00:00:00 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to the city of Tokyo. I got some great news for you today and I'm going to be explaining what it means. The Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, yesterday announced that Japan is downgrading COVID-19 from like a level 2 to a level 5. That means basically this spring, all of these states of emergency and all the things that have been going on for the last two and a half years are going to be gone, lifted. Now there was never any kind of a mask mandate, but there were a lot of government issuances telling us what we should do as a society here to keep everybody safe. And a lot of those are still in play and I'm going to go over that. But I'm also going to go over this. The link is in the description to this. This is the Nikkei Asia that just released this a couple of hours ago.

00:01:17 John Daub: This comes from the Nikkei Asia. It says that Japan will downgrade COVID-19 as a seasonal flu in spring. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday said that he directed his cabinet to reclassify COVID-19, putting it in the same category as a seasonal flu, as the government looks to focus on economic recovery, which they can't do if people are not going out and afraid. The change will take place this spring. So why this spring? Because right now, Japan is in the middle of the pandemic. We're in the middle of the eighth wave and probably the highest that it's ever been. To me, it's a little bit extraordinary considering the states of emergency and the situations that called for Japan to shut down everything. We would be in something similar based on the numbers that we see today. But Japan has to get in that mode where we kind of move on from.

00:02:22 John Daub: And you can see I'm not wearing a mask. It's because even here on a shopping street, I can distance to two meters and I'm following the rules provided by the government. You could actually see the numbers. You could actually see on the description, the PDF that came from it saying that you don't have to wear masks outside. I'll go over it. I'm reading this right here in Ginza. So you're seeing this live here. Prime Minister Kishida told reporters the government will move forward with the "Life with COVID" initiatives and gradually transition its policies to restore Japan to a state of normalcy. Thank goodness.

00:03:02 John Daub: COVID-19 is currently in Japan's second highest disease category, classified along with other diseases like TB and severe SARS. The downgrade will bring COVID-19 to rank 5, meaning the state of emergency declarations will not be declared. Those who become infected or come into close contact with the infected will not be required to quarantine either. So quarantining is done. Thank goodness. Public funding for medical expenses will be phased out, and the government is also looking to scrap its indoor mask recommendation, which is what I'm going to go over. Today, COVID vaccinations are currently offered to all residents of Japan free of charge. How the vaccine will be administered after the downgrade will also be taken up by the government. Although the number of new cases in Japan has recently been on the decline, the country still faces 100,000 cases per day. The virus is still considered highly infectious and yada yada yada.

00:04:05 John Daub: Kishida-san, the prime minister says regarding the current infection situation in the country, we will do our utmost to overcome the so-called eighth wave by working to ensure infection prevention. In a similar move, South Korea on Friday will drop indoor mask mandates later this month. There you go. So Japan has elevated and graduated to everything else. Now I have these documents here. Hey, Ervin's here. Hey, Ervin. Are you in Tokyo right now? Hey, I'm like I'm in Ginza. So nice to see you, buddy.

00:04:31 John Daub: So this is the first of two documents here. Thanks to the miracle of live streaming, I can do that right here. This here says mask wearing in Japan, indoor masks required. Base masks are not required when you are not talking with others and not at close range. So like if you're at your own home, you don't have to wear a mask. These rules are still in place, but until soon. And they're rules. They're not mandates. You know what I mean? So if you decide that, hey, I want to be rebel and go against the grain, you could do that. But you're going to get stared down by every grandmother and some people. I might even stare you down if you look like you're sick.

00:05:26 John Daub: Indoor masks are required in crowded areas, too. I'm not sure this constitutes a crowded area. I got a ton of space. So I'm going to say that my judgment is that it's fine in the center of the street in the sunshine here. That I'm good to go. I'm outdoors. No need for masks outdoors. However, wear masks when talking with others at close range. I'm not doing that. And these people are quite far away. So I'm not going to wear a mask here. But with that said, like I'm looking into the sunlight here to give people some autonomy, like to be somewhat anonymous. But I'd say that majority of the people, like 95% are still wearing masks. And they don't have to. But nobody knows the rules. Like this is also available in Japanese. And nobody knows the rules.

00:06:27 John Daub: So makes people like me somewhat uncomfortable. If you're not talking and even if you're at a traffic signal, you don't need to wear a mask outside anymore. But people don't know that. And you know, that's okay. That doesn't mean that you're wrong. It means that they're actually wrong. Right. Number two here. You can see I came here somewhat prepared. This is again the link is in the description for this here. This is a COVID-19 mask use in community settings. I'm laughing because these are still in use right now. They seem pretty ridiculous, though. But I think it's like common sense stuff.

00:07:12 John Daub: But again, like this is the kind of stuff people need to be explained in Japan or else they're just going to go ahead and like discount it. I keep wearing masks outside. Roro 2K. Everyone's drinking and laughing at izakaya (pub). I know, right? And Michael Sassano is here. Welcome, Michael. It's so good to see you. It's been a while. So as you can see here, these rules still in place. Outdoors while talking, no need for mask. Do you see this? So if anyone is looking at me angry that I'm talking on the shopping street here, I could just give them this paper. This comes right from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. It says while talking, no mask required. Just make sure that you mask required. Sorry, but I have sufficient distance from people, so it's okay.

00:08:01 John Daub: No talking, no mask. So if you're just walking around the streets, which is the majority of the people here, you don't need masks at all. All right. So I'm kind of in a gray area. Someone walks close to me. They have the space to not walk near me. So like insufficient distance. Distance from others and masks are required. All right. Masks are required. So this is for indoors. Right. But outdoors here, no, no masks are required. It's even confusing for me. Why even have these rules? Insufficient distance and masks. So if I'm like basically on top of somebody, then I would have it on a mask. Hey, Hong Kong. HK. You can't wait to be in Tokyo at one time. I know a lot of you are going to be making your way to Tokyo soon. And that makes me super excited because I've been somewhat depressed in 2022 because you're not here. So get here fast.

00:09:06 John Daub: I think that kind of sets how exactly what's going on here. Sorry about the wind. I hope this answers your questions about do you need to wear a mask in what situations you do? All of this is laid out by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. That ministry. And that is the definitive source. So you can't say that I'm doing something wrong. I have the papers to prove it. It's like documents, please. Here you are. This is what I can do and not do in Tokyo. With that all said here, I don't fault people who do want to still wear masks outside. People's perspective. That's what they want to do. And it's all good, you know?

00:10:00 John Daub: So I think essentially, when you come to Japan or you travel anywhere to a foreign country, and a lot of you might be traveling for your first time ever outside of your home country in that kind of a situation, you have to remember that you are a guest in another country. It's not your country and your values and your culture that ends somewhat when you get on that plane and arrive in that foreign country. You're at the other country's laws, which I would recommend if you're going to Singapore, you should definitely follow them. They have caning for all sorts of things that you wouldn't expect. I remember the American diplomat son who vandalized a car and was caned. And that started an international situation where President Bill Clinton tried to interject, which was dumb. The kid probably deserved some caning anyways. That's my point of view.

00:10:59 John Daub: Just remember that. And if you are riding a train, so the situations where I would still wear a mask until spring and when spring hits, which is what March 21st, is that how it works on exactly March 21st? But I would say more in particular April 1st, which starts the new year in Japan. Once April 1st hits, I'm not wearing a mask anymore. Everybody has access to being vaccinated five times. If you want to wear one, you can. I don't know, but I'm going to try to get back to life. I got some friends already that are making a point not to wear masks. And I actually walking in the street outside distancing. Nobody is even near me. So there are people staring at me for not wearing a mask, but they literally do not know the rules. I have the rules right here.

00:11:54 John Daub: So I'm going to carry the rules with me. Okay. Anybody who stares at me, I'm going to go over to them and give them a copy of the rules. And I'm going to apologize and give them the copy of the rules. And then they'll feel bad for thinking the way they think, because they do not need to wear a mask anymore outside if they get social distance. It's crazy. And how do you get your vitamin D if your whole face is covered? Just makes you less healthy. You know, I'm just making excuses. So the weather here in Tokyo is pretty chilly. The wind is out. It feels more like March than it does January though with the sun out. It does get pretty chilly at night. January's in particular at this time it starts to get really cold. The snow comes down in February the most. I was shocked when I went to Niigata on the Sea of Japan side and there was very little snow.

00:12:52 John Daub: Only wear masks in crowded areas and public transportation. If you are in a crowded space outdoors where you cannot social distance, I would highly recommend wearing a mask just because I think that might even be one of the criteria. If you're going to a private place outside an event that asks you to wear the mask, then you should wear the mask. And I think legally based on, I don't want to get into the legality of stuff, but you should probably just do it if you're being asked for it. So my advice to you is from spring. You probably don't have to do this, but if you're coming to Japan, make sure you have like a mask in your pocket anyways, just to make sense. And you might be asked to wear it. I traveled with a friend of mine who didn't want to wear it at all. I still do it. There's I get friends who don't want to wear it at all in any situation, but they travel with a mask in their pocket. And when they're asked, that's when they use it. If they're not asked, they don't use it.

00:13:58 John Daub: And it just, I don't like it. But I think that the people around here don't mind it. And that's what's the interesting part is, you know, if the people here don't mind it, what difference does it make? It doesn't matter to me around. You can see quite clearly thousands of people, majority wearing masks, walking outside in the sun. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but it does because that's what they want. JW writes in here. Thanks for all the updates, planning a trip in a few months. That's really exciting to hear that. And in a few months, you'll be back. You're going to have the cherry blossom. So it's so exciting. I'll take you here to the end of the street and look at some of the questions that you might have about this. But if you want me to go over the rules and everything again, you just go to the playback of this video and watch the first five, 10 minutes of it.

00:14:54 John Daub: I think that the vaccine mandates for entry and all this other stuff will probably go away as well in the spring. Cause it really doesn't matter anymore. But here's the thing, you know, I know that when Japanese are sick and when people do feel a responsibility to stay home or wear a mask, people don't go out when they're sick, but Westerners are more self-thinking and they will do that. And that's where things get a little bit weird. I think Japanese would stay home and be more responsible and think about the impact on society that they have by going out sick and in the West are like, oh, we're sick. Screw it. We're going to go out some people. Right. But I think that's an issue that Japan has discovered that. Even though you sign a pledge that you're going to do something, it doesn't really have a lot of meaning unless people do it. It's kind of dumb anyways.

00:15:57 John Daub: And I think when it came to that, you just have to remember that you're not in your home country. Okay. You're in another country. So when somebody asks you do something, you don't have the same kind of rights that you think you do. Maybe you should just do it and try to avoid any confrontation. The last thing you want to do is be confrontational in Japan. It just always ends up with something bad for you. That's been my philosophy. Avoid confrontations, find a peaceful way, or just walk away. That's when you can call yourself an adult. That's you know how you know you're an adult when you can walk away from a fight, because you're smart enough to know that it's just stupid. You're the one who loses no matter, even if you think you win, you lose, you know?

00:17:19 John Daub: So there you go. I hope you all enjoyed that. I'll be back with some more live streams for the rest of the month. I've been off focusing on a documentary that I've been working on for quite a while. It's done. Thankfully, just putting final touches with our favorite color reporter, PVG here. Also was just on Japanese TV reporting on Morioka, which is an episode that I might do again. That was included on the New York Times list of 52 places that you must travel to in 2023. And I thought it was curious. Why Morioka, which is a small regional capital in Iwate prefecture would be on that list. And when you think about it, you can understand maybe why that would be the case.

00:18:02 John Daub: It is a busy day. Just to give you a picture of what the street looks like. It's going to be completely different in just a couple of months. I guess I could say one last thing about the history of the masks here in these urban areas like Tokyo in particular, where it's really crowded. I know that people have been a lot more vigilant with it, but I was talking with other travelers and you go out to the countryside, like nobody's wearing masks anywhere. So it's basically something that was limited to like Kyoto, Tokyo, tourist areas, where there's a lot of people where there's public transportation in particular, because the countryside people don't really care. And here, I was just doing an episode at Mitsukoshi, which is celebrating its 350th anniversary this year. That's going to be pretty big for them. I went in just a few months ago to do the speed wrapping episode on my main channel. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

00:19:14 John Daub: I had to protest and show them the rules on wearing masks indoors, to be able to allow them to do the opening of the show inside of Mitsukoshi without a mask. And I can understand the rules that they have inside, but it was before operating hours too. And there was nobody around. It's like, really? Come on. Nobody wants to see that. Nobody wants to see me wearing a mask, but people really respect the rules. And if you do respect the rules, like lining up and doing things the way that they're set up to be, even if it doesn't make sense, when people start to break the rules, it creates chaos for everybody else who's following the rules. Then why do you have the rules at all? But in Japan, they tend to stick very strictly to the rules that they have in place until they don't.

00:19:59 John Daub: And I have to be honest, the government has been really bad. Not a lot of governments are very good at this. And I think that's the reason why I'm here. I'm here to explain to you what the rules are so people can very easily understand what they are. And you know, I'm holding the rules in my hand. I have the rules from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and I'm not doing anything wrong. And yet I feel somewhat guilty for not wearing a mask because people are looking at me like I'm breaking a rule, although I'm not. What do you think? Should John put on a mask? Because some people are looking at me. It's true. I don't know. Am I the bad one? Are they the bad one for not knowing the rules? Ah, aha. I know the rules.

00:21:02 John Daub: I don't think you should be wearing a skirt that short in winter. Again, who am I to judge? If that was Peter, he would probably hit me. Peter was hearing to me. How dare you say something like that? No bicycles here. So they used to have a guy with a sign walking down the street telling you to put on your mask. They don't have that anymore. Again, I think a lot of stuff has just changed and this is all for the better. But again, for those that have had criticism about Japan, honestly, you can't expect them to change faster. This is pretty quick for Japan. You have no idea. I've been here for 25 years. This is pretty fast. Everything moves about 10% of the time.

00:22:16 John Daub: I mean, it's not like Japan is a country where you can just walk around and see the speed that maybe the United States moves at. And that is that sometimes is a good thing because people give a lot of consideration on the moves that they make. But it's also a bad thing for progress. And I think that's why the United States is always going to be a really strong country because they can move so much faster than places like Japan. I really do believe it. And that's where I can say there are some beautiful things to living in Japan. And there are some absolutely frustrating things to living in Japan. And I think both cultures and societies, if we take the good from both of them, we would make like a super society, maybe. But I know that a lot of people will say, I guess they're called weeaboos or something, will say only really wonderful things about Japan. I have a lot of wonderful things to say too, but there are some things that are critical as well.

00:23:15 John Daub: And yeah, it's absolutely when it comes to safety and delicious food and convenience and everything, I can't think of a better place than here in Japan, but it's not without its challenges. It isn't. And I will try to explain them. And when you understand why, and this is the thing with this series, Only in Japan, when you understand why, it makes sense, sort of. But if you don't understand why, nobody ever explains it. And if nobody explains it to you, then it never makes sense. And that's when we get into trouble, especially with communication, right? I'll take one last question before I end this. And thanks everybody for being here. I hear Canon and Dee again, right there. The Diamond Shop. They play that song every single day. Thankfully royalty free, I hope.

00:24:25 John Daub: I think Japan gets so many things right, but I feel like they just trust everything they're totally told blindly. Well, in a way, that's the way it's supposed to be. You elect officials because you trust them, right? In a way, that's the way it's supposed to be. You elect the officials who make the rules and laws for you so that you could focus and do everything in your own life. You're not supposed to have to police the officials. But now I guess in this era, we really do have to look at them a lot more. But I always think that there's more behind the scenes than people tell you. It's never as simple as that. There's always something behind it. So I think outside of Japan, people are somewhat blind. They're maybe more naive. They trust people on the street.

00:25:27 John Daub: I remember that in the 1990s when I was a backpacker, dipshits would always get me on the street. And I would get in trouble because they couldn't speak English so well. And when people confronted them, they would just go along with it. Like, oh, I'll take your picture. Can you give me your camera? And they would give the camera and the guy would run away. The guy obviously looked like a criminal too. Could I have your passport? You know, people don't question that. Because it's not a culture of questioning. Even when you're in elementary school, you don't raise your hand and ask the teacher anything. This is what scares me with the school system here. You don't question. You don't question the older generation. They tell you something, you just say yes. And that's a very simplified version of the Japanese educational system. But that's the thing that worries me the most. Critical thinking and questioning the teacher.

00:26:16 John Daub: Because I think teachers should be questioned. I think teachers should be challenged. But that's the American side of me. Ask a criminal to take a picture. How would you know? I don't know. Like, some people. I guess you shouldn't judge. In Japan, we do somewhat judge people by their outer appearance. If you look like a criminal, like the pictures that they draw, I guess you have to wear a beanie hat and a mask. And if you're wearing pinstripes like the Hamburglar or something, if you look like the Hamburglar, you probably have other problems. I don't know what a criminal looks like. Jeffrey Dahmer, if you look like him. But he looked like every Midwesterner. Yeah. It's hard. Basically, if any stranger wants to take your picture and you're not trying to take a picture, maybe that raises a red flag. I don't know.

00:27:17 John Daub: Yes, it's definitely common. I think all over Asia, if not questioning teachers and elders. There's a big respect for people. A teacher is a teacher because they know stuff more than you know. And you're supposed to learn from them. But there are times where you might know something that they don't know. And you want to raise your hand and question it. And that's showing disrespect to the teacher who should be prepared. And that's why I'm saying that this culture might change a little bit over time. But it's still quite strong here. I'm sure it's different now than it was 50 years ago. I would hope. Right? I would hope.

00:27:53 John Daub: It's shining so bright on the streets, I thought it was snow. It is very bright here. When I ran the Tokyo Marathon back in 2008, they had done something with the street in Ginza that made it shine. I guess they put glass on it or something. And painted it. And it looks a lot brighter than it does. So they probably needed to do another painting here. I haven't run the Tokyo Marathon in ages. That was the second time I ran it. But I remember running down the street and like, wait, hey, they painted the street. How cool is this? It's not black anymore.

00:28:34 John Daub: In America, we don't trust our politicians, our leaders, our teachers. Sometimes we don't even trust our pastors. See, that's crazy. I think, how do you live like that? I don't know. How could you live without having the teachers? Not being able to trust anybody. That's hard, isn't it? You elect responsible people. I guess never elect anybody who wants the job. Maybe that should be the criteria. If somebody wants the job, there's probably a reason why. And you can't trust them. You need to elect people who don't want the job. In fact, whoever wins in a write-in election, they should just be taken by the authorities and said, you are a new leader. Yeah. Anybody who wants a job, probably there's a nefarious reason behind it. Or, no, I don't know. Who am I? I just gonna stick to what I know, which is I don't have to wear a mask outside anymore.

00:29:36 John Daub: It's the reason why many in the West are on edge. The great thing about democracy is, and again, you know, this is a show called Only in Japan, but the great thing about democracy is that these people, in two years seems like a lot of time, but it's not. And you just vote them out. If they do a bad job, they're not there the next time it comes around. That's what elections are for. In Japan, young people don't vote much. So most of the people that we have are people voted in by the older generation. So the values that we have in society are still going to be older values because the younger politicians are not elected. Now, we do have a very forward-thinking governor in Tokyo. I should say governor because Tokyo is a state more than it is just a city. And the governor, all politicians have to take hits, but she's done a pretty good job of a lot of things. And I can't think of another politician that could do a better job.

00:30:51 John Daub: I saw Governor Ishida, who was in Tokyo, he did some really great things and he did some really not great things. So it's not an easy job, right? But we have to trust these people to do the job. And it's not easy. In the end, it's our fault, because if we voted, the majority of the people voted for these people that we don't trust, who's to blame? Those people? We in Japan, we take a step back and we look at the past. We look at this George Santos thing, a politician in Queens in New York, which is not too far away from where I grew up. And we say like, this would never have happened in Japan because it's not George Santos' fault. It's the fault of the people who put him in a position to have the power. There's no way a politician gets to that stage in Japan because they've been vetted. They've been researched.

00:31:56 John Daub: How do you miss all of these people? They're just these things. So my issue is, and I think the Japan point of view would be like, this isn't this guy's fault. It's the fault of the people who put him in a position to even run. He wouldn't have gotten to that stage. So I can't understand. Everyone is making fun of the guy. I almost feel sorry for him because he should never have been in that. He should have been rejected a long time ago. So there's people who didn't do their jobs. Those are the people that should be on the hot seat. Again, like this is in a Japan situation. The people who would be on the hot seat is not that person, but the people who put him in that position to and not vet him. And he should probably serve out the two years because he was elected. Who should be fired are the people who put him in that position. And they should never be allowed to have power. That's the way things happen in Japan from my 25 years of experience here. If that situation was here, never would have happened.

00:33:06 John Daub: That's kind of interesting. You know, nobody's looking at it from that point of view. It's okay to lie on your resume if you can get away with it. And he did. It was the people who hired. It was the people who didn't vet him and put him on the ticket that should be in big trouble. But they're not. I wouldn't let them go. They wouldn't get a pass here in Japan. I'll tell you that. All right, everybody. That's enough from me. Here I put links in the description. Go check it out. The article is meaningful and it shows that spring is going to be a different world. Thank goodness. And we don't have to wear masks from spring in the same kind of situations. But I do stress that you should always carry a mask in your pocket.

00:33:49 John Daub: I carry an absolutely almost meaningless mask called a Pitta mask, which everything goes through. But it fulfills the requirement of wearing a face covering. And I honestly, everybody's been vaccinated 3, 4, 5 times. I don't think even a mask would do much if you're in close situation. So you got to do what makes you feel comfortable. But always, always have something in your pocket for when you're asked because you are a guest to Japan. This is not your country. If someone asks if Pitta masks are for allergies or stuff, but it's a face covering and you can't blow out a candle with it. So it does have some purpose, but it's not an ideal mask. If I get a mask, I'm going to wear it. If I go to a hospital or something, I will wear a better mask. But if I'm outside and I don't want people staring at me, I wear this because it does the bare minimum of making people stop staring at me for following the rules because they don't know it.

00:34:53 John Daub: So that's all. Have one of these just in case someone says that you need to wear a mask. They wear them. They cost about $1.50. They weigh nothing. You can breathe with them and you can't blow out a candle. So it's doing something right. If you cough, it'll be like muffled. It's like basically a trumpet with a mute on it. Right. So if you play the trumpet, you can still hear it, but it's really, really low. That's what this is. This is basically one of those things. Okay, just have something with you. You can just carry a mask in your pocket. If somebody asks you to wear it, put it on. But even in the spring, I think that there'll be some situations they might ask you to do that. But all in all, this is all good news. It's over and Japan is back sort of the way it was.

00:35:44 John Daub: I bet you the summer festivals this year are going to be epic. Guess who's going to be participating in festivals again this year without a mask on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You better believe it, baby. I'll be doing it. If I can get into that Nebuta festival again, I will dance. Oh, my gosh, it's going to be so exciting. All right, everybody. Yeah, muffled trumpet sound. Yeah, exactly. That's what a Pitta mask is. Just a muffle. Have a good day, everybody. See you again tomorrow. Another live stream. Bye.