00:00:00 John Daub: Greetings! Good morning everybody. How do you do today? Today we're going to be doing another update. It is now May 12th, 2020 and we are now in about like day 45 of our self-isolation here in Tokyo, also known as a, I wouldn't call it a quarantine, more like we're just staying at home. Just like everybody else around the world. How do you do everybody? There's a lot of news today so I thought I would go and bring this to you. Also because tomorrow Kanae and I will be doing a Kaiseki Bento — meaning a very fancy Japanese lunch will be delivered to us that we ordered three days in advance. I'm pretty excited about that. But today let's run down some of the news that's been going on. What is happening here in Japan? When will you be able to come back to visit Japan? And also when is Japan going to end this lockdown? Japan, I'm talking more about Tokyo and Osaka and the 13 prefectures that are most affected that are in a very higher state of emergency than the other 30 or so. So let's get to this.

00:01:31 John Daub: There are 15,798 people infected with COVID-19 here in Japan as of yesterday. The numbers are changing all the time. The number of PCR testing is increasing. So they're being more transparent about that. I'll get to that a little bit later in this rundown. But the big news is that — and this is all coming from Kyodo News, which is the source that I go to a lot. Kyodo News is in English as well, which is very useful for many of you that are curious about looking into some of these articles. I'll post a link in the description so you can take a look at that.

Japan is looking to lift the emergency declaration in most prefectures and most prefectures does not mean Tokyo. Unfortunately, the nation's capital will not have lockdown ended, at least not until May 31st, we believe. But for the other prefectures, and I have a lot of friends in all of them, they're all in the same prefecture. So I'm quite looking forward to this. There were 34 prefectures are looking to open earlier than the stated state of emergency back at the end of April until May 7th and then extended on, I believe it was May 6th that Prime Minister Abe extended it to May 31st. So there's 34 prefectures. Couldn't know as early as Thursday if they'll be able to go back to work and open up some of the shops. So that's pretty exciting news. It's going to happen. They're meeting with some experts on this to discuss the ramifications of reopening early and some of the things that they can do to make this more successful than other countries because I know Japan is looking at other countries to see what they've done right and what they've done wrong and learning from that, especially from Korea and Taiwan and Singapore and other nations in the region.

00:03:01 John Daub: Okay, we've seen that many of the prefectures — 34 of them in fact — have reported zero coronavirus cases over the past week or two. Some of them have gotten no cases of infection over two weeks time. It's not clear how many tests were actually done in these but the fact is that there's been zero infections and that's a good thing. So that means that here in Japan most of the places are starting to see down and I have a graph here you can check it out — you can see the blue line is a number of tests and the yellow line is the number of infections and it looks like it peaked around April between April 6th and April 10th. You can see that right there. This is all on Kyodo news. And you can see here on around May 5th or 6th they had over 12,000 PCR tests done which is a record. So you can see that they are testing more but then I don't know what happened — the test just kind of goes down like this. This is a pretty good graph.

00:04:12 John Daub: Also I want to give you an idea of what areas of Japan have the most infections. This poorly printed map will give you that information. You can see here the dark blue represents places where the most infections have happened. The color grade goes down. Iwate prefecture which is right here has zero cases ever. They haven't had anybody infected with coronavirus and a lot of these prefectures — Shikoku is perfectly fine and a lot of the prefectures down in Kyushu are doing quite well. Shimane and Tottori prefecture right here on the Sea of Japan — these two, they have also — the schools have already reopened and they're doing quite well. I just talked with a friend there and they said they're still taking precautions, of course wearing masks, social distancing, but they have had very, very few cases. And it could be because of the measures that they take and just because the population is so spread out. You need a car to go everywhere — it's different than in Tokyo where you have to travel around by public transportation or as I do, bicycle.

00:05:30 John Daub: Right now at the moment, 34 prefectures will probably be able to reopen earlier. So what does that mean for Tokyo and Osaka? We're not quite sure yet but I can tell you this — they're very, very analytical with this meaning they're looking at the numbers and then making a decision basically in 10-day to two-week blocks, which is the amount of time it requires that new infections take to start to show up in tests.

00:06:03 John Daub: The 13 prefectures that have been designated by the central government as requiring special caution — I say this in quotes because it's special — we don't really know what a lot of this stuff means — but because of the relatively high numbers of new infections are Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Gifu, Aichi which is the Nagoya area, and Kyoto. Those are the 13 prefectures with the highest cases and probably will not be seeing an end to the lockdown or the state of emergency until the end of May. That does not mean that the situation is going to get a lot better, of course — the urban areas are the most dangerous that have the highest risks.

00:06:56 John Daub: And we saw just recently in Seoul, Korea that despite those really wonderful numbers — thank you, Venüs Adventures — it's PCR test for COVID, John is that for me to — I could, you know, you — it's always good to be tested, I think we need to do more of the tests, we'll get into that later. But we saw in Seoul, Korea that it's easy, despite the numbers going down and reopening, that it is very easy for a cluster to infect — you know — hundreds of people again and then see that the numbers go up. So all that hard work could be for not if we don't continue the policies, the strategies, the things that we have been doing to get those numbers down. Despite the state of emergency being listed, we still need to continue those because we saw in Korea — one cluster from bar and nightlife — and Iyou don't want — I believe is the area in Seoul — the nightlife area created another group of infections which is so disappointing to the nation of Korea, that's been working so hard to try to get those numbers down. So in Japan where we're taking cues from our neighbors —

00:08:09 John Daub: Fears over heat exhaustion have started to pop up because in China, two high school junior high school students died from heat exhaustion — they collapsed and died — from wearing the masks. They were like in N95 level masks which is very, very hard to breathe in to begin with. They might have been okay in the winter when it was cold but now that we're into the summer, I think it's important to note that masks do two things: one, it restricts the amount of air that you can pull into your lungs, which is very, very bad in hot weather. And it also keeps in the hot air which you don't want in the summer — you want your lungs to cool, which is why masks are kind of bad in the summer. And you don't see a lot of people wearing them as soon as spring goes and the pollen and hay fever season is over. A lot of the Japanese will put the masks away and they breathe that cooler air.

00:09:14 John Daub: Can you imagine with a mask on? It's like double the humidity. How do you double a hundred percent? It's like two hundred percent. You're just breathing water — basically drowning. So the government and a lot of people, experts are now looking at turning to the summer and how we're gonna deal with this. Face masks are still gonna be around. This is something if you're in the United States or Canada or United Kingdom or Australia or Singapore — Singapore probably knows a lot more about this since it's like summer every day there. But in Japan, we're very worried about this.

00:09:48 John Daub: The recommendations are just to drink more water, rest more, and turn the AC on, air conditioning. After the Great Tohoku Earthquake in 2011, we decided to do this cool biz — meaning we turn the air conditioning off in Japan a lot more and try to conserve energy and just dress down. I think the dressing down will stay. But I think this year — and maybe next year with the Olympics — the AC might be cranked on high just to keep people from passing out having to wear the masks.

00:10:26 John Daub: That's just a little tidbit that you should be thinking about. I'm doing this update at noon and it could start at any moment but there's a lot — at this time of year, construction starts on apartment buildings so you might hear some hammers. But at lunchtime which is right now in Japan, it's a little quieter. So we can do this in peace because the neighborhood's really loud. So there you go. If you do have a stash of N95 masks, they're not really good for summer — save them for winter or donate them to your local hospital who needs it more than you. You can make your own mask and you're just going to be fine.

00:11:04 John Daub: So those are the two big headlines: Japan is lifting possibly the state of emergency early for 34 prefectures on Thursday. And we're worried about face mask use in the summer because we're just going to pass out — you will be dehydrated and pass out like the kids in China. Back to the news. Back to the updates here.

00:11:27 John Daub: One of the biggest questions that I've been getting is: "When can I come back to Japan? I have a — I've booked a trip to Japan and I can't cancel it. The flight is still not canceled. And I gotta pay for it. So I'm thinking of coming back in October, September, October, November. Even August. What should I do, John? What should I do?"

So yesterday I started a poll on Twitter. It's still open on my Twitter — it's Only in Japan TV. First off I got in trouble because people said don't use Twitter — it's a cesspool of political information. I guess it just depends on who you follow. Well, if you follow me I won't be talking about anything political. Instead I'll be showing you this graph. So I asked the people on Twitter: when do you think tourism to Japan will start again? Currently there is no entry visa for international visitors. And I'll get into that in a second with the update. I also tagged NHK and Fly ANA. I think I figured that a lot of people will be wanting to talk about canceled flights.

00:12:24 John Daub: 6.6% of you — this is out of 442 votes and it's still 22 hours left on this — 6.6% say that tourism will start in the summer. But it looks like overwhelmingly the majority will believe that it'll be in spring 2021 or later. What do you think? I'm looking at the comments right now. But my feeling was that it'll start to — yeah, it'll start to come back in — I can put it here for a second. I think it'll start to come back in fall. But it'll be just select — this is just my humble opinion as somebody who's been living here for a long time and has my ear to the ground a little bit.

00:13:12 John Daub: I think for select countries — and it depends on the rate of infection and whatnot — I think that tourism might start in September for some people in the fall. And I think in the spring after, if there was a second wave, there's a lot of people who are quite worried about that. And history says that there will be one and it might be worse. I believe in the spring of 2021, then we'll have more medicines and more information. And then I think travel will be more prevalent. But flights might be more expensive because there'll be less of them, and demand will be high. So the airlines are going to want to recoup the money that they lost. So I bet you that a flight to Japan will cost a lot more than it does now or before. Just something to think about.

00:14:05 John Daub: I've been talking with travel professionals, including Ruth Jarman, just yesterday — take a look at that livestream, it was really good. She's been living in Japan for over 30 years and a Japan travel consultant. And she also agreed that I think it looks like spring 2021 or after is the best bet. But we both kind of said that I think Australia is doing really good. New Zealand is doing really good. Singapore, Korea. There's neighboring countries that have done it — they've done an amazing job of getting the infection rates down. Japan seems to be going there too, although we need more testing. I'll get to that in a minute. So I'm quite optimistic — and I am to a fault — that tourism will start in the fall slightly.

00:14:46 John Daub: Domestic tourism will start in June, which is good — because the economy, just like in America and the UK, which came out with its own plan recently, will need this. But overwhelmingly, 48.4% of you said spring 2021. And there's even more comments. A lot of them said probably not until summer. Or overwhelmingly, the comment from several people was "not until a wakuchin," which is how we say "vaccine" in Japanese — until a wakuchin has been found. Talking with people who study viruses, sometimes a vaccine is never found. Just put that out there before you make plans.

00:15:25 John Daub: There are some people who emailed me — they said that they strongly believed that there would be a vaccine by September, so they're still coming. And I told them that maybe they should reconsider. Please tell me your honest opinion, John. Reconsider. That's all I will say. I don't see — and even if they do have it, to get that out to billions of people, that's going to take years.

00:15:55 John Daub: So the thing that is overwhelmingly against tourism starting up in September is not just the flights and the disease but the virus itself. But actually, Japan has an entry ban for nearly every nationality right now. And a lot of countries do as well. Foreign nationals — this comes from JNTO, Japan National Tourism Organization. They have an amazing site. Just Google search "JNTO coronavirus." And you get a page of not just all of the attractions that are closed and when they're going to be opening, but also a list of nationalities and what is happening with visas and stuff. And JNTO is a very reputable site where I get part of the information that I'm telling you about today.

00:16:44 John Daub: They write in that the entry ban — our moderators know this word very well — includes Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, and like a ton of countries. It's just go in there and read them. And then there's another category of entry bans — which is visas that have been cancelled and need to be redone. And those countries also include the United Kingdom and a few other countries. So if you do have a travel visa, work visa that's starting in the fall, go in and check and maybe call the embassy, call your employer, just to make sure that you'll be able to get it reapplied for quickly and expedited should this be over by the time you're supposed to be coming. It's very important.

00:17:37 John Daub: Strength in quarantine has been called upon. So even if you're a country that is okay to come to Japan — like the very select few — and I couldn't really find them on the map. They must be a really obscure country like East Timor or something, new countries. I'm not sure. They just weren't listed. Foreign nationals that have been to any of the countries — so if you've flown through the USA, it seems like you will have to endure a 14-day quarantine. So either way, you're not going to be able to go get that bowl of ramen right away unless you're already here.

00:18:28 John Daub: All nationals arriving from areas listed in paragraph 1 must have a 14-day and undergo a PCR test, which in Japan is so hard, you might have to wait a month for it. I don't know. I'll get into PCR testing in just a second. This is all in JNTO. And this will be implemented till the end of May, which is where the prime minister called for the state of emergency to be ended. The period can be renewed. So the state of emergency and the visa bans are in effect until the end of May and can probably will be renewed just based on situations. So I'll give you another update at the end of May on visas. Just on when Japan is thinking about letting people back in. Hopefully sooner. And I don't — some people are saying hopefully not.

00:19:18 John Daub: Attractions — Tokyo Disneyland, which is the litmus test for attractions in Japan because it's the most popular. It's perennially number one. Tokyo Disneyland, DisneySea is still at TBA — to be announced. So we don't know when Tokyo Disneyland will be opened for even domestic tourists, never mind international tourism. We don't know when it'll open. Same with Universal Studios Japan. They've been extending the deadline over and over and over again. And then they just went to TBA. Most of the other smaller attractions have extended the deadline to May 31st, which is the end of the state of emergency. And that might be amended based on what happens on Thursday — the day after tomorrow — when 34 prefectures, I believe, will end the state of emergency and kind of go back to a restructured state of life, a way of life.

00:20:03 John Daub: There's some ray of hope though for festivals. All right, I'm going to go over some festivals that have been cancelled. The vast majority of summer festivals — in this breaks my heart. You all know you have seen in this series me participating in dozens of festivals. I say dozens — I think it's like five but a lot — and I love being a part of them. The ones that I film — like the Nebuta with the festival and the naked man festival and you know, Aiko festival, Earth Fest celebration festivals — all sorts of fest. Okay, winter, spring, summer, fall, but summer is awesome.

00:20:41 John Daub: What is today — the 12th — in three days Sanja Matsuri is supposed to start. Sanja Matsuri is the biggest festival in the city of Tokyo, bar none. And that's supposed to go on for three days from May 15, 16, 17th and it's huge — like 3 million people come to this thing. It's a lot of people. It's been suspended until October 16, 17th and 18th. So there's some hope that this year we're going to still have a Sanja Matsuri. This is kind of good news. I'm kind of excited about this. I'm extremely excited because it seems like September is a big month where we expect to turn around. And October 16, 17, 18th is when this Tokyo Sanja Matsuri will take place. So it's delayed for about five months, which is probably good. It's definitely good. We can't hold it now. But mark your calendars — October 16, 17, 18. It's unprecedented, but I don't think that they could cancel this. This is something that's been going on for thousands of years. I think even went on during the Spanish flu. I'm not sure — somebody should look into that.

00:22:06 John Daub: The Sumida River Fireworks Festival — one that we all look forward to in Central Tokyo because it's on TV — it's the end of the rainy season. So it's a brighter event beyond just the fireworks itself — has been cancelled. And we asked the Japan Fireworks Association some people there: "Why they cancelled all the fireworks? Why can't you just have them and people can watch from their house, right?" Well, the reality is that that won't happen. So the fireworks festivals in Japan have been cancelled because of this — because of the simple fact that people will still cluster and come together and sit outside. You can't stop them. It's up in the air. So they just said we're going to cancel because it's the safest thing to do. This is not for all of the fireworks festivals — there's some like in the end of August which are still out there. But for the most part, everything in the city of Tokyo fireworks and any urban area has been cancelled.

00:23:07 John Daub: The Atami fireworks festival — which is kind of in the middle of the countryside and Shizuoka Prefecture — has been suspended until June. But even then this could change as well. So we're not sure what's going on. However, out in the countryside there might be some fireworks festivals that are televised. So I'll keep you up to date on this. And then — the Nebuta festival in Aomori Prefecture has been cancelled in the beginning of August. This is the best festival. This is my one of my favorites — just because the taiko drums — it sits inside your chest all year because when you're there in person it hits you every beat at the taiko drums. It's different when you're watching it in a video. You got to be there. That's cancelled. So you got to watch reruns of it on Only in Japan Go, please. Yes, thank you. I do have the entire festival streamed where I'm dancing in it for half of it as a haneto dancer. It's pretty cool.

00:24:25 John Daub: That has been cancelled. However, however — there's a big caveat asterisk here and I want you guys to mark your calendars — even though that there's no specific date — the Earth Celebration on Sado Island. And this was breaking news from my friend Ruth Jarman yesterday's interview. Go check that out on Only in Japan because it was a very informative interview. She told me that the Earth Celebration — they're on an island — it's Kodo, which is the best, the number one taiko drum group in the world. If you're number one in Japan, you're probably number one in the world. Taiko drum is a Japanese thing, that's going on — and it's positioned to be sometime in August. I'm guessing the second half of it. I don't know if I'm going to be able to go and maybe live stream it, but I know that they're closing the event off — I believe they're closing the event off and it'll be done digitally and you can support Kodo and the festival by just donating like five bucks as a tip or something. I don't think they're doing e-ticketing. I think they decided to do just fans can show their appreciation and they want to do it for the people. And I like that. I dig that. If I can go, I'll go — but that's going to be sometime in August. So we will get taiko drums and I want to say a shout out to Kodo. Thank you for doing that and to Sado Island. I appreciate it. The entire world is going to be watching. We'll make sure of it because we need our taiko drums. We need something positive. We're going to be in the — I'm going to be in the president for the summer. So that's good.

00:25:48 John Daub: This was big news as well. And this comes to attractions. We all know that United States has Major League Baseball which is suspended right now. I'm not sure if the US news has reported when that'll be back on. But Nippon Professional Baseball — or NPB, acronym — you're probably hearing for the first time the NPB — Japan's professional baseball. Nippon is Japan — is talking about coming back and bringing the season back. It might be big news for Major League Baseball. If you pattern it based on Japan, but Japan is patterning it based on Taiwan and Korea, which has already restarted baseball but just with closed doors. So there's no audience. The games are just being televised.

00:26:29 John Daub: Nippon Professional Baseball — Japan's baseball league — will not have an all-star game this year, which is a shame. I know the players like it and so do the fans. I like watching the all-star games. It gets pretty colorful, but that's canceled. And they might restart the season. I'm going to — I'm just going to go out on a limb and say I believe strongly that that season might strongly start on the second half of June 2020. So I believe we're going to have some Japanese baseball games coming back. And it's basically based on the graph that I showed you where the numbers are going down. So staying inside has benefits, people. So I'm showing it to you again for the second time. You can see we peaked in Japan around April 7th to 12th. And then it's been going down and the testing — the blue line and the yellow line are the infection numbers. And so now we're well under a hundred per day.

00:27:35 John Daub: Stay inside. Be good. Stay safe so we can get back to baseball and watching sumo with no crowds. Yes, sumo is another one that's been semi-canceled. Just without the crowds. The Grand Tournament, I believe, has been canceled. But you know, this can change based on the situation. I'm really happy that professional baseball is talking about coming back. We all want to get some more normalcy back into our lives, especially in the United States, which has probably the toughest of the coronavirus — Italy, Switzerland, Spain, a lot of countries, Iran — they have been really, really suffering with this. And Japan, we're same as you.

00:28:22 John Daub: PCR testing — this is a big one here and we've all had — I've had friends that have had complications. So this is for you, Venüs Adventures. This part of the news is sponsored by Venüs Adventures. Thank you for the super chat earlier. It's for PCR tests in Japan. Thank you for that.

Japan is doing a better job of this. They've been in the news a lot and getting hammered by news media. And by say hammered, it's a very light tap because in Japan we don't criticize too much. It's pretty mellow the criticism, which means that any kind of a tap is very strong. PCR is the name of the testing that standard for coronavirus — COVID-19 testing. Is starting to ramp up and I showed you the figure just a few days ago. They did more tests in Japan than ever before. And more test centers in Tokyo have opened up — two test centers in some of the wards. Now there used to be just one. Basically they need drive-in test centers, but most people in Tokyo don't have a car. So that makes that hard. There's lots of challenges. I'm not going to get into the reasons why — I just know that Japan has a Japanese way of doing things. And I was asked in another — another commenter to explain what are Japanese things and I'll try to do that in a live stream. I think it's a great topic. Maybe with Ruth. She knows somebody who knows better than me, but I — having lived here 20 years — I know that every single country has a different approach to how to respond to this. US has a US approach, Japan has a Japanese approach, UK has a UK approach. We all do it a little bit differently. Sweden has a Swedish approach, right? So I'm not going to criticize too much because I already have. But I haven't — I'm an American and I haven't — in an American way of thinking, but I've lived here for over 20 years. So I kind of see both sides.

00:30:29 John Daub: So what I'll just stay with is that everybody agrees that Japan should be doing more testing. And I believe I've got this the data here — 57% of the people in Japan are dissatisfied with the way the government is handling it. So that speaks volumes and I don't — that's just a fact. And it's a poll run by the media. It was on Kyodo news. So there's my source.

00:30:57 John Daub: Now, Japan is doing better with testing. This is very important because if we were to get sick, we're quite nervous. So we stay inside just because we don't know what's going on. Testing is getting better. Basically, if you have to be examined, you had to be examined by a practitioner and then recommended for PCR test. But that meant going in someplace or having a telephone examination, which is hard because doctors who can do the examination are quite busy. So they couldn't do too many in a day. So basically you couldn't get the reference to go in and get the testing. It wasn't just anybody can get testing.

00:31:33 John Daub: So I think that they're trying to make it where it's more open to everybody. And Tokyo is leading the way just because it is the most highly — with the most infections. Osaka as well — as doing a better job with this. Tokyo is extremely transparent and you'll find that they have — and which is great because Governor Koike, who's also the — well, actually the governor of the prefecture — Tokyo is a prefecture or state. So we would call her governor. I call her mayor too because it's the central area that is most affected. She's doing two jobs, I guess. She's been leading the way — "Stop Covid-19." If you just Google "Tokyo Stop Covid-19" — you can put a space in between there — it'll take you to the English page for the city of Tokyo that has all of the data and information. Including the charts on who is tested daily and then the total amount of tests and the daily tests and the cases that they're following up on. It's all listed in this website and it's all transparent. You can see the number of tests versus the number of infections.

00:32:42 John Daub: You have to test differently. It's not the number of tests — there's two numbers that are important: the number of tests and the number of people tested, because some people are tested more than once in each day. So they give both of those figures, which is very important. On May 10th — which is the latest, it takes them about 24 to 36 hours to update the site — 13,532 people have been tested in Tokyo in total over since this started. And on the 10th of May, 253 people were tested. That seems really low to me based on one of the world's most populous cities, but 253 people were tested.

00:33:21 John Daub: And it seems to me when you look at the chart of the tests, these testing centers are taking the weekend off. I don't know. I think that they should be testing on Sunday just as much as they're testing on Monday. Don't you? I think that testing should be — should, should not — they should have more people testing. I don't know why but the numbers go like this and then they dip during the weekends and then they go back up on Monday. It's like — it's much, much higher for me. I can't wrap my head around why Japan stops testing or is limiting testing on the weekends. I don't know if it's the people aren't going in or the clinics are closed. That doesn't — it to me — it doesn't make sense because the helplines are 24 hours. So why aren't the tests? Why do the tests go down on the weekend during a pandemic? I'm not sure. Some somebody should maybe want to check into that.

00:34:22 John Daub: But for example, the Tokyo had the most tests on April 3rd — had the most tests, 551 people were tested on April 3rd. On April 4th — 65. On April 5th — like 63. I don't — I don't understand why the weekend — people are — it's just confusing to me. That's maybe why 57% of the people are dissatisfied with the government response. But I'm telling you, Governor Koike has been done a pretty good job of keeping us all informed and handling the questions by the media. She's taking a lot of difficult questions. She takes the criticism very well and reacts very well to it. So much so that she's been promoting a lot of creators and promoting a lot of people that are keeping people at home — people entertained — in the city of Tokyo.

00:35:10 John Daub: I love this. All right, the city of Tokyo has a game — a video game — that you can play and the main character's a woman. I don't want to say that is the governor, but I will play this game for you tonight on a live stream. So we're going to have a Tokyo's Covid-19 video game played together. It's — I believe it's like a flash-based game and you fly around and look for people dancing and stuff. I don't know. It's — you have to see this to believe it. It's cool. So high props for stay at home games. I might do it on YouTube here and do something else on Twitch tonight. And I do have a Switch channel which I started because I — even after this starts and I can start to go out and film, I still want to continue this format of studio shooting like this with guests and information. That'll be on Twitch and then I'll record it. So Twitch is going to be very important.

00:36:14 John Daub: So that's where I am on the PCR testing. That's where Japan is. That's all the news I have on that. I don't want to talk too much more about it. Let's just say that it's getting better, which I'm happy about. The government stimulus payments.

00:36:24 John Daub: I was — I had Greg Lane on — he's the CEO and founder of TokyoCheapo.com, which is an amazing website. I've known Greg for over a decade. I think it's like 12, 13 years now. He told us that his — the website's focus has moved from international tourism to expats living in Japan. And there's at least 2 million of them living all around the country and a lot of them are tuning into TokyoCheapo. He has an extremely well-written article on how to get your government stimulus payment — also and how to renew your visas. If you are an expat here in Tokyo or anywhere, that article is very — up at a link in the description within an hour of this of the end of this that article is available.

It says basically if you are between March and June, if you need to renew your visa, it's automatically renewed for three months. So you don't have to go in. You don't have to feel like you have to go in. But knowing — knowing immigration, this stuff can change day by day. So my advice is to call — try to call or email them and make sure. I don't have to do any renewal until much later. So I'm okay. But for expats that are here, this is a big deal. But just be — just know that between March and June you're okay. So you're not going to be kicked out. But if you have lost your job, you might want to — I'm sorry. Just keep checking it because TokyoCheapo also talks about what happens if you lose your job as a result of this. Do you get kicked out? What happens? It's in the article for TokyoCheapo and you can contact somebody.

00:38:11 John Daub: Government stimulus payments — can I — and I will apply for it this week? It's ¥100,000 — about $965 US. We're going to try to do some more stuff for food banks in Japan. There's a couple of food banks. The biggest one is called Second Harvest. So we're going to try to find out — I'm finding out ways that we can do this as a community, but in the Discord server we've had some very kind people put links in there from some articles on places that you can help frontline workers and people that are affected. Domestic violence has gone up in Japan. And there's some there's a charity or nonprofit for people that are abused — as a safe place that they can go to. That's one that I might be putting some more attention and see if we can donate towards that, as well as the food banks.

There's a lot of homeless in Tokyo that are displaced and they're kind of up in the air what to do. They're looking for volunteers as much as funding. So maybe we'll volunteer. Can I — and I will spend a day. I'm not sure if she'll go because she's got asthma — high risk — but I might see what I can do to help after the lockdown is over. Well, we'll see. We'll get into that because I know a lot of people are hurting out there and having a platform like this is we can shine a light on the good things that people are doing.

00:39:46 John Daub: So in the next update that I do, we'll have a lot more information on this as we move in from the state of emergency into trying to get back to normal life. I don't think that it's going to be normal for everybody and we have to remember that we have to remember the people that have really been suffering.

00:40:02 John Daub: The subsidies for small businesses are now going out. Subsidies for small business and nonprofit organizations shut between April 16th and last Wednesday are worth $4,700 in subsidies. You'll get from Japan for single shop owners and ¥1,000,000 for operators of multiple sites. So if you have a chain, you can get as much as — that's almost $10,000 as a subsidy. And if you have a single shop, you can get about four thousand seven hundred dollars, or ¥500,000. It helps but it doesn't make up for the lost business, but it helps a lot. I know a lot of businesses that have had to shut. Some restaurants stayed open because they were considered essential businesses. I don't know if they were able to make up that difference. You had to — it was a gamble whether or not to shut or not to shut. That was the question.

00:40:42 John Daub: Hairdressers and beauty salons are not among businesses requested to shut but will receive ¥150,000 if they voluntarily did so. So it's funny though. They said to the public, don't get a haircut — which is obvious to my mullet in the back. I might just shave the sides and keep the mullet. I don't know. What do you guys think? When in life are you going to have a mullet? You know, some people with the mullets are writing in every day. But the beauty salons — we were asked not to go and get a haircut and yet they were also not among the businesses requested to shut. So they got really — there's no other way to put it but screwed — in a way. But they will receive ¥150,000 if they voluntarily shut. And some of the hairdressers make that in a day or some of the really successful ones. And the haircut place that I go probably makes that in a few days because they're really busy. They charge like ten bucks a haircut and — someone that's who I go because I love the guys working there. Never mind that I would gladly pay more next time. I probably will get shampoos because it doubles the price. Hey, forward pay your barbers — if they shampoo, pay them more. Japan — we don't tip. I can't tip. I might bring your barbers them a case of beer. That'd be pretty good for them. A case of beer. And I'll do a shampoo just because it costs more — it's twenty dollars. I don't know what kind of shampoo they use. I've always been curious but I just get the haircut because I figured I've got so little hair — like it's not a lot. What do you need to shampoo it for, right? I don't know. People do it because it feels good. Why do you do it? I don't know. Just talk amongst yourselves.

00:42:30 John Daub: TokyoCheapo's got the visa renewal stuff and if you're resident in Japan — TokyoCheapo.com — and JapanCheapo has been the site that I go to because my friend Greg is the founder of that site. Thank you, Greg. Love you, brother. Keep it going. It's from New Zealand — for all the Kiwis there, all five million of you. Half of you who are usually traveling probably are back home now. Somebody told me half of New Zealand is always traveling, so the popular — that's why I messed up the population when I was traveling in 1998. Yeah, this is a little information. So when I was trapped backpacking in 1998, they said that the population of New Zealand was two million and I said why — it's because half of the population is always backpacking because you would always meet a Kiwi somewhere backpacking. And just — it's actually five million, so 2.5 million are always traveling. Greg's a Kiwi.

00:43:23 John Daub: Tokyo Metropolitan Government has a coronavirus support center — it's in the center of your screen, it's open. And if you have any problems, you can give them a call. They speak multiple languages — Thai, Portuguese, Spanish, Khmer, Burmese, Nepali, Indonesian, among English. So give them a call. And even — I like that — the first one is simple Japanese so Nihongo okay — you can speak like that if you want. Somebody asked me if I speak to pigeon — which is a combination of the two languages — and I said no. And then I thought about it and quite often Kanae and I are speaking like 50/50 Japanese which messes us up. We all lose.

00:44:13 John Daub: Do you see this? This was developed in Mie Prefecture. And this is a special self-isolation capsule for residents that have family members with COVID. I don't know if this is getting out to people. But if you look carefully, that hose goes out to a window and I guess you can get fresh air through that vent there. It's a pretty neat little thing. She looks pretty happy. I don't know if that's like a food hole that you can — do you see that? I think you can put food through that hole. But it looks pretty comfortable. I don't think she needs a comforter now — it's pretty warm outside — but this probably doesn't cost a lot and this box keeps in the virus. Lost Angel 22 writes in: "How are you meant to go to toilet?" I don't know. Maybe it's a toilet hole. But probably bedpan. Or the greatest problem for families that have a family member infected with COVID — which is why family members should not be mingling with people outside the household — is sharing the toilet. The two things that you should do: number one, close the lid. And number two, try to hold it as long as possible. I don't know. But you have to wipe down the area afterwards. So usually somebody in the household has gloves and has to wipe down after each person because it's really hard. Most Japanese homes have huge toilets. So if you have multiple people in your household — I found that a lot of houses in Japan don't just have the sit toilet — they usually have a urinal. I found that pretty freaky when I went to my friends' houses in Japan that they had a urinal in their house. It's so that they reduced water usage because there's usually one or two guys. And it seemed like a smart thing to put in — put a urinal in your house, reduce water usage. Right? Smart.

00:46:06 John Daub: And it's easier to clean because the flushing just goes down. I have to say that because a lot of ladies have never been in a men's bathroom and have no idea what's in there. Just like men don't know what's in a women's bathroom. There's all sorts of gadgets.

00:46:26 John Daub: That's about all the news that I have. I'll take some of your questions because we usually have really good questions from our community here. A lot of people are worried about when they can come back to Japan. A lot of people are worried about — yeah, there's no music for ending it yet. We'll have to work on our production quality.

The first time I saw a urinal in a home was in a Japanese home right in Noshabori. Yeah, right? I remember I walked in there and was like, wait, can I use this? I didn't know if it was special or if it was for VIPs or what. And I was told, yeah, use it. You're a man. You can use the urinal in the house. It even had a urinal mitt, which is funny. I don't know. Freaky. I'll tell you.

00:47:07 John Daub: I will take your questions. And I do appreciate this. Guys, click the thumbs up if you think that these updates are valuable and important. The next one probably won't be for over a week until we get closer to the end of May, until we have some updates on what's going on with the prefectures. But if we can get over 1,000 likes, then I will do another one. That's sort of been the litmus test to see if content has been marginally successful.

00:47:53 John Daub: Irvan writes in: "Standing by for Kaiseki Ryori." We have ordered — eh, Kanae? What time will you come tomorrow for Kaiseki Ryori? All right. So we reserved the Kaiseki bento between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. So we'll probably be doing the bento unboxing sometime before lunchtime — so before noon, we will be doing it tomorrow. So you can count on a live stream tomorrow around noontime for a Japanese Kaiseki bento which — we eat very humbly. And you might not have guessed that from a $50 can of Wagyu that I ate a few days ago that I bought in October that I'm using for a Wagyu episode on how ridiculous — you know — how valuable Wagyu is here in Japan, which is Japanese beef.

00:48:33 John Daub: But every now and then we will try to have delivery foods. And we're putting some of the super chats into the Kaiseki bento because I think it's important to have something to look forward to. We had to order this on Sunday for Wednesday, which is crazy, right? So Irvan, thank you. Thank you for paying that forward because it's going to be — I'm so stoked for tomorrow. I'm so stoked for that. Yeah. $50. Everything is 50 bucks. All right. I'm telling you, if you order a delivery food, it's meant for a family of four — which like a pizza for $50. It's like standard because that's what it costs to feed a family. And we — we eat. We eat out very rarely because we're always home cooking dinner. I eat oatmeal for breakfast. It's good for cholesterol. They say — I don't have a cholesterol problem that I know of. So yeah, we're really — I'm really stoked for this Kaiseki bento tomorrow.

00:49:31 John Daub: If you've been able to buy masks, thank you for bringing this up. So we go to the supermarket once a week on Monday and then I might do an auxiliary run — supplementary run midweek for milk and things. And we don't go on the weekends. And what some of the stuff that we noticed that we're missing — I'll be waiting for a reminder. Thank you. We noticed a couple of products that are missing. Number one: fermented soybeans — natto. You cannot find them. Like they get sold out so quickly. You can find them, but natto has been not in the supermarkets in Tokyo very often. And if you do find them, it's like weird brands — I've never seen before. And we're — we're kind of suspicious, like GMO stuff. So we — we eat — when we find natto, we buy two or three packs. Like it's like two or three bundles of them.

00:50:23 John Daub: Alcohol. We have had a very difficult time buying alcohol. Hold on a second. Can I — do we have the alcohol that I bought from — yeah, this is kind of important. So I had to go and get it for you. So I found this. We're getting — this is alcohol spray from Don Quijote. Don Quijote. And it was — this one cost me, how much was it? Um — 800 yen, right? Yeah, it was about $8 for this, which typically would cost under a dollar, a dollar or so. But we had to pay $8 for a spray bottle of alcohol. And on the back, it was made in China, which doesn't — it's alcohol, so it doesn't matter where it's made. I believe. But I will tell you that it doesn't say the percentage of alcohol, which worries me. The most — so this is the bottle. It doesn't say how much — what is the percentage. But it does say it's good for use for cars, tables and doorknobs apparently. And it doesn't say the percentage of the alcohol, which, you know, they should be putting that on the back. But I figure it's going to be over 70%. Maybe they just don't know. I'm pretty sure they got like a hundred percent and they diluted it in Japan. Maybe it's like 69% so that they could really dilute it and make an extra couple hundred bottles.

00:51:52 John Daub: Masks were on sale. Thanks for asking about that. We saw them yesterday at the supermarket. The masks — the masks cost, eh — can I — how much was the mask? 3,000 yen, right? It was 3,000 yen — $30 for a mask of — uh — 50 masks, right? 50 masks, a box of 50 masks cost $30. And not that many people were buying it because we have paper — we have masks that we made out of cloth. And I'm just putting a bandana out because it makes you look like a badass. I'll just be honest with you. I'm not paying $30 or $50 for a box of masks. It's paper with string. You don't need it. You can make your own with a cloth. And the reason why is you just want to reduce the amount of droplets so you don't infect other people. And if everybody's wearing it, then nobody — the infection rate will go down. It's been pretty standard. So I just wear a bandana because it looks tough. And I have that option to become, you know, to rob the place. No one can see. If you're wearing sunglasses and a mask and a hat, right now the supermarkets are full of extremely suspicious looking people.

00:53:11 John Daub: Um — can I wear a double mask? I don't know why. It just looks funny. She wears a paper mask and then she wears one of those — um — Pita masks. So she doubles it up. I just wear — I wear a bandana because it looks like I'm tougher. Because I can't grow a beard or anything.

00:53:31 John Daub: Brenda McCree, hi John and Kanae for the kaiseki. Oh no! You guys are putting in — Jaden Westhead writes in here: "My first trip to Japan has been postponed but I must thank you for providing the livestreams and updates. I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks for keeping me sane in these difficult times." You're very welcome from Australia, Jaden. I hope you're doing well. Staying safe. I started these in January and I'm gonna keep doing it and that means a lot to me. That's an indication that I will keep these up. I need to keep these up.

00:54:04 John Daub: Jaden wrote in: "I'm from Australia and was supposed to be in Japan three weeks ago. I would have been exploring Japan for three months." Oh no! Ah, you would be here right now. I have friends, family friends in Tokyo and would have been staying with them right now. That is really hard, man. I'll tell you what — I believe at the end of this month and then in June we'll be able to start domestic travel again, rent a car a little bit, at least in the area. And we're gonna take you with us in the Only in Japan Go. But I'm gonna be making more — I'm gonna be making edited videos by then too. So traveling has to start and I don't know if it's any consolation but I will take you with me, all of you, and you can explore Japan on Only in Japan Go live like you're there. But I'll also be making edited content. I hate hearing about people who had to cancel their trips. Ah man. Especially if you've been saving up for it and looking forward to it for such a long time.

00:55:01 John Daub: Jeff Kennedy is here. Greetings from Philadelphia. Jeff, I want to say welcome to Jeff to the samurai level. He joined Patreon yesterday. I saw the notification, Jeff. Welcome. It's great to have you. And when Jeff comes to Japan or I'm in Philly, he's gonna teach me kung fu. Which I'm looking forward to. Jeff, welcome. Jeff's one tough guy. Heart of gold. It's funny though — a lot of the people that I know that are like, could be deadly with their hands, are also some of the kindest people because I think they know they're deadly with their hands. Just saying. Just putting that there, Jeff. Much appreciated.

00:55:47 John Daub: Lani Rivera — Color Me True — yay, I caught you. I would totally right now give you a "You Found Me" card if you're watching this live. But I think they should be safe for those that are — I thought I had — I had some — some questions from Patreon. Oh, here it is. So I want to go over some of the responses from our Patreon supporters.

00:56:15 John Daub: Irvan writes in here: "Stay at ryokan with a nice kaiseki ryori." Irvan, I'm getting the hint that you really like this kaiseki ryori. I'll tell you what — we will stay in ryokan and we will be eating kaiseki ryori. You can take that to the bank.

00:56:39 John Daub: Ramsey Silent: "I wear a bandana too" for the same reason in the parking lot. Uh, just got none with work. Use some hand sanitizer through Peter. Yeah, you can make your own hand sanitizer. Peter had some pretty good ideas. He wrote me yesterday and said Kanae should be dancing for us. Ramsey Silent — so we're going to see if Kanae will give a performance inside the house, not outside. Staying inside. Performance by Kanae. And that is through Peter's recommendation and yours because you always give me money for flowers and such nice things for Kanae. And I appreciate it so much. David Kimura as well. Thank you, David, for always supporting. And I put that money towards flowers and other goodies that my wife loves. And I just wanted to say that to David Kimura again.

00:57:30 John Daub: Megan writes in here: "Our flight in October was canceled today. We are trying to reschedule and stay positive." So this is for flights in October. Um — this is after I gave the poll on and tagged JAL and ANA. Not saying that that made a difference. But it's interesting that your October flight was canceled. "We are trying to reschedule and stay positive. I don't have any questions now, but thanks for keeping us up to date." Thank you, Megan. And I appreciate the shout out about the flights in October being canceled. So if you have a flight, just bear in mind that some flights for the fall are not canceled. So if you're wondering whether or not you'll get your money back, apparently there's a very high chance of it.

00:58:13 John Daub: Speaking of high — Suede or Suede, I'm not sure — I'm really bad with pronouncing names. But Ms. Hightower — I hope everywhere opens up sooner than later, as long as we do it cautiously. It will be good for the economy and everything. People are having to close their businesses for good. And it's terrible. My question is: how do Japanese feel about opening up? Are they really afraid and may keep everything shut down for too long? Or do some feel like Japan needs to open back up cautiously soon? Thank you.

I believe this is in response to countries like the United States and the UK are opening up maybe too soon. We're not sure. This is something I think that's going to be left up to local areas in Japan. I know Prime Minister Abe is doing the best job that he can. But every prefecture should have a prefecture assess the situation and every community should make those indications and determinations on comfort factor. Not everybody is comfortable with opening up. I think towns and communities should — it should be a slow open up where we just stay in our houses. Then we stay in our towns and communities. Then we stay in the state. Then we stay in the region. Then we can travel nationally. Then we travel internationally. I believe it's something like this and we see the data on how this is all shaping up.

00:59:29 John Daub: But Japan's economy is so fragile. And it hurts me to see the businesses when I walk around my own neighborhood that are shut. I see signs that say "closed until May 31st." And I don't know if they're going to be able to be reopening. And talking with friends like Ruth and other people after — away from the live streams — we know about some of these businesses and how hard they are and how hard they're hurting. And that's why I'm going to — when I can start up, try really, really, really hard to go out there and feature local businesses in Japan. In fact, on the new channel, I might just have a whole segment on featuring small businesses — family businesses. Because for me, as somebody who's an entrepreneur myself, I have a business here in Japan. That's what I can do with this platform is to shine a light on people. And especially people that are doing something incredible. And they're not — and they're unknown. So I believe that Japan needs to reopen up in June. I don't think that they can go beyond that. But it's about doing it safely and doing it smart. And I don't — there's — we won't know until like months or years later what was the right strategy. You have to go by what makes you feel comfortable and what the economy needs.

01:00:53 John Daub: Von — Von — otherwise known as that Von Chick by Peter. Australia is opening back up again this Friday. But there's some — some limitations. For example, no more than 10 people at a time dining in. So restaurants will limit that. Depends, I guess you need reservations. Restaurants will look — mine is Bell's Hot Chicken. So you're looking — so she — Von is looking forward to going back to restaurants. So are we, man. That Von Chick. Sorry, I didn't — that's quoting Peter. We're very, very looking forward to getting back to some of the restaurants that we frequent. Which is not that many, actually. We cook a lot. But Von's been making homemade sausages. Wow, that sounds really good. I think we made 20 kilograms of sausages. Send some this way — which would be confiscated by customs.

01:01:44 John Daub: Brenda writes in here: "Hi, John. Is there a consensus itself on when Japanese people themselves want the economy to open?" That's a tough one. I don't think anybody's asked that. People — all right, you know what? I'm just gonna — I'm gonna go by what I see. I think people are ready to open right now. I think that this has been a soft state of the emergency and that the closings have been more based on what the experts believe. Japanese don't know unless experts tell them. A lot of people won't voice their opinions. But from the feeling that I get from putting my head onto the ground and getting dirt in my ear, I would have to say that most people would think in Tokyo it's a little bit too early. And in most of the prefectures, they're thinking, why haven't we reopened by now? They haven't had zero infections. Some of them for over two weeks. Iwate Prefecture hasn't had any at all. They're still at zero. So they want to open right now. A lot of the prefectures are — one are waiting. So I hope that that answers it. In Tokyo, I think it's been too early.

01:02:56 John Daub: And I know this — Japan and the United States are the closest of allies and they work with one another. That's why the United States is one country where the visas have not — America has been banned entry. But the visas are still haven't been canceled. And I believe it's because of the strong relationship that Japan has with the United States. I don't think that they — I don't think that they — Japan has a Japanese way and America has an American way. I don't think that they're talking about strategy between the countries. Canada has a Canadian way. Okay. Thanks for the question. My feelings are I think Tokyo would be safe to open up in two weeks if we can get those numbers under 25 consistently and it's very like a trickle, just like Seoul. I will have Japan should follow Seoul's lead and not reopen nightclubs. Soul — Seoul. You can go back to daily life but it's not going to be daily life that we knew it. It'll be social distancing, masks, taking the same precautions. But we can go out more than we did before.

01:04:00 John Daub: Marty D from Australia. By the way Marty, I have to hold on to your dime — your package until the Australian Mail opens up. I think I sent you a message on it just because I know you might be here Marty. I think there'll be a few major reopening milestones that need to be asked one: when will Japan open up to domestic travel such as lockdown ending in Tokyo and Osaka — those are the two places most affected and Hokkaido. And we will see when they open up then we'll know that the country is on the road. When will Japan open up to international incoming tourists? It seems like spring 2021 is what most of you believe in a poll of over 400 people. 48% — over 48% said that September, spring 2021 is when Japan should reopen or when they will.

01:05:03 John Daub: Based on talking — Australia will be closed to all incoming international until at least the end of 2020. Apart from New Zealand. So you were seeing regionalities, Marty. This is great. So New Zealand and Australia might be able to travel back and forth internationally. But it looks like Australia is going to be shut international until the end of 2020. Hopefully the mail starts Marty. Thanks for sticking with the Patreon support by the way. I appreciate that — more than you know. Can I really appreciate that.

That's based on numbers. Japan is slightly behind Australian numbers and other countries even further behind. So I can't — I can't actually see a time when Australia will open up — Australia will accept people from the US or UK, etc. Situation is currently fluid and definitely dependent on new treatments, cures, vaccines. Sorry for the ramble, laugh out loud. Marty, I think that you're like you're right on with this and it's going to be based on the numbers and the medicines and the wakuchin that we get — if there's a vaccine and it starts getting out — a couple of months after the vaccine is found to work. I bet you international tourism starts to trickle back. I still though believe that flights will start to increase in June but they'll be very, very, very expensive. Tourism will never be the same for a couple of years. I'd say 2022 is when the prices will go down. And I've been talking more and more about this — I thought there'd be some really great bargains, but it's going to be very hard for the airlines to make back their money and they have to — they have to stay in business in order for this to happen.

01:06:39 John Daub: The cruising industry is decimated. So it's going to take a while before they can get back into business. It's going to be probably Korea and Taiwan will be and Singapore and maybe Australia will be some of the first tourists that come back to Japan. And then it'll be based on other countries and their numbers and how they're dealing with it. This can be — you know, the best way I think you can — you can look at this — is how Japan does this. Is there not none examinations needed for international drivers in the United States? Two states have the lowest accident rates: Maryland and Washington State. And these two states in Japan do not need to take a written driving test in order to get a license. They can just get their license changed over automatically because Maryland and Washington State have excellent, exemplary driving accident ratios. I don't know — so they're the — and the other countries, other states in the United States are awful, including New Jersey, which is — so you have to take the driving test because Japan sees you as a risk based on numbers.

01:07:49 John Daub: So if we look at that as an example, I think for coronavirus based on the numbers, that's when you're going to see when your country will be allowed. And in looking at the Japanese system, I hope that's helpful. No idea why Maryland's are exempt. I don't — the governor said something nice. I don't know. Kickbacks. I don't know. But it says for years, Maryland drivers are not good. But somebody who lives across the border of Virginia, maybe.

01:08:12 John Daub: I appreciate my Patreon supporters asking those questions. And by talking about this, it gets an idea of what everybody else around the world is thinking about with travel here. Everyone is hurting out there. And I want to end with this. Actually want to end with this.

01:08:38 John Daub: Which are going to be in the Dime Mule packages — these are the Ocean Sea Salt Kit Kats, which have the cutest little ocean animals on it. Hold on, let me find — look at this. Aww. Look at that little Kit Kat. Look at this. Look at it. Look at that. That's so cute. And each one has a different animal. Aww. And Jaden, I'll get to that in a second. There's a dolphin as well on there. These are me in this month's Dime Mule package. These are really good. Do you know? Oh! Oh, oh, oh! Do you remember? Has anybody had those Snyder's Chocolate Pretzels? Has anybody ever had Snyder's Chocolate Pretzels? It tastes like this but it's white chocolate and not so chemical white chocolate. It's really good. I like it. You may not be able to go to the ocean but you can have an Ocean Salt Kit Kat. I feel like you're there. You eat it in the bathtub. I put mine in the freezer.

01:10:04 John Daub: You heard the construction has started again. Also in the Dime Mule package, for some of them — actually just for one in Singapore is a supplementary one. I couldn't fit it all into the box. Frito-Lay has a matcha popcorn. Like a green tea popcorn. Good on you, Frito-Lay. Oh, this is in the Dime Mule boxes. This is the main item. I thought this would be interesting. Oreo has a sakura-flavored chiffon cake. Sakura chiffon cake. Look at that. So this is going to be in your Dime Mule boxes here — Dime Mule packages. Thought that would be interesting to put in there. It's gotta taste good.

01:10:52 John Daub: Oh, and I put in one of these too. I had to find long shelf-life things. This is sakura tea from Lipton. So this is going in there too. I had to find things with a long shelf life — this has a long shelf life, like 2022. Basically, oh, and Hershey's. Hershey's has — there's a Hershey's green tea thing that just started, like mochi. Hershey's is making mochi. So you're getting that in your Dime Mule box as well. It's going to be a cool one. Just for Americans, it has to be gone by surface mail because air mail has been canceled for packages. So your Dime Mule package is going to be sent by surface mail, which I told could be anywhere from one to three months. So these will last. And since it's going on the ocean — these are coming to you by ocean. The ocean salt.

01:11:46 John Daub: Let's see if I can find one with a dolphin on it. Oh, there it is. There's a dolphin. Look at that dolphin. It's cute, huh? This is the type of dolphin that will probably chew your leg off. Yeah, Katayama just wrote in: "Sweet. You're going to love these." These are good.

01:12:08 John Daub: Eric Swanson, thank you so much. And here's Jaden. I want to thank you. And Matt, I want to answer your questions here. Matt Nitty Differ writes in: "Keeping my fingers crossed for November. My wife and I visited and toured Japan last October and are planning on coming back this November." I think autumn travel will start up based on the numbers. Because everybody is expecting a second wave. I don't know — based on historical figures. So if the numbers look good, it would be great to see you be able to come here.

01:12:41 John Daub: Jaden Westhead: "I booked my flights at the end of last year and have been watching your videos stream since January. I got all my money back and while I can't spend money in Japan, I can help you out at least." Jaden, I'm going to use this towards when I am able to go back out there. I realize that a lot of you might have been here. So in June when Kanae and I are traveling around, I will put that to some very, very good use. And it'll be like you had bought that here. All right. I'll be — we'll be living. I'll be living through — you'll be living through me through and I'll be living through you helping, you know. So I appreciate that.

01:13:21 John Daub: I understand that this is a hard question to answer. "Do you feel that I would be able to travel in Japan next spring? My main goal is to explore temples, shrines, gardens and mountains." And Dan, I'll get to yours in a second. I think I would say yes. My feeling is it's so far in advance. Nobody knows for sure. But if there is a second wave and it is really, really bad, then that's going to be your indication. If there isn't and it's okay and we seem to make it through okay, then I would believe spring would be all right. I think that maybe after cherry blossoms, maybe before. I'm not sure. Maybe April 1st to limit the amount of tourists that want to come. My guess is this: flights are going to be a little bit expensive and it'll be dependent on whether or not your country can even get in — can get the visa on arrival. And also if the numbers — it's a numbers game. And I hope I really, really hope that you can make it to — let's see if tourism starts to trickle in fall, then we will know for sure. And if there's a vaccine, then the answer would be yes. Jayden — all I can say is thank you. You're very welcome. All I can say is you're very welcome and you'll be coming with us. So, Jayden. Well, we'll see if we can shout out to you from the road.

01:14:49 John Daub: Live — thank you for your insight to travel to Japan — always fun to join your streams. From Dan — thank you, Dan, in Canada. Guys, I want to say thank you so much. Kanae and I really appreciate it. I — I want to get back to going out there to travel just like everybody else. There's some YouTubers that are doing it too. Um — we've talked about that and we're gonna stay in for longer. And these this support helps us because you — you can't go out there film can't content — you can't make a living off of this. But we're all kind of hurting and in this together. So we'll find a way to make it interesting — like with the kaiseki bento tomorrow. That should be a lot of fun. I'll try to open up the stream an hour before we go but it'll be around 12 o'clock, 11 and 12 — lunchtime tomorrow which is about this time, 24 hours.

01:15:35 John Daub: Ryan writes in here: "Hey John, this small business visit sounds like a great idea. Thanks for the stream and bringing Japan to the rest of the world." Ryan, every small business has a story to tell. About the kaiseki event — this is why I think this is an amazing thing. Every small business has a story — not all of them have amazing stories but they all have a story. Some of them do have amazing stories. Why does somebody start a soba shop for example? What was their inspiration? That their father was a soba chef. So why did they want to start it? And how does their soba shop taste compared to the master that they learn from? Did they do an apprenticeship? There's so many different angles to a small business. So I think that that's just like a phenomenal idea for the future of the new channel. And yeah, that's gonna be a lot of fun. It's all about story. It's always about a story for me. I have to find a good story to make.

01:16:39 John Daub: Suede writes in here: "Love these updates. Can't wait for you to be able to give us outside live streams." I know, I know. I've been one — I want to walk around the town and the neighborhood and I think that's a good thing — that's a good thing — that's a good thing — that's a good thing — that's a good thing — that's a good thing — that's a good thing — I think we're getting closer to. Despite being in a state of emergency, if I go out at certain times, I'll be able to show you the empty streets. Maybe, kind of give you an idea of the businesses. I can go around and show you the shops that are closed. But I want to give it a little bit more time. It's not responsible to go out at this time just yet. But we're getting very close to it. And if they open up to other prefectures on Thursday, I have a feeling that Tokyoites will be going out more and that's a time for us.

01:17:22 John Daub: I believe that we should stay in. The most dangerous times are when they just open the gates and everybody runs in. You've all seen Braveheart, right? Where those dudes are running with the swords — that first line always gets slaughtered. All right, I'm not going to be in that first line. Right, Wendy? Wendy's with me on this. Wendy, thank you so much. I don't want to be in that front line, guys. I want you to think about your families too. When they do open up, the first reaction is to get in your car and go to the beach — don't do it. Give it some time and let it sort out and then go. This is bigger than — yeah. I want to too. I'm just going to kind of hold back a little bit. And then I'm going to go by the numbers.

01:18:04 John Daub: And I don't even know this is a state of emergency to be honest with you. This has been so soft. There's people outside along the river. Kanae and we went for a walk yesterday which is allowed for some sun and we saw that there are too many people out. We just bailed. We came back home. It was that bad. So people are still out and about with families and playing on playgrounds and stuff. It's — it's like weird. But we're gonna stay.

01:18:29 John Daub: Lost Under Sky: "I remember when John was casually going out back and then to live streaming and he said it wasn't a big deal at the time. I'm glad to see he's changed his stance." The numbers had changed. If you take a look at the graphs that I showed you, it was based on what was going on at the time. So I stopped — I did one at the end of March. And then a week later things started to spike. And you can get a feeling, a sense that people were coming — that it was just the social distancing wasn't there and it was just scary. You look — you have to stay fluid. What is happening in the United States and the timing and your timeline in the United States — it's not the timeline here in Japan. All right. So we have different timelines. Australia has a different timeline. The UK has a different timeline based on your localities. So despite your — the news in the US being overwhelming and it's just awful to watch — that's not the situation here in Japan exactly. And that's not what's going on in Australia. So we have to be reactive and think that you know — I'm in Japan and I — I'm feeling this out as the with the rest of you. Because we know that this is also a bad situation here. The number of infections in Tokyo is just ridiculously small. But what keeps us inside is the fact that we just don't know how many people are really tested and why the tests are so low. But it's just a matter of time until we get to the point where we can get to the point that we — I just think maybe we don't trust 100% the data. So we stay inside. It's bigger than me.

01:19:56 John Daub: This is for Kanae — arigato gozaimashita. Thank you, West — Jaden. That's so kind. This whole thing — this whole stream is brought to you by Jaden. Thank you, Raymond, for your upcoming kaiseki ryori since we can't be there. Ah, Raymond, you'll be with me as well. All of you will because I'll be live streaming this. It's going to be a lot of fun to eat something special. So this is the last night we're going to be eating something special. So this is the last night — for breakfast we had oatmeal. Last night we had — Kanae made some fish with daikon. We eat pretty simple with rice and natto. We eat pretty simple and healthy. But every now and then kind of turn to the dark side and that's good for us all. We should have something special — something to look forward to — maybe once or twice a week. Have a date on your balcony. Kanae and I will have a date night outside. I try to turn this into a cafe — but the put the — this is a plastic tree. We put it outside. Put some lights, try to make it special and break it up a little bit. And it makes the time go by a lot faster. Less like Groundhog's Day — more like — well, it's still kind of like Groundhog's Day, isn't it? Keep it real, guys. Take care of yourself. Stay safe. Stay inside. I'll be back maybe in 10 days for an update after what happens with the other prefectures and there's some more updates that make it different than what I have for you today.

01:21:28 John Daub: Ryan — mask worked nice complexion. You like it, right? Yeah, so I mean I still got a bunch of that left. So I'm doing it once a week. I'm shaving also like once a week too. I shaved yesterday, that helps.

01:21:43 John Daub: Fake tree confirmed — it's always green. It's always green. I have another one that's not fake but when I travel and go out for weeks at a time, it's hard to have the water to — to walk to water it. And we had some trees die. And we felt that no tree should have to endure an abusing owner like me who's away for weeks at a time. So we had some of these nice trees. Take care, guys. I'll see you really, really soon. Maybe tonight — I think tonight we'll do a live stream with the Tokyo's Korean coronavirus game and see us flying around the city. In a way, it keeps us — keeps us inside and home. And you too can play from wherever you are in the world with me. Bye, guys. You can end by looking at this and definitely subscribe — because I have to say that every creator wants more subscribers. It's important, you know. Thanks, guys, for the support. Bye.