00:01 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to the Sumida River. This is Kachidoki Bridge. And that there is the remains of what used to be Tsukiji Market, Tsukiji Shijō, which now was a parking lot for the Olympics, and now they're starting to build what we will eventually see as some sort of shopping complex or condominiums. I'm not really sure. They're tearing it down right over there. And I'm here to witness it all. How you doing everybody?

So in this episode I wanted to go over some of your trip planning, some of the things that you're interested in to make your trip to Japan even better. I've been in Japan for 25 years. Since Tokyo, in Tokyo since 2004, I've lived in 17 different cities over the course of that time. So I might know a thing or two that might be able to help you, but maybe not. Because I get stumped when people ask me. They ask me in the live streams, which is good, because I'm learning from you too. I'm not a tourist. I do travel around, but in Tokyo I'm not a tourist, so I might not be able to help you as much with that. But I will try my best with the city of Tokyo. For the countries in particular, I know quite a lot of stuff. Maybe. You can pick my brains. And over the course of this, we'll try to walk around and take a look a little bit around this area, which is ever-changing. It's fascinating. Check this out right here.

So this is a map of... As everybody starts to get online right now, this is a map of where I am in central Tokyo. You can see there's the 23 wards around here, which make up the center of this, what we call the city of Tokyo. This is Kachidoki Bridge, which was built after the Japan-Russo War. Japan-Russo War. What was that, like the early 20th century? So it's a pretty old bridge under construction right now, but you can see on the right side where I am right now, Tsukiji Market is just like a hole. It's just like a blank slate for something to build. And that building on the right side, they're tearing that down right now. And they're going to be building something else, which is sad because I remember walking through here to see the maguro, the tuna auction back in the day. There's the empty spot, which they're going to build a bunch of, I guess condominiums is what they were talking about. I'm not quite sure yet, but the outer market is still a thing here. The outer Tsukiji Market. In fact, if we were to walk there, it would be so crowded. So I'm going to take a look. I'm going to take you sometime this week and do a live stream there for an hour or so. I want to have a little bit more time.

All right, let's go through some of the questions that you might have. What is a good app to download for going to Tokyo first time to Japan? That's a good question. I really Google Translate because it does. It is. It's free and it is helpful. And there's Wi-Fi just about everybody. And if you have a pocket Wi-Fi with you for your family or yourself, that really allows you to communicate a little bit better. It does a fairly good job of figuring out what the items are on a menu. So I would say I would download that. But, you know, for I don't use an app for traveling around Tokyo. So I think some of the people in the live stream can chat and see what have you used. But I think you should download Discord and sign up to the Only in Japan community there because we have people that are traveling in Japan right now who are giving feedback and helping each other right now live via this app. So I think that's the best way. Discord. Not only are the people here communicating, but there are also people that have been to Japan that know a lot of stuff that are available 24/7. If you ping the community, people usually step up and help you out, especially if you're in some trouble. So we have about 16, 17,000 people in the Discord server. So I hope it can be an asset for all of you.

JNTO. There's a lot of websites I could recommend, but JNTO is the authoritative information on Japan. Japan National Tourism Organization. I think the Discord channel is the best. Yeah, I think for visiting Japan, for just logging on, and then you have access to people to help you out, which is great, I think. It's something that I think I might cultivate a little bit more into doing just that with the community. So we have a good team of moderators as well, which keeps things civil as much as it possibly can. It's the internet after all.

Take a look at the Tsukiji Market. As I answer some of these questions and take a look at the thing Danny writes in here, you've lost some weight. Lost a little. I'm still getting there. No midnight snack runs lately, as you could tell.

One of the questions I get asked a lot here — okay, if you could set a budget for a seven day trip, this comes from Takkun, with flights included, what is a good budget that you would recommend? All right, you know what? Budget is like one of the most difficult things to ask about because everybody comes from different budget points and different ages. So you can't just ask a simple budget because you have to break it down into luxury. You know, people in their fifth... my age, they might have a slight a little bit more money. Budgets are a really hard thing. If you're a backpacker, you could... Let me put it to you like this, all right? You can do Japan with hotel. You can find places for about... The cheapest would be about 3,000 yen, which is about what, $20 right now or less. I mean, there's a lot of places that are cheaper than that. There's places that you could do that, but I would say the business hotel is typically 5,500 yen. So I would budget about 35 to $40 on the budget end for accommodations per day. In particular, Tokyo, maybe you can get a little bit cheaper outside, but there's less options for accommodations outside of the cities. So you don't have so many competitions, so the prices could be higher. There's Airbnb, but outside of the cities, it's not such a... It's really hard to find. It's hard to find properties on Airbnb outside of the cities. So that's something also to keep in mind.

Prices have been going up in Tokyo because the tourists have US dollars. Everybody knows that. So I don't think it's price gouging, but it's somewhat close-ish to it. But the bottom line is that demand is very high right now for a limited amount of accommodations, and they're building new accommodations and things like this all over the city. I'm seeing that popping up, but just keep in mind that I think until 2024, 2025, prices are going to be higher. Prices are going to be higher for accommodations in Tokyo, not just because inflation is starting to rise and we're feeling it, but demand to travel to Japan is high and places are booked months in advance. I can't... So I would sometimes take Kanae to the Intercontinental because I have an IHG member because you get discounts and points and stuff. So we'd spend a night maybe once a year, go to a nice hotel, just kind of take a break and relax. But I can't even find places at the hotel. I can't even find a hotel sometimes at the last minute because it's so crowded right now with tourists visiting. Intercontinental is pretty nice, but the Tokyo Bay usually is, I don't know, 40, 50% off of what the other Intercontinental's are. It gets slightly older. But it's a great location because you get to see the whole Tokyo Bay from the window there.

Michael Sassano's here. Hey, buddy. Awesome to see you back in Japan looking well rested. I do feel rested. Here's a salad. Fun. Thank you. How did you know? I'm just eating mostly meat. I'm eating meat, less carbs and stuff, trying that out. And of course, running a little bit more.

Good question. So for a seven-day trip, let's do it by day. If you budget, I would say $100 a day and you're going to be OK. You could probably do less, but you're going to feel it. You could probably do more, and you're going to feel that too. So I would say a minimum is $80 to $100 a day. I would plan minimum. But everything else, like the food, you should upgrade that. The accommodation, I might upgrade that. It just depends. Everybody travels different. You could even sleep in a tent and hitchhike. I traveled the entire country 45 days for $150. So there's risks to that, though. Just put an asterisk there. It's not always for everybody.

I saw some questions here. What is the best food to eat in Japan? It's an almond. That's a good question. It's hard. I'd say you have to try sushi because sushi is, you know, it comes from here. And I think that the chefs are renowned for it. The ingredients are fresh. The market is just a couple of kilometers that way, Toyosu. So I think in Tokyo, if you can, you should definitely try the sushi. But I would also recommend katsudon, which is my favorite donburi, which is a dish with a bunch of good stuff on top of rice. Tendon, which is tempura on a bowl of rice. I love that too. Wagyu steak. I think you should try that when you're in Japan. Try it outside of the cities, out in the countryside, because they're famous for that. I think you should stay at a ryokan, a Japanese traditional inn, for at least one night minimum. I think you should pay well for that experience. I think you should pay approximately $130 a night. And it's per person because it's about the food and the experience, not about the room. Though the rooms are tatami rooms. You can use yukata. You usually go to the onsen. You feel like you're in Japan at a Japanese traditional inn called a ryokan. And the food is kaiseki ryōri, meaning it comes in courses. So I would recommend that you get the full courses. And I say spend two nights because the next night they change the course. So the chef has to be challenged a little bit. And usually better stuff comes the second night, in my experience.

What are the food costs at restaurants in Tokyo for a decent dinner? It's cheaper than New York. But I think because the dollar is so much stronger, but it can get extravagant. The sky's the limit. It's the same as New York in that respect. But you can eat cheaper in Tokyo than you could in New York. That much I know for sure. You could eat... One thing for sure is that the convenience stores offer decent meals. It's Japanese cuisine at like five bucks. So I mean you got that. And you have gyudon, which starts at like a small bowl of beef bowl, which is gyudon. Starts at about 380 yen. Sometimes 280 yen. Depending on the place. So we're talking like you can get a bowl of meat on rice for $2.50 to start off with about. Which is crazy, right?

Where do locals go for day trips to escape the Tokyo heat? JDOT. Karuizawa in Nagano because it's a very quick 55-minute Shinkansen ride. It's 5,000 yen each way. So it's $80 round trip per person. So it's pretty cheap. You don't feel the humidity in Karuizawa. It's probably the best place to go. And then the seaside. You can go to Zushi, which is in Kanagawa. You got a cool breeze coming through there. Those are two recommendations I would have for you. But the mountains, in particular Nagano, which is close to Tokyo. You can go up to... Let me give you a place that's off the beaten path here. If you go up to Ibaraki, there's a place called Daigo. D-A-I-G-O. Which I think is fairly tourist friendly. They've got an incredible waterfall there. They also grow green tea up there. There's waterfalls. There's little cafes in the woods. I think you need to rent a car. But if you have the chance, go to Daigo Machi. I did an episode there for NHK back in the day. People are a little bit friendlier and you're going to get a fairly authentic... you're going to be very authentic Japan experience there. Nikko is also really good if you want to get out. But again, that's fairly touristy. And if you're talking about where locals go to escape the heat in particular, it might not be Nikko. That's where you go to meet other tourists. You can get crowded at Nikko. In particular in the summer.

These are great questions. I'll be in Tokyo in three weeks. Is there a shortage of IC cards? Pasmo is fine. I heard it's just Suica. And I don't think that shortage is going to last forever. It's just a little blip. Look, the Shinkansen will apologize to you if they're one minute late. They will apologize. Just 30 seconds late sometimes, you'll hear an apology. So this is more a thing where they feel bad that they can't offer the services. But I think it's much ado about nothing. You can still get welcome cards, I believe, at the airport. And then there's Pasmo, which is the competitor. Not the competitor, but the other IC card that you can get in Tokyo. So Pasmo is still available as far as I know. And the regional cards are all available too. There's 11 different kinds, I believe. The Kitaca in Hokkaido is my favorite. It has a flying squirrel. And then the one that I use the most right now is the one from Kagoshima, which is the Sugocica. And they're all the same. But the Suica is one that you could load up onto your iPhone and stuff. And Pasmo was for Google phones, Android. So I don't know. I think it'll be worked out sooner than later. I'm not sure. It's not something I'm really keeping up with. I think a lot of... I'm going to be honest with you. I think a lot of YouTubers juice this up to make it seem worse than it is. All right? Because it's new information and they need to get views. I'm just going to put that out there. Because that's probably what I would do if I had not a really big channel and I wanted to get people to views. I would run with that. It is big news. Get people worried and they'll look at it. But I think you're going to be able to be okay. And you don't need an IC card to do stuff. It's just something that is convenient. There are ways to get them.

Good question. I'm glad you brought that up. We're going in November. We're going in November. Do you think if I buy a JR Pass in September when we get there... They're going to be raising the prices of the JR Rail Pass. The feedback was not positive for them. So I'm not sure if they're going to alter their plans. We still have some time. But if you buy the pass before the change date, you should be able to get that discount. All right? You should be able to still use it because I think it's valid for three to six months. You can always read the fine print. Don't listen to what YouTubers say because that information... This is the reason why I think you have to do your own homework. I can do a live stream with information and that information is obsolete in two weeks. But that stream is still available on YouTube. You don't delete it. So you always have to double check the date of the stream. The date of the information that's coming to you. And you have to read the fine print. This is the best advice I can tell you. I'm not saying that YouTubers are wrong, including myself. I'm saying that you as a viewer have a responsibility to check for yourself the information that we're telling you. But take the information that we say as an arrow. It really is a direction that you need to search in. And you should do the searching. All right? Anybody who says that this is the definitive information, they're wrong. Because it changes all the time. That's the reality.

It's unfiltered today. Yeah, just buy the... Yeah. You can just also buy individual tickets. You can buy individual tickets. You don't need the JR Rail Pass. Do the math. Sometimes it's not as big of a difference as you think it is, depending on how you're going to travel. And flying is an option. All right? You're coming here all the way to Japan. You don't want to waste time on the train all the time, although we like the Shinkansen. Flying sometimes is the better option, to be honest with you. If you're going to Kagoshima or Kyushu or Hokkaido, I would not take the Shinkansen and spend a day on the train unless that's part of the attraction for you. That's a long trip. You know, do one way on the Shinkansen or something.

King, I have not... Nice to see you, buddy, from Singapore. I have not seen King in a very long time, so I'm happy to finally see you here. You know, Michael, I didn't get to go to a 7-Eleven in Hawaii, so I cannot say, but I went to a Don Quixote, and that blew me away. All right? I was emotionally... I was emotionally altered by that experience. The Don Quixote. Don Quixote is like a supermarket in Hawaii. I thought that was cool. This is Tsukiji Market for those that are joining us. They're dismantling the old part of it. I thought they would have done it during the Olympics. I guess it's better to do it now, because now that tourism is back, they're probably going to build tourist stuff.

All right, you know what? Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I'm going to go to Tsukiji Market and do a live stream from there because it depends on the rain, because right now we have fairly good weather. But I want to tell you something. If you're asking me where is the hottest spot in Tokyo right now for tourists to visit, it's Tsukiji Market. I don't know how they did it, and I'm really, really curious because I think most of us, especially locals that live here in Tokyo, we thought that Tsukiji Market would not be such an attraction after the market itself. That's where the market was. Moved to Toyosu about seven years ago, six years ago, but it's turned into an amazing tourist attraction. It is packed. It's shoulder to shoulder. I ride my bike there to get to Ginza. I cut through Tsukiji Market. Big mistake. I can't even get through there. And then I often get a chance, you know, I have a little bit of, I don't know, notoriety here in Japan, which is cool. I get to stop and say hi to people. Usually they say, I know that guy. Often they don't know who exactly I am, but they might have seen me and I get some selfie people, which is cool. But it's really hard if you're riding a bicycle to go through there. Because it's so crowded. I did not expect that.

I see Irvin is here. How you doing, buddy? Look, you can't count to five. You have to be playful with these. Michael writes a great question here. Michael, that's a great question. What about breakfast? What sort of options are available? First of all, hotels will often offer breakfast. Take it. Second, skip breakfast. Save your appetite for lunch. Third, there's options. But in particular, they're mostly cafes like Starbucks and things like this. McDonald's has the egg muffins. You can get by. Breakfast is usually something that Japanese do at home. They don't eat out for it. So you don't see a lot of places that are open. The fishermen that go out. The restaurant that was famous here, you asked that question at the perfect place. The first Yoshinoya was opened right here at Tsukiji Market. Fishermen, the last thing they want to eat when they come back is fish. They want to eat a bowl of beef. They need the power. So Yoshinoya opened the first beef bowl restaurant at this market. So you can get a bowl of Yoshinoya because it's open 24/7. And it's cheap.

Let me show you if I have this here. I might have a picture. You guys, give me a second. I'll try to bring it up for you. While I do that, take a look at this. This livestream is brought to you by the Postcard Club. Thanks everybody for supporting on the Postcard Club. I sent them out. This month it is the vending machine restaurants, vending machine area of Sagamihara. 108 vending machines. All of them are pretty freaking awesome. All of them have a history and the owner, the story is on the main channel. I highly recommend you guys check that out. But the story is a really good one. I'm looking right now because I have a picture. So I'm trying to buy some time. Oh, here it is. I have a picture here. All right, check this out here. This is a Japanese pancake. It's a soufflé pancake, but I'll be honest with you, I'm trying to figure out what's so Japanese about them. Other than they're like all fluffy. This is a Japanese... There's the pancake. You can't even see it there. All right. That's one of the things that maybe you should try here if you come to Japan. A lot of the restaurants are booked up. There's a few restaurants here. They're often slightly different. Some of them use rice flour, Japanese ingredients. A lot of those restaurants though don't open till 10 a.m. They take reservations at 8:00. So that's the thing. Japanese breakfast is a thing you would do at home or at the hotel. But you can definitely get food to eat.

What is the best restaurants in Japan? Amand writes in here. Amand, what is the best restaurant in your country? I don't know. Best theme restaurants. I don't know. Are you a tourist? Oh, you are a tourist. I don't know. I don't think it's a theme, but I would go to an izakaya. There was a chain called Murasaki. It means purple in Japanese. That was the first izakaya I ate at when I came to Japan. And it was a pretty unique experience. Izakaya are traditionally Japanese pubs where they have 500 things on the menu it feels like. It's not a theme, but I guess the theme is Japan. I would go to an izakaya and I would go to a good one. It's intimidating if you can't speak Japanese though. But a lot of them have English menus in the cities. And do your homework. You can find just about anything. From yakitori to karaage, a lot of chicken dishes, to skewers of wagyu beef, to miso soup. Yeah, everything is on the menu there. Everything is game at an izakaya. And definitely copious amounts of nama biru, which is draft beer, and chūhai. And you can get sake, atsukan if you're looking for the hot version. All that is at an izakaya, usually with dozens of varieties to choose from.

Theme restaurant. Gosh, I don't know. Baba Gopal. Gump shrimp is here. That's American. You really want to eat Baba Gump shrimp? They've got one at Tokyo Dome. The Ninja Restaurant. I don't know if that's still in business. A theme restaurant is usually great with a theme, but the food quality stinks.

Turn the camera around to show you Tokyo Tower. I'll take a few more questions. I love this format. You guys are giving me stuff to think about myself. How to find a travel companion in Japan? Tinder? I don't know. There's Tokyo. I'm checking the shake factor here. I'm using the DJI SE. There's a little bit of shake there, but it's a lot more stable than the other one, which is surprising. They're both kind of shaky. Maybe it's my hand. I'm literally... Can you hear me? Just let me know if you can.

What non-alcoholic options are there in an izakaya? Everything. They got everything. Oh, you can hear me? Okay. Izakaya has got... Kanae doesn't drink. Um... Oh, by the way. Here we go. They've got coffee. It's a space boat. Um, they got everything that's non-alcoholic there too. I mean, what do you want? Juice? Ginger ale? Coca-Cola? Um, ocha? I usually drink udoncha. Before I leave, I will drink udoncha. Good for the digestion. Okay. You gotta do Tsukiji Market if you come to Tokyo.

Kanae does not drink alcohol. And I'll be honest with you, I don't. I haven't had an alcoholic drink. I might have had one in Hawaii. Yeah, I've kind of stopped drinking alcohol too. Amazake is really good. You can find that at some of the izakaya. Yeah, I haven't had... I think in June, I've had maybe two or three drinks. Yeah. Part of the diet. Alcohol is like good for your stomach. Or the brain. But... It tastes good.

John, any recs for hotels to stay in Osaka and Tokyo? Osaka? I usually... Where do I stay? I stay at the ANA Crown Plaza because I have an IHG membership card. So, I mean, I think it makes a lot of sense if you're gonna stick with one group because you can get a lot of benefits. Craig, that is so nice. I was thinking of doing a midnight snack run. This... The encouragement... The encouragement is helpful. It's good to have like an IHG or what is it? Bonvoy? Because you do get benefits if you use that. I'm a... What am I like a... A diamond sapphire or whatever it is. The top level. And I always get a room upgrade for free. And sometimes they get free breakfasts thrown in and all these perks. And it kind of makes the experience better. So, you know, I tend to stay at the ANA Crown Plaza or the Intercontinental. Or the Holiday Inn, which is usually a pretty cool experience in Japan. Because the Holiday Inn is an American chain, but it's not in Japan. It's like Denny's, which is the best one is over there, by the way.

Now we know John stays at IHG Hotel a lot. I wouldn't say a lot because sometimes there's not a lot of options. But if there's an option, I'll tend to pick that just because I have the perks, right? I have a Bonvoy as well. And it's not as... I don't have as many perks yet. So it does work out good. The benefits of like fast check-in. I'll come in there and they know who I am sometimes. Do they have a picture of me? And they put me to this VIP thing. And I'm, you know, I'm not anything special, but it makes you feel special. And that's kind of cool, right? But you get that at a lot of nice hotels. I don't stay at the Intercontinental often. But, you know, if there's a chance. If that's the only option. Yeah, I won't complain.

Clashing Clans with Tofu writes in here, buy Leo one of those Pokémon balls for me. You got it. I will get it. I got Japan as well for him. Yeah, he likes those doorbells. Diana from Singapore got him a doorbell. Diana, I don't know if you're watching, but he's playing with the one that you got him. Thank you for the nice gift.

The Conrad Tokyo is nice. I think you might even be able to see it from here. It's over there. That's Shiodome. That's where... That's where it would be. Bonvoy is with Marriott. Sheraton. Ritz Carlton is in Bonvoy. And a lot of the Tokyo Disneyland. I don't think there's an IHG hotel at Tokyo Disneyland. So you have to use Bonvoy at the Sheraton, I think. But the Sheraton is great at Tokyo Disneyland. I think of all the Tokyo Disneyland hotels, Sheraton might be the best. The breakfast was really good. I like the way that their breakfast... It's really open. The rooms were a little bit... They seemed bigger than the Hilton, but the Hilton was good too. The Okura was a little bit older, so it might be cheaper. But that was... Everything was pretty satisfactory there too. But the Sheraton, I think, was maybe the best. Don't stay at that Toy Story... Well, I shouldn't say that. Stay wherever you want. Don't do what I do just because I do it, all right? Do it because you want to do it. You know? It's all up to you.

Nightbot, thank you for recommending that. There's not... The Blu-rays from the hitchhiking trip. They're on low supply. So... It's one of those things I did in 2017. I told you I hitchhiked the entire country. It will be sent to you from the US, so it'll get to you in a couple of days. I can say that. Thanks for supporting the Blu-ray too. You know what I mean? All right, take a couple more questions.

Darren writes in here, is there anywhere you can buy sakura snacks when not in season? Sure. Sure. I think what they do is they pickle the sakura, the cherry blossoms. So typically you'll get that on confections year round. It's not easy to find because of course they sell more in the season, right? Than they would out of season. But you can find sakura stuff at cafes all the time. It's a little bit harder to find. But it's being...

This is Kachidoki Bridge here that I'm on. It's just harder to find. I found an Airbnb for $25 a night in Kyoto. I don't need to spend so little but I want to try it. Yeah, that's history in itself. You don't have to spend $100 to find a really good accommodation. You'll find... There's a hotel room for $1 apparently. But in order to use that you have to be on their live cam 24 hours a day. Basically you're just sleeping. Tokyo Tower is right there. Either way. I was wondering if you're going to do a video on the new Harry Potter theme park. Probably not. Alright, I'm going to do a poll and you just tell me. I'm not 20 years old anymore. I read the Harry Potter books. All right? Saw the movies too. I have to be honest with you. I like the movies and stuff. I'm not coming to Japan to go to Harry Potter or whatever. What the heck is the connection? I don't get it. Ghibli I get. Why would you come to Japan for Harry Potter? All right? Isn't that for the domestic tourists? I don't know. I just don't get it. Maybe Universal Studios because it was a movie. But it's crazy to go to Ikebukuro, to Nerima, to this Harry Potter thing and wait in line and ruin your whole day trying to live some movie thing.

Stop being in a fantasy. Wake up. You're in freaking Japan. Look around you. Stop going to English culture Hollywood eyes. All right? Enjoy this. All right? Enjoy this construction. Look at this. This is real. If you go here you're going to be probably injured. I don't know. I'm just saying this. Don't go to some freaking theme park that you could go to in some other country. Enjoy Japan. Go to the local countryside areas. Go to Yokan. Do something cultural. You know? Don't go to freaking Harry Potter. All right? They're probably going to sue me. I don't care. I do care. Don't. Please. All right? There's my two cents on it. And any YouTuber who's going there, I don't fault you. I know you're going to get a lot of views. Does it have anything to do with Japan? No. Do I recommend it? No. Will I go there? Unless you all really, really want me to and then I'll go there for you. So then you don't have to. But I'm not taking Leo there. I don't want to. I'll take him to freaking England. Okay? I'm not going to teach him Harry Potter theme parks and spend $200 there. It's really, really expensive. It's ridiculous. Disney's different because Disney Sea is special. And I live here. I have an excuse to go to Harry Potter. All right? You don't. You're a tourist. Why the heck would you do that? It's not even that big. It's big-ish but it's not like a whole day type of thing but you're going to spend a whole day waiting in a line or something. Nintendo World? Maybe because Nintendo's from Japan. I can kind of see that but I can't see Harry Potter English culture here. All right? You want Marmite? Go get that in London. We got some people from the UK watching. I think it's a little bit too much. All right? Just putting that out there. I love it. I read the books. That's cool. Build it in England. You know what I mean? All right, I'm done with my ranting.

Is there anything fun or unique things to do in Tokyo in February? Sure! Skiing! Japan is one of those locations for the Winter Olympics in 2030 when maybe Sapporo wins. I don't know. Japan will be one of those locations. It's one of the only places where it's still snowing. This global warming stuff is what half of the world is talking about. I don't know what the other half is. I'm not a proponent. I don't want to get into the politics of it but some people say that Sapporo is one of the only places in the world that still has snow. I kind of don't agree with that. Who knows? But skiing is big in Japan. But I don't ski. I don't ski, pop. February is a month I would prefer to leave Japan and go to Hawaii now. Michael Brandy just heads up. Photo look Hawaii. Okinawa is nice. All right, I shouldn't say it.

All right, so let me put it to you like this. Japan has four seasons. Every season is special in this country. This is a reason why you need to come to Okinawa four times basically. Or just stay for two seasons. But Japanese cuisine in particular is very seasonal and you taste that in February. You taste the winter foods and it's quite good. It's different. All right. The best season is autumn I would say for Japanese cuisine for seasonal foods. I love the autumn cuisines but winter is also really good. You have more nabe, hot soups, things like this. You have atsukan, hot sake. You have different kinds of... You're eating under a kotatsu which is a very cultural heated table. So there's other things in the winter that you can do culturally that you don't do in the summer.

December is a good time. There's no bad time to visit. This is the rainy season. Look. It's warm. It's not humid. I'm in shorts. The days are long. You know, there's no bad time to come to Japan. You come when you can come. I don't like winter because it's dry. The days are shorter. It's darker. But it's cheaper. Less tourists. You might like nightlife. And you're going to get a lot more nightlife in the winter because it's night more. You know? Sometimes... I don't like fashion. I would walk around in a thong and not have to think about it if I could. If it was legal. It might be. I don't know. You should be careful here. But the point is I don't like dressing up in clothes and stuff and thinking about what I need to wear. So I don't like winter and fall because you got to wear layers of stuff. And you know, people judge you by that. They judge you by what you wear. If they judge me now, I'm a slob. But an acceptable one because it's hot. So if you're like me, summer is great because you can dress down and no one will question you so much. You know?

Best time to visit is probably, yeah, September, October. But that's also typhoon season. So there's asterisk marks there. Irvin, you've already seen me with almost nothing on. All right, buddy? So you know that I'm not beyond it. So I don't. Maybe I'm brainwashed because if you go to a Japanese onsen and you're walking around naked around the, you know, people there, you can become desensitized with nudity. It's no longer a sexualized thing in general. So you have to find a wall, a limit. Fundoshi might be that limit. Michael, maybe a little bit too TMI. But, you know, it's Japanese culture. It's not me. It's culture. So you don't see the people. I don't see the people wearing it here, though. Nothing at all. My skin. Let's keep it real. I'm not going to do that. But I'm not. I'm not. You see me participate in these festivals. So you know I'm not beyond it. But I like this festival because you don't have to think about the fashion. You know what you're wearing. And everyone's wearing the same thing. We're all equal when we're wearing a loincloth. It's nice in summer. Not so nice in winter. It's funny. I often just wear that loincloth in the winter. It's funny. Make a lot of sense. Speedo is a little bit much. It's too tight.

All right, everybody. This is some good questions. I know I missed some, which is a good reason for you to join the Postcard Club and be able to email me direct message anytime. Here's the postcard for this month. I appreciate it. We always get at least one or two signups every time I talk about it. And it helps us support the channel. I'm going to be traveling to some of the faraway places in Japan. That's all I'll say. And it really does help to go to the production. I got a cameraman and editor. I'm going to try to get more content out more frequently. And this is very helpful. So I do appreciate it. And I try to make sure that you get good stamps here. So if you have questions, you can reach me 24/7 on Patreon. Direct message. It's really cool. And I try to do more. I do more live Q&As as well. And for our YouTube members, if you're a member here, you'll get some links to secret streams and stuff like that sometimes.

You have to promote it. It's getting... Summer's going to be really busy. I won't be promoting it as much. So I'm doing it now. Hi from New Zealand. Hey, if it's okay to travel to Japan with very minor criminal record? A conviction for a long time ago. I don't know. That's something I think... They ask you that on the paperwork. And that's something that you have to decide whether or not to answer truthfully or not. I don't think it matters because, you know, you can't judge people by something that they did when they were younger. And this is, you know, I don't know. I'm not like a hardcore Christian or anything like that or deeply religious. But I do believe in redemption. And I believe that people can change. You know, I'm not going to... I can't tell you what to do with that. I just simply don't know. But if you have a minor, you know, criminal offense, I don't think that that should be a reason to keep you from coming here. You know, you did whatever you did and that's it. I mean, I might not have done the greatest things when I was a kid and just didn't get caught. I'm kidding. Sort of. We're kids. You're kids. Everybody does something that's not perfect. We're not... None of us are perfect is what I'm trying to say. And I don't think that that should stop you. I'm glad you asked that. There's worse people that have no records coming here, okay? Just check out this guy calling himself... What is it? The same first name as me. I don't think that's his real name. He's not even from the U.S. And he says he's from America. That guy should be in prison.

Did John just admit to being a criminal on stream? Have I admitted to committing a crime? No. Is jaywalking a crime? I don't know. But I admit that I have crossed the street once or twice on a red light in the countryside when nothing was coming. So if that makes me criminal, whatever. All right? The fact is that I believe in all of you. I believe in redemption. And I believe that you guys are in second chances and people do change but with a grain of salt because some people don't. Some people don't. You can kind of tell. I might have exceeded the speed limit. Exactly, purple cat? You're only a criminal if you get caught. Ask the embassy, Saya. John's not the immigration expert. Saya, thank you for keeping it real. Yeah. When you have a question like this, I can point you in the right direction or tag Saya and she will help me out. The proper response is that you should call the embassy. You can do it anonymously. And just ask them. If that's an issue. But I do think that you should be honest in all your paperwork because this stuff, if you do not do it honestly, is potential to come back and really bite you hard. I always say to be honest. And if you have done, like I got nothing to hide so I'm usually quite honest with almost everything. But there's some things that people don't need to know too. And you have to just make that assessment yourself.

All right, guys. It's been real. Peter's coming over. We have to do a shoot. I'm doing the thumbnail. I'm going to be releasing, I told you, the motorcycle documentary. It's slightly edited for the main channel. And that will be the next video on the channel. And Peter's coming to help me do the thumbnail. All the supporters of the video will get credits at the end of it too, which is really great. But we want everybody to experience, to have that experience. So we're going to put it out there. The Kickstarter for the hitchhike is still something that's special. Just limited to the Blu-ray and the fireworks stuff. But I kind of made a fireworks episode. So can you get a real person in customs to contact them? Contact the embassy. Customs. If you're talking about things to bring into Japan, then yeah, then maybe you should contact customs. But there is a phone number and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a contact number, which you can do.

All right, everybody. The people talking about my right, look, it's the internet. When driving on expressways in Japan, I've noticed that the speed signs are quite low. I drive with the speed of traffic. All right, you won't find me in the left lane all the time. I drive with the speed of traffic. I'm not one of those that will speed by you. All right. All right, Peter's on the way. I got to go. See everybody. Enjoy the last couple of minutes. Looking at what once was and what will once be again. This is Tsukiji Market being dismantled. And it's kind of sad for me to see this from Kachidoki Bridge. But, you know, it's happening right now. And when you get here in the fall, it'll probably be the building of something else. But it's interesting to kind of take a look and see because I know many of you came to Japan. This was kind of a place where you waited in a room right there until 4 a.m. And then you walked over to the auction over there. That's all gone. Have a nice day. See you guys.