00:01 John Daub: Welcome to the early morning streets of Asakusa. How you doing? The sun is coming in at the right angle if you're trying to get a picture here of Kaminarimon. There are a lot of tourists in line to do that. I like this. I don't remember people lining up in such a nice fashion in order to get this picture. Most people just kind of move in front of there. But in the early morning, one of the great things about it is that there aren't a lot of people on the street. The stores behind in Nakamise-dori (shopping street) where we're going to go are closed.

00:35 John Daub: We're going to stroll around. It's been a while since I've done this before. But it's nice to see people waiting in line properly in order to take photos with the big chōchin (lantern). Sponsored by National, which I believe the president of Matsushita, part of the Panasonic group, I believe. Not a lot of stuff that's open. If you want to get breakfast, you can go to the cafe here. Or there's a McDonald's around the corner, and it's flooded with foreign tourists.

01:08 John Daub: But I rarely walk down Nakamise-dori here. You can see the back side of it. All right, let's walk down Nakamise-dori. Oh, here's one shop that's open. I think this is a castella (sponge cake) shop, which are little baby cakes. They're not quite open yet. They're getting ready for... You know, I think that the shops should open early. You think that they would, but they don't. For some reason, they open up at 10 a.m.

01:57 John Daub: Tourists are here jet lagged from 5 a.m. So if you look at the side streets here, not a lot of people in the morning. For those that are coming to Tokyo, I always say the best place to stay is here because the streets are 24 hours. So if you are jet lagged, you are somebody who's waking up early, you can leave the hotel. It's really safe at night. And you can wander around and it really makes you feel like you got, especially if you're a runner, you can run the streets of Asakusa, the historical streets, and you can kind of feel that. It's certainly different from running around in your hometown. And there's a ton of hotels in this area.

02:38 John Daub: They've done a pretty good job of over the last five, six years of putting in some more, in particular, APA Hotel, which is just everywhere. But this is Nakamise-dori. The street has a very long history going back to the Edo period. A lot of these shops are paying very small rent, just kind of grandfathered in from an era beyond. And there was talk about a year ago of raising the rents, but you'd think that they're doing a roaring business anyways, and they'd be able to pay the fee, but there's a lot of protests whenever rents go up. So we'll see what happens with that. I'll be paying attention, but I do notice that a lot of the mom and pop shops that were here have closed.

03:24 John Daub: And in coming up, you know, tourists really want it. Not just the tchotchkes made in lands abroad that look Japanese. People don't really want that, but they do have a lot of strawberry on a stick. Don't buy strawberries in the summer here. It's not the season. Everybody's buying like these strawberry daifuku (strawberry mochi). You could tell the tourists, they'd have no idea. Strawberry season is in the winter in Japan because they grow them in the greenhouses, which is why you get that intense sweetness.

03:56 John Daub: So there is a shop that's open. One. It's interesting. I didn't expect that. I think this is a good sign. So that means things are kind of changing here. Well, they just, they sell just one ningyō-yaki (filled cake). I can get one. I'm not going to eat it, but I can get one for the train ride. So I'm going to Nikko today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do you like it? Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's so cool. So you can get one for 100 yen. This is my snack on the train. I'm going to Nikko today.

05:13 John Daub: I got here really early. So I had a couple of minutes that I could spare to show you around Asakusa in the morning. Typically don't wake up this early and go out and stream. As you already know, this Denpōin Street, I believe, as you can see, all the streets are full of people. The shops are closed. They probably won't open up until lunch. So it's just nice to kind of walk around before the tourist crowds come in here. This is a weekend. In fact, this is a long weekend in Japan. It's Sports Day on Monday, the second Monday in October.

05:55 John Daub: So all the kids got off of school. So a lot of people are going to be traveling. I got, I think, the last ticket on the Spacia X. So I will be traveling on the Spacia X. And I might live stream it so you can get a quick look in there. But the thing is, I couldn't get it going out. I had to get the ticket going back. So I'm on the Kegon leaving in about 20 minutes.

06:27 John Daub: I want to take you down the alleys here. Oh, you know what? I could show you. Let's not go. I don't want to go that way. You can see in the morning people are cleaning, getting ready. But Japan is not an early morning place to do business. I noticed it's just weird to me. It's weird to me that bakeries open at 11 a.m. What bakery should be open at like 5 a.m. All right. You should get a big baguette and a croissant and they should be selling coffee. And that's where you get your breakfast. But no, not in Japan. They do things the hard way.

07:11 John Daub: Why is he over there? I believe these are rōnin (masterless samurai). I guess they had like this durable problem back in the day and in this area. So you'll see rōnin and thieves on the ninja on the roofs here. But the alleys you do. There are some hotels in the alleys in particular by the Don Quixote on the other side. But the side streets are really nice. The shotengai (covered shopping arcade) in particular. Very, very nice.

07:47 John Daub: Let's go in this direction. I'll take you down one of the alleys here. Yeah. So, you know, I'm going to Nikko for a bit. I'm going to go for a grand total of one hour and 45 minutes. I'll be on the train more than I'll be actually in Nikko today. So I just need to get some shots for a video I'm doing. And that's what I'm going to do. And come back. I'll be back in Tokyo like before 3 p.m.

08:13 John Daub: So, you know, just part of it. And it's amazing how cheap it is to get to Nikko. I guess if there's a competition. Hold on. Where's my ticket? There's a competition between Nikko and Hakone. Wait, I hope I didn't lose my ticket. Oh, it's in my other case. Which one is better? What do you guys think? I know a lot of you that are watching right now have been to both those places. So if you're competing between Nikko and Hakone, which one wins? Which one would you go to? I'm just kind of curious here because those two are rivals for your tourism dollars, so to speak. Here's my ticket.

09:00 John Daub: I showed you the other side here. So this is the Kegon ticket. Kegon number 63 car number four seat 1B. It's an aisle. You kind of want to have the window, I think. Departs at 9:08 a.m. today and arrives at 11:06. And my train back leaves at 12:55. I'm going to go to Tōshōgū Shrine real fast to film there. It's a 30 minute walk. So I might just walk it and get in my 10,000 steps. And then coming back, I'm on the Spacia X. And yeah, I'll be able to maybe live stream the trip back from Tōshōgū after I filmed.

09:48 John Daub: This restaurant is an unagi (eel) restaurant that's been around for a while. But I noticed that they've revamped. It looks like they've kind of revamped the prices. So you can get a tokujō (top-grade), which is the top ranked eel. And that's 7700 yen or fifty dollars. That is so cheap. If you think about it in dollars. This one is the unagi tokujō is 7500 yen as well. And that looks really good. Unagi is really nice. They also have a tendon (tempura rice bowl), which is a really good looking tendon. It's tempura on rice.

10:32 John Daub: And you know what brings us all together? They have this tare (soy glaze) sauce that they drizzle it on. And if it comes right out of the fryer, you can hear the sauce starting to sizzle on the really hot tempura. And that kind of a sweet and savory sauce, salty sauce kind of brings it all together. It's more a bowl of tempura. You got some I don't recommend this maguro (tuna). Well, it's a big eel fritter. They call it in English. Really? Tempura. It's a good looking eel tempura and some Kobe beef sukiyaki.

11:14 John Daub: Kobe beef is really no better than any of the other Wagyu beef brands. But they do have a certification. So that's kind of good. What's the most important thing on this certification, by the way, is the number. This 10 digit number. You can actually search it on the Wagyu database and find out where the Wagyu was born, where the cattle was born and the mother of the cattle and trace it back like several generations to where they were born. And you can find out if it's really Kobe beef, too. It's a good thing. You can also tell if they've faked the number, then you'll be able to tell as well in the Wagyu database. And yeah, if I do go out to eat Wagyu, I do ask for that number and I do track it. And it gives me something to talk about with the chef.

12:08 John Daub: All right. So this is new. I've noticed that a lot of like new cafes have come in. This used to be like a place where I would buy an umbrella. It was a mom and pop shop. Now it's gone out of business and turned into like a restaurant. It was a mom and pop souvenir shop. And now it's some kind of ogo gi [?]. And here's the McDonald's where all the tourists are going. Because basically because there's nothing else left open and they have an apple shake, ringle [?], and a grape, which looks really good. You have to order on this computer menu. Apparently, that's one way to do it.

13:04 John Daub: All right. Let's walk. Let's kind of wrap around here. The streets are so quiet. It's peaceful. You know, it's very little stress. I think it's a goal. This is such a golden time between 6 and 10 a.m. Oh, they got the Max Coffee out. But look, it's because it's not cold enough. It's all cold. And they'll turn on the heaters probably in about two weeks. And then you'll have hot coffee as well.

13:51 John Daub: The exchange rates are really bad here. That's one dollar for one hundred. Right now it's 149. So you're getting 15 yen less. So unless you're changing it because you're going to be working, you just need cash. I would never use that machine. That's 15 yen off of the current exchange rate. Wow. Airport is way better. But there's vending. There's a currency vending machine. Sometimes they're not too bad. Yeah. If you're an early riser and it helps if you're jet lagged, this is certainly a good time to explore Asakusa.

14:34 John Daub: I think Shinjuku and Shibuya aren't that great in the morning. It kind of stinks. A lot of crows. This area is pretty clean. I'm not sure if they have Kobe steak in English. Avoid. Because you don't need... They put Kobe because that's the brand that you all know. But you really can't taste much of a difference between any Wagyu brand. So as long as you're getting certified like A5 Wagyu beef which is the fattiest one. You're going to have one of those experiences.

15:05 John Daub: Okay. But whenever they put Kobe, Kobe, Kobe. Look we're not that close to Kobe. There's about a hundred Wagyu brands. And here in Kobe. Including Omi and Matsusaka. So I'm not sure why Kobe is so popular in Tokyo. That to me that's a red flag. They should be selling Hitachi beef which is the closest big brand that everybody should know. Hitachi has some good beef man. As well as you know Gunma and even West Tokyo. Kanagawa. Why do you got to jump all the way to Kobe? Pretty odd. Nothing against it. Just... Kobe beef is the regional beef brand of Kansai. You know. This isn't Kansai. This is Kantō. So you got to support local farmers. That brand's got enough customers abroad. Wouldn't you say?

16:05 John Daub: But you guys are watching. You know all about Wagyu from watching this series. I'm taking you everywhere. I've been to Omi beef. Yonezawa. Daisen. Kuroge Wagyu. I've been all over the place. I've done Hitachi beef as well on the old channel.

16:27 John Daub: Alright usually when I take the Asakusa line I go in the secret entrance on this side here. You can tell because it's like this low looking cafe. And then there's the Kaminarimon and the brand new. It's not brand new anymore. But I would say the best view of Asakusa is up there. Do you see the observation deck? You can go up there for free. And you get this magical view looking down on the street.

16:53 John Daub: And if you can't afford it or even make it to Japan. You can just go to Google Earth. And this is where we are right now. You can kind of track yourself on the blue spot. But you can also check out the area. The Nakamise-dori right on the bottom of your screen there. Panning up. You can tell just the way that the shopping street is lined with those booths there. And the big gate that we started the live stream at. If you've never been here before, this is certainly maybe the second or third place you should go. If not the top spot. But everybody has to make their trip to Asakusa if you're in Tokyo. Because this is the cultural heart of the city more or less. There's a lot of cultural hearts. It's just... This is one of the best preserved and the oldest ones. A lot of history. And it's basically got those quiet streets. Some of the stuff that you're looking for. Typically. It's got what the tourists are looking for.

18:03 John Daub: The second floor in Asakusa. A lot of bars here. Now after World War II. This place was really flattened. But one thing that was still standing was this building on the left side. I think the Kamiya Bar. Which is still here. Somehow the Kamiya Bar survived I believe. It's been renovated of course. But let me see if I cross the street here. This building survived the bombings of 1945. I think maybe Asakusa Station as well. Because they're made of stone. A lot of stuff was made of wood in the 1945. March 10th firebombing really devastated the country. Just kind of took everything out. But these two buildings survived. I believe. The Kamiya Bar. One of the few businesses that's thriving.

19:11 John Daub: I guess they got rid of the Burger King. I know they didn't. It's right over there. So if you don't like McDonald's. You can always get Burger King. Anyone see me up there? At least you can see the golden poo. Looking at the Hoshino Resort or the Gate Hotel. I love the Gate Hotel. The problem is that the rooms are a little bit smaller. But you're like 30 seconds away from Kaminarimon.

20:03 John Daub: When we had our wedding my parents stayed at the Gate Hotel. So I'm somewhat impartial. I stayed at the Hoshino Resort. They put the numbers in there to show you the rank. 03050707 is their top ranked resort. So 03050707 you probably look at the prices. But I stayed at 03050707 in the last Only in Japan video. If you check it out. This one here. I stayed at the Hoshino Resort's 07. And the breakfast was like these glasses are crooked. The Hoshino Resort's 07 was amazing. The breakfast. One of the best hotel breakfasts I've had in Japan. It was just so darn good. Everything was. They really thought about the colors and stuff. I was impressed.

20:52 John Daub: That episode you can see in the thumbnail. I did it at Joey Tribbiani. It happened. It might be worth watching the episode just for the thumbnail there. You can see it. That happened. Right? You see it? It's hard to tell what I did there. Unless you actually go and watch the episode. It's hot. It was hot. I don't know how Joey did it. I don't know how he did it. That was almost my entire closet. I even had my orange jacket in there if you saw from the hitchhiking days.

21:33 John Daub: Alright everybody. I would recommend one of the places. This is 100 yen which is Uncle Bean I believe in there. I'll eat that on the train. But expect the live stream from Nikko in a few hours. So make sure you're subscribed to the channel. I'm going to take you to one of the hottest spots. Popular spots. I don't know how hot it is. But a popular spot for tourists coming to Japan. A day trip. Maybe one of the top three day trips from Tokyo is Nikko. And we're going to go there right now. My train leaves in about 20 minutes.

22:17 John Daub: Oh. I got to do this too. There's a whole world underground here. I don't know if you guys know about it. Do you? I'll take you underground. There's a whole world of stuff in the underground district. Nobody. Not a lot of people know about it. Because it looks. Underground district. It's mostly Japanese. You don't really stream. Or episode real soon. It just depends if there's a signal. But this is the Tobu Asakusa Station. And this is where the train's going to Nikko depart from.

22:54 John Daub: But you can get them at the Skytree now. A lot of those trains stop at the Skytree. They've connected it. Wasn't like that years ago. But now they've changed it to where you can do that. The signal looks like it's weak right now. I apologize. For those that are watching. But you can get the tickets to Nikko. It is so cheap. It used to be to Utsunomiya for a thousand. Like one thousand fifty yen. Which was like seven dollars. And then Nikko was. What? It was like thirteen dollars. But they raised the price a little bit. But it really hasn't changed that much over the years.

23:25 John Daub: Asakusa Station for Tobu. It's a steal. And now with the Spacia X. I'm going to show you that train. In a few hours. And. Yeah. I'm going to get on the way over there. And get back home. Got to get to work. This is my job. All right. Everybody. Have a good day. I'll see you in another episode real soon. From Nikko. Matane (see you later). I think you know where I'm going. Get a coffee before I leave.