00:00:02 John Daub: How you doing everybody? Welcome to the city of Tokyo. This is Shibuya Station in 2024, December 2nd. And you can see the construction is still ongoing. All of this Tokyo department store is now effectively gone. It's underground, they have some stuff, but it's really construction, man. And this is going to be going on for a few more years, believe it or not.

00:00:27 John Daub: But I went back and looked at the archives just to show you what's the vision for this Shibuya Station here. And they're, I'd say like 60% of the way done. It's hard to say for sure. You all know that this side hasn't changed so much. Here's the Hachiko doggy right there. But it's something like, as somebody who lives here, I try to avoid this area. I needed to get some insert shots for an episode that I'm doing. So I came out here and I started scratching my head and doing a little research, digging into this here.

00:01:04 John Daub: And let's go through this. It's pretty interesting here. This whole station area, this is the markup from 2018 from shibuyastation.com. This is, I guess, Tokyu Land developers showed. This is what it's going to look like. On the left side is the entrance where we came out of. It looks like 1970 right now. And on the right side, this amazing stairway, which is the construction that cement that I was showing you. It's going to be this stairway. And then on the right side is the Mark City Tower. I can tell because you can see in the middle of the screen, the middle left is that Shibuya Stream. And I can see that right now. So I know that I'm in the exact same spot.

00:01:43 John Daub: The construction, you know, we've been talking about this for a little while. But in the end, the drawings from seven years ago look pretty good. Just going to take a little bit more time here. And it really is a mess. I want to show you what it looks like. You know what's also a mess? The Google Earth. I'm being positive because I know that in the end it's going to be an amazing, amazing update to the city of Tokyo. But if you look at the Google Earth, and then I want to go over this article, which is super interesting here. We come down into Shibuya Station and even the Google Earth is kind of a mess. This is history, man.

00:02:22 John Daub: Like when you live through it and so many tourists come here, you can see right now there's a lot of chaos here. I have to be honest. And I can understand why they were canceling stuff like the Halloween party. Just because it's really challenging with the construction. Not only are locals lost, but tourists are lost. I watched a guy, I was following a guy who didn't know where he was going. I thought he did. I couldn't get out of Hachiko Exit because there's like weird doors and stuff. But you can see even Google Earth has the construction zone like this. That's the station, folks.

00:02:56 John Daub: But it's been like this like before, since 2018. But Hikarie, which is the first part of it, was completed in 2012. So this is kind of like a 15-year project. And I think that the end result is going to be really nice. It just kind of looks a little messy. Now, I went to the back side of it. Also, up in Hikarie, you get a really good view of the city and the landscape on the eighth floor of Hikarie, which is the department store. I'm going to show you that in a second. It's really pretty at night. You can see all of the lights all around there. That's Shibuya.

00:03:34 John Daub: But you see at the bottom left is the bus station. And it's getting a little bit better, but it was chaos to find a bus to get to Roppongi. That was the biggest way to get to Roppongi was to go by bus. But you're starting to see the light. Last year, or earlier this year, they moved the track. I think it was in February so they could reposition to the new station. So it's kind of halfway open. But you can see here it's still kind of not. It looks like the wires are still out and stuff like that. So the end result is going to be good. They say 2027. The way construction goes, you just can never tell.

00:04:10 John Daub: There's a Shibuya Stream on the left side. We still got cranes and all that stuff here. But Hikarie is from 2012, 2013 they completed this. And I'm like always scratching my head because these community spaces that look so good in the renditions and the mock-ups just go wasted. Look at this. This is such an open area up on the fourth floor where you can eat a bento and overlook the city. All these tourists are down here crowded. You can get something from the department store in the basement and eat your lunch right there standing. And you wouldn't have any neighbors or anything like that. You get kind of a nice view.

00:04:40 John Daub: The eighth floor, there's only cafes up there. But we do see some of the changes that are beautiful. This is Shibuya Station's Ginza Line which is amazing inside there. You can also see inside the platform from Hikarie on the third floor. They got this neat little look through. Looks like the inside of a whale which I have to say. I have to say the Ginza Line looks pretty impressive at Shibuya Station. You know, Shibuya is in a valley and that's what made this so hard to do with the redevelopment here.

00:05:08 John Daub: But on the backside of Shibuya Stream you can see the pedestrian walkways are all done. It makes it so easy to get around because it was a mess before. Like really old 1960 looking pedestrian bridges. These are just makes you look like you're in a real city. You know those skyscrapers with the hanging gardens. The vision of being eco-friendly. And bringing the nature to the city. Yeah, we're starting to see that. We get to feel it as well.

00:05:39 John Daub: This is the backside of Shibuya Stream. And this is the side that I think is the most impressive. Because this was like a dump about 15 years ago. I have to be honest. I did a report on this in Tokyo Eye. This is Shibuya's river. Shibuya River. But it looks so beautiful now when they light it up at night. It's had a wickedly nasty smell. Like this is in the bottom of a valley. Shibuya actually means valley. Now they beautified it quite a lot. And this is why it made it really challenging to construct skyscrapers in Shibuya. Because the land was on this river. But they found out a way with the engineering to do all of this. And it's really beautiful. I think it's an amazing addition to the city of Tokyo. Just it's not there yet.

00:06:23 John Daub: So like people are asking me where is the best place to stay. I'm telling you like Shibuya is nice and all that. But I have to say like I'm not feeling it yet. Because the constructions aren't done. I still think that Asakusa and the cultural heart of the city where you can walk around at night. And you feel like you're in a Japanese cultural zone. This feels a little bit like you're being in a construction zone. And Shibuya has always been kind of the dirtier part of the city. Just because maybe the youth or because of something else. I don't know. Maybe just too many people. Too many young people. So I'm not like a big fan of Shibuya. Maybe I've outgrown it. It's possible. But it's still always cool for tourists to come here. But to stay here? I don't know. I think you could do a lot better. Asakusa is way better to stay at. And cheaper I believe. It's just a supply and demand type of thing.

00:07:16 John Daub: So I want to walk around a little bit and give you an idea of what this is all like. On the back side. I do like the new information center here. It's more glass. They do a good job of guiding tourists around. You're going to lose this 1950s facade. In fact, I think it's already see-through. I think they've made some changes already. Yeah, they have. So it looks like it did before. Are these like TV monitors? I'm not sure. But it looks like it's translucent now. I thought it was made of granite or something. But they've made it look like the old station. But you can see through it. Which is cool.

00:07:51 John Daub: There's the Shibuya stream in the rendition I showed you before. Do you remember? It's going to look like this. I'm standing right now where this photo was taken. Isn't that cool? So I'm guessing that translucent part there this can be anything maybe. Like a monitor. But this is going to be a stairway. Coming out here. So that means that this entrance is going to be gone. Or something. I don't know how they're going to do it. But they should reposition it to the other side. I think. So they're probably going to do something with this. And this is going to be under some massive construction in 2025. So that's why I'm kind of like saying, oh my goodness. This is going to get even worse.

00:08:33 John Daub: And for commuters that work in Shibuya, it's already been something of a disaster. Because it's just simply hard. To find your way around to get to work. To your office. Because you're taking detours all the time for the last 10 years. And now when it's completed, you've got to detour again back to the original way. This has been here since the 1960s or 70s. It's for Hachiko. The doggy. So they do honor him here. It is named after him. The intersection. But it is really amazing to see the evolution of the city. And if you look at the historical photos, Shibuya has always been an evolutionary place.

00:09:16 John Daub: And I think you guys should read this here. This is the from like from 2018. But you can see here I'm on the scramble. I'm going to make this a little bit bigger. And we're going to read this. You guys can look on the left side if you want to. I thought it's always funny to go back through history and look at this stuff. Tokyo's hippest transport fashion and youth nexus is getting a big makeover. So this is where I got some of the photos from. They say by 2027. This is like already 10 years old. So feels like 10 years old. They're like 7 or 8 years old. But if you look at it, it's really impressive what they're going to be doing here. They need to do it. Because it's just such a as they said, a nexus of all these things.

00:10:03 John Daub: But this started well before the Olympics. And they wanted to do it for the 21st century. There's the intersection where we are right now. It's bustling. Located along the western arc of the JR Yamanote loop line circling the heart of Shibuya Station began in 1885. Lands to the north were home to the U.S. military officials during the post-war occupation. Later an athlete's village for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. In recent decades, the borough has been synonymous with the ever-changing fads associated with cool. Nearly 3 million passengers use the station on weekdays. The total effect was a sudden sensory overload. That's a I guess tourists get a sensory overload, right? But they're going to change it to make it a 21st century overload, I think. It's a really cool article. I'll put the link in the description. Shibuyastation.com. But this is all archived stuff.

00:10:51 John Daub: Tokyo Corporation is the big player here. There's the Hikarie building where I took the video from before. That was completed in 2012. Some pretty cool shops in there. It's a 43-story, 183-meter building. And then this is the skyscraper on the south side of the station. That's going to be bridging it. It looks pretty. I don't think it's done yet. But it's a centerpiece of another. There's like zones to this, right? There's the Shibuya River. I just showed you that. And you can see it looks like the rendition. This was taken before all of this was done. There's going to be this walkway that goes past it. And this is going to be the big, big change.

00:11:34 John Daub: Getting from one side to the other, it takes you over all of that construction and traffic. But nobody knows the usual walkways, so it's a lot of confusion. So not a lot of people know about the Shibuya River. Currently a narrow chute between buildings that's lined with concrete and devoid of any greenery. This was seven years ago. The river has been diverted, and a large catchment tank has been constructed for heavy rainwater. The underground tanks for dealing with the rainwater is next level. In an unusual move for Tokyo, the space along part of the north part of the river will be opened up to a plaza with trees and walkways. You just saw that.

00:12:10 John Daub: The skyscrapers surrounding area insulated to be completed in the fiscal 2017-2018. So this article is even older. The Shibuya Station area. Here we go again. You can see it looks really pretty, doesn't it? You can see the traffic patterns are all going to be so different than it is right now. It looks like they're going to be getting rid of the brick that I'm standing on as well. The pulsing heart of the neighborhood Shibuya Station has been under construction already since 2013. Look at the top of the building. This has not been constructed yet. I don't think so. This isn't Shibuya Sky yet, I believe. But this rooftop, maybe it is. I'm not sure. I haven't been up there yet. But you're supposed to be able to see all the way to Mount Fuji.

00:12:52 John Daub: Like I showed you a lot of these places, they don't get used. These places that they make for humanity. Sometimes they, like, that looks pretty crowded to me. I don't think it might not end up being like that. But they have green areas like that. It's one of the golden areas. Well, it was built over the station in 2019. I said maybe it is. The Shibuya Stream. Maybe that's the Shibuya Sky. Maybe that's what that is. You see. Yeah, I think that. But it's done a little bit differently than the mock-ups from 15 or something. The dining options with the beautiful view is so nice here. I love that. Looking down on the twinkling lights. Visitors will be able to see the bustling intersection below as well as Tokyo Tower. They should make use of all the movement that's happening here. By having windows looking down on it. I'm sure you're going to make a lot more money if it's a desirable place to be. Clear days all the way to Mt. Fuji, which is true.

00:13:46 John Daub: Other parts of Shibuya Station will also change. The Yamanote Line will be. Wow, that move. The Dogenzaka area is also undergoing change. The Tokyu Honten department store right now. Massive construction where the Don Quixote area is up the street. This is going to be all changed up here. And Dogenzaka just up the street on this side. Near the Ichimarukyu 109. And you can see that this looks like next level 21st century stuff. This is what Tokyo is supposed to be. It still feels pretty retro to me.

00:14:19 John Daub: One will be a 180 meter tall 36 story office building. I think just like you can see what they had envisioned. And now it's 2025, let's say. Right? We're basically there. We're less than a month away from the new year. And you can see it still looks kind of retro. I don't know what they're going to do with Q Front. This is Q Front with the big monitor made famous in 2005. Two movie hit Lost in Translation with the dinosaur walking across it. I don't know if you guys remember that. The banner with the basketball street. But these buildings here and here, they are overly retro. And I don't see how they can survive renovation. You got to get rid of it. But yet the angles and the different generations. I can see like 1950, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 2000 all in this one scene. Which is so amazing to me.

00:15:09 John Daub: So it's kind of a shame that they're going to have to. I don't know, get rid of in this as well. They're just kind of, I don't know, like cockroach attractors. But if you compare it to Mark City, these are so rundown, drafty, old. They've done some renovations in the front part of it. But the building just needs to be taken down. And you can make it a little bit taller. Already we're getting trouble getting sunlight in here. Because as these buildings. And this building is going up. Look at that. They've done a lot of work on it already. It looks like it's almost finished. It might be. But we're going to lose the sunlight. You can see the sun coming here in the winter. It's over there in the summer. But we're already losing the sunlight because of the higher skyscrapers coming around. There's another skyscraper that's going to be going up right here. It's just incredible to see the changes that's happening in this area of the city.

00:16:07 John Daub: What do you guys think? By the way, this is this month's postcard. If you are a Samurai member, make sure you included your address. Okay. I'll be sending these out early next week. But if you're a Samurai member or my Patreon, you'll be receiving one of these as well until the supplies are gone. This is from the side window of a flight going to, I believe, Miyazaki. You get different views of Mount Fuji from the plane depending on where you're going. The Yonago, if you go into the Sea of Japan side on the west, you get to go right over Mount Fuji. So you get to go look into the summit. Look into the volcano, so to speak.

00:16:51 John Daub: That's where we are in 2024, 2025. I think it's going to be fascinating over the next three years. I'll be bringing you up here, of course. And you'll get a chance to see how all of this looks. I believe that police box is going to go. But already, what looks like Shibuya Station, I believe this is all already new. Because you can already see through the sign, which is kind of crazy. And it's already started, although you don't feel it yet, maybe. But there's nothing behind here. That's so I just realized that. Any questions? Happy December.

00:17:37 John Daub: Thank you for the stream. Thank you, Beyond Travels. Nice to see you here. John Lopez as well. Shibuya is overrated. I've been saying that for a long time. But you can't tell people coming here for the first time. It's really interesting to see their faces. Because as I said, the reason why this is so popular. And let's go watch it. I'm going to walk over here because it looks like the signal is sticking in. It's just a sensory overload. We've got monitors here blasting three, four different kinds of music and sounds. You have flashing lights. As I said, you have decades of architecture coming in through the scramble here. It really is an overload. And for that reason, that's what makes it interesting. It looks like, I don't know, like vomit after Thanksgiving dinner to me. But I'm just trying to be nice here.

00:18:31 John Daub: There's a new hotel on the other side. It's just amazing to see Indigo. I don't know if the Ichimarukyu. There's so many iconic buildings here. It just makes me wonder if what's going to actually change beyond what we're seeing at the station. And it seems like a lot. I strongly believe that they're going to limit the amount of the go-karts in 2025. There's just too many of them. And you're going to see, I don't know, how much did they say? There were like 300 of them. 300 of them go through this intersection every 15 minutes or something. Japanese TV gave an update on this recently. These things are scooting by. It sort of looks like the future. You have to have a driver's license to have that, by the way. I believe.

00:19:27 John Daub: If you look at our vending machine here, you got to go underground. There's some vending machines. In fact, the banana vending machine was underground over there. In the basement. The basement of the Ichimarukyu 109 building. But I don't know if it's still there. I filmed that like 12 years ago. Tower Records is still there. I mean, there's so many iconic places. I'm going to cross the street here with the pedestrians. You can see everybody needs to get a photo of this. It's just so iconic for the sensory overload. Okay, light is about to change. Three, two, one. Now you're going to watch everybody walk past me, which is kind of cool.

00:20:18 John Daub: All right, I want to cross the street and just show you one last section of the construction of Shibuya, which is just so cool. Miyashita Park. And I've showed you this before, but I think this is a great way to. And by the way, I always come out of this entrance exit because nobody ever goes in there. It's like there's a couple of exits on the other side of Hachiko Scramble. It's very easy to get in and out. Once you get above ground, you can avoid the people. And Shibuya is all about avoiding people. I love people, just not so many of them. It gives you stress after about 30 minutes of fighting through crowds. You're like, I feel like I'm swimming in the ocean and tired of getting battered around.

00:21:18 John Daub: This place has undergone a really big renovation. The Scramble Cafe and Bar. This looks like the future. There's Hikarie completed in 2012, which was the first big piece. And this one was about seven years ago, six years ago now. This yokocho (snack alley) is being protected by the way. So in this here, in this area, they decided to keep those small shops, the snack bars. And I think that's kind of important to protect the history. And here's the renovation of Miyashita Park, which is now a shopping mall and a nice park. Again, up there to eat a bento up in the sunshine. But the retro area here, walk through it. Don't miss it. It's easy to miss.

00:22:20 John Daub: But this is the future. I mean, it looks and smells really good. I'm hungry as can be. Actually, I'm going to use that Super Chat to get lunch if you don't mind. I like the vending machine, but I'm going to go and get something to eat around the corner before I head back and finish an edit for the main channel. My God, it's a marathon here. All the trees. The mayor of Shibuya seems to be in that position for quite a long time. Ken Hasegawa [?]. I can't quite recall his name. Mr. Ken. Ken-san. Mayor Ken. But it is a lot cleaner. Miyashita Park was a place that I just felt there were a lot of homeless in here. There was a lot of weird smells which have been cleaned up. And it does look a lot nicer.

00:23:11 John Daub: But this yokocho, I like the sign. It says no graffiti and there's graffiti on it. Only in Shibuya. All right. But the yokocho has been well protected. And you can go inside of here. They're saying like no cameras inside of here. I understand that. They don't want tourists to come in here. It's Nonbei Yokocho. There's a lot of tourists that come in there. You can't do trespassing. Maybe it is closed down. That's why. I don't know. But apparently going into here at a certain time, it's closed from one time to another. That area is important to me. But you can see it's preserving the old Shibuya culture from post World War II basically. When the shacks were erected to entertain and feed people when they had nothing following World War II. Tokyo was bombed so harshly in 1945 at the end of the war. In particular that year with the fire bombing and all the other bombs that just came. It was raining down.

00:24:40 John Daub: They should have given up long before that. But what do they have as a vending machine? It's hard because not a lot of this stuff is appetizing to me. I've had this chill out before. It was okay. Coffee is nice. Probably would just go for the black coffee. There's a special mugicha (barley tea). No caffeine mugicha.

00:25:05 John Daub: All right everybody. So I think you got it. I'll be back over the years if there's updates on the Shibuya Station. You know I'm going to be back at the Shibuya Station. People still live here. Of course they do. Shibuya is a massive has a massive residence. When you think of Shibuya, stop thinking of Shibuya Station. I want you to think about Ebisu Station. Ebisu. I want you to think about Daikanyama. Isanginjaya maybe is not Shibuya. That might be Setagaya. I'm not sure. But there's a lot of residence in Shibuya Ward. Which is the city one of the 23 wards inside of Tokyo. So yeah, you're going there's a lot of people here. A lot of residence. And a lot of offices too.

00:25:50 John Daub: And when Shibuya Stream was completed, this one Google moved their offices from Roppongi to here. And yeah, they put in a lot of money. Just them. You probably have the fastest Wi-Fi and all the other stuff in here. The best infrastructure. But it's still a work in progress. They used to have a Sparky's Pizza on the corner here. But that went out of business. Darn shame too. They just couldn't make it work. Alright everybody, take care. I'll see you in another livestream tomorrow. I'm actually headed to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka tomorrow. And then to my first city for a project with a client. I'm going to be filming I'm not going to tell you yet. I'll tell you tomorrow. But make sure you subscribe and I'll see you then. Matane.