00:00:02 John Daub: This is Shinjuku Station in February 2025. It's like it doesn't even exist. You can see there used to be the old Odakyu department store right there—that's a big hole in the ground. There's the Keio department store, which is slated for demolition probably pretty soon. Just the state of it right now does not look pretty. They never even—the windows of the Keio department store never really had any purpose. It's all blacked out and you can see the canopy there; the overheads kind of look their age. They're certainly not going to be doing any more cleaning with it since it's slated for demolition pretty soon.

00:00:47 John Daub: But this project for Shinjuku Station, it's not just there. It's on the other side of the street as well. Look at this. There's the Yodobashi Camera, the electronics store that everybody knows about that's been here since, I don't know, the '50s or '60s. That's still there with the neon lights, but all around it, it's a big construction site, except for this building right here, which was completed in 2008, which is beautiful. The skyline here on this side was never really big. It was always kind of, I don't know, not really tall buildings. Then we got this Kabukicho Tower on the other side. I love the top of it. If you look at it, it looks like it's been frosted at the top, and when the clouds pass by, it looks like the building's in the clouds too, unless you really zoom in on it, then you can tell it's been like frosted over. But from a distance, it's pretty cool.

00:01:51 John Daub: How you doing, everybody? So in this episode, for a lot of tourists that are coming to stay in Shinjuku, I'm not going to say don't stay in Shinjuku. The Keio Plaza Hotel over there is very popular. The service is great. I stayed there once for a project. I didn't have to, but I stayed there overnight and had the breakfast. It was really good. I really enjoyed staying at the Keio. It's right across the street from the Metropolitan Government Building.

00:02:16 John Daub: We're going to look a little bit at the history of it, but I want to talk about this project. Now, this is what the station looked like just now. That's what it's going to look like in—I'm clearing my throat for this—2046. It seems like an eternity from now, but it creeps up real fast because I've been here for 27 years this year, and it seems like yesterday I just got here. So, yeah, just double that. And this will be done, which is unbelievable. But it looks really nice. That's a 230- or 260-meter-high building on the left side. I guess that's Odakyu right there. And then Keio and JR, Tokyo Metro have a building that they're building across the street right there on the other side. So this is all pretty exciting stuff.

00:03:02 John Daub: This is going to be a couple of minutes. I'm going to turn the camera around for a second, and I'm going to read to you some information from ShinjukuStation.com, which kind of lays it out. This is going to be a couple of minutes long, so buckle in for this or just scroll past it if you want. The new incarnation of the Shinjuku Grand Terminal, the world's busiest train station, will be easier to navigate. This article dates back to 2022, but now that they're really deep into it and tourism has returned to full strength or beyond, it's getting a lot of questions. 3.6 million passengers on an average day in 2018. Astonishing volume verified by Guinness. Primary gateway to central Tokyo for commuters from the capital's northern, southern, and western suburbs, also known for being complex. Six separate stations and 53 platforms run by five rail operators. Crazy. It is a mishmash of stations and lines and all sorts of stuff. You can tell. It's very colorful. It's just architecturally a chaos, which is awesome. JR East with Odakyu, Keio, Toei Subway, Tokyo Metro, and Seibu Shinjuku all have this with inner-city buses and taxis all around.

00:04:14 John Daub: The Shibuya Station is going under a long-term revamp that is already helping to ease the confusion. It's true. The facelift of Shibuya Station has undergone recently. They're almost done there. That's been going on for like 15 years. Rail companies are investing about 72.8 billion yen, or about $540 million. That we'll see some big changes. It really will. That's a lot of money. Now they're trying to connect Shinjuku with its samurai past, which is true. This is the word Shinjuku—actually means "new lodging." Shin meaning new, juku meaning like a lodging back in the Edo period. This is a place that they built up. Entertainment built up all around it. It wasn't a place where the metropolitan government was. They didn't move here until 1991 from Yurakucho. And Yurakucho is my backyard. I didn't know this until a few years ago. Wait, so the Metropolitan building was in Yurakucho. It wasn't in Shinjuku. When I moved here to Japan, it was still kind of fresh—that building across just from where we are now.

00:05:26 John Daub: So there's a lot of history in Shinjuku. But when the Metropolitan building opened up here, it really changed the amount of workers that were here. It brought in a lot more workers, but brought a lot more money. The Koshu Kaido (Kōshū Kaidō, one of the five routes of the Edo period) Highway. This is one of the stops on there. So it was a major stop. Japan cast off the chains of feudalism in the 1860s, the Meiji era. And Shinjuku added railways and subways in 1885. That's when the great railway explosion happened here. And then World War II, everything got demolished and they had to rebuild it. This area was very famous back then for the shacks, which you can see at Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane, alley of tiny yakitori stalls). In 1991, the Metropolitan Government building moved here.

00:06:17 John Daub: There's a few things that are already visible. There's some cool lighting bath or color bath in the underground right now and you can walk around and see that. I believe that's going in the Marunouchi Line on the other side. There's a lot of changes that are going on. But what this shares for me is that date here—slated to open in 2046, which is pretty shocking to me. This is just so far in the future. Some hope: maybe open something like soon—the Gakuen Cocoon Tower and the JR Shinjuku Mirai Tower which is over there. Those opened recently so that side with the big dome—that's kind of open now. So that's some hope. Maybe Odakyu and Tokyo Metro—there's gonna be some massive changes happening here. So for the next 20 years, it's not gonna be the old Shinjuku that you know unless you're staying on the Kabukicho side, which is why I think they're promoting Kabukicho really hard right now because it's maybe a better place to stay at the moment.

00:07:23 John Daub: There's what the tower is gonna look like for Odakyu—that's pretty nice looking, 260-meter-tall tower on the west side. That's where we are right now on the west side. It's gonna be really big. That's not gonna be finished for a while. Construction said to begin two years ago, 2023, and end in 2028. So there's some hope that building is gonna be done in five years and we're halfway through basically. It's just a big hole. You know it's gonna be a big hole. Maybe they're behind schedule but gonna look real cool. Look at that. So the Keio Department Store—that's the one that is still up that I showed you—will open until the 2040s and I guess you got to say the whole decade because who knows. It will house shops, offices, hotels. The 14th floor will feature a 400-meter-long sky corridor combining indoor and outdoor spaces that will join the various buildings.

00:08:08 John Daub: The only problem with these really far-off projects is life sort of changes in a couple of decades and life was moving so fast with digital stuff. They could build something now but if the project takes too long, life might have changed already. I don't know what it's going to be like in 20 years. But the Lumine East Shinjuku shopping mall may be rebuilt as a 260-meter tower alongside the Odakyu one. A lot of changes here. Thanks for bearing with me with that but you can see that's the picture of the tower—it's pretty impressive. I like the fact that all of these new buildings—there's a Tokyu tower on the right side, that Gotham City-looking building—and you know, they're putting on these green areas, these parks and places. But I found that a lot of people just don't go up there or they don't know about it so they never really enjoy it. Maybe they'll put a cafe or something up there but looks like it's going to be pretty nice here, certainly an improvement to what we have now which is a hole in the ground.

00:09:09 John Daub: It's true—in 20 years this live stream will become an archived special, a nugget of history. It's just not there. It's still kind of weird to me not seeing it. You know Google Earth still has it there though. The great hole that's in Saitama—there was a sinkhole the other day, hopefully that ended okay. I haven't been following it lately. You can see right near Shinjuku is pretty close to the Olympic stadium and you can still see they have the old Odakyu building with the brown right there—you see that? That's gone. The Keio one that's on the right of your screen right now is still there and you have the Shinjuku Station, all those plaques and all that stuff. But it's still there. And you can see the platforms—it is massive. Again, it's the busiest station in the world. But those buildings on the top right are gone. The one of them is—the other one's going pretty soon.

00:10:05 John Daub: Um, the Southern Terrace which is now on the right side—that's still there. It's undergoing some renovations. That tall building is gone by the way—that used to be a JR building I believe. That's gone and they're renovating a little bit of the Southern Terrace as well. But this is the part of Shinjuku that's also being redeveloped. There's the hole that I'm standing right in front of—this right now with the number nine was and that building right there on the left side with the brown elevator tower—that's gone. I think that was built in the late '50s and '60s. It certainly felt like it when you went in there. Um, I remember going in there and feeling a little bit claustrophobic because I guess people were shorter back then. They did have a beer garden. I think I did go to the beer garden once back in the day.

00:10:58 John Daub: Ramsey—silent 56 months, brother. Wow, I got some pictures here I want to show you of the old Odakyu building for historical purposes only—well, sort of. So that's what it looked like. You can see the Keio building right there—that's still there. There's the Keio Tower. Now you can match it up with the picture. So that's what the hole looked like—now it's gone. It's not there anymore. It was a nice building. Um, I only say that because like it was just a piece of when I came to Japan. The Odakyu Station and department store was a part of my history here in Japan because for 26 years I was going in there every now and then and seeing it a lot. And now it's gone so it's kind of weird for me to see the big hole.

00:12:07 John Daub: [inaudible] It has been through the diamond window right here in Japan and you can see what the [inaudible]. And one of the most interesting things about the east of Hokkaido. And my friend Tai-san who owns a convenience store down there, he's down there too. You could say Tai-san here, go say hi to him. Such a nice guy. I can't wait to go visit him in Nemuro. He's got a son that's the same age as Leo. It says Nemuro right there. You can see the ikura (salmon roe) and the crab right there. So it's underground here. They've been holding it here every year for quite a long time. And Tai-san, he's such a nice guy. He came out and he had a present for me. And inside there is their famous meronpan (melon bread) and some ramen. There's Tai-san right there. Thank you Tai-san. And that was really nice. So I'm going to take this back to Leo. And when we come to visit Tai-san, we're going to bring some gifts for him as well. Oh, check this out. Some Nemuro Samma Ramen. Samma is a silver fish you can see right there. That's going to be good to eat. Thank you Tai-san. It's great to see you today.

00:13:38 John Daub: I'm going to walk around right now to show you a little bit more of the station. Again, I think the first 13 minutes, the history is very important to look at the background of it all. But now let's walk around this area, go to the Yodobashi Camera and just get a feel for the area. Because there's going to be a lot of changes that go on over the next 10 years. And I think the Uniqlo, they opened up a bigger Uniqlo in Shinjuku as well. So let's go for a walkabout. Thank you to my friend Kupo Bob for sharing the Patreon postcard club. This month's postcard is from Hokkaido actually. There it is. These are going out next, I think maybe Sunday or next Monday from Tokyo Station. It's Rikubetsu, which is the coldest town in Japan. I was there one year ago today, which is crazy to think about it. Had my birthday there and that's the postcard coming out Monday. So thanks everybody.

00:14:42 John Daub: That's me with the sign there. Let's go see what we can find here. I was always wondering what that was. I think it's like a hole to let the underground gas of all the cars out. I think that's probably what it is, but looks like a disaster. I wish they just removed that ivy and just made it silver or something. I don't know. It's kind of a mess. Look at this bus. This is the Godzilla bus. That is pretty cool. It's going to the Washington Hotel in Nishisando. Next stop is Washington Hotel. Shinjuku loves Godzilla. All right, we got to say goodbye to this bus. Just let it pass by naturally. That's cool. There's Mothra. Mothra. Wow.

00:16:02 John Daub: I guess the next stop was right there. It's not very far. There's the airport limousine bus on the left side. The Godzilla is on the other side of the station. From here, it's about a 15-minute walk, I think. Get over there. The Gramercy Hotel. I have sent the postcards out from this postcard too. You get a little Shinjuku postmark on it. There's the map in 2025. It still says, yeah, Odakyu Department Store is still there. That's funny. Not for much longer. That's history right there, this sign.

00:16:47 John Daub: Now, this used to be the old bus station, but turned into a bus station. Yodobashi bought it, I guess, and expanded their electronics store. Most of the people buying electronics here are foreign tourists. A lot of people from abroad, from China, because everybody's getting their electronics online these days. Nobody really goes in and buys it unless you're over the age of 60, which is okay. It's interesting. But the Yodobashi Camera is an institution here. I used to go into the basement to get computer stuff like printers, printer ink, new mouse, keyboards, and stuff like that. I've never been in the basement here, but I haven't been down in the basement for about 15 years because I can get everything online now. Even Yodobashi has a pretty comprehensive online store.

00:17:47 John Daub: I guess the benches here are for the train station too, for the bus station. I'm not sure. The Mount Fuji bus from Shinjuku used to take off from here. I don't know if it still does. Capsule toy jungle. Okay. Let's see what's new here. Oh, that's funny. Mini collection of Fisher-Price toys from the past. They always go nostalgic. You'll always find some nostalgic. That's how they hook you. Remember that? Now, wouldn't you like to have it again, but in a miniature size? I found my first mobile flip phone from 1999, and I got it in miniaturized version. Mini Korg keyboards. Do they actually play? Pearl drum sets. What? Sushi monsters? Sushi nigiri. Okay. If you say so.

00:19:37 John Daub: Nothing really catching my attention here. We have the Yodobashi Camera jingles in the background. I'm here to take a picture. It does seem like it did in the Showa era. I like that. You can just walk in from the street and go right in there. This is one of my favorite pictures of Shinjuku. I think if it rains, the reflection of the neon lights, and they still use neon here. Bless their hearts. The reflection of it is just so beautiful from the ground here.

00:20:40 John Daub: Hold on a second. I'm going to walk a couple of steps and then look back. This is a shot that's quite infamous. You have the Tokyo Metropolitan building, 1991, and you have those neon lights, which are off right now. But you get the picture. When the ground is wet, it really reflects so well. But this area of Shinjuku is certainly going to be undergoing a renovation. A lot of the revitalization project of Tokyo has been undergoing pretty full on since 2017 but in particular after the Great Tohoku earthquake it really got into swing because they found that if a big one does hit they want to be prepared. So this area is certainly right in the shadow of the Tokyo Metropolitan building up there. You can see it. All these buildings probably not going to withstand or they definitely need some renovations.

00:21:38 John Daub: There's used to be a Sega—now it's a GiGO right there. They changed colors so it doesn't stand out quite as much but I remember when that—that move. They think it's a live stream. Saying goodbye to that one. It's hard. There's a lot of live streams I've been doing which are saying goodbye to things. There's something always comes and takes its place. Hopefully we never say goodbye to this store here. Some of you might recognize it. That's one of the great used camera shops. In there you can find just about anything. I've sold some items in there and bought some items too over the years—Map Camera as an institution really.

00:22:29 John Daub: David Kimura—get something for you and your wife and you said thank you. I will. I'm not gonna go back empty-handed. I'm gonna stop off at the Southern Terrace and get some stuff. Go get some fresh hot croissant from the oven. There's a French bakery that had—somebody said they had the best French croissants. I think the tea is silent—thank you. Still looking for the ramen in a can. I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the famous coffee shop in San Diego. I was probably gonna say that isakaya. I'm not gonna say this but I'm not sure if you guys know this isakaya. I'm not sure if I know the name of the business or something. It's not the same name but I was told it's the same thing and it's based in San Diego and the company that makes the coffee is kinda famous for that brand. So I'm gonna stop by and I'll see you guys if I come back again.

00:23:57 John Daub: Best. Japan won the pastry chef award. The world's best pastry chefs come from Japan. They beat out France, which is like another country beating Japan in judo. It happens. Japan has won the best pizza in the world as well. Japanese chefs have won that award before. So it's certainly not unique. Japan, detail-oriented with the ingredients and the procedure almost to the point where they are absolutely insane.