00:00:01 John Daub: Hello everybody, greetings! Welcome to Shin-Osaka. It's about a two and a half hour Shinkansen bullet train ride from Tokyo to get here. We got here yesterday and I wanted to show you a little bit inside the station. They've done a really good job of getting people from here to the expo site. So I thought I would show you some of that information as well as how far away the expo is from Shin-Osaka. This is one of the great portals if you're not coming in from Kansai Airport to get to the expo. Kind of give you the vibe of the expo a week after it's opened.

00:00:31 John Daub: Now it's in the morning. The Shinkansen at Shin-Osaka doesn't really start to heat up until around 11 or 11:30 because everyone's coming from Tokyo, Hiroshima and other locations. The first train leaves at 6, so this starts to come in around now. We're going to see a lot more traffic, but before 9:30 or 10 o'clock, it's actually pretty comfortable around Shin-Osaka. But yesterday when I arrived, it was crazy. I'm here with Leo and Kanai and her family and her school. She'll be dancing on Wednesday.

00:01:01 John Daub: Here's the exit from the Shinkansen. Then you'll have to catch a local train and a shuttle bus from Sakurajima (Sakura Island), which is near Yumejima (Dream Island), the expo island. That'll depart from platform number two. Let me see if I can show it to you. If you wanted to go to just Osaka Station, you switch from the Shinkansen to the JR line.

00:01:33 John Daub: So you can see the Shinkansen will leave at about 7 or 8. Number two is the one that'll take you to the expo. I got a ticket to get out of here, so I'm going to show you a little bit of the inside of Shin-Osaka. First, I want to show you exactly where we are on the map. Osaka is right down there. This is Shin-Osaka Station with that big white canopy where the Shinkansen leaves. It's only one stop to get into Osaka Station or Umeda, the downtown. From Shin-Osaka Station, that island is hard to miss. The big round circle there is the largest man-made wooden structure, the Grand Ring. Google Earth still has it under construction, but it's mostly complete. I'll find out later today.

00:02:40 John Daub: This is the destination where a lot of tourists are heading. From Shin-Osaka, it's not that far away. It seems really easy, and what's impressive is there's so much staff around. That's Osaka Station and Umeda right there. The canopies at Osaka Station have been renovated over the last 10 years, so if you haven't been here for a while, it's kind of nice.

00:03:04 John Daub: Yesterday, my son and I went to the Ferris wheel at the HEP5 building, the Hankyu Entertainment Building. Have you guys ever been on this? Look at my son—he's so scared to get on it. But eventually we got on there. I'm using the Insta360 camera, which doesn't look much different than the X3. You can see he's really nervous, but at the end he loved it because he watches Paw Patrol—Canada's contribution to childhood entertainment from Toronto. He thinks he's Chase on the case, really enjoying hanging up here on top of the HEP5 building over Osaka Station. The cool thing with 360 cameras is you get views like that. It's about 800 yen or five dollars per adult; kids under five are free. Leo didn't have to pay and wants to do it again. Mama won't go—she's afraid of heights. We're doing a high five because we reached the pinnacle. That was a fun time, and at the end we got a big high five out of him, even though he was angry at first. In the end, he accepted that he completed the task and enjoyed it. We might do it again.

00:05:04 John Daub: Inside the station, there's a lot of stuff to do. They have an information booth right outside the Shinkansen platform. Those kind people are helping you get from here to there—just look for the volunteers with the yellow and black uniforms and placards. There board tells you the departure times of the shuttle bus from Sakurajima. There's enough staff here, so even if it got crowded, they'd help you. Right now, they're helping people get to the expo. It's really easy from here—I wouldn't worry too much. The JR security robots are kind of funky though; it looks like the future.

00:06:14 John Daub: This is also Kadiekimachi—kind of a cool place for ekiben (station bento boxes). They're saying platform number two. They've got a ton of ekiben here—the meat ones separated from the vegetarian ones. Prices are cheaper than in Tokyo. There's a Starbucks, other bento places, and that jiggly cheesecake from Nikuro Ojisan (Jiggly Uncle). As soon as 11:30 hits, the line gets really long. On the back side, you'll see expo merch like Myaku-Myaku, the mascot. They have a Hello Kitty version—look, she's been taken over by tentacles of an octopus or some bacteria. It looks kind of freaky but neat. 4,400 yen, about 30 dollars—might be worth it because it's hilarious. I have a love-hate relationship with Myaku-Myaku; at first I didn't like it, but now it's growing on me—because it looks like something that would grow on you.

00:09:08 John Daub: There's actually an Expo Liner too. From Shin-Osaka, you can leave at 7:32, 8, 8:30, 9:31. At 10:44 it changes to platform number 2 for the Sakurajima Line, then shuttle bus to Yumejima, the dream island where the expo's taking place with the round pavilion. Then 13:44, 14:44, 15:44, 16:00. It's on 24-hour time—most leave from platform 2 or sometimes 3. About 18 to 20 minutes—pretty fast. And it's a dressed-up car. By the way, they have a One Piece Shinkansen that just launched this month from Shin-Osaka or Hakata—really under the radar. There's a map that'll take you to the expo; the Expo Liner takes you directly there past Universal Studios. It can get confusing in central Osaka, so go straight with the liner, then shuttle bus. Taxis stopped because a part fell off the flying taxi.

00:11:33 John Daub: You can get Shin-Osaka stamps here—get a piece of paper and have them stamp it.

00:11:54 John Daub: Welcome to the outside of Shin-Osaka. You can do everything without leaving and go straight to the expo, but if you wanted to stay, let's take a look. We're walking through the outside of the ticket area to the central exit. If you come to Kansai, you'll find out quickly about 551 Horai—everybody lines up for the gyoza and dumplings. Lots of food and drink places—can't go wrong with Hello Kitty. Looking forward to your views of the expo—thanks for the streams. I'll be there today to film and scout, back Tuesday and Wednesday. It smells like hot waffles and shoe cream—so good. Ton of restaurants inside, so you won't go hungry—more choices inside than bentos outside. There are 7-Elevens, snacks, expo food, and popular eki donuts (station donuts). Taxi to central Osaka is 2,000-2,500 yen, but to the expo it'll cost a pretty penny—signs tell you to take the trains. This is the exit to the taxi stand—you want to go down, not walk out.

00:14:38 John Daub: Shin-Osaka's been renovated a little, but outside it still looks like the 1960s. There's a Myaku-Myaku store in the basement just opening up—you can get lost down there. In this direction, if it's chilly, there's a Uniqlo at the end of the hall. This is the Central Gate—at this time of morning, it's about the same as others, but the other side is less crowded. This side leads straight to Osaka Station. Get here on the earliest train from Tokyo—the earlier the better, because around 11 when Tokyo trains pile in, it gets crazy, like yesterday at 12:30. Unless your hotel is here, no reason to stay—get out. Important note: this is a left luggage zone, ¥1,000 for the day (9am-8pm, about $7), or baggage delivery for ¥2,000—really cheap. Do not take bags to the expo—they penalize you; yesterday it was full. Leave it at the station or hotel—don't bring a lot of stuff; it's supposed to be the land of the future. Shin-Osaka Station still looks like the 1960s, and that's what I love about Osaka—everything changes with construction, but it always feels the same authentic way.

00:19:10 John Daub: 21 degrees Celsius—pretty warm today. Downside to staying here is airplanes every five minutes from Kansai Airport to Asia. Or positive—Leo points at them like Fantasy Island: "The plane, boss!" There's the Shinkaisoku (Kansai rapid train)—greatest secret of Kansai. Half the speed of Shinkansen but gets you to Kyoto in 28 minutes for 540 yen, like $3—Shinkansen is 15 minutes but pricier. Looking back, Shin-Osaka has that old authentic feel—Osaka always changes but stays the same. Very comfortable, including the humidity. Train dudes do spotting from the bridge—you can see Shinkaisoku to Himeji, Kyoto, Hikone or Maibara. Over the Yodo River (Yorogawa) to Osaka Station.

00:21:51 John Daub: Can you guys stay for another couple minutes? I typically don't show where we're staying for safety, but wanna show where we stayed last night—it's not as bad as I thought. Shin-Osaka this side doesn't have much—no real playgrounds. My job is support because my wife is dancing with her dance school. Shinkansen coming in—all these Tokyo people; station's gonna get crowded. It's only a minute from here—not a lot around, but manageable and separated from loud, crowded, dirty Dotonbori. Until Wednesday, I'm support staff for Kanai, then for Only in Japan.

00:24:02 John Daub: Kind of embarrassed to show, but it's a unique experience—some of you might've stayed at one. Can you guess? There's the wacky building—looks like a prison or oil rig. We stayed up top—it's an international youth hostel. Sometimes they're in interesting places like this. Hotels are at a premium—expensive and few because of tourists. Elevator's scary, but we got a family tatami room. There were loud American girls across the hall—California accent, woke at 9 looking like they'd been drinking. Youth hostels are regimented: check-in 4pm exactly, check-out certain time, everyone out; announcements at 11pm blasting "Please be quiet"—woke the baby. Felt like a military camp, but cheap and unique since we booked late. They were popular in the 90s—in Japan, they follow rules. We're out now—thank goodness.

00:27:52 John Daub: I'll try to stream from the event—today, tomorrow or Tuesday, taking background video. Queue up questions—if Patreon supporter, Q&A next Monday morning (US evening). We're three members away for Postcard Club—this month's postcard; next is expo. Want to hand-deliver with expo cancel mark before May 6th—we need three more. Thank you for the support. Queue questions about the expo—I'll have more info by tomorrow. Getting around isn't bad—they're getting organized; expo till October, doing a good job. Gotta get back to the prison and check out—see you soon.