's so nasty. This is the problem with Ginza.

16:07 John Daub: All right, we got a burst of wind right now because of the typhoon, so I got to hand-hold everything. Man. All right, kanpai. That's not bad. Just black, cold coffee. All right. Taste of autumn. The kuri dorē. Oh, wow. Whipped cream and there's some sort of chestnut jam. Hey, now, that is really good. Oh, wow. How dare you, Mister Donut? I took two bites. You guys know that one-bite pizza guy who goes around rating pizzas with one bite? He's very talented. I wish I had that. Oh, this is not good. This is not nice. I wish I had that kind of skill with food. He's very talented.

17:32 John Daub: This is the other one. I'm not sure what this is. I think this is just whipped cream. It looked better when I got it. Oh, wow. Okay. This is quite good. This has a sweet cream. I don't know, something like an icing, maybe? Some anko. Maybe they've... Okay, it's whipped cream mixed up with the anko red bean paste, I think. It's quite pleasant. I'm going to put this all away because three donuts is way too much and I'm going to get a fresh one for Kanae and Leo. Thank you, Michael. The coffee just is the bookend to this. The bitterness of the coffee and that sweet creaminess of the donuts. You don't need to put milk in the coffee because you got the cream in the donuts. Very good. Very good. Did you say anko? I believe I did.

18:47 John Daub: All right, everybody. That's all that I got for you today. It really does feel like autumn is here. Now, there's going to be some hot days still, probably around September 10th. We're in full-on autumn mode, but you can tell. It's weird. Two things that are weird, okay? You go into the supermarkets and you see Halloween stuff. Weird. In August. And September is somewhat acceptable. And then if you go to Costco now, they got the Christmas stuff out. A little early. It's not just in Japan. It's all over the world now. Christmas is starting early because of the people buying.

19:23 John Daub: So, I'm going to go buy a little bit more. But I do think we have earned our autumn now because it was really... Champagne Sumo more donuts. Really? There's actually five different donuts. All right, you got it, Champagne Sumo. There's actually five different donuts here. This is actually going in in August. This is a great way to end the month of August. We had a pretty full month. I did a lot of live streams in August. There's a lot of people going by here. Everybody's going into this restaurant. Is it like a tourist restaurant up here? I don't know. They are from China. I've confirmed they are from China. Nice people. There are five donuts and I only ate three of them. So, Champagne Sumo, I got to go back and get the rest of them for Kanae and Leo. It's got to be done. It smelled so good in there. Mister Donuts is... You know, I'd never seen Mister Donuts. I saw Mister Donuts in New Jersey once like 30 years ago. And then Dunkin' Donuts is everywhere on the East Coast. But there wasn't actual Mister Donuts in New Jersey. I think it was on like Route 70 or something. But when I came to Japan, I was like, Mister Donuts? I haven't seen that in ages. Really? They're still around? And they really are. So, I didn't get the... There's two more donuts I didn't try. There's five in total now. I got to go and get those. I had no idea.

21:20 John Daub: Autumn is so great. And I'm looking forward to days without typhoons. This is the highway above me too. But also, you know, I kind of want to be able to open the windows again. Because we've had the air conditioning on the whole time from July to like August. And now we can turn it off and open the windows, which is really good. Summer's tough. I have to be honest with you. And the older you get, the tougher it is. I didn't mind Japanese summer in 1998 to 2007. And then it just got too hot. It was just like baking. And there's some days where it's just... You can't handle it. You can't handle the truth. And I know there's people in Texas that are chiming in. You think that's hot. This is hot. And I said, maybe it is. Maybe Houston is hotter. Matsumi would know. Matsumi moved down to Texas and I'm sure she can attest to that. And Texas is hot. And I'm sure she can tell us if Texas is hotter than Tokyo's summer. Tokyo might be hotter than Osaka. Osaka's pretty hot. It's hard to tell. But the hottest temperatures are usually in Saitama. And I don't know why. Saitama really radiates the heat. But it really does feel like summer is broken. The humidity is way down. There's a nice breeze thanks to this typhoon that's offshore. Looks like it went out to the sea for a break. And it's coming back up to Nagoya later today or tomorrow. Not quite sure. But right now the Shinkansen is running twice an hour. So you should be able to get in and out. I've seen two of them while I've been here.

23:00 John Daub: Yeah, the French crullers are really good. My favorite ones in the past was the classic with the icing. Right? And Mister Donuts had this all-you-can-drink unlimited cup of coffee. So I would get that and I would sit there and study Japanese. And old ladies would come up in the countryside and would talk to me and say, what are you doing? And I would say, I'm studying Japanese. Oh, Japanese. I'll teach you. And then so they would teach me like their girly Japanese. You know, like, atashi. You know, it's like, you know, watashi. Like in the book you learn watakushi. Men should be saying like ore or boku. Children usually say boku. There's like a million ways to say me or I. And I learned atashi first because I was learning from old ladies. And the old men would say washi. And I was like, washi? So I said, watashi, watakushi, boku, ore, washi. Yeah, it's like too many ways. It was very confusing. And I have to admit, learning Japanese at Mister Donuts was not easy. The coffee helped. And by the time I'm all jittery from eating all that caffeine and sugar.

24:13 John Daub: Boy, a lot of the tourists are leaving. Maybe it's just the bathroom in there. I think it's just the bathroom. Tourists are coming out already. All right, everybody, that's all that I got for you. I got to get out of here because that bus is... Oh, wait, confirm. It's a nice sign to see because for the last few days we haven't seen any Shinkansen. They've been huddled up at Tokyo Station or at the parking lot. And now they're running. So if you are trapped in Japan, you're trapped no longer in Tokyo. You can make your way out. This fumes is starting to make me a little bit woozy. Oh, thank goodness. Champagne Sumo is making me dizzy. I'm making sure that I don't forget something. Not to worry. I will definitely stop off and get all five donuts for Leo and Kanae. That's a promise. After I lick my fingers. And these three are for me. The remnants will be eaten with my lunch. Actually, I've been intermittent fasting and I just kind of broke it. But I usually don't eat until noon. And I stop eating around 6:30 p.m. And it works pretty good. It keeps the weight off and keeps me healthy. And lets my body... It gives me some time to start to rebuild all the broken stuff inside. So, there you go. Food is not always a good thing. Breakfast is overrated. Although I do like breakfast. It is overrated. If you're at a hotel, you gotta have the breakfast buffet. But it is overrated.

25:54 John Daub: Look at that bowl of ramen. Oh. No. No ramen. I gotta... I can't eat that. Is that udon or is that soba? I'm not sure. Shimbashi has got a ton of foods. I would always recommend staying in the Shimbashi area. Maybe not Ginza. Ginza, if you have some money. Shimbashi, if you don't. I really do like this area. And there's the taco guy. The best tacos in Japan. It was on CNN about six months ago. Not good for politics, CNN. Very left wing. CNN is off the charts left. They say they're center-left. Everybody knows that. But when it comes to food and travel, they're pretty good. And the CNN travel told me that the taco guy comes here every now and then. And you can get the best tacos in Japan here every now and then. And I think he comes on Thursdays. And there's always a line. It's really good. Japanese guy. He lived in Mexico for like 25 years. And then he came back and he makes amazing tacos. So I think... Dos Hermanos is the name of it. It's really good. I have yet to eat it though. He keeps inviting me. I've been chatting with him on Instagram. But have not been able to go over there and eat it. But I think it's Dos Hermanos or Tres Hermanos. I don't know. I follow him on Instagram. So if you go to my Instagram, just see who I follow. I don't follow a lot of people. You'll see the dude. And he speaks English, Japanese, Spanish. And there's a lot of American servicemen that he serves.

27:41 John Daub: So it's always kind of fun when you have, you know, the hungry servicemen down in Yokosuka. The navy guys, I guess. I guess there's an Air Force base in West Tokyo as well. He probably hits that as well. Because Mexican tacos are not very popular to Japanese. So you've got to hit the expat community a little bit harder. And yeah, you go to a military base... These kids are going to eat some tacos, man. Especially if they're good. So shout out to the American servicemen here. Thank you guys so much for keeping us safe here in Japan. They don't get as much credit. You only see the bad news about when stuff happens in Okinawa. But there's some good stuff. Our American servicemen are eating a lot of tacos. And they're keeping the economy going. So thank you for that.

28:45 John Daub: Alright. Anyways, thanks so much for watching. Autumn is here. Officially, in my opinion. And maybe we'll go try some of McDonald's Tsukimi Burgers. Because I have not had it. I don't think in maybe 10 years I have not had a Tsukimi Burger. Yeah, it's been a very long time. So maybe we'll go and do that. I'll see if I can get some friends together and talk about it. But the Autumn Foods of Japan. Get ready for an episode on this. Because it is so darn good. Now the Mister Donuts. The one in Monzen-Nakacho is closed down. So that's why I had to come out to Ginza to get it. But I'm going to go get all five of the donuts. Champagne Sumo. Michael Sassano. Arthur Vandele. Thank you all. And everybody else. Gosh, there's a ton of people here. It's nice to see you in the chat. If you have any questions about travel in Japan, check out our Discord server. We have some people that are here helping out to guide. Satrio as well. I saw you. I'm just scrolling back here. Making sure. I thanked everybody. Yeah. If you have any questions, please do consult our Discord server. Today is for the next five hours. It's the last day to get the Square Watermelon postcard. I really recommend that you guys get this one. It's one of my favorite postcards. But it's retired in about three or four hours. So if you want to join the postcard club. I really do appreciate it. And I'll give you some updates coming up. A lot of stuff happening in the next live stream. All right. I got to get back. It looks like it's going to rain. See you. Bye.