00:18 John Daub: Hello everybody, happy new year almost. We're about four minutes away and I wanted to come here to this spot away from people. I'm in a place that's quite a ways from where there is. There are some people that are here that are going to be celebrating in about three minutes or so. It's going to turn to 2021, saying goodbye to what has been a very challenging year for us.

00:46 John Daub: This is the city of Tokyo and we're one of the first people. Of course, New Zealand and Australia have already had it. There's the Tokyo Skytree up there and this is the maiden voyage of the iPhone 12 Pro right now. I'm just going to stick around here where there aren't a lot of people, but a lot of people have come here for midnight, not just for the countdown for 2021, but because they've come here for hatsumode (New Year's prayer). And there's actually TV crews out here.

01:20 John Daub: There's some really interesting people out here. This is pretty much a news report. Exactly how do you celebrate New Year's in a pandemic? A lot of countries have just shut it down. Here in Japan, they've told people not to come out, but they didn't close it either. So it's kind of a confusing message. You see a lot of young people that are out and about here right now. There is a police box right there and they're gonna be celebrating, but I'm gonna be doing the countdown from here, away from the crowds of people.

02:08 John Daub: My wife Kanae Daub has already gone to bed. I'm just out here for all of you. This is Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) in Tokyo leading up to Sensō-ji Temple, which goes back to the year 700. There does seem to be a lot of people and the ones that are back here... How you doing? I'm staying to the side here.

02:48 John Daub: Shortly we're going to be celebrating 2021 here this time from a distance. Actually I'm going to put a link in the description to one year ago—what was it like? It was completely different. Kanae and I came down here; we celebrated with a crowd of people. Little did we know that 2020 was going to be such a difficult year. Now a lot of people are going there to line up and there's not much that the authorities can do. It's very hard to do social distancing of any sort here and I'm trying to stay away from as many people as possible. But in about a minute you're going to start seeing some people counting down. The line over there that you see—there's a line moving into Sensō-ji Temple for hatsumode and prayers. Happy new year everybody! Happy new year everybody!

04:03 John Daub: This is probably the weirdest way to say goodbye to 2020—trying to stay away from people and yet you're somewhat surrounded by them. But you can at least distance out here and I'm getting out of here. I'm going to tell everyone who is coming to the temple, happy new year! As you can see, many people are gathering around here, so please be careful not to get too close to the people in front of you. Please understand and cooperate. The police have just wished us all happy new year. If you go to a temple, I know that they're still going to ring the bell 108 times.

05:09 John Daub: So we're live here in Tokyo; we've just celebrated the new year and now I'm staying away from people. I'm going this way—actually the streets are quite open here. Last year at this time there was a line going way back of people that were entering into Sensō-ji for hatsumode or the New Year's prayer. Today it's not as many people although there are people out and there's nothing wrong with that. We are not in a state of emergency. Tokyo hit the highest number of COVID infections at over 1300 today so it is very very worrying indeed. But I do see a lot of people that aren't wearing masks or not taking any precautions. So we're just gonna kind of get out of here everybody. Please if you do go outside just take precautions. I'm out here so you don't have to be.

06:20 John Daub: So what is it like to be in 2021? I gotta tell you it feels kind of the same as 2020. We're not out of the woods of this yet but they have set up for the worst possible scenario. They have here a very long line so people can social distance and go into the temple. Again I'm in Asakusa, which is the cultural heart of Tokyo. Most of the people that are out here are in their 20s. Besides the police officers I might be the oldest one out here—more out of journalistic reasons than I am actually for celebrating. This is a karaoke parlor—karaoke booth—and there are a lot of people. The doors are open; it is in operation. They are complying to Tokyo's laws and there's nothing wrong with it. People are a little tipsy celebrating.

07:39 John Daub: All right let's take a very quick look around. This way there aren't that many people but I want to show you what the streets are normally right now on New Year's. Again there are a lot of people that are going to be coming to the house of the New Year's prayer and I'm not sure who's going to be showing up now. If you look down this side street here it is pretty much deserted. That's going towards the shotengai (covered shopping arcade). There's my bicycle right there—I'm not taking any public transportation. We'll wrap around just take a quick look and see. It doesn't seem like there are a lot of people in this area but I'm not sure.

08:34 John Daub: Welcome everybody to 2021—to the first live stream I'm using an iPhone 12 Pro for the first time. We've come here just to get a look and see how Japan is really responding to it. Again like you look at the streets here it's pretty empty compared to years past. Not only aren't there any tourists right now from international places, there's really not a lot of people coming out at all. In fact Kanae didn't want to come celebrate. She just decided to go to sleep. Happy new year, Kanae.

09:13 John Daub: Tony P's in the house. Happy new year, John, Kanae and the whole community. Let's put 2020 behind us and look forward to a positive 2021. I should say a negative 2021 if you're taking a test—so positive. Depends on how you look at it. B. Darius B. Happy new year. Diana and Sid from Germany. Happy new year. I saw your video too. Brandania. Happy new year. Tokyo Tom 23. Happy new year, John. Stay safe and enjoy the celebrations. I won't be enjoying the celebrations. I'll just enjoy them from a very safe distance. Hopefully see you in April when I move to Saitama. WRX Turbo. Happy new year. Tara Duffy. Happy new year. Welcome to the insiders. And Jesus Rosario. Happy new year, Ace. Ade Ranjit. Happy new year from the other side there in the UK. Be safe.

10:02 John Daub: This is me gaming. Always stay positive. Happy new year. You made my year. That's so happy. Tasty Chronicles is in the house. Hey there. Hi, John. Happy new year. Happy new year to you and wishing you the very best in 2021. Thank you for all of the awesome videos reporting from Japan. Wishing you good health, success, prosperity in your YouTube channel. Only in Japan and the live streams—Only in Japan Go. Eat. Go travel from Singapore. Happy new year. It's wonderful. You guys are great. James Boardman, Nathan Simpson's a new traveler. James, I can remedy that right now.

10:42 John Daub: Here we have a vending machine. It's kind of bright, this iPhone 12. Well, I don't have to go to the vending machine to get a beer. We're going to celebrate. This is how we do it in 2020—by ourselves on an empty street. Despite the fact that this is empty, we still have to be very quiet because there are residents here. So always be respectful. Now that I've left this street, I'm going to keep my voice down. That's part of being responsible. So let's celebrate and go this way. It is a beautiful street. There's not a soul in this street. Happy new year, everybody. Welcome to 2021 here in Japan.

11:28 John Daub: This starts a new year for Only in Japan, this channel that I started—this one, the live streaming channel in 2017, and it has grown. I've been able to do news stories like this, bring you with me to places all around Japan. This is really cool. Kanpai. Omedetō. Akemashite omedetō gozaimasu. Happy new year. It's the first beer of 2021.

12:00 John Daub: So we are staying away from people. Let's just get a quick look. See on the other side of that crowd. And here's a bar that's open. So they do have some bar celebrations that are open. There's about 10 people in there and I think they're keeping their distance. It's not a big gathering inside that bar. There's an officer on the end of the street. This is so you don't butt in line. And there's actually a gate there so you can't get in through here. Interesting. All right, let's go around here. You don't want a line cut. And actually, I have no intention of going to do hatsumode. I'm not going without my wife, Kanae. But we will be back.

12:51 John Daub: Tony Becker's in the house. Happy new year, Tony. Andrew. And the hopping fox in Germany. How you doing? Good to see you, Samantha. Benji P. Hi, John. I don't really come by often anymore, but just wanted to wish you, Kanae and everybody else in the chat happy new year. Bradshaw Studio. Happy new year. And Jesus also joined as a traveler. This is wonderful. Cobra Bebop. Happy new year. Nick Alvarez. Longtime follower. Happy new year, John. You have been the key reason why I love Japan even more. Planning to come for a visit when COVID is done. Mad Audi. Happy new year. Thank you, guys.

13:40 John Daub: Kiki told me to always take my mask from the side. I'm going to put this beer right here. Let's just have a quick drink. I'm going to have a quick look-see where there's no people. What is it like at New Year's? Keeping a very safe distance. There are people that are going by here. I wanted to go across here so you can see. Everybody's going this direction towards Sensō-ji to have a quick look-see. Let's go one more street down. Again, we're in Asakusa in the center of Tokyo. Just to see what it's like during the New Year. This is the last street that I'm going to go in and then I promised my wife I would not go too far. I'm staying away from people. I'm out here so you don't have to be.

14:57 John Daub: Brita. Hey, Brita TV. Brita and Reiko. Happy new year to you, John, Kanae and our friendly community. Brita and Reiko from Germany. It's nice to see you guys here. At the end of the street, we're going to make a right. This is where Kanae and I were at when 2019 hit 2020. We were right there. Again, I'm going to put a link in the video description. You can go back to Only in Japan Go and see what it was like a year ago. Completely different. I actually did a strobe down here. Off of the main trail, Nakamise-dōri, it is pretty empty. It feels pretty weird to be in 2021 and I'm so happy to leave 2020 behind.

16:05 John Daub: Click the like button if you're so happy too that 2021 is here. 2020 is long gone—it's too early to say long gone, right? If you're happy that 2021 is here and 2020 is over, click the like button. That's how I show my appreciation for something new. It's awesome. It feels good. I'm just going to stick to the side here. If there's a break in people, I might just go take a look and see. There's a break here. As long as we're about 4 or 5 meters away, it's okay. I just want to show you what it's like here at Nakamise-dōri.

16:52 John Daub: Hey! Foxy's Glee. Happy new year from Kumamoto, our neighbor. Hey, you're in 2021 with me. Again, most of the people that are here are pretty young. I'm staying here to the side on the shoulder. We're going to go just to this part. Last year, we also couldn't go here. We're just going to have a quick look-see. There's even an announcement in English saying you cannot go to Sensō-ji Temple from here. Alright, I don't want to go to Sensō-ji Temple. I just want to see everybody walking into here. In order to go in and pray at Sensō-ji Temple, you have to go all the way around to Kaminarimon, which is extremely crowded. So this is what it looks like right now. Everybody going to do hatsumode or prayer at midnight.

18:33 John Daub: If you visit Sensō-ji Temple, please go to Kaminarimon and stand in line. It's very interesting. The police officers are telling them that they have to go all the way around if they want to go in to do hatsumode. This is a year ago—and I put the link in the description. I want you to go and check out where we were. We were right there when the clock turned to 2020. And it was completely crowded with people. This year, almost nobody is here—I'm saying that in comparison to what normally people are here. I'm really really doing an effort to stay away from people. So I'm not going to be doing hatsumode. But this is a good glimpse into what it's like now. For Japan, this is the first time ever doing something like this. You can see beyond that gate—that is Sensō-ji Temple in the distance. There are a lot of people and it's very very crowded. Social distancing is very difficult. That's one way to put it.

19:49 John Daub: But if you've been to Japan and you've been to Tokyo and you've been to Asakusa, you know exactly where I am. This is Nakamise-dōri. Actually, not too many people. I'm a little bit surprised. But in a pandemic, you probably don't want to be coming here. I'm here for you. This is the maiden voyage of the iPhone 12 Pro, too. So you can see everybody going in there. There's not a lot of people, really. I'm going to take a run one more time. Let's take a look and see from the front of Kaminarimon. We're pretty much there. We're about 50 meters away from the front. And typically at this time, it would be completely crowded. There'd be a ton of people in front there. If people are walking in like they are right now, it is a different situation than before. Just if you look off of the street, you can see it is pretty much deserted.

21:35 John Daub: Hey, TDSDR. Happy new year. Happy new year to everybody in the OIJ family. Ryan Nenette, happy new year. Thank you, Ryan. May 2021 be a fantastic year for you and everyone in the community. Cheers. I'm going to go this way to kind of put some distance between me and the crowd over there. Chris and Ting Kawamura, happy new year. We really enjoy your channel. Thank you, Ting and Chris. Ms. Auntie Flo, happy new year from Miles and Rhonda from Saskatchewan. T-Bird, happy new year, John. Still 13 hours to go. T-Bird328 and Nathan Simpson, again thank you for guiding us through Japan all these years. Thank you, Nathan.

22:35 John Daub: All right, let's make our way to the front here. And then I'm going to cut this shorter than I normally would. It's interesting because last year there were so many people I couldn't even get a signal. And this year, it's just completely different. Actually, I walked down this street earlier. The back streets and alleys of Asakusa are so beautiful at night. The light just dances from those lights—street lights off of the asphalt here. Very nice. Happy new year, everybody. For those joining us, we are now in 2021 here in Tokyo. And I'm just doing a quick walk around to give you a taste of what it's like.

24:05 John Daub: What are they running for? Because they want to get to the front of the line. A lot of people came from back. And the police, the pedestrian control is very good. They're asking everybody to go out to the front. Now that the crowd has dissipated a little bit around Kaminarimon, which is the main gate, we're going to be able to go around and take a quick look. Here's the end of the line. Just going to go over and take a wide berth around the group here. This is the front for those that are joining us. And I came out here pretty much out of journalistic curiosity to see exactly how many people are coming to Kaminarimon. Exactly how popular is it to come at this time?

25:10 John Daub: Now the governor of Tokyo did a message today announcing that we did have 1300 people, which is the highest that we've had infected with COVID-19 here in Tokyo. And to try to stay home. And yet it's not closed. You can come and go. I was just really curious who would come to hatsumode. And it's mostly young people. Here's the front. That's Tokyo Skytree up above. And I'm going to wrap around one more time and you can get a look at the front of Kaminarimon. It feels pretty good to be in 2021. I'm still in shock a little bit. I got a big smile on my face as Tokyo enters a new era. This is technically the start of a new decade. 2020 was not the new decade—this is the start of it technically. But it feels good.

26:19 John Daub: Here's Kaminarimon. This is where you would go in for hatsumode or the New Year's prayer. And I'm going to wrap around and give you one last look at the front around this police van. They've closed down the streets here to keep it safe. There's not a lot of people. And you can see looking down Kaminarimon. This is the way that you would go if you wanted to go to Sensō-ji Temple which is in the distance. Last year I didn't go as well. It was just too crowded. This year it's not really that crowded. But you do see there are a lot of people coming together and clustering. So I just hope that everybody stays really safe.

27:08 John Daub: Hey Shane, welcome! It was a lot of fun to see the police up on the top there. They announced akemashite omedetō gozaimasu to everybody as soon as the countdown was over and we'd gone to 2021. Now we're about 15 minutes in. Let's take a look at the clock right now. As a lot of you that are watching, this is also live. So here's the clock. Now we're at midnight plus 24 minutes. New York, Vienna, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore. Sydney's already in 2021 but Singapore's next in 30 minutes. So I'm going to pass it on over to our friends in Singapore. This is what 2021 looks like if you're curious. It's kind of like the same—except it's different.

28:14 John Daub: 2021 is a year of hope. It's a year of Olympics. 2021 is the year of the Olympics. Sounds a little weird but it's true. One year later, it's been suspended for a year. But I'm kind of excited about the 2021 Olympics. There's so many things to look forward to in 2021. The Olympics is one of the things. So many other events. I'm hoping that we can round the corner and we do have some summer festivals. We do have an end to 2021 which is a lot more positive and optimistic. I can see here there's not a lot of people in this area. A lot of people have elected to stay home which is a good thing to do. I'm really trying hard to stay away because I'm quite aware of the situation.

29:11 John Daub: I'm hoping that a year from now I'll be back here and the world will be in a much better place than it is today. I'm really hoping that you and your loved ones are staying safe as well. We had a very challenging 2020. When I look back on it, it seems that year 2020 sort of went by really quickly. I could close my eyes and see September. I could see January all the way to December. If I close my eyes, a lot of it was spent inside the house. And here we are in 2021. It does not mean that we've rounded the corner yet. We're still really deep into this pandemic. But 2021, it just feels like a year of hope. Doesn't it? It just feels like some good stuff is going to be happening this year.

30:02 John Daub: For me, the Olympics—whether you think it's going to take place or not, whether you think it should or not, I don't know. For me, I think it should and I'm very excited about it. He's asking people not to congregate and cluster in front of him. Please take a photo with me. He's telling people to disperse pretty much and don't stay and take pictures. But it's so hard. If you've come out here, you're probably going to want to get a shot of 2021 here. And it's hard to turn off that elation and still remember that we are in a pandemic.

30:51 John Daub: In Japanese New Year's, we do celebrate by eating specific foods. This evening, we had soba with tempura. Soba is a way to clean the soul, I guess. We eat this before the New Year. And then tomorrow morning, we have an amazing Japanese breakfast. I'll have some pictures on Instagram to take a look at it if you're curious about it. My friend Tabby Eats, Satoshi and Shinichi have some pretty good videos about Japanese New Year breakfasts. I can always recommend those guys when it comes to food. But all in all, it's interesting 2021. We were here for the countdown. I did hear some people countdown. So sort of feels like I got to celebrate a little bit. But it's not quite the same. Any questions, anybody? The last couple of minutes here. If you have something, I'm happy to do a little Q&A with you.

32:05 John Daub: I see Lila's here. Coralie and everybody on the other side of the world. 2021 smells like a used mask where I just ate soba. So it smells a little salty. Sorry. I'm not taking this mask off. What does it smell like? It smells like my mask. Will Richie, that's good to hear. Sri Ram writes in, are you happy? I think everybody's happy. Pinoy Miko TV, we are now already in 2021. Tasty writes in, TMI. Sorry, I got to be honest with it. Diana Liu, happy new year. TB Adventures, happy new year, brother. Thanks for being here. I appreciate that.

33:18 John Daub: I'm going to take you around a little bit further. As you can see, the police have really done an amazing job. Every year they do a very good job of crowd control here in Japan. People follow the rules. There's no crowding. I've never seen any problems with any kind of lining up where even on a night like tonight, I think even more so social distancing and other protocols. People are pretty emotional and get pretty excited about things. I'm excited right here. But what we saw is after they get beyond the gate, everybody is pretty controlled. And I'm sure at Kaminarimon, they're taking all the precautions in the world. All the temples and the shrines really need prayers. The money that they receive from the New Year's prayers also helps to maintain the temples and the shrines all around Japan.

34:04 John Daub: Where my heart goes out is all of these businesses here that are closed that typically would be open. Some of them would be open. And there are a lot of food stands and stalls. Takoyaki, yatai. They'd be serving yakitori. All sorts of really delicious Japanese goodies. They are not around. And they've closed all of the shops on purpose to try to get people to do their prayer and then go home. That's the hope. You can't stop people from coming at the prayer. They've been doing it for hundreds and hundreds of years. So I'm hoping that everybody does stay safe. I'm not here with my wife, so I'm not going to be going to do my New Year's prayer. But after the third, I think we're going to go out and do it. Again, you have until about the first until the fifth to get into your New Year's prayer. And I intend to do that a little bit later on just to stay safe.

35:02 John Daub: There are people that are living here in the area that come to Sensō-ji. This is one of the big temples in the city of Tokyo, if not the biggest. Meiji Shrine closer towards Harajuku, Shibuya. That's really popular for that side. But for me, and that's my bicycle right there as I get ready to get out of here. Micro, wish you a happy new year. Thank you, Micro from Switzerland there. As we say goodbye to this area, I'll have another livestream tomorrow. But I wanted to say happy new year to everybody. And that's Tokyo Skytree up there.

35:46 John Daub: YonArt9 found the new 2021 emoji. Ah, you got it. New member here. Awesome. Cosmian from Romania. Let's kick this pandemic into history. And I hope all meet in Japan. That'd be awesome. We should have some sort of meet up in the end of the year, if that's even possible. I don't know what this year is going to bring. I have to be honest with you. I don't know what 2021 is going to look like. I think it's going to be really rough in the first two months. And then after that I can't even close my eyes and envision what it's going to be like. We've all been suffering through 2020 for so long. But it just in my heart of hearts here deep down, I can feel that 2021 is going to be one of those years where everything just is so different than 2020. Just we got to give it some time and be patient. This is a time to be patient and you can feel and start planning. Maybe it's time to start planning your trips to Japan. Like where do you want to go? Guys can write in your comments here. What's the first thing if there was no pandemic and you could just travel right now? Where would you want to go right now? What are the things that you'd want to really do? You can chime in and let us know where you're watching from too. For the last couple of minutes of this live stream.

37:10 John Daub: But we are live from Tokyo and this is the site from one of the biggest most celebrated places in the city to come for New Year's. And there was a very quiet countdown. A lot of people from all around the world. I think we have every single continent represented including Antarctica. Sometimes Only in Antarctica writes in and says hi. So we've had visitors from even Antarctica watching the show. Just awesome. All right, everybody. Happy new year. I got one last thing to do for all of you that are watching as we social distance from people. Kampai everybody. I hope that this year 2021 brings all of you much more happiness, much more success and prosperity than the last one. Except for you mask makers and everybody else who profited off. How dare you but you know, that's the way the economy goes. Kampai.

38:21 John Daub: Take care everybody. You can see my mask back on here. You can see on the other side. The police obviously they know that there's not going to be as many people this year. So they're starting to put it away. The crowd control is not needed but they were prepared for anything which is good. Happy new year, everybody. We did it. We are in 2021 and you're next. So definitely leave a comment when you hit 2021 come back here and let us know what it's like on the other side because here in Tokyo right now 2021 smells pretty good. The year's a little cold though. Stay warm everybody. Happy new year. See you again in another live stream pretty soon. Don't forget to subscribe. Oh and a new episode on the new channel is coming tomorrow. I got all of your viewer videos and I put a little teaser on Instagram. Matane. Mario. Happy new year. John from Costa Rica. Hope for a better year in 2021. Thanks Mario. Hey Mikas. Happy new year. Arvind. Hope 2021 doesn't leave us like the leap year 2020. Happy new year, John-san. Thanks for that. And Patty Highland. Happy new year Patty.