Tokyo Stations Market Street and Marunouchi Back Yard
Tokyo Stations Market Street and Marunouchi Back Yard
Overview
In this lively January 5th live stream, John Daub and his longtime friend Peter von Gomm explore the pedestrianized market street behind Tokyo Station on the Marunouchi side. Filmed during the final day of Japan's extended New Year holiday period, the walk captures a quieter moment in this usually bustling business district as office workers are still away and food vendors have scaled back their operations.
The duo begin near the Marunouchi Building, where a festive Super Mario-inspired display has replaced the Christmas decorations. As they wander the car-free zone, they encounter a friendly coffee vendor who proudly shares his love of American football (Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles, Portland Trail Blazers), stumble upon Maki, a presenter for Channel Japan on MSNBC, and later run into the Mayor of Nagano who recognizes John from his charitable fireworks initiative. The conversation flows from Tokyo pronunciation debates to Peter's recent Okutama getaway, Japanese TV culture, celebrity encounters, and the merits of kotatsu versus kerosene heaters. The stream offers an authentic, unscripted glimpse into the friendship between two long-term Japan residents while highlighting the transformation of Marunouchi into a more pedestrian-friendly urban space.
Highlights
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00:01 John introduces Peter von Gomm, their longtime friendship dating back to a 2010 Mount Fuji climb, and the Marunouchi pedestrian market area behind Tokyo Station
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00:54 Discussion of the Marunouchi Bright Holiday Super Mario decorations replacing the Christmas market, with Peter pointing out a disco ball
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03:23 Chance encounter with Maki, a presenter for Channel Japan on MSNBC, who is doing narration work voiced by Peter — they meet in person for the first time despite years of collaboration
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05:15 Peter orders Kyoto matcha while John gets coffee with milk from a friendly vendor who loves American football teams
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10:50 Peter shares photos of his French bulldog Bistro the Beastie, whom he rescued from a pet mill in Chiba and had breathing surgery for
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11:40 John reveals his upcoming Okutama video where he and Kanae took Leo to a 300-year-old inn built in 1776
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16:05 Peter shows Ramses a photo of Bistro and discusses the Nagano fireworks documentary and Peter's night ride motorcycle video
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19:15 The famous Tokyo vs. Tokyo pronunciation debate — Peter corrects John's pronunciation, John explains he learned it from Japanese TV hosts like Megumi san (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Japan host)
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34:17 John recounts his infamous TV moment discussing Sagami condoms (thinnest in the world, size 001) as the most popular souvenir for foreign visitors — causing a Twitter frenzy
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38:47 John's encounter with Tom Cruise in Australia during Mission Impossible 2 filming — he wasn't starstruck, noticed he was taller than Tom
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45:08 The Mayor of Nagano unexpectedly appears and greets them, acknowledging John's charitable fireworks contribution
Timeline / Chapters
- 00:01–00:20 — Opening at Tokyo Station Marunouchi side; introduction of Peter von Gomm
- 00:20–01:30 — Discussion of Super Mario holiday decorations, Marunouchi Bright Holiday display
- 01:30–02:29 — Overview of the Marunouchi area transformation; comparison to Ginza/Akihabara weekend closures; praise for this Christmas market over German-themed alternatives
- 02:29–03:38 — Street food discussion; mention of hot spice sake, German Embassy Christmas market, John dropping his Suica card at the market
- 03:38–05:14 — Coffee vendor encounter; Peter orders Kyoto matcha, John gets coffee with milk
- 05:15–07:04 — Encounter with Maki from Channel Japan/MSNBC; Peter reveals he does narration for her work; first in-person meeting
- 07:04–10:50 — Return to walking; Peter shares Bistro photos; John mentions Okutama video coming soon; Peter's Okutama trip with family
- 10:50–12:15 — Discussion of Peter's night ride motorcycle video; ASICS running club facilities with showers and changing rooms
- 12:15–15:15 — Accent and pronunciation debate; Tokyo vs. Tokyo; expat accent changes; Leo and pronunciation
- 15:15–16:40 — Peter's Okutama stay at 300-year-old inn; Wasabi; kerosene heater smells like the countryside; ozoni with yuzu
- 16:40–19:15 — John's TBS show experiences; his friendship with Damon (rock star with KISS makeup); celebrity encounters philosophy
- 19:15–25:30 — Tom Cruise encounter story; Arnold Schwarzenegger; Bill Clinton; celebrity stories
- 25:30–28:00 — Construction appreciation; firefighters; Peter asks about lunch
- 28:00–30:00 — Yuzu hand cream and skincare discussion; Neutrogena; olive oil
- 30:00–34:17 — Friendship history (14 years since Mount Fuji 2010); Peter's motorcycle content; Peter's Channel Japan work
- 34:17–38:47 — John's condom TV incident story; Japanese TV censorship; Damon the rock star TV personality
- 38:47–43:00 — More celebrity stories; Peter's NHK educational work
- 43:00–45:08 — John promotes Nagano fireworks documentary; charity work; Mayor of Nagano mention
- 45:08–47:40 — Mayor of Nagano appears; Australian tourist encounter (17-day trip, drove to Zao in Yamagata)
- 47:40–48:10 — Wrap-up; shout-out to Peter von Gomm's motorcycle video; farewell
Japan Travel Tips
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How to get there: Tokyo Station Marunouchi Exit, or access via Yurakucho Station or Hibiya Station. A free Marunouchi shuttle bus loops between Tokyo Station, Maru Building, Nikkei Building, and Hibiya Station.
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Best time to visit: The pedestrian zone is open 11am–3pm on weekdays and 11am–7pm on weekends. Evenings are more lively with additional food trucks and drinks like champagne and beer. Weekends see more activity with street closures to traffic.
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What to eat/order: Try the coffee and matcha from the outdoor vendors — Kyoto matcha with milk is a popular choice. During the Christmas market period (typically through early January), look for hot churros, amazake, and seasonal specialties.
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What to look for: This area is in the shadow of Tokyo Station, one of Japan's most iconic buildings. The renovation has created a surprisingly pleasant pedestrian environment with Christmas lights (visible much of the year), food stands, and picnic tables. Look for the ASICS running club facilities if you're a runner — they offer showers and changing rooms for a monthly fee.
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Costs: The market is free to visit. Coffee and drinks from vendors typically cost a few hundred yen. The nearby Patagonia store is a premium outdoor clothing option.
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Tips for foreigners: This area is primarily business offices, so it gets very quiet during the New Year holidays (Dec 29–Jan 3, with some extending to Jan 7-8). If you want to see it lively, visit on a regular weekend. The free shuttle bus is a great way to get oriented.
Japanese Language & Culture Notes
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Tokyo pronunciation (東京 vs. トゥキョウ): The debate over proper Japanese pronunciation is common among expats. John learned to say トゥキョウ (to-like-you) from Japanese TV personalities like Megumi san (host of Japan's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire). Peter, who has a more American accent, says 东京 (Tokyo with an American "o"). John notes that as an expat, you absorb accents from those around you — his Japanese friends say "Tokyo" in the American way, influencing his pronunciation. The conversation highlights how pronunciation triggers strong reactions from both Japanese people and foreigners.
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Kotatsu (炬燵): A traditional Japanese heated table with a quilted blanket. Peter mentions having one at his countryside getaway. Common in winter, it represents cozy Japanese domestic culture.
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Ozoni (お雑煮): Traditional New Year rice cake soup. Peter describes having the best ozoni of his life at his Okutama inn, flavored with yuzu citrus. Each region and household has its own recipe — typically contains mochi (rice cakes), vegetables, and sometimes chicken or seafood in a dashi broth.
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Yuzu (柚子): Japanese citrus fruit widely used in winter cuisine, cosmetics, and aromatherapy. Peter and John discuss yuzu hand cream, and Peter's Okutama inn featured yuzu in their dishes. The scent is considered quintessentially Japanese countryside.
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Running clubs and community: The Marunouchi area features ASICS-sponsored running facilities where people can change clothes, shower, and join group runs — a modern take on community fitness in Japan's business districts.
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Gomach (ごま豆腐): John mentions this when Peter asks about the Japanese term for flattery/sycophancy — akin to "apple polisher" in English.
Food & Drink Guide
| Item | Japanese | Description | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee with milk | カフェラテ | Hot coffee with milk | Market vendor | John orders this, owner is an American football fan (Steelers, Eagles) |
| Kyoto Matcha | 京都抹茶 | Green tea latte | Market vendor | Peter orders this; questions about whether it's "real" Kyoto/Uji matcha |
| Hot chocolate | ホットチョコレート | Warm chocolate drink | Market vendor | Offered as one of the menu items |
| Apple cider | アップルドシーダー | Hot spiced apple drink | Market vendor | John's alternate choice |
| Amazake | 甘酒 | Sweet fermented rice drink | Market vendor | Traditional Japanese beverage |
| Ozoni | お雑煮 | New Year rice cake soup | Okutama inn | Peter describes the best ozoni he's ever had, made with yuzu |
| Churros | チュロス | Fried dough pastry | Christmas market (past) | John's son Leo's favorite; John dropped his Suica card here |
| Champagne | シャンパン | French champagne | Christmas market (evening) | Available at the evening market |
People
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John Daub — Host and creator of Only in Japan Go. American expat who has lived in Japan for over 30 years. Warm, curious, and connects easily with people. The dominant voice throughout, sharing stories about his life in Japan, his family (Kanae and Leo), and his work with various Japanese TV shows and charitable projects.
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Peter von Gomm — John's longtime friend and fellow American living in Japan for over 14 years. Motorcycle content creator and narrator for Channel Japan (MSNBC's Japan presence). Known for his cinematic night ride videos through Tokyo and his rescue dog Bistro the Beastie. Provides a natural conversational counterpoint to John's stories throughout the stream.
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Maki — Presenter for Channel Japan on MSNBC, a business-focused program. John and Peter meet her for the first time despite years of Peter voicing her work. She is with her young son (original name Tatsumi, called "Boya" in Portuguese by her Brazilian husband). A professional TV personality who appears genuinely delighted by the encounter.
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Yoda Jedi — Discord moderator for Only in Japan Go, who happens to be visiting from Australia. John thanks him for moderating during their 10,000-viewer New Year's live stream. He is on a 17-day Japan trip, driving through Tohoku and visiting Zao in Yamagata.
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Mayor of Nagano — Appears unexpectedly to greet John, acknowledging his charitable contribution to the Nagano fireworks festival that helped flood-affected areas.
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Bistro the Beastie — Peter's French bulldog, rescued from a pet mill in Chiba. Has had nasal surgery (common for French bulldogs due to compressed airways from selective breeding). Peter shows photos to Ramses and viewers.
Key Takeaways
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Marunouchi's transformation — The area behind Tokyo Station has been successfully pedestrianized and activated with food vendors, creating a pleasant urban space that contrasts with its former car-dominated state.
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New Year timing matters — January 5 is the last day of Japan's extended holiday period. The market was quieter than usual, and many offices don't resume until January 6-8. Plan visits accordingly if you want to experience the full energy.
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Community connections — John and Peter's friendship exemplifies how long-term expats build deep networks in Japan — from TV personalities like Maki to the Mayor of Nagano, their presence in Japanese media has created genuine relationships.
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Expat life affects pronunciation — Living among international friends changes how you pronounce words. John's "Tokyo" vs. Peter's "Tokyo" reflects different social circles and learned pronunciations from Japanese native speakers.
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Okutama offers accessible countryside — Less than two hours from central Tokyo, Okutama provides mountain villages, 300-year-old inns, and authentic experiences that showcase Japan's rural side within Tokyo Prefecture.
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Free transportation exists — The Marunouchi shuttle bus (Ikebus) is free and loops through the area — useful for getting around the large Marunouchi district.
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Charitable tourism opportunities — John's Nagano fireworks contribution demonstrates how travelers can give back to communities affected by natural disasters like typhoons.
Notable Quotes
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00:20 John Daub: "This is usually a market area on the weekends. They put out some tables, get some food, have a bento. It's kind of nice."
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02:40 John Daub: "I think this year's Christmas market, this area was better than any other market in Tokyo."
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11:18 Peter von Gomm: "Ozoni. This was the best ozoni I've ever had. Because of the citrus. You had to use it as soon as you took the lid off. The smell, the aroma was just like, wow, Yuzu."
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19:20 Peter von Gomm: "It's still Tokyo, by the way. Why do you say Tokyo? Because I got a complex."
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27:50 John Daub: "Kerosene heaters smell like the countryside of Japan. Right? That's how Japan stays cool."
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36:40 John Daub: "I don't follow Japanese TV, so I'm not starstruck... If I was starstruck, I don't think I'd be able to go on the show."
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39:02 John Daub: "I noticed that I was taller than him, which is pretty unique. And I'm like, how you doing? He goes, pretty good. You can film me. Mission Impossible 2."
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42:22 John Daub: "I'm more starstruck with the people who pick up my garbage... because they're the ones who get to drive the truck and pull that lever that crushes the trash. And that's just cool."
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47:41 John Daub: "Shout out to his channel right here. Go check out what I think is one of the most amazing adrenalized rides... make you fall in love with Tokyo on a motorcycle."
Related Topics
- Tokyo Station and Marunouchi architecture — The grand red-brick station building and surrounding financial district
- Japanese street food culture — Weekend pedestrian markets and food trucks in urban areas
- Expat life in Japan — Long-term residents, language acquisition, and cultural integration
- Okutama and Tokyo's countryside — Rural Tokyo experiences within the 23 wards
- Japanese TV culture — Variety shows, news programs, and celebrity appearances
- Motorcycle riding in Tokyo — Expressway night rides and urban motorvlogging
- Nagano disaster relief — Community rebuilding efforts after typhoon flooding
Search Tags
#only-in-japan-go #tokyo #marunouchi #tokyo-station #live-stream #japan-travel #urban-exploration #winter-japan #new-year-japan #pedestrian-zone #street-food #coffee-culture #peter-von-gomm #tokyo-pronunciation #expat-life-japan #okutama #mount-fuji-2010 #channel-japan #msnbc-japan #motorcycling-tokyo #night-ride #nagano #japanese-new-year #ozoni #yuzu #kotatsu #amazake #running-clubs #japan-charity #celebrity-encounters #tom-cruise #japanese-tv #marunouchi-building #shinkansen #tokyo-expressways
Full Transcript
00:01 John Daub: Greetings from Tokyo Station's Marunouchi side. That there is our guest for today. I caught you. You can't go down the pipe and then go into another world, my friend. This is Peter von Gomm.
00:15 Peter von Gomm: Hey guys.
00:16 John Daub: Motorcycle master. Among other things. Split.
00:20 Peter von Gomm: That's my. Looks like my left hand, but that's my right hand.
00:23 John Daub: It could very well be. We're gonna be taking you around the backyard of Tokyo Station. This is usually a market area on the weekends. They put out some tables, get some food, have a bento. It's kind of nice. They're doing this Mario Christmas tree does. It doesn't even look like a Christmas tree, right? It's a little bit odd, I think.
00:40 Peter von Gomm: Well, Christmas has finished job. So I think they took the tree down. This is just.
00:45 John Daub: No, no, no. I was here.
00:46 Peter von Gomm: There was no tree at all.
00:47 John Daub: This is what it looked like. Yeah.
00:48 Peter von Gomm: Really?
00:49 John Daub: It's the Marouchi Bright Holiday. Super Mario Brothers something or other. I mean, I tried to see if there was a digital tree.
00:54 Peter von Gomm: There's a disco ball up there.
00:56 John Daub: I don't know. But like if you look over to the escalator, you get a pretty nice view from there. And I still didn't see any tree. Joy. Says here it's not a Christmas tree, Peter.
01:08 Peter von Gomm: Oh, what is it?
01:09 John Daub: I told it's a Mario.
01:10 Peter von Gomm: You're the one that called it a Christmas tree.
01:11 John Daub: I don't know. You gotta pop put. You gotta head slam that question box. But there's some information there.
01:19 Peter von Gomm: Marunozi Bright Holiday.
01:20 John Daub: Yeah.
01:21 Peter von Gomm: Super Mario.
01:22 John Daub: Super Mario. Well, I'm gonna get out of here because this sounds like copyright music. Monroe Building is kind of where we're gonna be starting from. And it's just on the backside of Tokyo Station.
01:30 Peter von Gomm: Can you say that? Yeah, backside.
01:33 John Daub: The back street. We could say whatever. Well, almost every. Anything that you want to. Here's where we are in the city of Tokyo right now. I'm coming down here and you can see Tokyo Station. Right next to the Imperial Palace. There's Tokyo. The platforms for the Tokyo station. This side is the Marunouchi side. The other side, Yaisu. Here you have a lot of businesses. But what makes this place really special is that they have renovated this street to the point where, you know, used to be old school business. Now they have Christmas lights there most of a lot of the year. And they have street food stands and close it down to traffic. Sort of like how Ginza and Akihabara are on the weekend. But this place is kind of nice. And I think for Me. This year's Christmas market. This area was better than any other market in Tokyo. And it's not because it was just a Christmas themed like a German Christ fake German Christmas market. This one had like a more authentic. Like a few Japanese. Yeah, no they didn't. They might have had that. I don't remember.
02:29 Peter von Gomm: But they had hot spice sake.
02:30 John Daub: Like just normal food stands that weren't trying to be German. All catered from the same caterer. Did you notice that the German Christmas market that's sponsored by the German Embassy seems to have the same caterer for all the food? They just do subtle changes to it. I thought that was kind of boring. Hey, Michael Jackson.
02:45 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I saw that. My son Joji is a really good moonwalker.
02:50 John Daub: I know. Leo's getting real good at Michael Jackson. What is it with Michael Jackson? He just sort of. Kids just love him. Because if he's a.
02:58 Peter von Gomm: Well, he loved kids.
02:59 John Daub: Well, yeah, he was. He was a big kid. The late greatest star in the world. No one will ever be bigger than mj. Very unique character. You can already see like these street foods. There were a lot more. I think they'll come in later on. Maybe because it's the end of the holiday. People are taking vacation. But usually there's a lot more food trucks down here. Marunouchi has an association and they've been doing a really good job of trying to change the image of what this neighborhood is. This restaurant garb. I dropped my IC card, my Suica and they found it and called me.
03:38 Peter von Gomm: Wow. Really?
03:39 John Daub: Yeah.
03:39 Peter von Gomm: How did they get your name?
03:40 John Daub: It's on the Suica card. I registered it. But they also had hot churros and champagne during Christmas market. And then I guess you can get some amazake. Okay. What is that? Let's go take a quick look. See? Oh, they got beer. So at night in particular this is really popular. But if you call the staff you can get some hot wine or coffee or Heartland beer. But it seems like a really good place for lunch. I'd like to eat here one of these days. I haven't yet.
04:14 Peter von Gomm: How did you get your Suica card in there if you haven't eaten there?
04:17 John Daub: We came here for the Christmas market with Leo and Kanai. But Leo can. I got Leo a chocolate churros and I dropped my card. Leo dropped my card because I gave it to him to swipe out.
04:28 Peter von Gomm: Trust a 3 year old with your car.
04:29 John Daub: I forgot to get it back from him. He liked this statue too. Maybe that's where he dropped it. But somebody apparently here's the coffee. Oh, yeah. Let's get you a coffee here.
04:37 Peter von Gomm: Yes, please.
04:40 John Daub: What do you. Take a look at the offerings and let me know what you think.
04:43 Peter von Gomm: All right. They got apple cider, lemonade, coffee with chocolate. Hot coffee. Hot hazelnut milk tea.
04:52 John Daub: Oh, wow.
04:53 Peter von Gomm: Well, then, Kyoto Matcha with milk. Coffee with milk. I might do a Kyoto Matcha.
04:59 John Daub: I don't know if that's real Kyoto. The Uji Matcha is kind of. Well, you got to go with. What you got to go with. I'm not gonna tell you. What?
05:06 Peter von Gomm: Well, I had a coffee a little earlier, but that doesn't mean I can't.
05:09 John Daub: Then, I guess. Yeah, if you had a coffee earlier, then the Kyoto Matcha sounds real good. I'm gonna go. Coffee with milk.
05:14 Peter von Gomm: Okay.
05:15 John Daub: Apple cider looks good, too.
05:17 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
05:17 John Daub: What's this over here? Oh, this is just a random hot drink.
05:23 Peter von Gomm: Hi, I'm the narrator for Channel Japan.
05:27 John Daub: No, you're not.
05:28 Peter von Gomm: Yes, I am.
05:28 John Daub: No, you're not.
05:29 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It's good to meet you. Which hand? Okay. This is your little boy. What's his name?
05:39 John Daub: Original name is Tatsumi, but my husband was in Brazil when I. When he.
05:43 Peter von Gomm: Okay, okay.
05:44 John Daub: And in Portuguese, it means like boya, like little boy.
05:48 Peter von Gomm: Okay. Oh, wow.
05:50 John Daub: Cute. Oh, my God. Can I take a picture with you?
05:52 Peter von Gomm: Of course. You can share it around the world if you want.
05:57 John Daub: Okay. We're.
06:00 Peter von Gomm: We're doing a live stream right now, actually. Yeah.
06:02 John Daub: Yeah.
06:02 Peter von Gomm: So sorry, tell me your first name again. Maki. Maki. Okay. So we do Maki, and I do Channel Japan, which is a. Oh, right.
06:11 John Daub: With tbs. Used to be. Yeah. Yeah.
06:13 Peter von Gomm: So Maki's one of the presenters.
06:15 John Daub: Oh, awesome.
06:16 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It's the first time actually meeting.
06:17 John Daub: We've been working together for years, you know, because. Because you're voicing the work that she's doing. Yeah.
06:22 Peter von Gomm: So I do the narration. Yeah. How funny. I'll get one, too. Yeah.
06:28 John Daub: Cappuccino Hitots. Hi. Hi, guys.
06:40 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Over here.
06:40 Peter von Gomm: Look over there.
06:41 John Daub: There you go.
06:50 Peter von Gomm: Of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to take one with us, too. Are you on Instagram? I won't put him in there. Okay, good.
07:04 John Daub: Nice.
07:04 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Yeah.
07:06 John Daub: So are you with your husband? He speaks Portuguese. He's the narrator.
07:26 Peter von Gomm: I'm Peter.
07:29 John Daub: Ohio. Hi.
07:32 Peter von Gomm: Me, too. You, too. Okay. Yes. Our first time actually meeting in person. We've been working together for years.
07:41 John Daub: Hi. Hi.
07:44 Peter von Gomm: Peter Van. That's my card. For a TV commercial. Yeah. Documentaries. Like what? We do games, anime, and I have a YouTube channel, too.
08:22 John Daub: Oh, you do? Yeah.
08:22 Peter von Gomm: I Do motovlogs car and motorcycle content. So my. It's there.
08:28 John Daub: The YouTube channel information, please check it out.
08:34 Peter von Gomm: My friend is doing a live stream right now.
08:36 John Daub: Hi.
08:37 Peter von Gomm: On his channel. Only in Japan.
08:44 John Daub: How many followers? Peter, your mic is on.
08:49 Peter von Gomm: Oh, okay. Sorry.
08:50 John Daub: We're like double talking.
08:51 Peter von Gomm: Okay. Sorry.
08:52 John Daub: Oh, it's okay. It's not your fault.
08:54 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
08:54 John Daub: So everything's being recorded on.
08:58 Peter von Gomm: Well, just give us your credit card number.
09:07 John Daub: Tokyo tower.
09:21 Peter von Gomm: That's an ambulance car. What's inside there? Okay. Did you buy a lot? Check that out. 15.
10:04 John Daub: So Korotokiri ego.
10:07 Peter von Gomm: But they're actually.
10:15 John Daub: Kind of out of stock.
10:23 Peter von Gomm: A new topic. Good, good.
10:27 John Daub: Yeah.
10:28 Peter von Gomm: Well, good seeing you. Back to these. Pleasure meeting you and maybe see you in the halls of msnbc. What did you order?
10:51 John Daub: Coffee.
10:52 Peter von Gomm: Okay.
10:53 John Daub: And the matcha, like he makes it with like freshly. This is amazing. Hi. Where are you from?
11:03 Peter von Gomm: From Oregon.
11:07 John Daub: That's.
11:07 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Oh,
11:13 Peter von Gomm: Both hot coffees.
11:18 John Daub: Okay.
11:18 Peter von Gomm: Thank you. That was hilarious. Running into Maki.
11:28 John Daub: Yeah, I know. Is your mic on now?
11:30 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Did you turn it off?
11:31 John Daub: No, I didn't turn it off. You're talking. We're so. We're double talking. Sorry about that. Some of you might have been following what we were saying if you could because. How did you turn up? Did you turn it off at all or you just kept talking?
11:42 Peter von Gomm: I just covered it.
11:43 John Daub: And then you told her we were live streaming, right? Yeah, she had a kid, so I. Like a little baby. I didn't want to.
11:48 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, she wants to keep him.
11:50 John Daub: Right. So. Okay. Yeah. Anyways, there she is. We are back. There's Monkey over there. So that's so funny. But she's actually like a public figure. She's quite. Quite a good actress.
12:06 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. So Channel Japan is an MSNBC thing that I do and it's topics. A lot of business topics.
12:15 John Daub: Msnbc.
12:16 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
12:17 John Daub: How did. What's the association? Is it.
12:20 Peter von Gomm: They've got a. They've got a presence here in Japan.
12:23 John Daub: Oh my goodness. Okay.
12:25 Peter von Gomm: I just burned my tongue with this. Super hot.
12:27 John Daub: That's why I'm kind of holding onto it. This looks like really good. The owner of the coffee shop was really friendly, wasn't he? He said he loves America. He follows football.
12:36 Peter von Gomm: He's into the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Trail Blazers.
12:39 John Daub: He knows all the Ohio teams. He was also a fan of the Eagles, which is kind of weird because the Steelers and the Eagles are like cross state rivals. But that was pretty cool though to. To talk with him a little bit. I should have started to speak English because it seems like he could, he could do a good job with speaking both languages, right?
12:58 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. He wanted to flex his English muscles.
13:01 John Daub: Yeah, absolutely. I know. Saya. I don't know why a cable news network has a presence here, but a
13:10 Peter von Gomm: lot of it's business stuff, business news. Like what Japanese companies are doing to stay ahead of the competition and stuff like that.
13:21 John Daub: All right, so this is a pedestrian zone from 11 to 3 on the weekdays and then 11 to 7. So this is also, this is interesting because when people get off from work and you can see there's a lot of office space. All these buildings around here are offices. Right. Especially up there. These are all offices. So when they go out for lunch they can just eat outside. Eat outside. You want to, you want to sit at a picnic table here? They got a yellow one over there.
13:47 Peter von Gomm: Why not? Or go jogging is.
13:49 John Daub: They also have running clubs here and I'm glad that they walk by there. So these running clubs, they have Asics I think has these running, I don't know what you call them, like, like little shops fronts. But not for selling stuff so much, but for you. Where you could change your clothes. Yeah, they have, they've got say right here where you could change your clothes. And take showers. Take showers as well. And you pay a monthly fee for the, for the services there.
14:23 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it's pretty cool. I, I, I like the idea of having like community or group runs like rather than just running by yourself or running from the police stuff that you do.
14:32 John Daub: Yeah. What do you mean running by from the police and the stuff.
14:36 Peter von Gomm: Did I say that in my out loud voice?
14:38 John Daub: The stuff you do. Me run from police. I've been, I don't know why, but YouTube is recommending these police chases or kids getting arrested. You may want to come.
14:49 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
14:49 John Daub: I wonder how that people getting arrested in, in the US it's kind of, I've never seen so much, I don't know, like negative stuff. Yeah, I didn't so much crime in the U.S. i don't know why I'm getting recommended that, why don't I get recommended in Japan? Police interactions. I'd like to see, love to see that. The only one I've ever seen was Johnny Salami where he got arrested.
15:13 Peter von Gomm: Not even mention that fruitcake.
15:15 John Daub: He's gonna. Well, legal mindset's been doing a pretty good job over there in Korea updating everybody about how he's doing in prison. As far as he knows, it's not good. That dude's gonna be away for a while. They keep adding stuff up there. He was On a bus. And apparently the bus driver, that wasn't the only one from working for the company, but the manager of the bus company was on the same bus watching him. It's pretty bad. All right. To all of you who are freezing in Canada, Jason included.
15:45 Peter von Gomm: This is good. Look at that color.
15:47 John Daub: Warm me up. That does look good.
15:48 Peter von Gomm: That beautiful green, if you can see it without spilling it.
15:52 John Daub: Oh, that's nice. It does need to cool down. I think that you're very welcome. That's actually compliments of our good friend who was never here. Ramsey's silent. Nice to see you. He's from the cold Midwest up in the north side there, so thanks for that, brother. Yeah.
16:06 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. In fact, I took a picture for you, Ramses. I know I've sent these to you before, but I found a new one to show you. I'll show him. Is he here right now?
16:18 John Daub: He is. A lot of people were worried that because you. Peter's also a live streamer, he was streaming his motorcycle trip riding out here, and you just suddenly went dark. And so we were all kind of worried if you had done what I did up in Hokkaido.
16:32 Peter von Gomm: That's not for you, Ramses. But isn't that guy cute? Isn't he cute? That's Bistro.
16:37 John Daub: Oh, yeah, The Beastie.
16:38 Peter von Gomm: If you can. If you guys are interested in following Bistro's antics, check out the Instagram page. Imbeastro.
16:47 John Daub: He's so cute. Look at that guy.
16:49 Peter von Gomm: He's kind of curmudgeonly.
16:51 John Daub: You rescued him, right? He was a rescue dog.
16:54 Peter von Gomm: I rescued him from a pet mill in Chiba.
16:57 John Daub: Oh, that's what I mean. Yeah.
16:59 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. Rescues usually don't cost that kind of money, but.
17:03 John Daub: Oh, I mean, dogs in general in Japan costs a lot of money because they have to get all the shots. And this dog in particular, the variety of dog requires surgery and stuff, right?
17:15 Peter von Gomm: Well, no. Well, he's a French bulldog. French bulldog.
17:19 John Daub: But they.
17:20 Peter von Gomm: I did some research before I got him, and vets were recommending that you get this. This nasal surgery for French bulldogs because they have, like, pugs. They have breathing issues with their nose. They're really compressed. And because they've been bred over centuries or whatever to. To look the way they do. And they're super cute, but they can't breathe. They snore and snort. And so we had a little nose thing done. But. Yeah, here you go, Ramses. Here you go.
17:55 John Daub: Took that just for you.
17:57 Peter von Gomm: Just for you.
17:59 John Daub: He sends me pictures. There's a shop over there that's right over There, it's called John Lobb. L O B B. And Georgie apparently loves to send me pictures of John Lobb. Apparently there's a lot of chains around Japan and apparently John Lobby. Yeah, apparently I'm. That is my store. John Dob. John Lobb. Yeah, it's better than. Than Karate Kid references. So I suppose I'll take the John Lobs.
18:27 Peter von Gomm: Ralph Macchiato.
18:29 John Daub: I know, right?
18:31 Peter von Gomm: Sounds like it could be worse.
18:33 John Daub: It could be better, could be worse.
18:36 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, but. So everything else I. I mentioned on my live stream, I went to Okatama. Have you been to Okatama?
18:42 John Daub: Actually, I have a video about to drop on the main channel. Surprise, surprise. Where Kanai. Leo and I drive out there to go to a place where 99.9% of tourists never go.
18:52 Peter von Gomm: Excellent.
18:53 John Daub: Okutama. No, actually the Tama region. It's actually the region between, I guess, where does it start? Like Mitaka? It's somewhere around there. There's like a cutoff point where the cities of Tokyo end and the villages. And the villages begin. And it is like going out to Nagano or to, you know, Gifu. The deep countrysides like Takayama, they got villages out there.
19:15 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it's one of my favorite places. It's still Tokyo, by the way. Why do you say Tokyo?
19:20 John Daub: Because I got a complex. Because I remember I used to go on this show called TBS Hirobi. It's been a bit. It's been about 10 months since the last one. And Megumi san, who is the host of it, he's a real famous dude, you know.
19:34 Peter von Gomm: Megumi is a guy's name.
19:36 John Daub: Do you know Megumi san? You don't know Megumi san. If you see his face, you'll know who he is.
19:38 Peter von Gomm: Okay, okay.
19:39 John Daub: All right. He's. He's. He did the who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He was the host of that for the Japan version.
19:44 Peter von Gomm: Okay. But he. And he pronounced it Tokyo.
19:46 John Daub: I think he was right.
19:47 Peter von Gomm: No, but he's Japanese. You're not.
19:49 John Daub: He looks like one of the guys you could be. No, he said Tokyo. Tokyo. And he kept saying it like. Because I would go online on. On live stream, Japanese tv, and I'd be going, Tokyo and Tokyo. But you also say no on the other way. It triggers foreigners that are watching this. They're going, I don't like the way you say Tokyo. But then we also don't like the way you say Asakusa. You can't win anyways, right?
20:19 Peter von Gomm: But you also say France. You're not British, so stop it.
20:23 John Daub: Because I got friends in France that keep on saying, it's not France, it's France. They corrected me a million times. And then you get. And I had a lot of French friends who say France. I also say Australia. Australia.
20:36 Peter von Gomm: Okay. With the.
20:37 John Daub: Yeah. I say it the way they say it because I hear it more from them than I do from Americans that say Australia. It's actually hard for me to say Australia because I was in Australia for the millennium.
20:48 Peter von Gomm: Did you just go straight away to the railway station?
20:51 John Daub: The dingo ate my baby. I can't do it. I apologize. This is awful. But I don't. When you are an expat or you live away from the place where you grew up, it kind of does mess around with you because your friends are very international and you just can't get away from it. My. My. My accent is different than my family's. Like, I don't speak. I have a more of a Ohio accent and everybody.
21:15 Peter von Gomm: Because you went to school there, right?
21:16 John Daub: Jersey. Yeah. New York, Philadelphia, South Jersey accent. Right. From where we'd lived before. My brother's accent is so different than my own. You can't tell. More international, I guess. I don't know. What about you? You're getting Oregon accent.
21:30 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. And I'm happy that you pronounced Oregon properly. A lot of people say Oregon.
21:34 John Daub: See, because I hear you say Oregon.
21:39 Peter von Gomm: Oregon. Oregon.
21:42 John Daub: How do you say Canada? Eh? Canada.
21:44 Peter von Gomm: Canada. That's an easy one.
21:46 John Daub: Jason and I talk. We're digitally.
21:48 Peter von Gomm: Right?
21:48 John Daub: Jason. I can hear Jason whispering in my ear. Yeah. But. Yeah, basically, this area of Tokyo, just to get back to. Oh, I want to talk about Toronto. Is Toronto. Toronto. Toronto. Couple of things here. This area is kind of cool. The. The market. I have a map here. I can pull up.
22:14 Peter von Gomm: No.
22:14 John Daub: Neat.
22:14 Peter von Gomm: Now where are we?
22:16 John Daub: We are right now at the end of it, actually. I don't know because we're closer to Hibiya and Yurakucho station now than Tokyo station. Going to the. We're on the left side.
22:24 Peter von Gomm: I don't have my glasses. What station is that?
22:26 John Daub: Tokyo. That's the Marunouchi side.
22:28 Peter von Gomm: I just had to ask, didn't I? Tokyo.
22:30 John Daub: Tokyo. You get the full blast. You can say it anywhere. I'm not gonna correct you. So it's over.
22:35 Peter von Gomm: It's. Railway station's this way.
22:38 John Daub: Yeah, that way. So we're on the left side.
22:40 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
22:40 John Daub: So we're.
22:41 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we're right around.
22:41 John Daub: We're closer to the. In fact, we could get to the International Forum. Another thing that I thought was really unique information to Share to make this valuable is that they have this shuttle bus that's totally free. I didn't know about this. Did you know about this? Just for the Marunouchi side. It starts at I guess, Tokyo Station and wrap around the Maru building and the Nikkei building and Hibiya Station and just keep going around and around. I've seen it a couple of times, but I didn't know it was free, so.
23:09 Peter von Gomm: Wow. Is it one of those like electric buses? Like they have their own Ikebukuro station? It's called the Ike bus.
23:14 John Daub: I think so. Yeah.
23:15 Peter von Gomm: It goes like 20, 20 kilometers an hour. You can basically walk faster than it
23:20 John Daub: helps to get people around. I know that Shibuya has one, but I think it's 100 yen. The Hachi bus.
23:25 Peter von Gomm: Okay. Hot seat bus.
23:26 John Daub: Hot chi.
23:27 Peter von Gomm: Okay. Hot tea.
23:30 John Daub: That means elephant in Hindi. Just a plug to our friend. Don't look at the numbers. He doesn't want to know how many people watched. But this is maybe one of the best videos you've ever done.
23:41 Peter von Gomm: Thank you.
23:42 John Daub: I felt like I'm gonna just show a little bit of it here.
23:45 Peter von Gomm: Oh, wow.
23:46 John Daub: It felt like I was. This is a totally edited video. You spent it's like hours and hours on it. Just. I had an adrenaline rush and I was scared for you, which is amazing. I know you made it because you're here, but it was just. It's just so well done. Your blacks are so black. It's a very cinematic episode. So I'm hoping you guys do check it out and get a little adrenaline. It was better than two express espressos. So.
24:10 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I. I spent a lot, a lot, a lot of hours on that video. It's months in the making. It's a night ride in Tokyo. A lot of people have. Have asked me to do a night ride in Tokyo. And Tokyo is an amazing city at night. You know. You know, the lights. And I got some great shots from John for the opening of it from some scenes that he shot in Shinjuku. But it's an amazing place. And the expressways, which I. I use, which I use often when I go to work at night time, they're. They're largely empty. And especially there's one strip that goes. Actually we're very near it now. It goes by Yurakcho, right?
24:53 John Daub: Yeah.
24:54 Peter von Gomm: And above Ginza. Yeah, it's amazing.
24:56 John Daub: It's.
24:56 Peter von Gomm: And there's nobody that uses it. It's. It's very lightly used. And we had one heck of a ride. 75 kilometer ride around the expressways. It's a great, great video. I'm proud of how it turned out. But I don't want to.
25:13 John Daub: You don't want to know.
25:13 Peter von Gomm: I don't want to see it ever again.
25:14 John Daub: Vasily writes in here. John, this $5 a reward for being faithful to the Japanese language and your pronunciation of Tokyo. It's a foot of Tokyo. That's is a live view of the market by the way. Just to give you an idea.
25:29 Peter von Gomm: It's packed.
25:30 John Daub: It is not. It's. It's also the last day of the holiday. Tomorrow starts the regular Japanese working. Right?
25:36 Peter von Gomm: Right.
25:36 John Daub: Everybody goes back to work mostly some people go back on Wednesday on the 8th.
25:40 Peter von Gomm: But yeah, the kids, kids start back up on the 8th. Yeah, yeah, a lot of the time.
25:48 John Daub: Some offices, a lot of people, some people let you work it remotely, but everybody's got to go back to the office these days. It's been a pretty good, pretty chill holiday. You didn't go down to see your in laws, did you?
26:00 Peter von Gomm: No, I went to Okutama. We stayed at a 300 year old inn the night before last.
26:07 John Daub: Okay.
26:08 Peter von Gomm: Went there for one night with my family. Drove there and had a great time. It's one of my favorite places within an hour and a half of Tokyo. Tokyo, it's like you said, it's. It's all villages and the area we were in is actually the westernmost. It's the last part of Tokyo, believe it or not. You know, you're 70 kilometers away from where we are now.
26:32 John Daub: Right.
26:33 Peter von Gomm: But it's still Tokyo and it's these, these, these remote mountain villages
26:41 John Daub: and it's
26:41 Peter von Gomm: just a beautiful area. Clean, clean air and excellent, you know, mountain vegetables. You probably had some great food at your yokong.
26:49 John Daub: You stayed at Wasabi is very famous where we stayed. Yeah, we stayed at a 300. It was built in 1776. I'm like, wait a second. So this place was built the day that America fought for its independence. That's crazy, right? It has been there for that long and it's freaking on the top of a mountain. You gotta take a cable. Yeah, yeah. Mitake. It's gonna take a cable car to get there. So yeah, we were. It's a sponsored video with the Tokyo toll and we got a chance to take a cameraman and everybody up there with the family and show you what it's like. Because I know a lot of people go to Shinjuku, Shibuya, they stay here in the center. But my gosh, if you're missing the Japanese countryside in any shape or form on a trip here, you're missing a lot. This might be the option for you. Okatama is very nice too. I show a little bit of that area as well in the video.
27:39 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, it's great. It's great. Like I said, there's lots. Oh, it's real cold. Our car was covered in frost in
27:44 John Daub: the morning and it's about 10 degrees colder out in the mountains than it is here.
27:47 Peter von Gomm: Was your place heated your Yoko?
27:50 John Daub: We went in November when during the autumn foliage. But it was heated. We. We had dambo, the two fan heaters up on the top and a kotatsu.
28:00 Peter von Gomm: Okay, well, kotatsu.
28:01 John Daub: Yeah, we had.
28:02 Peter von Gomm: Those are great. In the winter time, we had a kotatsu, but we had a kerosene heater. No, no, normal like heaters on the wall.
28:10 John Daub: Yeah.
28:10 Peter von Gomm: So it has that nice. That. That crisp heat that you get from
28:14 John Daub: a kerosene heater and that odor of the country. To me, the kerosene heaters smell like the countryside of Japan. Right?
28:19 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
28:19 John Daub: That's how Japan stays cool.
28:21 Peter von Gomm: Right. But wasabi is popular there and yuzu, so a lot of the dishes they use.
28:28 John Daub: Interesting.
28:28 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. So the. I was mentioning in my. My live stream on the way over here, the ozoni, which is a traditional Osho got some New Year's meal or.
28:39 John Daub: Or soup. Soup that they have here with mochi.
28:42 Peter von Gomm: This was the best ozoni I've ever had.
28:46 John Daub: Because of the citrus.
28:47 Peter von Gomm: You had to use it as soon as you took the lid off the. The smell, the aroma was just like, wow, Yuzu is.
28:53 John Daub: And by the way, you can get yuzu cosmetics if you're a dude. I have this. I. I use hand cream now because everyone was commenting. Dude, if you're gonna.
29:01 Peter von Gomm: I was wondering how you look so young.
29:03 John Daub: I also been using this. This Neutrogena Hydro Aqua or something. You can see I'm just glowing. You see it?
29:12 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I see it. In fact, I gotta wear shades. You're glowing.
29:15 John Daub: Hydro aqua something.
29:17 Peter von Gomm: Starting to go blind from your.
29:19 John Daub: Apparently people say you're looking kind of raw, so you better wear some face cream. Yeah. Because it's from the glow. But I use this yuzu hand cream too. It smells, you know, quite. I didn't know like scented candles and stuff actually are toxic. Right. And well, the scents that we have, sometimes you get the natural stuff, which is the yuzu. And it's just amazing.
29:40 Peter von Gomm: Well, you know what Neutrogena.
29:42 John Daub: I don't know. Did I pronounce that wrong?
29:44 Peter von Gomm: I used Avon. I stole one of my mom's. My mom had a little tub of Avon stuff.
29:50 John Daub: Can I have this mini zine writes in here. I know because we're going to lose some of these nice people. I remember you and Peter doing a house tour of Peter's place years ago.
30:00 Peter von Gomm: Still have the house.
30:01 John Daub: You still have the house. Amazing to see how time has bonded your friendship even more. I've known Peter since I was on Tokyo. I climbing Mount Fuji in 2010. That's how long. So it's 14.
30:11 Peter von Gomm: Somebody sent me a picture of that.
30:13 John Daub: Really?
30:14 Peter von Gomm: That particular program with you and what's his name?
30:18 John Daub: Coffee.
30:20 Peter von Gomm: The host of Tokyo.
30:22 John Daub: Pepler.
30:22 Peter von Gomm: Pepler, yeah.
30:23 John Daub: Mr. Chris Peppler. So wait, just to go back because we're getting some. Some cream. People coming in here. Matt's in here. L'. Oreal. So you're into Avon?
30:35 Peter von Gomm: Well, I wouldn't say I'm into Avon, but I was watching little shelving. Avon cream. As you can tell, I'm very youthful looking.
30:43 John Daub: Avon works for you.
30:45 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. And what also works is, from what I hear is olive oil. Rubbing your hands in olive oil.
30:54 John Daub: Extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, please.
30:56 Peter von Gomm: Sure, sure.
30:58 John Daub: Also.
30:58 Peter von Gomm: And coconut oil is also great. The expressor. Not the. Not the one that they whip up, all right, like mayonnaise, but the one that's cold pressed. Cold pressed, not. What's the other one? Cold pressed and extracted expeller or something. Yeah, they use some sort of.
31:14 John Daub: Yeah, you can use, you know, anything that hydrates is pretty good, but the oils make you look oily. And the new. What's great about this Neutrogena. I don't even pronouncing it right is that it just said it right. It just absorbs in. And it's gold guan. This Gl.
31:27 Peter von Gomm: It's guan.
31:28 John Daub: It's coffee guan. I don't know, I'm watching some Mike Myers on snl. I don't even know where this kind came from. I just couldn't. I have a couple friends that talk. Talk Boston or something.
31:39 Peter von Gomm: We had a guy in Portland, Oregon. Remember those TV commercials where the local people, they promote their products, you know, they get into the act and they're actually in their own TV commercials. Like this guy names. His name is Mike Morton and he was. He was like a. Some sort of broker of some kind. And he's obviously from. From Joy's ear from New York. But Mike Morton, at the end of every commercial you'd say, come on in and have a chat with me. And you know how I like my coffee? Cream and sugar.
32:07 John Daub: Oh, geez.
32:10 Peter von Gomm: Every time. My dad hated that guy Mike Morton
32:12 John Daub: because of the way he's talked. Because of that. He's got the. What was that thing on the Saturday Night Live? The. Oh, gosh, there's so many good questions. Yeah, the.
32:27 Peter von Gomm: Oh, no, that was. That was from Seinfeld.
32:30 John Daub: Seinfeld, right. I've got the. The. Like the jinx or something on you guys that goes back. Yeah, yeah, but the. You know, when you are living outside of the US and you are in places where people do speak English but not the way you do, you really do start to take on. When I was in India for a few weeks once and I started to speak a little bit. Oh, really? Yeah.
32:56 Peter von Gomm: Does your mom have an accent?
32:57 John Daub: No, she doesn't have an accent. No. Nothing. She says American, but when she's not around and I. I have friends and viewers, you start to. You. I don't know, it's. You pick up, absorb what's around you, and it's not like you're. I don't know, just like a kid. Right. You just put. Pick it up. It goes away once you get out of there.
33:17 Peter von Gomm: Well, I hope that Leo doesn't start saying Tokyo.
33:21 John Daub: Well, he's Japanese, but how's Georgie say it?
33:24 Peter von Gomm: Like he should.
33:25 John Daub: Yeah. Tokyo.
33:26 Peter von Gomm: Tokyo, Tokyo. Where do you live? Tokyo.
33:29 John Daub: Tokyo.
33:30 Peter von Gomm: I'm still saying with too much old. Tokyo. Try not to move your lips like a ventriloquist.
33:37 John Daub: Well, the way he said it to me, maybe I'm saying it the way that. Because it's in my head. And what are you gonna do with this famous TV host who's been on TV for like 20 years doing this show with millions of people watching comes up, he goes, joneshan.
33:48 Peter von Gomm: Was this live when he said this?
33:50 John Daub: No, no, but he. I could see he was giving me the evil eye on the show. Every time I said it, like, I almost got kicked off. I almost got kicked off the show. He asked me, we go over. So they give you for these live TV shows. My Japanese is not that good. Anybody who speaks Japanese knows that. I'm conversational, but I'm definitely not fluent. And how I get on the show, I'm not sure. I'm not nervous or anything. Despite the fact that millions of people are watching you live and they're critical as heck in this country, right?
34:17 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
34:18 John Daub: Twitter goes crazy. Twitter's still huge here, or X or whatever they call it. And he went off script. It's kind of like an outline of where you're gonna go with the conversation. So it doesn't get Too far off. And he asked me so what is the most popular gift that foreign visitors are buying these days?
34:34 Peter von Gomm: I can't believe you did that.
34:35 John Daub: And you know this story, right? I didn't think it was such a big deal cause it's in the supermarkets. But it was true because I just gotten back from Haneda Airport and they had this pyramid of condoms from Sagami. This the thinnest condoms in the world.
34:47 Peter von Gomm: 001 it's almost like you're wearing nothing
34:49 John Daub: at all I think. But they're. They're safer than the ones that are thicker. Made in the US apparently. And apparently a lot of tourists in particular from China would. I guess they don't have condom makers that work very well over there.
35:03 Peter von Gomm: But didn't the producer like ask you ahead of time what you were going to talk about?
35:08 John Daub: That's what he went off the cuff. And I had to think off of. Off of my mind. I do a one second delay and between my brain and my mouth there is a delay. And I processed it like it's safe. And it came out as I could tell right away because there's a live audience of this news program. There's about 20 to 25 local people that are sitting in the audience. I usually try to win them over because at a commercial break I come in and they announce you handing out condoms. They announce you on the stage like only Japan bangumi pudding. And I wave right to the ladies. I turn to them and I do it like you know, kind of stuff that maybe Tom Cruise would do to
35:47 Peter von Gomm: handed them your only in Japan branded condoms.
35:50 John Daub: No, I didn't go that far. But after I made that comment I could hear like a very silent. But it's like. But it's not a bad thing to say because I mean it's safe, right? I mean it's good. But it was just, it was 1pm and on Japanese TV, which is still very conservative, you wouldn't say that. I went back onto Twitter and the Twitterverse was going crazy saying that my son heard some foreigner say condom on tv. I was like, miss, I didn't respond. You're not gonna do that. But I'm thinking in my head, miss, they're sold in the supermarkets on the bottom shelf where your son can obviously pick them up Snickers bars. So I don't think it's such a big a deal because by association though, it's just something that they consider dirty to talk about on tv. I think that the times are changing quite a bit. If I'd said this 10 years ago, it would have been different, but the sponsors of the show thought it was funny because I didn't do it in a malicious way. And they. And the. The ratings, they're very critical about how the sponsors and the ratings are. You can't say Don Quixote. You say Mega discount shop or something. So they're very sensitive on this kind of stuff on these shows. It was just interesting the way that it. It did these turn. Twists and turns and. And they still invited me to back on. Yeah, he thought it was kind of funny, but something that they still. They talk about. It's still kind of funny. There's this really nice guy named Damon who's dressed up in makeup. He's got white face. He like a. I thought he was a clown. I. I didn't follow Japanese pop culture, but now I'm a big fan. He's a rock star.
37:23 Peter von Gomm: Oh, he's an ojisan, right?
37:24 John Daub: Yeah. Damon.
37:25 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. With lots of, like, KISS makeup.
37:27 John Daub: Yeah. He comes in the studio like that.
37:29 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
37:29 John Daub: Like, I get my makeup done. Everybody does. But he comes fully made up. It's awesome. But he's one of the nicest guys. And he's, you know, would teach me a little bit about sumo wrestling and Johnson sumo rules and stuff. Have a little bit of conversation. Everyone's so friendly, you know?
37:45 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, yeah.
37:46 John Daub: But I don't know who they really are because I don't follow Japanese tv, so I'm not starstruck.
37:50 Peter von Gomm: Right.
37:51 John Daub: Next to me, my wife is starstruck.
37:53 Peter von Gomm: Right.
37:53 John Daub: Oh, you met him? Yeah. I'm like, I don't know who this really nice lady is, but she's just really nice. So that's a great way you treat everybody the same.
37:59 Peter von Gomm: Exactly.
38:00 John Daub: If I was starstruck, I'd be like, I don't think I'd be able to be able to go on the show.
38:04 Peter von Gomm: I was working with a guy, comedian, actor, a few weeks ago, and for nhk, we did a educational thing together. I told my wife, Maji. Right, Right. I'm like, who's this guy? I don't. I don't know who he was. He's a nice guy. We had a fun recording together. But, yeah, we're not Star Trek now. If Brad Pitt, brappy, as they say in Japanese, Brad Pitt was with us, we'd be freaking out.
38:33 John Daub: I don't think I would be freaking out. I don't get freaking out.
38:36 Peter von Gomm: What if Ralph Macchiato pulled up a chair here?
38:39 John Daub: I don't tell the story too much, but when I was in Australia. I encountered Tom Cruise by himself on the streets when he was filming Mission Impossible.
38:47 Peter von Gomm: Okay, you have my attention. Yeah, yeah, keep going.
38:49 John Daub: And what happened, you could tell right away because of the jeans and the. And the sunglasses and the big smile. And I said, tom Cruise, you doing?
38:58 Peter von Gomm: He's like John Dove, only to me.
39:00 John Daub: I didn't take a picture. I didn't take a picture because I wasn't starstruck. I noticed that I was taller than him, which is pretty, pretty unique. And I'm like, how you doing? He goes, pretty good. You can film me. Mission Impossible 2. I said, great. Good luck. Next day, I saw him roaring on a motorcycle past Bondi Beach. You could hear him. Everyone was saying, that was Tom Cruise. Okay, yeah, I saw him yesterday. And then everybody in the. In the hostel was pretty shaken up, but that was pretty cool. I didn't. I didn't feel starstruck. I sat across from a table from Claire Danes and breakfast in Ambandai Beach.
39:36 Peter von Gomm: I know the name.
39:36 John Daub: I'm sure I didn't get starstruck. She was very nice. She was. A lot of famous people were in Australia for the Millennium Party and that was. Didn't get Starstruck.
39:45 Peter von Gomm: This is 2000, 1999.
39:47 John Daub: 1999.
39:48 Peter von Gomm: The two millenniums, they just look like normal people.
39:52 John Daub: I was in an elevator with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Columbus. That's where he did the bodybuilding stuff at the convention center. He is taller than me and a very massive person. But he doesn't look as big as he does in the movies. A little bit starstruck. Starstruck. I met Bill Clinton, shook his hand. I'm not really starstruck. Yeah, he had a big hand.
40:13 Peter von Gomm: Bill Clinton did.
40:14 John Daub: Yeah, big hand. Just a nice. He was a nice guy. I mean, politicians are supposed to be. I went down and that was funny. That year 1992, during the election. Was it year 92, Bill Clinton came on campus and George Bush. I went downtown for that rally. He came with Bruce Willis in the. In the financial district. So you could tell the different perspectives. Big mistake by Bush to go like, isolate himself in the financial district in the capital. And Clinton went to where the kids were. So there's more energy. It's interesting. Election.
40:46 Peter von Gomm: Wow. And I can't believe I'm sitting here with you.
40:49 John Daub: I know.
40:50 Peter von Gomm: Know all these famous people.
40:51 John Daub: Are you starstruck?
40:52 Peter von Gomm: I'm. I'm speechless.
40:55 John Daub: Interesting. Speechless. Interesting. Do you like that, Vasily? John, you are more famous than Tom Cruise in my world. Really? Well, I'm looking forward to coming and meeting. Meeting you. And then when I do, please do not get starstruck.
41:09 Peter von Gomm: Right. There's a. There's a saying in Japan. What's your name? I don't have my glasses. Vasili. Yeah. Vasily.
41:17 John Daub: Yeah.
41:18 Peter von Gomm: Vasily Gomonsuri. Yeah. Please explain what that means, Johnny.
41:27 John Daub: Yeah. Like, mix it. Like to do the. Mix the Goma. Like the seeds for that. Yeah. There's a lot of, like. What is like flattery, Right? Sort of flattery.
41:37 Peter von Gomm: It's like an apple polisher.
41:38 John Daub: Yeah. I just. I don't know. You treat everybody the same. That's the thing. I'm more. More starstruck with the people who pick up my garbage, in a way, because they're the ones who get to drive the truck and pull that lever that crushes the trash. And that's just cool. Or the crane drivers. Anybody who's doing construction is freaking awesome, man. They get a license to do those cement mixers. I just want to pull the lever and watch the cement come out one time. Now that is cool. I don't know why. Ever since I was a kid, Leo's got that too. Like, construction stuff. We just love looking at the buses. Some of the construction drivers get to fold the lever.
42:14 Peter von Gomm: Construction videos do well on YouTube where you just. There's like those digger. They call them digga cars, the backhoes and stuff, and the bulldozers. People like watching that stuff.
42:24 John Daub: Firefighters, they got the best job in the world. Right? I mean, it's like. It's the coolest job.
42:28 Peter von Gomm: Exciting. But danger.
42:29 John Daub: Danger's not that good. You're spending a lot of time just sitting around pretty much in these trailers. It's a firefighter. Well, they're sitting around in the fire station. Right. So it's not quite the same.
42:39 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
42:39 John Daub: You wanna walk around?
42:40 Peter von Gomm: I wouldn't want to trade places.
42:42 John Daub: I noticed my friend is chilling down a little bit. Maybe some walkie. Walkie could do some warming up. But, you know, this is the. This is the great point of Marunouchi. You can just chillax, you know? I mean.
42:56 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. On the weekends, the streets all closed off and it's a nice place.
43:01 John Daub: Yeah.
43:02 Peter von Gomm: Are we gonna get some lunch, by the way?
43:03 John Daub: Yeah, we can. Let's go this way. I know a place.
43:06 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, we're just about at Frozen Stage now. It's chilly.
43:10 John Daub: But you can see a lot of these restaurants. They're really good restaurants. They have stands on the outside. This one has a Moe and Shandon. How do you pronounce that?
43:20 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, that's Right. The first word you pronounce properly today.
43:25 John Daub: Moe.
43:26 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, Moe and chandon.
43:27 John Daub: Oh, yeah. This is also where the Patagonia shop is where I got Kanai's birthday present. So. All right. Christmas present. So I did get her something nice. She wanted a down jacket. I got her the nicest one that she wanted. But this is the market, everybody. I'm not sure what it is for lunch, but I guess. Do you have anything else you wanted to share with the. Share with the people.
43:49 Peter von Gomm: My hunger. I would like to share my hunger and my freezing hands with them. Somebody has warm pockets I could put them in.
43:56 John Daub: Yeah, I'm gonna share with you guys. I did a. I'm gonna put it on only in Japan. Go. But I did a Nagano fireworks festival Kickstarter. This documentary has been just for the backers of it, but I'm gonna put it online for everybody to go and check it out so you can see the fireworks that we purchased with and put it online here.
44:19 Peter von Gomm: So where was this? In Nagano.
44:20 John Daub: This one was in Nagano. They had a typhoon that knocked out so much of the town here. The flooding. Do you remember the images of the Shinkansen track being flooded?
44:29 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
44:30 John Daub: Yeah. So do I. And when they. The Japan Hanabi association said that, I said, well, where can we do a charitable event this year? They said here. What was great about this is was they. They put our name on the fireworks too. So when they exploded, it was like, you are the voice of it. Right?
44:48 Peter von Gomm: I'm kind of it.
44:49 John Daub: I'm kind of going through it here. Anyways, I'm going to put this out on the street here. I got a chance to meet with the mayor of Nagano. Check this out. Nagano mayor called out our community when he was doing his tv. You guys remember this? He was doing it. Oh, hello.
45:08 Peter von Gomm: Hey.
45:09 John Daub: Yeah, you found us. Here's the. Hold a second. This is the mayor of Nagano.
45:12 Peter von Gomm: Daniel. Good to meet you.
45:13 John Daub: Hold on a second, guys.
45:15 Peter von Gomm: Yumi. Hi, Peter.
45:16 John Daub: Yeah. There's a mayor of Nagano coming out to call us out. He knew that we'd come here to do charitable stuff here and Peter was the voice of that, so. Well, thanks for coming out to find us. Where are you guys from?
45:28 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Australia.
45:29 John Daub: Okay. How do you pronounce it? Oh, wow. Yeah. Nice to meet you. How do you say it? Australia or Australia? Australia. There's a percentage of people that are
45:46 Peter von Gomm: like, yeah, we were discussing this earlier. Accents.
45:49 John Daub: Accents like that. How's your trip been?
45:51 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Yeah, been great. Coming to the end of my trip. Trip Now. So I've been here for 17 days.
45:57 John Daub: 17 days.
45:58 Peter von Gomm: Wow.
45:59 John Daub: Over the holidays. Was it too chill to be here over New Year's or you think it was worth.
46:05 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): I wasn't actually here. I went to Zao on New Year's Day.
46:08 John Daub: Okay. Up there in. That's Akita, right? Or Yamagata. Yeah, yeah, Yamagata up there.
46:13 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Yeah.
46:14 John Daub: Z's real nice.
46:15 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
46:15 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): I went up to Tohoku. Started off in Aomor.
46:18 John Daub: Okay.
46:19 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Drove down to Sendai, went to Zao Ginza and went back to Sendai.
46:24 John Daub: Driving's the way to go, isn't it? Yes. It's a lot of fun. The service areas and everything.
46:28 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Yeah. A bit of assistance from you on driving tips. So that was really helpful.
46:34 John Daub: Yeah. But you weren't scared at all?
46:36 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): No. Australia.
46:38 Peter von Gomm: Yeah.
46:38 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Yeah. Driving the same sides. Road rules are fairly similar. Yeah. Fun trip.
46:46 John Daub: That's one of our discord moderators. A lot of them are here watching. That's fun.
46:50 Peter von Gomm: That's fun. Where did you first see the Yoda Jedi?
46:57 John Daub: Yeah, he was a mod for the. The New Year's Stream. We had 10,000 people watching at one time. Thank you Yoda Jedi for. For helping out. We'll talk about getting you the. The mod license full time. We got to talk with all the other mods first. But appreciate you you being there. Very cool. Where you headed now?
47:12 Peter von Gomm: That's right.
47:13 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Probably back to. That's good. First aboard Tokyo Station.
47:16 John Daub: All right.
47:17 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): Buy some stuff there. Last minute souvenirs. Gonna head back to Ginza.
47:21 John Daub: Okay.
47:22 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): I do like how they shut the street and you just get home.
47:25 John Daub: So nice. Yeah. I'm gonna come back in the evening. They have the champagne and I think they have more food trucks in the evening. But Sunday is kind of a slew a little bit slower.
47:33 Peter von Gomm: Seems to have be quite quiet right now.
47:36 John Daub: Well, thanks everybody for. For watching. We'll see in another live stream tomorrow. Thank you to Peter pbg.
47:41 Peter von Gomm: Thanks guys.
47:41 John Daub: Shout out to his channel right here. Go check out what I think is one of the most amazing adrenalized ride. Don't look at the numbers, Peter. Adrenalized ride that you're going to see make you fall in love with for Tokyo on a motorcycle. I think this is a great way to see the city. Thank you for. For all of that and all of your contributions PVG and all of you. We'll see you another live stream tomorrow. Take care. Stay warm. It is freezing out here.
48:06 Peter von Gomm: It's really cold.
48:07 John Daub: It's freezing. How could you leave summer to come out here.
48:10 Unknown (SPEAKER_02): I like to call.
48:11 John Daub: You like to call? Well, there you go. All right, guys.