00:11:00 John Daub: Good evening everybody. I'm at Kitanomaru Park. Right there is Kudanshita Station on the Hanzomon and Toei Shinjuku lines. Hello everybody. Welcome to Hanami 2018. This is the cherry blossom season for 2018. This is really exciting. I'm walking now towards the area where the first cherry blossoms were reported in Tokyo last Sunday. What we can see here is that we are just about 40% open in this area, which is pretty exciting.

00:51:00 John Daub: I'm going to walk up towards the gate for Kitanomaru Park. This gate is a very famous cherry blossom gate at sunset. This is the viewing area, so we're going to share this together and take a look at the status. Where exactly are we with the cherry blossoms in the city of Tokyo? It looks pretty promising. It's quite dark down there, but you can see some of the trees down there by the moat. We're on the Imperial Palace moat. They have already started to blossom and it's really beautiful. So this weekend is going to be a pretty exciting place.

01:32:00 John Daub: This building in the middle right here is a very significant building for World War II. That's where the trials were held for the Imperial Army leaders. So it's kind of a big deal to be here. Other than that, we have cherry blossoms. In this area it's about 40% bloomed. We haven't reached full blossom yet but we're getting closer.

02:03:00 John Daub: Thank you Craig. I really could use the snack money. I've got this light here so we're going to be able to light up the cherry blossoms a little bit. Look at that. Make them come alive a little bit for you here. For those of you who are coming to visit Tokyo, you can see that we are very, very close to having the cherry blossoms opened up here in the city. Again, I'd say it's about 40% from what I see here. In another week, you're not going to be able to see the sky from this area where I'm standing right now. It's just going to be completely covered in white blossoms.

02:42:00 John Daub: As the sun sets and we continue this live stream for the next 10-15 minutes, it gets darker. I think we're going to see more of an impact, even though it's only about 35-40% bloomed here. Let's walk up to the gate, and then we're going to make our way back. It's pretty exciting. Can I call this an exclusive? There's nobody else here. It's just me. This is an exclusive Tokyo sakura exclusive, just for you all.

03:13:00 John Daub: This is another one of my favorites. I've been living in Tokyo now. This is my 20th year in Japan, but my 13th year living in Tokyo. After you've lived here for about a decade, you start to find spots that you really like. This is one of them. I'd say if there was one spot that was really a place that I have to go to every year, it's right here. I'm going to be doing a Facebook meetup with viewers of the Only in Japan series just right there. Across the street is Yasukuni Shrine. Peter von Gomm, who's joining us in the chat, and Jennifer will be meeting on the other side over there by Yasukuni Shrine, under the big torii.

04:01:00 John Daub: For now, we're going to just kind of check out the scene here. Here's another one of my favorite trees. Right there's the gate that I've tagged in the description, so you can make your way here yourself. This is the gate that leads to Kitanomaru Park and to the Budokan, which is one of the events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This tree I remember, because it's such a spooky looking tree. I love trees. This one is kind of a spooky looking tree because it's all twisted and it's got a lot of personality to it. It's been cut. There's been parts where the limbs have fallen off and they've cut it. It's been damaged in winds and stuff like this. But it has one arm, one limb, one branch that juts down towards the moat and it's really beautiful.

04:46:00 John Daub: They do light up this area. There's a couple of street lamps so you have this effect where in about 15 minutes the sky is just gonna be really really dark and these lights that are illuminating are gonna be the only thing making these white blossoms just come on fire. It's been a year since the hitchhiking trip and I have to say that it does bring back memories. Although you know in Japan if you're thinking about coming for the cherry blossoms, each area of Japan blooms at a different time. Kyushu is sometimes a little bit later believe it or not than Tokyo even though it's further down south. Tokyo has the warmer urban weather I guess so the blossoms will bloom just a little bit earlier than other places. There's the Budokan which is the location for the 2020 Olympics karate and judo events, which would be cool.

06:05:00 John Daub: I'm going to show you a couple more cherry blossom trees, then we're going to make our way over to Yasukuni Shrine, which is the location of the Only in Japan meetup on Monday. We're looking forward to seeing a lot of you. The event is already live on the Facebook page, so you can go over to the Only in Japan TV Facebook page and check out the event and join us if you're in the city for that time. The sun is just getting darker and you can see the torii where we're going to be meeting right there. Over there in the distance on the right side is the massive torii that's the entrance to Yasukuni Shrine. Now I'm going to take you there in a minute. I want to enjoy the cherry blossoms right here for just a second longer because as the sky gets darker, these really start to light up.

07:09:00 John Daub: I have a feeling that the cherry blossoms at Yasukuni Shrine over there across the street are just as impressive as the ones right here. They might even be opened up a little bit more because this area is just a little bit cooler than I think inside where the shrine is. Once again, this is Kitanomaru Park at Kudanshita Station. It's a really cool location in central Tokyo and we are about 35 to 40 percent bloomed for the cherry blossoms which is pretty incredible. That means this Sunday the hanami parties are going to start which is exciting. We're early in Tokyo because we've had unusually warm weather the last couple of weeks. It's been going in and out between cold and hot.

08:20:00 John Daub: The other thing that I like about this place, Kitanomaru Park, this moat here, is that on the weekends they have boats that you can rent and you can row the boats in the moat like right here. You can row the boats in the moat and you can row it underneath all the cherry blossoms. I think it's going to be the middle of next week or maybe the end of next week the blossoms will start to fall. When the blossoms fall, they fall into the moat and they just create this amazing white sea looking view that looks like something from a fantasy world. The moat that you see right now is just covered in white. I don't think you really fully appreciate it unless you're right here seeing it with your own eyes. Of course, we're about 10 to 12 days away from that happening because we're just starting to get the cherry blossoms to bloom right now.

09:32:00 John Daub: Here's another tree and there's a bridge right there that I'm going to take you over to go to Yasukuni Shrine. We are just getting warmed up in Tokyo when it comes to the cherry blossoms. This is just the appetizer for the next couple of weeks where we're going to get a lot of cherry blossoms. You're going to have cherry blossom overload. There's Kudanshita Station in the distance going towards Jimbocho.

10:26:00 John Daub: I think over the next couple of weeks, it's going to be more than just the flowers. What we're going to see is the events that go around the cherry blossoms. It's not just the blossoms themselves. We celebrate here in Japan the coming of spring but what is the most impactful things to people in Japan about the cherry blossoms is its beauty and how short the beauty of the cherry blossoms last. How short the blossoms are here today gone tomorrow. And it's sort of a microcosm of life. This is how the samurai thought of their lives going way back to the Edo Jidai. I've had this talk many times when they would reflect on the cherry blossoms and realize that they're only here for a moment and their lives are so short and we have to really appreciate the beauty of things while we have them in front of us.

11:33:00 John Daub: This is a nice view of Tokyo from up here. Right in the middle of the screen in the distance, there's a beautiful view of the Tokyo Skytree. You can see the LED lights doing a Knight Rider kit action on the two decks. Skytree's up there, 634 meters up I believe. Highest standing tower in the world. It's not a building, it's a tower so it qualifies. We're now making our way down into Yasukuni Shrine. This is where we're going to be meeting on Monday.

12:26:00 John Daub: Here's the sign for it. This is the Heisei 30nen. This is the 30th Chiyoda no Sakura Matsuri. It's lit up between the 24th and April 8th until 6 to 10pm. So, it's not illuminated yet. In fact, the day that we're here on Monday, it's not illuminated yet either. Which is making me double think doing this event on the 23rd. And maybe we should do it on the 24th. Here is one of the most impressive views of the city of Tokyo. That's the torii at Yasukuni Shrine. This is the entrance from Kudanshita. It's a really massive torii. It's very impressive. You can actually go inside of it, I believe. Not a lot of people know that, including locals, I think.

13:30:00 John Daub: You can hear the wind rustling through the trees. That's a good sign because that means that spring's here. And the leaves are coming back. And even if you miss the cherry blossoms in the beginning of April and the end of March, you still get to see that fresh green color on all the trees here. Which is really, really beautiful. That light in the center is the Docomo Tower in Shinjuku. We're not that far away from Shinjuku. This is the main walkway, but the cherry blossoms are on the left and the right. So far, the festival hasn't started yet. But you're gonna see next week a lot of snack booths and festival booths lining the left and rights of this. So there's gonna be a ton of food and a ton of people.

15:17:00 John Daub: They've already put the signs up. Right now it says here, drinking has been prohibited. I'm guessing those are two mugs of beer. No speakers and loud music. And no drones. That makes sense. I think this might be suspended because I've always had a drink at Yasukuni during the cherry blossoms. See how beautiful the cherry blossoms are. And there's the torii right above us. It's very ominous looking. It's really beautiful.

16:29:00 John Daub: Once again, every year, Yasukuni is the first location in Tokyo where the blossoms have begun to bloom. And right now we're starting to see that for real. This tree is more like 80% bloomed. Believe it or not. If you look up there, all you see are blossoms. It's pretty impressive in here. It's just warmer. It's just a few degrees warmer. The celebration should probably start on Monday. We're doing a meet up here on Monday. I have to rethink this now. Anyways, the event information is on the Facebook page. If there is an update to it or a change of schedule, we will post there.

17:25:00 John Daub: I'm going to make my way up a little bit more. And then we're going to end this live stream. Just giving you a taste of what's going to be coming over the next couple of weeks. There really isn't anybody here. I thought there would be more cherry blossom passion. But we're going to have to take what we can get. They are doing some construction here. So Yasukuni might not be the best place to come for the cherry blossoms this year. There's a lot of construction. This is where a lot of the cherry blossom viewing was done. I didn't know about this. I'm glad I was scouting this out.

18:19:00 John Daub: There's Yasukuni Shrine on the left side. That's the actual shrine where you can go and pray. There's another torii. And there's a lot of construction. Why now? This is the holiday season. Can you believe it? So there's a chance this year that Yasukuni might not be the place to go. For the meet up on Monday, I'm going to change the location and put it across the street at Kitanomaru. Which is still a pretty nice place. So bring your own drinks and see you on Monday. And I'm going to walk back to Kitanomaru and call it a night.

19:14:00 John Daub: It's been interesting to come out here and see how close we are. But that tree that I showed you is pretty darn close to 100%. That's impressive. That's early. Tokyo in general, in Honshu, is the first place where the cherry blossoms will bloom. It just is because it's the warmest place. Osaka is very close behind it. But the cities, I believe, have just warmer temperatures. And Tokyo is pretty moderate in weather. It is a big, big torii. I'd say it's about 20 meters high, maybe. It's bigger than the one in Meiji Shrine, which is near Harajuku. This one is just massive in scale. And makes this a really significant shrine in the city of Tokyo and in Japan.

20:40:00 John Daub: Yasukuni might not be on this year. Although it says there that they light up the trees, it's just a little bit of a disappointment. It's not quite there yet. And now that the sun has set on the city of Tokyo, there's going to be some really impressive places to go. That in the distance is Jimbocho. And that's pretty much the center. Pretty much right now, I am in the center of Tokyo. Because this is where the Imperial Palace is located.

21:19:00 John Daub: I'm just surprised there's not more people. That's the funny thing with Japan is that there's a specific season for everything. Meaning, in the summer, this might not make a lot of sense to us, including me, but it does to people in Japan. Even though the summer beach season is from July 1st to August 31st. And September 1st hits. It could be even hotter on September 1st than it was on August 10th. The beach is closed, pretty much. All the services have ended and that's Japan. Everything starts on a day and ends on a day. That means that the Cherry Blossom Festival starts on the 24th this year. Apparently, most of the sites are saying the 24th. So, it's going to be on the 24th.

22:16:00 John Daub: I'm going to leave you here. This is a beautiful place to end the livestream of the city of Tokyo at night. It's very lively right now. People are getting off of work. And they're not really interested in Kitanomaru Park. That's where we started the stream. Some people are taking pictures with flashes down there. But in about a week, it's going to be a completely different story. And these livestreams are going to be a lot more fun. I guarantee it. So, see you everybody. Have a good day or night, wherever you are.