00:01 John Daub: Welcome to Hachiko Scramble. We are here in Shibuya. You can see that the Hachiko statue over there is closed. They've covered it up this morning. They put in tons of signs. You can see it's clearly in English. They're guaranteed to have way more foreign visitors here tonight than Japanese residents because most of them have gone back to their family. TV is here, Japanese TV to report on it. And this is what I predicted, the majority of people on the street right now are going to be Japanese.

00:32 John Daub: I'm not kidding. Japanese have left Tokyo or are with family today. In a couple of hours, Japanese will be eating soba (buckwheat noodles) with their families for lunch. And these foreign tourists have no home. They are essentially part of the city now. They've been claimed by the city people. But tonight there is no festivities. You can see the Japanese flag in the distance over there across the street. All the streets in Japan are lined with them. The buses have Japanese flags on the front.

01:02 John Daub: There's a lot of patriotism around the New Year's holiday. But I thought that this was really funny, these signs here. I'm going to take you around and show you a little bit. Welcome everybody. Almost 2025. In about 16 hours, this place is going to be filled with foreigners. I'm telling you, Japanese, maybe a few, I would say like 5%. You probably have a few streamers come here. This is not the best spot. There's no street food. The best places to go to, maybe Asakusa (浅草) or maybe Meiji Shrine. I don't know for the New Year's parade because they're expecting locals. It's better run because there are locals there. And Asakusa has street food. There's a bunch of food stands that have been there every single year. It's more festive and it's a lot more fun. And they just don't want you here. So why are you coming here? I know Shibuya is sensory overload. You can see how amazing it is. Okay, Shibuya is a famous place. But I'm telling you, for Japanese New Year, the culture is not to do this. And I'm going to share a little bit of my experience as well.

02:03 John Daub: The TV cameras here, the area around the statue of Hachiko will be blocked off from Tuesday, December 31st to Wednesday morning, January 1st. So just about 18 hours or so. And this sign here is just hilarious. The information center is closed. Hachi is sleeping today. Do not wake him up. Probably a good idea. Probably piss him off. They did it so you can't even see him. I mean, I can't see a bunch of people. I love this. He is there. Oh my gosh, they did cover him. He's covered in a canopy. Covered him. Of course, some tourists made a hole there so you could see in there. That's what they do. They covered him in a box. I didn't think they would actually cover him. There's tourists. This is hilarious. He's covered. They got it all covered. The mask is on. From this side as well. So you can still see the kind of fake rock garden, but it's all covered up.

06:45 John Daub: Security personnel already here. The guys making sure that you don't get under the go-karts. I think there's always somebody there. I'm not quite sure. That's all I have for you. I'm not going to be here. I know there's going to be streamers here. They're idiots. That's a harsh thing to say. This isn't the place to go. You would go to a shrine or a temple for the countdown because they do the 108 bells, which cleanses your soul. If you're coming here, you're just looking for views because it's a foreigner thing. And I don't want to encourage that.

07:22 John Daub: And now this is the part where I share with you, you know, I don't know it all. I'm not telling you what to do. I sort of am, but I don't want to be that person because, all right, in '19, I love the travel. And because as a kid, you don't get a chance to go out to really cool places and celebrate. Like, I don't want to be that person. You want to go to places that you saw as a kid on TV because it's very influential. So remember when I got here in 1998, the first New Year's, I spent it on the streets in Bangkok on Khao San Road and it was freaking awesome. That was 1998, 1999. Then the next year, 1997, I was on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. That was awesome too. Some wacky girl came up and slapped me with some whipped cream or something and gave me a big kiss. She said, bonjour, monsieur. I never saw her again. As an American, I thought that was very confusing to me. Then in 1999 and 2000, I was at Sydney Harbor, which is also freaking awesome. I was with a bunch of the backpackers from the Bondi Beach guesthouse, the hostel. And we had a roaring time. I remember a lot of it because I was one of them that didn't get sick drinking too much. But they lit up the harbor bridge there was really awesome. The harbor was beautiful. You know, the opera house and everything, Australia, Millennium, that was the place to be. I got a lot of stories from that.

08:54 John Daub: And over the years, I kind of managed to do that. 2001, where was I? I think I was in New York. Then 2002, I can't remember. 2003, I came back to Japan. And this is when I started asking my Japanese friends. So like, all right, it's New Year's. Where can I celebrate? Let's go out to friends. And they're like, that's not what we do, dude. It's like, how do you not know this? You've been in Japan for like seven years. And I said, what? So you don't go out and celebrate and countdown at New Year's? That's so boring. I'm at the Harbor Bridge. Thank you, Carrie. So I'm like you. But I've been here for 26, 27 years now. So I've changed. I'm on the other side now. But I understand where you're coming from. As a kid and when you're younger, you just wanted to be outside somewhere that's exciting. If you want to go somewhere exciting, Asakusa is way more exciting than here.

09:41 John Daub: Number one, influenza. I didn't have it. I'm just getting over a cold. Influenza is everywhere right now. I'd say at least 15% of the population has it. According to the news, it's something like 2 million people. What is that? All right, that's more like 3% of the population. There's like 3% of the population has got it. So this thing's going around pretty fast. You don't want to be stuck in the center here with a lot of people who don't wear masks. At least Japanese people wear masks. And whether or not you think they're effective or not doesn't matter. It's going to be one big germ party. All right, I don't want to go there. I prefer going to the more open streets of Asakusa at night. So that's where, if I'm feeling good, that's probably where I'm going to be. It's really picked up. Between 9 and 10 a.m. you see the most tourists coming in here. And the signal's probably going to conk out in about five minutes.

10:41 John Daub: I understand where you guys are coming from. You want to be at an exciting place. You just don't know where that is. And you assume, because there's a sensory overload on Shibuya Scramble, that this is the place. It's actually not. It's never been a place before the tourism boom of 2024 to come and do a countdown in the middle of the intersection. I don't know who came up with that. People just trying to emulate New York City. That's not what you do. Other cities have their own way. In Japanese culture, New Year's is the most, maybe one of the top, most important days of the Japanese New Year. It's a family day. We do it, like in Japan, everything is done differently, right? Your initial reaction is to go out and party and get drunk. In Japan, maybe they'll get drunk with their family, but it's to go home and to have a quiet, watch NHK and not do it. And that's why the businesses close on this day. A lot of businesses are closed on New Year's Day. They probably should be worldwide, right?

11:41 John Daub: They come in here to look for a party. And they're not wrong. There are parties. It's just not done on the street. All right? Like in the West. West is the West. So Time Out has a pretty good guide. I'm sure that there are other places that have pretty good guides. We used to go out. So in 2004, when I was here, my friend said, you know, my foreign friend, he goes, yeah, we don't go out on the streets. What are you, an idiot? You're going to go stand in the cold? This is before the tourism boom. What are you going to go stand in the cold like an idiot? Who's going to do that? You think that all those pretty girls with the mini skirts are going to be outside in the freezing cold? What do you know? They're all at the clubs. You better go to the clubs, John. That's where I'm going. You're going to come? So I went, and I'm one of those guys who stands in the corner. I was like that in the elementary, in the junior high school dances ever since there. He was dancing with all these people. And, you know, I, it's a blurry 2004. I think I got sick and went home. I think I went to the Womb party as the go-karts make their way around there.

12:50 John Daub: But you can see there's tons of places here. And he's right. If you look in the pate, most of the girls are going to go to those hotels and stuff, okay? They're not going to be sitting on the street, especially locals. Nobody does that. And anyways, locals go home to their families. They're not going out there. They're not trying to hook up. You're going to be hooking up with other tourists. It's maybe better. Warmer hotel room. Just stay in your room. I don't know. Sounds like a Cali surfer accent. No, actually he's from Israel. I guess I was way off on the accent. Funny guy. And he didn't talk like that. But in my mind, that's how he talked.

13:39 John Daub: So for those that are just joining us, I'm at Shibuya's Hachiko Scramble. And I've been kind of sharing with you information, but we're getting sites in South Africa, towns from Shibuya on the day before New Year's. And this is not the place to be. Hachiko's sleeping. Don't wake him up. He's in there. So, it is kind of fun to come out here and see the quiet before the storm. But if you want to hang out with a bunch of foreigners that are visiting here, come here, because they don't know where else to go. If you want to come out and hang out with locals, you're probably going to go to Asakusa or to Itabashi [?]. It's a temple or a shrine. The bigger ones have street foods. It's got like a real good vibe to it. And they ring the bell 108 times. And if you picked your hotel for Shibuya for tonight, as my friends from Sandusky, Ohio used to say, sucks to be you.

15:48 John Daub: That's all I have for you. You can see a lot of people are starting to come into Hachiko Scramble. Kanai is going to her dad's place with Leo. They're making soba at noon. I don't want to miss it. I got to go maybe pick some stuff up. I think that the pachinko is all closed. As I said, most supermarkets are going to be closed tomorrow. Most of the shops are going to be closed tomorrow. Some of them are actually open because tourism has changed things a little bit. Money to be had. This is another reason why I think there's a lot of employment shortages too.

16:18 John Daub: Brandania is in the house. Aloha. For me and Michael, both of you guys are together. He's working and I'm not. I'm not for once. Have a happy new year. Michael's working on New Year's Eve. Hey. Well, it's actually not where you are. Get some New Year's snacks for Kanai. You got it. We're going to make it a really good... We're going to get some aloha spirit in the party tonight. It's not much of a party. But I will be going. I plan to go out. We'll see how it goes. Sometimes Kanai is very persuasive to keep me in. But I plan to go out. Maybe Asakusa. Maybe Meiji Shrine. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to go. But definitely not here. This is not the place.

17:00 John Daub: I'm going to turn the lens around here. This really isn't the place to be. I want to say thank you for being an insider for 46 months. Rock and roll brother. That's really great. Better go to a party. It's amateur night out there. Better to go to a party. Stay warm. And that's the thing. People dress up in dresses and stuff. And they want to celebrate in a nice way. The people who go to... I don't know who actually goes to Times Square. I've never met anybody who actually went to Times Square. Maybe you guys can chime in here. But why would you want to go there early? And there's no bathroom. So you have to wear diapers. And poop yourself. I never understood why people go to the Times Square countdown party. Is it really that good? I think it's just because you want to be on TV. Or you want to be at a spot. And feel something that everybody else feels on the other side. But do it in person. It's the same kind of person that goes to a sports game when it's 50 below zero. Right? I mean of course it's better to watch it at home. But you like to feel what everybody else is feeling. But in Japan where this happens. Everyone is feeling the warmth of their bed. Alright? They're not feeling the cold of a crowded intersection where they told you not to go. Like there's literally signs saying get the heck out of here. It doesn't say that. The area around the statue of Hachiko will be blocked off from Tuesday. And the reason why is because it's the politest way to tell you to buzz off. If they cover up the biggest attraction. Because I think it got vandalized last year. I think it's a good idea probably to... That's the best sign instead of saying piss off or go somewhere else. To say maybe we'll just cover the thing and then people will go away. And we'll see how it works.

18:46 John Daub: But yeah Shibuya has become quite the tourist attraction. You know I used to like coming here in 2004. When I first moved to Tokyo. I lived seven years outside the city. Since the tourism boom. I try very hard to avoid it. Except when there's a story. And there's often a story here. So I find myself here more than I want to be. But it's kind of nice to see other people. Because again this is a cool place. It's got sensory overload. A mix of old and new buildings. But it's just become so touristy. Even the businesses are starting to turn towards it. It doesn't feel like... I guess it feels like what you think Tokyo would feel like now. There's supposed to be a really cool lookout point here. There's nobody... There's only a couple people looking out there. That's supposed to be one of the best lookouts. Maybe I'll go and take you there. Again like I've been here for so long. I'm a little bit close minded. I took video from the hotel. I snuck into the elevator to the 18th floor. And I got some video from there. And then there's Shibuya Sky. And I'll be going there in the middle of the month. I have a permit to film up there before it opens I believe. So I'll be there on the 15th or 16th. And maybe I'll do a live stream. Or take some video up there as well. Got an episode coming on it.

20:01 John Daub: Alright everybody. That's all I got for you today. I'm sorry. I gotta be honest with you. It's a pretty tough year. I didn't get a lot of main channel videos out. It's a little bit of a struggle. But I feel energized for 2025. I got a bunch of episodes ready to roll. So if you're looking for one. I had a sponsored video on the Only Japan Go. Which is an edited video. Which is very much like a main channel episode. Go check that out. They seem to like Go better. Seem to work better. It was a pretty good episode. Kind of highlighting 400 year, 300 year Japanese cuisine. From a recipe that they found from when the Tokugawa Shogun visited. So it's a very cool episode. Talks about the Gokaido (五街道). The five roads of Edo. And some of the history around it. So you're guaranteed to learn something interesting. Last facts that you'll learn before the end of the new year. I'll talk more about it from wherever I'll be tonight. But yeah. I'll be outside tonight. End of the year working hard I think. Get out there. And maybe on the first I'll take you out and show you how quiet the city streets are. Maybe not. Because there's so many tourists and the hotels are full. I'm curious myself. But looking here. It's pretty crazy. That 90% of the tourists. 90% of the people are foreign tourists here. You can tell. It is crazy. I'm like one of them. And the Westerners who see Asian people. They are from Hong Kong, China. Or even Singapore or Malaysia. You just don't know. Everyone's like look at these people. They look local. Maybe 10% are locals. I'm not joking. Because the shops are essentially closed today I believe. Or most of them. It's crazy.

22:03 John Daub: Alright everybody. Go get yourself something hot. It's cold out here. See you. Why is he yawning? Jet lag. See you tonight.