00:00:03 John Daub: Greetings everybody, welcome to the Sumida River here in Tokyo where we have some beautiful sakura trees that are right at the end. It's a sad, sad moment everybody because yesterday it started to rain this morning and now it's quite windy. The wind is picking up and that means the end is here. How you doing everybody? This has been a pretty amazing cherry blossom season for us because of the birth of our son happened on the first day of it and now the cherry blossoms. I would say this is the last weekend to celebrate it. You can see behind me now the trees are really waving in the wind and when they get to 100% bloomed, which we call mankai (full bloom), they start to fall from the trees in almost like sakura rain or sakura blizzard. And you'll see the white petals just falling and I think we're going to get that today.

00:01:36 John Daub: So for the next 30 or 40 minutes, I'm going to walk around this park, which I came to at night and maybe go straight down here to Monzen-Nakacho with you, depending on how many likes we get in this video. Oh, you can see the flurries coming down just a light wind. Some of the petals are coming down already. It's a beautiful sight. So for the next 30 minutes or so, buckle in because we're about to get our last cherry blossom on. My mask on. So I'm back in the Tsukuda area, which is very beautiful. Last night I went to Chidorigafuchi, which is near Kitanomaru Park. Here's the map. We just go around the tip here where the Sumida River dissects. It's beautiful and it's filled with cherry blossoms and I'm going to take you to my favorite cherry blossom in this area.

00:02:18 John Daub: That's my bike right there. One strong wind and you're going to be inundated with cherry blossoms in your face. Another reason why this stream started late, I had to get the microphone set up. You two are still social distancing. Cute. Let's see if that helps with the audio. Sorry about that. Using external microphones is always... how about now? Hope that works out a little bit better. How you doing? All right, that should be a little bit better. Sorry about that. These external microphones, anytime you have extra devices and there's no way for me to check the levels, I really apologize for that.

00:03:28 John Daub: So just to start over that this is the end of the cherry blossoms this morning. We had some rain and we've had some wind right now and the wind and the rain. Once these cherry blossoms get to 100%, they start to fall off of the trees in what looks like a blizzard. And I have a feeling today we're going to see some blizzards, some cherry blossom blizzards as the pigeons make their last appeal to stay. Cherry blossoms stay. They love the trees here. Now, one of the reasons that the cherry blossoms fall off of the tree is just because the green leaves will push through. You can see them right here. Nature takes its course. Blossoms' lives are supposed to be short.

00:04:39 John Daub: One of the things that you'll also see with the cherry blossoms is down here on the ground. A lot of the petals just fall down and they get all into the river and they make the waterways of Tokyo and wherever there's cherry blossoms look so pretty as they float down like snow. You can pick them up. You can see how the blossoms have already fallen off. I'll help Mother Nature a little bit. So this is the petals have fallen off. And that's the end of it until next year. But don't despair, my friend. There are cherry blossoms all over Japan, and there's a lot more to come.

00:05:29 John Daub: In fact, I would say that it's not a good idea to plan your trip around the cherry blossoms because you just don't know when they're going to be. It's very hard to predict when they're going to be blooming. The result is that if you were to plan your trip three, four months in advance, you're going to have some problems because they came 12 days early this year, and they're ending before April, right? Oh, we got a blizzard. Whoa, beautiful. I want to take you to my favorite tree, which is down here. Don't plan your trip just on cherry blossoms. I'm telling you right now, the best thing to do is to make sure that you have other things to see, because there's a good chance that you won't see the cherry blossoms at all.

00:07:16 John Daub: So I'm going to take you across the street here and show you my favorite local cherry blossom tree, which is right by some steps. It's really picked up. We might see another cherry blossom blizzard. I'll come back to this point because this is one of the best tunnels in Tokyo. I think right here on the bridge near going between Tsukishima and Monzen-Nakacho. This is a manmade island this way. Straight roads. You can see on the ground, it's just all white. When you find little teeny ponds like this, puddles, the blossoms will be all in the puddle and you get that right there is the view of spring. What a mess. Wow. Look at it all. Very much like snow.

00:08:59 John Daub: There's my favorite tree right there at the bottom of the stairs. Can you eat petals? No. Well, yes, you could. But why? Do you eat grass? Don't answer that. Already the green leaves are starting to push through. That spells the end. This tree right there is my favorite. This is my favorite tree right here. They have a light that they illuminated with. It's connected from the apartment next to it. This tree is my favorite right by the steps. And this is what I'm talking about. There's nobody here. This is what I'm talking about when I tell you the best tree.

00:11:28 John Daub: I like the way that this tree kind of just pops out and goes over the path where people walk. And this is what makes it special. You have to go underneath the sakura tree in order to go up the steps. And 350 days out of the year, there's nothing here. It's green or it's barren. This is what makes the sakura season so special and what makes Japan so beautiful at this time of year, especially. It's scenes like this where just for 10 days to two weeks, you got this amazing scene that disappears. But the beauty of it is that it disappears. If it were to stay here forever, just like this, I don't think it would be so special, which is the really great thing with youth and beauty. We have it and then it's gone. That's the duality of life and all this other stuff that Japan is so famous for.

00:12:34 John Daub: But at night, the neighbors from that building put a light in here and it was so beautiful. At least it was a couple of years ago. Getting philosophical is very important at this time of year. Hey, John. Congrats again, brother with baby Rio. Here's to Kanae's fave Thai food fund. By the way, have you hit up Nakameguro yet for the sakura views? I have many times before. But it's usually too crowded. I don't think Nakameguro is the best place to see the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. I think places like this are. When you get a view of the nature and you get to spend time by yourself, Nakameguro is so crowded and there's so many stands. It's more like a festival. Sometimes you're really packed in there, especially in the middle of the night. It's a romantic place. But if you've been there once or twice, I don't think you need to go there over and over again. Because there's better places. And most of them are not here in Tokyo.

00:14:22 John Daub: So may you'll share it with your friends. I'm going to go back to the Shino variety of the tree. A lot of the trees in Tokyo will have these markers on it. So you know what the tree is. I like that, especially in city parks. All right, let's go back to this is one of these weeping willow sakura trees. Look at how pink that is. This one still has some time left. Yeah, the signal is not very good on the other side. I do apologize. Have you ever seen durian for sale in Japan? Do you know of any people who like durian? Not really. Shinjuku has some places that sell durian, but it's very expensive. It's not a fruit that's typically eaten here because the weather is not. It's not durian weather. It's not tropical in that way. Not like Singapore or southern China. It's not very popular, but there are some people who eat it, including myself. Sometimes I don't mind the smell.

00:16:32 John Daub: Kanai is having so much fun. She extended her stay at the maternity home. She would rather be there than with me at home, or she just loves the maternity home. But I'm guessing it's a little bit of both. The maternity homes in Japan are so nice. She's getting massages, three gourmet meals a day. She doesn't have to clean. I don't have to clean or get stressed out about messes that I might have left behind. And I can get some editing done because I need to get a couple of videos out ASAP. So we've passed the full bloom here in Tokyo. There's not much time left. What's the time on your end? Wow. I think it's about 1:43 PM here in Tokyo in the afternoon. This is a very nice picture to wake up to, huh, Edo? Hopefully the quality of the video has gotten a little bit better.

00:18:12 John Daub: But with this being the last day, and this tree, it's colder because we're on the backside of these apartment buildings. This tree actually has some blossoms that have not bloomed. So it doesn't mean that all of the blossoms are at 100% yet, but it just means that we're past the peak. And this might be a different variety. Now, this looks like a Somei Yoshino to me. Let's look back at last time I was here, there was some J-pop guy trying to make a music video. It's very beautiful here. I think the Sakura McFloat is a thing. I think it's still on this year. They do have a lot of cherry blossom foods, but they actually start to introduce that in February. As soon as January ends, cherry blossom fever starts. So the beer cans with cherry blossom patterns come out in February, which is weird because the cherry blossoms don't often bloom for six weeks later. But they're there.

00:19:41 John Daub: So as I was saying at the start of this, don't plan your trip around the cherry blossoms only. Because it'll be very hard to time. You can typically assume that there will be cherry blossoms between March 20th and March 30th. But again, Japan is a very long country. And after you miss the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, which you probably did, you can travel north up to Tohoku and catch them a couple of weeks later. And then even up to Hokkaido, which starts in May usually. So you can get cherry blossoms if you travel. And Hakodate and places in Sapporo and up in Hokkaido are so beautiful. See, the wind is coming. That means we're going to get a cherry blossom blizzard.

00:20:52 John Daub: Next weekend, Peter von Gomm and I are traveling on a private shinkansen to Hokkaido. Tohoku. That's right. And we're going to be riding in the grand class. First class. We got the entire grand class to ourselves. We invited 100 people who are viewers of the show or just wanted a discount that are living in Japan to join us. That means there'll be lots of social distancing. A lot of people might get their own row and car. It's going to be pretty cool. It's a ceremonial shinkansen train for Only in Japan. And JR East, which is Japan Rail East, is going to be doing some platform ceremonies. This is going to be so awesome. And if you love Japanese trains, you're going to want to tune in for this. You have the Tokyo Skytree in the distance.

00:22:02 John Daub: Anybody is invited to come, but you had to make reservations in advance. And those that are coming get a 5,000 yen discount on the price of the pass. They also get a special mask made by Japan Rail. And they also get a Welcome Suica card, which is an IC card that gives you free cash for drink purchases and stuff. There's so many advantages to getting this ticket. But I think we're sold out now. I know that over 100 people applied for it. It's going to be really special. I'm taking you all the way to Shin-Aomori. Aomori Station. And I'm going to be doing a series of live streams with you. I'm going to be doing a series of live streams with Peter von Gomm on April 3rd. And then April 4th in the morning, I'll take you to a market in Aomori, which is really special.

00:23:01 John Daub: Because now this means we're traveling again with the end of the state of emergency. So I'll take you to a fish market where you're going to get a chance live to come with me in the morning, which is evening in the U.S., to eat some really good kaisen don on the 4th. And on the 3rd is the train trip. It's going to be so beautiful. And then we return back on the 4th. I still have three days left on the pass after that. So I might be going around Tohoku a little bit, depending on the time. Depending on how Kanae and the baby are doing, because I want to get back for them. But this is an important trip for the channel, for us as a community, because I'm still in shock that Japan Rail is including Only in Japan, this amazing project to launch the JR East to Tohoku Pass.

00:23:35 John Daub: The sakura petal blizzards are a lot more beautiful under the tunnel up there. I am making a main channel episode on ekiben as well. That's going to be pretty special. Since Kanae is enjoying being pampered, here's something for you to start the daddy pampering funds. I'm going to need it too, because how do I compete with these professional masseuses that she's got there? Nicholas writes in here, please remember to pull your janken hustle on Rio. It will prepare him for life. Jan ken po, you have to just slightly delay. You can always win. Peter von Gomm has a lot of work to do. He hasn't figured out that I can defeat him every time. He doesn't know about it. Nobody tell him.

00:24:45 John Daub: This is the most beautiful section of the park. You can see the blossoms falling off of the tree. These guys here might have another 24 hours in them. But with the rain, the weight that the water puts on the blossoms, the green sprouts coming out of it and the rain, it makes it so heavy and they start to just... they can't hang on anymore. And that usually spells the end of the blossoms. Just the other day we saw seagulls do a Tokyo drift over there in Ohio. I remember going to Asakusa when I was doing a walk through at the park there. I'd never seen the seagulls do a drift like that. Maybe it was the wind. That was pretty cool with the blossoms in the background.

00:26:53 John Daub: We're between the rain. So the birdies are out. The crows, too. I can hear them. I want to take you down into where the little waterway is down there. Underneath a lot of the bridges in the city of Tokyo, they have these parks where recreation centers where you can play soccer or basketball, even. Do you see that right there? That's kind of a neat use of space. And it also keeps people who would otherwise set up like homes underneath there. Actually, I've done about three live streams there. One of them with Peter von Gomm and his son and another one with my own family. My nieces came and we live streamed the crossing to Odaiba underneath the Rainbow Bridge. It was done live. That was pretty cool.

00:27:56 John Daub: Hey, we need to have a rubber duck for Leo's bath time fun. The ducks are doing good. They're in the bathtub now. I called my nieces last night and they said that I shouldn't have the ducks walking around the house. They should be in the bathtub. So I put all of the plastic ducks in the bathtub. Five more packages showed up. So I don't know if I'm going to do another unboxing. But you see the petals here in the water. The sumida. They get trapped here. And there's going to be a lot more coming in the next 24 hours. If I come back here in about 48 hours, this might be all white. All of the cherry blossoms, even from across the river over there, start to fall into the river. And they start to float into here and they get caught. This is sort of like a trash catcher. But it's pretty clean.

00:29:16 John Daub: That's Eitai Bridge that we did a live stream on a couple of weeks ago. That bridge back in the Edo period collapsed. It was a huge incident that killed almost 100 people. But now I don't think it'll do that. It was rebuilt after that incident and again fortified after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. It's beautiful at night. And I'm telling you, this is my favorite spot. This Tsukuda Park around the point of the Sumida River. That would be a great idea to do a Japan, Only in Japan meet up right here at the point. And maybe Kanae will dance. Cherry blossoms will usually blow away but they get trapped in the water puddles. Sometimes they make really nice pictures reflecting. It's beautiful in the city. Like cityscape reflecting in the puddles with cherry blossoms in it. It's such an iconic shot of Tokyo during the season.

00:31:00 John Daub: Oh you can see they've all accumulated in the corner. Look at that mess. How dare you litter mother nature. You know it would be fun to make a huge mound of them and jump in the flower petals. Cherry blossom petals snowfall on breezy days is like a dream. Prove me wrong. I can prove you right. Do you see any petals? There's none and there's a wind. That boat over there is the Meiji Maru. Do you see this? There's a marine university over there. And the Meiji Maru was the emperor Meiji rode on that from Hakodate to Yokohama back a hundred and some years ago. And it's a beautiful ship. And it might be one that I get a chance to take you on and show you. There's a boat going by here. Very few people. That's one of those eating boats. They've got the flat tables in there so you can eat in there.

00:33:48 John Daub: Right after this, I'm going straight to a bicycle to Kanae's maternity home. I got to bring her some stuff. Because of the COVID protocols, I only get 15 minutes to spend there. It's not a lot of time, but I can pretend like I lose track of time and stay there for 20. Don't tell anyone. There are always a lot of armchair detectives trying to find anything wrong with what you're doing. To those people, I don't care. This time of year is beautiful, but it's also such a sad time. Because I know that tomorrow, after the rain, these are all going to be gone. And in a week, these will be green.

00:35:35 John Daub: I thought I was doing pretty good focusing. I do think by the end of the year, we will have HD live streams. Maybe even 4K. High definition. It stinks because this is the time of year where I like to meet up with all the people. And Tokyo has just been super quiet over the last 365 days. It will be nice to see everybody coming back soon. Maybe October. But Only in Japan will be your source of Olympic fun. I'll be on the ground at venues doing the things that you would have done if you could come. Because I live here. Yeah, there's another food boat. They are social distancing. Ahoy! Throw me your best meat! No, they didn't hear us. It's all right.

00:37:08 John Daub: Sometimes the petals get messed up into the grass here. Do you see? Kind of become a part of the scene. And because Tokyo has so many of them, the reason why there's so many yakatabune is because... It's the weekend. These boats love the weekend. Whoa! That bird has eggs. It's got children to take care of. You'd think that it would be okay to feed them if they've got kids. Oh, that's not a... I thought that was a nest with eggs. That's just a smudge mark. Doesn't that look like a nest? Don't feed the birds, but... Like, I thought that was a nest with eggs, but it's just rust. It's not an artistic design. It's confusing.

00:38:48 John Daub: Cherry blossoms are for free. It's just the ticket to come here is not. The ticket to come here is quite expensive. Can I suggest you take a nice blossom, stick it between some pages in a book, then you'll have blossoms from when Rio was born. That's a great idea. I'll have to do it at night where I can rip the blossoms off so that... But I will take one. If you don't, just don't report me. Okay? Just taking this one. I'm taking this one for all of you, too. To remember this blossom for real. Forever. You now have a special purpose blossom. You will go between some pages in a book. To be preserved forever with 850 people watching. It's pretty special. And you touched this bird's beak. So, Leo, come here in 10 years and touch this bird's beak. I touched it. And you can touch it, too. Your blossom.

00:40:16 John Daub: That's about it. If you have any questions, let me know down below. But this is a depressing time for me. I'll sit here on this bench. Because I don't want to see them go. It's really hard for me to say goodbye to the cherry blossoms. But nothing in life is forever. And I think this is something that we all have to consider. Just remember to live every day of your life like it's a special day. And don't waste any time. Because as you see with the cherry blossoms, we're here for one moment and then we're gone in the next. And life is so short, even though it sometimes seems quite long, especially to kids. It is quite short. And every year I'm reminded of it just because I see the cherry blossoms come and go. And I get sad at this time of year. And then I remember to make the most of my own day. And nature reminds us of this every year.

00:41:25 John Daub: Thank you everybody for watching. I hope you enjoyed it. I don't know if we're going to have any more cherry blossom videos this year. I might go up to Tohoku and do one. However, next weekend, get ready for an amazing trip. We are going on a field trip on the shinkansen. So come with us. I'm going to be live streaming the opening ceremony on the platform of Tokyo Station. I'll make this promise if we get the 500 likes by the time I click off. I will take you live streaming into the grand class of the shinkansen. I will live stream on the shinkansen if we get the 500 likes before I click the button. Okay, 512. I will make you this promise. Come back on April 3rd and I will live stream from inside the shinkansen. And take you on an exclusive trip with Peter von Gomm.

00:43:01 John Daub: This will be the second of three live streams on the 4th. So we're going to have a streaming day from the platform of Tokyo Station as we board the shinkansen. One live stream from the grand class in the shinkansen with Peter von Gomm. And then another live stream in Aomori at the A-Factory, which is going to be really cool. This is a place in the center, right near Aomori Station in the city, that is brand new and sells a lot of delicious foods and snacks and gifts from Aomori. So we get a chance to hang out there. And I don't know, maybe at night we'll do a night walk. Or Peter von Gomm and I will do a Q&A maybe in the room. Because Peter von Gomm has to be my roommate for that night at a ryokan. And then the next day we come back. So it's going to be a lot of live streams. It's going to be really, really exciting. So I'm glad that you guys can come with me for the ride. See you in the next one. Look at these petals in the water. Actually, the best view might be this boat here is a little bit better with the cherry blossoms in the background. Have a good day everybody.