00:02 John Daub: Hey everybody, welcome to Tokyo. That right there is the Kasumigaseki Building. Believe it or not, this was the first big skyscraper that dominated the Tokyo skyline back in the 1960s, besides Tokyo Tower, which was in itself a marvel. And we look at it today, tons and tons of buildings all around it. How you doing everybody? I'm actually just filming this building for an episode that I'm producing right now, and I thought I would bring you live on a...

00:32 John Daub: It's super windy today. I can't even wear my hat, which is okay. But this is so fascinating. Check this out. Back in the 1960s, this was the building with no other skyscrapers around it. That is the Kasumigaseki Building, completed in 1968 after the Tokyo Olympics. There wasn't much in the area.

01:03 John Daub: Here's the Google Maps view of all the buildings surrounding it and how much Tokyo has grown. From the perspective of the first one, it's pretty fascinating, including the newest Toranomon Towers over there, one of the top five tallest buildings in Japan right now. There's the Kasumigaseki Building. It's pretty impressive, but it doesn't look so impressive anymore. When you pull out and look at Tokyo and what surrounds it now, it's crazy the amount of buildings that have come up over the last 50 or 60 years. It's not even close to being in the top 25. It's been dwarfed by everything around it. But this used to be the tallest building in Tokyo. Isn't that pretty crazy?

02:04 John Daub: This is the progress that's going on. Right now, Tokyo's building the Torch Tower, a 390-meter mega skyscraper. There's the Kasumigaseki Building. It's so different than back then. This kind of stuff fascinates me about the city I live in. Tokyo has continuously reinvented itself. This is certainly one of the oldest. The history of the Kasumigaseki Building and Kasumigaikan is associated with the kazoku (high nobility). This area has a lot of Japanese government buildings and police presence. It's somewhat intimidating.

02:52 John Daub: Completed in 1968, this building is widely regarded as the first modern office skyscraper in Japan. The reason high-rise buildings weren't built earlier is that Japan building standards weren't as good until the early '90s. The 700 law set an absolute height limit of 31 meters until 1963, when it was abolished in favor of a floor area ratio limit. Back then you couldn't build mega high skyscrapers, but now you can. In its day, this was a record breaker.

03:05 John Daub: I'm working with Hitachi right now on a video. It is so windy. Oh my goodness, I'm getting blown away. I'm working with Hitachi, one of the first elevator makers and one of the top 10 in the world. They're the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the fastest elevator, after the one in Shanghai. This elevator speed war is real. I got access with Hitachi for an episode.

03:36 John Daub: By the way, if you're in Omiya tomorrow, let me know if you're at Omiya Station in the morning. I might be there around 8 a.m. Hit me up on Instagram and say hi. I'd love to meet up for a little bit. I'll be there a short time, but hit me up on Instagram or email if you're in the area.

04:33 John Daub: It doesn't look like such an impressive building anymore. But back then, I'm sure Japanese would come stand right here, look up and go, whoa, look at that massive building. They don't say that anymore. See that blue sky? The weather in Tokyo has been really wacky. It was raining earlier, which is why I didn't live stream before. From Sakuradamon Station near the Imperial Palace, I walked here and couldn't even see this building because of all the other high office buildings in the way. It is really gusty with high winds all around the world. It's getting chilly. I didn't have a jacket on this morning.

05:35 John Daub: There's the Kasumigaseki. This is the building that started it all. I wanted to show you from a distance what it looks like with all the tall buildings around it. Fascinating. Hitachi Elevators had a challenge to make an elevator fast enough to get to the top. It's only like 31 floors, not particularly high, but it was a challenge to get the speed up. Since then, this building revolutionized elevator speeds. The desire to go higher meant more speed within buildings. Now Hitachi, using its technology with the Shinkansen, is creating elevators challenging the speed limit.

06:44 John Daub: Hey, Sam. How you doing? I'm good. I'm not too far from Yurakucho, looking around Tokyo. You can see the other really tall buildings. Tokyo Tower is just on the other side of the Toranomon Tower, one of the tallest in Japan right now.

07:04 John Daub: Sharon Lee writes in, little token for freezing butt in Naked Man. Did you see that video? If you haven't, go check it out. This dropped last night. It was really cold. Go check this episode out. It's not a reupload. A lot of YouTubers make videos about ramen or Japanese food, and there are so many varieties. Same with Naked Man festivals. This is a great way through the festivals to see the Japanese countryside and regional areas with the attraction of some butts.

08:07 John Daub: We had a lot of fun. This took me a really long time to edit because there's very little history, so it required some journalism on my part. Shout-out to Emi who assisted me. Go check it out. A lot of work went into this one, all made possible by Patreon. There's no way I'd be able to do that without Patreon. Not a sponsored video, but you need a good community to back you. I appreciate it to bring you these stories. I don't think any other YouTuber made this video or could with that depth into Japan's history and culture.

09:02 John Daub: There's a lot of construction in the Kasumigaseki area. I'm gonna do a little more filming and get back to edit this other video. It's interesting to see the Kasumigaseki Building for the episode. I want to ride the elevator. Usually if you ask the desk clerk, he'll make a phone call and say okay. It's not busy right now, so you always ask for permission.

09:41 John Daub: Kasumigaseki, the center of Tokyo, is so fascinating. All these high-rise buildings and then you'll find a shrine across the street. It's really hard to get over there. No signal here, so 720p. That's the one thing they don't touch in the downtown area: the temples and shrines, except for the one in Marunouchi, which through history, if anybody touched it, they would be cursed. Peter von Gomm and I made a live stream about that five years ago. I'm not sure the name of this shrine. I just got here, but gonna get my work done.

10:23 John Daub: Thank you to those two nice people for saying hi and "I love your content." I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Okay guys, I'll see you. I'm freezing but appreciate you joining me. You were here when I filmed this, and keeping the gimbal steady was really hard. Kanae, Leo and I are going to Nagano the day after tomorrow, so not in Tokyo for a few days. We'll take you to Nagano where the snow is, hopefully in 48 hours. That's gonna be a lot of fun.

11:00 John Daub: Alright, mata ne. Go check out that Naked Man festival. I guarantee you're gonna have fun watching it because I had fun editing it. Shout-out to Waku, the cameraman. He froze making that episode along with me, though he had a nice jacket. He didn't get a chance to take a bath with me in that ice water. Mata ne.