00:01 John Daub: Welcome back to Shibuya. This is where the Halloween event takes place every single October—well, that weekend. And this year it is officially canceled. Although they kind of are preparing for something, but they officially canceled it. It's weird. So it's canceled, but it's not canceled. It reminds me very much of last year where they had a lot of signage. Like, check it out on the other side. There's the big billboard this year. They found a way to make the kanji into jack-o'-lanterns, which is always kind of cool. But, kinchi dayo (strictly speaking), it's prohibited to be drinking and smoking out on the streets.

00:45 John Daub: Basically, they don't want you to come here, but they know people are going to be coming here. So there will be security to make sure that it goes smoothly because the reputation of the city is very much at stake. But a lot of tourists are complaining. If you take a look to the right side, Hachiko has been covered. Do you see that right there? I'll take you over there in a second. But the entire pavilion, see that house in the center of the screen? That's where Hachiko is now housed. This is the best housing he's had in years. He has his own little private tent. But unfortunately, the event has been canceled.

01:20 John Daub: And I'll take some questions. I'm going to be talking about this in as much detail as I possibly can. How's it going? I want to shout out to the fans in the Philippines. They came and said hi. We were taking a few pictures before. Big smiles as everyone from the Philippines always has when we meet up or catch up on the streets. That was a really nice way to start just right before I started. So it was nice to see you guys. So the official information. I want to always point out my friends at Tokyocheapo.com. If you don't know this site, this is where you get a lot of the event stuff. They do an amazing job. They already called it. It's canceled.

02:04 John Daub: Although they have a time and it says it's free, but it's canceled. See what I'm talking about? Basically, it's getting more aggressive: don't come here. Shibuya's mayor has strongly discouraged people from coming to Shibuya this Halloween, citing serious safety concerns. It really is. It's a mob of people. And it's very hard to make sure that everybody is safe. It's too much of a liability. Too much of a risk. Not much reward. And I'm going to talk about that reward in much greater detail. But you can see the signage from last year.

02:29 John Daub: So this happened about 48 hours ago. You can see here's Hachiko getting ready to be covered up. The statue has so much love here in Japan. It's fascinating to see. There's workers getting ready to put this up. They move pretty quickly. But you're not going to be able to see Hachiko if you were to come to Shibuya right now. Over there, the signal's not very good. But I got a chance to walk around. Let me show it to you really quickly. So from behind, that's what the tent looks like right there. Hachiko inside that wonderful enclosure.

03:19 John Daub: I'm not sure why they cover it up. I guess it's discouraging people to come to Shibuya at all. But the signs are very clear. Hachiko statue will be closed off until the morning of November 1st. They're going to be cleaning up tomorrow night. The volunteers come in and clean up. They don't clean up any of the mess that people left behind if anybody comes. I'm guessing that the numbers will be less than they were last year. Did you see that guy in shorts and a t-shirt? He must be from Scotland or Canada. But even if you try to peek in there, you're not going to get any shots of Hachiko right now.

03:54 John Daub: So if you're visiting Japan, I'm really sorry about that. You're going to have to come back in 36 hours. And I might come here on the morning of the 1st just to see the volunteers. I'm always cheering them on. I've been here in the morning, early in the morning on weekends when they were cleaning up. They're so creative. Look at the booze and the logo there. I'm always really supportive of the efforts to keep the city of Tokyo clean. I volunteered before, but I don't make a lot of videos on the stuff that we do behind the scenes. However, maybe I'll come here on November 1st and take a look at it.

04:34 John Daub: The signage is there. We're hoping that people don't come. We know that they will. But I've got to be honest with you. I've looked at the numbers. There really isn't any economic advantage to having this Halloween event here in Shibuya. There really isn't. People are going to come to Shibuya and Japan anyways. There's loads of hotels around here. But when they have this event, most of the department stores and the shops close. Why? They just don't want a horde of people. There's hordes of people coming in there with costumes and masks, using the restrooms that are drunk, making a mess. And the closed businesses lose Shibuya a lot of money.

05:17 John Daub: You can count them. Apparently there's an ordinance in place where only a certain amount of those go-karts can go by here, which has impacted some of the businesses. I wish they would get rid of them. But you can't knock it until you try it. And I have yet to try it. Alright, back to this here. It's just not worth it. The amount of police that they have to hire, security, is just not worth it. Last year, and this is probably the biggest reason, there are signage all over this area saying, don't drink. But people are still doing it. Of course people are still doing it, right? There are signs in English as well. You're not allowed to have open containers of drinking.

06:07 John Daub: But it's almost impossible to enforce it because they can't fine you or imprison you for it. It's such a loud area in Shibuya. So the volunteers that went around policing this had a lot of run-ins and interactions that were so negative that the mayor was very upset. The city was very upset. It's just, just shut it down. But they can't do that either. So they're doing it gradually, I think, over the course of many years. And 2025, you see it's getting a lot stricter. Hardly anybody is talking about it. The Japanese news very, very strongly asking people not to come. Last year I covered it. You can see the logo from last year. I explained it then. And it's interesting to see a year later.

06:58 John Daub: The mayor, Ken Hasegawa [?], I believe, he was on the news here explaining it in more detail. This was maybe a couple of weeks ago. He was on this press conference. He really wants to do this for the residents here that have to see the mess every year. There's a lot of noise. The garbage in Shibuya has certainly increased over the last few years. Even without the event, they're expecting garbage here tomorrow. So this is definitely an issue. But I think everybody in the community should be pitching in, especially if you're selling alcohol. You should be pitching in to clean up your neighborhood.

07:42 John Daub: I hate seeing these people dressed up in these pocket watches. I just dislike it because it gets vibes of Logan Paul when he was here. It's the wrong image of Japan. I'm talking to the choir here. I'm preaching to the choir because most of the audience here knows this. But a lot of people are tuning in to find out what is actually happening with the event here on Halloween. There is no event. So this is the biggest unofficial meetup of people every year. It's totally unofficial. I discourage you from coming because there's no way to make sure that you're going to be safe. This is not an event that is closed off to mobs and something could happen. We've seen car tipping in the past. We've seen drunks fighting on the streets. It's not as prevalent as the media perhaps makes it out, but it happens a lot.

08:39 John Daub: People come here drunk. And they're Westerners, so the values are different. Personally, at my age, I'm not going to be coming here. But I know that there's going to be a lot of other people. It is a fun event. They don't want to do it officially because the event was actually official. I think it was in 2017 and 2018. And then they ended it because it was just a mess. It's really hard. I think Coca-Cola even sponsored it. But it just doesn't work. And in light of what happened in Korea where lives were lost, you cannot control a mob that big on the streets of a city. And Shibuya does have narrow streets.

09:23 Adrian: They're not going to listen, John.

09:27 John Daub: Thanks for signing up for the memberships, the insiders and the travelers.

09:34 John Daub: Yeah, hi. How are you doing?

09:37 Adrian: Second time here in Japan.

09:39 John Daub: A second time here?

09:41 Adrian: Yes. We came before the COVID. And then after COVID...

09:47 John Daub: Oh, you're going to be here for Halloween tomorrow?

09:50 Adrian: I think so.

09:51 John Daub: I don't know if it's good here or if you want to... It's canceled, but people are probably still going to come. Like always.

09:58 Adrian: Yeah, like always. But we'll see.

10:00 John Daub: Where are you guys from?

10:02 Adrian: Mexico.

10:02 John Daub: Awesome. I just went to Dino 3 Hermanos [?] in Harajuku. The Japanese guy who lived in Mexico for 25 years. I think it was really good, but I haven't had real authentic Mexican food here before, so I can't compare. I think it's the closest thing. I used to a real taco here. The 3 Hermanos tacos. The corn tortillas were amazing. I've never had anything like that.

10:25 Adrian: Right now we are living in Germany, but we really miss the Mexican food.

10:29 John Daub: Maybe you should stop by.

10:30 Adrian: Yeah, I think so. Actually, a lot of Mexicans were there.

10:32 John Daub: Yeah, I know. It's just really funny. Do you want to say hi to everybody? I'm live right now.

10:37 Adrian & Leslie: Hi, everybody.

10:40 John Daub: Mexico. Mexico City?

10:45 Adrian & Leslie: Yeah, Mexico City.

10:46 John Daub: Everyone's been telling me to go there. Do you recommend it?

10:50 Adrian & Leslie: Yeah, totally. The impression is that it's dangerous, but everyone's telling me it's not.

10:54 John Daub: No, it's not dangerous.

10:56 Adrian & Leslie: It's like New York. Some places are dangerous. You don't go there, but maybe the other sites are totally not dangerous. The food is really good.

11:07 John Daub: Yeah, definitely. It's really good in Mexico. I'm going to Mexico, guys.

11:10 Adrian & Leslie: Yeah, me too. You need to go to Mexico. Totally.

11:16 John Daub: How long is your trip for in Japan?

11:31 Adrian & Leslie: Three weeks.

11:32 John Daub: Oh, three weeks. Oh, okay. This is our second day here in Japan, but...

11:36 Adrian & Leslie: Oh, yeah.

11:37 John Daub: Where are you going next?

11:41 Adrian & Leslie: We are going to Kyoto. And then to Kinosaki Onsen.

11:46 John Daub: Ah, that's a nice one. Kinosaki Onsen. Stay in a ryokan (traditional inn), right?

11:51 Adrian & Leslie: Yeah. Oh, that's good. Yeah, we need to stay in a ryokan this time. Last time, we didn't go to a ryokan.

11:57 John Daub: What did you miss last time? Anything else you thought you regretted not seeing last time?

12:03 Adrian & Leslie: I think the Mount Fuji. We don't see it very close. In the bullet train, we see it in the window, but it's different.

12:16 John Daub: Yeah, it's not quite the same. So, you'll stop by Fuji-san. That's good. Hamamatsu.

12:23 Adrian & Leslie: Ah, Hamamatsu. Yeah.

12:23 John Daub: I used to live near there. It's nice. The unagi (grilled eel), the eel is very good. Unagi, very famous. I've been here for almost three decades, so, yeah, a long time.

12:40 John Daub: I could ask you a hundred questions. I don't want to keep you.

12:58 Adrian & Leslie: We're walking from, what's the place with the rings?

13:03 John Daub: Oh. My wife and I had our wedding rings made in a place in Kichijoji, but they have a couple of other... It's one branch in Kichijoji and another branch in... I can't remember what it's called, but we made our wedding rings ourselves at that place in Kichijoji. That's a good place to make rings there.

13:36 Adrian & Leslie: We don't know. Just walk around maybe. Shopping.

13:44 John Daub: A good walk from here is just walk towards Harajuku and then walk over there and maybe have lunch at Three Hermanos. But you probably want Japanese food, I guess, if you're coming to Japan.

13:57 Adrian & Leslie: Yeah. Japanese food.

13:58 John Daub: Do you like tacos?

14:00 Adrian & Leslie: Yeah, I think so.

14:01 John Daub: Oh my goodness. The owner is Japanese, but he speaks fluent Mexican or Spanish. Even in Germany, Mexican food is... It's not good?

14:10 Adrian & Leslie: No. No. Mexicans are telling me it's better than in Mexico.

14:14 John Daub: So I would love to hear your opinion on it. I think he would love to hear your opinion, but I ask him, where's your heart, in Japan or Mexico?

14:22 Adrian & Leslie: Mexico.

14:33 John Daub: Here's our photo here.

14:36 Adrian & Leslie: I can't believe you're here with this men?! It's must be awesome!

14:43 John Daub: So, we think we'll see you around, maybe later. I'm going to Nagoya tomorrow, and then I'll probably be back here tomorrow morning and... next morning and see the damage from the—

14:55 Adrian & Leslie: We could be in Tokyo, like...

15:02 John Daub: I'll see you around Japan. It's actually much smaller of a city than people realize. You know, Mexico City is also a big city. It feels a lot smaller when you live in there, right? I bump into my friends all the time. We might even see Peter going to a job here.

15:16 Adrian & Leslie: What are you guys' names?

15:18 Adrian & Leslie: I'm Adrian. I'm Leslie.

15:20 John Daub: Adrian and Leslie. Well, nice to meet you.

15:35 Adrian & Leslie: Mexico City have a place like this that's really... I think the downtown. Downtown area. It's bigger and all around the stores and everything else. Also restaurants. A lot of restaurants. You know, like, Catedral, this church from this day. This is from Spain and everything else. It's really nice. And a lot of museums.

16:03 John Daub: Oh, yeah. Mexico City has a lot of museums. Oh, yeah. Definitely have to stop by there. It's a lot of history. You have the opportunity to go to Mexico. I've only been to Cancun, but I think for spring break, you know how Americans go to Cancun. I was 20 years old, I think. And it was like 30 years ago. It was a different...

16:27 Adrian & Leslie: Yeah, it's a different story. Very different.

16:32 John Daub: Well, you can go to walk around. Go and walk around. And yeah, take care, guys.

16:37 Adrian & Leslie: Take care, too. Adrian, Leslie, see you around.

16:40 John Daub: My neighbors for the next few days. Ciao.

16:45 John Daub: That was nice. I could chat with people for like a day. I do realize there's a lot of people that are also watching here. I apologize. It's nice to meet people in person. I still remember back in the days when we were in Mexico City. When Japan was shut down and you couldn't meet with anybody, you get like a really nice vibe when you're talking with people and kind of jiving on the street, talking about Japan. It's a good feeling. I still remember those old days.

17:11 Fan: Can I take a photo with you?

17:12 John Daub: Of course. I was going to say if you wanted to. Thank you. I took the screenshot just in case you forgot. That's why. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Take care, guys.

17:33 John Daub: I like when people come to see me. I like when people take selfies and stuff because then I can also remember when I last saw you, if I see you again. So I did that shot because I knew like maybe they want to and they didn't want to ask yet. That is what we call gaman (endurance/patience) or omotenashi (hospitality), I guess, yesterday's live stream. And thanks for the feedback on that. I thought that that's a really good trait that Japan has. But a lot of the commenters went to an extreme. They talked about the negative side of that. And there is a negative side to it. But gaman, I think when there's very little of that and it's very hard to translate it. It means like restraint, patience, perseverance, to endure hardships.

18:36 John Daub: Gaman is a hard word to properly translate. But a little bit of this, I think in any culture, especially in hard times when society needs to have gaman for sure. This is a good thing. And it's a trait that's very ingrained in Japanese society for better or for worse. But I wouldn't change it. I would just kind of maybe encourage more openness because there are people that are struggling that take it to an extreme. But it's something that I think that if you come here to live in Japan, you need to understand it so that you can understand society and the people around you and that we have a better harmony or wa (harmony) to our society here in Japan. And that's what I really hope. As I said, I've been here for a long time.

19:12 John Daub: Any questions here before we end this livestream? I didn't want to do a very long one. People waving. Both hands on the wheel. It is really warm out here. The next week is supposed to be like summer apparently. I'm going to get my shorts out again. I'm looking forward to that. But the news is that... The Korea Halloween has been canceled for 2025. Don't come. But we know that some of you will with your costumes. It's an informal meetup and there's going to be less security than normal. Just be really safe. Every year stuff happens and I think it's a good idea to avoid it.

20:03 John Daub: The traffic has also changed. The patterns here. This zone is where they're not going to be selling alcohol as well as a lot of the city is going to be. It's going to be patrolled. So please take care if you're staying in a hotel in this area. Unless you're going to the Shibuya Halloween or the unofficial Shibuya Halloween, I would not stay in Shibuya on the night of the 31st or that weekend. I would discourage you and maybe Asakusa or another area. Ueno or even Shinjuku perhaps. But that area has its own issues. But Hachiko is now under wraps. It is now gone and you won't be able to see it for a while.

20:48 John Daub: Do you think the Dodgers can win the World Series? I think they can. It seems like Ohtani goes in streaks. But if they can pull together some good rallies. I just know that the Blue Jays, their pitching has been really good and the Dodgers have been pretty weak with their hitting. So hopefully the Dodgers can pull this together. But you know what? I got to be honest with you. I want Don Mattingly to win the World Series. He's one of the Blue Jays' coaches. So whoever wins, I'm going to find a way to be really happy. Because I really grew up a huge fan of Don Mattingly. Evansville, Indiana. He never won a World Series with the Yankees, which is just so odd. And he was such an amazing person and player. And I just want to see him get a win here. But I also want Ohtani to win too. So I'm really conflicted.

21:43 John Daub: I love that you asked that question. Everybody in Japan is watching it. But whoever wins, I'll find a way to be happy. And I think even the Dodgers fans, because Mattingly was part of the Dodgers organization, will understand this as well and would love to see a smiling Don Mattingly. But I think the Dodgers fans would certainly like to see that World Series once again. It would really seal Ohtani's legacy for real. I haven't seen the score yet. But it looks like it's going to be a good one. I think they're going to be coming from behind tomorrow or the next day. Jays in six? Probably. But I would never count out the Dodgers. Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani and these home runs that come out of nowhere. You just can never tell.

22:44 John Daub: They've been a little bit inconsistent this year. But if the Blue Jays win, I'm going to be celebrating for Don Mattingly. And if the Dodgers win, I'll be celebrating for Ohtani. I'll be celebrating for the city of Toronto and LA. I grew up a Yankees fan and a Phillies fan. Which team in Japan do you root for? I'm probably a Hiroshima Carp guy because I lived in Hiroshima. And I was friends with Wiley, who is the mascot, or whoever was inside there. He used to drink at Kemme's [?], which is a fun place. Pub in Hiroshima, which I think still exists. The expat club. He used to come after the game. I don't know if he's still the mascot there. This is like 25 years ago. Maybe the Hiroshima Carps. But I like the Yokohama BayStars. And I like all the teams. It's hard to say.

24:13 John Daub: I like the minor teams. I mean, I went to school in Ohio. You like the Browns and you like the Bengals and you like the Indians. You weren't a fair weather fan in Ohio. And then you had the Buckeyes. But I did win when I was there. It was like an era of losing. But yeah, when I was in Ohio, I was a Browns fan. And a Bengals fan. Because everybody else was. And we cheered through the losses. Basically, there was a reason to drink. But that was college. Hey, anyone who wins deserves to win. You can quote me on that.

24:57 John Daub: I was thinking of going to Kesennuma next year and see how they're doing. So the 2011... 15 years is coming up. So that's something that I might consider making an episode on. I was here when it happened 15 years ago. Gosh, that was maybe the worst day. It's one you can't forget. You can't forget a day like that. Any last questions here before we end up? I think it's kind of the same information as before, but we're live on Shibuya. I can walk around just a little bit. I know that the signal is not so wonderful if I walk around this area. There's just a lot of people. But this is Basketball Street. At least it used to be. It's actually, to me, it's shotengai (covered shopping arcade). Shibuya shotengai.

25:52 John Daub: And you see the signage here. And it's in English as well. It's telling you not to drink on the streets. No drinking. No smoking as well, which I personally like. So the signage is bilingual. The nuisance has not just been foreigners, okay? It has been a mix of Japanese, young Japanese, and foreigners. And the young Japanese that come here, they're usually not from Tokyo. They're usually from outside this neighborhood, which is why they maybe feel better trashing it. But it's a mix, okay? It's time to just stop. I'm not saying that vandalism and stuff happens just with foreigners. It's actually a mix of Japanese and foreigners. But it's sad when visitors that come here are doing that. Or even residents. Who the heck knows? But I can confirm it's not one group of people. It's a large group of people. Anytime you have events, people get bolder in crowds. Yes, that's very, very true.

27:23 John Daub: If you have any questions about this, leave it in the comments below. Love you guys. Oh, by the way, I'm sending up the postcards. Tomorrow's the last day for this postcard, and then a new one will come in November. So this is the postcard. This is going off. We got five new members. This postcard's going off in the postbox today. It's from three weeks ago, this postcard. I took it when Leo, Kanae, and I were at Omagari in Akita, and we just found out from the prime minister that the fireworks, or the 250th anniversary for America's birthday, some of the fireworks are going to be sent from Akita, this event, to the 250-year anniversary in America, which is awesome. So in Omagari, the fireworks makers in Akita come from Omagari. So that's going to be pretty cool.

28:11 John Daub: So this fireworks, this postcard is on the way for five people. Thank you so much for the support. Frank the Tank is here. Buy yourself a drink. Thank you, Frank. Tomorrow, I am going to Nagoya, which is really awesome. I'll be there for half a day filming something. So if you're in Nagoya, you can try to hit me up. I'm going to be eating miso katsu as well for lunch. I have an appointment to make a video at a famous miso katsu restaurant that always has a line. I'm glad I got the permit. And maybe I'll show you some scenes from that because miso katsu, it's a breaded pork, breaded deep fried pork cutlet on rice and a savory miso sauce. So good.

29:03 John Daub: And I'm going to make an episode on Nagoya food culture for the main channel. So we're back at the swing of things. I've been taking so many heavy, deep topics on the main channel. It's really hard to edit. So getting back to food, something that I really want to do, especially in 2026. I do have a main channel. This is not my main channel. This is a live streaming channel. The main channel is youtube.com/@onlyinjapan or just only in Japan. I have an episode coming tomorrow, by the way, on the main channel. So it's on food. One that you probably don't know.

29:52 John Daub: We got a postcard club member in Greenland. We have a postcard club member in Argentina, in Africa, in South Africa, in Egypt, in India. We've got postcard club members in Aruba. I think I've been every country except maybe Madagascar and Mozambique, which would be really cool. But I get pictures of people sending me their postcards arriving in certain areas is one of the coolest things in the world to see this little piece of paper with a very cool Japanese stamp on the back of it arriving on another side of the world. Much love to the post office around the world. You got to support your local post office. Make sure they stay in business.

30:31 John Daub: But I appreciate this. I love to support guys. And if you have any questions on Shibuya Halloween, you can leave in the comments below. I will be taking a look at that today. And unless I would say don't come. But if you do, be careful. The transportation is going to be really crowded. It's shoulder to shoulder and it's a kind of not a wonderful experience, but it's interesting. There's probably going to be YouTubers here live streaming it as well. They make thousands of dollars doing it. I would love to see it maybe because it's good content, but I don't want to add to the problem. I think I'm adding to the problem if I come here. And anyways, I'm not going to be here. I'll be in Nagoya tomorrow. John wears used clothes. That's true. I use them. They're all washed. All right, guys, take care. See you. Matane (see you later).