00:00:01 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Tokyo. Recently in the news I saw some places that have added a foreigner tax. In particular, we saw not too long ago on a YouTube short from our friends at Asian Boss right here. Check it out. I'm not going to play the sound too much, but I can tell you what they're talking about. She's explaining that there was a foreigner tax. They went in and some people would speak Japanese and some people could speak English. So they get an English menu and they got a Japanese menu. They noticed that the prices were different on the Japanese menu than they were on the English menu. The English menu was higher. So when they asked about it, they said that the English menu was a foreigner tax. Foreigners don't like to pay tax is what she said. I don't doubt this at all.

00:00:51 John Daub: I think over the last couple of months we've seen prices rise just about everywhere. So I'm not surprised by this fully, but we should talk a little bit about it. Because it's important for you when you come to Japan to be ready and understand that this is actually not common. I think that's from Asian Boss. This is not actually common here in Japan. There are some things that you can do when you come to Japan to make sure that this does not happen to you. And this is what this livestream is all about. And it might be just interesting to watch because scams are in every single country. Japan is no exception. People get scammed all the time. If you do want to take a look at this Asian Boss short, check it out. I got a chance to meet with the channel creator there a few years ago. And they're really nice people. They do some good work over there.

00:01:45 John Daub: There's a restaurant behind me. This is called Tsujita. And I want to show you their menu here. It's out right in the front. You can see they put the prices very clearly in both Japanese and English. And this is 1300 yen. And this is 1000 yen. So you know what you're getting. And it's very public. This is important so you know you're not going to get ripped off. And then over here is a vending machine with the prices on it. So you would just pay by Suica card or by cash here. You can even add toppings to it. And I think that that is the kind of restaurant that you probably want to go into. And it's packed right now.

00:02:25 John Daub: The prices at this izakaya (pub) are also listed on the outside. Quite often they'll list the prices on the door or on the outside, or even on the plastic models. This is a place that's open for dinner. So in that sense you can be sure that if you're going to a good place, if the prices are listed publicly like that right out in the front. Because that's one of the reasons why they want to get you into the door—they're going to list the prices up front. Check this out. So this is a motsuyaki (grilled offal) center. And they put the prices of the alcohol out in the front. You can see the menu is right there on the wall. It's all very clear. 1200 yen. 2800 yen for this motsunabe (offal hot pot), which is a specialty in Tokyo, actually all around Japan. The prices are quite clear. And even up inside the shop you can see they have the menu listed up there. When you go into a restaurant you can usually see the prices. It's very clear.

00:03:48 John Daub: How you doing Nightshade Giggles? See, there should be no question about this. But if you're asking for an English menu, there's chances that you might be taken advantage of. Only two times in 25 years have I ever had a problem. I want to be perfectly honest with you. The one time was the opposite. They had an English menu. I never ask for it because I can read the menus in Japanese like 90% of everything. It's pretty clear. You know, pork, chicken, beef. You know, I can figure it out. The English menu came. And my friend was Japanese so he had a Japanese menu. They will do that. Yeah, they see me and they just give you an English menu. I never get angry about it. But I noticed that the English menu prices were cheaper. You want to know why? Because the owner forgot to update the English menu and he updated the Japanese menu. So the English menu prices were cheaper. He's an honest guy. So I ended up pointing this out to them and he apologized to me. He apologized because he had to change the prices. He goes, well, you have to pay what the prices are. But at the end when I went to pay my bill, he actually rounded the bill down because he's the business owner. And he goes, look, I know it wasn't fair because the prices, you might have thought it was different. So he rounded it down. So I was surprised. That's the level of service you're going to get in Japan like almost all the time.

00:05:16 John Daub: But there are black businesses in Japan—black meaning not good companies. There are business owners that are hurting really badly. So they try to take advantage of the fact that you're a foreigner and you can't read the menus. Chan is here. Man, just pointing out that I did not ask for that tax, but is greatly appreciated. I hope you're staying cool in the trunk because it is quite hot here in Japan right now. Yep, saying that tourists or certain minorities don't tip. OK, well, I'm looking at the chat here. This is a live stream. So you might want to read the live stream chat as well.

00:05:52 John Daub: So here's some things that you can do to prevent this from happening to you. I've written them down. I'm going to point it to the street, so it's easier. Let's go against this black wall. This will be easier for you to see the tips here. Ask for Japanese or English menus. Ask for a Japanese menu as well. I think that this is a no-brainer. If you get an English menu, you might want to ask for that. Check for the prices on the wall. Use Google Translate. Check the menu online, website, or Google Maps. Learn to count in Japanese and think in Japanese yen. So those are things that you can do. It's pretty easy. Number one is if you do come to Japan, it's very important that you learn to think in Japanese yen. I know it's not easy, but you have to get an idea in the first couple of days what the prices cost like.

00:07:31 John Daub: And as a traveler who's been to between 70 and 75 countries over the last 25 years, half my life, I've learned one thing. When you get into a country, you must know the exchange rate. It has to be, you could tie it to the dollar to give you a point. But then within the first couple of hours, I start to price out. How much is a bottle of Coke? How much is the deluxe? How much does the lunch cost me? How much is our accommodations to get me thinking in local currency? The guidebooks help with this too. And then you know if you're getting ripped off or not. The bottom line is if you're happy with the price and you don't mind too much, yeah, then you're probably not going to know and it's not a big deal, right?

00:08:42 John Daub: Know that the currency, ask the other customers. If you get an English menu and the restaurant won't give you a Japanese menu, walk out. Walk out. You don't have to eat there. There's something if you don't get a good feeling about it, just leave and then go to another place. The point is that there's hundreds and hundreds of restaurants. And if you're in the city, that's where these tourist things are going to happen mostly. Actually, that's not true. The other time, the only other time that I had a tourist price, the same thing happened. I can't recall where it was because this is like 20 years ago, but it might have been Nagoya. They had two prices and they had an English menu and the English menu was more expensive and I'd never been given an English menu before. So I asked for the Japanese menu and right away I could tell that the prices were different. So I ordered off of the Japanese menu and then when I got the bill, they gave me the prices for the English menu that really ticked me off. So I was lucky there was another customer who is Japanese and I could speak very little Japanese then, but just enough. There's another customer that was Japanese who could speak English. And he helped me out and he could understand that they were charging me the wrong price. So the Japanese customer brought the Japanese menu to the owner and I said, he ordered this. I saw him. You didn't charge him this. Charge him right. And in the end, I ended up paying the real price. But I think the difference was about actually it was like 1200 yen. It was quite significant.

00:10:29 John Daub: You don't have to tip in Japan, by the way. So that's a non-issue. And if they ask you to tip, don't do it. It's Japan. You don't have to tip. If it's in the bill, then maybe you have to tip. There's a service charge at some places. That's not uncommon. In fact, when you go into izakaya, typically there's like a 300 to 500 yen charge to sit down. And you're given an extra. And then as a gift for this charge, you're given like a little hors d'oeuvre, a bowl that will be set in front of you. And you can eat that. That's sort of, all right, you paid a seating charge and we're giving you an appetizer. It's a fair trade off, I guess. But when I was younger, I didn't want to pay the darn seating charge. So you just didn't go to restaurants where that was necessary, like a ramen place or something like this. Just if you feel like there's something wrong, just get out. You get a sense.

00:11:33 John Daub: Now, I went to a tourist place in Kyoto, and there's a lot of these tourist places where locals don't go. It's all tourists, including this place. This is Menbakadai. This is an experience. This is for my Instagram from a couple of years ago. You can see that they put on a show. This is near Nijo Castle. And look, they're showing me a warning about the fire that's about to ensue. It's fire ramen. This is 199% tourists going here. In fact, even Japanese tourists will go here. The price was ridiculous. I think it was like 1800 yen for a bowl of ramen. It's more about the performance in the show. But there's nothing wrong with that because, you know, this is what you're paying for. You pay for the fire. Here comes the fire. And you can see you pay for this privilege. The people next to me, I believe, were from the Philippines. So everybody was a tourist in there. And me too. I was scouting it out for a main channel episode. I thought that there was some sort of history or something to this. That's all it is. And you pay an extra maybe 700 yen for that. I think the value of the ramen was maybe 1000 yen at most. It wasn't anything spectacular. A little bit weird. It was a little bit like a wheelie, which is why the fire was there.

00:13:00 John Daub: But I talked with the owner of the restaurant in Japanese because I could do that. And I was really curious about this. And I asked him, why are there so many foreigners here? And he said, because it's gotten really popular on social media. But also because he really liked foreigners. He really liked people who visited Japan. And, you know, I guess this is sort of an art. But the fire was fun and interesting. But it really was a tourist attraction. And he had a place where you could take your smartphone, clip it up to the wall, and then you push record. And then it would film the whole experience for you. And then you'd have something to upload. It's brilliant, right? He's a brilliant marketer. But it's a tourist trap. And the ramen was not great. It was good. But wasn't great. It didn't justify the cost. No locals went in there while I was there. But that's not the point. It's famous in Japan. It's something you saw on social media. And if you want to eat it, you should go and try it.

00:14:07 John Daub: He also acted, and this is interesting. He asked me, and then he switched back to English mode, which is funny. Because he speaks pretty good English. So we went back to English mode. I think it was easier for him to see me as a tourist. And he brought out pamphlets and asked me where I was going. And I told him, you know, I'm going to Gion or something. So he brought out maps and stuff and was giving me suggestions. Maybe he had like partnerships with these other restaurants or something. I don't know. He's always thinking business. So I thanked him and I left. And it was, it's a little bit much. But I think he genuinely wanted to help foreigners. And that was good. The price, though, was not different for Japanese as it was for English speakers. So it was just a tourist trap. And it was expensive. And that's it. Nothing wrong with that. His reputation is very important. And I think especially to foreigners. And I think he protects that because he's just nothing hidden.

00:15:09 John Daub: Personality of Brick Wall writes in here. In 2019, they left the Japanese menu with me. I was browsing both menus to see if there's a special item in Japanese menu. The service spoke perfect English. I was fine pointing on the Japanese menu. Yeah. Chan writes in here. One thing to note, though, prices are generally listed without tax in Japan. Ah, so the foreign menu the tax might not be included. That's true. There's, you know, there was a tax hike around, I don't know, like 12 years ago. And they raised the tax from 5% to 10%. Then there was an outcry when they first announced it. So they lowered food tax to 8%. So the most you should pay for food taxes even now is 8% of the bill. It's not 10%. It's 8% for food. I believe that that has not changed. Because, you know, I don't think, I think they talk about it, but I don't think it's changed. Because I saw an 8% tax on my bill. Some businesses might have not upgraded it, the law. I'm not sure. But that's the fact.

00:16:51 John Daub: Young Padawan is here. Same deal when I check out of Japanese hotels. I always ask for my bill in Japanese yen, not USD. Yeah, exactly. Ask for the tax. Ask everything in 8%, 10% then the foreigner tax rates in lieu is. Well, it's only a tax if you don't know the laws, I guess. But it's 8% for food. That should be the tax that you get on your bill. 10% if you're buying a product at a store. And this happened, I think it was like 12 years ago. Prime Minister Abe enacted this. And it was really controversial. Because the economy was so stagnant. But the government needed to collect more revenue. And they did it. And 10% is pretty good. But I hope that they don't raise it for a very long time.

00:17:20 John Daub: There are many instances where foreigners who come here to Japan—I'm in Kachidoki, by the way, which is right here. There's many instances where you think you're being discriminated against. And I see sometimes YouTubers that are visiting Japan do a, I've been discriminated against in Japan. I've seen a lot of videos in Japan live stream or upload. And I watch it. And I scratch my head. And I'm like, you just don't know Japanese culture. Just because you went into a restaurant and they said no to you. Because they couldn't speak English. And you couldn't speak Japanese. By the way, this is still Japan. You didn't have any kind of a translation method. A lot of these restaurants that say no to you are probably booked for an event. A wedding. Or you're going at a time where there's nobody in there. And you see there's nobody seated. But the whole restaurant's been booked for an event that starts at 6:30. And they don't want you in there. It's just a gross misunderstanding. Because I talked to business owners, restaurant owners. And that's what they told me. Like, look, we had reserved seats. We couldn't speak English. We didn't know how to confront it. We wanted to keep it real simple. So we just said no. And they made an issue about it. They got angry. They said, look, I see you at an empty restaurant. Why are you saying no to me? It's discrimination. But they couldn't speak English. So it lead to a gross misunderstanding. And then they make a video about it trying to shame the restaurant owner, which is very unfair. So I think some people are hypersensitive. I hate to say this, but Americans, like, you don't have the same rights in Japan, first of all, as you do in America. You're in a foreign country. And for people who are traveling for the first time, don't quite understand that. You can get scammed in the U.S., too. Or in any country, for that matter.

00:19:25 John Daub: But for the most part, if you are scammed, it's a black business. It's not a good business. But you should be able to have a spider sense that tells you there's something wrong. And in that case, you can do several things like these things I put up on the screen. What I like to do is you can go to Google Maps. And Google Maps, click on the location, and you'll see the menu sometimes listed there. Or you'll see a link to the website. And if you go to the website, you can obviously copy and paste, even from an image now on iOS devices, you can copy and paste text from an image, which is pretty cool. Copy and paste that into Google Translate, and boom, there you go. You know what's going on. You can do this with Japanese menus. You can copy and paste them and get the translation. And you can protect yourself that way. But you're going to have to have a little bit of travel know-how, kind of, you know, have a skill of protecting yourself. It doesn't matter if it's Japan or it's anywhere else. I think it's just an important skill to have as a traveler. In any country, unless you're on a tour, then your guide is responsible for you.

00:20:51 John Daub: Let's look at some of the questions here. Off topic, but is it better to book your hotel from America? Yes. And do it in advance if it's a popular place. That's an easy one. Brick wall, like that Thai dude, he was kicked out. I've been going to Japan for 25 plus years and have never been discriminated. I'm Pinoy from Hawaii, but I can speak basic Japanese and understand the culture. I've been discriminated? That's a really harsh word. Yeah. I'm not a, I never consider myself a victim unless it's Apple Japan. I think they targeted me. But never mind that. It's history now. I never consider myself to be a victim. Because you could just walk out. You could just leave. If they don't want your business, why do you want to do business with them? If they don't want you to eat there, what's the big deal? Go to a better place, right?

00:21:54 John Daub: Discrimination is huge against foreigners. If you are American, Canadian, British, or Australian, or fair skinned, you noticed it. I have never noticed it. I'm darker. I'm from South Asia. I've been here for 25 years. I think that 99% of Japanese are fair-minded, actually curious. I taught at an English school and my classes were at a chain. And my classes, despite the fact that I was darker than country. There isn't one country in the world that discrimination will not happen. Are you a victim as a result of it? Depends on your point of view. I'm not. I walk away. I'm okay. I remember I was at NHK and I was doing an audition. And I could hear them in the back saying something and then they just blurted out. No, we're looking for a white guy for this one. Okay. I think it's like, well, that's not a great thing to say. But I took it and I left. And I said, okay, sometimes that's what you want. This isn't Disney. They're the ones that are casting. I don't look into it. I've had more opportunities as a result of being different than I do. It's like karma. What goes around comes around. Good things happen to those who wait. And sometimes bad things happen because we're all human. So when bad things happen, you can't think you're a victim. You just kind of forget about it. That's the best thing.

00:23:32 John Daub: Just because it never happened to you, it doesn't mean it doesn't happen to others. The point is, let's be real here, though. It depends on how you respond to it. If this is the only restaurant in town, I'd probably be pretty pissed off. I'll be honest with you in that case. But that's not always the case. You can just walk across the street or find a better place. You have to be positive about this. You have to. Because what is your other option? Are you going to stay in Japan longer? You're going to sue? You're going to sue them? You're going to call the police and spend the entire day at the police station? Is that what you want? If it happens, you have to understand that it happens in every single country. Every country. I've traveled to, as I said, over 70 countries. I think it's like 72. I've had it happen in every country. In Europe. It's happened in Europe. It's happened in the UK, where I felt uncomfortable. It's happened in France, of course. But they're small things. They're not big things to me. They're not big. And sometimes I am at fault. Maybe I speak too loud. Or, you know, they don't take my credit card. I can't be angry about it. Not everybody takes American Express or Visa, for that matter, or credit cards at all. Sometimes they take cash. But the world is not going to work the way you want it to work. And if you're getting stuck in a situation where you're being scammed, that's sort of your... They're breaking the law, but you also have to be able to protect yourself. And that means you have to use your head a little bit. That's just me.

00:25:32 John Daub: Should restaurants be doing it? They don't. It's a very, very, very few restaurants. And they're going to get discovered. Because people are going to... Instead of arguing... If you see the discrepancy, go online. Go on Google reviews and post it. Give them a one. But if you try to sue them and go to the police, I know how the law enforcement works here in Japan. You will spend the entire day of your vacation in there talking about somebody who made you feel bad. Or you could forget about it and spend the rest of your vacation forgetting about it. Or just forget about it. Spend the rest of your vacation thinking about the other delicious foods or things that you could eat. So that's my point of view on it. I wouldn't say that it was discrimination. I think they wanted to close early.

00:26:25 John Daub: Can you tell us about the issue with tattoos in places that won't allow it? Old school thinking. I would say right now the dominoes are falling on people with tattoos. And it won't be long before all of the businesses do. But businesses are businesses. If they don't want your business, don't give it to them. Don't expect that people to change because you want them to. If they're smart, they'll be accepting of tattoos knowing that a lot of them are really interesting. And of course, a foreign tourist is not a gangster. But the point is this. A rule is a rule. This is Japan thinking. A rule is a rule. And you don't bend the rules for special cases because you're going to get in trouble. If somebody with tattoos who is a gangster happens to come in and wants to go and say, well, you let these people in and they have tattoos, I think the tattoo is the excuse to keep those kinds of people out. But it's keeping you out. But the way that the Japanese education system works and the thing that worries me, I was talking about this with Leo, my son, who's going to go to Japanese school soon or A school. They don't teach independent thinking in this way. There's a rule and you stick to the rule. And that's it. That's what the rule is for. In the US, you might be a little bit more flexible with the rule because you can make an independent judgment and use your mind in common sense. But you can also get in trouble with that. There's risk to breaking the rule. And in Japan, it's all about minimizing risk, as you learned from this live stream over the last couple of years. The exception to the rule is not accepted. That's one way to put it.

00:28:25 John Daub: For big things like rent, no foreigners just means don't want someone who can't understand the procedures. You can turn a negative into a positive. This is my thinking. The moment you go dark and you get angry, you've lost. But you can win people over. If you can demonstrate that you understand the rules and you don't get angry, there's a good percentage chance that they'll change the way they think, in particular if it is a small business owner that owns the apartment building, and they'll accept you. I had a reference letter. I lived in the same apartment for 12 years. I was such good friends with the apartment owner. And then two years later, she was in her 90s, by the way, and I would help her up with her groceries and stuff, more so than the other tenants would do. I think I was more part of the community than the other Japanese tenants. And I always want to be an asset to the community if I can. It's hard to find free time, but you do what you can. When the building was bought by another company, it was a small business, and I would take my rent in person, ride my bicycle over there, and sit and talk to them for like 10 minutes. For 10 years. And they became my friends. And when I was doing NHK reports, NHK asked me, do you think we could film at the apartment? I asked the landlord, and they said yes, because I had such a great relationship with them. When I came to the new apartment, I was looking around. I asked my landlord for a letter of recommendation or reference in Japanese, explaining that I'd been living in this building for 12 years. I was a model resident. In fact, I was the model resident, and that I could speak Japanese. And I got this letter of reference from another property owner. And that had a huge impact on me being able to find an apartment in Tokyo. My wife was Japanese, so that helps too. But the point is, though, that if you stay positive and you are working with your community and you have other people that can help you out, you don't have to worry about that so much. And you have to play within the rules that are here in Japan. You can't play by the rules that you think are fair sometimes. You have to play by the rules that is Japan. And there are laws, but a lot of these laws aren't enforced. And I'll be honest, a lot of these laws, even the police don't even know what some of them are.

00:30:58 John Daub: I've seen traffic stops where the police will pull somebody over. I've been watching that quite a bit on YouTube, other YouTubers showing police pulling people. Police, by the way, are fine to film in Japan. They're public servants, so you can film them. Just a little bit of inside knowledge. Sometimes they don't know what the laws are either. But because they are the law, people don't question them and they can get away with stuff. So sometimes you do have to check the police here. It's true. And it's hard to do if it's a higher ranking person. They're not going to want to admit the deficiency or the demerit. Some people will. And then you have to go above them. And eventually, I've seen where you can get a lot of people who are not going to admit. So YouTubers or other Japanese YouTubers really fought the issue. But it required a lot of energy. And they were able to get retractions on some not great police officers. And they're all over the place, even here in Japan. I think most of the police officers are great, though. I've never had an issue. But they follow the rules that they know.

00:32:06 John Daub: All right, I'll take some questions here. When everyone thinks they are special, in turn, nobody is special anymore. That's not true. We're special to each other. You're special to your family. But you can't expect the world to think that you're special just because you're you. They don't know you. The assumption should be the opposite. You're not special. If you're Tom Hanks and you walk into an izakaya, I think that's pretty special. Because everybody knows Tom Hanks. Nobody knows who the heck you are. I know who you guys are. Most of you. Some of you. A few of you. A couple of you. You're special to your family. We are unique, not special. That's a good way to look at it. Does Japan use Yelp? Not really. And I think Yelp might not be the most accurate way to do things with the restaurants anymore. One person who becomes a, I guess you could say the Karen word, and then they start making fake accounts and can ruin a small business owner's ratings because of a disagreement that they had that wasn't fair. So I think Yelp is sometimes a good way to look at it. I guess these online reviews are not good. You have to use your brain. Always carry a passport when moving around. Yeah. Or definitely keep a copy of your passport or your passport with you if you are here in Japan.

00:33:34 John Daub: Okay, give me a thumbs up. Could you see yourself living in Hokkaido? Yeah. It'd be cold. I could see myself. As a man with autism, I despise the term special cause. It means nothing to me and I feel it's more insulting. Yeah. Everybody's gonna have a different way to look at things. I don't want to be treated special either. So I can relate to that. I just want the same treatment that Japanese get. Sometimes it goes the other way where they treat me too special because I'm not Japanese. And that sometimes creeps me out. Like, no, I just, just be normal here. Copy of a passport. You should always have a passport or a copy of your passport. The reason why a copy, because sometimes you could be getting a visa where they have your passport and they're holding it. So you need to have a copy of your passport at all times. Some places in Japan, the copy is not enough. You need to have your physical passport, like to validate your JR rail pass. So make sure you have your real passport for certain things. But sometimes if you're getting a visa for another country, they might keep your passport. And in that sense, you need to have a copy of it always in Japan because if police stop you, you need ID.

00:34:55 John Daub: Kamen Rider Rogue writes in here, my Japanese friend's grandfather often said the Showa era elders are the most xenophobic. I don't want to generalize. I've met, of course, now Japanese have traveled more over the last 30 years since the 80s, since the bubble era. I wouldn't say that that's entirely true, but I hate to generalize. I really do because I've noticed a lot of people that are in their 70s, 80s and 90s. I just interviewed a wonderful person. She's 92 years old. And this is why I don't want to ever make any generalizations about people that are older. I've got such a, maybe it's because I've been here for so long, but I've got an amazing amount of respect for the older generation here. A counterpoint to this. I've had people that were alive during the occupation and they had very good interactions with the American military, and they fell in love with America. And that generation that you say is xenophobic is a generation that also fell in love with Hawaii. And they love America more. I think more so than maybe the younger people. It was America for the older generation. America was the amazing country. And if you walk down Harajuku 20, 30 years ago, even 10 years ago, you saw American flags because the business owners from that generation, they really had a connection with America and the fashion and the sense from there. And now I think it's turned more global. So you could say the opposite for America anyways. But that's my point of view.

00:37:16 John Daub: Your passport. It's pretty safe to carry your passport with you since many people carry a lot of cash on them without worrying. What's the story with the Suica cards? I don't know. Some people are finding them and some people aren't. But go with the press release. Some comments were kicking me and saying that they can't find them. That they could find a Suica or a Pasmo when I'm a liar. That's not true because I literally read their press release. Suica put out a press release. Pasmo put out a press release in Japanese and English. A real one. And they said that it was suspended indefinitely. And I couldn't find them when I looked for them in Tokyo Station. That doesn't mean you won't be able to find them. But if you're coming to the airport and you're a tourist, grab the welcome Suica card which is good for 28 days and you can use it as an IC card. Just the same. You don't need to get a permanent Suica. If you don't want the welcome card, you can skip it and try to find one in the city. Or when you travel outside of touristy areas that might still have them. There is a supply that's still around. But as I know right now, they're not making them anymore. Because they don't have any chips. There's the update on it. And if they give a press release stating otherwise, I will give you an update.

00:39:08 John Daub: In the 80s, an American soldier who had married a Japanese lady after the war. And they told me that the Japanese were used to salute the American soldiers passing by in Jeeps. The stories I got of the GIs here. It wasn't always perfect, alright. But if you compare the citizens of Japan. I'm not talking about people in the military. The citizens of Japan were scared of the Japanese soldiers. They weren't scared of the American GIs. And there was a respect as a result of that. This comes from talking to a lot of people, folks. I'm not just making this up. People that were here during the occupation told me. They were, during the war, scared of the military. They were afraid to speak out. They were afraid of what would happen to them. It was very much like what, I guess you could say, what Russia or China is today. You're afraid to say anything against the government. And when the occupation happened, they could express themselves again. So there was a great deal of respect for the GIs. More so than the soldiers in their own country. And, you know, as an American, that really does make me feel pretty happy that there was this great respect and love. It wasn't always perfect. GIs are GIs. They, you know, get into fights. They're not perfect. It's a tough job, you know. But for the most part, MacArthur ran a tight ship. And he told people, treat everybody with respect. And that's what happened. And the result was that Japan built an amazing democracy. And for decades, there was a lot of love as a result of the way that the treatment went after the occupation. Because the treatment went exactly opposite to all the information that was being told to them by their own government.

00:41:06 John Daub: James Herman writes in here, I just want to say you're right. People need to understand Japan isn't America. A tourist's attitude towards others is the biggest in how one is treated. Yes. And Sean is here. I know it's not related to the topic of the stream, but I'm just being naggy. Get yourself a drink. All right, let's do that right now. Because there's one right here. Sean, thank you. I'm glad you guys are looking out for me. You've got to look out for each other. That's what the stream is for here. Do I have my Suica card? This is interesting. They had this jelly water. I wonder if that's worth trying. Usually, I just get green tea. But I've been going just plain water, which is not exciting. This is the generic cola. It just says cola. It's just a drink. It's not that bad, though. Sometimes the generic cola uses real sugar, and you can taste the difference. All right, let's go with green tea. That's the one I had yesterday. All right, this one has salt. All right, I can try that one. You've got to stay hydrated. There's nothing wrong with salt. But if it has sugar in it, I'm going to be upset. Why would you put sugar in the water? Natural mineral water. Lemon flavoring, salt, and sugar. Oh, my gosh. They put sugar in the water? Really? Why would you do that? There's honey in it. All right, well, let's see how much. Maybe it's just a drop. Then you have to think what kind of honey. Because most honey that's used that's cheap comes from China. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I can't really check the quality. This is actually not bad. This is the Ume Salty Suntory Water. It's sweet. It's got sugar in it. It's a spike insulin. But it keeps you hydrated. That's more important. So thank you, Sean. This is actually quite pleasant. It's quite pleasant. Sugar, salty ume (plum) water. It does have a taste of the Japanese plum. All right, everybody. I hope this is interesting for you. How many calories? That's a good question. I think it's 26 kilocalories. How can water have calories? But in the summer, sometimes you need that.

00:44:31 John Daub: So just to sum up here for those that are joining us. In response to the Asian Boss shorts, which has gotten, what, 4 million views or something, I think you all can understand that her experience is probably in the minority. There's chances that you ask for the Japanese menu. If you feel like you're being swindled, leave the restaurant. Understand that there are seating charges in Japan. And with the seating charge, you should be given an appetizer or a little bowl. And that signifies that you paid a seating charge. It's a little bit different. If you get it and you're not sure there's a seating charge, there's probably a seating charge if you receive a free appetizer. And let's be honest. They give you a hot towel typically. So it's good service. I don't mind paying 300 yen for a little appetizer and a hot towel. What are you going to do? And also notice that restaurants can be booked, and they're not discriminating against you. Just be careful by shouting out that someone is discriminating against you because that might not be the actual situation. So that could be it. That's it. Thank you, everybody, for watching. I'll see you in another live stream. Hold on a second. It's crazy. That's the last time I use this. There's a list of things that you can do to make sure you're not getting swindled. But it is something when another YouTuber brings it up, it's something we need to discuss. Thank you. I'll see you. I'm editing right now. I'm going to Kochi on Wednesday. So I'm flying over to Kochi to do a live stream. I'm going to be doing another report, which is killing me because I edit and then go on another trip. So I've got to edit faster. But there's a main channel episode coming ASAP on the Tokyo fire bombing. And gosh, there's so many other episodes. But this is my last big film for a while. And then when I get back from Kochi, I'll be home most of September right now just to edit. So there's that. Take care, everybody. See you later. Matane.