00:00 John Daub: Hey everyone, it came! Do you see this? This is a JR East clock. It's my gift to myself. I sometimes do this at Christmas time, but I ordered it last year and it didn't come until last week, right when I was in Kyoto. Today I thought I would unbox this to you. You buy the book, and you get a clock. I actually bought the clock and got a book. There's a box here, and we're going to unbox this together, but there's a book of information about not just the clock, but things with JR East, which is kind of cool.

01:01 John Daub: I didn't expect that. I just wanted the clock because I'm almost always running for the Shinkansen. On this channel, I'm always running for the Shinkansen. I'm always on time. I've never missed a Shinkansen. But maybe with this clock, I'll never have to run. Just looking at it makes me feel like I'm on time because JR East has such a reputation of always being on time. They apologize if they're just seconds late, which is crazy when you think about it, considering how late other trains might be. That's the Japanese way.

01:31 John Daub: This clock is so cool. Why does this clock even exist? It's part of this movement for train nostalgia. The longer I live here, the more nostalgic I am of the trains we had 25 years ago when I first came to Japan to today. We're getting more modern trains. I kind of like the older ones, that era of the simple electric trains. Now we have so much faster and maybe even more comfortable trains. It also celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the Yamanote line, which was in 1925. Now we're in 2026. I did order this last year, so technically it counts.

02:32 John Daub: All right, let's unbox this thing together. This is the last day I'm having this train Christmas tree up, so bear with me. I'm going to get down on the ground and unbox this. This feels very much like Christmas. I used to go underneath the tree when I was a kid and look up at the lights because I had my own little private area underneath the tree. But because we live in Japan, we have to have these pencil trees that take up less space. It's not quite as much fun as the broad trees we had in the U.S. when I was growing up.

03:30 John Daub: How much did this cost? 3,500 yen, but I think I paid less than that. I got it at a pre-sale, before it was being sold. There it is. This is something that should be in a museum. It feels like a museum piece. It's got the JR East logo on there, that color as well. Is this even made in Japan? We don't make much in Japan anymore, these kinds of plastics. It's a simple alarm clock. There's off and on, two types of alarms. It takes two AAA batteries and one AA battery. One's for the alarm and the other for the operation of the clock. There's a speaker on the back. The sides are very flat and simple. I like that. It basically looks exactly like the clock inside the train stations.

05:49 John Daub: See, here's one at a JR station. It's pretty much the same. You'll see these up on the tops of railway stations all over Japan. Sometimes they're dark colored and the frames are light. They've switched up the design a little bit, but for the most part, this looks pretty much like all the other ones. This is a live stream. We're going to put some batteries in there and see how this looks, but I'm so excited about this. This is really amazing. I want to go get the batteries. Tell me if you have any questions. Think about it. You can leave a question as I run into my office to get two AAA's and one AA.

07:03 John Daub: All right, we are ready. Two AAA's and one double A. This is exciting. Clocks aren't something that are super exciting anymore, but for me, anytime you get a piece of JR nostalgia, in a way I'm a train otaku because it brings back good memories. For a lot of you visiting Japan, one of your best memories might be riding that train. I turned it on to number one. It's moving. That'll wake you up. Oh my God. That's alarm number one. That's like the old alarm from the 1960s, that really super annoying bell that created a lot of stress to get on the trains—don't miss your train. But nowadays they have these jingles.

09:16 John Daub: Second alarm. Door's closing for a very, very long time. There's an unruly foreign tourist. He won't get in the door. Oh my gosh. Turn this off. It would have been really cool if there was a jingle. A lot of you are going to be disappointed when I tell you that JR did change the jingles. It's not quite the same as it was before. They changed it where it's kind of boring. I don't know why they did that, but seems like the JR jingles lost a little bit of that personality. Maybe it could have been a licensing thing. I think I paid somewhere between $20 to $25. But with the exchange rate, it's probably a dollar. Made in China. Everything is made in China. "Do not resell, not for resale." Technically, according to them, you cannot resell this on different markets, but everybody does that.

11:33 John Daub: This is going to sit on my desk. Maybe behind me when I'm doing the podcasting on this channel. You guys were here when I unboxed little teeny nostalgic things. JR's got a lot of stuff that you can get. Except not for resale, like on minikuri (Japanese Yahoo auctions), eBay—you could probably get it everywhere, 3D printed as well. But this is the real deal, official clock. Katayama, one of our viewers, bought me a ticking clock, which was supposed to help Leo go to sleep. I think it might have, but it drove Kanae up a wall. She made me hide it out of sight so it wouldn't tick anymore because it was driving her crazy. I can't find that clock anymore. I don't know what she did with it. So this replaces that. I'm sorry, Katayama. It did its job. Leo ended up sleeping as a result of the ticking sound, but it drove my wife up a wall.

13:22 John Daub: Catherine Matsumoto, it can't be helped. Neither the US nor Japan makes that kind of stuff anymore. Some specialized stuff, textiles, steel pots, glasses frames, pots and pans in the Tsubame Sanjo region of Niigata—there are manufacturing hubs still in Japan. You pay a premium for the quality, and I think some of the best stuff is made here. I do my best to support local businesses. I know this is something we have a lot of synergy with viewers here. I can show you something I also got for Christmas. This was supposed to be for Kanae, my wife, but it's more for me. Does anybody else do that? This is made in the Tsubame Sanjo area. It's the kind of teapot that's got no markings, very simple, no plastic—which is what I like about it. Made in Niigata. It cost me about $75. I know that sounds crazy, but it's the workmanship, especially here, this part of it.

14:43 John Daub: This is the one that high-end independent coffee shops use. No plastic in it. I had no idea that coffee drip makers have all plastic that have microplastics that leach into the coffee. The only way to make coffee without plastic is hand drip. Japan has a lot of stuff manufactured in the Tsubame Sanjo region made out of metals from Japan like this. I have to hand do it, but I can get my own coffee without any plastics, which is something. A lot of stuff like forever chemicals—food grade plastic all breaks down over time. You're supposed to replace it every six months or a year, but a lot of people don't. You'll use it for years because it still works, but we don't think about the plastics. This year, I just wanted to minimize my interaction with plastics in food in particular. I bought this for my wife and I really like it. You have to put this away if you're cooking. We can't get any grease on this thing. I polish it every day.

16:24 John Daub: This is another gift I've been bringing to my family back home. This makes a great gift to buy at the Japanese supermarket. Saran wrap in Japan is better than in the United States. There's two kinds. This is the one that comes out of the US, but Asahi Kasei is the patented one. About $3 or so, 50 meters. It lasts quite a long time. It wraps and sticks better. It's microwavable safe. It holds up really well from microwaves. I always bring one of these back home. Actually, I took three back home. There's a lot of stuff at Japanese supermarkets that we don't have in the United States. They do a really good job of it. The clock is rare and selling for $80. What? By the way, the day it came out, I pre-ordered it, and it was sold out that day. So this is going to be super rare. Maybe this video ends up becoming a part of train history.

18:25 John Daub: I don't collect a lot of stuff, but this is one thing I will actually use as a clock. I'm trying not to look at my smartphone. I'm trying to minimize electronics for the time. This is a good thing as I try to minimize the plastics and the digital screen time footprint in my brain. Analog clocks are also great for kids to tell the time. Leo's learning quarter past and half past. He did a pretty good job figuring out the time. He's got a wristwatch that's not digital from the 100 yen store, Toy Story—Woody, I think. One place you can go for jewelry, watches, and accessories is on Ameyoko (local market street). They probably have some of the best deals, whether or not it's real. I did most of my shopping on Amazon. Even the Niigata steelware makers, glasses frame makers from Fukui, prefectural specialty items—they're selling on Amazon because it's simple, good shipping, easy to pay, secure.

21:39 John Daub: Every single Japanese website I've registered has been hacked multiple times. I get warnings to change my password. Everything is logged in through my smartphone now with two-step verification. Japanese websites have been really lax with security. Using Amazon is probably not a bad idea. But whenever I get a chance to go into a mom and pop shop and have the service where they talk about the history of an item—of course I speak conversational Japanese to get a background—I kind of like that experience. That's more of the generation I grew up in.

22:48 John Daub: Speaking of material goods, is Tokyo known for getting bespoke suits for men? I only saw Zegna. Do I look like someone who owns a lot of suits? I did when I was an English teacher. Most of it was made in Vietnam at $20 a suit in the year 2000. I bought four bespoke suits from a city north of Hanoi, famous for textiles. I got a wool jacket really well made. I spent $100 for suits and a wool jacket and had that wool jacket for 15 years. Those suits—I still have one today. Incredible. The bespoke suits industry, younger generations aren't picking up the mantle. The margin they make isn't enough. Competition with other countries is too hard. Textiles aren't even produced in Japan anymore. You have to import them, and with the yen so weak at 150, it was 160 a couple days ago—it's a good time to change money right now.

24:38 John Daub: I go to Uniqlo. You can make a suit out of Uniqlo stuff for like $100. If you're thinking about supporting local businesses, I've had bespoke suits made in India, Vietnam, Thailand. I haven't had one made in Japan, but I would to support a local tailor because a lot of them have to make a living and not as many people are going to them. They're going to Aoki, which resizes imported suits. Do you ever teach calculus? No, I learned it the old way before calculators. Kids these days use their smartphones, which is crazy. I had an appreciation for mathematics because of a really good instructor at Ohio State and in high school. I didn't do that well in math until a teacher inspired me. I saw mathematics as a puzzle instead of just a skill. Once I started doing that, it got really fun.

27:08 John Daub: Is everybody on the latest earthquake? Didn't feel anything here. John is a Broncos fan? NFL—who am I cheering for now? Of course, I'm from the East Coast. I was hoping the Eagles would do something, but they didn't. I'm pretty happy about the Harbaugh Giants signing. Broncos—no, I never really liked John Elway. Actually, I'm an Ohio State players fan. Trevion Henderson on the New England Patriots, I'm cheering for him. Stroud just lost with the Texans. With the Seahawks, Smith and Jigma is a wide receiver from Ohio State. I cheer for the players more than the teams. Patriots did win. Texans lost and Stroud threw like four or five interceptions. Looked really bad. I feel bad for him. He's an extraordinary quarterback. Just not his day.

28:37 John Daub: Japan price was 3,500 yen plus 10% sales tax. The real ones inside the station—are they made in Japan? I'm going to have to zoom in and check. A really good episode I might do in the future: products still made in Japan. Schools pay a premium for made-in-Japan products to support local industries—like school desks, chairs, equipment. My son has a really nice hat from a Japanese manufacturer. The school backpacks (randoseru) are handmade in Japanese factories. You order them a year in advance. They cost hundreds of dollars and last a decade or more. You could hand them down. School uniforms are made in Japan. I took you inside the factories. Schools pay a premium to keep manufacturing in Japan.

31:14 John Daub: It's supposed to be a book and you get the clock because you bought the book. I got the clock and the book was the bonus. The book tells you a lot of information like train history, the jingles, different types of clocks. JR has round ones, square ones, dark ones. If I see a round one, I'd probably get that for the wall. Wait, is that my friend Akane? I used to work with at NHK—she's a model actress. There's the clock unboxing for 30 minutes. If you have questions, leave them in the comments below.

32:28 John Daub: This month's postcard is so cool. It comes from Iyama, Niigata—a snowed-in Japanese vending machine. This is an area in the southern Japanese Alps that gets some of the most snowfall. Aomori gets the most, but this side gets a ton between January and March. On the back, there's a picture before they dug it out. I put the logo behind it in Photoshop. I'll send this to you with the Pandorobo Japanese stamps. It's a children's book series where this character steals bakery items. So cute. They're all sent out yesterday. A little late this month because the printers were offline and there's the Japanese holiday. January always starts slow, but they should arrive end of January.

34:26 John Daub: I was hoping for more questions, but instead we got the Hokkaido storm. There's supposed to be a big snowstorm on the Sea of Japan side. This past weekend, it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit in Tokyo and sunny—perfect. We have a sick family member. My wife and I are working really hard to get good care. It's challenging, but we'll get there. I apologize for not doing as many live streams—typically 20 a month—but we're warming up now. We're going to have a really great year, a lot more traveling. I got a bunch of episodes on the main channel. I appreciate the support.

35:27 John Daub: When you join the Daimyo Express membership, the next episode is on Sakura flavored stuff. The Sakura Kit Kats came out end of December. I got a bunch of bags for Daimyo supporters. Usually it's strawberry items because Japanese strawberries are seasonal now. But Cherry Blossom Madness starts right after Valentine's. We already have Cherry Blossom items in supermarkets. Christmas marketing starts September 1st—crazy. This just came out yesterday: Itoen Sakura Green Tea. So good. They sell out fast. Why sell this in January? Beer cans with Sakura painted on them are out next week. You can't get what you want when you want it. You always have to be early in Japan.

38:13 John Daub: Can you make a video about akiya (abandoned houses)? I actually have a video made with Jaya, an Australian man who renovated an old akiya. I started filming when he just began. It's been four years—pretty much done now. So beautiful inside. I'll release it after I go back and see the final version. Jaya, Tokyo Llama, is an incredible channel for akiya renovations. I always do three or four videos on it here, and one documentary on the main channel. Thanks for the suggestions. I get so many from you guys. Take care. Leave questions in the comments. See you in the next video. Matane.