00:00 John Daub: So here we are at Lawson's in Tokyo, and you just ride around the city and you see something really beautiful, and you want to share it with everybody. Look at this. The ume (plum) blossoms are blooming. I don't see ume in central Tokyo too often. So when I saw this tree, it kind of made me want to stop and say, wait a second. I was just at Kawazu looking at the cherry blossoms down there, the real cherry blossoms. These are ume plum blossoms. And it just makes you feel like, wow, spring has sprung. We're really close.

00:55 John Daub: Ume blossoms really aren't as amazing as cherry blossoms. They look like just popcorn kernels here. You don't get as much coverage. But they're more beautiful in their own way because of the dark bark of the ume tree. It's really stunning. And there's that purple color to it like lavender, dark pink. The blossoms come out white here. Despite the fact that it's not the most beautiful spot in the world here—right on the side where they put all the cardboard boxes at Lawson's—these blossoms really are nice. It's funny to find it here because it just changes the feeling. This isn't just a back alley. This is a beautiful alley because it has an ume plum blossom there.

01:50 John Daub: The plum blossoms typically will bloom before the Somei Yoshino. Everyone asks me, when's the best time to come to Japan to see the blossoms? It depends where you are, because the country has different weather from Hokkaido to Kyushu, and it also has different times that the varieties bloom. I took you just a few days ago to one of the most beautiful places in the entire country, Kawazu in Shizuoka Prefecture on Izu Peninsula. It's about three hours away from the city of Tokyo, and the cherry blossoms, sakura—the Kawazu variety—are at 100% bloom right now down there. It is absolutely stunning on the weekdays. Not as many people. This weekend is going to be crazy.

02:45 John Daub: If you haven't seen that live stream, go take a look at it. I took you on this channel a few years ago to the Mito Plum Blossom Garden. This is one of the three most beautiful gardens in all of Japan. The plum blossoms here are the best. They're so famous. Leo and I went during the pandemic—you could see we had to have our masks on. It's a very, very big place. Almost all plum blossoms spread out. This is one of the Imperial Gardens for the Imperial family, but anybody can go in there. I used to live in Mito and I would stroll through here quite a bit. There are discounts for Mito residents. But this, right now, this time is the best time to be in Mito to go visit this particular garden. I think this is Kairakuen. It's looking really nice here.

03:40 John Daub: If you go to Fuji Yoshida, this is what it's going to look like in a couple of weeks with the different varieties of cherry blossoms. But there is no one type of cherry blossom that defines Japan, except for the Somei Yoshino, which is what your image is—the white blossoms that look like snow has fallen. But right now I'm really admiring the ume blossoms here. So you could take a stop. Like, I'm riding my bicycle and I took a stop here and I said, I gotta share this tree with you. They've kind of roped it off. I guess they're protecting the tree. I'm respecting it. In about four or five days, it's gonna be really beautiful. It's actually really nice right now. And it's such a promising sign because the winters are so... well, they're not that harsh in Tokyo if you compare them to Canada or north USA, Maine or Vermont. But it just feels like we're out of the worst of it.

04:35 John Daub: When everything just seems really challenging right now, if you're watching the news and stuff, this is one moment where you can stop and hey, you know what? Life's pretty good. Life is pretty good because you got Lawson's right there and you got plum blossoms right there. What could be better than that? Oh, look at that up there. That is really pretty, actually.

05:30 John Daub: I did go inside of the Lawson's and the cool thing with the convenience stores... Do you guys know what this is? This is a weird, wacky mabo tofu drink. They had a natto drink, which was just rancid. Now they have mabodofu drink. It's just weird Lawson's. I like what you're doing. You're just weird. So I might go actually try this one. I love mabo tofu. It's a Sichuan Chinese dish, which is so good. It's famous here. But this is drinkable mabodofu, which is like, what's the point? But then again, why not just get a little silly?

06:25 John Daub: If you go inside there, you notice that at this time of year, there's a lot of pink stuff that comes out for the cherry blossoms. They have a ringo (apple) melonpan right there. A lot of pink drinks as well start to come out. Everything is green and pink right now inside the stores. The poke is quite famous, the green tea poke. But now they have the topo, which is... I like that. That's better than the poke, where they put the green chocolate inside of the sticks. That's a little bit better for me. I prefer the topo to the poke. So I bought a bunch of them for my Patreon Daimyo supporters. Thanks, guys. It has matcha inside there. The matcha prices are so high, but they keep a certain amount of them for the domestic consumption and for gifts like this. So I find that the boxes are getting smaller because the price of matcha is just out of control right now, especially the Uji matcha. But I got some Uji matcha topos coming your way to my Daimyo supporters on Patreon.

07:20 John Daub: And it seems like the postcards have arrived. Here's the postcard for this month, the Bijin Hime, which is Japan's largest, sweetest strawberry. I'd say it's probably number one. And the man in the picture is Okuda-san, who is the inventor of this variety of strawberry. Each one is perfect. It's called Bijin Hime, which is like beautiful princess. And it really is. It's like a kiss from a princess. Because when you eat it, the taste lingers. When you eat a strawberry, the sweetness goes away. But not this one. The taste lingers. So after you've swallowed it, you still got that glow. Maybe that's why he called it the Beautiful Princess, the Bijin Hime. But that's this month's postcard. This was last month's postcard. So we're doing a pretty good job getting some pretty cool postcards to you guys. I really appreciate it.

08:15 John Daub: Carrie, you missed that one, but it was a really quick shoot. I think it was probably not the best one to go to. Kerry might have gone with me on that one, but we'll find another one for you. Michael Cesano, thank you. Aloha, brother. Since you're right next to Lawson's, afternoon snack it up. You got it. I'm gonna go in there and get some more stuff here. I actually got a bunch of stuff, Michael. So we're doing pretty good here.

09:10 John Daub: My marathon training is going well. We're about... today, on this day right now, in one week I will be running on the course, or actually I'll be finishing the marathon right now in a week if everything goes right. But I have a little IT band problem. My glutes, which is your butt, it's kind of tired because I did like a 65 kilometer week, which is a shock to my system. I've trained for marathons before, but that was the first time that I've been doing glute exercises. But I think I might have overdone it. So with a week out, I'm not really going to do too much today and yesterday and today kind of let it settle down. And I think maybe that'll help with my knees. Your whole body's connected. You guys know that, right? Like, if you have problems with your glute muscles, you're probably going to have knee problems too, or you're going to have calf problems. So it's all connected.

10:05 John Daub: So if I can get my glutes to settle down and rest up, I'm sure I'm going to solve the knee problems, which is the one thing that concerns me right now because I had a calf strain. Gosh, it's really hard to train for the marathon when you're 52 unless you've developed all the muscles around there. Three months is not enough time. You really need like six months to train for a marathon if you're in your 50s. Just because it's not about the running, it's about building up the muscles that help protect you so when you run, you don't get injured. Building up the calf muscles, building up the glutes, which is the most important. That also impacts your back and your knees. Building up the muscles around there. So then when you do train and you get into 20, 30 kilometer days, then you could take that like nothing. The cardiovascular is not the problem right now. It's the strength training, which I just didn't work my glutes because I've been sitting in the chair so long. But we'll do fine. I think if I can settle down my knees, which take a little bit of time, I'll be fine on the course. But everything is connected in the body, and training for the marathon is one time where you realize it. So there's a lot of benefits to it.

11:00 John Daub: Can you buy Bijin Hime at the grocery store? That's such a great question. You cannot. He only sells them at the store in Gifu, and he used to sell them at Isetan in Shinjuku because that's where all the expensive fruits are. You can only get it online now. So this is Okuda-san in his shop here. He's selling the Bijin Hime. I actually bought this box of strawberries and sent it to Emmy, my assistant, who received them. It's in a beautiful box. That box of strawberries was, I think, 8,000 yen or 10,000 yen. So it's like $5 a strawberry or something like that. They're really, really perfect. Each one was perfect, right? I appreciate all the work that she does. And you know, like, you guys give me super chats and all that. And I give super chats and thank you to the people who help me too. We all find ways to appreciate. And this is a something that you probably wouldn't buy for yourself, but if somebody gave it to you, you'd really appreciate it, right?

11:55 John Daub: This is kind of a life update and just a stop and enjoy the plum blossoms in front of a Lawson's. It's just kind of cool to see that and enjoy the warm weather. Yesterday, it was about 68, 70 degrees Fahrenheit, like 16, 17, 18 degrees Celsius—crazy warm for February. But right now it feels like we're in the sankanshion (three days warm, four days cold). Kind of this feeling where we're going back and forth and then the spring breaks. So I'm hoping for the marathon it's not too warm, it's not too cold. But you know what? Tokyo, at this time of year, it's very, very hard to get a perfect day, which would be like about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 degrees Celsius. That'd be really great for the marathon. Problem is, this time of year, the wind is stronger. So even if it's 7 or 8 or 10 degrees Celsius, it feels a lot colder because of the wind. March Tokyo is famous for its winds in the spring, so that's another reason. Always bring a windbreaker or a jacket in the spring. You're gonna need it. Definitely don't come here without a jacket. Luckily, Uniqlo and a lot of the stores have this kind of stuff you could buy pretty cheaply.

12:50 John Daub: Where's this Lawson's location here? I don't know which one this is. Satrio is the Lawson's Indonesian Lawson's trip winner. So, my friend, that should make you feel good right there. Looking forward to seeing you, Satri. Yeah. Tell me when you're going to be here, because I want to see you. It'd be cool if you had, like, the Lawson shirt in there and you were working there for a day. I'd come and visit you. That'd be pretty awesome. I'm really proud of you, buddy. You did a great job on your video. And he won. There must have been thousands of people who went into that contest. And Satrio ended up winning one of two people, which is great on you. Good job.

13:45 John Daub: One last look at these ume plum blossoms before we move on to other things. Tomorrow, I'll do another live stream, and I think I might do how to pack for it, because I'm starting to see the clothing change inside of the shops, the stores. So we have... there's a lot of action around here, so we'll talk about that. How to dress and pack for spring in Tokyo. All right, guys, take care. Thanks for joining me just a little bit here in Japan, but it's always nice to see. Wow, Lawson's has gotcha. Paul, what I just noticed, really, there's gachapon everywhere. Have they Pan D? Robo? There's some good stuff in there, guys. Checking it out right now.

14:40 John Daub: All right, thank you again, Michael, for the super chat. I'll come home with something nice for the family. I really appreciate you guys. And I'll see you again in another live stream probably tomorrow. I gotta do some midnight snack run, but maybe after the marathon. I'm not sure. I can't believe in a week I'll be done with the Tokyo Marathon. All fingers crossed that I don't get injured. By the way, if you are watching the Tokyo Marathon, please get in touch with me because I would love to give you the tracking information so you could catch up with me on the course or know where I am. You could say hi or maybe do a meetup after the race where I get a chance to say hi to everybody. Or before it, I don't know.

15:35 John Daub: But I'll be giving a speech for Pokari Sweat and Asics Japan on the 27th about conditioning and all that stuff and should be a lot of fun. I like giving public talks and public speeches, but that should be all good. I already wrote out the script and everything for that and the deck, so I'm ready to go. All right, guys, take care. I'll see you again tomorrow. Matane. Stay warm or stay cool. This weather, this is like absolutely perfect today.