00:04 John Daub: I have just finished a wonderful trip on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. Let's go outside the Shinkansen. Awesome! What a trip I had. It was a really nice two-day trip out to a place called Sakudaira. And I took it on this pass. This is the Tokyo Wide Pass and I want to talk to you a little bit about this.

00:33 John Daub: There goes the Shinkansen leaving for... where? I think that might have been to Yamagata. And this is the one that I rode, the Hokuriku Shinkansen. This is the front of it here. And the nose of the Tohoku Shinkansen. Look at that. Is that the Akita one? I always get them confused, but the Hokuriku one is the one, the blue and the beige one. It's a beautiful Shinkansen.

01:08 John Daub: This pass gives me access to ride this. And I want to tell you a little bit about this pass because it's really cool. Look at the captain of the driver standing attentively on the other side over there. Now, the Tokyo Wide Pass is the only pass that I can use. I can't have the JR Rail Pass. It's not fair. It really isn't fair because you need to be a foreign resident who lives outside of Japan and actually shows the proof to the people at the ticket office when you go to get the ticket. You can't even deceive them now. They're really good at confirming it. I had friends who tried. I never did that.

01:56 John Daub: Anyways, this one I can get. Even foreign residents. All you need is a passport. So if you're like me living in Japan without a tourist visa, this is one of the passes you can get. It's so cool. Check it out. It's three days of consecutive travel in the Kanto area, which goes to Mt. Fuji. It's actually even further than that. Boom. There's the map right there. It goes all the way to Hoku-Ko Yuzawa, one of my favorite stations. It goes to Sakudaira on the left side. That's where I just came from. Down here at the bottom, that's Tokyo. And then Mt. Fuji is on the left bottom side. Look at that. It goes just about everywhere. It is a pretty unique pass to have. And it's only ¥10,000 or less than $100 depending on the exchange rate. ¥10,180. The price kind of went up with the tax change, I think.

03:13 John Daub: It has to be validated right there. And you have to tell them in advance what days you want. So if you're not sure and say, oh, I want to buy and validate it later, you can't do that. You have to get it validated right away.

03:30 John Daub: This Shinkansen will be opening again for... I think it's already going back to Kanazawa. That's crazy. This one just came in. The Tohoku Shinkansen. I went to Sakudaira on this pass. Going to Sakudaira and back round trip would cost me over ¥12,000. But with this pass, I saved ¥2,000. Boom! Savings. And I have all day tomorrow. If I wanted to go somewhere, I could explore tomorrow with this pass. And probably if I did a round trip to Utsunomiya, I could save another ¥8,000. So it pays really big. If you're thinking of going to Karuizawa or something, just round trip to Karuizawa on this pass, you save money. And it allows you to go in and out of JR stations in this area. It's so cool. It's powerful. And it's the only pass that I can use, which stinks. But hey, I'll take it. But if you know about this, then you start to change the way you travel and you always get one.

04:33 John Daub: They're available inside of Japan in Tokyo stations, Marunouchi side. I believe it's the north wing. There's an office in there. Everybody speaks English, so you don't have to speak Japanese. You can get it. Just bring your passport. Now, even though you're a resident of Japan and you have a foreigner residence card like I do, you still need your passport. And technically, with this pass, you need to have your passport with you at all times. Just some of the things that you have to know. That's very important.

05:21 John Daub: Everybody in Tokyo is now wearing a mask. I'm going to be putting my mask on. The reason I'm staying on the platform, I'm trying to avoid people. Which is impossible. It's impossible to avoid people. But almost everybody is wearing a mask now. So for those of you who are wondering about what's Tokyo like, it's pretty incredible. Everybody's got a mask. Except for me. Even that Michigan fan. How dare you. Go Bucks. Can't believe I said the name of that state.

05:57 John Daub: Anyways, that's some of the things that you should definitely be on the lookout. You don't always need the JR Rail Pass. That's the thing. There's a bunch of other passes. The JR Rail Pass opens up the Tokaido Shinkansen. This does not include the Tokaido Shinkansen. But if you're coming back to Japan or you just want to try the Shinkansen, this will allow you to do it for a pretty reasonable price. And it's the only pass that John can get. It's very famous like that. I love my Tokyo Wide Pass.

06:26 John Daub: Any questions? This might be the shortest. Somebody said short and sweet. Short and sweet. You can save a lot of money. I think with any rail pass in general, if you want to talk about Japan rail passes, they can pay off really big. Meaning if you are going to travel a lot and that's part of your game plan. Like Ren who's introduced us. He had a stack of JR Rail Passes like this big. He gets the most out of it. He travels every quarter of Japan. He knows how to price it where he comes out on top. They pay for themselves.

07:11 John Daub: Tokyo Wide Pass is a little bit under $100 with the exchange rate right now. It's 110 yen to a dollar. $93 for three days of consecutive travel in this area. Which is a pretty good deal. I don't need the Tokaido Shinkansen. I actually prefer the Tohoku line. I don't need to go that far from home. For me, this is perfect. If you're just coming into Tokyo for two, three days, this is perfect. Not only can you use the Shinkansen, and maybe take a day trip somewhere, you can use this pass in Tokyo for all of the transportation as well. So that means you can ride the Yamanote Line on this. You can ride the Chuo Line and all the other train lines that JR has. But not the subway, just so you know that. It opens up Japan Rail all over. Which is really cool. There's also Kyushu Passes, Hokkaido Passes, Kansai Passes. But this is the only one that I can use.

08:11 John Daub: I don't see any questions here. I put a link in the description for you to use if you want to take a look at exactly what the pass is. There is a Kansai Pass, as far as I know. Star Wraiths, I am at Sakudaira Station. What? I was just there! Please tell me if you're planning to go to... I'm not. I don't have any plans but going home right now. They all cost differently. Angel, Core, XX. This one is... I told you the price. The JR Rail Pass is like one week for $250 or roughly. And two weeks for roughly 40% more of that. And three weeks for roughly 30% more of that, I believe. So it's like $200, $400, $600. You can check JR for the prices. It's a bargain if that's the way you're going to be traveling by train. I've done it once. There was a time period where I was... I had a tourist visa and I used it. It was awesome. I can't do it anymore. There's even one for the Fuji area. It's an amazing array of passes that a lot of people don't even know exist.

09:27 John Daub: I'm starting to go into this direction. People are ducking because they think I'm filming that direction. So it's an amazing array of passes that you can get. Just check it out before you pick one. Because sometimes the simplest pass is all that you need. And a mask. I've got to put my mask on. I don't wear my mask because I'm staying away from people right now. And everybody else is wearing a mask. But I'll put mine on. The Shinkansen train was half empty that I was sitting in. And don't touch your mouth or your face. And I'll wear a mask as soon as I get out of here.

10:08 John Daub: For anyone who's wondering about the situation, things are... People are even more cautious as you can see. It's still hard to find them in the stores around. Kanae found... I think she found some alcohol. But we haven't been able to find masks yet. So I'll be able to get some of them maybe tomorrow or the next day. The secret is to get the masks is to go first thing in the morning. About 20 minutes before they open. And then when it opens, you get a chance. Get into the store and get one. And there goes that Shinkansen. Hokuriku Shinkansen is gone.

10:52 John Daub: I love the Shinkansen. I love all the trains in Japan. It's just such a fun experience. I do like driving as well. But you can be a fan of more than one mode of transportation. You can be a fan of a lot of modes of transportation. And I just like getting around. Because I have to. Check it out on the platform, man. Look at the ads for the new train. That is a killer. Look at the nose on her. Do you see that? Where can we go? It's like saying, where can't we go? Man. So we got a new JR train coming soon. You guys know about it?

11:44 John Daub: Alright, there's people this way. I feel locked in. I'm going this way. Another note since I'm here. Eki-ben (station bento) sell out around this time. So if you're thinking about getting an eki-ben, do it before like 4pm. Or 5pm. Because they don't restock them in the evening. It's usually something that you would eat for breakfast or lunch and not for dinner. So the best is to get your eki-ben in advance. They usually expire like around dinner time. So you want to take a look at the label.

12:17 John Daub: Here's the board of Tokyo Station. I wanted to do this livestream in Sakudaira. But I didn't get a chance to do it. The board's here, of course, on the platforms. You all know it. They're bilingual. They'll change to English in a second. 3, 2, 1, do it! 3, 2, 1, change! Do it! Change now! Change now to English! Oh, I can't! I never get this game! Do it now! Oh, there it did it! Okay. Hayabusa. The Niigata train. The one going to Sendai is pulling in right now. Here it comes. That was pretty cool.

13:14 John Daub: Alright, guys. I'm out of here. I'm going to get my mask on. Go back to see Kanae. I've got to eat dinner. She's making soup. And I brought her some gifts. Of course, I did not come empty-handed. So if you have any questions on the JR Tokyo Wide Pass, leave a question below. I wanted to do a stream specific to this because where I went to drink sake, I got there on this pass. And I think that if I didn't have this pass, I probably would have still gone. But it makes it a lot easier when you have the Tokyo Wide Pass. Have a good day. Have a good night, everybody. I'll be uploading the video that I took there tomorrow. But other than that, no live streams tomorrow. Probably be a premiere. I'll give you the last 10 seconds looking at this window. That could be you riding there. Why aren't you in Japan? Bye, everybody.