00:00:02 John Daub: Hey, everybody. Greetings to Tokyo. Welcome to another update on if you should travel to Japan. I'm going to try to answer as many of your questions, give you some updates. This is not a rundown on the entire situation, but more of an update and answer. A lot of so many people are very concerned, have trips that are coming up to Japan over the next two weeks. Some people are coming tomorrow, some people are coming over the next different cherry blossom seasons.

00:00:34 John Daub: And I'm going to do my best to answer some of the questions. I've reached out to JNTO, the Japanese national tourist Organization, to try to get as much information from their point of view, their side, as well as other medical professionals and other people that are walking around. I've been talking to them to find out if they're afraid of what's happening. And the answer is that everybody's really concerned, everybody watches the news and I want you as a traveler coming here.

00:01:07 John Daub: A lot of you are coming here because you've watched Only in Japan, you've watched this show and you have fallen in love with Japan. And nothing makes me happier. But this is also a time where I want you to reflect on your own personal safety and that of your families and make an educated decision on whether or not this is the right time. I'm in front of Tokyo in Marunouchi in Tokyo Station right now, and I bring you on locations for a specific reason.

00:01:39 John Daub: I want you to get a feel of what it's like right now on February 27, 2020, and the foot traffic is noticeably less. This is the central business district called Marunouchi. This is Tokyo Station, the old side of it, built in 1913, I believe. It's beautiful. It was just renovated a few years ago. There's the countdown to the 2020 Olympics. And I'm going to give you an update as well on this, the official response so far. So stick with me for, I don't know, maybe about 30 minutes.

00:02:12 John Daub: And at the end of it, I'm going to be taking your questions live. So I have some already from our Patreon supporters and I want to answer the things that might be on your mind as well. So stick until the end and I'll do a more thorough question and answer. But let me get through some of the things that— it is a beautiful station. This is live. If you're watching this in playback, you're going to get a chance to take a look at the live chat that's going on here.

00:02:47 John Daub: We do have moderators to make sure that everything is friendly in there. So I wrote everything out. I want to try to stay factual as much as possible. And this is just a no brainer here. The first question is, should you cancel your trip? I've gotten, I don't know, I'd say close to 10,000 messages. There's no way I can answer them all. About 10,000 messages from viewers over the last month in the month of February and it's increasing and I just cannot simply keep up to it.

00:03:21 John Daub: So I do apologize in advance. I really want to answer your questions, especially if you're traveling very soon. So let me see if I could do this in this video here. If your trip is refundable and you're coming right now, there's just too much mystery involved with this that I think that it might be a good idea. I'm not going to say a definitive yes or no, but I think it is a good idea for you to consider not coming at this time. I just don't know how this is going to be spreading over the next two weeks, let alone the next two months.

00:03:59 John Daub: And it's very hard to get definitive information because it just does not exist yet. So we don't know if this is going to get worse. We don't know what it's going to be like. So if your trip is refundable, highly consider canceling. That's the responsible thing to say. But it doesn't mean that you should because this is a level two according to the World Health Organization, and for those of you that have non refundable trips, which is a lot of people, no, because it's only a level two.

00:04:32 John Daub: And the reality is right now there's about 150 and 175 people who are infected right here. If you discount the ship where people are quarantined, that's a whole nother discussion. I don't want to get into it, but the population of Japan is 130 million. So I want to keep it real as well. And I want you also to realize that Japan has now made it—I don't know if you're going to be visiting—a lot of the attractions might not be open when you are here.

00:05:02 John Daub: Some of the big attractions that have closed down are the Ghibli Museum. And that makes me sad because I love Ghibli movies. If you're coming here for that and you had tickets, it has been cancelled and I believe they're refunding you for the tickets. Sanrio Puroland if you like Hello Kitty, you're not going to get a chance to go to the Sanrio Puroland right now. I believe that other amusement parks—and I'm not going to name them, you know who they are—are probably going to be suspending operations or seriously limiting them because they simply— the government, Prime Minister Abe yesterday announced that he would like to see more of the—I would like to see events and gatherings canceled for the next two weeks at least just to try to minimize the impact.

00:05:33 John Daub: Right behind me—right behind you, I should say—is the Shin-Maru building. And it was just recently that they found that someone was infected and they're at a gathering. It's been disinfected. I mean, it doesn't exist anymore. The staff does a pretty good job of cleaning in every office building right now. But it's really impacted central Tokyo more so just out of the concern and the fears. As more and more cases hit the news, more and more people are just staying off the streets, including me. I'm not wearing a mask because I come by bicycle. I try to stay away from people. I'm not riding on public transportation. It's just not worth the risk.

00:06:39 John Daub: And if you are coming to Japan, there are some things that you really should consider. I'm going to go over that. But again, if it's non refundable and you're leaving tomorrow, I think you should be concerned, but consider the facts and make an informed decision on your own. I think that that's a decision that you have to make. Some of the concerns are real.

00:07:11 John Daub: Alright. The reason why I ride a bicycle and I take extra precautions is because my wife has asthma and if she were to get it, she would be at a higher risk of being hurt by it than myself, I believe, because we just don't know a lot of information by it. Let me see if I can get out here into the sun. It's kind of a windy day today, but very spring-like. It's so warm in Tokyo, which is so unusual for February. Right.

00:07:43 John Daub: But I'm going to try to get out here into the sun. If you do come to Japan, things that you should be concerned about is if your medical insurance or if your travel insurance covers this. This is something that we've been discussing in our chat group on Discord. Please make sure before you leave of certain things like this. Make sure that your insurance does cover it. If you do catch it, just take precautions. And if you do, maybe you have to pay a little bit more. I'm not sure.

00:08:14 John Daub: But right now we're at a WHO level two and that's not nothing. The US Government has also put a travel warning on it—I think non-essential travel and things like this. Please be concerned. Will you get your money refunded? These are all questions I receive. Will I get my money refunded from the airlines? I don't know. I don't work for the airlines. But I'll tell you, unless it's a level three, according to people that we've been talking to, you're probably not going to get your money refunded.

00:08:48 John Daub: So I want you to highly consider this. A lot of people have been planning the trips for years. Some of them have been planning to come in 2020 for the Olympics as well. And yeah, you know, I know how you feel. I'll tell you this: I'm not leaving, okay? I'm not going back to the United States or going to Iceland or somewhere to escape this. I'm staying right here in Tokyo just like I did after the 2011 tsunami and earthquake. Despite all of the dangers and the uncertainty, I stayed here. And I'll be one of the people that stays here through this as well. And I'll be with you giving you updates until the end from here on the ground. Okay?

00:09:20 John Daub: I'm not going to go inside my apartment and show it to you unless it's—that bad. But the reason why I'm out here is that it's not that bad. Some of the concerns that if you do come, you should consider: according to the people who we've been talking to, being stranded in Japan is something that some people have been worried about. What happens if flights are canceled? That is something that you should consider. Let's go inside the station here.

00:09:50 John Daub: If you do have to get to work and you can't miss a day of work, you might miss it anyways because of the—this all over the world becoming a pandemic and work from home, which means you could probably work from Japan if you have an internet connection. But being stranded here is something that you should think about. Where flights are canceled—already there are some flights being canceled from Japan because of the increases here. Being quarantined when you come home is something that you should also be worried about. The situation is very fluid. It can change quite quickly and spiral out of control. We just do not know at this time. So I want you to keep that in mind.

00:10:52 John Daub: And one of the biggest ones—and this is my biggest one here—as well as a friend of mine who was just here and left infecting other people. If you do go home and you're here for a couple of weeks and it does spiral out of control, if you do go home, there's a chance that you can infect loved ones too. And I really don't think that that's worth it. That's why I'm riding my bicycle and trying to reduce any kind of risk as possible. I'm not wearing a mask because I'm not riding public transportation or going into an area that's crowded. I'm staying at least five meters away from people. See, look, I'm staying away. And that's the right thing to do.

00:11:58 John Daub: The masks are very helpful, and I'm going to go over this a little bit later, but I want to talk about masks too, because this is a big concern. If you do come to Japan, I want to just get over, get through this. If you do come to Japan, you might want to consider staying out of the city. All right, let's look at the breakdown right now of where the cases are. There's actually a very good Wikipedia that's up to date, like by the day. Check it out. The numbers are here. Hokkaido is the most hit right now, and the numbers are not that big. This is up to February 26, 2020. Hokkaido has 35. Tokyo has 32. Aichi, which is Nagoya, has 20. Kanagawa, which is Yokohama, has 17.

00:12:29 John Daub: Nagano had one just recently, and it's registered on this list. Ishikawa, which is Kanazawa, has four. And you can see these are places where a lot of package tourists from China visit. Kumamoto has five. Fukuoka has two, which is pretty small considering. And Okinawa has three. Shikoku doesn't have any—does that seem right? Oh, Tokushima has one. Tokushima is in Shikoku. Wikipedia also has a map. These are things that you can—resources that you should stay on top of and check.

00:13:00 John Daub: Let me get it right here. It's unusual to be quoting Wikipedia, but that's something we can do. You know, that was pretty close. It also has a map of the locations. If you take a look at Hiroshima and Yonago and this area, the Chugoku region, there's not a lot of people there. Shikoku is pretty much clear. There's no reported cases in these areas. Miyazaki, no reported cases. Kagoshima, no reported cases. This is as of the 26th. Yesterday. If you look at Shizuoka, nothing. Yamagata, Aomori, Tohoku, nothing. So these are areas that you might want to consider visiting and staying away from Tokyo. Going to—oh!

00:13:56 John Daub: Hi. Where are you from? I'm from America. America. The United States of America. How old are you? I'm 46 years old. 46 years old? Yeah. Well, where did you learn your English? It's very good. No, no, no, no. Your English speak. Bye bye.

00:14:12 John Daub: Oh, that was nice. Oh yeah. Don't talk to strangers, he said. But he's wearing a mask and—I don't know. I have a—can't not talk to nice people if they talk to you. I like people. It's harder for me than—it's hard. That was five meters, Fran. I know I failed, but I wash— I don't touch your face. I wash my hands a lot. Kanae made a soaps bottle that I can use to wash my hands and make sure that I always have soap and I have an alcohol spray. And trust me, I'm not touching anything except for maybe my hair. This is why I wear a hat.

00:15:03 John Daub: Okay. All right. Going back to it, these are areas that you might want to consider because there are no infections. And that just makes it very clear, doesn't it? It's not the entire country right now. This is something that's still evolving and we really don't know yet. Alright, let's go over some more information here if you do come. As I already said that a lot of events have been canceled and I'm going to go over that steps that you could take to reduce the risk of catching anything—not just this, this is something that you should definitely consider, but catching anything—these are things that you should be taking in February anyways.

00:15:34 John Daub: The cherry blossoms probably going to be affected this year. Meaning if the protocols are anything like they were in 2011 after the Great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan did not have any cherry blossom festivals—meaning illuminations, light-ups, gatherings, events. All the picnics under the trees were pretty much suspended for that time. And it was really heartbreaking for me. But I can completely understand the mood of the country. This is also going to be going on probably this year. This is the way I feel right now and I'm going to go back and answer some of these questions. If you would try to wait until the end, maybe in about 10 minutes from now, I'm going to go and answer some of your questions directly.

00:16:40 John Daub: This is very important: cherry blossoms, our nature— so they will bloom probably a few days earlier than normal because it's just so warm. But please keep in mind that the celebrations will be much more subdued and smaller scale. Right now, the local government, Tokyo government, is already asking people not to come together and to gather gatherings and to reduce risk of transmission to people all over the city, to cancel events—meaning concerts and live performances and conventions. CP was cancelled, a big photo convention down in Yokohama a couple of weeks ago, which is a shame because I was waiting for the camera announcements. Big camera geek. But if you are coming for these things, keep in mind that they might not be— what do you do? Have a plan B and a plan C. Nature is a beautiful thing to see. It's almost springtime. Going up to Tohoku and hiking into the mountains, seeing that is something that's safe to do.

00:17:57 John Daub: Rent a car is also an option. Maybe not ride the Shinkansen. Rent a car from Tokyo, have an adventure on the road. Get an international driver's license. Make sure that your country qualifies because the different conventions mean that—like for example, Indonesians can't rent a car in Japan, which is crazy because of the convention that they signed was two years different than the rest of the world. I have no idea. But just check, check up on these things before you come. But keep in mind that the cherry blossoms probably will be much more subdued.

00:18:30 John Daub: Thank you guys so much for the support here. The Olympics, this is a touchy issue for me personally. All these rumors— not true. All right? Not true. I'm somebody who has been with all the way back to the mayor of Tokyo, Ishihara-san, when he was mayor, it was just kind of his dream to bring the Olympics back to Tokyo. This is well before the earthquake and tsunami and all this other stuff happened. Japan's Tokyo has been a bidder for the Olympics since—I think was 2005. I remember running in the 2007 marathon, Tokyo Marathon, the first one, and getting pins as a campaign city or a bidding city for the Olympics for 2008. And I've always been behind the city having the Olympics because it's a time where the city just rebuilds itself like it did in 1964, and brings a lot of energy.

00:19:37 John Daub: Japan is really good at this kind of stuff. So any talk of London, of it being cancelled, of it being decided even in May—we just do not know. All right? There's no official statement from the IOC. There's no official statement from anybody. And I know that Mayor Koike, who I— who I have—I really like the current mayor of Tokyo, of course—no official comment. No official comments. And there's no way we're going to make a decision this early on because we still just do not know. Responsible thing is to wait and see how this works, this plays out over the next couple of months. But we're going to hear from more and more people chiming in on this. And I just do not think that it's— I think the Olympics— I'm gonna go as planned. All right, that this is going to take place. But all the rumors are not true.

00:20:08 John Daub: Japan has protocols in place going all the way back to SARS in 2003, when this outbreak hit in China. Alcohol pumps were put all over buildings. In fact, if you go to some of these buildings here in the entrance ways, you're going to have an alcohol pump. Just across the street is the Kite building, owned by the Japan Post—post office. Kite meaning stamp. There's an alcohol pump in there that you can wash your hands. So these are things that have been set up and in place for over a decade, almost two decades. So Japan has protocols in place, but this is on a different kind of a scale. It's much quicker. So the government will be asking big sporting events and cultural events—I'm reading this because all of this information comes from Kyoto News, NHK World or the Japan Times news outlets here in Japan. If you do add anything in here, do source it. Okay, so we know where it's coming from.

00:21:14 John Daub: Organizers of big sports and cultural events will consider canceling or postponing over the next two weeks. This is called on by the Prime Minister Abe. The Japan Sports Agency has asked the Japan Sumo Association to consider making changes to the March grand tournament. So all of these public gatherings are going to be making announcements and it's best to assume that they're probably going to be canceled or suspended or have been closed off to the public. In an effort to contain the spread, the school board of Hokkaido will urge local authorities on Wednesday to temporarily close all 1,600 public elementary and junior high schools.

00:22:21 John Daub: So this is something that's going to be happening right now. I talked with Kanae about this yesterday. A lot of the schools, junior high schools—the reason why is junior high school and high school students often, especially here in Tokyo, will take public transportation to get to the schools. Elementary school kids walk still, many of them. So probably it'll be junior high schools and high school students that have an early spring vacation. Tokyo has not announced it. Hokkaido, I think it's probably a good idea. We have—Kanae has family members and we have friends that are now working at home. Public transportation, the morning commute is cut like almost in half. And it's going down very, very quickly. Just recently there was a bank that found that they had an infection. And these are starting to spring up just a little bit. And you're seeing public transportation really take a dive.

00:23:24 John Daub: And that's a really good thing because Japan is a country, I believe, that comes together very quickly. The people here and in cases like this, very quickly, people react unselfishly to try to protect society. So people will, when they're asked to, will just stop doing it. It's incredible. People will line up and wait patiently to buy masks at stores. And now I'm getting into the last part of it before I take some of your questions right now.

00:23:54 John Daub: If you do come to Japan, please note that it's very, very hard to buy masks at pharmacy stores. It's very hard to buy them at supermarkets at places that we normally would buy them. If you do find them, they're up to like 2 to 300% the cost. And it's not price gouging. It's just supply and demand. There's a very limited supply and a very, very high demand. And only people who want them will buy them at 2,000 yen, which is like—everybody—so if you are—if you don't—if you are coming to Japan, you might want to bring your own masks.

00:24:56 John Daub: Should you bring N95 masks? I don't know. They're very hard to breathe in. The masks need to be thrown away. And I'll be honest with you, I personally just avoid public transportation and try not to be in situations where I have to take—where I have to wear a mask. I was careful not to touch my face. I almost did. It's very hard habit to—it's a hard habit to break. Wearing a mask is important even if you're not sick, because number one, you can be—you can't transmit this—we still don't know—you can't transmit this if—

00:25:31 John Daub: Boy, it's really windy. Is there a place I can go to? Try to knock down the window. All right, let me go over here. If you don't show symptoms for a couple of days, why not wear a mask? If everybody's wearing a mask, it's going to reduce transmission. So everyone wearing a mask is better than just a few people or nobody. So masks have a big impact in a place like Tokyo that's so crowded. The other thing is it keeps you from touching your face. If you're wearing a mask, you're more—you're probably not as going to be touching your mouth and your nose because there's a mask there and you're safer that way. So that's something that's another reason to be wearing a mask and wearing it properly, making sure that the glue is on the outside.

00:26:04 John Daub: People, even Japanese, have been wearing masks the wrong way for years. Making sure that it's the other way and getting a good seal onto it. And I'll show you how to wear the mask in a second. Okay. I brought a couple of them with me. If you do—if you're not used to wearing masks, watch some videos on YouTube by the World Health Organization and reputable, reputable media outlets on how to do that because it is essential that you do or else it's pointless to be wearing them.

00:26:39 John Daub: The N95 masks, yeah, it's a nice thing to have, but again, they're hard to breathe and I personally will not be wearing them. All right. I just—I don't—I don't think it's necessary right now at this stage. Yeah, there's just so much stuff. Some of the questions that I have from our supporters on Patreon and we do have a Discord server. This is a place where we're taking questions and answers from people who live here in Japan and talking about it in a casual way, but not a political way. And it's highly moderated, by the way, so don't get out of hand there.

00:27:11 John Daub: So this comes from Instagram, from Patreon, some of the questions that I got from Susan. "We have a hotel reservation and flight tickets for Hokkaido in mid May. I guess we can wait it out a little longer before canceling, don't you think?" May is a long time away. I would wait until the last minute before you cancel. We just simply do not know. But the trend line is not good worldwide, anywhere—we just don't know what the effects of this are either. So, Susan, all I could say is wait it out as long as you can. If it's refundable, then you're okay. Just make sure, make sure you, you keep in touch and with, with your airline and the hotels as well. That's another thing. If you have a trip coming in May or April, make sure that you get in touch with the hotel, the Airbnb or wherever you're staying to make sure that they have not closed.

00:28:15 John Daub: Okay. So that when you do come, there's a place to stay. Probably the agency that you booked it from will let you know. But not all of them will do that because they're probably quite busy. So if you book directly or you book through another agency that isn't like Booking.com or something, Hotels.com—I'm not sure what the protocols are for there, so it's always good to calm down. Dave writes in here. "Hi, John. Thank you for answering questions, as always. How are the locals reacting to foreigners in Japan now? I'm heading there on a car trip with friends in mid March, driving down to Kyushu from Haneda Airport through Mie, Shikoku. We are Singaporeans, Chinese and ethnicity. Do you think the locals will freak out if we enter the restaurant or store?"

00:29:25 John Daub: Dave actually asked a pretty good, good question, one that's on the minds of a lot of people. Number one, anyone who's speaking Chinese does not mean that they're Chinese because— you know, Chinese is the official language of Singapore. People from Taiwan are speaking Chinese as well, and they're not from mainland China. And this is something that we need to consider. Even Japanese need to consider that. But I do not think that it might happen. But I do not think that is a widespread concern. And you can do what the Canadians do—wear a Singapore pin, which is probably good because then we'll learn what the Singapore flag looks like, the red and white, you know, more people should know—wear a Singapore pin. Maybe to give it away that you're not from mainland China or something like this, but I don't think that's going to be a problem.

00:30:30 John Daub: You're heading in a car trip. I love car trips. That's a really good idea. Driving from Kyushu from Haneda Airport through Mie and Shikoku. Beautiful, beautiful countryside. Yeah. And eating is fine. All right. Some of the things, Dave, that you should consider is bring alcohol wipes with you or an alcohol spray and wash the counters—the tables. Just don't take—when you touch something, that's, I believe, the biggest risk and something that I'm very mindful of. Wash the tables, the counters in hotel rooms, when you get in a taxi. Try not to touch anything on public transportation. On the Shinkansen, I'm washing the trays, wiping them down with alcohol. These are just little teeny things I'm getting in the habit of doing. It's paranoid. Yeah. But I just cannot take the risk because of my family.

00:31:07 John Daub: Thanks for asking that, Dave. Ernest. "Hi John. Any concerns of traveling to Japan during the Sakura season? I think—I think Ernest, especially around tourist crowded areas such as Kyoto etc." Tourism in Kyoto is way, way, way down. The attractions don't have a lot of people mainly because the package tourists from China haven't been coming for about three weeks now. So a lot of the attractions are cut down and again a lot of them might be closed in the next week or so. So I will keep you up to date. Probably do another update in 72 hours. As developments unfold, more information is comes my way and as I said, I've gotten in touch with JNTO and some of the other organizations because a lot of people visiting Japan watch this channel and I want you to have—I want you to be—to feel comfortable coming and kind of think about the things that are happening right here on the ground to give you a clear determination whether or not you should come.

00:32:11 John Daub: If you're coming with kids, and that's the next question here. "I have kids. What do you think about that traveling to Japan if you're coming with a family?" That's really hard. Again, like things—counters, things that you touch in public areas is a worry for me and kids unless they don't touch their mouth or they're comfortable wearing a mask. I would consider canceling because I do not see how a 7 or 8 year old kid cannot touch stuff. Knowing seeing my nieces and my nieces and family in India and have been around kids for the first seven years. I used to teach children—they cannot not touch stuff and touch their face. It's just not—it's not possible. So I would say probably for the sake of your family I would consider cancelling and trying to get a refund or something because it's just not—it wouldn't be responsible to bring kids to Japan right now. Not in Tokyo, not in the cities, maybe the countryside. But I would be very, very concerned. Wearing a mask is going to be a problem. I can't see kids not touching the mask or keeping it on. It's not the same as wearing something that you're cold or wearing a scarf. This is something that's there for protective measurement. I don't know. I wouldn't—I would if I had—I'm saying this from a point of view. If I was a father or a mother, I wouldn't. Yeah, yeah, that's—that's so hard. I wouldn't risk it.

00:33:47 John Daub: Right now and if you're over the age of 70, 65, 70, I would consider—it's hard for me to say any age, but from the information I'm getting—to consider maybe not coming even if it's not refundable. I, I hate to see people having to cancel their trips as a result of this—flights. This is something that information that you should all really consider as well. ANA and JAL are going to be restricting flights to Shanghai on from March 2nd or 3rd. But information is not clear right now.

00:34:20 John Daub: This is very important. I think they still have flights between China and Japan and this is something that has worried a lot of people in Japan. Package tours have been suspended for a few weeks now. But there are still flights between China and Japan. The United States has—there are no flights going in from—from China to the United States right now. But anyone who has a passport with from affected areas will not be allowed into Japan. And to me personally, I'm a little bit worried about that. And that's something that you should consider as well.

00:35:23 John Daub: If you're going to the airport, I still think that the procedures to get through the airport are very quickly. I don't think it's the airport that is a worry. Just bring your own pen. You get through pretty quickly. If you touch anything, wash your hands when you come, go to pick up your luggage. Try to stay back away from people a little bit. Wash your hands. There are restrooms there with soap. Wash your hands and then maybe take a taxi or get on public transportation. Wear a mask, wash your hands. You see where I'm going with that. Take all the precautions. But the flights are still coming in from China and I—you know, not everybody has it, but it's—it's now getting up to like a hundred thousand, 75,000, 100,000. We don't know the numbers, we don't know the specifics. I don't want to get too much into that, but that's the fact. There's still direct flights between China and Japan. Yeah.

00:36:34 John Daub: It's a lot of information and it's a big change. And you know what? In the next 72 hours this could all change again. There's so many things that we just do not know. And I hope that this is helpful for you just to get an idea of the—to help you like think of things that you're going to need to think about when you—when you, before you come, when you're here and when you leave, if you do come, think about how long it takes for you to get to the airport. If they do decide to cancel the flight and they give you 48 hours—this is in two days, we're going to be canceling all flights—you have to have a plan to get to the airport so you're not stranded here. Things like this you should probably start to think about if you do come to Japan.

00:37:06 John Daub: It's a lot. It's a lot. And as I said, I'm not leaving. I'm gonna be here the whole time. All right, I'm gonna go through here and answer some of your questions. Guys, I really do appreciate the support for the people who've been asking me to send masks to me. We have about a one week supply left so we're okay. But if it does get dire, I might go—I might go to the well and ask you guys about it. Stanley P. Thanks. Thanks to the moderators. You're very welcome. Destroys 2, thank you for all your efforts. Jnobs Noble from the Philippines. Thank you. Jose Lin, Eric Holron. Thank you. Luke Triton, Marty, Josh, Lauren. Thanks for all the updates. Luke. "My local Bath and Body Works have gel sanitizers but sell out quickly." This is a thing that you need to consider as well.

00:37:39 John Daub: Brad, "Are you finding it hard to get into places because of the Japanese only signs?" I have not seen those signs. I haven't seen them anywhere. So I can say no to that. KK Non Human carriers. Any info on context to Japan? I don't have any information on that. Luke was going to buy a ticket to Disneysea but won't. Probably a good idea. My buddy Mike from the USA who was in a live stream with me yesterday went to Disney last week and said it was fine but like, I don't know, I—I wouldn't. I'm not going—Kanae and I want to go—we're not gonna go.

00:38:43 John Daub: Frank the Tank. Frank the Tank's here. Nice to see you. Brad M. "Are you noticing Japanese only signs?" I'm not. I'm not seeing those guys. "Tips for pregnant ladies traveling to Japan." Maybe not right now. I would think—think about—when I go out, I think about Kanae as much as I think about myself because if I were to get sick, she's probably gonna get sick too. So I want you to think about that when you travel. Seriously. Ramsey silent. "3,000 people. Wow, really? Look at the numbers." Molly from New Zealand. Thank you, Luke. Ana says they restricted China flights in Hong Kong. That was only a Kansai airport and I hope that we get more information on this.

00:39:46 John Daub: I highly think that it's a good idea. And there are seven countries now that are restricting travels from Japan partially because of the direct flights from China. So there's a chain reaction by not doing this. This is happening. So this is hurting Japan in many ways. Tourism here, guys, is so down. I was watching the news. TBS, Hirobi, and 13,000 cancellations in Nara. All right. In Nara, which is a small—small town in—me, you know, it's a small town in the city. And 13,000 cancellations. Hokkaido, most of the hotels are half full and going down. Cancellations all through May. So Japan's tourism is hurting. And there's not a lot—there's just on the news of—Yokon has shut down and gone out of business because they just cannot maintain the staff. They can't pay for the staff or the food and keep the same amount of service. So they've—they've shut down. They can't keep up.

00:40:49 John Daub: Patch, Abby. Thank you, Fern. Glennie Smith. "I plan on coming in September, October, but nothing set in stone. I'm not worried. But should—" It should be over when. All right. That's a really—Fern, I'm so glad that you asked this. And Tony P. Thank you. Fern asks a pretty good question. I'm panning around right now. "Will this be over in September?" We don't know. All right. I can't—I would not—I would assume—I mean definitively. Nobody can say anything yet. Will there be precautions in place for the rest of the year? I would probably say yes. Even if the Olympics take place, you're going to see alcohol pumps and things like that happening, people washing their hands, hand washing booths. People are very concerned about—

00:42:02 John Daub: Let me walk over here, people. You can see there's not a lot of foot traffic right now. This is out of one of the major exits of the Marunichi side of Tokyo station. There's just gonna be precautions in place. I—I don't think that you should cancel if you're refundable and if you're thinking of coming to Japan, gosh, it's so hard because the people who watching this show have been planning their trips and put Japan on the top of their list of coming here. But if you're solo traveler and you're young and you're taking precautions, I do not see, based on the numbers of people that are infected, why—and you're not spending all your time in Tokyo, maybe you're moving out to the countryside like Tohoku—I do not see why you should cancel. But if you've got loved ones that you're going to be seeing, you can't miss work, you spend a lot of time with your parents that are in their 70s, you have kids you don't want—you have to think about that and put the priority not on your plans and your feelings, but on the people around you and the people that you loved. And I think that that's—that's a concern. And right now international travel anywhere is getting more and more complicated, more and more difficult and should be—should be considered.

00:43:06 John Daub: This is coming from somebody who travels a lot. I'm not going to be doing a lot of filming over the next couple of—over the next 14 days. I got an itch here. I got an itch here. I'm not gonna be doing a lot of traveling, guys. I have a lot of videos to edit anyways and I'm gonna be at home doing. And if I can't go out, probably doing cooking shows with Kanae inside or something. But I'm gonna keep you updated over the next couple of weeks. Next update, we're probably being in 72 to 96 hours to see how this all plays out, to look at the feedback from the questions that you had and definitely subscribe because I want you, if you're thinking of making a trip, to feel what I feel living here in Japan and just get an idea of what the vibe is in the city of Tokyo because that's where I'm living right now.

00:44:07 John Daub: I'm going to take the next 5, 10 minutes and try to answer some of the questions that come here. Moderators—if you saw good question, try to copy paste it or write it again right here as I walk over to the other side of the station. Even the officer over there has a mask. If you saw in the background. "Aren't you scared? Holding cash though, Mimi" —that is something to consider, but Japan has moved very much to IC cards. You can pay for things by credit cards and—yeah, I'm worried about a lot of things. I'm concerned. But once again there's not as many people who have it. I believe a lot of the machines here have ultra ultraviolet or ultra red steel ultra rays in them like ATMs that kill some of the bacteria. I don't know how effective they are, but I've seen them in ATMs where they will—it will kill some of the things on the money.

00:45:09 John Daub: "Have you been to an onsen since this has?" I have and I was at an onsen—I was at an onsen just a few days ago in Nagano. We had a bath there, public bath. And I'm not too concerned about that. I've been told that it doesn't do well in hot water, so I'm guessing that. But once again, people are pretty clean. My biggest worry about being at an onsen or a hot spring is getting foot fungus because sometimes that spreads at these public baths. But that's something to consider if you feel comfortable or not. But at the hotel I was staying at, there were not a lot of people. It's really, really, really sparse right now. Again, like I'm in the middle of the business central business district in Tokyo and there's not a lot of people out here. Tokyo station is very quiet. It is—it is like 2pm but—why don't I have a mask? I answered this before. The answer is that I'm not in a—I rode my bicycle here. I'm not in a crowded—crowded place. I don't—I'm not going to the platform, the train platform.

00:46:18 John Daub: I'm not getting on the Yamanote line. This is a thing to consider. And I'm not—I don't want to waste my masks. I only use them when I'm in a crowded place. "Should we wear plastic gloves?" I don't—I don't think so. Because you should carry soap and wash your hands after you touch anything. "Viruses can't survive the heat." Yeah, but that doesn't mean that things are going to get better in the summer. We just don't know. Many officials are saying this won't be peak until April. Officials are saying like again, we just do not know a lot of things. Thanks guys for asking these questions. This is great.

00:47:24 John Daub: We do—we do—pmx. A lot of these decisions, including the airlines will be made based on market pressure. Now flights are going to be canceled to China not because it's government mandated, but because there's no demand for it right now. Offices are asking more and more people to work from home because it doesn't make any sense to come and it's just going to shut down the businesses even more. So my wife sister's fiancé works at an advertising agency and he's been asked to work at home and they came up with some infections in their office. So the result was that they closed down the office. They reacted very quickly. And he's working at home. He's working from home now, which is probably a good—definitely a good thing. And that's also reducing the traffic on the subways and reducing any rate that there was. And the rate was very, very, very slow.

00:48:58 John Daub: Guys, just so you know that every time one person gets it, it makes national news here. It's—it's not something that is like—it's—it's not a massive problem right now. I just want you to be clear. Everyone's at home right now or has a mask or is not out and about. They're working from home. I came here by bicycle. I'm looking for any more questions here, moderators, anything that I missed. That's right. Strix writes in here. "Follow the CDC, WHO and other research institutes for information. Not the news, not Facebook." Dentsu, question mark. Maybe my buddy has canceled his trip to Japan in March. Yeah. Gosh, it's hard. Shane, thank you. Do you think Aaron writes in. "Do you think my wife and I should cancel our trip to Japan in March? This is our late honeymoon trip. We were married August 9, 2019."

00:49:45 John Daub: Congratulations. First of all, Aaron, hold on a second—well, a lot of—a lot of—a lot of comments came in. Congratulations for that. I—you know, if it's refundable, I would say yes, just because I—and I don't want to say that—like a part of me is saying don't—don't say that, John, because you want everyone to come and share—share this amazing country. But I would say yes. It's just right now the situation is bad. Things are going to be canceled. If you're going to be in a hotel room the whole time and doing honeymoon stuff like Kanae and I did, probably it's okay. But I want you to consider the flight over—I want you to consider—and right now one of the toughest jobs has to be cabin attendant, flight attendant on these airlines. When I came back from Hokkaido, the ANA flight attendants all had masks on and were very, very mindful to keep distances from people, to serve, wearing gloves and to change—to change the gloves and wash their hands and to keep the restrooms clean. They're doing such an amazing job.

00:50:55 John Daub: The amount of duties that they have to do on the airplane has really greatly increased. So I've got a ton of respect for all the cabin attendants that are getting us from A to B and still doing it. But all cabin attendants should be wearing masks and you should think about your flight over. This is something that Mike and I were talking about yesterday because he's leaving to go back to the US today and having the mask and keeping your distance and maybe even bringing your own food on the airplane, buying a box lunch and not eating it and bringing your own bottled water and refusing the drinks and definitely not drinking alcohol on the flight to keep your immune system up.

00:51:59 John Daub: These are some of the things that we were talking about maybe considering, but ton of respect for the flight attendants. Keep doing your best out there. This is to the flight attendants. I know it's a really challenging time for you but you know, just keep doing your job. I know that's—it's your job and thank you. "We aren't going to cancel yet, but we're booked to come on the first Japan trip in late April." Right now, everybody just keep your keep your eyes and ears open again to WHO, CDC— this is the last thing I want to leave you with because I'm going to be doing another update in 72 to 96 hours answering some of the questions and things I might have missed in this live stream.

00:53:04 John Daub: JNTO has a hotline. If this is very important, guys—if you do feel ill and you're not feeling well, please call them before you go out because I think it's polite to give wherever you're going a heads up so that they come prepared and can help you and that you don't spread this to other people. So the hotline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The link is in the description right now to a PDF that will give you that information from the Ministry of—Trade. I can't remember what it was, but it's a government agency and JNTO stands for the Japan National Tourism Organization which is doing an incredible job right now of setting things up for tourists or visitors that are here.

00:54:26 John Daub: Again, the WHO has a level two travel warning. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't come, but you should seriously consider whether or not you should cancel depending on those things I told you—if you have family members that you're constant contact with, you can't lose time at work, if you have kids, and if you're coming with senior citizens, these people—somebody with asthma or diabetes or pre-existing conditions—these are things that you should definitely consider and possibly cancel if it's non refundable. You should consider those things before you—before you come because the last thing we want anybody to do is to get sick and then spread this awful thing. Yeah, it's getting cold. The hat is back. "Street food safe?" Gosh, these are things again, like I would say—I would not—I would probably not eating right now. I'm gonna be honest with you. For the next two weeks we're cooking at home, we're probably not gonna go out that much.

00:55:28 John Daub: These are things that I'm gonna tell you the way that I'm gonna be living my life over the next two weeks. Okay? Kanae and I have very few or no appointments to meet anybody. Saying goodbye to Mike yesterday was probably one of the last people I'm gonna be meeting for the next two weeks. Just because we want to keep our distance and I got a lot of other stuff to do. We're probably gonna be cooking at home a lot more. I'm gonna be doing a lot more Google hangouts and Facetiming and things like this. If I have meetings to discuss projects, I'm gonna be doing that over telephone instead of meeting in public. Any place that I have to go, I'm gonna be riding my bicycle. It's a pretty sweet ride. It's a Bridgestone. I don't know. I'm gonna be riding my bicycle—to avoid public transportation as much as possible. I've been doing a good job of not trying not to touch my face and these are habits that we're doing.

00:56:33 John Daub: When I do go out, I'm following suggestions from friends that have lived in China to have room wear—wash my hands. I take off the clothes that I was wearing on the outside, I put them in the washing machine and turn it on and I wash my hands again and then I put on room wear and then I go into the house. Alright? People are going another step and even washing their hair. I take my hat and I leave it outside. This is how far that I'm going. And this bag as well—I hang it outside and then anything that I touch I use alcohol—slot information. Some people have been telling me if you're using high alcohol content stuff that it creates cracks in your skin which makes you more susceptible to catching something— that's something that you should consider as well. Maybe not using alcohol all the time. Use soap and water. Okay? They said up to 60 to 90% alcohol is necessary. Listerine has 30% alcohol but 30%, 37%—better than nothing but Listerine. I did research on this. Listerine has 30. The original one that looks like the one that tastes like medicine has 30 to 32% alcohol depending on which country that it's made in. Soap and water is good. Good old soap and water. Wash your hands for 20 seconds. Really get into your fingernails. Keep your fingernails short.

00:58:08 John Daub: It's just the times that we're living in. The times that you're living. I don't know of anything right now—this is a good question. Sorry about the wind. Let me get—and then I'm gonna end this live stream. I do. The reason why these live streams notifications and coming in at all different times. Here's inside the Marunouchi north exit here. And you can see foot traffic is way down, way down. This is also where you get your Japan Rail passes validated. You see that office right there? So let's just pop our heads in there and take a look and see if there's any tourists at all. Usually, almost always, there's a line out the door of people who are buying passes. And wow, it is super empty. This is—wow. There's two backpackers. That's it. That is crazy. On a weekday like this, that—wow. In the middle of the day, that—that's where you buy your JR Rail passes and stuff. That's—it's completely empty except for two backpackers which would make it not completely empty. So if that's an indication right there, here's a signal, people crossing. You can see that they're wearing masks. Keeping a little bit of space. He's not wearing his mask properly. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. Ride your bicycle.

00:58:38 John Daub: I parked my bicycle at a parking space that Kanae told me about and then I'll be riding home after this. But I—I did hear coughing as well. I tend to stay away. When I was on the subway, I would also go to the—I would go to the front of the back. All right. I saw this question come up a little bit earlier. "If you are looking to buy a face mask, go in the morning before it opens—it has your highest, highest chance of getting them or try to make your own." There's—there have been some sites that have been showing people how to make your own mask. But not having a mask is also—it's not responsible. And I think it's just not a good—good thing not to be wearing mask if you're in a crowded place. If you're like me right now in a non-crowded area, it's okay to be wearing it. And you see there's lots of people who are not wearing masks. If you're not taking public transportation or working in an office space—go in the morning, maybe 30 minutes before they open. Wait in line and don't take more than you need.

00:59:44 John Daub: This morning on the news, there was two people from China in a fist fight over buying masks at the store. Somebody went out of line and tried to buy them and didn't wait properly in line. And there was a fist fight. So it's getting a little testy. But I—you know what? Yeah, masks are—it's a problem right now. You just can't find them in Japan. Source TBS Hirobi saw it on the news. Yeah. All right guys, I'm gonna say goodbye right now. I will give you another update in the next 72 to 96 hours. I'm going to be talking with JNTO and getting as much information from them directly as well as some medical professionals on things that we can do to limit or minimize it because even though it's at a level two warning, people are still going to be coming and making their way to Japan.

01:00:00 John Daub: Don't underestimate this. Don't underestimate this. Think about your loved ones and your family. Stay safe, take precautions, wash your hands, develop good habits. And this is the stuff I want to leave you with. And stay up to date with your—with your embassy if they have a website. Also with the airline that you came with to make sure that you don't get stranded here and have a plan B and a plan C on how to get back to the airport as quickly as possible should you need to just stop what you're doing and get back there so you can get home safely to your family.

01:00:36 John Daub: Think about these things and I'll be back on soon again. Like I have other things and topics that I want to do. I'm not going to be talking about this subject exclusively, but this is on the mind of everybody and this is why I'm going to be covering it because I feel like I do have a responsibility to give you as much up to date information and give you a place where we can all talk about this so that we stay safe and have and feel like we're doing everything that we can do.

01:01:18 John Daub: If you're thinking of coming to travel to Japan, here comes some tourists right now. Take care guys. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next live stream probably tomorrow on a happier subject. And I have another video about Japanese sake when I went to go visit in Nagano a few days ago. Coming up before the end of the month. Stay safe.