Tokyo’s Kōenji Retro Shopping Street Experience

hey everybody welcome to Koenji just rode the jr. SOBU line and the jr chuo so bow line it brings you here to what I think is Tokyo's retro town on the west side on the east side it might be coy wash in koi WA this area and it'll Gaia's really old and in this live stream we're gonna be exploring Tokyo's retro town yeah it's pretty neat last time a couple of days ago we went to Shimokitazawa which was I don't know it kind of had a vibe that was hippy hipster town this one is completely different and over the next couple of months I'm going to be taking you to different neighborhoods around Tokyo so you get a feel of what the city's like this is what you subscribe for it's really exciting so everybody welcome to koenji we're gonna start off going on the south side called Minami Gucci and over there you'll see what you can see right on the platform is a really old Shelton guy called pal tal do you see that up there but from up here you notice you can't see anything we're gonna go down there and explore around there and then we're gonna go after we go through pal we're gonna go on the other side of the station keep the Gucci the Northside and take a look there but you get the best view of Koenji right from the platform here it's kind of neat yes that's right one stop away is not gonna Broadway the other way and we will be going there in another livestream so you definitely want to subscribe you don't want to miss it here's the south side of the station and you can get a look here what this looks like it looks like a pretty typical Japanese station front on the Chuo line the Chu lines famous for a lot of things as well there it is right there that goes between touch paola and shinjuku goes all the way to the mountains if you ride the Chuo line going straight with a pass you can get to Matsumoto in Nagano even further from Sawako Lake Sueko and Nagano it's beautiful line all right and here we are welcome to the busy part of the station everyone's coming and going now if you if you bought a ticket at a lesser fare right inside the station before you exit our fare adjustments you can also charge your Suika card right here and yes everything's in English with a very annoying lady preaching in English about how all fares are will be displayed in English it's kind of embarrassing because everybody turns their head when they hear the announcement all right so we could go north and we will do that next that's the north side but first we're gonna go to the south side and we'll take a look at the other side the north side has a lot of retro restaurants it's easy to get lost on that side very easy to get lost because I have been lost before just like in Shimokitazawa all right so fasten your seat belts buckle in for a one hour livestream I'd say 30 minutes but you know that that'd be a lie if we're lucky we might even see some street food because the show chin guy are usually you get a very good mix of all kinds of shops that show ten guys as you saw in the longest show ten guy in Japan in Osaka Kevin Reilly and I walked down that Kevin most of the way I went all the way to the end which is crazy I'll put a link right up here in the corner where you can go and click over to that if you're interested did this one of course underneath the young chul line you can see on the other side this is where we're gonna be going after a short walk that's the the thumbnail and you can see it's really really retro over there this is what makes this place really special and that's why you have to come and visit Koenji it's a throwback from an era all right so in the nineteen in the 1980s Japan was having a bubble it was having a boom lots of construction was coming up really fast and the architecture is not the best this here is a town that escaped that it didn't have a lot of the bubble architecture and as a result you can see more of the retro nest of it and the residents of Koenji love it they like to protect that and I wouldn't want it any other way either check it out the alleys tear is so picturesque this is what I think you'll want to think of Tokyo all these different buildings look at the cables up there air conditioners on racks nothing really matches or signs it's beautiful to me that's character on these streets and at night it's even better and we're gonna be doing these neighborhoods in the evening if you walk along the the Chuo line here which is above you can see the platform and there's restaurants and all sorts of shops going along the Chuo line which makes it really beautiful but we're here to start off that's right Jason it is urban scenery at the max we're starting off right here at pal and it says it's it was established here in 2003 so I'm guessing it's not as retro but the shoten guy in itself has been here for a while as a shopping street Koenji is also famous for the alwa dhoti which is a famous dance from Tokushima but that's where its roots are but yeah this is the second Vegas our duty dance in Japan and if you're here in August you can't miss that it's it's it's really crowded but at the same time there's so much spirit and energy in it I have a video on the only depend main channel at the alwah a dhoti in 360 as well on the only in Japan 360 channel which is been pretty much dormant but if you do check that out you will experience the our duty like you never have before 360 is pretty cool this is a typical show tin guy it's just a mall where they've covered it on the top here this looks new like it's been redone again in 2003 it right up there but I believe the history goes back all the way to I think it was um oh look hats she get that you do get a weird mix of stuff this does not look Japanese it looks more like Aztec no no I should say Inka Inka ish no bicycles in the show tank guy but there was a law in 2001 that was very controversial because of OMGs retro history and that um that led to protests in 2001 and before that when japan mandated that all electronic equipment before 2001 had to be stopped he had to buy new equipment koenji was a leader of that because they had a lot of old equipment and they just didn't want to get rid of it I believe that act was called pal maybe that has something to do with it [Music] look at that okay so 100 yen shop has now got Christmas hats on sale a lot of in fact you can get a whole outfit look at that I'm starting to feel a lot like Christmas now again all that's a hundred yen it's crazy what look how cute that is pet shop they put these cute Christmas lights in here it looks like Christmas anyways and you can see the little puppies in the windows look at that hey little guy how cute is that nothing like a sleeping puppy huh you want to find a home huh you'll find a home buddy wants to go for go for a walk one eye open that's how you sleep in prison one eye open wouldn't know watch a lot of prison shows if you do like these neighborhood walks click that like button and we're gonna try some street food I like it is it's like a little look at this shop a little trip to heaven that's pretty nice and that's more stylish than I would think of a show 10 guys shop would be but you get all all different kinds of shops at a show 10 guy I kind of like going to them and kind of like supporting them because I don't want this culture to die nothing against Amazon well maybe a little bit but I still shop Amazon all the time but people if people stop going out and shopping at places like show 10 guys all these businesses won't we'll go out of business and that's something that we don't want to happen we want to keep the show ten guys run and happy right just doesn't even have a head all right keep moving this is the Vanguard they usually have a lot of this would be like Spencer's in the United States which is in every single shopping mall you got all this like a eclectic mix of weird stuff you got that in Vanguard too and they also have it's like a Don Quixote maybe they have gotcha pone right outside here we can we can take a quick look at that got your phone what do they got in the yeah or they offer in here oh there's the strange animals strange spoon art usually get some weird one okay frozen's pretty big right now what's that miniatures sniper oh it like packs of gum with with bug animal it some everyday objects with bugs in them it's pretty creepy I should probably get one I think I will what do you guys think get something for kunai she's gonna love that what do you think this is pretty creepy I just get it alright let's see let's see if I got 200 yen disappear I do one one and two all right we're already starting can i honey this is for you this is this is what you guys always give your super jets for right okay let's see which one you get which one do you think I'm gonna get the candy wrapper the tomato the peanut the gum pack or the milk looks like a coffee coffee milk alright here we go gotcha gotcha pause look it's wrapped I gotta see him here we got somebody said they were got the I'm getting the tomato another one said milk we won't know until I get this capsule open the ones that they tape are always hard I think I got it done most people don't keep the capsules usually you'll recycle them usually some foreign visitors take them home which one do you think I got alright let's try it let's sit for this err or which one do you think I got last chance three two one oh it's the candy can I is gonna love this looks like an ordinary piece of candy alright let me open the plastic oh man looks like an ordinary piece of candy one that you would love to pick up and put into your mouth except there's a sniper inside I think you all thought it was a bug right it's not a bug it's a sniper I don't know it doesn't have to make sense doesn't have to make sense don't try don't try to make sense I've got your pawn if you do that's why it's fun that's why it's super fun all right they sure think I pretty much ends here but if you keep on going over here you're gonna end up being in some of the nice neighborhoods I wouldn't say nice neighborhoods I'd say like retro neighborhoods again if we look over here what you get Ohio State shirt on why should you got an Ohio State shirts on go bucks you can see the retro Ness of it right look at the cables coming off of it connecting with the the street on the other side it's pretty crazy for me anyways I love that I love the vibe all right let's go around now we're gonna go back to the north side walk it so I guess today's gonna get sniped we've got some sniper candy are we gonna go over to the other side but first I'm gonna take a look at the main street here um once again this is I think this is Suginami qu but every single yeah this is suki na miku Suginami ward but you're not allowed to walk around and smoke and that's something that I like because it's nothing worse than standing behind someone who is smoking you can't do that in Suginami ku not all of the wards are like that but they're getting there they're getting there yeah what gimble's been acting a little funny lately it's kind of on an angle all right so on the wall here this is interesting you can see some of the culture of Koenji right here on these electrical boxes that's the alwah Doherty that's the dance I was talking to you that's the dance for the ladies they look they were hats that look like taco shells that's what I think but the way that they crouch and dance it's so much fun you see the taiko drums there's a lot of energy this guy's holding a cioppino lantern Japanese Lantern it's just such a festive thing this guy's also has a choke chain in his hand man I love it and they wear the their hats the guys do it makes it look like a little mustache everything has a reason but don't ask the locals because even in Tokushima they don't know why they don't know why the ladies wear hats that look like taco shells one is because maybe they would use it to get water or funnel it or something out in the fields but this looks like a video game it's like 8-bit that's pretty cool actually nosh writes in very importantly it's only two stops away from shinjuku on the express trains I didn't take the Express train that's this livestream started a few minutes late this reminds me right here when I look at these of and I guess nosh is gonna put the link in the description on discord the discord server we're having an emoji contest where if you have emojis or screenshots that you like you can add it to that might be an interesting one you can add it to the discord server and it might come up on only in Japan go because I'm gonna be putting emojis on here so that when you go through the chat we're gonna have emojis where you can use that that's gonna be pretty cool so that's up to you we're I'm going to you the viewers for emoji ideas okay look at this I like this it's not really crowded you but that's a good thing right I'm sure at night it has a totally different feel we're gonna wait for that red light to turn green or blue as we say in Japan but again on the electrical box as you can see more more information about the festival this is awesome it's an ami gasa that it's the name of the taco shell hat amigas ah Oh dico sit dot that's the name of the slippers not gate but set ah yeah that's a taka hottie Cho Chien that's the name of it I love this a shamisen a foo a which is flute table e which is the socks oh I don't want to miss the slate the written rule is if somebody is running on a red light you can run too that's the unwritten rule if someone else is crossing everybody looks at each other and then they'll just all cross but if no one's crossing no one wants to be the one to take the sniper hit no one wants to be the one that gets sniped by the police so if one person does it everybody starts to do it so you get a little bit of feel of the Southside before we turn our attentions to the other side South Side Northside I believe I came here yeah didn't I I came here with a simonetmartina about a year ago with Kenai on a date and we had some really nice food here in Koenji it's such a beautiful area I'm afraid I'm almost afraid there's some antiques in there I'm almost afraid to show this to you guys because I don't know this is one of these secret neighborhoods it's not that secret Nash knows about it he was talking about it in the shimokita douwe episode and that's one reason why I might be here maybe and we're heading back towards the koenji station right now but it's when you explore go off-road you start to find things in these alleys like this what looks like a used clothes store and you could see it's very residential very quiet there's a couple of vending machines on the corner a parking spot and then there's like this used clothing store look at that it looks like a fun store this is something it looks like it would be from I'm a yokel near wano and o-katsu machi kind of old and above it is a residence people live up here on the first floor is used clothing thrift shop they call it right very hipster this is a little keep that right here look at it the clothes racks goes all the way over towards the other street in fact the clothes racks wrapped around the side of a - what oh this is another shop it's called antique wasabi like the name ladies vintage ladies are you watching this well look at that a UK t-shirt what would Austin Powers say Schwing totally different movie I know probably we'll hear it in the Chad's awesome look at that look at that your hair I gotta sit in this if you guys come here you can you have to come and sit in this chair it's a smoking chair it's pretty cool it's really cool so that's across the street from the antique shops see what I'm talking about like it's just some small business owners that came up with these ideas you have all of these really interesting shops and you have to you have to walk the streets to figure it out this one looks like a character shop above a flower shop is that that's and then above that a massage parlor that's weird right there's massage you can get that after you've been playing games all day it looks like actually you'll have some comic books and some characters in there then an arcade and then the flower shop looks really nice but what a mix over here on the left side you can see on the down the road we walked from there that's the pal show tank I just give you an idea it's it's so weird it's awesome doesn't make sense don't try to don't try to explain everything sometimes you just enjoy it now a little history about Koenji this area used to be called well there used to be a neighboring town that no longer exists it was called mabashi ma it was the kanji for horse and bocce means bridge so it was horse bridge and that town was absorbed by koenji not sure when but you'll see some remnants of it in the name of the shrines and the parks around here but I'm sure people before they entered the city of Tokyo maybe this is a they would come on horse and shinjuku means new and juku means in or hotel so people would stay in shinjuku before going into a dough it was this kind of a place where a lot of hotels were that's what the name Shinjuku means Harajuku is the old Inn area not too far away from Shinjuku so it's kinda neat when you know the meaning of the names of the places that are so famous and cleanse each us means old temple it's kind of named for the old temple yeah look at that Whistler it's tall leather stuff that's really nice I think I might come back here it's like dude stuff LL Bean boots what nice this is pretty cool I think this is all thrift stuff too look at that I could see myself wearing some of these it's a quote-unquote vintage that's the key word here vintage I have some vintage boots just like this all brown look at that and it's climb this hill to go back to the station Ken's gonna freak I'm gonna put it on the table it'd be better if it was like a cockroach in there right just saying it'd be a lot more fun if it was a bug kind of looks like it this is yeah it says one of the temples I think though in the mabashi area or shrine sorry you can tell the difference between a shrine in a temple shrines are Shinto temples are our Buddhist oh is a curry rice place look it looks pretty good the pork vindaloo they don't need a lot of pork in India so that makes it pretty unique right there pork vindaloo and the two prime curries double curried smells amazing I like the retro feel to that shop all right let's move on getting back to the station I'm gonna walk through again and go towards whoa you don't see these too often this is what's called a key so 10 a key so 10 is a old coffee shop japanese-style inside it's usually dark and wood and they serve coffee but it's usually smoking is allowed in there so I don't go to Kisa 10 very often but Starbucks has been kind of short-circuiting the Kisa tends people just aren't going as much the mom-and-pop shops are going out of business and even the chain Keis of ten are starting to go out there's a really nice one at Shimbashi station front that I have meetings at every now and then so it's kind of retro I like that there's the station up there very cool there's the sober line coming through but we're gonna go that looks like a Tapioca place and those will probably start going out of business in a next year because tapioca boom is sort of at the end no longer people waiting in line for it right with 30 minutes in we've already you've already gone through the south side so let's head over to the north side of Koenji I was surprised though I didn't see in the show tank guy I didn't see in this show tank guy any street food or anything like that so kind of disappointing all right let's go underneath the underneath the Chua line make our way over to the north side and then we're gonna go down that old Street it's funny though that they put lockers out on the street like this it's kind of funny not funny haha just funny weird right and then on the other side people come out of the station right there and I guess you can come in here this 24-hour seafood izakaya this is a chain as well it's nice you know you guys wanna see the menu it's a quick look-see they usually put a char grill little teeny char grill on your table and you can order stuff to cook right in front of you prices are pretty reasonable but the more you eat the more gets expensive and I always leave it this particular chain or type of restaurant paying about 25 to 30 dollars if we have more that more people gets a little cheaper but usually we order a lot of stuff that's the izakaya way you order a lot of stuff a lot of stuff comes on the table everybody shares and nobody ever takes the last piece of chicken or takes the last piece of whatever because it's like a sacred you don't want to be that guy but I'm always that guy because I'm hungry so I will take that last piece on the table typically if you're if you're a tourist and you come to Japan you're not gonna eat Japanese way izakayas a little bit weird but when you do go intern izakaya you just want to order a bunch of everything and then share it usually with several people and the drinking goes on for two or three hours until people go home until somebody says oh last train and then you run over to Koenji station catch your last train can I and I that's what I did when we went to we came here to eat with salmon and Martina oh I think there was a a craft beer place that we drank at last time all right this is where things start to get really interesting in Koenji you can see here there are lots and lots of alleys and nothing really makes a lot of sense this is the meat of the the meet of the town here this is my one of the places that I like we're gonna go back into the maze and just check it out and see if we can get some get lost a little bit so if you're watching along I put a link in the description of the map that there is the station and we're on the north side right now so I've just come out here this is the roundabout that's on the Google Maps so now you can find me 30 minutes in this is the yakiniku restaurant and yoshino yeah smells like meat smells really good let's stay on this side and go back here and then we're gonna come out the opening on the other side that sometimes you'll see these vending machines this is not a coca-cola sanctioned machine just another company and they have kind of weird drinks sometimes so I always stop and take a quick look because you never know a lot of these things I've never seen before oh it smells so good like a barbecue UCC which is one of the biggest coffee importers in the world a lot of you don't know that before Starbucks they were the biggest they're the biggest buyers of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee which I thought was interesting and they take that Blue Mountain they have a lot of plantations there and they mix it up and make Blue Mountain blend which they charge your arm and a leg for goes back during the bubble era Blue Mountain you can see that you can see this the cloud of smeet smoke do you see it it smells so good but the blue the Blue Mountain coffee in the 80s Japan had a bunch of money than the bubble era so the story goes I cannot confirm but you see see that's when they started investing heavily in Jamaican Blue Mountain they own I think 80% of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee the fields there it's pretty crazy so you see see is a very profitable company or at least I thought they were but they don't know what to do I don't think they have a good direction they're the ones they're the importers of k-cup technology I don't see too much stuff here do the importers of the k-cup technology and k-cup is failing miserably in Japan because UCC has known what's the word imagination they don't have enough imagination and licensing is hard and anyways it's probably better for the environment not to use cake cups nice this is a nice area it's a barber shop there and get some residents here I don't want to show too you might but you can see it's just walled in there there's a gate a lot of the residents in the cities especially if it's family-owned for a long time the plots of land that they have are massive I want you to take a look at how big that house is all right they've probably had that plot of land since well before the 8'o period is a massive plot of land and there's even a little little toady in there a little little shrine inside you see inside the house that's a really expensive piece of property but they've built a house there and I think it's interesting to see that in the center of Tokyo well not it's just a little bit outside that's an expensive piece of land it's a little yucky Nick yakitori place with seats outside it's very Japanese smells wonderful look at that they're grilling right here you can get it to go I'd be bak alright let's walk over to the entrance of another retro part on the north side here's a looks like Vietnam Vietnamese and Chinese it's a lot like well that does look like China inside there that's pretty authentic smells wonderful we got a mix of so many different foods in my nose right now get the yakiniku place that we walked by a couple of minutes ago as well as the vietnamese restaurant and the chinese restaurant with the the sweet and sour pork pumping outside the door from the kitchen it smells great there's koenji station again so we're just gonna wrap around over towards the famous area bookstore more alleys so how much how much does it costs to get an apartment in Koenji you might be wondering well right here is a shop this one is room 101 which is on the first floor of this building here it's going for about seven hundred dollars a month you have one room which is six tatami mats right here it's not very big and then you have another one this is the kitchen it's 2.82 Tommy that's really small I think you can two people cooking in here is really tight it's probably got one burner and then look at the bathtub is ridiculously small the bathtub and the toilet are separated this is oh this is one of these small bathtubs that's one of these small old bathtubs I've been in some of these you can't you can't stretch long you have to go like this right but it's deeper than the typical bathtub it's deeper so you you can kind of two people maybe like a baby and a father and a son conveyed together in there but it's not very comfortable you can't stretch your legs that's the kind of house that's it's definitely older older style this one's got one room which is really big and a little kitchenette here that's about $700 a little bit more than $700 it looks clean it looks like it's been modernized that's nice this is we would call this a this is a one room one r-type this is six hundred and twenty dollars maybe per month I've got six - Tommy Matz I like the tummy and a really small kitchen I'd say that's like three - Tommy Matz the bathroom and again an old bathtub and the kitchen it's like all really connected I don't I can't live in a place like that anymore I did when I first moved to Japan if you decide to move here permanently you can't live out of these and have a family and I would like divorce me I had a one room it's like what's what's your problem 40 year old dude living in a one-room apartment anything wrong with it just saying yeah wow it looks so different the last time I was here was during this during the festive of the alwah Dougherty Festival that's what it looks like in the summer during the festival and then today it's just sort of yeah its Koenji but I don't know I think even when there's no festival you should still come here for a visit this is the main thoroughfare this is the knit the main area where the festival goes through fill the people it's so vibrant so loud so crowded right here and now we're gonna go down this road here this is also where you see the festival go through the koenji it's another another kind of shopping street but it's not a show tin guy because there's no cover you know me just starting to get the hang of it the shooting guys are all covered this 7-eleven is so busy during the festival - I've been to the Koenji Amadori twice in the last 15 years that I've been living in Tokyo oh there's the uppity soba I didn't know they had a chain here my buddy's soba is pretty good it doesn't have this soup it's basically noodles it will fill you up Wow that's new tex-mex I don't remember that being there or maybe I just didn't see it because of the festival he's out 270 ones in the house how you doing you're joining us at a good time certain guy is is usually covered I haven't seen too many where it's not Sabino crews from the San Francisco if you want you can right where you're watching from it's always neat to see where audience is from it's a kind of a neat look at these Mads that'll be nice in front of our door get a little cute dog before we enter you see a nice face of the dog saying welcome or this kitty cat look at that how neat is that wow it smells like a smells like one of those um like Spencer shops weird incense coming out of there this is a neat little izakaya you can see the colored Cho Chien these red Cho teen and lanterns designated in izakaya they're selling hoppy which is like a hoppy drink with no alcohol and then they like a hop drink with no alcohol and then they put the booze in at second that's what a hobby is it's it's old-school it's eerie old school yeah if you're watching this in the playback you want to put the live stream chat on because it's really interesting to see while we're walking what people are talking about this is interesting so that is this is in front of a Family Mart that's Kotori Shingo who is SMAP but SMAP broke up earlier this year was it last year I can't remember and he's next to an American Santa Claus funny because it is time for Christmas cake that's one of the big traditions and in Japan everybody goes and gets a Christmas cake and I guess look this is very interesting do you see what they're eating Family Mart is is trying to compete with Kentucky Fried Chicken that is funny so inside you can see they have fried food right there do you see that they're trying to get a fommy chicky they call Family Mart chicken Fahmy chicky as in like Pokemon stuck it monsters Pokemon Family Mart chicken Fahmy chicky that's cute it's finger-licking good do you think he really ate it I'm not sure give me plastic it's hard to say hey Chris Chris how you doing Chris Gallagher hey John first time watching from Oklahoma cool Oh check this out this is another thing that you gotta you have to be on the lookout when you're here in Tokyo at the in December mingi joel nanga do or end of your cards and these already have the pattern on it you can buy them in packs of 10 I believe yeah let's see here I guess it's the year of the hamster and on the back they stamp is already on there and on the bottom there's a number which is like a lottery so some people will win some money and you have to give these two you have to give these to friends and family and and even to businesses that you've worked with over the year if you've lost a family member you not allowed to send out an engager during the year you send out a Christmas card or some then we lost mr. say Ichi last year we couldn't send out in New Years cards because we lost a family member this is a cushy it cuts restaurant this is a chaina I think you've seen this before as well and they cuz she katsu is one of the great Osaka foods that you'll find sometimes in Tokyo too it's it tastes different I don't know why I think it's just because it's in Tokyo but 90 yen for one is pretty cheap you can only dip it once did their deep-fried stuff on a stick and you can only dip it in the sauce once and the sauce tastes so good Cushie katsu you've got to try that that's put that on your list as one of the top 10 foods that you must try and if you come here you also get gyoza goes up with a beer it's really good and some rain cone which is lotus root man I'm getting hungry too looking as cocky FRA which is a moister fried very nice this is an Osaka wow they got some kind of different sauce there interesting so I like that I like it this one is a chain I've been they have one in front of Tokyo Station as well so you'll be able to find that everywhere this one is also looks like it's a chain this is a goes a restaurant but of course they sell more than just cosa in here you have ham kata-kata a gay I love karaage that's in my top one probably that's my mom's favorite food she come to Japan she says Mapo tofu Nita Tama is a Nita which is like a green plantain egg there's some is that basashi looks like basashi which is horse meat raw horse meat there's a men mom which is bamboo shoots with oil it's pretty good the cucumbers with sesame oil and there's the gyoza all kinds of gyoza whoa there's the normal gyoza there's the poem dosa ponzu deep fried gyoza this is goes up with cheese what I look so good this is the chain it's open 24 hours you order by like an iPad which is cool they'll find you they'll find you Eric Edgar's is in the house have an interview with Tokyo tech company tomorrow in South Carolina so I'll be so ready to be in Japan that's really awesome yes and if you get the job you'll be coming maybe in the spring that's the perfect time to be in Japan winter in Tokyo is not as happy look at the sweet stuff too in the window I might I might go in and grab something what do you guys think a pink pink doughnut hole looks good they're already selling the Christmas cakes I guess if you're gonna get one it would be best to do it from the bakery right the thing is I don't like Japanese cake I don't I and Japanese cheesecake too is not high on my list it just doesn't have butter it's made with nama cream which is just whipped cream and it's light it's too light I want something heavy that's gonna weigh me down and make me feel sick all day but yeah it looks pretty but it's not the same icing that we have on birthday cakes in the United States look at that okay this looks like a said a ramen shop right here go back to the pink one do you guys want me to get that pink donut I can try it they have more than the pink donut check it out they also have Wiener Wiener Wiener pond which is a sausage and a baked bread they also have curry pond and that curry pot has an egg in it what it was been on TV this one has an egg in it that looks really good and then this one looks so good - this one has cheese in it look at that it's a like a melted cheese inside of the bread yadi sugi it has too much cheese it's promoting it's too much cheese and this one has the coffee UMP on so they got some good stuff in here which one do you which one do you guys want in the bakery I'll run in and get it running again it's up to you go for it Jon Starbucks coffee I'm not I can't get Starbucks here in Koenji that would be supporting chains in a in a chain less town all right the one eggs all right all right we got everyone says cheese curry curry pond egg can we get the 350 likes I'm gonna go in and get it our cheese the pink one curry pot okay all right curry curry pot its curry pot too much cheese get the too much cheese sweets for Jonica not Chris Hansen rights and animate innovation that's cute curry okay I'm getting the curry with the egg okay I'll get the curry with the egg thank you come and go hide the Cuddy panda scoffs Wow yesterday [Music] I need you that's habit MEMS [Music] hi hey Nina habit a meticulous eye hi Alioto Simas you might have a master oh yeah there's a mess alright so this is the this is the bakery right here and it tells you the time in which it was baked so it was made here at 2 p.m. and yeah it's about an hour ago so let's try this huh he asked me if this is a live a live stream and I said yeah yeah alright we'll try it right here in the window well he was nice he was kind of waving me in so I think it's okay alright it's not it's it's still warm it's still warm guys still warm bakery on Tendo wow it smells wonderful we say live stream in Japanese is live high Sheen high Sheen means like a broadcast high Sheen choo in the middle of broadcasting it's kind of light I didn't think it would be this light I thought it might be heavier all right here we go yes I'm but I have a high Sheen to you see the egg in there oh that's really nice I got a comedian till I get to the egg deal one of the best curry pond bakeries is near my not too far from where I live so I might take you there or another live stream I'll call them and see if I can get permission all right I've got to the egg part now hmm very interesting hear that hmmm it's very very good yeah you're not supposed to eat and walk around kind of like an unwritten rule everybody knows about it it's a hard-boiled a yeah tis B knows it's not the same as a hunch you cou Tom ago which is a half boiled egg kind of wish it was that but it's still not it's not bad it's good how can you complain it's curry pond even if it didn't have an egg I would still want to eat it mmm very good curry not spicy at all a little bland in the curry but you got some vegetables in it some beef I think your pork some meat hmm it's very pleasant all right let's go a little round over here what's this it's called bar 365 not spicy at all and it opens at 7:00 p.m. it looks like a dungeon it's super small how cool is that that's not it right there it's just here maybe it goes down into the basement maybe but we got to come back here a night I think a lot of the attraction is at night time I love it when things went spill out out into the streets like this you can take a look at it some innominate candy hmm over here that looks like a very famous meat shop they've been in business and show off 42 I was born show up 49 so 1974 minus seven is when it opened so you think I'm Meatwad you mostly pork here so mostly pork Wow now this is the retro area this is retro we're gonna turn around in a little bit and start walking back to the station this feels so retro and you have these alleys I love these alleys you can see there's trees coming out of homes that are right there so people still live sort of within the nature that house probably looks like a forest if not it could be a shrine maybe we'll wrap around here so we're gonna walk off of this street this there's people here taking selfies I guess I guess they bought a tapioca drink and they're taking taking selfies with the tapioca drink that's crazy over like a royal milk tea a royal milk tea selfie alright let's come down here and take a look at I don't know the signals gonna die out but I just want to see you have all of these trees including bamboo up here how is it possible it looks like somebody's old house what that's really really interesting look at that this somebody lives here there's bamboos in there and um Peter he told me a story he had some bamboo in his house and bamboo is tough because it grows so fast and so wild you don't see it in the city well it goes underneath the wall and starts growing into other people's property that's why you don't see it growing a lot in people's front yards but here this dude is just gone gone to town and that looks like that house has not been renovated it looks wild in there like a jungle you can hear the birds chirping in inside Wow would you go in there it's so dark and spooky that's so cool and then it just turns into a regular apartment a pot dog kind of a mansion but I'm not gonna go in it's just very unusual to see to see bamboo growing in the city of Toki you know because it's so it's so damages properties right but this guy's made like a bamboo tunnel I would totally live here but I know that's not easy to do and not get your neighbors mad thankfully this guy's neighbors doing the same thing it could be buddies it's beautiful it's it's just like a raw beauty right and it's just right off of the alley you would never know you would never know it's right off of the main alley hey Ben avails in the house I will chat we'll see what's on the way back we've already had a one curry pond and should have gotten that pink donut we're gonna walk back now towards the station there's the Keaton beer sign they say that that looks like it was shaped the Keaton Dragon was shaped like the mustache of the guy in Nagasaki who invented Keaton beer out of respect so it was shaped like his mustache you see it see the mustache sometimes you have to really look at some of these logos to find a secret meaning of it if you do go to Nagasaki you can check out his house I forget the name of oh um Raisa I forget the name of the guy who who the Westerner who came up with eating beer this is a Yaya Yaya is a vegetable shop and you don't see these too often anymore in the city of Tokyo usually mom-and-pop shops the prices are pretty reasonable but yeah they're kind of dying out slowly got to support your local businesses salut yakitori shop ramen small bowl for even the small is pretty big you get one point five two point five set eggs oh this is how I'm size the noodle sighs so the noodle servings get pretty big if you pay just a little bit more you know Suki man is is very very good if I have the choice between ramen and Suki man I probably picked suit gay men because I like you can taste the noodles and the soup more it's separated the noodles are usually cold and the soup is hot and when you dip the noodles into the hot soup it cools the broth down but it also warms the noodles up and the flavors start to come out here's in a flower shop smells really nice I the amount of different smells that I've had during this live stream are amazing there's a little haircut barber shop yeah bicycle is the predominant way to get around there's a park over here just right off of the main shopping street you don't have to go far and then you can take your kids out this is usually a little playground or an open space they're playing Christmas music in the background that was pretty cool you can feel the spirit in the air it's popped right out all right we have Hold'em one hormone is barfle awful the inners of meat and then they grill it it's a boom there you go you also have pretty good-looking Wagyu look at that that's me as zack eq says up here Miyazaki Wagyu which is prized so much so they show the certificate right look at that this is the certificate for the Miyazaki beef oh this is the Matsuzaka beef that's a rancher in Matsuzaka which is the most prized beef in Japan look at look at the he's he really cares for his Wagyu and underneath here all good Wagyu places will show this the certification of the beef each one must come with this with a ten digit number do you see that and then you can go on to the internet the database and search it when the cattle was born and when it was slaughtered and and and where it grew up and was raised and again it says a five is the certification Matsuzaka beef is so expensive you need that certification if you go to a restaurant and you're going to pay money for Kobe beef first of all Kobe beef isn't it's just a brand it's not I don't think it's the best it's just one of the brands of course they're gonna say their own brand is the best Matsuzaka is pretty darn good so is only you I can't thank you miyazaki gu it's hard to say what why one is better than another what makes KO big you really good is that they're very very very selective in what they decide to eat what they decide to use and then designate as kobe q but if you're going to spend any amount of money on a steak ask for the certification if they don't have it don't pay don't go don't eat the Kobe beef there it's probably not Kobe beef you must have the certification ask for the ten digit number if they don't have the ten digit number for you to check on the database then it's not real it's just run-of-the-mill Wagyu that they're selling is Kobe beef and even if it's not a five Wagyu they should still have the certification if they're gonna use the Kobe beef designation just saying we ate Kobe beef at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and the chef came out and he didn't have the designee the certification and I said well how do we know it's really Kobe beef and he goes you have my word and I said your words not good enough we want to have this certificate and the guy was with was he was just joking he says all right we should eat for free and of course you know we ended up paying but it was pretty funny the guy was worried he's like really I didn't know about the certification I guess we should not throw that certificate away well they shouldn't because that's what that's the proof that what you have is the real deal there's a curry shop down there it smells really good there's some mochi we're starting to see the New Year's the show got sooo New Year's mochi that people put out you'll see it on on in gank on the entrance ways to Japanese homes so I don't see a lot of street food here but I do see that this is a what I do see is that this is an everyday livable town two stops away from Shinjuku two stops away from Shinjuku people are living their lives and just a green tea shop serving green tea there's some green tea pots only got different prices in them with the netting it's about 17 16 17 dollars for this one 1760 yen that's not a yacht that's a tea shop but we passed a Yaya back there vegetable stand I can see the train over there so let's go down one of these alleys here that's a pretty nice window the alleys are where it's at oh look at the little decorations in this cafe just a peek inside it looks French it looks closed but it looks nice looks nice look at this like down this really really narrow alley and then you have a butcher shop the spacious butcher shop it just doesn't it defies sense and they're selling eggs there as well and of course butcher shops also take some of the meat that is still good and they'll batter and deep-fry it so you get some really good tempura some not tempura but you'll get some pretty good cut suit this is heated katsu he dick he day he day Ross Scott suit at all little pieces of it Ross katsu right there cut up and with some different cuts of roast katsu a different kind of breading menchi-katsu which is beef like beaten beef meatballs that are deep-fried and cut okay which is potato because they're doing a lot of oil in here they'll make different kinds not just meat whoa and look at that big piece of Wagyu oh man that's probably like a thousand bucks just for that all right let's keep moving here's a fish shop so this is like a throwback to the olden days where you would be able to get everything walking around the market in one place you get the fish on one side the beef on the other this is and these restaurants are kind of new this is like a steak a counter served steak restaurant and I'm like icky naughty steak but a little bit higher class here's another butcher shop in the alley Wow they got some really good-looking pork there look at that oh man that's Josh's steak looks really nice get some more alleys back here just walking down the alleys at night it's a different feeling everything is closed right now but if you come during the evening hours these are all hopping there's even a chair and two chairs and a table there where you can get a beer and hang out with some friends in the alley right just take a quick let's just take a quick look see yeah look they're setting up for dinner here's the table it's starting all starting to smell really nice could you see yourself sitting here can you imagine sitting right here at the table with your buddies just drinking in this alley right this is awesome hope the signal stands it's really narrow look at this little run-down building I guess just nothing it's it looks like it's abandoned over here the I guess this is where all the air conditioners are running I love it this is wonderful the kick the character and personality of this ally is is fantastic this is on the north side of Koenji station look at all the wires up there just going it's you can almost touch it not gonna touch it but you could during an earthquake and all these are shaking back and forth it's kind of scary scary to be here so lots of little little bars here like some people have put their plants outside very very old Joe gene do you see that doesn't stop just there it goes up to the third floor so there's there's other izakaya up there that's so neat and if you look here on the left side look at that these are like throwback of a different era you see look at the hairstyles that's an old calendar old calendar cover but things don't change that much back here look this is an OD on beer which is an old okie now a beer there's an old okie now a beer label cool is that I won't post office post box there can really feel the neighborhood you walk through the alleys kind of go off a road look at look at the connections for all those wires it's just it's chaos isn't it they don't do this in other places it's like against like a violation or something right I don't know over here another alley I don't know who did wire them the police patrol this area guess some people will throw their garbage out in this in the alley and they they don't they want to prevent people from doing that and then we exit this alley we're back in life this is a hub here there's KFC this is that's the station so we've we've finished come complete circle we could walk even further down this way and see some more but I think you get the idea there's a Turkish kebab restaurant smells good smells really nice well taiyaki it's one of my favorites that looks like some really good black sesame kudo guma black sesame taiyaki nice it's a little you gets a little rough around here it's got some graffiti stickers up there this is a youth center what what is this like Oh what is that dude what that is if you go on this QR code you can go and find the camera and watch the live camera on YouTube use the QR code to click so there you go you guys want to see me right now on the camera you can do the do this QR code I guess and it will take you to the channel it doesn't tell it tell you the link but it says here 24-hour camera so that you feel safe but I get this is the YouTube logo right I'm guessing it's a YouTube channel there's no link you have to use the Ute the QR scanner the cure scanners are also inside of the free chrome app if you're using Chrome the basket of babies if you're using Chrome then you can use you can see these on here the link and then you'll be able to you'll be able to go I don't I don't know if it works or not but yeah click the daycare center will keep the kids in a basket so they don't go running every but everywhere it's cute isn't it they give this screaming that's so cute you can hear them screaming like a basket of kids you want to hold out of that basket when you go down a hill come on they say don't put all your marbles in one basket that's all they've got to I guess there they go [Music] chuta you'll see this in the daytime out in the countryside especially lots of kids will hold hands and walk down the street together and when they cross the street everybody raises their hand so when you're kids you have to raise your hand okay so if you look on the other side right there that over there is the pal that's where we started the livestream down there as a show thing bye so we've connected you with the entire koenji area nosh I hope we did koenji as good as we can do it in the daytime walking around this area around the Chuo line is very very special some of these stations are throw back in time this one is super retro I think the only other place that might be more retro is if you go towards Chiba mata towards it Ogawa and Kokoschka ward - Quay WA KO w KO IWA old koi wa also on the soba line you will see a town that's left that's also left back in the Showa era that show tan guy in that area is so rusty so old it will never change it's perfect so Quay Y is worth it and I think I might do a live stream there then because if we're doing rector Townsend and ko ng is really really worth it worth a visit absolutely especially during the summer festival especially during the summer festival very cool right now McDonald's has the good out croquette burger for those visiting I don't I don't personally eat McDonald's but they they have something that's pretty new this is a a beef beef demi-glace sauce demi-glaze do you see that on top of deep-fried cheese gratin karaage why that is a beef demi-glace with cheese on a cheese gratin kuroky breaded and deep-fried gratin on a bun that's insane and this is just the demi-glace sauce with the Karaka same one but this one is mass look at that that's why McDonald's Japan is better than McDonald's America because you have something crazy like this it that's pretty crazy I don't know should I get one I don't as I said I'm not like big into I'm not big into McDonald's well if we can get to 500 likes I might fallen 3-1-1 is here I can't get back to Japan for at least a year so thanks for letting me experience it here you're very welcome and I I hope that you get back here as soon as possible maybe before after the Olympics because those two weeks are gonna be insane so thanks for Canada and and Cass oryx Cass or ox it's a tough one thanks for doing these you're very welcome I love being able to explore Japan from the chair in my office how cool is that yeah I guess I can go for it we're gonna have to get the 500 likes pretty quick cuz I was gonna end a livestream but it looks like people are curious right all right I guess I can go and do it let's see if I got got some cash here I got a I got a thousand I I wonder how much time it takes though sometimes these things take sometimes just take a little bit of time okay beep deme cheese Goro okay let's go in and just try it I drop the funnel beep Demi cheesy grin throw ham today how much Korean guys mass [Music] alright let's try this here with the weight for the burger they're making it right now [Music] this could be interesting I don't really eat McDonald's but this is interesting here too they've given me a number number 201 [Music] I think it's coming [Music] you can see the number pop up before I do now that's good so the whole process is pretty seamless you come in you order you pay you move to the side I said well there you go that was pretty quick that's what I ordered all right I don't know if I'm gonna eat it all though I just this is totally out of curiosity and this is this is for this is for you guys okay it's a little bonus can we get we got to get the 500 likes though Hey look the kids are going back they've been rejected what happened I thought they were going on the train yeah it's less than it's um about three dollars and fifty cents for that it's a little bit pricey but we got to get the 500 light so if you want to see me eat this right here right now did I say 500 or a thousand it's awesome that's crazy we're gonna get the 500 too fast all right let's do this here smells like McDonald's but it doesn't it's fun all right this is Kenai this is acceptable right I don't know you told me not to eat any fast food there's a smile on the box I guess it's all right sorry can I this is what we're having as a snack snack I don't I do not eat McDonald's often that does anything wrong with it the beef Dmitry's Kuro Kuro Kuro Kuro gratin good ah it's just weird never seen sir good ah gratin Gras croaker okay gratin croquette that's it's weird okay I'm seeing that the internet seems to like this I just retitled the whole livestream McDonald's beef demi-glace gratin croquette burger some extra sneeze on that burger it's weird it's weird alright at first glance I do not see the semi-gloss sauce [Music] where is the demi-glace sauce [Music] it's really really small I'm slightly disappointed it's not under the cheese but it's like okay you like wear it where is it right where is it it's it's like a dab that's that does not look like the picture it's supposed to be overflowing right what I don't should I take it back I'm not I don't to be one of those people all right let's try it but look it's gonna take like three bites you get to the sauce that's a disappointment I'm turning it around then but then if a Turner on salt bread in the middle all right here we go I'm good with a 500 likes awesome hmm look at that that looks like the picture that's um cheese gratin and gratin deep-fried gratin croquette with beef demi-glace sauce that's what it is is it good it's different it's different and actually do you remember the Christmas market episode from to date two nights ago this is the challenge this is something that I would never eat and I'm eating it we've got a super chat for that so mission complete all right is it good do I like it it's not a burger it doesn't have the juiciness of it the crispness of the core okay the deep fried is very very interesting and the cheese is you all know what the cheese tastes like the bread is the most surprising thing of the whole thing the bread is is not bad at all it's very light you know they didn't spend a lot of money as for all yeast it up and and such but the bread is surprisingly good like they put some mochi in it so there's some spring to the bread I like that just like a mochi mochi to it on the bottom looks like the Thousand Island I don't want to show you my mouth full looks like they put the Thousand Island on the backside so more of the bread of another now you can start to see the Demi gloss I mean am I gonna order this again no you know no one is one is one is good one what you guys have done you have broken my like years long streak of not eating McDonald's broken I gotta go back to day one it's kind of disappointing and I didn't eat the whole thing I left the bread to the crows would you like that did you enjoy that maybe they like the bread city dogs there you have it we end on a high note low note a note it's interesting it's interesting you subscribe for anything can happen in these live streams anything including a burger being devoured a deep-fried doughnut with beef and an egg inside you never know but we learned a lot thank you oh that's interesting to see here this is a bike parking lot in the station and anybody can use it but there's a vending machine required to get it out and this looks very high-tech you can use your Suika card for bicycle parking and it's available that's also very rare most people just Park on the street but you get a sticker and even they tagged it they take it away as we learned in the last livestream it costs 30 to 40 dollars to get your bike back so you don't want to do that leave your bike out in front of the station at least not for too long so there you go that's koenji I hope you enjoyed it wonderful livestream come for a visit and the next stopover is not gonna show you good are not gonna Broadway it's becoming the Nook it'll Broadway stop over at Koenji have a burger walk around the town take some pictures because it's pretty neat see the history of Tokyo in this city have a good day have a good night don't forget to subscribe support these live streams because yeah it's kind of neat you know walking around I have fun in burgers see you later everyone you you

Channel: ONLY in JAPAN * GO

Views: 72,298

Rating: 4.9318295 out of 5

Keywords: Only in Japan, Japan, tokyo, koenji, kōenji, chuo line, area, station, historical, retro, vintage, street food, burger, shopping, shinjuku, JR, Japanese, shoutengai, alley, daily life, life

Id: osMYgERQT38

Length: 90min 21sec (5421 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 17 2019