Only in Japan Go — Transcripts
Summaries + full diarized transcripts
2021-06-03 · Ep 987 · 39m

Tokyos Yoyogi Park Dilemma Explained Vaccinations vs Summer Games

TokyoOlympicsVaccinationsPandemicUrban Planning
Summary

Tokyos Yoyogi Park Dilemma Explained Vaccinations vs Summer Games

Overview

In this June 2021 live stream, John Daub walks through Harajuku and into Yoyogi Park to address a significant controversy surrounding the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. At the time, plans were underway to convert a section of Yoyogi Park into a public viewing area for the Games, which involved cutting down numerous trees. Public outcry, combined with the pressing need for COVID-19 vaccinations, led to a last-minute policy change.

John documents the scene on the ground just after Governor Koike announced that the site would instead become a mass vaccination center for police and firefighters. He explores the fenced-off construction areas, discusses the pace of Japan's vaccination rollout, and reflects on the cultural decision-making process of consensus versus executive action. The video captures a pivotal moment in Tokyo's pandemic history, balancing Olympic preparations with public health priorities.

Throughout the walk, John encounters the infamous crows of Yoyogi Park (including "Toby"), interacts with live stream viewers, and provides context on the 1964 Olympics legacy visible around the park. The episode serves as both a news update and a time capsule of Tokyo during the state of emergency leading up to the 2020-2021 Games.

Highlights

  • 00:00 John introduces the controversy from Harajuku Station, with the Docomo Tower in view.
  • 02:14 Explanation of the original plan to cut down trees for an Olympic viewing site.
  • 03:04 Announcement that the site will become a mass vaccination center instead.
  • 07:00 John points out a sign still advertising the Olympic live site, now outdated.
  • 09:22 Discussion on Japan's vaccination rollout speed and testing requirements.
  • 13:57 Encounter with crows bathing and blocking the path.
  • 14:52 Discovery of the fenced-off construction zone within the park.
  • 23:00 Mention of the famous glass public toilets nearby.
  • 30:49 View of the National Gymnasium built for the 1964 Olympics.
  • 34:41 Summary of Governor Koike's decision to prioritize vaccinations over viewing sites.

Timeline / Chapters

  • 00:00 Introduction at Harajuku Station
  • 01:18 Walking towards Yoyogi Park
  • 02:14 The Tree Cutting Controversy
  • 03:59 Vaccination Statistics Update
  • 07:00 Outdated Olympic Signs
  • 14:52 Entering the Construction Zone
  • 16:37 Crow Encounter
  • 23:00 Glass Toilets & Park Maps
  • 28:32 Past Festivals & Dengue Fever
  • 33:07 Summary of the Decision
  • 37:39 Promotion of Shinkansen Video

Japan Travel Tips

  • Yoyogi Park Access: The park is directly across from Harajuku Station. It is a popular spot during sakura (cherry blossom) season but can be crowded.
  • Olympic Legacy: Look for remnants of the 1964 Olympics, such as the National Gymnasium, which was reused for the 2020 Games.
  • Public Toilets: Near the park, there are famous transparent public toilets where the glass turns opaque when locked.
  • Transport: Harajuku Station is served by the JR Yamanote Line. The Meiji-jingumae Station (Chiyoda Line) is also nearby.
  • Crow Awareness: Yoyogi Park is known for large crows. They can be aggressive; keep food sealed and be aware of your surroundings.
  • Vaccination Context: During mid-2021, mass vaccination centers were opening rapidly. Tourists were not eligible, but residents over 65 were prioritized.

Japanese Language & Culture Notes

  • Consensus Decision Making: John explains that Japan rules by consensus rather than executive orders, which slows down decision-making but reduces public risk.
  • Sakura (Cherry Blossom): Cutting down trees, especially sakura, is culturally sensitive in Japan. This was a major factor in the public outcry against the Olympic viewing plan.
  • Takeshita Dori: A famous shopping street in Harajuku known for youth fashion and crepe shops.
  • State of Emergency: The video takes place during an extended state of emergency (until June 20th, 2021), affecting park events and gatherings.
  • Crows (Karasu): Large crows are common in Tokyo. John humorously names them "Toby." They are often seen as intelligent but sometimes nuisance animals.

Food & Drink Guide

  • Iced Coffee: John mentions stopping for an iced coffee after the stream. Vending machines are common around Harajuku Station.
  • Bento (Boxed Lunch): Mentioned in the context of a previous Shinkansen video with Peter von Gomm.
  • Festival Food: John recalls past food stands at Yoyogi Park during Thai and Vietnamese festivals, though these were paused during the pandemic.

People

  • John Daub: Host and narrator. Provides on-the-ground reporting and context about living in Japan during the pandemic.
  • Governor Koike: Tokyo Governor who made the decision to change the park's purpose from Olympic viewing to vaccination center.
  • Prime Minister Suga: Mentioned regarding his goal of 1 million vaccinations per day.
  • Kanae Daub & Leo: John's wife and son, mentioned personally regarding vaccination eligibility.
  • Peter von Gomm: John's friend, mentioned regarding a previous Shinkansen video.
  • EricServe6: A viewer/guest mentioned from a previous Tsukiji live stream.
  • Toby (crow): The name John gives to the crows encountered in the park.

Key Takeaways

  • Policy Pivot: Yoyogi Park was repurposed from an Olympic viewing site to a mass vaccination center due to public pressure and practical necessity.
  • Vaccination Progress: Japan's vaccination rate was accelerating in June 2021, reaching 485,000 doses per day.
  • Tree Preservation: The plan to cut down trees for a temporary viewing site was widely criticized and ultimately avoided.
  • Consensus Culture: Japanese decision-making relies on consensus, which can be slow but ensures public buy-in.
  • Olympic Reality: With no international tourists, large public viewing areas made less sense than health infrastructure.

Notable Quotes

  • 02:14 "Cutting down trees is a non-starter. I wasn't going to let that slide."
  • 08:39 "How dare they even think about cutting down a tree for a viewing site for a two-week event."
  • 10:03 "Japan is a country where decisions are made by consensus and it takes quite a long time."
  • 16:37 "This is so crow land."
  • 34:41 "They did listen to the public and they did come to their senses."

Related Topics

  • Tokyo Olympics 2020/2021
  • COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout in Japan
  • Harajuku Neighborhood Tours
  • Yoyogi Park History
  • 1964 Tokyo Olympics Legacy
  • Japanese Consensus Decision Making

Search Tags

#only-in-japan-go #tokyo #yoyogi-park #harajuku #olympics #vaccinations #pandemic #governor-koike #travel-japan #tokyo-news #crows #sakura #shibuya #meiji-shrine


Full Transcript

00:00 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Harajuku. That is Harajuku Station, the new one right in the center of your screen. That's the Docomo Tower in Shinjuku, which is about a 20-minute walk from here, depending on how fast you walk. In this episode, we're going to be talking about a controversy that's going on right now in the city of Tokyo, maybe even the world. Due to the Olympics and the pandemic, they've kind of collided here at Yoyogi Park. I wanted to talk about this because it is in the news and it is an issue that I've known about for a long time. And I'm glad that yesterday they finally came up with an answer.

00:40 John Daub: Yoyogi Park is one of the bigger parks in the city of Tokyo. You can see it right here. This is Harajuku Station. This is Omotesando, which is right there. This is Takeshita Dori, the very famous place where youth fashion and all these plastic pop shops come up. And then right across from it all, and Meiji Shrine right up here, but right across from it all is Yoyogi Park. We're going to be going here and discussing the vaccinations and the Olympic viewing, which has been at the forefront of a huge controversy. We're not that far away. So let's get walking.

01:18 John Daub: I came here on the Chiyoda Line, which is right there, the Meiji-jingumae or Harajuku. A lot of tourists didn't know that Harajuku was there, so they added that a few years ago. All right, let's get moving. The Olympics is starting in less than two months now. For the greater part of that, the planning for this has been in the forefront because of the pandemic and the lack of tourists coming. As we see here, a reminder of the 1964 Olympics. You can see that on this bridge here, which is quite interesting. The world coming to Japan. It was a pretty unique time, 1964. And if you look around the city, you can still find a lot of the reminders of that era. There's the Yamanote Line going by and Shibuya in the distance there.

02:14 John Daub: But the controversy is this. There's the entrance to Yoyogi Park. They wanted to make it a little bit more interesting. They wanted to make this one of the public viewing areas for the 2020-2021 Olympics. But there were no tourists coming. So who would be coming out to watch at the mass viewing places? Probably tourists, right? Because we all have TVs here in Tokyo. So that wasn't even the biggest controversial issue. It was the fact that to make this viewing area, they also wanted to cut down a lot of trees. And for anybody that's ever been to Yoyogi Park, especially during sakura (cherry blossom) season, cutting down trees is a non-starter. I wasn't going to let that slide.

03:04 John Daub: So I was very pleased to see the news yesterday that they have changed that plan, thank goodness, to making this a mass vaccination center. We're now looking at the entrance to Yoyogi Park right now. This is going to become a mass vaccination center on June 8th for the police and the firefighters. And that's really good. They have a place to come. And over the course of this live stream, I'm going to be explaining to you a little bit about what's going on here with the rollout to the Olympics as Yoyogi Park becomes in the forefront of this controversy. There's the gymnasium for the 1964 Olympics. It's a beautiful building. And it's going to be recycled and reused in these Olympics, which I'm very happy about. All right, let's get moving into Yoyogi Park as I talk more about this controversy.

03:59 John Daub: What a beautiful day. The vaccinations in Japan—some good news I have here to report to you. According to news sources, and I have put some of those news sources in a link in the description here as well as a map to where Yoyogi Park is if you're following along. Japan's vaccinations are now at 485,000 a day, which is really good news. That means they have really done a good job trying to get the vaccinations up. And I think Prime Minister Suga's whole government relies on being able to do this more speedily. And by the end of June, he wants to have 1 million a day with a population of 130 million. So that's a pretty big deal. That's still a long ways to go.

04:46 John Daub: Here's a map of Yoyogi Park just to give you an overview. It's a pretty large park. If you ever try to find a friend who's waiting here at sakura season, the cherry blossom season, good luck with that because it's pretty crazy. We're here at the Harajuku Gate, and we're going to walk straight over towards the center field here and just completely take in the park. So if you haven't been to Yoyogi Park in a long time, including me, this is going to be a pretty interesting experience. Hopefully the signal stays strong. I'm a little bit worried about that.

05:17 John Daub: [inaudible]. G'day. The Aussie softball team were first to arrive on the scene in the Olympics. That's true. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. The Aussies are tough. It's going to be a good battle up there in Fukushima with the softball games being played up there. The US team is also very hardcore. So see those teams battle it out. We'll be very good entertainment.

05:52 John Daub: All right, here's the gate to Yoyogi Park. As I was saying, the vaccinations are coming a lot heavier as a result of more mass vaccination sites opening up. This site was supposed to be a viewing place for the Olympics, but it didn't make any sense. Japan eventually comes to its senses. They just need a little bit of time because in Japan... There was an announcement in English. You're welcome. I think they're starting to change some of the signs too to help out with people with the mass vaccinations. To the announcement just saying if you're riding a bicycle, don't go in the wrong direction. You have to go this way around the cycling.

07:00 John Daub: All right, so Japan is... Let's get back on target here. Japan has 485,000 people a day getting vaccinated. A huge jump from where it was not too long ago. So all that complaining might have helped. But it's a good thing. Yes, that shop is still open. All right, do you see the sign is very significant here. It says here from the 1st of June to the 10th of 4th of October. This is going to be a live site for the Tokyo Olympics. That was changed yesterday. This sign is dated, so it's kind of neat to see that it's still here telling us the wrong information.

07:56 John Daub: From yesterday, Yoyogi Park changed from an Olympic live site to a mass vaccination center. Tokyo finally getting the priority straight here, knowing that the vast amount of citizens here do not want the Olympics to take place at all. So it made sense not to do that. It says here that the construction starts... Was supposed to start yesterday until July 22nd. So one and a half months to cut down trees and make a live site. I think that would have been ridiculous anyways that the Olympics were doing. I don't know who came with this plan. Maybe ex-minister Mori, who has made many questionable calls. But you know, is a good family man. So I can't really criticize too much.

08:39 John Daub: It's going to return back on August 24th to a live site for the Olympics. So this is a mass vaccination center for a few months. Then it's going to turn into a live site for the Paralympics. Okay. So it's very important to notice here. It says Olympic and Paralympic viewing platform. So yeah, I don't know if they're going to cut down the trees. I hope not. I will come back here and hug those trees. They'll have to tear my arms from the tree. How dare they even think about cutting down a tree for a viewing site for a two-week event.

09:22 John Daub: Welcome to Yoyogi Park. Everything's going a little bit better in Japan. Better than expected. I didn't have very high hopes. But the mass vaccination centers that have opened up there, they're carrying the Moderna vaccine. They're being administered now to people over the age of 65 at a very fast pace now. They've found ways to work it out. It just took a long time. The reason why Japan's vaccination started late is because they wanted to do testing inside of Japan and didn't accept Pfizer and Moderna's international testing. They wanted Japan-based testing. So everything was delayed by two months, which in Japan adds another month or two. It's a very, very long time.

10:03 John Daub: And I think that's why we need to be patient because Japan is a country where decisions are made by consensus and it takes quite a long time. And it is very, very hard sometimes to be patient. I mean, there are some advantages to dictatorships in pandemics maybe. But I like to think that in the consensus we reduce risks that might harm the public and in the end it might be a good thing. However, in this case, it maybe wasn't. So you get a nice view of Yoyogi Park. Still some people here. You can social distance and remove your mask. But we are still very much in the pandemic.

10:46 John Daub: One of the big catalysts to Japan being more open to the vaccines because there were a lot of anti-vaxxers here. But that's changing so rapidly. Do you know why? Because of the US and the news that we see every day that the US is getting back to normal. People are going out. Summer events are being held. The public is 80% vaccinated or more in many states. This has caused Japanese to see all of the fun on TV and say, why aren't we doing that now? So people are starting to wake up and probably Japan is going to be very good at getting all of the citizens vaccinated really quickly. Just depends on the government trying to get those vaccines into the arms of people not having enough staff in order to do that.

11:31 John Daub: Japan has a shrinking population and a very small medical population. So we have to get the medical staff in order to do this kind of stuff as well as take care of all the other people. Some of the hospitals were having problems with beds to help the elderly who had dementia and other problems turning them away, which is really bad. So we have to keep the normal medical system running while also administering these vaccines. So I'm hoping that they can train other people to do that, like dentists, which have been sanctioned by the government as vaccine givers here in Japan. But we're starting to move forward on this.

12:11 John Daub: For those joining us right now, we are in Yoyogi Park and we're going to be walking now from Harajuku Station to the center of the park. Hey, Bradshaw Studio, nice sunny day. To the center of the park to see how the construction is going for this mass vaccination site. Yesterday, Governor Koike changed the direction very wisely, addressing citizens' concerns that we weren't doing enough for the vaccinations and too much for this Olympics. And this park was changed from a viewing place during the main Olympics at the end of July to a mass vaccination center for firefighters and police officers who definitely need to get vaccinated. So it's a very good thing. First responders, people on the scene.

13:07 John Daub: And for those of you who used to live in Japan or visited here before, this is definitely a trip down memory lane. Hope the signal is holding strong. So they are still pushing the Olympics. There's no more pushing. It is done. They are doing it. They're already teaming up. And the team is here in Japan, training and getting ready. The Aussies arrived a few days ago. For those joining us here once again is a sign telling everybody that this is a live site for the Olympics, 2020 Olympics. That has now been changed to mass vaccination. We're going to investigate. That's what we do here live. You have anything that you want to add or questions, go ahead and ask away. And I'll do my best to try to answer it as we walk towards the pond, the fountain in the middle. Which is a big meeting place during those cherry blossom days.

13:57 John Daub: You can hear all those crows too. Kind of creepy. Jennifer writes in here in the 1980s, there used to be punk bands lined up and down. They're still here. Just it's not so wide as. Oh, look at this. We can't go any further. What's up with that? Look at that dangerous bird and taking a bath. One of his disciples. He's not bothering us. We shouldn't bother him. Love and peace. That's how you sun yourself in Japan.

14:52 John Daub: All right. The bicycle is turning away. So that means we're going to have to go around. This is to take a quick look and see the situation before we walk around. So we're prohibited to enter from this part and they've quarantined, fenced off this area. So no one can enter through here. But you can still ride your bicycle and run around Yoyogi Park. But you just cannot enter in the distance over there. You see men in blue uniforms. It's very X-Files-ish. Some sort of government conspiracy happening in the distance. Well, which is basically changing the plans from live viewing center to mass vaccination. Looks like most of that work's happening on the other side. I think we get a closer look if we walk around this way.

15:49 John Daub: By the way, I'm going to be doing another live stream following this walking from one area from Harajuku, I think, to Shinjuku. And another live stream in a little bit after this. Should I go this way or the other way? There's no easy way. I guess we're gonna have to go this way. Don't know the trees block 4G, LTE, 4G signals. Right. R and R. That is exactly right. This is the mass vaccination center. David R writes in here. Thanks for keeping us informed. Good to hear Japan is seeing more vaccinations. Indeed. Maybe one day we will be.

16:37 John Daub: Oh, you creepy bird. Do not try to do. That's a whole family of them. I don't know if this is safe. Gangs of them here. Do they know I'm here? Do they know who I am? Just say that because we've had many run-ins with other gang members on their side in different areas of Japan, but none in this. Maybe this is a different gang. I don't know. It can't be good. Look, there's a feather. So it seems like the signal is very bad in here. Might have to jettison the park. This could be because of a wave of crows blocking the signal with their wings. This is so crow land.

18:05 John Daub: You can see inside of the park. A lot of these are sakura trees. Let's see if I can get the volume a little bit better here. So a lot of these are sakura trees. Jennifer says jump the fence. Really? I don't think I can. And look, there's patrol here. He's patrolling the place like this is like the X-Files. There's government workers patrolling and stuff that. He's doing a perimeter check. He's one of them. So yeah, for those that haven't been in Yoyogi Park for a while right now, nobody can go in here. Right now, staff, they're raking and cleaning. Looks like one of the volunteers over there. But this is turning into a mass vaccination site. The plans altered yesterday. Governor Koike making that decision rightfully.

19:19 John Daub: But I'm pretty sure that before they can't just make a decision right away. It takes a while to reach a consensus with everybody else and get on the same page. And it's smart to do that. There was no rush to change the plans, but it just worried a lot of people that they were making a mess. They were making a live site for the Olympics, even though there's no tourists coming in here. And here you can see that they're kind of bringing some people in to talk about the park here, which is really cool. Yeah, it looks like this is part of the construction crew doesn't look like they're hauling anything, but it seems newsworthy to have them in the background.

20:09 John Daub: All right, I'm going to get out of here because I'm pretty sure in this Blair Witch area, the signal is not good. Don't look at him jumping. Jim, do you see that they walk? If you see if this is Minecraft, you see little black bumps jumping up and down. That's a crow walking like a human. You know, crows were in some of the worst horror films, one in particular called The Birds. They ripped humans apart. Well, you can play that game. I know their language. You have to sound more murderous toward total poker rates and hoping you get vaccinated with your first. I hope so, too.

21:23 John Daub: Matt Angstrom. Hi. How is your son? My fiance is home from deployment. I want to come to Japan so badly. I will see you in Japan. If my fiance can get some station there, that'd be awesome. They could tell your wife and Leo I said hi, be safe. Thank you, Matt. That'd be awesome. You could get stationed here. I just got a message from somebody at the Atsugi at the military base there. All the bases are closed, but, you know, I've gotten invitations from a lot of service people to come and visit. And I would love to do that. I would love to tell the story of some of the bases, too. There's a lot of history behind it. That'd be really interesting.

22:00 John Daub: So we're now walking away from the center. Here's a sign telling you to wear your mask. Cough etiquette wearing a mask. I guess you have to wear a helmet to gargle and wash hands. Avoid crowds. Keep social distancing from Tokyo Park Association. Look, I'm trying to protect the people here by telling the crows to back off. He noticed that they're not in this area. Now they are. Oh, my gosh. It's a big one right behind me. You can go in this direction. Take a quick look. Look at the Olympic area.

23:00 John Daub: If you were to walk this way for about another ten minutes, you would get to the public toilets that are made of glass where you can take a whiz and let everyone see you if you choose. But you can also make the glass opaque. If the crows want revenge, they don't have much time. I am now leaving the park. I do like how Yoyogi Park puts these maps right onto the ground. There's so many people who walk through here, right? This makes it pretty easy to walk and just see exactly where you are in regards to the park. We're down here. And Meiji Shrine is not too far away. Beautiful. Look at the blue sky. No wonder the crows are going crazy. We haven't had, we've had rain over the last couple of days. And it was cold. Very cold yesterday.

24:15 John Daub: He looks confused. He turned his head to the side. I hope the signal gets a little bit better. I don't know why. I do know that the center of Yoyogi, there's a lot of dead zones in there. Whoa, they're fighting! There's a crow fight. They fight amongst themselves, too. Let's get up here. I think the signal will get better if we can get a little bit further away from this part. There's some violent crows there. I apologize. We are in Tokyo, Irvin. My apologies if there's pixelation. I do intend to walk from Harajuku to Shinjuku or take you on a Harajuku neighborhood tour after this live stream. But I wanted to confront the scandal, or the controversy at the moment. And I think I've done that.

25:21 John Daub: Michael Susana's here! Thank you for sharing the update on Japan's vaccination plans. You're welcome. The news is breaking. My treat for you for a nice colon. Oh gosh, I need that. I'm on... I'll search for a vending machine. From up here, you get a little bit of a crow's eye view of Yoyogi Park. I don't know how pixelated it is, if it's Minecraft quality or what. But that's the center of the park. Right there. And it's closed off. You see the green gates right in the center of your screen that's stopping the public from walking in to the construction zone where they're making a mass vaccination site. Switching from the Olympic viewing point, the event area for viewing the Olympics, which made no sense. Whoa! That was a pigeon. Which made no sense. And changing that to a mass vaccination site, which makes a lot of sense.

26:27 John Daub: Right now, the vaccinations... As I said earlier, 485,000 people a day are now getting vaccinated. Prime Minister Suga is getting closer to his goal of one million a day. He says he wants to get there by the end of the month. Right now, we're still vaccinating people over the age of 65. And I think soon enough, they'll be getting to people at the age of 47, which would be me. Wonder how long Kanae has to wait. She's in her mid-30s. That could be a little bit longer. Looks like sunny and windy. It's windy. That's why I'm using this. I'm using an external microphone right now, so the volume might not be as high, but it should be pretty good. I checked the volume before starting.

27:36 John Daub: This is the road that's going towards the glass toilets, which are not too far away. But I'm fine. I don't have to use it in the restroom. There's an event area right here, which will probably get used during the Olympics, but I don't know what... There's Shibuya in the distance, too. I don't know what kind of events they're going to have. So we know that they've 86ed, which means cut out the live viewing area. What else is left? Do they have taiko performances? Do they have something of interest to the city of Tokyo? Or do they cut it all out for the people? What's the purpose of even hanging out in Tokyo during the Olympics? I need to know. So I'm going to check the event schedule. I think that they have released more plans than what's happening here. Shibuya in the distance. We're about a 15-minute walk from Shibuya Station.

28:32 John Daub: This park, there's a lot of events that happen right here. A lot of food stands during the weekends. It's usually quite crowded. There's a big, famous Thai festival, which is here. I remember coming with Kanae to a Vietnamese festival. Some people had claimed that it was these festivals from Southeast Asia that brought dengue fever to Yoyogi Park. I'm laughing because it was limited to just Yoyogi Park, and they had to close down Yoyogi Park for a few days because of a dengue fever outbreak about six or seven years ago. All right, I came this way because I wanted to give you a sight of one of the Olympic venues and then show you a little bit of the construction that's still taking place in Tokyo at the moment. As the preparations for the 2020-2021 games are ongoing, you're going to see that a lot of the city is fenced off, especially in the Shibuya area, to prepare for the crowds of people that aren't coming. I guess they still have to prepare something.

29:37 John Daub: Probably doing nothing is the best idea as there's a dog battle going on up the steps. You know in Rocky 2, he gets it. Adrian brings him a dog right? Does anybody know what that dog's name was? DG 22, a Harajuku neighborhood tour would be great. Okay, we can do that. I'll tell you which one is not the fastest, the one that's all puffy. Pup kiss! Dog 35 for the win. Good call. We don't see Butkus in the other Rockys. I think he was just in Rocky 2. He got Butkus to train with or something. That was funny. Or was it Rocky 3? I can't remember. I think it was Rocky 2.

30:49 John Daub: All right, there's a fence here. Butkus, yeah. Butkus or Budkiss? I don't know. Rocky's Philadelphia pronunciation is hard to... It's in the neighborhood. It's all good. It's fenced off here, which means that the public can't walk in. It's in this direction. So the bicycles are going by right here. So it's a little bit dangerous. You've got to watch. In this area of Tokyo, you really do have to watch where you're walking because you can get smashed by a bicycle. That's the National Gymnasium in the distance. That was for the 1964 Olympics. It was such an iconic design back in the day, and it still is today. It's hard to miss it. You can see this from quite a ways away. Even from... Do you see that skyscraper right there in the center of your screen? That's Roppongi Hills. So you get a nice view from the viewing platform up there, too.

31:52 John Daub: I can let you vote now because we're now at the end of the stream. The controversial side of it is over, and I'll sum up before I cut off in the live stream. Do you want to see a Harajuku neighborhood tour, Omotesando, or Shibuya? It's up to you. I'm leaving it up to the people. I can show you Shibuya, Harajuku in the next live stream, in about 25, 30 minutes from now. Shibuya right in here from Egypt. I'm sorry. I can't go to Egypt. Harajuku, Harajuku, Omotesando. Ooh, it's a real split decision. Omotesando. I'm going by what you say here. It's totally up to the audience. Harajuku, Harajuku, Omotesando, Harajuku. So it looks like Shibuya is canceled out. Patrick. Ah, Patrick got in there. Shibuya. All three would be really hard. Harajuku seems to be winning. Harajuku, Omotesando, Harajuku. I'm not going to that Apple store. All of the above. That's hard. Ikebukuro is off the list. Or Harajuku with a hashtag. I don't know what that means. Peter, I'm not going to Saitama. All right. Off the list. Brooklyn would be Kichijoji, which is considered Tokyo's Brooklyn area. All right. It seems like you're going to be doing a Harajuku neighborhood walk in about 25 minutes.

33:07 John Daub: This park refreshment stand is open, which is interesting. But for the most part, a lot of things are shut down for the state of emergency, which was extended to June 20th. So let me just sum up to you this live stream for everybody who's joining me. Thanks so much. Just to sum up here, the controversy was settled yesterday, but for a long time, I've been following a lot of people on the internet, especially Twitter. There was a petition going around to prevent Yoyogi Park from becoming a live viewing place, a live viewing site for the 2020 Olympics. There was really no need for it because international tourism was stopped, right? There was nobody coming in to go and whoop. And everybody's got a TV here in Japan. I got a 65-inch LG OLED because I need to watch the Olympics, okay? And watch Only in Japan on a 4K TV so I can make it in 4K. Ah, business expense. Never mind that.

34:08 John Daub: I just know that it was wrong for them to want to cut down the trees. That created a lot of controversy, especially with tree huggers like myself. I've hugged a tree. And you know what? Hugging trees is kind of overrated. You get bugs all over it. It's all over you. Ants. You don't know what's on those trees. But they don't deserve to be chopped down, especially the older ones that are bringing cherry blossoms. So that's been settled. I don't know if they're actually chopping down the trees to make the vaccination center, which would make no sense, right? Where's the spirit for the Olympics? The spirit is to chop down trees? Come on. We all know that that's not true. And spiders, Joy. Absolutely.

34:41 John Daub: So the controversy was averted yesterday when Governor Koike wisely made a pivot and said, look, we're not going to be making this a viewing place for live viewing center for the Tokyo Olympics. We're going to be making a mass vaccination center, putting the priority straight on vaccinating the public, making the public have so much more confidence in the government. And it was a pretty smart move. And I'm glad that by consensus, that's why things take so long in Japan. Japan rules by consensus. There's no dictatorship or there's no executive orders here. It's all done by consensus. And it just takes a lot longer here to get things moving. But they did listen to the public and they did come to their senses. And now it's going to be a mass vaccination center for the police officers and firefighters.

35:26 John Daub: Now, this was not going to be the spot, as Ryan K. writes in here, for an iced coffee. Thank you. I'm going to get something on the way when I do the Harajuku neighborhood tour here. The spot for the mass vaccinations, and it still might be, is at Tsukiji. And I've taken you there with EricServe6 about two and a half weeks. And a couple of weeks ago, we walked around Tsukiji Market, the outer market, at night, which is really cool. If you haven't seen that live stream, we had a lot of fun. EricServe6 is such an amazing guy. And he even got me a present for my wife and little Leo at the end of it, which is so kind. I use that now when I'm editing. Got to watch it to see what it is at the end.

36:08 John Daub: But the site was going to be that parking lot, which used to be the old Tsukiji inner market, which is where the tuna auction used to be. Now it's just flattened. It's going to be used as a parking lot in July for the Olympics. So that's where all the parts... And then you take public transportation from there. But until then, from June 8th, until it's turned into a parking lot, that was a mass vaccination center for police and firefighters. Now, I don't know if that's still open, but they are making Yoyogi a site for mass vaccinations for police officers and firefighters. And I hope it includes YouTubers at the age of 47, too, because I'd love to be included in this so I can finally put this behind me. And not have to worry about it and be able to go to the countryside and film more live streams and videos that you love. I need the vaccine to do that.

36:56 John Daub: There is some graffiti in Yoyogi, by the way. This is a young people's area. Parking lot is exactly right. All right, so it looks like it's going to be a Harajuku livestream. If you have any questions related to this controversy, leave them down in the comments below. I'd really appreciate it. Hit that thumbs-up button if you like these livestreams on controversy. There's going to be even more as the Olympics get closer and closer, and I'll take you on location for you to check it out. Since I'm here in Tokyo, I can do that for you. And hopefully I can start to travel once again and bring you some live content from all over Japan. Got a new episode coming in the next week or so. I'm going to have two new episodes on the main channel.

37:39 John Daub: Oh! If you haven't seen the new episode where Peter von Gomm and I ride the Shinkansen in a private Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo Station to Shin-Aomori, Japan, the railway company gave us a private Shinkansen. Get it? Even on the time schedule, they put party on it, and you will never see that ever, ever in the entire world. You'll never see party being used for a Shinkansen. They used it, and it's in the video. So check that out on the new channel because it definitely needs a little bit of love and could use some more comments on there. So leave me your feedback on what you thought of it because that helps me convince JR to give me more Shinkansen jobs. What was your favorite bento? Things like this. We want to hear from you.

38:24 John Daub: All right, take care, everybody. Give me about 25 minutes or so to charge up the phone and settle into an area, and I'll show you a neighborhood, maybe the backside of Harajuku. Hopefully, we have a signal there. We're going to have to do a signal check, and I'll take you a little bit around a very unique area that's more diverse than people think. It's not just Takeshita Dori. Harajuku's got a lot of neighborhoods, and people live here. Oh! You're a massive... The Godfather. Come closer to me. That'd be really hilarious if he attacked me live. Toby (crow). I'll see you maybe in 25 minutes.

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