00:05 John Daub: Hello everybody! How you doing? So in this episode I wanted to quickly go over some of the changes that will be happening to people coming into Japan, visitors starting November 1st, and some of the steps that you need to take.

00:30 John Daub: I've been looking over this and actually on social media I've been getting so many email messages from so many people asking me about this. It's a little bit crazy because I just can't answer everybody except if I do something like this.

01:00 John Daub: Doing this just so people can Google this. What so very quickly: let's just go over this. Vaccination valid certifications: if you have three shots and the CDC paperwork for it, then you're not required to take a PCR test before you leave. And it is a massive pain in the neck to do this 72 hours before. You have to have it approved by Japan, certain methods.

01:30 John Daub: And a questionnaire is required no matter what. There is no on-arrival test anymore and no isolation unless you have symptoms on arrival.

01:45 John Daub: Another reason: if you're feeling bad, I have to point this out, do not get on the flight. You're just going to get in trouble when you get to Japan. If you come down with COVID, it is not good to be here. You don't want to get sick and have this in another country. Trust me on this. Japan is not the place to be. We already don't have enough hospital beds in our country, we don't have enough hospitals, and all this other stuff. It's kind of a big issue here.

02:15 John Daub: So if you're feeling bad, cancel the flight. I don't know if you can get the money back or whatever, but this is not the place to be. Don't get on that flight if you're feeling sick or if you have a fever over 37.5 degrees Celsius, which is the mark.

02:35 John Daub: If you don't have a vaccination certificate or you're unvaccinated, a PCR test is required. The information is on the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website. You can come to Japan and there's a Q&A about whether you can get a PCR test.

02:55 John Daub: Questionnaire that is required, that's in the app, but this is the only thing that's different. Visa-free travel is available to 68 countries and it's probably going to increase over time.

03:10 John Daub: Check out this website because you'll be able to see the valid vaccination certificates, which you need, the pre-departure test, all the information on this, and the questionnaire. All this information is here on this website so you don't need to go to other sources. You don't even need to watch another YouTuber. You can just literally go to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website.

03:35 John Daub: All right, people are saying, "John, your information is wrong." I'm pointing you to this website, this is what I'm doing. You can keep emailing me but I'm just going to keep pointing you to this website.

03:50 John Daub: So there's the questionnaire so you can see all the things you need to do. We're going to click this fast track real quick. Very quickly you can see it has prompted you to this: if your arrival is on or after November 14th, please use Visit Japan Web, available from November 1st.

04:15 John Daub: So again, this is kind of important information. Don't rely on the MySOS app after November 14th. And in fact, even if you have started it, you probably want to go over and if you have more than six hours before your flight, start to do this on November 1st. Of course you do. You have 10 days until then you can still use that MySOS app.

04:40 John Daub: So this information is relevant. You'll get a color based on the results of the verification process, which is we did this when we were in the US and it's really easy to use. And again, we were at our luggage and out the door within 30 minutes, which is crazy. I didn't think it would ever be this fast.

05:05 John Daub: Now they have there's a PDF that I've included in the description of this video. It is the Visit Japan Web instruction manual. So again, hey Caroline, I'm glad you guys can catch me live. I'm doing this. I'm not actually taking you around Tokyo. I'm making sure that you can get to Tokyo and Japan safely.

05:30 John Daub: I want your purpose is a live stream so I'm happy that you're here so people could stop even asking me questions about this. There's a PDF in the description of this video. All right, so you can go there, get all the information and stop sending me messages.

05:50 John Daub: This is also good, probably bound to change. They've been working pretty hard on this app. They even have the revision history of it, which is pretty incredible. So they're working on this. I'm glad for the revision. The renewal dates, the revision history is good to know so then you know when to update.

06:15 John Daub: But this isn't an app, this is all based on your browser, which I think is good. There's a table of contents. They can answer every question all the way from immigration and then the pre-departure checks all the way to customs. All this is your paperwork so I'm glad that they're getting rid of paper. It's good for the planet.

06:40 John Daub: A custom menu here. You probably, I think you have to make an account, which is also a good thing because if you are to lose your data you can just log in and it'll always be there, which I think is good. I'm glad. I prefer not to use an app to be honest with you because they put a lot of stuff in there and you don't know what's in there.

07:05 John Daub: You can access the common menu from the pages so you just go check out the PDF that I put up there. It gives you all the pages so you know exactly what's going in there. It's all boring looking interface so you can't make a mistake with it. Even the logo looks boring: Visit Japan Web. I bet you they didn't really need to vote on that. That was pretty easy. It's a government agency that put this all together.

07:35 John Daub: Yeah and that's all there. I can't actually log in because I don't have any fake information but they give you the pages and what it looks like and the step by step. Even if you have to reset your password, it's all here. So there's nothing to worry about.

07:55 John Daub: Just you want to make sure that you have a smartphone when you enter and if you don't you might want to have like an iPad or something, some digital device. It's not required but at the airport they, I think you almost have to have a smartphone device unless you have all this paperwork with you and you don't mind several hours. Everything is done digitally, which is one of the big initiatives of the Japanese government over the next several years.

08:30 John Daub: Taro Kono, who's in charge, he's the digital czar, which is kind of a cool title. He's one of the leading candidates for the next prime minister of Japan. He's in charge of this, I believe, and his Twitter is hilarious sometimes. He eats for lunch at the Diet building and all this other stuff. So you might want to follow him on Twitter.

08:55 John Daub: But he speaks and writes in English as well, which is unique for a Japanese leader. So you can get that information from him directly too. But he's been working really hard, his group on this, and I'm really proud that Japan is going digital.

09:20 John Daub: I think in the past you might could fax in your immigration documents. Maybe. Oh that would have been crazy. But it's all here.

09:35 John Daub: If you're not sure what country and all this other information is allowing into there, there's a FAQ for this website here. You can see the Visit Japan Web FAQ and on the website, which is digital.go.jp. Maybe I'll put that information here. It tells you about the operations and all this other stuff that I think is pretty interesting and pretty useful.

10:05 John Daub: So that's the news of the day. You don't need to use the MySOS app again. The dates starting November 1st. We're not quite there yet. If you travel on November 1st or after, consider using...

10:25 John Daub: All right let me just boil this down so it's clear. If you're traveling before November 1st, use the MySOS app. If you're traveling between November 1st and November 14th, let's say 13th to be safe, the first two weeks, you can use the MySOS app if you have all your documentation there, but they're encouraging you to switch over to the Visit Japan Web entry procedures for fast tracking.

11:00 John Daub: On November 14th, let's say 13th just so you're safe, onwards, you have to use the Visit Japan Web. There's no more MySOS app. So if you're traveling after November 13th or 14th, consider using that because you have to.

11:20 John Daub: Does this make it easier for you? Maybe the amount of messages I receive asking me will go down a little bit. If you have any questions, again, it's all really well laid out on this website. Again, linked in the video, there's the QR code. You can just screenshot this on your phone and it'll take you in there.

11:45 John Daub: It's a web-based system. It's not an app. A lot of Japanese still use Microsoft Explorer at some government agencies. I'm like, what? Really?

12:05 John Daub: So there you go. I'll take some questions now. Do I use MySOS? I got voted in the apps. I frowned it. No, you don't have to use MySOS app after November 1st. It's done.

12:25 John Daub: The purpose of MySOS, just to reiterate, was for quarantining. And when you did, they could contact you through the app to make sure that you were where you were. Because if they caught you breaking quarantine, you would be deported on your own dime. Deportation is not a free flight home.

12:55 John Daub: You basically can't come to Japan for seven years. You're blacklisted from coming for seven years, and it's not a nice thing. I think it goes on your permanent record. Try changing that. It's permanent.

13:15 John Daub: Do you still need cash here? Oh, so MySOS is going away. I don't know if it's going away. I just know that it is no longer, it's obsolete. It's no longer necessary for entry into Japan.

13:35 John Daub: The caveat with all of this is, you know, I highly doubt that Japan regresses and goes down to lockdown mode again. But in the case that it does, this app is there if they need to start quarantining people. Maybe if it's not for COVID, it's for something else, perhaps. This app is here for that purpose. So they have the infrastructure and they're ready for it.

14:10 John Daub: Pre-2020, we really didn't have any of that. It was a mess. And Japan has responded appropriately. And now that things are open, I'm starting to see the streets are not full of, but there are more visitors and you can feel it. You can feel the vibe around the city of Tokyo has changed when you walk around.

14:40 John Daub: And maybe for me, maybe it's just the stronger coffee. Or maybe it's Melanie from the UK's really delicious snacks you sent. Thank you. And I'm so grateful for that. We got them. They're really good. Thank you for sending that. Wow. We got like all these UK snacks. In fact, I'm breaking out on this side thanks to the chocolate, the Cadbury's.

15:15 John Daub: So I have some souvenirs. Glad I didn't book before November by March. Yeah. The procedures.

15:30 John Daub: And I think that people that come to Japan right now are welcomed with a really good exchange rate. It's now over 150 to the dollar, but you're also welcomed with less crowded places and we don't know what the situation is going to be in March. Maybe China will be back in the fold and it'll be a lot more crowded since 70% of the tourism came from China to here. It wasn't Western tourists, it was China.

16:05 John Daub: So we in Japan is actually really looking forward to that because a lot of the income came from them. Chinese tourists spent a lot more than Western tourists too. They did a lot more shopping, especially digital products, and they took back suitcases full of things.

16:30 John Daub: I hope Western tourists maybe buy some stuff here now that the exchange rate is lower. Yeah, according to JNTO's data it's roughly somewhere between 65 and 70 percent with the remainder of that like a lot of people from Korea, Taiwan. They made up like 70 to 80 percent of the tourists coming to Japan came from the regions around Japan. It wasn't the United States. It's just so far and so expensive to come here.

17:05 John Daub: Most Americans especially on the East Coast would go to Europe and the West Coast would be more apt to come to Asia to the other side. But it was still quite a far flight and again Japan is such an unusual destination still for a lot of people in America and Canada and the rest of the world. It's starting to become more of a mainstream destination but I don't think it's at the same level as Italy and France and other countries that are topping the world some charts. Croatia is a big one now.

17:45 John Daub: Yeah, Chinese tourists per tourist spent vastly more, this is true. Maybe not on accommodations but the package tours, I don't know who got the money but in the end like shopping wise it's no question. You can see the suitcases going back to Beijing and stuff. It's like wow, it was impressive. I have to be honest.

18:15 John Daub: You would hear only Chinese in Ginza in 2016 to 2019. I only heard Chinese, very little Japanese believe it or not, sometimes English. Mostly Chinese I heard walking down that street in Ginza.

18:35 John Daub: By the way, I'm thinking of doing a meetup tomorrow around 12 noon in Ginza. More information on Facebook if you're here in Japan. Possible meetup.

18:50 John Daub: I'm arriving 10:30 and leaving on 11:6 am. Am I good if MySOS app is blue already? What did I say? Yes you're good. It's first of all I'm glad that you asked this, T-Bird 50. Thank you so much for asking this. Probably people are still confused.

19:20 John Daub: Number one, please don't ask me. Please go to the MOFA or the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The link's in the description of the video. That's your source. Yeah you're good because the Visit Japan Web doesn't start until November 1st.

19:45 John Daub: Yeah you know any other questions before I skedaddle here? Yeah you're good if you already have the app you're good until November 14th if you're using MySOS. I'd say November 13th just to be safe. If not, you can do both. Switch it over to starting November 1st, you can use this other one and do both then, I guess.

20:20 John Daub: If you started MySOS, it makes a lot of sense to make an account and be ready for anything. Iken writes in here, have conditions changed? I don't think so. No, I haven't heard of anything yet. Still 68 countries can come in, but the fast tracking, again, I can't stress this enough.

20:50 John Daub: You don't want to start your trip off without doing this fast tracking. Make sure that you don't get on that plane without uploading your information and you might want to travel with your vaccination card anyways. Bring the paperwork with you in a special folder. Travel with that in your passport. Make copies of stuff.

21:20 John Daub: All right, everybody make copies. I don't know what you can do if you use Dropbox, maybe you can password protect it and put copies in there as well if you want digital copies. Everything's digital these days. But Japan is still a country that respects and loves paper. So having all your paperwork as a backup might be very valuable.

21:50 John Daub: Also I said this a couple of times, make sure you have accommodations before you come to Japan. Go on booking.com, Jalan.net (Japan-based site), book your accommodations at least for the first few days in advance because it is very, very tough to find accommodations right now.

22:20 John Daub: You probably maybe you can find it, but the prices are going up and Japan is not fully ready for foreign tourism yet because a lot of the places were shut down and domestic tourism is having a boom right now and Japanese have already booked hotels a month ago.

22:45 John Daub: So you know, you're going to because we're getting vouchers up to a hundred dollars off per day. So we're all traveling too. So make sure you please heed my warning. I don't want to see anybody have to stay in a capsule hotel. Gross.

23:10 John Daub: All right. I found boogers and various stains in capsule hotels. I don't think that they clean them. They go, they wipe like this and there's like adult TV in those like adult channels in the capsules. So you don't want kids in there.

23:35 John Daub: All right. So stop asking me if you should stay in a capsule hotel. No, don't unless you really have to. It's just nasty.

23:50 John Daub: All right. See, I'm serious. I find boogers on the wall all the time. And you know what? Who does that? Is it you? Are one of you people picking your nose and putting the boogers on the walls? Because it's nasty. It's a nasty habit. And don't flick them. Just don't pick your nose. Do it in the bathtub or in the shower. You can do a little cleansing thing or a tissue, Q-tip. I don't know. I don't do it. Or at least I won't admit to it.

24:35 John Daub: I'm not blaming you, Jotty. Some other people. Use a tissue, right? JKO Adventures. And it's very unsanitary.

24:55 John Daub: Look at, see, look. Very clean. I have to cut that nail. I'm not an offender. But somebody's putting, someone's doing that. All right. I'm going to catch them. Like the Hamburglar, the boogler. It's a booger guy. It's like a museum of horror.

25:25 John Daub: I guess like why are we still talking about this? Booger police. How do you arrest somebody? You just arrest their nose. Good luck catching them in the act. It reminds me of that scene from Caddyshack. "It's going to pick. I'll give you 50 bucks. Is he going to eat it? He's going to eat it. He did eat it." Who eats their boogers?

26:00 John Daub: Um, so there you go. Yeah. UV sanitizer lights might be useful in capsule hotels. Do you get what you pay for? I have to be honest with you.

26:20 John Daub: All right. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing most likely a meetup. You can look for Instagram, Patreon, Discord. If you're here in Japan, it'd be nice to just say hi. If I do do a meetup, I ask you to put your masks on. I might even do like the way that the Japanese do it. I might have a temperature checker just to be fun.

26:55 John Daub: Um, because that's what they do at Japanese events. Like they take your temperature and I don't want to be responsible for somebody getting sick and then getting in trouble. So but it would be cool to see some people. I know Norm is here. He's not too far away from me. At least we'll have Norm. He'll be here hopefully.

27:25 John Daub: Uh yeah. So tomorrow, Saturday, we'll try to do a meetup in Ginza. That's where I'll be. Um, there you go. So uh yeah, thanks.

27:45 John Daub: Thanks for this. If you have any questions about what you should do to enter, please don't send it to me. Google it. G-O-O-G-L-E.com. Type in entry Japan procedures. Okay.

28:10 John Daub: You know, I'm a YouTuber, content creator person. All right. I don't know anymore. Norm is a patron supporter. Norm's a good guy. Yeah.

28:30 John Daub: All right, everybody. I'll see you tomorrow. Yeah. Thank you. Hello. Hi. 81. Just posted the instruction manuals. So stop emailing me.

28:55 John Daub: I don't know. People emailing me like in panic mode. Did one person send me an email from the freaking airport and ask me what they need to do? And I said, it's too late. I'm happy that you think about me.

29:20 John Daub: All right, everybody. Have a good day. Have a good night. I'll see you soon. Tomorrow. This was fun. There's a QR code, screenshot it. My responsibility is done. You got that. There you go. Visit Japan screenshot. Later.