Get Played - Get Played in Japan + Devon Torrey Bryant Returns

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Heather, Nick and Matt talk about their trip to Japan! They talk about their time in Kyoto and Tokyo, meeting Hideo Kojima and more. Plus, former Get Played engineer Devon Torrey Bryant returns to talk about his music as Painkiller the Pigeon! EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/getplayed Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guaranteeCheck out our brand new merch at kinshipgoods.com/getplayed Follow us on social media @getplayedpod Music by Ben Prunty benpruntymusic.com Art by Duck Brigade duckbrigade.com For our exclusive show Get Played DLC, ad-free main feed episodes, our complete back catalogue including How Did This Get Played? episodes go to patreon.com/getplayed Join us on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/getplayed Wanna leave us a voicemail? Call 616-2-PLAYED (616-275-2933) or write us an email at [e-mail] Advertise on Get Played via Gumball.fm All of our links can be found at linktree.com/getplayedpodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a Headgum podcast. Hax is back for its fifth and final season, and so is The Hacks podcast. Join the Hacks creators and showrunners, Lucia and Yello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky as they unpack the Emmy-winning comedy series. On each episode, here's stories from the set, what goes on in the writer's room,

and how these beloved characters close out their final season. Watch Hax streaming exclusively on HBO Max and listen to The Hacks podcast on HBO Max or wherever you get your podcasts. Really excited for today's show. We got a special guest. I know. I know. I know.

I'm very special guests. I'm an old friend. We haven't seen Devin, our old engineer in so long. It's going to be nice to see him. Devin Brian, who is with us from episode one when we did our old format, how did this get played, which turned into ultimately get played. Yeah. And he even did the thing he did on our show back in the day.

He remixed the theme. Yeah. He did a new remix. Like, we don't even need to do a bit for the opening because we're just genuinely excited to have our friend back on the show. And he did a new get played theme. That's themed to Pocopia specifically. So he did that how did this get played theme, which was the cadence of our old show title,

but he updated it to get play. Exactly. And it's a real fun spin on an old favorite. Yeah. I'm just excited to see the guy. Yeah. I do want to talk about Japan a little bit. Yeah.

Why don't we spend just like a few minutes up top talking about Japan and then we can just get right into it with Devon? Yeah. Just like maybe like, I don't know, like a little breakdown of some stuff we may have forgotten about or just like a little, a little bit. Yeah, you know, we have the what are you playing. We could maybe like just touch on that a little bit afterwards and then get right into it with Devon. We won't do that for as long as we do either because we want to get to Devin. Yeah, just get to.

So we'll just, yeah, we'll just do quick, just touch on Japan, just in and out and then we'll get right to. Yeah, like maybe just like, I don't know. What if we just said like five minutes? We just dedicate like five minutes, like a solid Japan talk. But we can't extend it if we need to, but we'll just plan on a bit. We'll plan to be in five minutes. Honestly, we'll probably be done at like 4.45. Yeah.

And I'm just going to say here, first and foremost, and, you know, keep me honest on this, I'm not going to do any bits or any nonsense because I don't want to derail the show or, like, kind of extend, you know, any sort of thing. I kind of want to just get straight to them. Matt, you read my mind, we do not have time for any bits or any nonsense. We're just going to talk straight about Japan. Maybe even get a little boring, but we're just going to do it. And it'll be real quick.

Yeah. I mean, I even think that this opening is kind of in the spirit of what we're about to do because it's like, you know, we're not doing a bit here. No, we're just going to do. Straight ahead. It's like straight ahead. Like talking about what the show is going to be, listening to the theme the Devin made. Just tiny, just a tiny, just a little bit of talk about Japan.

And then we'll get right into the interview with that. I wonder if it's, I mean, I wonder if it's even worth talking about Japan at all because we only want to talk about it for so little. Like, we might as well not even bring it up. Maybe we don't. I guess we'll just see when we get to the episode. Yeah. We'll see.

We gorge on sushi and rave of it. about toilets as we deep dive on our team trip to Japan. Plus, chat with our OG engineer, Devin Bryant, this week on Get Play. Welcome to Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played. I'm your host, Heather Ann Campbell, along with my fellow host, Tiger Weiger. That's me, Nick Tiger Weiger, alongside our third host, Mr. Games, Matt Apodaka. Hello, everyone.

Hello, everyone. And welcome back to the premiere video game podcast where this week, we're just going to talk to you guys about how much fun we had. What a hoot this will be. We have fun every week on the podcast. Yeah. What is going to say? Nick is back.

Nick is back. We missed him. We missed him. You know, speaking to people being back and we miss them, of course, our producer of Shell Chen ranches here, as always.

This is why he's the best of the game. But sitting in with us for today's record, our OG engineer from the How to the Skip Play Days, Devin, hi, Devin. Hi, Devin, thanks so much for making time with us, sitting over there behind the producers,

desk. We're going to talk to you in a little bit about your music, Pain Killer the Pigeon. But you did a Pocopia remix of our old How Did This Get Played theme. I sure did. Which you heard everyone who's listening to this in lieu of our normal theme. Yes, it was a pleasure to do. I looked at it and it says three and a half years after my previous theme. Wow. 156, I delivered three and a half years ago.

It's the number 157. Wow. Incredible. For people who weren't around in the How Does It Get Played Days, Devin was with us for the entire day that run or the bulk of that run? Three and a half four years? Yeah. For a long time.

And during that stretch, you were each week crafting a bespoke remix of the theme song. Yes, indeed. That would fit the aesthetic of whatever the game was. And given that we were mostly playing terrible games at that point, you were listening to also mostly dog shit soundtracks. Here's the thing, though, there would be a, like, random shitty game with a banger soundtrack. Like Waterworld. Exactly, Waterworld. Battle Toads is kind of a crazy game, but that soundtrack is so good.

Yeah, it's really good. You know. Your last one, I think, was the Top Gun game. And that soundtrack, not too bad either. No, it's not too bad. That was my last one. Actually, I looked, donk country was my last one. Oh, wow.

Which is like a really pumping techno remix that I'd forgotten entirely. That was number 156. So I was like, hey, I did some good ones here. Wow. Wow. Those were the days. Yes, we talked about this with you before, but when we were doing the pod. But you would work with different chips sets to kind of fit the era of whatever

the game was, you really particularly took a liking to the Sega Genesis slash Megadrives of chipset. Even as a kid, that was the best sounding system, I thought. Yeah, it sounded great. And the chipset is awesome. I've used those in like my regular records. I like those drum sounds. I like those strange organ sounds as well.

They cut through everything. It's kind of awesome. The other ones aren't maybe as adaptable to everything, but the Genesis one can kind of fit in. Thank you, Devin. I'll see you outside for the $55. No, it was, it was really, it was always cool for you to have, for you to do the remix. I'm so glad it was really, really thoughtful and generous of you to offer to do it for this episode. And I'm just wondering, because I know how much work it was for you, ranches that are a way we can give you even more work.

Like you get custom art each week or something? What can you, what can you do for us every week? weird to interview Ranch now like three years in I know you guys didn't even get to choose me but that seems fine it was better than we could have ever hoped everything's going great we love range both of you both of y'all are a dream I witnessed your meeting

I may have talked about this right we were all there at at chef Kevin another great podcast producers going away party and yeah like it was like a who's who of podcasting was present at this Yeah, it was a real like sort of like there should be a designated survivor. Right. So there should be someone somewhere else.

So I left. I wasn't there. And also, Heather was a designated survivor. And also Scott Ackerman would never have come. That's true. Okay. Never in a million years. He would tell our story.

The good news is if that place had gone down, then Scott and I could have just agreed to end podcasting. Yeah, you would take both halves of your key and merge them into one thing and just turn the turn it. No, I witnessed the Devin Bryant meet Rochelle Chen the, you know. Yeah, they were doing

the Spider-Man meme at each other. It was a Spider-Man meme. Obi-Wan Kenobi meet Anakin Skywalker in LA podcasting term. I think it literally was that I was talking to someone else and I just mentioned like doing themes and you go, wait, are you get played, Devin?

Like, wheeled around on me. It's like, whoa, okay. Yeah, I've heard about this guy. Yeah, exactly. That was so fun. You had a little fist fight, but then afterwards, you were fast friends. And it was sort of like a dust cloud. Like you can start stray fists and legs punching out of it.

We'll talk to you in depth a little bit more, Devin. But right now, we should ask the question we ask every week. And that question is for our hosts, my friends, Heather and Matt. And I'll answer it to it at some point. But I'm going to ask it to the whole room. And we can just decide who's going to go first. Could be me. I might go last. We'll see. We talked about it before.

I'm going to go last. The question is, what do you play? What are you playing? Hey, it's me. The resident even Merchant here in my segment. Where I ask my friends what they're playing on the video games and televisions in their lives. Or maybe they're on an adventure and they want to talk about the adventure. Merchant, it's great to see. You know, we talked about famous meetings earlier.

Have you met Devin? I think so. Yeah, I met Devin. I met Devin. You met Devin. Right, then we met. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we met long time ago.

Long time ago. Okay, God. That was when you were over for many years. Can I ask you something? Absolutely. What am I playing? Wow, it's about time. Well, no, that isn't interesting.

I'm playing goldfish in a bowl. Oh, do you're just like looking at goldfish and counting them? Yeah, I put my fingers in and I like me poke around. Oh, so they're not even really in there. You're just pretending your fingers are goldfish. Yeah. So there aren't actually. fish.

I'm playing golf. You're kind of just splashing around in a bowl. Yeah, but I got a bowl, and I got my fingers, and I move them around like little fish. I just feel like I have to ask you this on the show

because this article has been going around for weeks and weeks and people keep tagging us in it as if we hadn't seen it yet. It's been happening for weeks at this point. I'm aware of the article. Can you respond to the allegations that you're three trillion dollars in debt?

Absolutely true. It's true. That's true. Yeah, that's why I, you know, I'm having trouble keeping an apartment. Yeah, there was an article that somebody calculated that based on the collective hours played in the amount of people sell to the merchant instead of actually buying things. There's a massive trade deficit because you are spending more money than you are taking in. And I always left with, what are you buying?

Yeah. And they always are like, no, I'm selling. No, bitch. I'm selling. the golden egg. It's tough stuff. Yeah, it's tough stuff. Dove market and the interest on that loan is rough.

Yeah. But all this explains a lot of your history, which often involves, you know, living in borrowed residences, shall we say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's right. Yeah, it's right.

Yeah, I know it's really hard to keep an apartment when you're, the interest alone is $250 million a month. That's exorbitant. That's a lot of interest. Yeah. You should probably see about getting that refinanced. So you're like a reverse. You're like a reverse trillionaire, really,

because you have these people at the, you know, the upper crust, the number, the 1% at the, you know, they get rid of richer. You can't actually get poorer because there's no such number. Yeah, you got to balance it out. I have the debt of 99% of the planet. I'm the 99%. You're the 99%. And that must feel good to say it in some degree. No.

No, you'd rather be... No, I would love to afford fish for the bowl. You're playing. There's no fish in the bowl. You can't afford... I'll get you some goldfish. Probably a luxury at this point. And honestly, I feel like, given your situation,

those fish are going to find a home in your stomach because just out of pure desperation. If I get you some goldfish, will you make a promise to me here and now that you will not eat them? Do not eat them for such asians? Just like classic little orange goldfish. You might be thinking,

because the Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers. Oh yeah, I'll get you those all day. We can get you those if you want. Don't put them in the bowl. Take some snacks from the head gum kitchen, please. Yeah, nobody here is eating them because there's nobody here. I get to take a pop chip. You can have a pop chip.

I ain't that crunchy. How many for the pop chip? How many for? I only use my hands. Okay, how many fingers on your hand? I get two goldfish for the pop chip. Okay, two goldfish for the pop chip. Got it.

I think I'm trying to figure out. I think I know the ratio. Nick, Nick, it's two goldfish for the pop-to-gold fish. The fingers represent goldfish in the bowl. That's right. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, correct. Two goldfish up.

Okay. Oh, so you're applying that to just a bunch of different scales. What? Never, never, never mind. This has been the best day of my life. That makes me so incredibly sad. No, I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.

Okay. Well, I'm going to ask you a question, Matt. Okay. And that's what do you play? All right. Last week, Nick doesn't know this. Maybe you do because you probably saw it in the group text. Yeah, but it wasn't here last week.

But you weren't here last week. Just to catch you up. I'm playing the Resident Evil 3 remake. And at first I was kind of like, I don't like this so much. You're not in a house, really. You're not in a singular location, which is sort of like what I've been used to so far. Not really the case in Resident Evil 4, a little more action-packed. This one is like you're outside.

You're doing stuff. You're circling back here and there. bringing items. Like it's Resident Evil, but it just feels a little off. It doesn't feel quite right. There's this guy Nemesis who is basically like Mr. X, but he's not dynamic. He's like in scripted areas, really. So like he'll pop out and be a sort of menacing force that you have to get away from. He is scary though, at least wasn't the original. He's not so scary in this to me because he's too crazy to me. Okay. Like there's like, there's like a line I think where like Mr. X is scary because, like, obviously he's really, really big, but I think an underrated aspect

of why he's scary is that he wears a little outfit. Like, he made a choice to put on a little outfit. So I'm like, that's, like, weird that he's like this. Nemesis is just, like, big, yucky. Ugh. What is the outfit that he wears? He wears, like, a trench coat and, like, a little fedora. He's like a little...

Right, right. He went to his closet. Yeah, it's not a scary outfit, but the idea that he was like, I'm putting this shit on today. I'm rocking this today to go fucking freak some people out. It's scary. So I wasn't enjoying it as much, but then I sort of turned a corner and I was like, this is actually really great because it's so far sillier than any of the ones that I've played

so far. There was a moment where there was like a cut scene and then like a title card that said roughly 12 hours, roughly half a day later. And this was after Jill gets like spiked by nemesis and like poisoned. And then it cuts back. it opens with Carlos the other playable character in it finding her in an alley so I was like hang on

she was laying here for 12 hours that's so long the town's not that big what was he doing in these 12 hours so I thought that was very very funny and some of the dialogue is ridiculous like at one point nemesis sort of like stumbles into like a body of water

and looks like he's drowning and Jill just says bitch can't even swim Love it And I was like This is just This is perfect This is so good

It's so fun And then you play as Carlos And you get to go back To the Raccoon City Police Department Which I just know my way around Now like the back of my hand Is the police department consistent through games?

Yes wow Well in these remakes at least So it's the same police department as two And I mean It comes back in nine You're in there for a little bit Because there's like an entire Raccoon City section of the game

but it's exactly the same stuff. So like the doors have the, like the key, like the, what are those called on cards? Like the symbols on cards, like spade, diamond, heart and stuff like that, but the key shape, suits. And Carlos sees these doors and he's like, what the fuck's wrong with these doors? And it's just because he's like big, dumb Leon kind of.

Like he's like the awesome sort of like action guy, but he's stupid. He's so stupid. and I love him so much. But so I'm playing that. By the way, just quickly on the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, it's been a year since I played the original, remember the environments being the same. Okay. And which would make sense from an asset reuse standpoint, especially in the era of pre-rendered backgrounds, which are really labor intensive to make, but it really makes sense in this one, because I heard the common criticisms, the kind of the common criticism for this one is that.

It felt rushed compared to Resident Evil 2 remake and Resident Evil 4 remake. They wanted to get this one out there quick. So I'm playing that. I'm loving it. I'm going to get to more of it soon. I'm also playing Raccoin. Have you messed with Rack coin yet? This is from the Bellatro Publishers.

Yes. Ballotro. Yeah, well, who could say? Jack Black, apparently. With some authority. A lot of peek behind the curtain real quick. A lot of the comments on the video for that, really funny, because they'll just write, it's pronounced balotra, but they're typing it out. Good bit, very good bit.

Really funny. But it's a, it's a coin game where you're putting coins, you know, like when you go to an arcade and there's like the coin pusher. Oh, I mean, the dream of a child. Yes. More money than you've ever seen. Yeah, just falling. And it's like, what if they actually fell? Yeah.

And they never do. No. but in this game they fall. Oh. So it's kind of good stuff. And yeah, there's different raccoons in there and stuff. And it's like, uh, huh. There's raccoons in the, in the machine?

There's different raccoons because they have different like sort of like abilities. And none of what you're saying is making any sense. You said, okay, we've got a coin machine like remember at the arcades? It's called that coin. Right. But where are the, they're in the machine? Yeah, in the game. Yeah, you remember from a classic coin pusher machine.

There's always some raccoons in there with different attributes. Are they like trying to help you push? coins? What is their job? They, I mean, look, I haven't played that much, but, like, I played some of it, like, I played like two hours of it yesterday. Like, basically there's, like, different ones. They have, like, ranch help. They have, like, they have, like,

different brooms, kind of, right? They're, like, on the coins. Yeah, they're like on the coins. They're not, like, real... They're not, like, running around inside the machine. NPCs, outside of the coin fisher. Okay. But they're not raccoons in the coin for sure. Okay. Okay. Because it would just, that would just be too crazy.

Well, this tracks now, I guess. Yeah, but then there's different coins that you can get to have different abilities like there's one that like there's like a bunny coin that then like doubles up like a bunch of times like multiplies a lot and it's it's good clean fun and you're just like watching it's just numbers go up but it's the exact like it's almost like

the most base version of it. Yeah sure where you're sort of like okay I'm like literally piling fake coins and watching them fall and feeling more satisfied than I've ever felt. It's great. You're almost at clicker game status. 100%. But it's very enjoyable. I'm really getting a kick out of it. I'd love to hear it.

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They're saying Fortnite's over. They're saying there's no such thing as a forever. game. Yeah. Well, they found it's old tweets too. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Cancellable. Canceable tweets. Fortnite headlining the Hollywood

Bowl next year. The truth is that there are elements of Fortnite that are cancelable. Oh, sure. Like skins

that won't come back of, you know, predators and stuff. Yeah, the Frank Underwood skin. That came out last week.

Well, I don't know what I like better. Talking to Congress or Bobble Q.

Such a buildup to just a thing he might say. So, Devin, so far, you'll notice the show hasn't gotten better or worse. Or worse. It's kind of just Yeah, same level. So, so yeah, there's been a lot of press about

whether or not Fortnite is going to go away. As of today, still 400,000 people playing Battle Royale simultaneously. So it seems unlikely to that the game is dead. But anyway, playing that. But the game that is taking up my actual attention is Pocopia.

I said to my wife this morning and to our friends here in the studio before we started recording, I'm sad a little bit while I'm playing it because I know that I'm in a time of my life. Like when I was playing Animal Crossing, I wasn't aware that I would remember Animal Crossing forever. I was more focused on the fact that we were in COVID. Yes. And it was just a thing to distract me. And now I know for the rest of my life, when I hear Animal Crossing, I'll think about washing my groceries in the sink. You know, like it's connected.

Yeah. But playing Pocopia, I'm like, oh, I'm going to remember this forever. This is one of the games that I will always look back on. And it made me sad because I was like, oh, this is a time that's going to come and go. and then Pocopia will be in the rear view. It's not like when we played, you know, any of the games we play for the show where it's like you dip in, you dip out. Like I don't know that I'll think about Claire Obscure for the rest of my life. I mean, I know it's a game, but I like, I'm not going to be like, oh, man, the opening of Claire Obscure.

Why are you grinning? Just what a funny choice when people are already mad that we didn't like talk about the game. I don't know. My show. It's my fucking show. It's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I, but I, but yeah, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I mean, the longer you play it, the more details are sort of unfurled for you. For example, in one of the areas, you can find human shelters, and all the human shelters are up the hills at the exact same height, meaning that there was a flood.

and it's environmental storytelling without, because we all know like Pocopia takes place in like a post-apocalyptic Pokemon world where humans are no longer there and the Pokemon are trying to figure out what happened to them. But to find without at any point somebody saying, oh, I remember that the shelters were up the mountains

because it flooded here. But instead to find the shelters, look out over the mountaintops, and be like, oh my God, all the shelters are up here, up high. Yeah. is great. It's better than like the fucking last of us environmental storytelling

where somebody writes down today the clickers got inside of our room and they killed the kids and then you find the dolls in the corner. It's just like quiet. It's silent storytelling. There's one of them comic books Ellie likes. Yeah, there you go. A storytelling of these are those comic books. Yeah, that's how you learn Ellie likes comic books.

You prefer comic books. I like my PSP. Was he playing PSP or Vita? It would have been Vita, actually. He was Vita. He was playing Vita. He liked his PSP so much. He was excited about the Vita.

So weird. I can't wait to get my hands on a PlayStation portal, a Wi-Fi-only streaming device. Is he executed in the show? Did they kill Frank Underwood? Yeah. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened either. I thought blotching.

He's gone from the last season. And I would assume he gets killed, but I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. There is a moment in that where he just flat out murders a woman of pushing her in front of a train. Just fucking crazy. Like a major character. Yeah, who was on the posters and shit.

Right. Because they were like great misdirect. There are also, when you follow waterfalls like to the source of where the water's coming from, there's an unnecessary amount of detail. Like every water source has an origin. And often it'll have like a little room full of like crystals or something. something where the, where the spring is. It's an incredible fucking game.

And I love all the guys. And the best a video game can do when it's in a franchise or an IP is make you want to play other games in the franchise. And it is making me love Pokemon again in a way that the last few entries have not made me love Pokemon. So I really, I'm just, I'm so happy playing it. I love my hour a day in Pocopia. That's what I'm playing.

Nick, what about you? What's going on with you? What are you playing? Heather, thanks so much for asking. I do want to check in real quick with Ranch because I apologize if you just said this, you shared this last week on the pod. I wasn't here. But did you talk about your reaction to Bocopia? Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. My friend Jeremiah told me the storyline of what happened. And I started crying because it was so sad. It is pretty bleak. It seems tough.

It's bleak, but also there's always an, there's a weird undercurrent in Pokemon, especially in the Pokedex entries, where it's like, in the first 150, one of the Pokemon is wearing his mother's skull. Yes. You know, like there's, and crying. Yeah.

There's always been darkness in Pokemon. There's like, isn't Driflun? doesn't it like take children into the air and kill them? Yeah, it's basically a Junji Ito story. Yeah, it's like a murder balloon. Yeah, yeah. And like that's all there. So the fact that they're just like,

hey, this friendly world is in a post-apocalypse and the humans are gone is also fantastic like consistent world building in Pokemon, which is not a great place. No, no. Like it's not a great world. As much as I want to live there and be in that world,

I don't think it would be... Like, fucking Gengar is just gonna murder people. I'm gonna get licked by a lick a tongue. Yeah, it's over. Man, take me there. What? The Pokemon Detective Pikachu world is like such a cool aesthetic.

Yeah, yeah. I can live in that city. But remember, Mr. Mime like basically like self-immolates himself? It's such a funny scene. It's so great. Heather, what I'm playing, well, it's an experience, I guess.

It's very video game related. I went to, first off, we were in Japan. That's right. Yes. And I pretty much, because of the touring schedule for my other podcast, Do Boys, went straight from Tokyo to the Orlando airport, which is like going from Knight City to a prison cafeteria. Even among airports, it sucks.

It's like fucking horrible. But whatever. It was in Orlando, was in Tampa, had a lovely time. And after our tour dates were done, we were able to go over to Universal Epic Universe, the new Universal Park, which has Super Nintendo World with the Do Bois team, were guests of Samoa Joe and his wonderful family. It was so generous of them and such fun people to spend the day with. Hell yeah.

So Epic Universe has five lands, a celestial park, which is the central hub. and then it has these portals that are said, Matt, have you been there? I can't remember. I haven't been, no. I really want to go. You'd love this shit. Hell yeah. But the central hub world. Well, yeah, that's the thing. It has like, it's like a really interesting bit of world building where it's got like these physical portals that you walk through that are supposed to take you

to other lands. So the idea is you're not, this isn't physically adjacent to it. You're going, being transported somewhere else. It's just enough of a show that I'm sure kids especially are like loving it. And it feels like, oh, it justified why you're. going to someplace that's completely different in an unrelated IP. So there's Super Nintendo World, which I mentioned, Harry Potter World, How to Train Your Dragon World, which is low-key.

They just represent Burke physically. It's low-key, like, like, highlight of the whole park. Wow. And then my favorite was Dark Universe, which was Universal Monsters World. Great. And I'll save a deep dive on the park at large for some other time, but I won't mention Monsters Unleashed in Dark Universe, one of my favorite rides of all time right away. Wow.

Wow. It's so, so, so cool. such a great mixture of animatronics and screens. It's such an elegant. It feels like if the Indiana Jones ride was made in 2026 with all new technology, and they fucking went for it. It's really, really cool. I will say, Nick, I am staggered that you were in Orlando and you didn't go to Pandora. Here's the thing.

We had one day for something that was not work-related. And this was proposed to us and kind of couldn't turn it down. It's like like Epic Universe also. So it's just like that it's been open, what, less than a year? Yeah, yeah. A year and change. Nick gets to the Animal Kingdom Park, goes to Pandora, leaves in handcuffs. So this is better for everybody.

A death grip on the Varong walk-around character. It's just screaming step on my throat. Put my head on a stake in Pandora. You're on my arm. What? Shut up. Anyway, we hit Super Mario World toward the middle of the day, so it was

very warm. The exterior art direction, Matt, you've been to the L.A. one. Devin and Ranch, have you been to the Universal Hollywood? Yeah. Super Mario World? Oh, no, not to Super Mario World. Not a Super Mario World. You have, Rochelle. I have, yeah. So, you know, the exterior art direction is just, like, top notch.

It's so awesome. And that's like, that's the highlight, honestly, just being in the land. And that was also true of Burke. Although Burke had some great rides, How to Train Your Dragon World. Harry Potter, I'm just like less engaged in that IP. I saw you reading the book earlier. I was, that was more of a J.K. Rowling, a political book.

Making a lot of good points. Her book, These Things I Believe. Yeah, I was reading the men's version. Yeah, I got to check this shit out. There's different copies for each gender. Yeah. Anyway. So I saw you clawing at the bathroom signs here being like, I don't want this one up.

The so okay so She sucks She's so bad An absolute fucking ghoul Just a fucking just just the worst source I'll leave it at that Anyway so so but that land is like aesthetically Very impressive and if you like Harry Potter

And a lot of kids who were there did and we're very excited by it So you know God bless they did a great job with it People interpreting the art IP are not responsible for Jakey Rollings about politics Super Mario Land looks incredible. All the production sign

Easter eggs are so great. Donkey Kong Country, which I don't believe is in the Universal Hollywood. Not yet. It rules. It's so cool. There are barrels everywhere.

Like it's just like, it's like, of course, the trash cans are barrels, but there's also just a bunch of other barrels. Yeah. There's bananas everywhere. There's a,

there's the K-O-N-G scattered around that you can find. And then you have like the Nintendo watch that you can, you know, scan to, um, to get coins or whatever. the fuck. I didn't do one of those, but, but, you know, some of the other people in the party were doing it and we're having a lot of fun. And the ride, oh, there's even a conga station, which is great. We can, you can play the donkey congas. Um, like, not the DK bongo, it's like full scale congas. And then, um, then there is a, the ride is mind cart madness, which is a little underwhelming and a little short, but still a fun all ages coaster, you know, because some of the other coasters there, Stardust Racers in particular, amazing ride. And so, um, amazing ride.

but it almost put me in a coma. It is like a really intense coaster. This is like, this is like, oh, just fun and you get to go up and down a little bit. And then it simulates the track jumps that you know from Donkey Gone Country, the game in a really fun way where you're coming up on a stretch of track and there's just nothing there

and then it just, you know, has an arm, I believe. I don't know exactly the technology that makes it kind of jump over it, but it's all on the same track. Awesome. It's very, very cool. It's just like, I think if you waited in there,

in line for 135 minutes, as some people do on longer days, it would be on busier park days. You'd be a little bit angry that it was like 45 seconds long. Yeah. Then the bubbly barrel is a drink stand and the only food option in Donkey Kong country. But what they have is the DK Crush float tropical banana. And this is a banana pineapple, soft serve float with pineapple soda, waffle bowl, sprinkles, toffee pieces and caramel popcorn. The soft serve.

Popcorn is in the drink? Well, here's the thing. It's like a float. So there's the float. The soft serve is on top of it. The banana pineapple soft serve. And then there is soda underneath it. Kind of like a root beer float.

Yeah, but where's the popcorn? It's like a garnish on top. It's like popcorn on the ice cream. On the ice cream. Which is on top of the soda. It melted long enough. Then yes, you would have. Don't let it melt.

What is doing? Don't let it melt that much. And just eat it with the ice cream. I've never looked at liquid and said, put popcorn in there. It doesn't get in there. You eat the ice cream first. Popcorn on the ice cream is good. It's fun. That's fun. I've done it at home. It's a fun bit of texture.

I'm saying this is a popcorn skeptic. The toffee pieces of caramel popcorn are fun. The sprinkles is fun. The pineapple soda's way too sweet. And I could not finish it. We can't be mad at Heather for hypothetically drinking it wrong. Yeah, I know. What are you doing? No, I am mad. She can't say that's a negative. You haven't been there. This burrito tastes like shit on the floor

What are you talking about? But if you're serving it in a restaurant Where it's like if you hold on to the burrito long enough It's gonna go on the floor Guess what? It will At Nick's burrito restaurant It all gets on the floor, baby But the big fun of the DK Crush float

Is that you get a commemorative DK mug And I got some for my pod fam So once a... Whoa! Watch the drinks I didn't know, so we didn't know we were doing this episode at the time, so Devin, I apologize. I don't have one for you, but I have one for Heather, Matt, and Ray. Oh, man.

Look at this. Wow. Look at these guys. These are, you're, there's, wow. Wow. They look like, I mean, if you're listening to the show, these are high-quality barrel replicas with a brilliant shining DK logo. They're plastic. Don't drink a hot liquid in here.

No. Instead, put, put like a soda and then just dump. popcorn in top of it. That's not even what it is. Apparently that's delicious and everybody wants to do it. It's always fun to have a new cup. It's like fucking buttered popcorn in my soda. You know when you have a new cup? Yeah. And you're sort of like, well, this is my cup. This is my cup now. Right. So I'm always, I'm always reaching for the new cup when I have a new, when I have a new cup. So this is going to be in the rotation for quite a while. It's a lot of fun. And also just as a display piece. Oh, yeah. It's a big chunky boy. Yeah.

That's going to be me drinking out of it. That's pretty nice. I really enjoyed Super Nintendo World. old. I didn't go on the Yoshi ride. Some of the rest of the party won the Yoshi ride. And actually, it looked cool and I kind of wish I had. But it's just like the seats, I guess, are very, very compact. It's like the tightest ride in the park. And I'm not the smallest man.

And then, but it was one of the few rides because most of the rides there are pretty intense that was just kind of like a leisurely sort of, you know, thing that two and a half year olds could enjoy. Is it like a dumbo type thing? Yeah, it's just like it just goes around the periphery of the land. in little Yoshi carts. That's cute. Which is cute.

Oh, I didn't like the barrow cart right at all. It's just kind of, it's, the interactive part is, they are parts like so. I wish it was just like a little coaster or like even like the Cars ride or something. Exactly. The Cars ride's genius. Oh my God. That Redier Springs racers is one of the best rides in that park. Nick, you keep talking about the intensity of these rides.

Can I ask what your threshold is for theme park rides? Like, do you, are you like, I don't go on the scary fast super, super coasters, but I also don't like just where are you in terms of like what's intense mean so i would go to for me i'd go to like six flags magic mountain i will write everything there's not a coaster i i will not write wow i i will say that things that spin you and things that drop you more from a nausea standpoint i'm not a big fan of yeah but and and by drop i don't mean like a big roller coaster drop that's i mean just like a thing that you go up the top that's just a dead drop to the ground a not very far supreme scream for exactly yeah that's something but but i'm on

Manizuma's Revenge at Not Sparry Farm. I'm having a blast. Yeah. Yeah. Well, different kind of Montezuma's Revenge. You're having a different kind of blast. I, uh, I love, uh, I love the coasters. I love the spinning. I can do all the drops. I cannot ride a Ferris wheel. I have full-blown panic attacks on the Harris wheel either. I fucking scare this shit out of me. I don't like that. But fast, I like roller coasters too, but I get my bell rung so easily now. And it's so arbitrary. It's not consistent ever. Like sometimes I can do it and be like completely fine.

And other times I have to go home. Is that new for you? This is new. Yeah. Yeah, this is new. Do you have a triggering event like a car rack or something? No. But I do just spin around in circles all day.

Okay, great. Got it. So there's a park employee, you know, I chop it up with everyone, which I will get to when I'm talking about Japan. I can't wait to talk about this. But I was talking to a park employee and she was like. Is Varang here? Yeah, I asked her if Varong was here.

She said, no, you got to go to Animal Kingdom. And then it's where Pandora is. And then the rest of the everyone else was like, don't leave to go to Pandora. It's like, fine. But thankfully, they do have Victoria Frankenstein at Dark Universe, who is Babe City. She's a little wicked, too.

It's great. Yeah. Thinking about putting another white line in her hair. Jesus Christ. That's bride of Frankenstein Don't get them crossed And yes Are

Can I ask Yeah What's wrong with you No No seriously Can I Yeah Who is

This lady Frankenstein Is she the one with the big tall hair And the tits out? No no that's the bright of That's bright of Victoria is an invented character for Dark Universe, and she is intended because Dark Universe, which are going into, is like a representation of a historical sort of Transylvanian, you know, European village, pastiche,

the kind of thing that would be in a, you know, Invisible Man, Wolfman, Frankenstein, Dracula, et cetera, the old Universal versions. And it's really well represented. It's really cool. There's a windmill that's on fire. It's just fucking awesome. Wow. But, and the two, the two rides there, I forget the name of the other one, are both really good. So they invented a new character because it's like meant to take place in contemporary time. So it's Victoria Frankenstein, who is like the heiress of the Frankenstein name, then Anepo Frankenstein, if you will. I would have changed my whole family's name after what he did. They rocked with it for two long.

It's like being Beatrice Hitler. Colby bin Laden? Hey, Chloe Mussolini, maybe reconsider that last name of yours. Oh, wait, your prime minister? Really? Okay, got it. Anyway, Darwin C.K.? Darwin?

They went classic. So, Victoria Frankenstein is like this, she's like this modern goth babe, and she is both an animatronic and an animated character in the ride. And it's a cool character design, and she's well, and it's just like, it works perfectly for the ride. But we learned about Victoria Frankenstein before we got on the ride. And one of our double-boys producers, Amelia, turned towards me and says, I feel like Victoria Frankenstein is your dream girl.

You know me all too well. It's one thing to be roasted by a fellow host to be roasted by an employee. I'm used to it. Whatever. Emily's the best. Yeah. What a crew. What a fun time you had in Florida.

Everyone's the best. That sounds lovely. Yeah, we had a great time. And I will absolutely, I think Epic Universe, very, very cool park, you know, it's, it's, it's really just like kind of in the same way that if you haven't got, had a new car in a while, you know what I mean? It's like you've been driving your old beat her around for 12 years and then you get a new car and you're like, holy shit. Look at all this new technology. Yeah. Is that like, like, I have my fucking, you know, Apple screen in my phone, like what the hell?

Or in my car? What that was going on here? Have you seen any of the footage of them testing the new Fast and Furious ride that's opening at your sister's Hollywood? It looks fucking crazy. Yeah, it looks awesome. It's cars on, like, a roller coaster track, but they go into drift mode. So, like, then they turn sideways on the track.

Oh, wow. It's, it looks like it's going to be really scary, actually, and I can't wait to go off. There's a lot of that of, it's just like 20, 25 technology. It's just like feels like an all-new theme park. Yeah. That's really cool. And then the Super Nintendo World particular, you know, whether you're in Orlando or Hollywood or wherever in the world, I think just as a game fan, it's just really well executed.

Hell yeah. I don't know about you, but I like keeping my money where I can see it. Otherwise, where's my money. I don't know where it went. Could be anywhere. My money's off having a good time without me. I'm alone and I'm in a half-filled pool. Unfortunately, traditional big wireless carriers also seem to like keeping my money too.

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So it's good that I have a VPN to help save my behind. NordVPN protects you wherever you are in the world, anywhere. Could be Los Angeles, California, could be Tokyo, Japan. Those are only two places as far as I'm concerned, but it could be anywhere else. It's super fast, no buffering while streaming, and it stops your ISP bandwidth throttling. I hate that throttling. And you can use one account on up to 10 devices. Now, that's a value. Premium cybersecurity for the price of a cup of coffee per month. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to NordVPN.com slash get played. Our link will also give you four

extra months on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description. Go save yourself some money. Let's talk about Get Played in Japan. Guys, first off, I want to say, congratulations, Nick. Yes, congratulations Nick. Yeah, this is a big trip for you. This was a big trip for me. I never crossed an ocean previously. And it was really, I don't know, humbling to be a part of that big trip for you. Yes. Wow. I do think about that as like a, as like a, not to be too sincere right off the bat. But like, that was something you'd said so often as a, it was a refrain. People quoted it back to us constantly after the fact. So like to have shepherded you across the ocean feels

like a great, a big honor. So I'm glad we all got to be there for it. I've also never seen a human being actually lock in and play 12 straight hours of a video game. And you did that on the flight over with Slay the Spire. And I was like, I went to sleep. And every time I would wake up, because he was sitting in a row ahead of us. I was like, holy shit, he's still doing it. It was awesome. So here's what I'll say. And I was going to say the sincere stuff for the end, but I'll say it now.

It was an incredible trip. I'm really grateful to both of you and Rochelle for encouraging me to go, but not pressuring me and also reassuring me, it'd be okay if I opted out. I did tell you, you know, if I committed, I wouldn't bail. We had a deadline way to commit by. I said, like, I'm going to do it. And I did want to bail multiple times, including. the night before, I had a full-fledged panic attack in a restaurant.

I had to leave. And then I puked seven times walking home. Oh, Jesus. And, but Slay the Spire got me through that flight. Because I just, like, I locked in very early. Most of the, most of it was anticipatory as my, the anxiety was anticipatory as my, my, I almost said my agent. As my therapist was, was, was, was preparing me for. Hey, Ari Gold will tell you they're kind of one and the same.

Amen, brother. And it was, but, but yes, just having something that I could focus in on, especially once we were in the air, I just was, I was just like, this is working for me. I'm just going to keep it going. Can I, I don't, I mean, can I jump to like the very end, just like to the flight back? Yeah, sure. Since we're on flight talk real quick, was, uh, were you nervous, like, were you as anxious to get on the flight back? No, because you knew you were going home.

Well, I already done it before. Yes. So there was that. It was also. two hours shorter. Yes. Going from, we flew from LAX to SFO and then from SFO and then from SFO, San Francisco to Kyoto.

Yeah. That was like 12 hours and 30 minutes. It was like 10 to half hours from Tokyo to L.A. Yeah. So that also like made me a little bit chiller and it was actually able to sleep for a couple hours on the way back, which I was surprised by. Because I remember when we were getting ready to go, you're like, oh, this one's going to be easy. I wasn't sure if you were being brave or if you actually thought that, but it sounds like it was easier. I was being brave.

But yes, I was fine with that one. I did play a lot of Slay the Spire. And yeah, I wouldn't have done it if you all hadn't encouraged and supported me. So thank you so much because we had a great time. We had a blast. And we sort of mentioned this when we were in Japan, like when we were recording the episode. We all got along really good. We did like, look, this is like we could take trips.

Yeah, I was like, we didn't fight it once the whole time. I felt weird when I got it. home and you guys weren't around all the time. We had so many meals together. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We had breakfast together basically every day.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't eat breakfast with my wife. Yeah, me neither. Also, at the, I, at the, at the risk of being too sincere up top, when we, when we started the show and we started how to, how did this get played, one of the old bits was I would say friends. Yeah. Like, I'd be like friends. Yeah.

And the truth is, you know, even though I knew you guys. I didn't realize until this trip that you were my friends and it was really overwhelming and it was really nice we're friends we're like friends for real yeah we're friends we're not just an nominated ensemble

yeah yeah we're just we're not just associates no no no we're we're real friends I felt I felt very bonded to you guys there because we're also far away from things that our natural comforts too. We all missed our wives. Right.

And we were all just like, but we all, you know, the fact that we were there together, we were not alone and that felt great. You know, he's, I, we all missed our wives.

And usually when I'm traveling, which is, I said in the touring because that's most of the reason I'm on the road, but usually when I'm traveling, I'm missing my home toilet. Yeah.

In Japan, every toilet was a Cadillac. I, 100% totos. It's unbelievable. The toto representation. unbelievable. It's a monolith. How are there Toto's everywhere? I got home

and I missed the toilets in Japan. I got a bidet home. They're so good. Because we landed at the Osaka airport and then we drove to Kyoto and like, you know, with this whole QR code system for getting through immigration, face tracking on the videos, which was all a little bit of a pizzazz. That versus the contrast

versus coming back to the States, which was so like... You like stunk when we got home. It smelled bad immediately. Also, there was was gum on the floor inside of the airport in LAX? And I was like, what is that? I think it was like T minus like 10 minutes from de-planning. We saw like a guy with a gun. Yeah, right.

It was crazy. Yeah. And but we went to, this was my first experience with Japanese public toilets. Yours as well, Matt. We go into the men's room there. You went to the urinal. I went in the stall. We don't need to get into details.

But I sat in the urinal and you put in the toilet. You did, that was details. I don't think they're more details. So I get out and... Nick was giving himself a swirly. Yeah. I deserve it. The bathroom is like pristine, first of all.

I've never seen an airport bathroom this clean. Maybe not a public bathroom this clean. Unless, except in like a five-star hotel. And, yeah. The airport bathroom, just in general, in the States, you're going to just hear people fighting for, their life. It's disgusting in there. It's a symphony of the worst sounds you've ever heard. And also, for whatever reason, we design the doors to have huge cracks in them. Yes. Like, why not just make a

door that closes like a normal door? Why not? Why not stalls that go all the way to the floor? Every other country has solved this. It's like us still being on the standard system instead the metric system. I do think it's like an overcorrection to be like, we need to see people's shins to their feet and a little bit on the side so that we know somebody's in there. Otherwise, we're going to try to open a door and then embarrass somebody. But I'm like, you can see my whole shit, man.

Like, it sucks. Yeah, it's also like there are external indicators for this, right? Like, there's a greener red. It's just like it works in places that have full-fledged doors. It's just there's got to be some economic reason for it. It's just cheaper. It's less material. We don't have to build the whole door.

Exactly. It's probably as simple. as that. Yeah. Anyway, it's full enclosed. There's hooks everywhere. There's ledges.

There's a full-fledged toto in the airport. And it's so impressive. It's so staggering. Oh, the other thing they have is, like, they don't have the seat covers there. Instead, what they have is they have a dispenser with, with the paper for it that you can use to wipe down the seat. Yes. Which is, like, they've got a way to, like, sanitize the seat.

It feels so much more hygienic than that weird, you know, awkward, like, paper ring you got to sit on. Yeah. And then. It was so impressive that when I'm washing my hands, Matt, it kind of timed out where we saw each other same time, and I was like, you got to check out the stall. Yeah.

That's what I knew that we were, like, just, they were eating our lunch here, like, from minute one, basically. I knew we had landed in heaven. But then in every, like, even just, like, crowd management and just, like, the way people are, like, courteous. Curteous. and but also minding their own business but also ready to help at any time.

And if you talk to them, they'll light right up and talk to you a little bit. So we'll get to that in a minute. We got a universal, you know, we know what this is. They're trying to wow us and you know what? It worked. But they sent a car to pick us up

at the Osaka airport and drive us to Kyoto, which is what, like 45 minutes an hour away. I was hoping to take the train so I was a little disappointed, but it ended up being a lovely drive because the Japanese highways are incredible. And also, just the airport pickup zone, I did not hear a single honk.

Nope. How are people not constantly honking? What the fuck is going on here? I didn't see anybody mad. If anything, we were the maddest people there because nobody was mad. We were like, what the fuck's wrong with everybody here? And also, there was just no friction whatsoever

from leaving the airport because of the entry system. And I'll just like describe it very briefly. You do this like, this customs form online before you go, and then you get there. By the way, Heather, our able guide helped us out with. I would have not known what the fuck to do if not for her. Well, Heather, Heather's nickname the trip was clutch. Because Heather was so clutch. And like, it felt like one of those things where we were like, you could go anywhere, right?

And you can like, you know, if let's say you weren't there for some reason, if it was just me or if it was like just Nick or it was just us, for some reason you weren't there. we'd figure stuff out. It would have been completely fine. Having somebody who had been there before knew all the best shit to go to and just like had a comfortability in the in this in the country was paramount to the enjoyment of the entire trip. Right.

Like that was just unbelievable to me. But yes, we did the the entry scan thing. Like you go to these machines, these kiosks. There's a little bit of a queue, but there's like 10 machines. so people are moving through it pretty quickly. It's really orderly. There's multiple workers that are organizing the lines. Nobody is threatening you as you're approaching the machines.

No, they're like, they want to help you in case you haven't figured out how to do it yet. You put your passport on the thing. It scans it. You put your two index fingers on the thing. They scan that. They take a photo of you. Is it all like a little invasive? Yes.

But from that point on, you just know exactly where you're going because then there are screens after the air train to the main part of the airport where there are screens that are displaying a letter on you. And based on that letter, you know where you're supposed to be going. Yeah, it's a video screen projecting like camera footage of you in in a line. Yeah. And superimposed over yourself is a digital letter that tells you which line to go to in the next section. So we're all, you know, foreign foreign visas, foreign travelers. So we've got this superimposed A and then that same A

in the same font with arrows is, you know, in front of us in the terminal. It's fantastic. At least because we have the same surveillance state stuff here. Yes. But at least there it felt efficient and convenient. Here it just feels like, wait, this is adding

hours to my day. They have to do even more stuff and then surrender more. Well, it's the difference between being treated like somebody suspicious from the drop versus somebody who needs assistance. That's the only psychological difference between the two experiences. When you go through customs in the United States, if you don't know where you're going, the attitude towards you is, what are you hiding?

Like, why don't you know where you're going? Whereas there, it's like, do you need a little help? Yeah. And all the signs, too, were in Japanese, but then also English, which I, and that was, like, the case pretty much everywhere. And I was like, I can't even imagine, like, the accommodations are just so unbelievable. to me. Yeah, you put a, I mean, there's so many Spanish speakers in the U.S., but you put a sign with both English and Spanish. It's like a Fox News segment. Yes, yeah. Just the idea of accommodating somebody. Yeah, there's a small protest outside. Exactly. So we go at Osaka, we're at the Osaka airport. We get this car to Kyoto. I will say, great, great ride, beautiful highway, beautiful landscape. Our driver, Heather, we, but we all notice was maybe doing everything he could to stay awake, which was really. Yeah. We were talking in the car, boring his ass off.

Don't want to get him in any trouble. Yeah. Well, I don't think he spoke really much of any English. And I also say this, this is, I'm sure, a cultural thing. You know, we try to engage with the drivers at times, and they were always very, like, reticent to talk back, almost as if, like, are you testing me? Right. Because I'm supposed to be seen, not heard.

Like, Heather asked this guy, this very nice man, who I don't want to get in trouble, his name, and he reacted like, like, she was a cop. Yeah. But anyway My bad Yeah No it was fine You didn't have them

Pinned against the van Yeah yeah Yeah What's your name We went to Kyoto The Hotel Universal Put us up in Was the nicest hotel

I've ever stayed in my life Until we got to the hotel In Tokyo Yeah This is insane The tattoo policy Immediately hitting us Matt

Yeah and Heather Not allowed in the health spa At all with a tattoo in Japan And this I knew going in Yeah That this was going to be an issue Being communicated This

was the biggest gut punch in my fucking life. And I knew the rules. Yeah. The rules going in. But just like hearing that almost like bullet point number one. Like if you have any tattoos, you cannot go in the health spa. And if you go into the gym.

My eyes watered. I was like, oh, okay. No, yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I cursed my skin. And if you go in the gym, you have to cover yourself up. Yeah.

You can't have visible tattoos there. And they like basically, I don't know. I just, just great, great accommodations. Hodel brunch buffet was the best buffet of my life until we got to the Tokyo hotel, which we'll talk about a second. Yeah. Heather, I know you're just. Japanese is better than mine, but we both speak some Japanese.

I would characterize mine as my language skills is pretty good for a first grader. Better at speaking and listening, reading. I, you know, I can do hiragana and katakana. My kanji characters I know are very limited. But like, I was told in advance by my Japanese teacher that Japanese people love talking to Westerners and they love any sort of effort. And it was incredible how true that was immediately. Yeah.

Like the person, again, this is like such a nice hotel, five-star hotel. There were people showing us, like individual bell people who are showing us to our rooms, like walking us all the way up to our room, taking our stuff inside and then showing us the features of the room. And I'm talking to this very nice woman who spoke English fluently, had lived in America for a time. But I'm speaking some Japanese to her so eager to talk, so eager to give her. me Japanese phrases I could use. Japanese vocabulary I could use just so friendly. I know she's paid to to do that, but like even if you were talking to people

on the street, like everyone would be down to chat. Yes. Well, Nick, you were really, you did such a great job because you had just taken the lessons. I was the worst person on this trip. Not at all. Well, in this, in this particular way, because I came with no phrases. I came so unprepared. I like got phrases from

you guys that were very helpful. But I got to do this though, because you guys would get to do your Japanese and then I they would get to me and be like what about this guy is he speaking? And I would just say I'm bad and everybody like that. That was pretty fun. That was a good bit.

But just the even amount that like even just the effort of you trying got people so hyped everywhere we went. It was like you were like you were like a movie stuff. Everybody was so excited. You also you said hello

to everybody. In the hallways. Yeah. Like every single person. You also were like keeping track of what time of day it was so that you knew which like greeting to use. Right. Oh, haugasaymas for the morning. Konbano for the evening. Yeah. And you would be like, oh, it's time to switch to conbanua. Yeah. And at times you would say conichua and then you'd be like to the person, wait, I'm sorry,

conbanwa. And they would look at you like you were insane. At one point though, Heather was speaking Japanese to somebody who worked at a store and got the compliment of the trip I think though, right? I don't know. They said they asked you if you lived there. Oh. Yeah. Well, you know. That was pretty cool.

I think I have the Japanese of somebody who lived there at this point, lived there for a year teaching English and didn't have any Japanese friends. Sure. Like, that's my level. It's like, I've got enough to, like, operate and make phone calls and, like, work my way through the city. But I don't, like, it's clearly not the Japanese of somebody who has gone to a club with a Japanese person. Sure, sure, sure. I think the compliment of the trip came up Kojima Productions, but we'll get to that. Oh, yes.

Anyway, I would encourage any tourists to learn even the smallest amount of Japanese, bust it out at every opportunity. Also, just, like, don't be intimidated by the, you know, because you learn when you take these classes. When you learn anything, you learn, like, how to say full sentences. And that's just not how people communicate. Like, you can say, you know, Toilwa, dokodeska? I'd like to ask where the bathroom is in a full sentence. But you can also say, like, Toore? Like, like, where's the toilet?

Yeah. Ask a single word with a question mark the same way to be like, toilet, bathroom, in English, and people will get it. Yeah. And I would hear other, I knew that because I would hear Japanese people doing that to us. Yeah. There was a time when we were trying to find the lobby of the hotel, and the guy just came up to us and said,

lobby question mark. Yeah. And then show, in Japanese, and then just showed us the way. Yeah. That guy ruled.

That's a geary guard who walked like a half mile to show us where the lobby is. He asked us where it was. If that's where we were going, you're like, yeah. And he walked with us for like four minutes.

We like went up an escalator, like through two doors and then down a different elevator. We're sort of like, you're supposed to be kind of over there, actually. You went so far away. It was great.

But we did, on Monday, we had a little bit of time to talk about, we walked about Kyoto in the morning before we had all of the first half of our media stuff. Beautiful city, historic shrines, and neighborhoods. My first experience with the majesty of Japanese Khohi, coffee.

Yes. Which fucking so good. So delicious. Again, every cup of Cadillac. And we also saw in Kyoto these historic shrines, these neighborhoods. Heather, you took us to, was it the Usagi shrine? Yeah, we went to the, like, a rabbit temple in

Kyoto. We went to the Gion district, hoping to catch like a glimpse of a geisha. which we were not lucky enough to do. One of my favorite things in that area is that there are streets that you will be fined if you walk down and you don't live there. And I'm so fucking, I'm like, that rocks.

That's fine. That's fine. Yeah. Keep us out of those neighborhoods. Yeah, that's not for us. Yeah, that's fine. Because I was a little surprised, and I guess because it was cherry blossom season, by how many tourists were in Kyoto in particular.

It seemed like there were more tourists in Kyoto than Tokyo in terms of percentage of the population. I think that there has been reports of Kyoto having a bit of a over-tourism problem, and they're increasing sort of the fees for tourism, the taxes at your hotels. They're trying to, like, put a slight damper on how many people go to Kyoto because it's becoming over-crushed. There is also, you know, for as much as we're talking about the sort of, like, humanitarian experience that we had in Japan, there's also been a pretty hard right turn in the country. and part of that is just the sort of over tourism.

I think that it's been emboldened by TikTok. Like TikTok and Instagram have really made it a country that like everybody sees and wants to go to. Like there's a I think a Twitter or a blue sky meme about like there comes a time in your life when you must go to Japan. The meme of the fascist Japanese prime minister who loves Trump. Yeah. Turning into the cart titan. So funny. That was insane.

I love making fun of these losers. Anyway, mockery is the only real weapon you have. Yeah. But yeah, we went to, that day, we went to the Rabbit Temple, the Gion District. We went to your first Manderake store. Yes. Very cool. Where you saw your coveted controller.

Yeah, there was a biohazard. Do we have a context for what a Manderrake store was in last week's episode? I guess I'll tell the listeners. Mandrake is a chain of stores that sells used, used anime, video game, manga goods, and they get pretty hyper-specific, specifically in Tokyo. Like, you'll go to a Mandrake store that specializes in 1950s Shoa-era tin toys. Yeah.

But at the larger stores, like the one we went to in Kyoto, it's sort of a mishmash. You've got your manga section, your video game section, and your anime and figurine section. Yes. And so one of the things I saw there was a Resident Evil Requiem switch two controller. But of course, in Japan, Resident Evil is still called Biohazard. And so instead of saying Resident Evil Requiem on it, it said Biohazard Requiem.

And I was like, well, I don't need that. I have a Switch 2 controller. I don't need it. Left felt the most immediate regret of my life. And then was then on a, from that point on the hunt. to find one, which then we did procure in Tokyo. Yeah. And now that I have it, I will say, I didn't need it.

But it is cool that I have it. Yeah. I do love it. That's the whole thing, my experience with the Mandarake is and the other stores of their ilk that we visited a lot of. There's constantly stuff where you're just like, well, shit, I could own a super Famicom copy of Final Fantasy 5 for not too much money. And now, what am I to do with it?

I don't know, but I could have one. there was also like they'd have things like like wait the Japanese version of twins on beta maybe I do want that I don't know I mean if I had succumbed to every whim I had over there I would have need to get a shipping container to bring all the stuff back I wanted it was it's a great place to go if you want to buy stuff the thing I got at that Manderaki was the game gear micro or the game gear mini and boy oh boy what a lovely device and I do not know the use case for it Like it's got the full games. It's the full games are embedded in a keychain-sized game gear.

Yeah. And I'm like, what am I doing? I think it's probably for people that want to practice squinting. I guess so. I don't remember if we said this on the episode we recorded in Kyoto, but the worker was thrilled that you pick that out. It was so happy. It was so excited. I'm tired of dusting this thing.

We saw the Super Mario Galaxy movie. that night it was a press screening that took us out to dinner beforehand and it was amazing how quickly the Americans and I'm including myself in this uh fucked up everything for the Japanese order it was truly yeah we were being so bad so they had prescribed uh seating arrangements it was super organized but we were there and I wasn't sitting at the same table with Matt and Heather so I'm move my seat so I just moved my name tag over there and the the universal reps again super everyone was super nice was we're like yeah that's fine sit wherever and so other people kind of followed by lead, and we're moving everywhere.

And it's sort of five-al-on-fire in the kitchen. So they were freaking out. Hands on head, like, what is going on? Because they don't know who we are. They just have their orders going to a specific seat, which I didn't even think about. But anyway, I fucked that up for everybody. But part of that was we received a table with Jake, who is part of the media party. And does Chicago Morning TV, Jake Hamilton, yes?

Yeah, Jake Hamilton, he's online under the handle Jake's takes. We hung out with Jake for basically like several hours. And we were like, Jake's our fucking guy. What a kid. Jake was awesome. Really cool guy. And I understand like everyone's there as a pro. They were all kind of there in their own world.

Like we were the ones who were just kind of like, hey, how's it going? We're chopping it up with everybody. Making it a party. Talking to everybody. I was talking to the translators. People also looking at us like, who are these guys? Yeah, yeah. Because like you would talk to like a media outlet and you'd be like, where are you from?

And I'm going to use a media outlet that wasn't there. specifically so that I can use this as an example without calling anybody out. You'd be like, where are you from? And they'd be like CNN Atlanta. And then they'd stop talking to you. And you'd be like, no, no, no. Like, is this your first time in Kyoto?

Like, are you happy? Like, are you having a good time? And everybody almost universally would be like, uh-huh. Yeah, it was alarming that out of everybody there, we were the most social people there. It was so crazy. It was like so... Not what I thought at all.

Yeah. But Jake is an absolute king. We had a great time talking with us. We had a great time talking with him, rather. What a great hang. We chopped him up for basically the rest of their time in Kyoto. The rest of this night. And then also got to see him a little bit during the big day we were interviewing everybody.

And we're all staying at the same hotel too. So then you see, you know, somebody you were talking to at the hotel. And you'd be like, oh, hey. And that's fun. That was good stuff. Look, I met. I met the translators. They were three Japanese translators

who were based there and again spoke fluent Japanese and English, which was a running theme, which was so amazing how many people had just English fluency over there. And you got to meet the translators, you two got to meet the translators because we got separated at one point leaving the restaurant because I had to there was not enough space in the vans and

it just kind of didn't work out. So I got in a different van with different people who were all very nice, but then you when we got to the location which was at the movie theater, I feel like two or three times before going into the theater, it was like, you have to meet the transit. They were great.

They seemed really sweet. They were super nice. They were really fun. Yeah, well, I just asked them if they were Japanese in Japanese, and they like lit right up. And then, you know, I said it was American and Japanese. And, again, it was great. We had a little bit of Japanese, but then just like also a lot of English and just,

you know, you ask people about themselves. They crack open like a, like a fucking soup can. What? They crack them open like a soup can. You know what I'm talking. about? Nope. That's not a thing you do to a soup can. That wasn't all in outcast, hey, but they had to switch it to shake it like a polo like

a thing. A pop top of him imagining. Like a pop top soup can. Yeah, yeah. You know, one that you'd heat up on the radiator of your car. I think at this point we need to talk about the second debacle. of this whole trip so so we had as part of it we're at this private screening we're at this movie theater they have concessions like like cordoned off for us and they've all gotten us like

you know a popcorn i think but that might have been the last second i don't remember what they got us it was like a pretty big popcorn for one person yeah popcorn and soda yeah they got us they got us a soda Heather doesn't drink uh you don't drink sugar right and i don't drink caffeine at night right so i can't do a diet soda so i went up to the counter like a normal person who would go to the counter at a movie theater, and it was a functioning movie theater, and I asked if I could buy a water, and it stopped business. Because they had already decided that they had given all of the press pool the snacks and their drinks. So the fact that I was going up to the counter and trying to pay money for water was like,

it was an impossible problem. And I think because the theater was closed to the public, think. I didn't see any other people. Was there other people there? Yeah, I think there were real people in another part of the theater. Where we were though, like I just saw us. Yeah. Once Heather asked for a water, it was like seeing the gears of bureaucracy of Shin Godzilla. Ten people got involved somehow. They left the room to bring someone else in to see if this was ever even possible. A literal huddle of people talking about can we get this lady water. and me going, I'm just going

I'm just going to pay for it. Like not understanding what the problem was that I had caused and just being like, I have cash, I have card, I have any kind of money. And that was, you thought that was helping. And it was actually making it way worse. They're like, and if she wants to pay for it. But then I think you did.

And then somebody came in later with like six water bottles. Like does anybody else want water like a psycho? Once we're, Once we're seated, one of the universal people came in with their arm full of waters. Just give out to people. Yeah, any other thirsty fools here? And also, that was our second night there. And I hadn't quite adjusted to the time yet.

And I was being a big baby. I was telling everybody how tired I was. And I was so tired that I felt physical pain. I was so, I was like, I don't know what's going to happen when they turned these lights off. and I were having to like, you know, clockwork orange this movie into my eyes. Luckily, a million things are happening constantly in the movie that there was no way I could fall asleep during it.

Nonstop, a barrage of sight and sound, which a lot of our listeners have seen at this point, and we talked about the movie previously, but I will say at the private press screening, Matt and I consistently throughout the trip, but especially here with the loudest people in the theater by a country mile, laughing so loud at the jokes,

Well, other people were just, these media people were just sitting through stone-faced. Not everybody, but, you know. We were, we were- We were enjoying ourselves. A lot of other people were like, I'm on the job. We were the loudest, dumbest guys there. Like two idiots hitting each other on the head with hammer. The next day we had the Nintendo Museum and all of our interviews with the cast,

which you talked about in depth on our Mario Galaxy episodes, episode rather. Yeah. One thing I will say, I'm not going to dox who this was. There were multiple crews there working there. And we were interacting with multiple people in different contexts. One of the crew members on one of the shoots was the sickest person I've ever seen. Was so sick almost in like a completely new way. Yeah.

We were like, we were going to see a new color come out of this guy. Yeah. It was a nightmare. He was wearing a mask sometimes. But I was like watching this person, I was like, am I going to be? seriously ill for the rest of the trip? Like, is this going to be the sort of thing where I have to go to a Japanese hospital

if I catch whatever this guy has? Is this guy patient zero for COVID-26? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I was sort of like, hey, if I do get to go to a hospital, maybe I can get them to fix a couple other things. It might be better here. But I also do have to then say,

we didn't talk about this on the show. I told Ranch of Funny Live via text that she believed for half a second. And it was that, because I did see Shigura Miu-Omoimoto. We mentioned it when we saw him on the show. Yeah, it happened in the moment. He happened in the moment. But I had seen him before that.

I passed him in the hall. He was just kind of there, which was insane. Yeah, I walked past him and he was walking by himself. I could have tackled this man. Why is that your thought? What the fuck? I remember one time, other times when I've met other people of that. Famous developers.

Famous developers of that ilk, there was like somebody else around that was like maybe a covert security guard. Yeah, for sure. This guy was just like, I can get to the shitter by myself or whatever. Well, yeah, I think part of the thing was he was in Japan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Not everyone has a gun. That's true, that's true.

But I passed him in the hallway, immediately clocked him, almost burst into tears seeing him, then came and told you guys, and then later I had said it in the text that I had seen him to reach. And I was like, I passed him in the bathroom. He was running and holding his ass like he was about to shit. Michelle, you believe that? I believed it for a second. I believed it. I could see it.

So fairly. Like holding his ass like a... Oh! I'm getting a text. We are uninvited to all future movies. I was like, no, that was an obvious lie. But to be fair, it was, I think, four in the morning, your time when you were responding to these texts for some reason.

So after around this big time sickie, I lost my voice, partly just because we were talking. I was talking so much. so loudly for so much of the day. Yeah. And I started feeling sick. Yeah. And partly because I was so fatigued, I was so bummed.

It turned out to just be fatigue and I rested well. I was great by Thursday. But Wednesday I was basically fucking out. Yeah. That being said, you did have your first 7-Eleven egg sandwich. Wednesday, I normally did that. I had my first ride in the Shinkansen, the bullet train to Tokyo, which I was excited. I think pretty the thing I was most excited for.

And there was luckily no funny business on the. bullet train. There was no funny business on the bullet train. There was not a calcate of assassins after us. No. It was about as normal of a train as you could possibly want. We were in comfortable seats and we were, you know, like every car is a quiet car. Yeah. Except when we're in it. Except when we're in it. And you can bring food and drinks, including alcohol on the Shinkansen. So we went to 7-Eleven ahead of time. We got 7-Eleven the egg sandwiches, which is what it's called. the big egg sandwich. And then Matt and I,

we also got some Yuzu beers that Heather recommended. You got yourself a beverage too. Yeah, but I'm going to say before, like, I know there's an assumption with social media that everybody knows that the convenience stores in Japan aren't fancy.

But in case you're listening and you didn't know that, the convenience stores in Japan are very, very high quality, clean experiences with fantastic food. Yes. And there is a viral egg salad sandwich available at the 7-Elevens there. You can,

also buy clothing. You can also buy dress shirts. You can also buy suits at a 7-Eleven. You can buy Muji goods, I think, at Lawson, but there's like three or four different chains. But yeah, we went to 7-Eleven, got you guys and myself an egg sandwich,

and you guys got Kyoto Yuzu Highballs. Highballs, sorry. Highballs are very popular. From the convenience store inside of the train station, fantastic drink. I think I got myself a fake beer, but I don't remember. The high ball is a is a classic cocktail that's just whiskey and soda water,

but it is omnipresent in Japan. Every place has at least beer and high balls. I got a smoothie from the 7-Eleven before this train. And it was just like a great smoothie from like a smoothie place. But it was like a machine that I had never seen before. You like peel off the top. You put it in there and then like it mixes it yourself. You know, it mixes it for you.

And then you can start sipping from this bad boy. And it was really, really good. Yeah, the level of quality of produce there is wild because I got an apple from 7-11 and it knocked me on my ass. And I also got a banana that I had later, a banana. Yeah. But also the other thing that's staggering in Japan, overall a much less wasteful country than the U.S., but is the amount of single-use plastic. Yes. Like that banana came individually wrapped in plastic.

The apple was in its own plastic bag. Yeah. It's just like, it's just how everything is presented. And not a, no trash can, no trash cans in public typically. This is another thing that's a huge adaptation is that, yes, you have a coffee cup you finish that you got to go. You're carrying that coffee cup the rest of the day. I was so glad I had my purse with me with a little trash section because I was like,

you know, I was constantly, consistently carrying trash. Thankfully, for living in a, for being in an extremely clean environment, a very hospitable environment, it's such a fine tradeoff. Yes. And I wonder if it's like paradoxically one of those things where having, not having trash cans in public makes it, makes littering less common because people are just not used to throwing trash away. Yeah, there's like a social responsibility to keep it clean. I thought that was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip was just how clean it was. What do we think of the, the egg sandwich?

I loved it. I thought it was fantastic. It was so good. I did have a better egg sandwich later, a restaurant that we'll talk about later, but it was just such a shock to eat edible food from a 7-Eleven. It was like insane. Because also we got. like salmon onigiri's from there too and just the idea of getting fish from a 7-11 I would do that if I was trying to die I would never do it here

look I'm a fan of the big bite hot dogs and the go-go tequitos and you know I can fuck with their wings and their pizza I guess I like all of their food but they didn't have slurpees of course slurpees they didn't have slurpees there so that was a dock against it but yes the quality of food was so much higher

and yeah an egg salad sandwich from the American one I would not trust. The soft, soft, soft bread. Oh, my God. It was so, so yummy. Heather, you'd had those before. Yes, I had them before. And they, they, I went to, like, Japanese opera one, one time when I was there with,

with my wife. Don't tell Timothy Shalame. After we saw, don't say what? I said, don't tell Timothy Shalame. Oh, right, because he doesn't, doesn't like it. I'll handle this one. What is wrong with you? I almost said don't tell Japanese Timothy Shalbay.

But after we, like, we got all dressed up. It was an opera. It was, it was a kabuki theater. Like, we went to, like, a full kabuki, like, performance in the Japanese opera house. It was so magical. And then afterwards, we went outside, crossed the street, went to 7-Eleven, got egg sandwiches, and ate. Like, our meal after going to the theater was fucking egg sandwich. Like, they're fantastic.

They're really, really good. Really, really yummy. Had a great time. We got to our hotel in Tokyo, which I don't need to dock specifically, unless y'all want to, but it was a super nice hotel. Yeah, really nice. And we were really, really cozy and comfortable there. I took a, I was like, guys, I might be done.

I took a three-hour nap. Well, y'all want to get ramen nearby. I took a three-hour nap at like 6 p.m. Well, we went to the Pokemon store first. We didn't go. We went to the Pokemon store. Oh, wait, wait. I didn't go.

The two of us went there and I'd say we walked in and I got immediately overwhelmed. Right. I got nervous because they had a lot of stuff, but it wasn't even the big one. No. It wasn't even the biggest one we went to. It wasn't the biggest one we went to. And also when we walked in, I was like, oh, it's not that crowded. Yeah.

Even though it's pretty crowded. It was still crazy. Yeah. Because then there's like a section of the thing that has like, it's like a wall of plushes. And I was just about to say, I don't think I'm like a plushes guy, but I have a lot of plushes because I'll just get them when I see a cute one.

And then it's just a problem I have for later of wondering where I'm going to put this damn thing. And of course I bought, I think, more plushes in Japan when I was there. But I got nervous there because they had a bunch of different ones and they had ones I had never seen before. And like there's so many Pokemon

that they had so many different. ones. They didn't just have like the more popular. They didn't have like just like Charzar or Pikachu or jiggly puff or stuff. They had like Echens. Yeah. They had like, they had like, Fero. They had like, they had like this, they had like deep like evolution. Yeah. And like, variants from other regions and stuff. And it was like so crazy to me that I couldn't decide. So I got a total dial key chain. Yeah. They're like, like, alolan meow. Yeah. Yeah. I was just like what? I can't I can't do this. I can't do it. But I got a, yeah. A to dial keychain in a couple pins and stuff.

I always buy pins when I go places. And then just like, why did I get this? Like I have like a million pins of things. I'm like, I can't put. You got to find a jacket where you put your pin. Yeah. And then every time you get that jacket out, you'll see a pin on it. And you'll be like, oh, you know what?

Maybe I'll put on a different pin. Okay, yeah. But like make a place where you put a pin. Yeah. And then you'll start rotating pins. I thought you were going to say put them all on this one jacket and make a really noisy jacket. But we went there and then I think we went somewhere. After that we started walking around thinking about where we were going to eat.

Because anywhere we were going to go was going to be good. Yeah. We went to an Ipudo ramen, which is a chain, but was so fucking fantastic. I got to say, I don't know about you because I know you went after. I liked it more than the fancy ramen. Yeah, me too. I loved this place. I agree.

I liked it more than the fancy ramen. I actually ended up going to Iepudo. So I took the three-hour nap. I did a solo mission afterwards because you said, You went there and it was open light. It was like, like, oh, I'll just walk over there. Had a lovely walk, got a little lost in the way back, but was fine. And it was just like, you know, like this, these, these, a ramen place in particular

is, is set up for solo dining, but just like you kind of get your own individual booth. It's great. Yeah. They were super nice there. They were fairly prepared to speak English, but, you know, because they had enough Westerners there, but I spoke enough Japanese goodbye. And yeah, I had a great meal. It's Ipudo ramen, which they have in the U.S.,

They have some outlets, and it's pretty good. But the Japanese one is like, this is like top, this would be top to your ramen in America. It was insane. I thought it was so, so good. We didn't talk about how on Tuesday night after we had kind of like our, so we got back pretty late because it was like a long, a super long day.

We interviewed the cast. We had stuff to do afterwards. We finally got out of there. And, you know, it was a bit of a haul from the Nintendo Museum cross town to where we were staying. It was pretty late when we got back. And we were trying to weigh what to do. we maybe even showered

I don't remember what it was but we like actually I don't know if we did I think we just kind of like got We like took our stuff upstairs and met we reconvened Yeah we took some of the the Goody bags they gave us

To bribe us which worked Up to our rooms And then We were like basically let's go And the options were so limited At that point that we were just like We're fucking tired Let's just eat in the hotel

So we just went to the hotel bar And we sat down And Matt you and I Like a couple of real pieces of shit We're like let's order steaks. And we got tea bone steaks. Like fucking animals.

And they weren't even that good. They weren't that good. Maybe the worst meal I had in the trip. There's a later meal. I think that was actually worse. Sure, yeah. But the experience was good. But it was still fun to do.

It was fun to do. Yeah. We all had a good time. Getting the steaks was fun. And yeah, like, you know, you get a celebratory tea bone. Why not? Yeah, why not? So I nap three hours.

I slept 10 hours that night. I felt rested for the first time on Thursday. And I didn't feel sick, which was great. Because I got to, we had a lot to do on Thursday, including the brunch at the hotel, which, unreal. I mean, the omelets, the yogurt, which is, like comes from a Hokkaido farm. Yeah. A fresh baked bread baked in-house. There's a real honeycomb.

They just have a fucking honeycomb there that's drizzling honey off of. And then every day I was hitting Nick with this. Me want honeycomb. Yeah, and I was loving it. I'm so glad I wasn't there for that. So, and everyone, all the servers there are so kind. Yeah. There was a sign near the coffee that basically became the mantra for the rest of the trip.

Yeah. The sign said, so they're a bunch of mugs, but they're also to-go cups. Yeah. And it was the politest sign I've ever seen. It says it both Japanese and English and perhaps some other languages. you can take coffee to your room. You could. You could take coffee to your room.

Sorry, you could take coffee to your room. And the reason I think this is so good is because I did a, my in-laws always want to see all the photos when you go to the, so I ended up air playing like a little slide show to the TV. I got to that slide show. My father-in-law, 87 years old, goes, how that's funny, you could take coffee to your room. But he also got it.

I was like, yeah, it was funny. It was like, he was going crazy over there. Yeah. It's like it doesn't, you don't have to. You don't have to. You could. You could. But you also can have it here.

There's also a sort of implication that's like, hey, you could do it, but like maybe don't do that. But you could. You could. You could do it. But the equivalent, like, you know, like a fucking Radisson in the U.S. would be just like maybe a sign that said to go coffee. If there was even a sign. And then it might have like a handwritten note next to it. Like only one cup per guest.

You know what I mean? And it'll be like sticky and empty. Right, right, right. And I, like, but anyway, we're saying you could talk coffee, you could take coffee to your room the whole, the whole rest of the trip. Yeah, yeah. Thursday we also had our Kojima Productions Day, where we met Kojima and his two translators, Aki and Mickey, who were both, you met before, Heather spent some time with both

wonderful people, so kind, so generous with their time. We kind of thought they wanted to keep hanging out with us. I mean, like, I kind of get that vibe, too. I was kind of like, should we invite them to, like, our next thing? They were so nice to us that I was like, I would hang out. people all day. They were so, so such, such incredible hosts. Heather, you mentioned earlier, family mart in addition to Lawson's and 7-11,

it's kind of the big three of convenience, kind of convenience stores. Yeah. There was a family mart in the building where Kojima Productions is. Yeah. And Mickey was just like, let's take you down there. She just went down there with us. Like, maybe she doesn't want to keep hanging out. Yeah, it's awesome.

Our new friends here. But that was such a surreal experience. And it was just like, yeah. We met Hideo-Ko Jima. Yes. Which was, like, you'd both been, you both met him before. Yes. But I don't know if you'd have a conversation with him.

We got, we got to talk to him for a bit. Yes. He was so funny and so cool. Like, you guys was like, fuck, this guy's cool as hell. Yeah. He's like even cooler in person. He had the biggest laugh of the trip. Yes.

He did. Because, because. Yeah, certainly didn't happen on our podcast. No, no, no, no, no, no. No. Because you said to him, you know, after we chatted for a few minutes, you said, I feel like I'm meeting the Pope. Yes.

Which did. get a laugh. Huge laugh from him and his group and then he said in return tell Nintendo. Yeah. Yeah. Which was so fucking right away. So funny. Because he knew why we were in town. Yes, exactly. So funny.

He also, I was really impressed by, because we can't talk in depth about Kajima's offices, but I can't say that there's a celebrity wall and Guillermo del Toro is on there, Arioster El Fanning, you know, and Heather Ann Campbell. It's pretty cool. Really, really cool.

And then that was like, I mean, there was a whole part of the office that we couldn't go into because people were working. Because they're developing it at an announced title. But in our conversation with Kojima, I spoke a little bit Japanese to him to introduce myself. Yeah. Sort of like, you know, whatever. Just to just make small talk. And he said, how was your Japanese so good? That was the compliment of the truth.

Yeah, absolutely. That was a compliment of my lifetime. I think I also said I'm bad to him He liked that But yeah That was like so cool And like you know And they're fucking their offices are so amazing

There's so much like Thought into the aesthetics of it Into the interior design There's there's elements of like This isn't this is a creative space For this reason Every room has a justification And then the actual production facilities

Are just like so top notch You two Devin and Ranch Will actually think this is interesting They took us into like the recording booth where they record the voice actors and stuff and I said to them

I was like I work in podcasting I've been in a lot of recording rooms I think this is the only well designed one I've ever been in it it was like the quietest room I've ever been in it was crazy really impressive yeah it was awesome and that was really great and then

yeah it was just it was just cool to see him but it was also like obviously like he's come up so much on the show and we you know dedicated months to him in the past It was... And then he's just a guy. And he's just a guy. Oh, yeah, you're a guy.

But it was like so cool that all three of us got to be there. And then he posted the photo of us and nobody believed we were in Japan. People were like, oh, he's in L.A. Yeah, yeah. Again, because I said I'd never cross an ocean. It's right. Yeah. He's also, I've seen a lot of the photos they've been posting lately and they've been taking more photos outside of the white room.

I think in part because it's like, oh, it's those, maybe it's just to showcase different parts of the offices. I think so. And also he seems really busy. Yeah. I mean, the white room is not exactly close to where he's working. He's kind of like I'm right here, yeah. He left a meeting to talk to us. It was insane.

What is happening? We wasted his time. He was having fun, but still I was just like, dude, what are you doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He handed us bags of stuff, which was really cool. So we took a photo with him, and he was just like standing there very cool and we're all trying to do kind of a cool, like,

nonchalant pose. Yeah. And then they were like, oh, we'll take another one. And I did the thumbs up, and you both did the thumbs up. And then did you know, who took a second?

Give it the thumbs. It was so good. It was like, that was it. That was perfect. That was like the cherry on top, absolutely. So we went to, after that, was that our Akihabra day?

Yeah, we went to Akihabra that day. Which is like the otaku, like, sort of nerd section. A lot of our trip, we would go from incredibly nice experience to incredibly trashy experience. So, like, we went from Kojima Productions to Glitch Coffee,

which is, I think, the best cup of coffee in all of Tokyo. Incredible cup of coffee. It was so, so good. It was one of the best cups of coffee in my life. Yeah.

I did spill. It wasn't that bad. Well, I was actually going to mention, too, you spilled on the plane on the way over. I did spill on the plane the way over. And then you had an unlited

cup of coffee that I saw you hit with your iPad. And I was like, I don't know if I can do this actually. But somebody spilled on the train And you were very quick to point out That it wasn't you Yeah

And I was like It might as well have been By proximity you sort of infected her With your spilling This person was super embarrassed Which I get which I can relate to And immediately two train employees help them out Yeah yeah yeah

If you spill on a On a train in America They might shoot you They apologize to her We're sorry. We went from glitch to McDonald's so that we can have some McDonald's in Japan. I was so happy you took us to McDonald's. I loved it.

And then we went to Shibuya to see the Shibuya Scramble and also go to a department store. Shabuya Scramble for, can you describe that for people who maybe don't know what it is? It's the busiest intersection in the entire world. I don't know how many people cross that intersection every day, but you can look it up on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. And you'll just see like an enormous. massive people crossing in six directions all simultaneously and then all of the traffic is allowed to go. What was the bit I was doing?

I think it was just being a big obnoxious American going, y'all got that scramble? Oh, yeah, you're like, yeah, where's it crossing? Yeah, yeah, where's the crossing? Yeah, and I would walk faster and away from you guys. And I'd be gasping for air laughing. Keeping my head down. But yeah, we went shopping. And then we went to Akihabra and to Yodabashi Camera, which if you've listened to, I believe, our DLC, which previously was Get Animated, I did an entire speech about Yodabashi camera.

I think I did that on Get Animated, not on. I think that's right. Yeah. Yodabashi camera in Akihabra is a, I don't know, a nine-story building that's like Walmart stacked on top of one another. except instead of just like a bunch of shit you don't need, it's everything you could ever think of that you might need. Right. And there is a dedicated section to each of those things for that thing.

So if you went and you were like, I need a toaster and you went to Yodabashi camera in Akihabra, you'd go to their toaster section and every toaster on earth would be in the toaster section. Yeah, it'd be like, here's every single kind they make. Yeah. All of them. Any like as I was demonstrating this as we're like sort of going up the escalators, I'm like, guys, literally if you need a wallet, if you need a pen. And then I looked over and they had my wife's favorite fountain pen was directly beside me. Yes.

Like a pen that she's been looking for for, I think the last year. And I was like, oh my God, they have like literally. I was like, they have pens. Oh my God. They have Mary's pen. And like I was, go get her pen. they have an enormous video game section, an enormous toy section. Yeah, it's where I got my biohazard controller.

They have an enormous watch section. They have an, like, it is, it is a, you think about a store like this and you're like, I feel like it would feel gross if it was here. And instead there, it felt like the most pragmatic space you've ever attended. Yeah, like if you need to get a few things and they all happen to be at this store, you're going to one place, baby. You don't got to go to a bunch of different stores. Basically, half a floor was just dedicated to gotcha machines.

Yeah. You mentioned the watch section. Yeah. I didn't know there's a watch section. I watched the watch section. Look at me. I'm becoming a watch guy. Yeah.

Yes, this was essentially a free trip to Japan. And so maybe that made my spending budget a little bit higher than it could have when it came to making purchases. They had a Shoahe Otani watch. Yes. I think I'm going to get that watch. Yeah. Yeah, you did get it.

I first tried to talk you into getting in the watch. You tried to talk me into it, which you failed to do. And then you got it. And then I was kind of like, I should have fucking bought it. I should have got it. Because it was really, really sick. But somebody had to get it, and you got it. It's a fucking incredible watch.

What I didn't know is that if you were playing Pokemon Go, it just found this out today. If you're playing Pokemon Go while we were in Tokyo there to show Hey Otani Pikachu. Oh, wow. That's sick. I want to say about the watch real quick, actually. It has sort of like Mike powers. Or in the movie, like Mike, they find Lil Bow Wow and Jesse Plymonds. They find Michael Jordan's shoes, and they put the shoes on and give him basketball powers.

Okay. So now I think Nick can hit a grand slam, I think. You haven't hit some dingers. It's been a lot of fun. It was worth it to say. I'm glad you said it. Yeah. Because it's true.

It's true. Why would you say, why would you lie on the podcast? I'm just giving details about what the watch does. People want to know what happened on the show. Telling time, it gives you, like Mike Powers, turning you into a Shohei Otani superstar. We went from Yodabashi. I'm just going to keep bulldozing.

It's just a true. We went from Yodabashi to a couple of retro video game stores, specifically Super Potato in Akihabra. Overpriced, but still fucking sick of shit. Yes. And they had cabinets up there, too. Yeah, they had Astro cities on the top floor. Amazing.

And then we went to a maid cafe. We sure did. We sure did. Nick got, Nick just smiled like the Grinch. Look, I picked up a couple of new sister wives in Japan. No, they were very young there, they were way too young for me. But I will say that one of our servers or one of our maids,

because you go in there and you're basically assigned a maid who's going to help you. Ours introduce yourself as Meow Meow. Yeah. Later on, we were like, we asked one of the other maids like, hey, we want to take a picture with meow meow, because it was part of the package, we got to have one picture. Yeah. And they were like, who's that?

Yeah. And we'll never have clarity about what the confusion was. So I believe, here's the confusion. I believe that when we needed her attention, we were supposed to say, meow, meow, and then she would come over and help us. So she was saying when you need to call me, call meow meow. But it wasn't actually her name. I see.

So when you said. We were her little kitten. Yes, yeah. I can track that. So I'd heard about made cafes. I did not realize that the interior would kind of look like a, you know, hollowed out radio shack that had been decorated to the best of their ability with things from a party supply store. Yeah, it seems like 7-Eleven's here. Yeah.

And also this was like the flagship of this chain of made cafes. Yeah. I kept saying this is the nice one. Yeah. Because I was like, oh, is this a pop-up? It's like, no, it's been there for 18 years. Yeah. This is just what it looks like.

Yeah. Still an incredible bathroom with a toto. It's like just every fucking toilet. I have gone to multiple maid cafes over the years. And one year I was like, you know what? I'm going to go to one that's off the beat. I'm going to look for a specific kind of maid and go to a different maid cafe. And so I found like a Victorian era made.

And I was like, this will be the maid cafe I try this time. and I went upstairs and it was, like, as much as you're saying, this is a party supply store that has been, that decorated a radio shack.

Yeah. The other one was folding chairs and folding tables, the one that I went to on a different trip. The ceiling was the sort of square paneled office tiles that, like, sit in the ceiling. Yeah.

Stained in the corners. And just like, like screw in light pointing in different directions. And I was like, oh, oh, I've been at the nice one. And so that's why I was like, we've got to go to the nice one. I'm glad we went there. We did end up, our plans were to get dinner afterwards and we were there long enough

where we ended up eating dinner at the maid cafe, which was, you know, not one of the highlight meals, but it's actually not terrible. Wasn't terrible? I get a hamburger steak. You all got some curry. I got the hamburger steak also. Yeah, yeah. And the vegetables were frozen.

I will say, I think I liked the best. the bad two bone steak more than the Hamburg steak from the maid cafe. That's just me. I think that's fair. I think there was just maybe something about the environment of the maid cafe where I was just kind of like, you know what this is perfect for right here? You know what I mean? It's like the food at medieval times.

There's like this context kind of works. Yeah. Because it had like some quai elements to it. They put a little face on my hamburg steak and that was fun. And for those of you who are like, again, there's an assumption here that there's like an education level of our listeners that maybe we're leaping

over. What is a maid cafe? Okay. Imagine a space described by Nick where all the servers are dressed in cartoonish maid costumes that are not quite sexualized but definitely not innocent. There is a small stage in the corner where every five minutes or so, two or three maids will get up on that stage and sing a song that is the loudest song you've ever heard. Your watch, if you're wearing an Apple watch will say extended time at this volume level is damaging for your hearing. Yes. And if you have hearing ears, they'll hurt while you're there. The maids will come up and in squeaky voices, which are cute, you know, cute personas. Moe is the sort of term for it. They'll come up and they'll squeak and fall on over you while

taking your orders or serving you drinks, then you can order them like, like, it's like a kin to a Hooters, but not akin to a Hooters, just in terms of like what kind of genre restaurant we're talking about. Yeah, well, I'll just go,

I'm gonna stop right there. It's nothing like Hooters. Well, I guess Hooters is more of a restaurant. I don't know what it's like. Hooters is, another hour if you've been to Hooters. I have. Okay, yeah.

Well, Hooters is a little bit, I mean, it's just like an American versus a Japanese aesthetic. Like, like, hooters is more or more, you know, overtly horny and sexualized. Right. Like, you're here to party. And this is more like, oh, he, he, he. We're silly girls here to take care of you. You're here to party, he he.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah. But yeah, you can pay money to have them sing songs that you choose. And then at the end of the day, you take a photo with them, depending on the package of food and drinks that you order. Yeah. Right. I gave our very coveted photo to Ranch when we got back as a gift. Wait, Ranch.

What was your joke? My joke? Wait, didn't you, you said you commented on the photo. Oh, I said that. I had the same hair as the maid in the photo, so it's basically me. But also, we pointed out that Ranch is significantly taller than our made. And Ranch's not the tallest person. No.

Five feet. Yeah, and they're doing dance routines, too. There's some coordinated stuff that will happen. I, of course. These girls were busy. They were busy. I was like, they're working their asses off. They're performing the whole time.

I, of course, being a, you know, like a man in his 40s who looks like me, I am worried about being a creep. And we were the only Westerners in this particular maid cafe, which was interesting. But to my relief, there were, well, kind of to my relief, there were multiple men 20 plus years older than me by themselves. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Luckily, some other creeps show that. We had one more thing that we did that night that I just want to shout out on the podcast. because it's my favorite bar. Wait, do we go to the porno?

We went to the porno store too, right? You went to the porno store. Hold on. We were walking by the porno store in Akihabra. Yeah, then we saw a dust cloud of Nick and couldn't find him. So Heather, I was on, I was on a, you know, a fool's errand all trip long to find some porno. And the thing was like, it was all either like too scuzzy or like too nice. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah. So here's the thing. He, quote, couldn't find pornography in Japan. Yeah, I can't jack off to this. Don't worry about that second suitcase I picked up. Anyway. This place, this place was really dingy and it was, but Heather, you told me about this place in advance.

And we walked by it and give us some context. So there's a, you know, having gone to Japan and Akihabra a bunch, there's a pornography store on the main strip that has. two floors where women are not allowed. And I always was like, huh, I wonder what's up there. But that was about as far as I clocked it. Like, I wasn't like, how do I sneak on to the no women's floors? So we said investigative journalist Nick Wyke. In an act of charity and self-sacrifice,

I went up to the men's-only stores in the porno floor, men's-only floors in the porno store. First floor is very like conventional porno. Second floor is kind of more couples-oriented, you know. the third floor is the first male only floor. And there's a guy, there's a, I mean, there's a lot of men in there. But one of the guys was by there and I got there and said to myself at the staircase, like, oh, that's the men's only floor. And I had this other guy says to me in English, that's where all the good stuff is.

So I walk up to the third floor. And again, there's two floors. So I'm the third floor. this one is oops all fleshlights like it's like every single kind of flesh light varietal you could imagine all these different sort of

marital aids that are like attuned to different JV stars or you know anime characters or what have you different orifices they're all there as well as some blow up dolls and a few other sort of sex toys but the fleshlights are the headline

I get up to the fourth floor the top floor and this is just straight up real dolls, just full on women, that are just silicon women, some of whom are in cages. I assume so, men don't just grab them. I don't know what the reason is for it.

It's unnerving, though. It's to protect you, don't worry. They're in different costumes. There's some pornop there too, but it's like, it's mostly real dolls, like full bodies. They've also got, you know, you can buy just a torso. If you want that, you can buy just a pelvic area, or just a foot.

And the feet, to have holes as feet tend to do. So it's, it was really, not for me to weigh in on, I can't speak to it. It's hard to unsettle me, but. But holes where they don't belong is the line, I guess. And also just like a bunch of guys up there, like looking from Yieldal to Realta Real Tall, like they're trying to buy a used car. It's just like, kind of like, kicking the tires a little bit.

The other thing is, all of the staff on the men only, men only floors, the floors who are moving are not allowed, were women. And I was, I still cannot figure out why that was. I have my theories. I think it's because you don't want to, if I'm projecting, it's because you don't want to buy porno from a dude. Like if you have your option to buy porno, if you could choose to buy porno from a woman or from a man

and you're a man, I would assume you'd rather buy it from a check. I think the experience either way is humiliating. It's mortifying. And I think the kind of people who go to the store would maybe not be as embarrassing. But I think that's a fair theory because I have no idea. Yeah.

The, my theory is there's some maybe a cultural, psychological element that if women are present, guys are going to be less creepy. Because you could see guys behaving very badly in the space, particularly around the dolls. Maybe that's why they're caged. You know what I mean?

Like openly groping them or fondling them or whatever. Yeah. Or humping them. You know, like, it's just like, so maybe that's it. But honestly, it could also be a sales thing. It also be like, actually, guys buy more porno when women are there because, you know, they're, whatever, they're like, whoa, this real woman thinks it's okay.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's possible. I don't know. But while Nick was in there for three hours, Matt and I had her. We also walked by a full PC store, a gaming PC store, but we didn't have time for, but I was like, holy shit, this is like a nine-story floor with PC components.

Yeah. And given the Japan exchange rate there, I was like, can I go in there and get a fucking new video card or something? Yeah, yeah. It was, it was awesome. It had a, like a certain, like its own component. Yeah, yeah, yeah, which was really, really cool. But from there we went to low non-bar, which is a bar that serves both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks in equality, which is what, it was such a fantastic experience for me as a sober person.

Because you can order, like I can order a martini, which is not at all a martini, but also approximates a martini and give, and they make it with the same. attention and care and like detail as you would if you were making a high-end cocktail and then you guys were having your cocktails and you were like these are fucking phenomenal cocktails. They were really, really great. There were some of the best drinks I've had in terms of craft cocktails

it's also just the vibes of this bar were impeccable. And it wasn't a huge bar? It was like what? 12 seats, 14 seats, a few tables. It's underneath the old railway that was I think destroyed in World War II and then became like a sort of like they took the underground space and turned each of those underground spaces into a shop or a restaurant. Yeah.

Restroom was was down the down like outside down an alley. Yeah. By the way, another thing that I didn't even realize I wasn't encountering until I got back to America was restroom keys or restroom codes. Yeah. Just like public restrooms were just open there. Yes. Drinks were great.

The bartenders were great. We were talking with them. They were talking to each other. They were super cool. It was just like, that was a great experience, Heather. That was another thing where I'm just, I'm so grateful to be with you on this trip because you took me to this space I never would have known about others. Yes, absolutely.

It was like, that was, yeah, an all-time bar. It was incredible. So Friday, we had Heather's Big Dog moment, which is, Aw. Oof. She had reserved. Half. A party of three at a six-seat sushi restaurant.

restaurant, omacase restaurant, for lunch, which was the right move in hindsight, going good, because let's just talk about it. Sushi Shaito is the restaurant, correct? Sushi Shaito. Not sushi Saito, different restaurants. Sushi Shoe Saito was where we had our lunch. Now, I've reserved lunches in Tokyo before. Mary and I got to go to Jiro, and by that I mean not Jiro. from Giro Dreams of Sushi, but Giro's son, who's also in the documentary, has his own restaurant.

We went to Giro and it's like an hour-long event, you know, maybe 10, maybe 12 bites of sushi, very measured, very coarsed out. You leave feeling full, but you don't leave feeling like overwhelmed. So I assumed this would be a similar experience. It was two straight hours of non-stop sushi for you guys. I tapped out midway through the I tapped out at what I thought was two courses before dessert I was like I'm done

I can't have any more so you know I'm just gonna politely decline the rest of the courses which I felt so fucking horrible about because I was like I love this sushi it is an emotional experience I physically can't fit anymore in my body

and the guy wouldn't stop making fun of you yeah he was so mad He would, but he was also like a little, no, he understood, but he's a little disappointed. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He's clearly like, like, oh, I was enjoying cooking for you guys. But he loved us. Yeah.

Because it was us, we were a party of three. And, you know, we're Westerners, but we're talking to, we're speaking some Japanese. We're trying to like, you know, and he speaks great English. I had a Dodgers cap on. It was opening day. Matt, we'll talk about this. But being a Dodgers fan, a Dojieu fan in Japan is like, everyone. You're the most popular guy.

I don't think so. No, no, no, no. We all took turns to being popular. It was very fun. Very different for us. Yeah. But they, but they, people, people love that. Yes.

O Tani in particular is, is so popular. Yeah. Everyone's asking if I know. I'm just kidding. We said yes. So it was, it was us, we were the party of three, and then there was a party of two and one empty seat. And the party of two, this is a place where they were like, you know, not doctrinaire about

it, but we're serious in the, like, like, please, like, you have to be on time. Do not wear fragrances. there's a dress code. We're all dressed nice. We're not, you know, a coloned up, which I usually am. And then we are...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You left the Drakhar noir at the back of the hotel. Guess I'll put this axe body spray in the fucking bathroom trash can. You brought in your bag so you can spray up after.

Right, right. So... Pull all these honeies off of you. The other couple was they were... The woman was very nice. They were from China. They showed up late. So immediately they were like...

not starting the best impression. And then the guy was just on his phone the entire time. And it seemed like he did not want to be there. Well, I was going to say he seemed pissed off. He seemed like he was like, it was like my, the old ball and chain dragged me here. This is her thing because she was having fun and I, we had some fun talking to her. She was great. He was like, I can't believe I got to eat the best food I've ever had in my fucking life.

It was the best sushi. It was the best sushi I've ever had. It was like Heather was saying it was like 20 courses. We had so much food. Yeah. I said that we were like Homer when he goes. goes to hell and he keeps getting fed donuts. We were that happy.

We were like, this rocked. Yeah. It was, it's like the kind of, like, I had this multiple times in Japan where you have, you have bites of food and like you get emotional. Yeah. Like, how is this so good? Yeah. Yeah.

How am I experiencing this moment right now? How will I remember this bite? You know what I mean? Yes. But it just, it just kind of feels like that. Just knocks you off your feet. There were times like, you know, like the presentations were all like very different. And I thought it was cool.

Like, sometimes they'd bring you something on a little. plate. Sometimes they put it on like the wooden counter in front of you and tell you how to prepare it, how to prepare your bite with like salt or like the little sauce or whatever. Sometimes they'd just straight up put it in your hand and tell you to eat it. And I was like this rule. Yeah, they'd ask you hold

out your hand and they'd put the food in your hand. Yes. Yeah. I love that. I love being encouraged to eat with our hands. I loved how they would just tell you whether or not to sauce something. Yeah. Any, you're making more decisions for me? Great. Yeah, because I don't I'm going to mess it up. Right. I was

asking where the, I asked, I did a joke before we went in, or I asked Heather if she thought that they would have Philadelphia rolls there? Yeah, pretty good. Heather was about just as bad as she is now. I'm never mad at you guys. I feel nothing when you say those words. You're just visualizing my death in the grandest way. We had, we had, it was such a fantastic meal. They brought out what I thought was a dessert course, but it was a savory course. And there was a, to like 40% of the meal. It was a savory, like, it had, it was like baby eel.

Yeah, yeah, it was like a custard. It was like a eel custard, basically. Yeah, yeah. And the, that was delicious. And then there was like 40% of the meal left. You get to the dessert course, and they have, like, ice creams or sorbets you can get. Matt, you picked a sorbet.

They brought you all of them. They brought me all three sorbets they had, and they were all so good. But I was glad I got that because I'll just tell you. If I had ice cream, I would have been a little. holding my bath my butt like I'd said Shigeru Meevoto was. And here's the other thing. That wasn't the end. No. He was like

I got more sushi if you want any and then he brought out his he brought out eight more options. Yes. And I was just like we're so full but I gotta get some of it. You got more. So I got like two kinds of mackerel and a sweet shrimp and they were all delicious they were all so yummy. I had to get up and

stretch my back because the chairs were very nice but I was hurt from sitting in the chair and eating for so long. They were beautiful, but disco-elisium chairs? Right. Kind of ergonomically, you know, not ideal. I had to, like, go and, like, touch my toes and stuff.

Like, I was, like, in pain. But it was, it was incredible. That was no, the best food. Well. Best food to the trip. Best sushi in my life. Well, this day was a crazy food day. This day was a crazy food day.

And I think these two meals, two best meals I've ever had in my life. We should have spaced them out. Yeah. But, yes, I think they were, they were. were definitely like both up there for sure. I thought there was a higher percentage than normal that after our second meal that I would go home and go to sleep and not wake up. Yeah. I was like concerned that I was going to die in my sleep.

It felt like when Homer, so that night we went to, my attempt at a big dog moment was a, oh. Of half. Was this restaurant Rika, which is in the Rompongi name. neighborhood, I believe. And this was a, this is a Wagyu steak place. So Heather's like, we're doing sushi for lunch. Let's do steak for dinner. And, but Heather, you were still so full. Yeah, I was so full that I was like, guys, I'm going to stay in. And I, I stayed in the hotel room, ate zero dinner. Yeah. Because I was still so full from lunch, played polko, B, and went to sleep. So you were so kind. You're privately texting me. Let me reimburse me because this place was like

paying advance pre-fix. I was like, let me reimburse. I was like, let me reimburse. for the cost of it. I just called the restaurant and just explained the situation. And they were like, yeah, it's fine. Well, just bring, just bring the two of you. And so we went there. It's all private room dining. So every party gets their own room.

Yeah, we had, Nick and I just basically had a romantic dinner alone. We had a great, we had a great time. Yeah. We've finished a bottle of wine and ate maybe the most steak we've ever eaten at once. Yeah, there was a, we had a bit that would have driven Heather crazy, which is that They had an empty frame and we're like, do you think a TV goes there on the wall? And then we just keep talking about them playing family guy on it.

And it was like, can we ask them to put on family guy? You know about family guy? If we had family guy, we'd have been there all night. Because like the staff there was also really awesome and fun. And the food was so good. There was two different cuts of steak. There was like a, you know, there was the Wagyu cut. With Wagyu and Kobe.

Yeah. You got two different cuts of each. Yes. Now, like, each of these. was like the size of a deck of cards, which it doesn't sound like the most steak, but this is the richest meat you'll ever eat in your life. Yes. And I was like, physically ill,

but I was determined to eat all. We're, like, both, like, quietly sweating. Yeah. But also, we arrived full. Like, we were still full when we got there. And what's crazy is, like, they know that. Like, there's, like, there's, like, he has a, you know, he's, like, he reads credentials or whatever.

He's, like, French educated. And it was, like, it's a French, it's a French, French concept. Tré bien. Tré bien. Really, your whole meal is, like, there's one appetizer and some bread, and the appetizer is, like, a beet soup. So it's, like, it's, like, very, very light and basically just kind of, like, wetting

your appetite. Yeah, and the soup was, the soup was good. The soup was great. The steak doesn't come with potatoes or anything. It's just, like, a little bit of greens, which is more than enough. Yeah. And it's just so rich that it's just, like, impossible. I don't, like, I don't know how I wold myself to finish it, but I did, but it was so good.

It was, it was, um, I was scared. Yeah, it was crazy. It was a crazy meal. They were, we had two servers attending to us. They were so nice. Yes. The guy kept... They did not have family guy.

They did not have family guy on. But we felt like family there. I was like, what I'm at the freaking olive garden? Anyway, the guy, there was a man and a woman. They did ask us if we had noticed a particular trend that had arised. Yeah. It was that there was all this violence and movies and sex on TV. Right, right, right.

That was a whole thing. And then we had an unlimited salad of breadsticks. Yeah. But which we barely touched. What the fuck is happening? Matt and I were doing different bits. We were both committed to both to each of them. The major D was quagmire.

Giggedy, giggedy. Actually, the, the guy who was helping us out was kept saying to me when I'd say, I'd kept saying, I'd talked to him in Japanese a little bit. And I kept saying, you know, whatever, like, thank you and please and whatever in Japanese. And he kept going, cool Japanese. Yeah, he did. Yeah. He did do that. And it was fucking.

Awesome. It was great. It's the best place to go if you want to feel like a million bucks for doing the littlest amount. Yeah, it's so great. In between those two meals, we did go to Nakano Broadway. That's right. Yeah. Which is a mall that is, you know, Super Shoa era, like 70s or 80s looking mall that is just stuffed to the gills with retro anime, like vintage toys, but also modern stuff. and it's not just Japanese stuff.

It's also, like, there are stores in that mall that have, like, all of the Star Wars figures. And you're just like, at some point, you're so overwhelmed by how much you could buy. Yes. But I almost always walk out of there buying almost nothing. Yeah, I didn't really buy anything, even though they were like, by sheer coincidence,

when we were on their way to Japan, I talked to a guy at the airport, an airport worker who said, said that if I like it like he was a notice my watch was a watch enthusiast and said I'm wearing this tutor watch which is the you know the one new watch I got it than my Otani watch and he's a watch enthusiast and it was said it was nice and then was like if you go if you're going to japan you got to nagano broadway to look for watches and heather already mentioned it so I was like that's crazy we're going exactly there already he's like all right you know what's up I had no idea

there were so many watch stores there were like 20 watch stores and I hit them all up and I just had analysis paralysis. Like there's so many like vintage time pieces, new time pieces. I already got my Otani watch at this point. I don't need something else, but it was like really cool to look at all of them. Yeah. Yeah, there's a two stores that sell vintage anime cell art because they don't make it on actual cells anymore. It's all in computers.

So all of the anime that you can purchase basically ends in the year 2000. Right. Like everything post 2000 is all digital creation. And you can just. go and rifle through thousands of cells from shows that are recognizable. It's not like, oh, you know, I never heard of this show and never even made it over here and it didn't have much of a footprint. Like, there are folders and folders of Gundam cells. There's, there's, in one of the stores we went, there was a full pristine cell of Mossado.

Yes. That was for like, I think, $20,000 or something. Yes. It's a really remarkable mall, but very dark. Very dark, very grimy, kind of the opposite of where we were earlier, Shibuya, and where we'd go later, Hara Juku. But there's also like restaurants and, you know, and that's the other thing. We can't talk about every single meal we've had,

but there were times when we were like pop in like an odd tempura place and just have a fantastic tempura meal on the street. Yeah. The, there was a coffee place in the, inside there, which I went in, and at first, you know, I'm chopping up in Japanese with me with them. They're loving me. I was wearing a new wardrobe I bought the previous day. I guess complimenting my fashion. I was like, feeling like a million bucks. I got myself coffee. I spilled. And it was like a whole fucking thing. Yeah. You like spilled it upon delivery. I spilled it as soon as

they gave it to me. You somehow overturned the cup. Like a full, and it was a beautiful like porcelain, like almost like a T-set-style coffee cup that they gave it to you in. And somehow that you got that whole fucking thing fully 360. Because there was still coffee in it at the bottom, but I know it had been

upside down in what I watched. It was so fucking embarrassing. And they like brought, the guy came up with bar towels. Like, don't worry about it, whatever. The woman brought me another replacement coffee. And it's like, oh, fucking. And then we immediately left. Then we left right away. The

And we were talking about our steak dinner On Saturday we had our day We went to Hadajuku Which is like the super fashionable neighborhood We first went to The Unicorn Gundam That's right When the unicorn Gundam

We saw the life size Gundam That was awesome That was so cool That was fucking incredible It was like Seeing awesome A real Gundam Yeah

It was so big It's so big You see like where the pilot sits And you're like Oh that In this actual scale Yeah that's where That would fit a human being.

Yeah. That's crazy. This thing is massive. Yeah. And we happen to walk up at basically the time when it does its every three hours, lights and sound and slight movement show. Which gave us just enough time to go to the top floor and shop at the Gundam specialty store where we like you got a new jacket. I got a new jacket. And then we ran out.

We sprinted the fuck out of there. It was great. Watching this thing move was like. I was saluted. You held a crisp salute. It was very, very funny. I was like getting a video of the thing. And I was like, I was like, I'll shoot.

I should get Nick saluting. But I was like, but I don't want to miss any of the movement of the robot. You made the right call. But it was, that was really, really fun. And we were there for peak cherry blossom season. So if you take photos of the Gundam from certain angles, it was just haloed with cherry blossoms. It was fucking crazy. I wish you guys had seen before it closed in Yokohama.

they had a fully moving Gundam and it was, I think I've talked about it on the show before, a religious experience for me seeing a building fucking moving also triggered something in my lizard brain where I was like, I have to go. This thing can hurt me. Yeah, I was also like so struck by like,

because, you know, I think seeing that would be cool either way. Yeah. But because you showed it to us, it felt extra special, you know what I mean? I wouldn't have given a shit about this like two years ago. And now that we're here and we're seeing this thing and we're all so excited about it, it was so fun to see it. Yeah, it's pretty neat.

Then we went to Harjuku. That's right. Yes. And this is just like it's, man, it felt like you get to a new area in an RPG and then we've explored like 10% of it. It's so huge. But we looked around. We shop for some clothes. I go out some things.

If you're ever in Harjuku, don't go down the main strip. Like you can exit the train station and you can go straight down the street in. into Harjuga, I don't even know the name of that street. It's a fucking nightmare. It's so crowded. All of the stores have been replaced with like Chatsky's. Chachkes? Yeah.

Like it's not like an actual shopping street anymore. All of the actual shopping is like sort of orbital to that street. So just avoid that fucking street, man, which is what we did. We went to a bunch of cool stores, a bunch of like, you know, some, some Japanese brands, chains, some, some independent stores, some vintage stores. Yeah. You got a little bit of everything. I love shopping.

Yes. I love trying on clothes. I love getting a new wardrobe. And I got a bunch of a great shit there. And I like had a great time. We had a, oh, we went to the cutlet place for lunch. Or not the cutlet, the, um. Yeah, pork cutlet place.

Yeah, we went to, um, Tonkatsu, Misen, which is, uh, I think the best cutlet in the city. It's so fucking delicious. Really crispy. And an enormous selection of cutlets to choose from. Like, it's not just like you go in and get the cutlet. you can choose like this kind of pork, that kind of pork. Here's the pork from this farm.

Yeah. Yeah. And I was still full from the night before. So I ate like one bite of food there. Yeah. It was crazy. So I've been on the road so much. And this Japanese trip was this Japan trip was sandwich in the middle of me taking two domestic trips.

So I've slept in my bed two nights out of the past 20 days. Wow. And with the ready availability of alcohol in Japan, plus just all the stress of travel, I was basically on a three-week bender. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got a little after it. We go to this pork place. We go to this pork. I don't normally eat pork, but this is one of those things where it's just like, you know what?

This is supposedly the best one in the city. And I will do it for this. In the same way that I don't normally eat cephalopods, squid and octopus, but they were just giving some of that in the Okamakasi. I'm just like, this is part of the experience. I'm just going to do it. And the pork cut was delicious. It was really, really yummy.

And also, I'm there. I'm just like, yeah, I have a fucking highball for lunch. Why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was, no, I would basically have to beer at like every meal at least. And then came back and still drinking. I got to cool it. I've got to look at a little nuts.

We went to the Square Enoch store, which was fantastic. Awesome. So cool. And that was hard to find. It was like a quest to find the Square Innix store, which I think was part of the experience. And then when we got in there, I got overwhelmed again and like didn't even buy like that much stuff. Yeah. I couldn't pick.

I got a Chrono Trigger shirt, which is like a really high quality shirt, not some janky piece of shit. And I got the soundtrack on LP. I got an album of it. Through Chrono Trigger, yeah. And then I also got a like a slime. Yeah. Oh, I get a cactore and I got a slime, a little metal metal slime, which is really cool. I got a slime plush.

And I got a little polygonal figure of Sephora. Oh, yeah. That was sick. Which I was really fond of. And I think I got something else. And it's like escaping me. But those are the two things I remember getting there. After that, we had tacos.

This was an impulse. This was an impulse. We had eaten the food that we had wanted to eat on the trip. We sort of checked all our boxes. Yeah. And we had this. We were hungry. We're in a random place.

We're in a mall. This taco place was buzzing. It was buzzing. People were in there, having a great time. But notably not with Western. This was all local. All Japanese people were in there and like maybe experiencing the novelty of Mexican food, which I don't know how present it's been in Japan.

So it was cool. It was like, hey, you know what? Let's just see what they got. Yeah, because they had individual things. It's like if this wasn't it, there's other food, we can, you know, try it out. Yeah, pretty much all the food here has been fantastic. We can get like margaritas and mojitos. So it's like, all right, let's sit at the bar and let's just hang out for a little bit.

I would say all they need to do is for. figure out tortillas. The tortillas were not quite right. Yeah. But the tacos, the components within the tacos were quite good. Yeah, the carnitas were excellent. The tortilla was indescribably strange. It was skin-like, like human skin.

Yes. And it didn't have any of the sort of like any of the texture of a corn tortilla, like the sort of graininess of a corn tortilla. It felt like a sort of not all the way cooked tortilla kind of, like a sort of not wet, but do you know what I mean? Yeah, I don't know if they made their own tortillas in house or if they source them and that's just what's available in Japan or if they were like actually this is some sort of like rice paper that has some other purpose. But we think it works as a tortilla in this context. I don't know. It was a little strange.

But the meats were good. The meats were really well cooked. The proteins were really well cooked. And I will say that the other thing that maybe it seems like a fusion place on a. intentionally because the spices, if anything, seem like kind of almost Indian as opposed to Mexican, but they were still yummy. And they also served with a regular cassidia sweet and sour sauce. So there was like a bunch of things where it was like, huh, that's interesting. Yeah.

Never, never bad. The drinks were great. And the service was great. And the manager came over there, came over to us. And I stopped him. And I said to him in Japanese. Nick, who's been drinking since lunch. Look, man.

Went in Rome. So I'm I'm I'm shit-faced I'm confident I'm speaking Japanese I tell this guy listen man We're American This guy I checked in with you first man Yeah he did yeah it's fine I gave you permission to do this We're American in fact this guy's Mexican

Yeah We have talked we're from California We live in Los Angeles We eat tacos all the time These tacos are great And you know what He loves me He was the happiest man I've ever seen

he was so happy it was great he was just like he like put both of his hands together like oh thank you it was wonderful it was so funny but I do think there is like I wanted to do that moment

not for my own self-gratification only but but partly because I was like I don't know I don't know but this guy this guy probably wants to know from like what do what do people who have lead Mexican food

think of our our interpretation of it or maybe doesn't it was a pleasant surprise I have no fucking idea it would luckily it didn't go how it usually goes when I tell people I'm Mexican here

this guy was actually pretty excited I get a mix of things no you're not or you are he was thrilled that was great and it was good I was happy we ate it I loved it at a great time This also was also not quite right

it was highly tomatoy but you could get there everything was a little off but yummy. Yeah. Yes. It was like sort of like if you had described Mexican food from a dream you had. It was kind of like, you're like, oh yeah, kind of.

Like, yeah, I've gotten a shrimp taco before. I guess I've never had a whole shrimp shell and all inside of a taco. Right. Yeah, sure. Why is there a single marshmallow? Or the guacamole was just crushed avocado. Right. That was it.

Like nothing else happening in the guacamole. Yeah. I do think there was a mayo situation in there. Oh, in the guacamole? Perhaps like a cupy mayo. Interesting. There was like a flavor I wasn't able to detect the right way, and it was a little too smooth. It was a little smoother than I would have prepared it.

Yeah, could you use some citrus, could you know, but, but I mean, still, like, I thought everything was good. And it was just like such a pleasant surprise, such a fun. We had a great time there. It was so far. We finished out the night by going to an area that I feel has changed significantly in the time that I have been going to Japan. And that's the golden guy. Now, it's always been tourist-ish, but going there now was like, oh, no. Like, it is like it is no longer a good place, I think, a good experience in the way that it was, say, 20 years ago when I went for the first time.

I'm sure it used to be cooler back in the day. And my brother who'd been to a golden guy, I made the same comment. Well, I'll talk about that in a second about how it had changed over the years. Yeah. I do wish we'd had that experience. I still, as a first timer, enjoyed myself, but it did remind me in a bad way of Bourbon Street in New Orleans where it's just like, oh, okay, there's a bunch of drunk tourist staggering around.

It was really a full-blown bummer from me because I hadn't been, the last time I went was three years ago. And even in those three years, it had changed pretty significant. It's also the only place in the whole city I experienced any street hustling, which is like there were a bunch of guys who were getting there who were saying. saying in English, like, hey, we have the cool bar right over here. Come to the cool bar. Come, come over.

And we were, like, trying to figure out, I knew it was a scam, but I was like, what is the scam here? Yeah. You eventually looked it up. Oh, like, I was fed it on my TikTok algorithm. Oh, wow. The scam is they're speaking English to Westerners, and they're probably, and they're like, trying to get you to come to their bar so it's like, hey, this is like an English

bar. Like, you know, you don't have to do any of the, like, you know, you don't have to figure out how to say certain things. You know, whatever. You can speak English in here is basically the ruse. Which was not a, concern anywhere away. Nobody had this worry at all. But whatever. Maybe it was like your first or second night there. You'd be like, oh, okay, sure. Yeah. And then the scam is they're telling you that, like,

you know, it's going to be like a low entry fee because some of these bars do have a cover charge. A cover charge. And then, uh, and then the drinks are cheap too. And then they get you in there and you start drinking some. And then they hand you the bill and it's like way more than what they said it would be. And they're like blocking the door until you pay basically. Yeah. It's a good scam. It's a good scam. God bless him. God bless him.

Hey, I hope it works out for it. That being said, we did find a nice experience in the Golden Guy despite like the sort of, I don't know, overall grossness of the entire thing. Can you, again, for people who, because this was new to me, can you describe what this is generally, what this area is? So Golden Guy is, I think the district in Tokyo with the most bars per capita on planet Earth. Each of the bars is six seats max. They're stacked on top of each other. It is a neighborhood which is like fully in rot. Like the walls are weak.

The air conditioners are rusted. Like it feels like if you've ever seen pictures of Calhounwald City, it is dense and it is very narrow alleyways. And each bar has like kind of a mild theme. Like it'll be like there was a bar I was particularly looking for called Bar Mickey where the bartender plays trumpet

and he plays jazz trumpet while he serves drinks and I was like that's the one I want to go to but I couldn't find it this time We did go so we went to a few places We did go to one place the first place I went to And I'm someone who gets very claustrophobic It's part of the reason the flight was a challenge for me These places are like tiny

Yeah And they're packed with human beings And these structures are old and decaying. And so it does not feel particularly safe to be in there. But I was still having the vibes were so great that I was still having fun. The first place we went into, there was a, you know, it was like a bunch of Westerners in there.

There was standing room only for us. And we, you know, we each got some drinks. A lot of these places did have non-alcoholic beer, which was great. Some places only had soda water, which is not fun for you. The first place we went had soda water only. And I was like, okay, okay. Yeah. But there were a bunch of.

handwritten signs on the walls. One of them written in English said, if you spill your fucking drink, buy everyone a shot. Yes, yes. I, hubris that I was experiencing. Yes. It came to us sweating. We got to get out of here. No, I pose next to it.

I pose next to the photo. Like, check this sign out. Yeah. We went, we hit up a few places. We ended up landing at this bar called I believe Adam Hartmother. Yeah, Adam Hart Mother, Pink Floyd reference. There were just a sort of a quintuplet of Japanese people in there and a fantastic bartender.

Yes, this place did have a cover charge and we honestly were like, you know what, this is probably worth the $1,000 because so many other places are so packed, this place actually has open seats. Let's just pay the cover charge and, you know, worst case, we get around and we're out a little bit extra, extra yen. But we end up staying there the rest of the night. It was fucking awesome. Yeah, there are two people in the corner who were smoking cigarettes the whole time we were

there. Love that. As was our bartender. This was our bartender who also had a full bottle of wine she was working on. drank an entire bottle of wine herself while we were there. And she loved us. She loved us. She wanted to take a picture with us.

She was so great. She wanted to take a picture with us, which was awesome. She was so friendly. Heather was just like, you know, we're talking to these people. We're talking to the other patrons. We're talking to Masako was the bartender there. Masaco. She's recently celebrating her 50th birthday.

Happy birthday. And she had a party favor she'd made that she gave to us as Memento. And I wish I'd brought it here today. But it was a, it's like a custom pack of Kleenex with an anime caricature of her, like a cheebevers and a Masaco. Yeah. With a big red face and half shut eyes holding a bottle of red wine. Yeah. And she's half horse.

And she's half horse. Because it's the year of the horse. Because it's the year of the horse. Yeah. I have, I have those, I have that tissue packet like prominently displayed in my home. It's so funny. It's so funny. And it's so specific.

She was so nice. Heather was just like talking about. Japanese music to these people and they were like loved her so much. Yeah. We were so excited. We had a blast. We posed for this photo. And this photo exists of us with two, two Japanese women who were at the bar and we were

talking to. It was taken by the third person their party who was a professional photographer. Yes. And Masako's in it as well. It's the three of us. And it's taken moments before disaster. It's like that photo, if you've ever seen it, of the guy standing on posing on the World Trade Center with a plane behind him.

Because almost immediately after that I was like I was like I'm buying the whole bar Around I do this as I'm doing this I knock my drink over and shatter it yes It was so fucking embarrassing We were like so close to leaving But it was like It was I think I can safely say

So far the biggest spill we've ever been around with you It was the worst spill of the trip And I definitely definitely very embarrassing I was like I was apologizing I was like so embarrassed. And then the like women next door was very very kind or comforting me. Masagas like it's no big deal. I break glasses all the time.

Yeah. But it was just like, like everything was to believe. Everything was, I mean, yeah. Everything was going great until that moment. Also they had they served food. Still, we went out of there on a high note. Yes. They serve food.

But because these places are so small, the food was kept in like a cooler, like an icebox that she had. And these like meticulously prepared bites of food. Like individual. like wing plates that she was bringing out of there and then reheating. But it was just like, like, I can't believe how they're making this make do with so little equipment. If I had one regret, it was not getting one of the wings from her Ziploc bag.

We should have got some wings. I would have liked to see, because she maybe made it at home. They look like they were hitting, too. Yeah, everybody was getting them. It seemed good. But the breaking glass, not a big deal at all. It truly happens all the time. Had a great time.

It was great. And you still got everybody. a shot at the end of night. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And then we got the hell out of there. We got the fuck out of there. Sunday was our last day. Yes.

And it was, we had, but we had like a late afternoon flight. By sheer coincidence, my alpha brother Nate was starting a family vacation in Japan that it was long planned. Yeah. Versus like, we found out we were going to Japan basically like less than a week before. Yeah. It was such a whirlwind. It happened really quick. So, but that just happened to line up where we had one day of overlap.

And that was the Sunday. So I went off on a side quest to see my brother. We went back to Hadajuku. I saw my niece and nephew and my sister-in-law. We had a great time. And y'all were doing your own thing. Matt and I went to Ginza to buy some gifts. We went to a restaurant that I love there called Center of the Bakery, which has sandwiches.

And if you buy the bread, you get to choose a toaster for your table. This was the site of Matt's favorite egg sandwich of the trip. Yes. It was so good. It was like we had a lot of fresh bread. Yep. This was, I think, the softest food I've ever had. It was so, like, you basically didn't even have to,

I could have gummed this sandwich down. It was like there was no chewing required, really. It was so soft. But the egg was just perfect, too. And then you get, they cut off the crusts and they give you the crusts like their fries in a little cup. And then you can take the little cup over to the toaster oven and put your crusts in the toaster oven and toast them up.

And take them back to your plate and eat them like fries. I loved that fun. Yeah, it was really great. That was really fun. Also, it was just like, it was just a cool, like the vibe of the restaurant was really, really cool. Very bread forward. My coaster from the Coke that I got was shaped like a little piece of bread. I love that.

Then we finished out Matt's side quest of finding the Game Boy Micro, which we talked about last week. Yes, got that. That was, like, one of the last things I got, and I was so excited about it. Yep. And so far, my. experience with the Game Boy Micro is that I pull it out of my pocket. I have it on me right now. Turn it on. Go through my Everdrive cartridge, my Game Boy Advance cartridge, pick a game, turn it on and be like, I got to, I got to go to. I don't have time to start sort of manna right now.

I would love to start sort of manna. But I will, it's just on my person at all time. It's a gorgeous piece of hardware. It's really great. And I'm really glad you got that. I'm really glad you got the Game Gear Micro. and also that Heather got me a gift I was not expecting that she gave me in the hotel lobby and I was so moved. It was the closest I came to tears on the whole trip. Heather got me a copy of Chrono Trigger

one of my favorite games of all time for Super Famicom. I was like, this is unbelievable. I know how much this costs in if for like just the American version. I was like this is what a fucking fine. You also were a little initially so, so emotional that you were a little mad because you went, I thought this was going to be a joke. You said you had a gift for me.

I was like, okay, Heather's got a funny bit. And then she gets me like the most thoughtful, sincere gift. We didn't contemplate sourcing porno for you because you were so afraid. While Matt and I were walking around on final day, we're like, do we get him porno? Because he's so, he's fixated on trying to find it and it's literally fucking everywhere.

And I was like, I don't know if I want to buy him something that he will jack off. but you also got me a great gift that I wasn't I should have worn today it was a sweatshirt that on the on the front just said skateboard which is really pink sweatshirt really cool and then you turn it around there's a cat like on a skateboard wearing basically my outfit and there's a bunch of stray words that says like cat skateboard unglasses instead of sunglasses and it's It's really, really great. And it was the thing that my wife was the most jealous of when I got at home.

And I was like, you can't have it. It's mine. It's cool. That was a cool switcher. I'm glad you. I was like, this is Matt's vibe from top to bottom. It's been perfect. Even if you just said skateboard on the front, it would have been like, I would love this.

I was happy on that alone. I was like, that is really, really good. Extremely funny. So we went to the Tokyo airport. And I will say that I had my, coming back from visiting my brother and his family and barely making it a hotel checkout in time, I did take the train by myself for the first time, which was like,

I was like, we'd be taking the train a number of times and we all, you know, with the subway inside Kyoto and, and Tokyo and also the Shinkansen, which we mentioned. But I was like,

feeling confident enough where he's like, I know how to do this. And I have the, what's the card you had us get on our phone? Sika. I had the Sweka card. I know how to pay this thing. And, yeah,

it's, I don't know, felt cool. Yeah, I love the trains. I got to be on Heather's favorite train with Heather the green line which is the Yamanote line

the Yamanote line and each stop has its own little song yeah which is they're perfect fucking good they're perfect little so like they're actually just like good they're not like you know in New York it's like the little like jingle that they played every

single one they're bespoke they're all unique so you know where you are auditorly which is really really great really awesome and it was It was cool to be on that train with you because I know you like it so much. I love that train.

There's also not just a puddle on the floor in the train. I was like, what's going on here? Yeah, there's no stray human shit or piss anywhere. Where's the guy conked out on fentanyl? Where's the fucking broken bottle? Where's the man youting? I'm going to shoot everybody in the face with a shotgun, which I experienced on a train once in L.A. I told you my train story where I was on a train with my brothers.

We were going from Long Beach to Hollywood Boulevard with my uncle. and this guy came over to us this older guy was like, do you guys want to see something cool? We said, yeah, not knowing that that's actually a scary question to answer with your children. He pulled his eye out and showed it to us. He had a glass eye. And we all still talk about it

because it was as cool as he described. We loved it. But it was very, very crazy. But the trains, yeah, the trains were great. The trains are amazing. And also, we were trying so hard to be the good tourists that, like, when we were sitting, as soon as people got on with like kids or an old person

the three of us would shoot up out of our chairs and like gesture to give our seats away. Yeah, yeah, it was great. And then it was also just like that. I did that in America once. I did it in L.A. I stood up for like a woman or kid or it was a pregnant woman in her kid

and this old guy says, they don't make them like that anymore. That's pretty good. That's really great. No, but yeah, it was just like, even just getting to the airport was great and then being at the airport there is so easy. Yeah. It somehow

wasn't crowded at all. No, yeah. I, like, I went up there, I wanted, they had, just like the places, you don't have to, like, sit down in like a Chili's tour or whatever the fuck, or rock and bruise. Yeah. You could just go up to like a stand, like essentially a Starbucks and you can just buy a glass of beer. Yeah. They just bought

a glass of beer and carried it over. It was like, I'm just sipping this. Like, whatever, this is great. I'm having fun. And the trippiest part was that they had, like, you know, when you're coming in, you're like checking your bags and stuff. They have this machine that you put the bag on a scale and it weighs it and it tells you it's fine the check basically

and then you have already put you put the tag on it yourself and then it takes it away and like underground and you just never see it again I was like pretty scared the whole flight that I fucked something up because I did put the sticker on like a bad way and I was like this is how I'm going to like lose all the shit that I bought that I was so excited about but everything came back

completely fine. It's a place where you feel like you can trust things to just work. Yeah. Which is the complete opposite of America where you feel like everything is bound to break and you're going to be punished for it. Heather, you did have an experience taking your bag there, which was that they told you it was overweight. Yeah, they told me it was overweight, right?

So I go and they're like, you can't check it in. And the clock's ticking. We got to get to our flight. We didn't have a ton of time. Right. This is that L.AX to be clear. Obviously, everybody knows that the travel in the United States has been sketchy. and the TSA is underfunded,

et cetera, et cetera. Ice is going to fix it. It's fine. ICE is going to fix it. So I had not yet seen security, and I was like, oh, my God. So I go back over to the other section. I pay for my overweight bag,

which was a staggering $400 fucking dollars. And I was like, oh, my God. But again, clock sticking, clock sticking, got to get into the security line, can't miss this flight. Go back over to the original counter where the guy told me the bag was overweight. And he says, you paid too much. And I went, there were no other options.

You said, I had to pay for 70 pounds and over. And he's like, no, it's 51 pounds. You were one pound over. And I was like, what do I do? And he's like, well, you got to go back and stand in that other line in order to talk to somebody and get a refund. I'm like, I don't have, I don't have time. You please just take it. And he's like, all right.

And like gave me an attitude about the attitude he had already given me. Yeah. Why didn't he just tell you it was one pound overweight to begin with? It was a nightmare. And on the way back, you know, same thing. My bag's one pound overweight. I go up to the guy and he's like, yeah, that'll be $10. And I was like, fucking God.

It was great. Yeah, leaving Japan, the last thing we encountered at SFO, we went from L.AX to SFO to Joe Asaq, as I mentioned earlier, was armed ice agents. Yeah. Asking to see our passports at the gate, which was like, this is a new hell. Well, this didn't used to exist, right? So like that was a last thing we experienced And the first thing we experienced arriving in Japan Is the best toilets we've ever sat on in our lives

Yeah the ice agents were hiding in the hallway Of the actual boarding Like it was you got through the gate with your with your you know Your passport bing and you go through You think you're in the clear You think you're in the clear and you walk into the like the tunnel The end that goes into the plane and hiding around the corner Are ice agents and they're like

Passports, passports, let's go. Come on. With fucking guns. My big takeaways were, you know, it took me too long to take a trip like this, but I'm really glad I did. And I'm getting very thankful to both of you for encouraging me. And I also just had such a great time with both of you. And I wish Ranch was there.

I know. We said a million times we were like, we needed to bring Ranch. We should have just brought Ranch. We should have figured out how to bring Ranch. Because doing the podcast without her is not the same. The same way, like, things completely changed once Devin was no longer with us. It's just like, it's the, the, the, the entertainment producers is like such a huge. huge part of the show, you know what I mean?

And so it was like weird to do it there with a different crew. And then also just like as far as hanging out and having stuff to talk about it, it would be really fun, but maybe someday in the future. Yeah. But, but you could have got sick from that guy. You could have got sick to the guy. I want to take it. But here's the main thing.

You could take a coffee to your room. You could. That's sort of the crazy thing. I haven't been, I haven't tried here. I don't know how it works. I know it in Japan, you could take a coffee to your room. Could take a copy of your room. Yeah.

I don't know what the rules. I don't know if it's against the law here. But I know there you could do it. We had a wonderful time. We've probably been talking for more than two hours now about it. Should we have our guest on this show? We have a special treat as a segment today. Back in 2019, as I mentioned, we started how this get played our ancestral show.

Matt Upidaka, you are our producer, not the third host. And our engineer was Devin Bryant, the great Devin Bryant. He has a new album as Pain Killer the Pigeon. and we're going to have Devin into talk about it. Hi, Devin. Hi, Devin. I will say, in talking with Devin before, I was explaining what we were going to be doing and, you know, gave an option to do this part before so that we can go on and on.

And Devin said, hey, I'm down to hang. I absolutely did say that. And I enjoyed it. You also, you very sweetly said, hey, I kind of want to hear about this trip. I literally said, I've been wanting to hear about this trip. Because I sort of, I experienced, I had no idea you're going to do this, right? So I saw it the other way, which is I saw just you guys hanging out with Kojima first. I'm like, the fuck is this?

And then a week later is the Super Mario stuff. I'm like, what is, okay, that is a confusing sequence. What is happening to this show? So I was very excited to hear about the whole trip. It's awesome. It was truly wild. And I guess if you're going to, you know, you've heard us talking for hundreds of hours anyway. I certainly have.

Yeah. But a nice throwback to have you in the room. Yeah. So you have a couple new albums. The one in 2026 is Civil Temperatures Zodiac B-Sides, which is a follow up to blame it on my Zodiac. I will explain. Yes, exactly. So this is the album I put out, all the cameras, hello, this is Blame It on My Zodiac.

This is the record I put out last, it came out in December. This is a double album. This is like the statement. This is like the thing I worked on for 18 months. I play every single thing on it. There's two covers on it, but they're telling the story. So, you know, it's like this is an auteured piece that I made that I poured absolutely every piece of intelligence and wit and skill that I have into it.

Everything I've gleaned making music over the last 20-something years. That's everything I felt about a best friend who died and various other things that are kind of falling by the wayside in our world. You know, people being nice to each other, that sort of thing. The social contract. This is a two-cd-set. It's a double album in the, like, by length. So, like, it's vinyl era double album, so it's 80 minutes. But I then in making that record,

made like 20 other songs that were good and that I liked. I had to make enough to get to that. You know, I had to kind of make enough songs to boil it down to where I was like, this is saying the statement that I needed to say.

But I liked so much of the other stuff that I ended up putting out civil temperatures, which is kind of all the B-sides that went along with that record. The reason I put this one on CD is because a couple of these songs started to get streamed more than some of the album tracks.

People really like a lot of these B-Sides. So I was like, I'll put them on a CD also. And this has kind of got its own fans, which is kind of awesome. That's great. So when you're making music and music, like, because I feel like I hear stuff like this, right? Yeah.

Where, like, people, like, there's, like, this mythic vault of unreleased print songs that has, like, thousands of songs in it or whatever. Definitely. So, like, when you're making an album, when you're constructing an album, is that, like, typically the case? You're just going to, you're going to always have, like,

more than you need, like, just, or, like, what's, like, how you piece it together? I remember reading, I think it was REM. Yes, it was Mike Mills in an interview, the bass player saying that for them, they had to write three times as much material as they needed for a record. So if you want it to be 12 songs, you got to write whatever, 36 or whatever. So they're like, you have to get that many more so that you can throw away all the ones that were kind of good.

So that you know for a fact that the 12 that you're left with are literally the best things that you wrote that year. It's the best you could do. So I've kind of, I don't want to say I always work that way. I'm not a person who starts out with lyrics and then goes, here's my beautiful poem now to write some music to it. I come at it by almost like a sculpture, you know, where it's one, sound suggests what goes with it and then I just follow that down the path. Yeah. So I just have to kind of do that enough times to where I end up with things that really do go together. Um, but yeah, with this

record, it ended up getting to the point where I could actually hear what was missing from it. Right. The first time where I was like, this side needs to end with a slow song or it needs to have a this to pick up the start of the next side side. And it's the first time I've ever really written to order in that way where I've gone, I need a down song at the end of side two, you know, and I need a really up song. And I need a very long one and a short one and a noisy one and a really pretty one so that there's enough variety on it, you know? So yeah, it was a, it's a different kind of process making it than anything I've ever done before. I guess then in relation to you making the bespoke themes on our show, what was there like, did you have like a specific process or a workflow that you would like implement when you

were making those? Oh yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, I did it today. Oh, yeah, that's right. I did the first one in three and a half years and it was, I remembered exactly how I, you know, I remember exactly how I I did it. Yeah. It's always the same way, which is you find the one piece of music you're going to anchor on. And that usually requires me listening to a lot of the original soundtrack for most of these games, which I love. I'm not a gamer. I'm not a gamer, but I love video game music, and I always have, you know.

I was happy that I pointed you towards Pocopia because the music in that game is really good. Oh, God, it's so good. When is it coming to Alarmo? You need to, there's alarm. I wanted on Alarmo so badly. So Devin knows Alarmo is a clock toy that has. Heather has that Alarmo.

Nintendo. It's by Nintendo and it has like a little screen and it plays Nintendo music to wake you up or put you to sleep. There's a user base of one person, Heather N. Campbell. Well, at night they'll play like a

night song from one of the games that you've selected. So my nighttime song is from Animal Crossing. It's like the nighttime or the museum theme. I'm not sure. And it's great. But they also update it. So they bring out new songs to the Alarmo.

Yeah, they just add Mario Wonder stuff to it. Yeah, I want fucking polcopia on that fucking clock. That's so freaking cool. I'm sure it's only a matter of time. You mentioned your fondness for video game music. Were there any soundtracks that you either encountered when we were doing the show together or that you have just like known historically and enjoyed that you found particularly

engaging for whatever reason? Well, I mean like my era of actually playing games is like 80s 90s. Sure. So, you know, I kind of stop, I guess, at like the N64. is like the last system I ever personally owned. It's a good system. I think we're good. I think we're good with video games.

They think sort of having all figured out by then. I think they kind of did. But so I don't know. All my favorites were kind of like Mega Man 2 is like the most incredible soundtrack of all time. Fantastic soundtrack. Great score. Good answer.

I played, I got to the point where I could just beat Mega Man 2. You know, when I was like eight like, I'm just going to go beat Mega Man 2. Like I got to that point and it was like, do do do do it. And it's just to get through all the music and just like doing all the stuff. I was like, I enjoyed it. Such an incredible feeling when you, yeah, Metroid. Metroid's amazing. Such an incredible feeling, especially as a kid.

Yeah. When you have that muscle memory and just get the flow state. I just know how to beat this game consistently. Bons Adventure, I could do in under like 45 minutes. I could beat that. Like, I was so good at Bons Adventure. Bons Adventure for the TurboGraphic 16 and is the PC engine overseas. The Turbographic 16.

I was like the last, I bought that when I was like 12. I loved that system. I swapped, I think I gave away my Nintendo to somebody for their TurboGraphics 16. Kind of a weird swap, but I sort of am glad I had it. There was really weird games for the Turbo Graphics. It was awesome. There really were.

I was fascinated by it and I was fixated on it as a kid who was not allowed to have one because we already had a console in the home and we're going to have more than one console. Totally. But it was like a, like I just like the little cards that the games came on, which obviously like it's just like switch cards these days. But like back in the day it was like we're used to these big chunky carts and they These little dits. It's so cool.

What was the silent debuggers was the game that I was obsessed with. If anyone has ever heard of that game or remembers it. Never heard of it. It was a turbographics game where you're on a space station. And I think you, like the beginning you arrive and you don't know what's going on and there's some invisible creatures. And it was a game that you had to play with headphones on because you can hear them coming. Like you can echo locate where they're coming from, like behind you or in front of you or something, which was awesome.

But you get up to the top of it and then you set a self-destruct and I think have to get back out. So it's like a timed game with invisible monsters trying to kill you and you have to like work your way up and then back down and I love a up and back down It's like my favorite thing in the world one Terbographics game that like you know when I finally got to experience them later in life on emulators And that I like I enjoyed quite a bit was devil's crush pinball which was Yeah and it was like a it was basically like a pinball sim but it was it could only have been a video game right where it was just like there were like characters walking around that you could like hit with with the ball or whatever. It was like really cool. Yeah.

That's really cool. Great sort of a satanic aesthetic too. Yes. Oh, that's good. You, um... Titanic pinball. Uh, he... I actually don't approve of that.

I actually don't think that's okay. Okay, fair enough. The devil shouldn't get to play games. He challenged me to a, uh... He said if I beat him in a fiddle contest. Oh, Nick. Was that down in Georgia? It was down in Georgia.

No, you can't do that. Oh, man. There's no way you can win. I know, he stole my soul When you were When you would make the themes Was there, do you have a particular memory Of any of them giving you like

A particularly hard time? You're like, I actually don't know like How to crack this one. Wow. I'll tell you it's interesting because Well, I don't know. You well, I don't know You can tell me if you don't want to say this

But initially you guys were going to be talking Silent Hill Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're doing it in the DLC Yeah, I understood. But I went back to because I was like I think I did it because I know the new

movies based on Silent Hill 2, right? So I was like, I think I did a Silent Hill 2 theme because I think you guys did that one. Yeah. So I went back to it and I listened to it and I was like, yeah, the hardest ones were ones where it's just abstract, where it's just tones. Because like how am I supposed to do with that? You know, it's so not, there's nothing for me to like hook onto.

So I just had to kind of like any one of those, I'm like, this is just going to be a pretty one, I guess, you know? And, and it, you know, or a scary one. Yeah. Which I did a couple that were just like creepy tones. But it's not very satisfying. Right. It's not quite the same as like Super Mario 2.

Right. Or you can really put, you know, or anything like that. Yeah. Anyone listening is going to, like, who is familiar with the game is going to understand what you're referencing or like Metal Gear or anything like that. I felt like the most excited I would get would be handing you something like disco elisium. Oh yeah.

And being like, here you could go off, King. Oh, yeah. Let him cook. Well, that's the other thing too. The more modern games, like actually, Pocopia is one that I didn't use too much like chipset stuff because it's a modern game. And that nobody, it doesn't. really sound like that anymore. Everything sounds pretty much like, like,

mostly real instruments. It's interesting how that works. Like, when you listen to the Pocopia's stuff, like, critically, it's not like their acoustic instruments. But they sound so, they do sound more real. I don't know, it's strange what they've kind of landed on, but I like that vibe, especially for a Pokemon. It's amazing. It's like they've created a language of what a video game sounds like, but now they're capable of synthesizing all the way up until the point of like indistinguishing but they can't go all the way there so they pull it back to being like slightly video gaming that's it exactly it's it's hard to describe the way in which it feels

uncanny but like it's so but it's still an acoustic guitar yeah you know and obviously there are games that use like just studio recorded music or full orchestras or whatever can we take a step back to painkiller the pigeon sure and like please tell us about uh the the band tell us about your work behind it. And then I'm just curious, like, for someone who's maybe would be new to your catalog, as imagine some of our listenership would be, what were kind of your primary influences as a musician? Yes.

Well, okay, so I've been making songs under this moniker since 2003, so a very long time. Wow. However, I didn't really start putting any of them out officially until about 2020 because I was always in other bands. I was always in other bands and Painkiller was always my thing for myself and I would use it as like these records that I say exist

I've got 10 unreleased albums and that's what I'm currently working on is that's a problem that should not that's a problem that has got to be fixed so I've just finished the first three like rejuvenating them and set them off to mastering so I'm really pleased

about that but I always intended them to be less like it was like a business card almost like I want to produce your band here's songs that I've made I'm in bands with these people They were playing their songs Here's the stuff I do

And they're like oh these are good We should do this, that or this Or that I like what you did here We should steal that for this other song It's like proof of concept Diary Therapy Therapy like sketchbook You know

That's always what it was for But it comes to a certain point When you kind of realize It is your life's work It's like the main thing That is only mine that I've written That I've made That is totally my own thing

And I like it And it is good I'm like certain that it's good. Whether or not anyone likes it is a different matter. But it is well made. You're satisfied with the product. 100%. It's like it's it's,

it's substantial. It's had work put into it. I know that the due diligence has been done. It's not under my control whether people like it or not. It's not even anything that I worry about. I can't be. I just have to make it for itself and dial it into where it's at. So yeah, it's kind of, I've got three of these albums out now.

And in terms of what it sounds like, The ones from the Chicago past, the 2004 through six records that I'm working on are really, you know, indie rock of that time. A little bit, I would have been listening to Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand and Sondra Lurkey and all these kinds of people, you know, and the Fratellis, you know, this kind of stuff. We all like, we like a lot of the same stuff. I know, right? That was one of my favorite parts of working in the office with you. We'd be like, oh, yeah, like, I remember there was a day we were like, actually, Franz Ferdinand. And we were like, yeah, absolutely.

The self-titled France Ferdinand record is a monster. It's perfect. My first exposure to France Ferdinand was anime. Oh, really? Yes, that's right. Because it's used as, I think the show is called Paradise Kiss. It's the opening theme to like a mid-2010. Like Take Me Out is?

Yeah. Oh, no, no, no. Maybe it's not Take Me Out. I don't remember which song it was. But I was like, oh, wow, this band's in English. And then looked them up and it's like, oh, they're, a big band. They're like a major band. And this was just my only entry

into their music. They're great. That's so cool. I think naming themselves after the assassinated Archduke was in poor taste. I think that's about as bad as the devil playing games. Yeah, I agree. Shouldn't do it. But on this one I actually have a recommended listening. Oh, that's awesome. Great. In answer to your

question. This record, Blame it on my Zodiac, is really like kind of 60s and 70s inspired. That's what I was listening to at the time. And so like the recommend listening here is like you're going to want to listen to some ccr. Okay. People understand the Creedons Clearwater Revival are a good band. People do not understand that they are the best American rock band.

The grooves are insane. Whatever. Anyway, CCR, BGs. Especially if you're making a soundtrack for a Vietnam movie. You want some CCR on there. But see, this is my point. That's all anyone pictures is fortunate son. And I'm like, okay, but like the under, like sinister purpose covered on this record by your boy.

Sinister purpose is a jam. I'm weirdly familiar with Creedon's Clearwater Revival, not because I got into them as much, but because my dad was a big fan and was always playing the records. I was like, oh, can be it? Early BGs, 60s, BGs. That's huge. Before they went disco when they were sad, when they wrote songs about shipwrecks, that's good stuff. Harry Nilsson, XTC, King Crimson, Bonzo Dog Band, the Kinks, Kate Bush, Scott Walker,

Joni Mitchell, the Go-Betweens. This is what I'm listening to. This is where I'm coming from. That's awesome. Not that I should be so audacious as to make a music recommendation to you. Please do. Because God forbid that somebody came on this show. But no, we like hearing what video.

Never mind. I'm just going to stop censoring myself. I've been recently listening to, I don't know if you have Apple Music or Spotify, I have Apple Music. Japan hits of the 1970s is its own playlist. Oh. And it's like getting to hear new 70s music. Oh, yeah.

And it fucking rules. That's awesome. And it's like it is both sometimes a familiar vibe, but then also is sometimes a new vibe. Yeah. But it's all old. That's so cool. It's really, really good. It's a great playlist.

Highly recommend. That's amazing. Again brings me back to the Adam Hart Mother, the bar in Golden Guy and Heather just rattling off a list of Japanese bands to increasingly impressed locals was just really something to see. And I was trying to. I was scared. I look, I'm trying to insert. your own power. I'm trying to insert myself in there.

I'm naming like Japanese jazz artists and they're just like, okay, whatever. That's so funny. I'm like, do you like Weezer? That's so cool. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, I think it's, it's rad that you're, that you're doing this. I mean, I'm really excited. I haven't not listened to civil temperatures yet when it came out in March of this year.

I'm excited to give it a listen. But it's, it's really awesome what you're doing. Can you talk about civil temperatures, like specifically a little bit? Like, you talk about being B-Sides of. of Blame it on the Zodiac. Blame it on my Zodiac, but I know that's part of the title, but like,

like how does it differentiate itself from the album, the previous album beyond that? It is different, yeah. Blame it on my Zodiac is much more of, I mean, like I say, I kind of call it sadder candy. It's not,

I guess I'm making it sound more depressing than it is. There's lots of jokes on the record. I can't write songs without my kind of jokes. They're all over the place. And Sonic jokes as well, but, but it's a record that was dealing with actual trauma and like my best friend died,

you know? And I, like, took me five or six years to really kind of put it into here. And it's not only about that, but that's what inspired it and started me down the road. Civil temperatures, on the other hand, it's just fun. This is just a kind of a fun collection of songs. These are all the songs that didn't really suit the story exactly, that were just things I enjoyed writing around then. Or sort of similar.

There's kind of more, there's a lot more covers on here. There's, yeah, what am I looking at? Billy Joel, Harry Nilsen, the Ramones, Tom Lehrer, and Juliana Hatfield in Cheap Trick together, as they always should have been. Hell yes. In one place. as well as all the songs that didn't make this record and were on EPs that were kind of available. So I don't know, it's kind of,

I was thinking of Hatful of Hollow, the Smith's record that's kind of all the B-Sides and Peel sessions kind of turned into a sequence that plays like a record. And I kind of thought I wanted to do something like that. I wanted to see if I could take those bits and resequence them in a way that play does its own thing from front to back and was fun and was a little lighter. And it is.

I think that's what I achieved. I'm not sure if you're a Carly Rage-Epson fan. Oh, but yeah. But yeah, like exactly. She, yeah, she did an album and followed it up with the B-Sides of that album. And she did it a couple times. Yeah, they're both really fun. Absolutely.

That's, that was certainly in my mind, yeah, with emotion in particular. Yeah, emotion. Yeah, the emotion of the B-sides is rad and like, so good. I'm, I love it. I also don't really like listen to all that much pop music beyond like, you know, maybe some 80s pop. And so, but like something about Carly Ray Jepson, I was like, this is fucking, these are bangers. I completely agree. She rules.

Yeah. She and Robin are kind of my favorite. kind of dance vein. And that's the next thing I'm working on is like a dance record. Right. Which is very different to all these, but I've been accumulating beats and pieces

for that for the last kind of like six months and just sticking them off to the side while I finish kind of my old remixes. So as soon as I'm ready to get back to that, it is going to be sort of Robin Madonna time. That's where I'm heading next. That's right. Yeah.

So which of the 10 albums are you going to cover next? I know, right? I'm trying to have, like I say, three are out being mastered now, and I think they'll be streaming by the summer. That's my goal. Wow. It's amazing. Yeah, my first three albums, A Harmless Buzzing, crashing the creepseed, and the quipsolebs will be out at some point. Wow. And you have a bandcamp. It's painkillerthepidgin.com. Yes. Please go to painkillerthepep.com.

They do the bandcamp Fridays, kind of every two months these days where everyone who's selling stuff there, the band camp don't take any cut, so everything goes to the creators. I would love it if you'd buy stuff then or any other time or buy stuff from other people. I would really like it if people could wean themselves away from Spotify, not to get on. a soapbox. Yeah. It's not cool. It's not cool. It's not cool. All the AI like military funding that they're doing by stealing money from songwriters is kind of bullshit. So people wanted to get onto like the band camp train. It has its own streaming app. And if you buy stuff on there, it's still yours.

And you can stream from there all the time. So I don't know. I'm going to a concert tomorrow of an artist that I discovered through TikTok and then exclusively listen to on band camp. Hell yeah. Who? His name is Victor Jones. I fucking love him. He's from New York. Cool. But also, when you subscribe to an artist on band camp, you'll also get exclusive stuff. Yes.

Like singles that may or may not ever be released on streaming in larger formats. You'll get messages from the band or from the artist. It's often where all of their merch is also. It's a great system. It's an awesome ecosystem. Also, listen to Victor Jones. He's great. I'm a band camp user and myself.

And I, like, a lot of game, I'm sure a lot of our listeners have been camped just for video game soundtracks. I was going to say, it's kind of popular on the, yeah, yeah. Exactly. And especially if there's like an album or a soundtrack for an indie game that I really like. It's like the best way to directly support that component. Exactly. Exactly. Unless you're listening to the Nintendo music app.

The most baffling piece of technology that exists. An app that you can only have with an active subscription to the Nintendo Switch. And it's a separate app from the Nintendo Switch online app. Somehow makes less sense than the talking flower itself. Devin, I know some of our listeners are certainly like wondering what you're up to in the podcast space. Could you listen to update on that? Yeah. I guess the main show I'm working on these days is Pally and Gabris's show staying alive.

That's them talking about being best friends, being middle age, trying to, you know, offset some of the partying that they've done in the past and trying to, you know, kind of bolster the brain in the body. for the decades to come. I really like working on that show. It's really fun. I just spent the weekend with Gay Brace. That partying is not in the past. I know. I know.

Well, yes, exactly. I know. We have a meeting on Wednesday to set goals for season two. Literally. Yeah, but I'm working on that. I don't work on it as directly, but for the last couple years I was working on bad dates with Joel Kim Booster.

which is great. I love Joel. He's just hilarious. Hell yeah. And we've got a couple new shows coming, but I don't know if I'm able to really talk about them exactly. Hey, that's great. We have, like, one that I'm really excited about,

but I don't know if it'll be real for, like, a week or two. So we'll find out. It's a show where three idiots play bad video games. Okay, now this is funny. I texted Matt this, like last year. This is great. So at my company, this isn't happening anymore. But last year, they were kind of like,

oh, we're thinking about doing a show about video games. So I was like, okay. And they're like, we thought we might cover, you know, kind of like bad or weird video games. I'm like, yes, okay, great. And they're like, we thought could cover games like maybe C-Man or, you know, like, and they just, like, we could maybe start with Sonico's, you know, like, it's 06, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They like, listed the first 10 episodes that played. And as they're in the middle of saying this, I'm unbuttoning my dress shirt on Zoom.

And I'm just like, guys, I'm so pleased I get to be able to say this. I have been there and I did get the t-shirt. And I was wearing the how did this get played t-shirt after during this fucking meeting. It was just like, I have the shirt. I have done all those themes. I can't do them again. We've done that type of... Seaman theme?

It's not possible. That's so funny. We've done this type of podcast. What if we do a celebrity talking to another celebrity? Seriously. That's good. That was a great moment. Painkiller the Pigeon.

Blame it on my zodiac. Civil Temperatures, which is Zodiac B-Sides. Please please plug one more time and plug your bandcamp. Yes, absolutely. Pankiller the pigeon. bank camp.com. It is Blame it on my zodiac. This is sad ear candy. This is civil temperatures. It's a little bit more fun.

It's a little bit lighter. They're both labors of love, you know? It's as a person making this art completely on their own. And I, you know, I think that's cool. I think you should support not just me doing that, but anyone that you find who's like, this is my thing. I make it myself, you know?

It's so anti-AI. It's so anti- everything the way things are going. This is handmade and it's physical. That's the good stuff. Well, also, I feel like I do. I remember conversations when we used to work together, like, of just the idea of even having the energy to make something creative for yourself is, like, so non-existent sometimes. So, like, the fact that you're doing this and that you have three other things, like, in various stages of production is really, really cool.

So I hope you do feel that that you're proud of that, because it is amazing. And it's very cool that you did it. So thanks for coming in talking about it with us. I mean, it's just a pleasure. Thanks for having me. Oh, congrats, buddy. And so it's so great to have you back. Yeah.

And, hey, that's this week's play. Yeah, we miss you. We like ranch, though. Yeah, we like Rans. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. Rant understood it. Ranch don't listen to her.

That's this week skit played. Our producer is Rochelle Chen, Ranch. Twitch.tv.tv.com. You streamed anything lately, Ranch? I'm still working on Resident Evil Night. Wow. Check out that stream for more of that. Our music is by Ben Pronti.

Our regular theme, BenprintuMusikm,com. Our artist by Duck Brigade, design, duck brigade.com. We got merch at kinshipgoods.com. And there's a bonus episode every Wednesday on our Patreon. Get Played DLC. Matt, what's up this week? This week, we're going back, baby. We're going back because we got a letter

and it's reminiscent of our restless dreams. We're going back. We're returning to Silent Hill. We're watching the film return to Silent Hill. Fuck! That's over at patreon.com slash get played. And hey, Devin Bryant, once more, you got played. It was me. That was a HeadGum podcast.

Hi, I am Mandy Moore. Sterling K. Brown. And I'm Chris Sullivan. And we host the podcast, That Was Us, now on HeadGum. Each episode, we're going to go into a deep dive from our show, This Is Us. That's right. We're going to go episode by episode. We're also going to pepper in episodes with different guest stars and writers and casting directors.

Are we going to cry? Yes, a little bit. Often. A lot. A whole lot. That's what I'm hoping, man. Listen to That Was Us on your favorite podcast app or watch full video episodes on YouTube or Spotify. New episodes every Tuesday.