00:00 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Tokyo Station. This is the start of Japanese Golden Week, Japan's about 10-day holiday, 5-10 days depending on how much time you get off from work. I thought I'd come here and explore exactly how busy it is during the 2022 Golden Week holiday rush. We do call it a rush because people are in a rush to get out of the city. Just panning around outside of the central entrance here, it is not the best day in the world. It is raining. Typical of April showers, May flowers. How you doing everybody?

00:31 John Daub: Golden Week is a time I've been living here for 23 years now, and it's a time that I try to avoid traveling if I can. A lot of people, especially salary workers, have holidays that are set where the entire company shuts down in many cases. And this is the only time that they have to travel. So prices on it are not that high. Everything around this country sometimes goes up as high as 300%. And if you haven't booked this at least three months, and I would say six months is safer, you might not even get accommodations, especially popular accommodations. You'll be in a couple of towns away from where you actually want to be, especially domestically. Internationally, flights historically have been on the high end, sometimes double the price of what they normally would be taking advantage of the demand.

01:21 John Daub: I can see this year it's not quite as crowded as years past. This is right in the middle of the afternoon, but it is quite crowded. I'm going to go inside the Shinkansen platform and give you a little bit of information about what this year's Golden Week is like. This is a ticket that I just purchased from the vending machine. It is a ticket that allows me to enter onto the Shinkansen platform, but not ride the Shinkansen. It's about a dollar at the exchange rates. It's currently 130 yen to one dollar, which is the highest it's been in over 20 years. Which is really cheap for you if you can visit here. But I'd say this is about a dollar ten to be able to go in and see the Shinkansen. So let's go do that right now and get a feel of what Golden Week is like. I'll be looking at the live chat and trying my best to answer some of your questions as we go along.

02:07 John Daub: Gosh, it is a chilly afternoon. I got shorts on because they'll be warmer, drying quicker than I would be if I had jeans on. This is the Japan Rail Cafe. I've been here a few times. A nice place to grab a coffee before you get on the train. I'll also be discussing Japan's quote-unquote mask mandate. There's no mandate, but there's kind of a general understanding. You can see how crowded the main hallway is here. Let's go into the ticket place. Get a Tokyo Banana. See the gift shops are quite full. Everybody has suitcases in hand except for me and that kid.

03:31 John Daub: Let's go up to this Nozomi that's leaving at 2:39 and see what it looks like. Sometimes there's no escalators going up and this is really hard to do especially for parents to take the stroller and all the suitcases. So this year people have budgeted more. Japanese households have budgeted 1.4 times more money for their Golden Week holidays than last year. I guess that's a good sign. Wow we're on the platform of the Shinkansen. Apologies the signal's not that good. There's a lot of people up here. So I'm gonna walk the platform now of this Nozomi.

04:43 John Daub: I think it was a little bit crowded this morning. They had signs telling you to make sure you had your mask on. I will be doing some traveling in a few days going down to Shizuoka for the day. Nothing major because like a lot of sensible people, if I don't have to travel, I don't travel. But I'll be riding the Shinkansen on May 2nd. It's still not as crowded as in the past. You can see this is, I believe this is a Nozomi on the left side too. It's about 30% full. I'm surprised that the number's here. But this train leaves in about 15 minutes I believe so it could get fuller.

06:19 John Daub: Asatria, I'm not going anywhere right now. I'm actually just seeing what Golden Week looks like this year. This is the first day that they're doing it. Let me give you some information. That's a good looking bento. I should get Kanae some lunch from ekiben (station bento). She'll say, where did you go? I said, yeah, nowhere really. Just kind of hanging out at Tokyo Station.

06:57 John Daub: All right, here's some notes that I took here. Give you some information. Hey, I see Ranjit is here. How you doing? So I'm going to keep my mask on because I'm inside of the station. This year's Golden Week is from April 29th. It goes on till about May 8th. So it's one of those modern days that you kind of want to avoid ever traveling in Japan because it's just too crowded. If you could ever adjust your trip, make sure it's not April 28th or 9th to May 7th or 8th. Avoid it like the plague. Everything is just too expensive at this time of year and it's too crowded and it's loud and noisy and crazy.

07:36 John Daub: Yeah, this Shinkansen is quite full right here. Now according to the Meiji Yasuda Research Institute, travel is going to be up this year. More people are going out. Apparently, 11.2% of the people are going to be traveling this year compared to 4.9%. There was this trend where people did their Golden Weeks at home when the government asked them to stay at home and most people did that. This year, there's less of a desire to do that. Although the government is not actually asking people to stay home. There's no state of emergency this year where Japan has asked people not to go out traveling. That's not the case anymore. There's no state of emergency anymore and I don't think there's going to be any more in the future either.

08:42 John Daub: All right, it's a little bit better. So as you can see, the bento shop in here is somewhat full. You can tell when it's really crowded, they don't have any bentos at all. So that means that I think they're doing okay. It's not as many people as they had expected. There's no go-to travel coupons. That campaign has been suspended. There's a sticker over to say that.

09:30 John Daub: So here's the deal. Masks in Japan. As you can see, everybody is wearing a mask except for the Japanese who can't wear that. Let me give you a sense of what's been going on with that because they were debating this right before Golden Week holiday hit. There's a draft proposal. Prime Minister Kishida this Golden Week asked everybody to get boosted before they traveled, of course, and take the standard precautionary measures to avoid the three C's, which is closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings.

10:51 John Daub: Internationally, those vaccine passports that Japan issued might be helpful but I always say take a copy of your vaccine certificate if you don't have the passport with you when you travel domestically, it does help. In case you do develop a fever, you have some sort of proof that you have been vaccinated. Maybe you'll be able to find a hotel at least. Because the standard procedure is to check your temperature before you enter a hotel. And they'll give you an alcohol pump to wash your hands with. And then you do have to put on a mask before you go into the lobby. A lot of the hotels won't let you in without the mask or they won't serve you. They'll ask you to put on a mask. But what they really do is they will give you a mask. So they always have masks at these hotels. If you don't have one, they'll hand it to you. Being polite, instead of saying put on your mask, they'll say here's a mask for you. They just assume you don't have one.

11:37 John Daub: But the debate is that Shigeru Omi, who is the Anthony Fauci of Japan, he said that although reporters at the press conference should all be wearing masks indoors. If they were to walk outside the Hibiya Park, it would be okay to remove their masks, especially since the heat and humidity will be impacting Japan shortly. The protocol here outside is to put on a mask if you're talking. But if you're outdoors in a crowded space, you might want to wear one. This is polite. But in general, people have masks on all the time. I guess it's just a good habit that people just seem to have. But outside, if you're not in a crowded space, it's okay to wear a mask. And the government is trying to get people to understand. You don't need to be wearing the mask. And in the hot heat that's going to be coming to Japan really soon, it's not necessary. Unless you're talking in a crowded spot and then they ask you outdoors to put on a mask.

13:20 John Daub: And many people have been calling for the reopening of Japan. And I completely understand. A lot of the people that are doing that haven't been living in Japan for very long or don't really know much about the country. Japan has a Japanese way of doing things. And whether or not you agree with it, they're going to do it the way that they want to do it. And throughout this entire pandemic, and whether I agree with it or not doesn't matter. It's just, it is Japan. And I'm so used to like having weird procedures to do stuff that made no sense. But if you're going to live here in Japan, you have to sort of accept it because that's the way things work here in Japan.

14:04 John Daub: But throughout the entire pandemic, Japan's goals were to protect the most vulnerable from the virus and make sure the medical facilities are not overwhelmed. Now that people have been vaccinated and boosted, those goals are pretty much being hit as long as the numbers hold out. And that's when they're going to be reopening Japan, not sooner. Not later. And despite the currency, the exchange rate being really not advantageous to Japanese traveling abroad, it's not that bad. It's probably pretty good for getting people to come to Japan. So hopefully these exchange rates stay favorable for you when you visit. But don't expect Japan to open up when you want it to. It's going to open up when it opens up. And that's just the way it is.

15:02 John Daub: You can use Suica card, I think, even on the Shinkansen, but I've never done that. Or you can have the Shinkansen load up your reservation onto the ticket. You might be able to preload it. I'm not sure. I never did it. I still use paper tickets. All right, let's go down off of this platform here. Oh, it's so loud up there. Leo and Kanae both have a fever right now. I'm okay. But he's been sick almost every day since he's been at the hoikuen (daycare). And it's created havoc for us because we just can't get any sleep at all. He wakes up every hour.

15:49 John Daub: One thing that you should never do is lose your ticket. Make sure you have that on you. Let's go up to the other platform then right now. Just take a quick look. So the Nozomi's are the Super Expresses and the Hikari and Kodama are the local puddle hopper Shinkansen trains. So let's go to a Nozomi that's leaving to Hiroshima. Oh, this is the Hikari. Let's check out the Hikari. This Hikari is going to Okayama. And if you have a JR rail pass, this is the train that you would be able to take. You can't get on the Nozomi, but you can get on the Hikari.

17:09 John Daub: I got on here with a 140 yen entry ticket, which is about $1.10 at the exchange rate. It's kind of interesting if you want to come and just take a look at the Shinkansen. You don't actually need to have a ticket. You don't have a JR pass or a Shinkansen ticket. You just need to have an entry ticket. Wow. This platform is not nearly as crowded as the Nozomi's. And there is a Kodama coming right now. Let's watch the train coming in. Kodamas are puddle hoppers. Usually people that are starting off in Tokyo won't get on it unless they're going to Odawara or one of the stations before Nagoya. Anything after Nagoya, they would take the Nozomi to Nagoya, then jump on the Kodama. Because it's just faster. Nobody rides the Kodama the whole way.

18:53 John Daub: Kodama is good for going to Odawara or Atami, Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, Toyohashi. A couple of stations in between there. But in general, you would take the Nozomi to Nagoya and then take the puddle hopper. Sometimes it's faster to go to Nagoya and then take it back one or two stops. But the Nozomi is pretty empty. But this train won't be leaving until almost 3:30. The other side, though, will be boarding pretty soon. This is a 303 train to Okayama Hikari, which does make a couple of stops more than the Nozomi.

19:46 John Daub: In general, right now, the doctor Leo has a fever and has been sick for a very long time. But we asked him if we should get a PCR test, and he said no. He said you can't get a test every time that he gets sick because he's going to be sick with a fever quite often. He says if he's sick, keep him home from school, stay inside. And we've been taking antigen tests, which are not 100% accurate, but give you enough of an interest. So basically, if you have a fever, stay home. If you feel sick, stay home. That's sort of been the way to do things right now because there's just no way to get tested every time. It's too expensive. It's hard to do.

20:50 John Daub: Tokyo Banana. It's just really not as crowded as I thought it would be. This is the first day of Golden Week. Maybe it's Friday. Maybe tomorrow morning it'll be a little bit more crowded. But I've always seen on the first day on the 29th that most of the businesses are shut down today. And it's interesting to see this is a Hikari, which is a local train. It's still an express because it's the Shinkansen bullet train, but it's a local bullet train, meaning it just makes a little bit more stops. You can watch them get on here. Kodama is the slowest, but it's not that slow. It still gets you there pretty fast, maybe 30 minutes slower than the other trains.

21:35 John Daub: I sometimes prefer the Kodama because it's not as crowded, and I like to take my time if I got work to do. Sometimes spending another 30, 45 minutes on the train. It's the way to go. You just sit there and relax a little bit more. Sometimes you get 15, 10 minutes at a station. As another train passes, you can get off and get a drink from a vending machine or an ekiben on the platform if you're lucky. It's not too bad.

22:03 John Daub: Are COVID antigen tests easy to find and purchase in Japan? Yes, you can get them on Amazon pretty easily right now. Matsumoto Kiyoshi (pharmacy chain), which is the big CVS of Japan, you can get that pretty easy. It's pretty easy and cheap now. The Tokyo government does have free testing for PCR testing in certain places, but they don't give you any documentation. Not that I know of, but again, I haven't had any tests. I just know that they exist.

22:53 John Daub: Anthony writes in here, I started watching you in 2016 and visited every year since I met my fiance in Osaka 2019. And we just married earlier this month. Congratulations. Your videos have been a huge part of my life. Thank you, Anthony. Glad that you could join us here, both of you. Layton writes in here, I usually get a reserve ticket and let the agent figure it out. You probably want to make sure to get a reserve seat if you can during the holiday season because I've spent many times on the holiday season standing. And if you're paying this much for a Shinkansen ticket, the last thing you want to do is stand.

23:35 John Daub: All right, let's go downstairs back into the main. Check it out. They just came out of the secret door. I always wondered what those small doors were for. Were they for people from Lord of the Rings? Maybe something like that. A hobbit. In fact, all the members, you have a couple of new emoji, I believe, which you can use in my Hokkaido trip in a couple of weeks. I got to go back to Hokkaido. The vending machines at Tokyo Station sometimes are a little bit different. I've seen the ramen broth drink here, but they do have the Shizuoka green tea, which is interesting. Ranjit found the Japanese mascot of terror, my arch enemy, nemesis, Melon Kuma.

25:04 John Daub: All right, let's get out of here, go back out to the main corridor. We can see that Tokyo Station is very busy, but not quite as busy as it has been in the past. Here's the entrance from the Yamanote line. You would come in through this entrance, and it is pretty busy. It's even crazier in the off-pandemic years. And this is a platform ticket for 140 yen, or about $1.10. That bird noise you just heard indicates that there was a child that went through, so a kid just got out. I asked what is that chirping noise, and they said that's what happens when you put a child's ticket in. Here's the entrance to the local lines, the Yamanote line, for example, the Tokaido line, and it's not quite as busy.

27:47 John Daub: If I haven't already said it, thank you. Trust me. Appreciate that. Wait, Kanae said to pick up. I just got a message from her to pick up something for dinner. So I'll use that to go get something in Daimaru. They have some good salads and things like that. It's up to me to get the food since they're both sick today. You can see the corridor. There's a lot of people here. These yellow lines are for the visually impaired people. It's pretty crowded. Let's go back out where we came. It's nice to be out again. If I come out here, I can take off my mask a little bit. Breathe again.

29:06 John Daub: It's interesting. I always like when I have a little bit of time, I take a break from editing. I come out here and I can check out and see what does it look like? This is sort of my backyard. I live pretty close to the station for a reason. Any time I can get a hint on a job to go and film something, I can jump on the Shinkansen or go to Haneda Airport and cruise out of there and be there in an hour or two. Osaka, meaning Kyoto. It's a nice place to live, this area.

29:41 John Daub: And Sean writes in here, would you say that things are kind of back to normal? Are people physically getting going to work? Yeah, you know, I think so. As someone who's been riding my bike and going around, I don't take too much public transportation because I don't need to. Everything is pretty much a bicycle ride for me. Yesterday, the subway to Shibuya was normal. It seemed like it was normal. Everybody's wearing a mask. Nobody is talking on the subways. People know that through the news media that talking is one of the ways that people spread this. So they wear masks and don't talk on public transportation. And I think that's something that like it's mentally now after two years in people's mind.

30:29 John Daub: So Shigeru Ohmi, who's the Anthony Fauci of Japan that I said earlier, he said that it's going to be really hard to get Japanese mindset to remove the masks. But they're now starting to think about that time where masks won't be needed outside. But I think for a while longer, especially if you're ready transportation in Japan, you're thinking to come to Japan, you might not have a mask mandate in your country. But if you're a guest here in Japan, you probably want to bring a couple of masks with you. You can bring masks that you think are comfortable. Cloth masks, paper masks are preferable because they're a little bit more absorbent than these kind of masks here. But you want to be boosted and have your both vaccines and be boosted. And you want to be able to just follow the local customs here in Japan. And they're different than your country.

31:17 John Daub: And I think the biggest fear that a lot of Japanese have is that people are just going to say, oh, I don't want to wear a mask on public transportation because I've already had vaccine shots. But everybody else is wearing a mask. It just makes people feel uncomfortable. And as a foreigner living here, I'm grouped in with you. So please, I just sort of follow. You do what you got to do, but follow. Help me out here. I'm already breaking the rules, walking and eating, walking and drinking. Again, I don't agree with them, but I respect it and understand it and don't get angry about them. But you do what you got to do. I see young people walking and eating all the time now, Japanese students that just don't have time. These are just kind of unwritten societal norms. But older people might judge you, but most people really don't care anymore. Just the way it is.

32:19 John Daub: Most Japanese do things like that. The societal rules, it's based on guilt. Because if they don't do it, they feel guilty. This is what I'm getting from my friends. My Japanese friends, after years and years, say they do it because if they didn't do it, they would feel bad. So that's why they do it. I say, well, that's not a reason. I said, well, don't feel bad. I said, that's easier for you to say than for us to do. And that makes a lot of sense.

33:03 John Daub: Why is such low quality in the middle of the city? Martin, because right now there's a lot of people in the middle of the city. And 5G signal is not... 5G signal is only good for download speeds in Japan and for upload speeds. It's awful. It's sometimes even worse than the 4G for download. It's not good for upload speeds. So I'm not sure why the quality of the live streams in Tokyo has not improved a lot, except that they haven't really done a lot of work to improve upload speeds. But I think that'll come eventually.

34:16 John Daub: I would say when it comes to new style taxis, they're almost all of them like this. I believe they're hybrids as well, made by Toyota. But there are a few older ones that you see back there. And everyone has this new app that's very much like Uber that you can call Japanese taxis with the app now. So Uber and the Japanese taxi industry are still butting heads. But Uber I don't see a lot of Uber cabs. I think it was mostly foreigners that were using it as tourists. And without the tourists, Uber isn't exactly doing as well as they had in the past.

35:17 John Daub: Mask wearing is no longer required here, but I wish it was mandatory. My sister and many people in the US currently have the disease. You know what our rights and law are. There are people that are immune compromised. I think in Japan we sort of think about the people around us a little bit more. But every culture is different. You can't get upset if the norm in the US is not to wear masks. And that's the norm. If the norm in Japan is to wear masks, then that's the way they do things in this country. I think the greatest fear that a lot of people have, Japanese have, about tourism resuming is that non-Japanese not really giving a lot of consideration to how the Japanese people might feel being really loud on trains without masks. Having a family of four with the kids and everybody talking really loudly just makes people nervous, even though you might be vaccinated. That's not what they would do here.

36:22 John Daub: Whoa, look at the queue for the taxi cabs. It's really long. So if you have any questions, you can write them in the comments below. The rain is really coming down. So I'm going to try to go get something for lunch for Kanae. And I got to ride back in this direction. It's not going to be a lot of fun. I don't have an umbrella because you can't ride a bicycle with it. It's supposed to be against the law now.

37:21 John Daub: And oh, by the way, this is the last day, full day to get this particular postcard. In a couple of days, the new one comes out. But I still got a bunch of these left. This is Ameyoko Market from a couple of months ago. I'll put it right in the mail. If you join up with the Patreon Postcard Club. I really appreciate it. Take care, everybody. See you from Tokyo Station. Stay dry. Happy traveling.