00:00:02 John Daub: Hey everybody, welcome to Tokyo. You see that right there? That's the Tokyo Skytree and this is Hikifune, a suburb of Sumida Ward, one of the 23 wards of Tokyo. It's basically like the suburbs of Tokyo. It really does feel like that in the shadow of that amazing tower, the Tokyo Skytree. It looks really cool with the city around it. We're not that far away, of course, you can tell. I'm going to pan up and show you from street level past the Ito-Yokado here, which is a supermarket chain. All 634 meters of it. It's kind of warm today and I'm here for a reason. I'm not just here to film the neighborhood. You see I got this red t-shirt on. It says Kanai and Megumi Modern Ballet and I'm filming my wife's video performance today. It's sold out, which is really great. They're going to be performing inside this culture center.

00:01:09 John Daub: There's a massive studio. There's the poster right here. I'm really proud of her. Look at that. That's beautiful. She's doing a performance of Annie in here with her school and Leo is inside there. Leo's going to actually be performing too, which is crazy. He's watching them now. They're doing a dress rehearsal right now before they do the main show. Hikifune has a lot of the cities around Tokyo have these kind of places where artists can perform, which I really like. Here you can see actually Kanai, she's the sensei of I think it's about 60, 70 students, but also she's performing as the witch, the bad woman in the Annie performance. You can see her right there taking a seat. I guess that's Annie hiding behind her. She does look evil. Sometimes she looks like that at home. Sometimes if I don't clean up, it can be pretty bad. Backstage is pretty cool as well.

00:02:11 John Daub: We got it. It's pretty cool to see the performance right now as they go through the dress rehearsals. All the makeup that they wear. You don't see it too much in the center of Tokyo, so you gotta get a look outside in sort of the suburbs, and this is one of the places here. I keep looking at these vending machines for that ramen in a can, so if anybody out there who's living in Japan finds it, let me know because I would love to. Somebody stopped me and said hi, didn't wait around. That looks good. You also find a ramen place. You also find a lot of local stuff out here, which is, I think, something that people might be looking for.

00:02:52 John Daub: I think there's a lot of people that are going to be thinking about moving to Japan, to Tokyo. We're seeing a lot of expats wanting to move in here. Hikifune is a pretty affordable place comparatively to the center of Tokyo. I think it's on the Tobu Line. It's just one stop away from that Skytree which we started. You can't really see it. Oh, there goes a train right now. They're not really big trains. If we go down, you can look down on the map where Hikifune is. It might be the first and the last time you ever hear of this place as well. It's nice to know a little bit about the geography of Tokyo. This is the Sumida-machi. You can see it's not that far away from Sensoji. Really is just across the river. Oh, we just almost stabbed ourselves with the Tapa Skytree right there. Look at that. It's beautiful. It's nice to live near here because then you always have it outside your window.

00:03:54 John Daub: That's where we are, that blue spot just right down there, Hikifune. There's not a lot going on here. I got to be honest. It's just a place that you live when you're in Tokyo. Nobody really lives in Shibuya. There are residences, residential areas, but it's really expensive. You live in Shibuya Ward or Setagaya Ward around there. Majority of people live out here or out in Saitama. This is a slice of everyday Tokyo life. That's why there's... I think that's the Tobu Line. I can't remember the name of the line. I know we're going to be taking that to get back home into the city. I don't think it's too far to walk to Skytree.

00:04:43 John Daub: Just going to walk around a little bit, take a look. Here's one of those discount ticket shops, Daikokuya. They sell discount tickets. You can get probably a discount on the Shinkansen, maybe a thousand yen if you're going down to Osaka. So it's sometimes worth, if you've got a family of four, you would save about 4,000 yen. Which is pretty crazy off of a ticket from Tokyo to Osaka on the Shinkansen. But like, you know, if you're staying in a hotel, this is not a bad spot. But of course, central Tokyo has its advantages. But if you're thinking about living in Japan, then you really have to make sure you stretch your money out. And living in a place like Hikifune is actually not a bad idea.

00:05:30 John Daub: It looks like just like a snack bar is down that alley over there. There's a tendon. You see tempura on a bowl of rice. There's a shop right down there. But it looks kind of old. It's got this really authentic feel to it. It is more metropolitan than Saitama, so to speak, I guess. Maybe because it's in the city. There is more commercial here. More commercial businesses here. It's maybe my 4th or 5th time ever being here. But you really do get a feel for the suburban everyday Tokyo life. Not the touristy stuff. You probably wouldn't be able to get a feel for the city life in Tokyo. You probably won't see one tourist around here. In fact, I don't see any suitcase-wielding tourists. And we're just one stop away from the Skytree, which is pretty crazy.

00:06:32 John Daub: So when you think about it like that, yeah, maybe if you want to experience the normal Japanese everyday life, you want to go here. There's a Xuji-Rushi, a sports store in there. This is where locals would go for the supermarket, which is down in the basement. And they have a Muji-Rushi right there. And it's all local stuff, you know what I mean? There's the Tokyo Hikifune hospital. Oh, there's the station entrance right here. There's got a Tully's Coffee in there. Tully's used to be an American chain that went out of business, but except here in Japan. I think they might have some in Australia, actually.

00:07:15 John Daub: If only I had a Doraemon door, I'd pop up right away in Hikifune, right in Satrio. Oh, I'd love to see that. When are you coming back, Satrio? I hope the postcard made it to you over down there in Indonesia. How cool is that? Over the Crest is in the house. Grab a beer. You got it. Since I'm working, I can't grab one right now, but I will. I absolutely will. Look at that. They have kind of like an outdoor market going on over here in the courtyard. That's another thing I don't really hear. In the city of Tokyo over the last few months, I've been hearing every language except for Japanese. Which is crazy. You go to Ginza and you hear more like Chinese than you do Japanese. Nothing wrong with that. But it's like, it doesn't feel like Japan anymore.

00:08:15 John Daub: Amiro writes in here, I'm two stations away. You're never going to catch me. This is going to be a very long live stream. That's cool. So they have some sort of a market with these tents. It looks like they're just packing up. It looks like a morning market with vegetables. So they're selling stuff maybe from Tochigi. A lot of Tochigi farmers. Especially during peach season, I see a lot of people from Yamanashi drive pickup trucks and go out into the streets of Tokyo and sell their peaches. Which is so good. Tully's Coffee Chain Outlets in Australia. None there. Okay. I'd heard from somebody that there might be something there, but I smell curry. Now I know why. It's Coco Ichibanya. And it looks like it's lunchtime. So it looks like it's pretty full.

00:09:10 John Daub: Do not eat. Grab a taxi. Come out here. I'm not going to be live streaming that long. Don't do it. I'll probably go live tomorrow. I'm going down to Shinagawa perhaps. I'm not sure. But I don't know. Don't do it. I'll feel bad. I'll feel real bad if you did that. There's no way you'll catch me. Unless like you were literally here right now. I can't think how else you would. Let's go across the street into the station. Go check it out. There's a few bakeries. Oh, there's a Space Ace. This is the most amazing train. Did you see that? The Space Ace is the most amazing train that goes to Nikko. So it's on the way going to Nikko. That's quite a shot.

00:10:17 John Daub: I think there's two, more than one station here. Just want to take a look and show you on the map some of the train prices. Perhaps. I'm not even sure where the entrance is. I usually go the other way. When I first got here, I was like, oh, I'm going to go to the train. I don't have to go through all the way through. This bakery was really popular. Vie de France. But it's not as popular as it was 25 years ago. They're still pretty inventive though. You'll find them in like train stations. You grab a couple of pieces of bread and then you can eat them on the train. Nibble away. It looks pretty good. Look at that one there with all the toppings on it. Wow. That looks like a work of art. Shubatirumare. Thank you. Thank you.

00:11:34 John Daub: All right, let's take a look at the train tickets. The Tobu Line is relatively inexpensive. I don't think that it stops here. We're right there. So you can see just one stop from Asakusa, or two stops from Asakusa, one stop from the Skytree. And Hikifune is on a joining line, the Kameido Line. And the Kameido will take you to the JR Sobu Line, right? Which will take you towards Chiba. So that's pretty convenient. And then the Tobu Line, the Skytree Line will take you to Nikko, which is just 1,200 yen away, right there. So interesting.

00:13:13 John Daub: 7-Eleven ATM outside. Those are ones that will take the foreign cards. So here's kind of that other side here. The Skytree up there. And then there are some businesses outside the station on this side. Looks, definitely looks more like Saitama or, you know, like away from the center of Tokyo. But you're really close to, close to the center. Not that far away from Asakusa, just two stops. But it feels, it's got no tourists and it has that feel of being way more Japanese than central Tokyo right now. And this is central Tokyo. Kind of, it's pretty much central because there's residential areas. There's residential areas, over there, and over here.

00:14:09 John Daub: They have no ramen in a can, but they have hot crab soup. It's hard to find it. I'm always looking. Looks like some good gyoza. What is that? Otaya? Ah, gyoza. What is that? Cheese gyoza? Kimchi gyoza. What? That looks interesting. Kimchi gyoza. They are very inventive. They got a ton of different gyoza. Here, ebi gyoza, boiled ebi gyoza, ebi chili gyoza, shiso gyoza, garlic gyoza, cream cheese, cream stew gyoza, jaga butter, potato butter gyoza. What? That's some weird stuff. I love it. Get creative. I mean, you can put anything in a dumpling, right? I think you can. Here's a tendon. That looks great. That's a special size tendon. And it's only 1,300 yen or about $9. $8 or $9 for that. Holy smokes. I'm coming back here. Maybe after the performance, I'll take Leo here for dinner. It's crazy. Hey, Michael. Aloha, brother. Happy Saturday afternoon in Japan. Finally got a live stream this week. You got it, brother. I really appreciate it, guys.

00:15:57 John Daub: Let's go back to the other side. I'm going to make my way back to... Has anyone ever used this? I always thought about it. This is the rental umbrella. Three months for zero yen. So if you need it, you can take it. When you're finished, just return it. It's 24 hours for 140 yen. Or a monthly rental is 280 yen. You can pay for it by credit card. You have to pay your credit card by QR code here. That's so interesting. Has anyone ever done this? So then you don't have to carry or lose your umbrella. You just have to return it. You don't have to store it. That's a really convenient service. But I haven't heard of anybody who actually used it yet. We'll find out.

00:16:47 John Daub: Tendon, the tempura on a bowl of rice is very popular right now because in winter, people like to fatten up. So they fatten up on these tendon. And you can see the shops in this area anyways. They have tons of these tendon sets, which are really... This one's so expensive. This is a chain. Vegetarian. Vegetable tendon for $4 with miso soup. That's a bargain. This one with shrimp and soba set for 1,100 yen, which is... What is that? I don't know. $7? It's crazy. This one comes with a beer. This one comes with a beer for $4. What? Oh, man. You know, if you've got U.S. dollars here, you are a king or a queen.

00:17:34 John Daub: All right, let's make our way out of here. When I'm streaming in the city, I try my best not to get people in the stream. You know, you have to protect them. You can see the train line going by there. I think that's the Kameido Line. There's the massive Ito-Yokado, which is owned by the Seven group, 7-11. That was a Tobu Line for sure. You can tell from the look of the train. 7-11, you can... It's on the sign there, up there. You see it? So if you shop at Ito-Yokado, you can see it. You'll see like maybe 20% of the items in there are 7-11 branded goods. And then 7-11 takes the popular stuff and puts in their convenience stores because they have limited space.

00:18:48 John Daub: Matthew was here yesterday? What business did you in Hikifune? This is not exactly a buzzing spot of Tokyo, but, you know, I think if you have to pick a place to live and you didn't have a big budget, this is really a pretty good option because of the convenience of it. So you can see the size of the train lines. Getting to Asakusa, then from Asakusa, you have the Ginza Line and you have the Asakusa Line. So you get onto other subway lines. So it's not very far away. You've got tons of convenience stores, tons of budget options. Family Mart's doing an amazing job with their food lately. Check this out. They've got this imo croissant. This purple croissant going on there. And look at that. Is it a boiled egg? No, it's a hanjuku tamago, I think. Ajitama onigiri. That looks so good. They're doing an amazing job with the food offerings. Of course, it's convenience store food, and I highly recommend that you do not eat that every day. It's still... I would still classify that as junk food.

00:19:55 John Daub: Tsugamo is a good place as well. I see Zulbright Roots in here. You'll find dry cleaning places. There's so many of them. They just do whatever they can to stick out. Pink would do that. But I've always found that dry cleaning prices in Tokyo were really cheap, comparatively. Let's take a look quickly at if you were to buy a place here. So you can buy an apartment in a pretty... a new mansion that looks really nice. It'll cost you about... I don't know. What is that? Two hundred and... $220,000 for this 2LDK to buy it. That's pretty good for Tokyo. This one is... I don't know, about $320,000. And that's a lot more space. But looks really nice. Again, Tokyo is probably the most expensive option for anyone who wants to come and live in Japan. Of course. Osaka is maybe 30% cheaper than Tokyo. I don't know if it's just cause supply and demand. Tokyo is just really high. But again, like, you want to live in a place that's... a living place. Right? So to speak. Hikifune is pretty good.

00:21:15 John Daub: And here's a ramen area. If you found a place that had a... a hotel here, I think you'd do pretty good with the restaurant options that are available. There sure is a lot of good cheap food here. Oh my. The Keisei Hikifune Station for a couple of weeks. Yeah, there's probably some monthly mansions here. There's probably some Airbnbs in the area, I'm sure. But a lot of these places, Sumida Ward has laws that prevent year-round accommodation... year-round Airbnbs. And that's kind of an issue. It makes it hard to make money off of something. Cause they don't want competition with the other hotels. Cause the hotels are good at lobbying. They have an association. They do a pretty good job.

00:22:13 John Daub: The last thing I'm going to show you is just something of interest. See, here's a rent-a-car. A Nissan rent-a-car. I prefer Toyota rent-a-car. I'm not a big fan of Nissan. But they make use of the space. They don't actually store the cars here. But they have a parking lot away. And then they bring the cars here. They go where the people are. I thought that that's really cool. And this gas station, which is fascinating for those that are... And I've always found that Nissan rent-a-car, the cars are never cleaned well. Toyota is like just miles ahead. But you pay for it. You pay for that. This gas station is a good example. They make use of the space. And they know in a crowded metropolitan area, there's dangers to put the pump on the ground. So, you might see this in other city, urban areas. But they... Some of you, the pumps are hanging from the roof. Isn't that cool? Do you see it? So, that lowers the risk of any kind of an accident happening. And they make the most amount of space by removing the pumps. It gives more space for drivers to come in. So, if you are renting a car, the staff will come out. In Tokyo, I don't think it's self-serve. They'll come out and guide you to where you have to pump.

00:23:31 John Daub: Now, I was a fan of Carlos Ghosn. And he was... I don't think was treated very well by Nissan. It was all political stuff. But I thought he did a great job of turning around a company. And then they kind of... I don't know. Got jealous. So, since that, the corporate culture in Japan, that's the reason why I don't work in a corporation. Maybe. Anyways, this is it. I'm going to go in here and do my job. I got a film for Kanai. But this is her poster. And wish her luck. Maybe I'll have some videos to show you later on. But she's doing a pretty good job of playing the bad guy here inside. Sorry it's sold out. If anybody wanted to come and watch, the event is completely sold out. But it's sold out because the tickets are free. She's just asking for donations to pay it off. I think she'll do okay.

00:24:36 John Daub: Peter's not coming. That's a shame. All right, everybody. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below. If you are living in this area, comment and let us know how nice Hikifune is. I kind of like the vibe here. It's got a lot of character, a lot of personality. This looks like a place that's very livable, very Japan, very Tokyo, right? And it's starting to... It's kind of warm today. It's feeling like early spring, which is teasing. All right, everybody. Thanks, Michael. Take care. Matane.