00:00:01 John Daub: Greetings! Welcome everybody to the city of Tokyo. In this episode I'm going to be talking about this anti-tourist feeling that a lot of you have noticed. In the last couple of live streams in particular, I've seen more comments asking if Japan just doesn't want tourists. Is Japan becoming anti-tourist? I can understand why, because of news articles like this popping up, as well as Osaka considering adding a new tax for over-tourism. JR Rail Pass increasing its prices by 70%. Do they actually want you to come here? Are they giving you enough incentive to want to come to Japan? Do they need to give you an incentive to come to Japan? I want to talk about a lot of this stuff, kind of break it down for you because it is on the minds of so many people that are thinking of coming to Japan. And I hope that this isn't one of the reasons why you're not thinking of coming to Japan because you feel this anti-tourism sentiment.

00:00:58 John Daub: Most of the tourists are coming to Japan and going to the same places over and over again. I'm not talking about 7-11 back there, although many of you are getting your dinner at 7-11, which is bizarre to me. I can understand getting a bento once or twice, but I met a tourist just the other day who said yeah, he's been eating all his meals at 7-11 because it's just so good and so easy. And I'm like, well, it's also not so healthy. But look, there's a path called the Golden Route that every tourist seems to take between Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Himeji Castle, and now Hiroshima, I believe, is on there, and Miyajima, which is a magical island where the deer run free. There's Nara in there, day trips around Kansai. But a lot of that Golden Route is extremely crowded with North American tourists and also from East Asia, the neighbors as well. But it's just so popular because everybody wants to go to Kyoto.

00:01:58 John Daub: Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto. There's a place right now that's having the most anti-tourism news because of the idea that they are against tourists because they're banning it. But I showed just the other day this news article that breaks down just how bad it is for the geisha (geiko) and maiko (apprentice geisha). It's not that simple. When you watch this, you see the geisha, the maiko, are leaving to go to a job and they're just getting hounded by tourists wanting to take pictures. And those signs are showing, look, we have to do something to protect the harmony between the locals and the tourists. And the tourists don't really have a right to take a picture of the locals, so they're just swarming the geisha, the maiko. And it's a very uncomfortable scene for me to watch. I think it's very uncomfortable for Japanese to also watch tourists swarming to try to get photos for Instagram.

00:03:08 John Daub: So they banned access to these streets, which isn't their right because these are public streets. They fine you 10,000 yen if you're taking pictures of them. And again, like this is the cultural thing that's been going on for hundreds of years. Is the Kyoto government approaching this the right way? My answer is no. My solution would be for the Kyoto government to hire some maiko or at least some of their tourism staff to dress up like geisha, walk around, and let the tourists take pictures of them because it improves your reputation as a tourist-friendly place. People could share those photos on Instagram. I don't even think that they care if it's a real maiko or not. They just want somebody who's in white makeup and a beautiful kimono walking around. And the tourists get so happy when they take the picture of the geisha. Oh, I got a picture with the geisha. She had white makeup and a beautiful kimono. And that's all I wanted.

00:04:03 John Daub: And look, here's the sign. They keep changing the sign every two or three years as well. The first signs looked like the thumbnail. It was just like these infographics of don't touch, don't fondle the geisha. Don't touch them. Keep your distance. No photographing. And what it is, the messaging is so bad from Kyoto right now. It is just so bad. And I agree with Kyoto. They got to do something. But the messaging is just so darn awful that tourists and YouTubers alike are making videos asking whether or not Japan is anti-tourist. And they're saying Kyoto is Japan and it's not. It's just places with the quote-unquote over-tourism problem. And the over-tourism problem is a problem for the Golden Route. It's just one route that everybody that's seen on Instagram and YouTube and they all want to go to the same places. The hotels are more expensive. You're shoulder to shoulder with other tourists. It's quite uncomfortable for many people.

00:05:14 John Daub: It's breaking my heart because it's absolutely not the thing. It's not the issue. The issue is that over-tourism is a problem. Japanese are pretty frustrated with it. They don't have solutions. In general though, Japan's reaction is always to be positive. They're pretty harsh and crack down and then loosen it up. But you can't do it when you're not conveying a good message and you're not communicating properly with the tourists. Tourists are coming here and they're seeing this or they're considering coming here and they're seeing this. This is one of the worst PR blunders of 2024. We started off this year pretty bad. We had an earthquake. We had an issue with one of the runways at Haneda. We were off to a bumpy start to tourism. But the numbers are still there because the last three, four months, we've seen amazing tourism numbers here. Irvin knows. Irvin is here. We feel your presence, sir.

00:06:14 John Daub: But now this comes out. And it started right in April during the cherry blossom season. And it couldn't have been a worse time either. And maybe they did it now because they know that tourism is going to increase by like 20% in Kyoto, which it's already pretty much at its limits. And they know that the maiko are going to get swarmed again. Look, you have maiko also in Kanazawa. You have maiko in Asakusa. You have maiko walking around Tokyo. You might see one right past me right now. Maybe not. Not in this area. But when you watch the images of them and the tourists after them, it breaks my heart. But it also breaks my heart seeing Kyoto's response to this. Like the politicians and the maiko. The mayors and the local leaders are not doing a really good job. I'd say I'd give them like one star out of ten. It's absolutely awful.

00:07:12 John Daub: When you put in a countermeasure, you also kind of consider the other party's feelings and try to find something you can do to remedy that. And it wouldn't cost a lot of money for them to do what I just suggested. So is Japan banning tourists or Japan anti-tourism? No. Kyoto is. Osaka to an extent is getting ready for the tourism tax. But these are just for Kansai. These are places that are over-touristed. If you're going to Kochi Prefecture, if you're going to Kagoshima, if you're going up to Aomori, if you're going up to Hokkaido to most places, if you're going up besides the snow festival, if you're going to Niigata, which I love. There's a town, Murakami, which is beautiful that I've been featuring a little bit because they have so much attraction and yet nobody knows about it and they don't know how to promote it either. It's not that easy to get to and you're rewarded with something really incredible if you do make the effort to go to some of these places. Yuzawa in Niigata is a beautiful place. Niigata is stacked with attractions on a short Shinkansen ride.

00:08:15 John Daub: That's not the Tokaido Shinkansen because the Tokaido Shinkansen is overly used right now because everyone wants to go to Kyoto. My voice is breaking because I say this so often. I put the blame solely on the ignorant foreigners. Kyoto should do what it wants to. I applaud them. You can do what you want to but Kyoto's reaction has an impact beyond Kyoto. Kyoto is a leader in tourism because everyone wants to go there. When you're a leader in anything, and I'm talking about as YouTubers too, I'm not as powerful as a YouTube creator as I once was because I had to restart and everything. But YouTubers that have a lot of subscribers and a lot of power also have a lot of influence on the entire industry here. When a leader does something bad, it impacts everybody. When a leader does something or says something wrong, it impacts everybody. Kyoto is a leader. It's going to impact tourism in all the other prefectures.

00:09:26 John Daub: So what Kyoto does, its leadership on how it reacts also impacts other areas. If something happens in New York, you kind of see that as America if you don't live inside the US. And Americans know how big the US is. Everybody does. But when something happens in New York, a shooting happens in one part, we think that that's all over America when you're outside of the United States because the news reports it as America has a problem, which it probably does. But look, and that's another debate that I don't want to get into. But the example is valid where everyone is seeing it as Japan because Kyoto is a leader. And this is an incredibly bad thing for Japan. I'm going to Kanazawa instead of Kyoto because of the over-tourism. Kanazawa is also on the fringe of over-tourism as well, but it's much better than in Kyoto, I think. You have a better experience because I think the locals, although a little bit somewhat elitist in a Kanazawa way, it's a friendly sort of a way.

00:10:31 John Daub: Because they have such rich traditions and cultures that go back a really long time. So, I love Kanazawa. I think it's good. The Shinkansen extended to Fukui. And if you do go to Kanazawa, please go check out the dinosaur museum in Fukui. And check out Fukui City because that's one of these places that's been off of the beaten path until recently that's going to start becoming more frequented because it's now on the path because the Shinkansen extended to Fukui. So go check that out. Pretty cool. And Irvin's already saying, take the Gran Class. Absolutely. If you can afford it, it is a good experience. At least once on your trip. It's different than the green car.

00:11:17 John Daub: Forget government doing cosplay opportunities waiting to happen. I know, right? They should take advantage of it and find some solutions that I think would make a lot of people really happy. Magnus writes in here, I disagree with you, John. Kyoto is not setting a bad example. They are not obliged to cater to foreign tourists' needs or wants. They are obliged to get tax dollars. It wasn't very long ago that Kyoto was begging tourists to come back. At least there's a different sector of it. There's a sector that relies on tourism. I think Kyoto's bankrupt. Aren't they hurting for tax dollars and money? Don't they have a declining population like everywhere else in Japan? Don't they have a responsibility? Maybe, maybe not. I think it's a good debate. I do appreciate the criticism. I really love that kind of feedback because it gives us all kind of a feeling of what is going on in people's minds.

00:12:23 John Daub: Kyoto has a lot of problems. The buses are too crowded in Kyoto. Residents are really upset. They can't even get on the buses. They rely on the buses because the subway system doesn't go to a lot of places. A lot of people are too old to drive. And there's no parking really. It's a city. So they rely on that. And Kyoto's thinking about initiating a tourist express bus that will get you to Kinkakuji, for example, the Golden Pavilion, in a record amount of time. Which is really slow because it takes forever to get through Kyoto because of the traffic. And the traffic is legendary because the streets are pretty narrow and there's a lot of cars because it is a city.

00:13:17 John Daub: Not about tourism but I'm English and I hope to move to Japan. It's a complex question so I don't expect you to be able to give me a definitive answer. But what is the general attitude to immigration? I don't really know. It's mixed. It depends. Are you coming here to be English? If you're immigrating to come here to move here, are you going to learn the language and try to mix in with the population? When you come to Japan and you move here and live here, you're always under the microscope. I feel it. You're not a tourist but you represent a group of people like me. You have to want to try to assimilate and that's not easy here. It's really hard. Just the recycling situation and taking out your trash and being responsible. You're under the microscope more than other people and there is a sort of underlying discrimination. Your rights are different here in Japan than they are in the Western countries. There's so many good things and there's so many things you're going to disagree with. You have to have an open mind and a lot of Westerners don't. So that's something you really have to consider. I would say come here and live in an Airbnb or something for a couple of months and give it a try and see how you feel about it. But I wouldn't immigrate right away. Unless you are Japanese, you have family here, you kind of understood the situation. It's a lot different to live here than you think it is. Certainly different than if you're a tourist. That's my two cents.

00:14:51 John Daub: I got the night entry into a restaurant in Kyoto because I was a foreigner. That's not exactly true. You can't just say that. You have to explain it. There are restaurants. You'll go in there and the restaurant is reserved. They have a wedding coming in. They have an event coming in. You go in there. They don't speak Japanese. They don't speak English. You don't speak Japanese. And they're saying, please, you can't. The restaurant is closed. You don't know why they're not letting you into the restaurant. It's not just because you're foreign. Also, maybe you're not dressed appropriately. There are restaurants in New York. In Chicago that I know won't let you in if you don't have a jacket on. There's restaurants like that here in Japan as well. There's so many different reasons why you may not have been allowed to go into the restaurant. So before you make a comment that I wasn't let in because I'm a foreigner, there's probably a dozen other reasons why you have to eliminate before you come up with that as being the reason. Because there are also laws in Japan, discriminatory laws, but there's also laws that protect business owners to be able to be a private business as well.

00:16:02 John Daub: The restaurant can also be really tiny. There's a ton of reasons why you might not have been able to go in there. Did they literally say in English, you're a foreigner so you can't come in here? I'm just saying, were you drunk? So there's a lot of things. My point is there's a lot of different reasons why. But Westerners tend to jump to that as being the main reason when that happens. You know, Japanese people aren't allowed to go in a restaurant sometimes because it's booked and it's true. I tried to go into an izakaya (Japanese pub), about ten years ago. I haven't been into one in about ten years. But I remember trying to go in there and they kept on saying, no, you can't go in there in Japanese. And I was with a bunch of other foreigners and they were getting really upset. And I asked why and they said because the bar is reserved because they have a wedding coming in in about 20 minutes and they just don't have any available seats, even for 20 minutes, because they can't get you to get out in time and serve you with that amount of time. And it makes sense, but maybe they should have made a sign in English to help explain that better. Which is the whole thing with messaging and communication, which they're doing a pretty bad job of in some of the places.

00:17:16 John Daub: So, they don't often explain why, they just say no. And that should be enough for you because, let me just put it plainly, if somebody doesn't want you to go there, why do you want to go there? Because you can't? Because if somebody says you can't do something, you want to do it? If someone says, no, I can't go to that restaurant, then I'm not going to go to that restaurant. They won't get my business, I'm going to go somewhere else. And I'm going to order double and then I'm going to take pictures of it and then I'm going to show them later and say, how about them apples? But if they don't want you to go in there, don't go in there. That's my feeling.

00:17:53 John Daub: The thing is this, in Japan, the longer you live here, the more you start to become tolerant and yeah, perhaps I have been discriminated against very often, but I'm never upset about it anymore. Maybe I was in the beginning. You don't get upset about it. You're not going to change anybody by getting upset. The moment you lose your cool in Japan, it's over. You've already lost. The moment you lose your cool, the moment you keep your head and you think about it and you find ways to make them guilty for not wanting to do it, they might come around to you. But if there's no avenue to do that, then you're not going to get what you want and nobody wins and you get upset. You create stress for yourself. You're not going to have a good time. If they don't want you to go, don't go. It's easy. And that's for any country.

00:18:48 John Daub: It is really ignorant to exclude foreign tourists from your business. I think so too because you don't know when you're going to need them because already we're seeing the population decline is impacting business and tourists have dollars, and that means they're probably going to spend more because they see the prices as being somewhat cheaper. I'm just saying be careful what you wish for, Kyoto. I mean, if you're going to have the message that seems anti-tourist, maybe tourists are going to stop coming. I doubt that because it's Kyoto. But going full Karen doesn't work in Japan. No. It doesn't even work in the US, I think. But if you go in full Karen, you won't get what you want. You're going to get a lot of people looking at you like you're insane. And you won't get what you want. It doesn't work here. Anger is not an emotion that gets you anything. Maybe at a five-star international hotel, and even then, you'd want to have a little bit of class. You know, read the room here.

00:20:02 John Daub: Often if restaurants don't want tourists, it's because they don't speak English. It could be because they don't have an English menu. It could be because they had a bad situation with a tourist that was drunk. Or, you know, they had Johnny Somali come in and do something bad, and they just said that's the end of it. There's a lot of reasons why they just don't want you in. Maybe they don't want you to take, they see you with your camera and your smartphone on, and they don't want you in there taking pictures because you're going to make the other guests feel uncomfortable. There's lots of reasons why. Sometimes it's you. Sometimes it's, often it's not you. But sometimes it's you. You know? I speak Japanese, they're always surprised I'm white and nobody suspects it. That's also true too. And it's also very, it's very appreciative. My friend Alyssa from the channel Oriental Pearl does that all the time, and she's shocking people in Chinese and Korean and other languages. She's just so smart.

00:21:33 John Daub: So, we were in Starbucks a few days ago in Tokyo. Everyone was quiet. The locals especially. Except two white female tourists who seem insensitive to the whole talking loud situation. Yeah, it's little things. Aloha John hoping Japan won't start not welcoming foreign tourists. It's not going to happen. But it feels like it. I think it feels like it because again, you have the international news covering stories like this. I thought this was a good opportunity to take some time out and talk about this because I'm not going to talk about this again. Japan is not banning tourists. Japan is not anti-tourist. Kyoto is undergoing a problem with over-tourism, and they're finding ways to settle this. They're not doing a great job with it. I'm not sure who their consultants are, who they're talking to. I don't want the job. But that's a tough one because you have to deal with the bureaucracy. But I think they could definitely do a better job. And it's a transitional thing and they'll get there because they're going to get more tourists.

00:22:55 John Daub: There's going to be more tourists going to Kyoto whether they like it or not. And they're going to have to find a way to find harmony between tourism sector, which is what's paying their taxes and making their community better, as well as finding a way to deal with the locals and making their life better too. That's the job of a local politician. That's the job of local leaders. And they have to find a way to do that. They have to hire people to understand about tourism, and they have to hire people to understand about the problems with urban planning and development that's going to impact the infrastructure that's overly stretched right now to the point where they just... They can say they don't want more, but that's not how it works. You're either increasing or you're decreasing. You never stay the same. So they hit their max of X amount of tourists. It doesn't stop there. It either increases or decreases. Same with your salary. It's either going to increase or it's going to decrease. It never really stays the same unless you're in Japan in a 35-year funk where interest rates were minus and all this other stuff. But even then, nothing stays the same. Up or down. And Kyoto does not want to pick down. They've been there four years of a pandemic.

00:24:08 John Daub: All right, I think maybe I'm being too tough on them. Maybe give them a little leeway because of the pandemic was something of a shock. It went from zero, and I said this before, they went from zero to 100 in like a couple of months, which is like for a city of ancient proportions, that's quite fast. So there's some growing pains. It's painful to watch. But that's it. I'm in Hachiōji. I'm watching the cars go by, breathing in the fumes. It's not too bad. Beautiful blue sky. Finally, the rains are gone. It's nice out here. And with this, the cherry blossoms should start to come out. I'm kind of taking a break from editing, riding around. You can see that the cherry blossoms... These are cherry blossom trees here are not blooming at the moment.

00:25:03 John Daub: In Tokyo now, hospitality and service staff couldn't be more polite, courteous, helpful, and patient. However, the woeful government messaging could lead visitors to think they're unwanted. That's the point. The messaging is not good. And when something comes out of Kyoto, people just... They take it as it's being Japan. That's why. There's sort of a responsibility whether or not they want it or not. And Kyoto is an unusual prefecture. It's not a ken, but it is a fu (urban prefecture). It's one of the 47 prefectures, but it's got ancient laws that gives it a lot of independence comparatively. Sake breweries in Kyoto had more leeway to produce larger quantities than other places. And people didn't think it was fair. Farmers have more protection and certain, I don't know, advantages over other prefectures. For national laws, just grandfathered in ancient laws. Kyoto's an unusual, pretty cool place in that respect. Let's see if they get their act together. I think it's kind of a mess. I think Kyoto's kind of a mess right now. And that's my feeling. And I could be wrong. I want to hear it in the comments below. But my opinion as of the end of March 2024 is Kyoto's a mess. I don't know any other way to say it.

00:26:34 John Daub: I'm still going to Kyoto and I don't... And don't cause trouble. I really want to see what it's like besides the other certain places. I think that's fair. I'm not saying... You can go to Kyoto. But my point is, if that's the highlight of your trip, then you might be disappointed. I would spend less time there and throw in other places, maybe in the area. Maybe go to the Sea of Japan side. Maybe go to Takayama. That's the entryway to the countryside experience. Stay in a ryokan (traditional inn) that you're going to have a very Japanese-like experience. Go down. If you go to Hiroshima, why not check out Okayama? Why not go to Daisen and Matsue, another castle town on the Sea of Japan side? Why not go to Kyushu, go to Sakurajima and Kagoshima where the volcano is always erupting? Just cross your fingers it doesn't erupt when you're there. Or maybe you want it to. I don't know. But there's a ton of other places that you could go to.

00:27:45 John Daub: I showed this image not too long ago. And I'm going to see if I can find it really quickly. It's of Ryugu Shrine. It was in the last episode, the one that I just released. Ryugu Shrine. And there's a scene about halfway through where I show you a shrine overlooking the Pacific Ocean. That's what everybody's looking for. This image of a shrine where there's nobody around. You feel that Zen, I guess, a lot of people are looking for. It is distinctively Japanese. And it's not anywhere near Kyoto. The countryside, there's places in Japan that has so much. There's places in Japan that has so much that it offers you an opportunity to go and see that cultural side of Japan. That's beyond just what you get in Kyoto. And you can get that. But I think you should check out Kyoto if you want to, to see what it has to offer. But know this. There's a lot of places that are better. And I try to avoid Kyoto like I try to avoid Harajuku and Shibuya Hachiko Scramble. Because once you've seen it, once you've seen it and you realize that there are other places that you should be seeing that are just... Are better. More exciting. You stop wanting to go to Kyoto all of a sudden. You start wanting to explore. And that's the adventure part of it.

00:29:29 John Daub: Thanks for the questions. I love this. Hope all is going well. I will be in Japan in two weeks. Time since my last trip in five years ago. Wow, this is before that era. Southern Japan this time. That's the way to do it. You're concentrating on regions for a few days. In Tokyo, absolutely before going back to Australia. Hope to bump into you. I will be around. I'll be taking advantage of the spring and the late start to it. So it's going to be nice. I saw Harajuku one time and that was enough. Right, it's in Yoyogi. Absolutely. I do think that everybody is going to have to make up their own determination here. Everyone is going to have to make up their own mind. The worst question that I get from people is, I'm coming to Japan for five days. Where should I go? Where is the best place to go in Tokyo? Look, you know what? Do some homework before you ask me because I live here. I have a different point of view. And everybody has what they want and don't want in a country. And I think that's a different experience.

00:30:31 John Daub: Kagawa will be on my bucket list if I do go to Japan. Thank you. Kagawa is beautiful. That's a prefecture in Shikoku. Thank you for showing me there. There's more places to learn and to try udon. Kagawa is next to Tokushima. You could do all four of the prefectures in Shikoku, including Kochi and Ehime, and you'd have an amazing trip. Dogo Onsen, this thousand-year-old onsen (hot spring) that looks like Spirited Away. It looks like something right out of an anime or a manga. You got to go to Shikoku for that. Tokushima has the Awa Odori, one of the most vibrant summer festivals in the world. It's like 10,000 people dancing in the same synchronized move, which is so amazing to see. Some of the best chicken, noodles. Oh, my gosh. Unagi (eel) in Kochi, the cuisine, the history. The fact that you get it almost all to yourself, that those scenes of villages in the Japanese countryside with that morning mist and the green mountains, it's amazing in that part of Japan, and not a lot of people go over into that direction. Kagawa is famous for the udon, and you get the best. It's a little bit tougher. The noodles are a little bit harder, but I like that.

00:31:52 John Daub: Any other last questions here? Because I have a message. One final message with all of this. I do say don't go to Kyoto. I do make recommendations, and this is based on my own opinion, but the bottom line is there's an expression, Jūnin Toiro (ten people, ten colors), which basically means different strokes for different folks. There's ten colors for ten people. Everybody has different likes and dislikes. There's no one way to do anything. All I can do is make a suggestion, but in the end, you're going to have to do your homework. You're going to have to understand what you want, not what I want you to want, not what some influencer says that you should do, not somebody who says that this is the perfect itinerary. There is no perfect itinerary because somebody who likes cosplay, anime, manga, and modern Japanese culture might not be looking for that and might be looking for traditional culture or historical culture or cuisine or technology or just want to ride the Shinkansen. And each itinerary should be crafted to something that you want to do.

00:32:58 John Daub: And your first time in Japan, there is no problem with going to Kyoto and discovering what everybody discovers, but right now everybody is on that discovery, and a lot of the repeaters coming to Japan are doing the same thing again, what they did before because it was fun, and that's fine. That's what you want. But there's places that are even more fun if you explore. Adventure means risk. Risk means fun. There's always a possibility that you won't like it, but there's a great possibility that you'll love it. And when you love it, that's something that's worth, that's something that you remember. There's nothing better than that fresh feeling of discovering a place for the first time and falling in love with it. It's like your first love. When things seem a little bit stale, going to Kyoto, going to Tokyo, going and eating the same food every day, you go on an adventure, you try something new, and there's no feeling like that when you fall in love for the first time. You fall in love for the first time with something new, a place. Love doesn't have to be a person. It can be a place, a food, an experience, a sport, a drink in a vending machine, something that really has... You make an instant emotional connection to it. You don't get that unless you take a chance or you take a risk.

00:34:16 John Daub: Coming to Japan, for a lot of people, is taking a risk. So I understand that, and that's why, you know, if you're going to Kyoto, that's cool. But understand that Kyoto is not the end all of Japan. This is not where you're going to get everything in Japan. You're not going to have the best Japanese experience in Kyoto. That's my point. I think there's tons of places, Nikko, Hakone, places in Tokyo that are very different. You can go up to Shibamata, which is a completely different vibe than Shibuya, for example. You could go to Saitama and get a very traditional Japanese experience, which is just across the river from Tokyo. You could go to Gunma, to Takaragawa Onsen, which is one of my favorites, and see one of the most amazing Japanese ryokan experiences that's very good at catering to foreigners, by the way. You could go down to Beppu and have that as well, and have a completely different experience from Takaragawa Onsen. You could go up to Aomori. You could go up to Iwate, to Tohoku, where there's so loving of foreign tourists because they don't get enough of them. Probably more appreciative if you do make that trip, because, you know, they want tourists to go up there after the tsunami and earthquake of 2011. It's still a place that has trouble attracting people because it's still an adventure up there.

00:35:39 John Daub: So, leave me comments below. Let me know your thoughts. I really respect the differences that you have in what I say. I respect, in particular, if you're living here in Japan, and from these differences, from the criticism, from the feedback, we come up with answers that help everybody. I don't know everything. In fact, the next episode I'm going to be uploading on the new channel shows that I don't. I go to Shinjuku to eat with a guide who's Japanese, and I purposely ask him, put myself in situations to learn from him because I think he knows I've been here for longer than he's been alive. I'm 50. He's like 25. So I think because of that, he was hesitant to maybe say stuff to me. So I put him in situations where he had to, and he responded quite well. And some of the advice is eye-opening about food. You're going to love this new episode, but I don't know everything. But I know a lot of stuff. But I certainly don't know everything, and you need to know that too. We all can help one another with this kind of information.

00:36:48 John Daub: Nicholas is here. Lunar solar eclipses might add to the human behavioral issues too. Interesting insight. I never thought of it like that. It could be. I know it's going to be something that's big in the U.S. in a couple of weeks. Ancient Japan did astrology thing too. You can laugh at me for this. I'm not beyond the realm of the unknown. Ghosts, I've seen ghosts in the past. I've seen, I saw a ghost. I have a ghost story. It was in the first apartment I ever lived in in Japan. And I should tell you about it sometime. I think I already have several times before. Save it for another episode. I'm not beyond that. You know, you have to keep an open mind. Preach, John, preach. Have I been preaching? Put me on a soapbox. I'll say a few words and then get off and leave it to Jason. Jason, I guess, will understand the Canadian in me. Canadian in me will get off that perch and go, yeah, I didn't want to do that. It's time to eat some humble pie. For each his own and her own and you will discover your own adventure. And you'll teach me when you do. Because every place is changing. The places that I visited and I've been like almost everywhere. They're different three years later. They're different five years later. It's crazy how fast in particular urban areas change in Japan. And that's exciting. It's also scary sometimes. But it also means new opportunities. And there's no end to the change. There's no end to the evolution that is this amazing country.

00:38:39 John Daub: My gut says that Kyoto has a responsibility. And you may not agree with me with that. They have every right to do. Look, everybody has a right to do whatever they do if it's their right. But that doesn't make it the right thing to do. Right? You have to think about how your reactions, your actions have consequences. And that's what I'm trying to do. And sometimes your gut reaction is to ban. But you don't look two moves ahead. And that's the issue I have with Kyoto. Because one day Kyoto is going to have no tourists. And they're going to say, well maybe we should have been a little bit nicer to the tourists. Or come up with better ideas. Or this period was just a growing pain. Yeah, Takayama is beautiful, Bruce. You'll love it. That was one of my mom's favorite places. The sarubobo (traditional monkey dolls), these red traditional dolls that they have are so cute. They're everywhere in Takayama. You're going to end up leaving with one or two sarubobo. I love those things in Takayama. It's such a beautiful place.

00:39:48 John Daub: I've seen a ghost and a UFO. Really? I haven't seen a UFO, but spirits are real. Neil writes in here, my ex-Japanese girlfriend scolded me for doing a little dance outside of a milk tea shop. So many rules to Japanese culture. Neil, you have to tell me more about this dance. I'm always so illegal about it. I have a friend named Soness who, she was the English voice of Hello Kitty. She's an amazing voice artist as well as just a creator. She just does dances everywhere, but it might embarrass the Japanese, but in the end, it also leaves a very positive impression. In Japan, when you do show emotion, like getting angry, that's a negative emotion. When you show positive emotion, as long as it's not a loud thing that startles people too much, it makes people smile. So I think that there is some good that comes from this.

00:40:49 John Daub: One of the greatest things, the thing that makes me absolutely love foreign tourism to Japan, and I think maybe some Japanese that are just grumpy don't get this, is that foreign tourists smile so much more than the locals. And this is my biggest complaint in Japan. And I know a lot of, I've talked with, I don't know, I've talked with a lot of Thai tourists and a lot of them. And one of their biggest complaint with Japan is that nobody smiles here. And foreign tourists smile all the time. And I love it because it gives a positive vibe when you see people smiling and enjoying themselves. And I appreciate it so much when you guys come here. And I think it does have a positive impact on the locals seeing you smiling. And I don't want to see that go away either. So there really does need to be some sort of balance to keep people smiling as well. It's priceless. The smile, you know, is priceless. And, you know, that's one of the things that the staff is taught in Japan. And now when dealing with foreigners to maybe smile a little bit more, you know, foreigners, they can't not show their emotions. They are who they are, right? So you have to smile more and understand the other side a little bit more. And it does help that Japan is hiring more foreigners to work in the tourism and the services industry, which is bringing in more understanding too to give better service, which is great. And that's the way it should be.

00:42:23 John Daub: PizzaGoGo writes in here, Japan tends to react with a rule or regulation when there is an issue. Absolutely. I can give you a thousand cases of that. Smiling while dying inside. I've seen that as well. Smiling is also an emotion. You smile when you show confusion in Japan because it's worse to show confusion. It's better to show smiling. So when somebody is smiling, it often means in Japan that they're also confused. One of the things I first learned in Japan, I'm like, why is he smiling? Why is he smiling? Oh, laughing is a way to get rid of an uncomfortable situation and get rid of the embarrassment for everybody and reset. It's interesting. I think you can see that in the Shogun drama, at least the old one. There was a couple of scenes of that where the Japanese just start laughing when Anjin-san was a little bit too cringy. Toranaga just starts laughing and then it resets the mood. Culture is awesome because it is different. And if you understand that, and respect it, it enhances your experience.

00:43:37 John Daub: Hey John, hello from Malaysia. I think it's okay if I can't walk around Gion. You can, but just in certain areas. If people want to see the geisha performances, it's probably best to go see them in their tea houses. That's the point. Oh my God, John. Were you bit by a zombie? What happened to your hand? No, no, this is from a live stream. I did indigo dyeing. I dyed my shoes indigo. Trust me, this is a lot better than it was before. It's going away pretty quickly. It'll be back to normal. I don't have anything on TV where I had to dye my hands. Where I had to not show my hands. So it's all good. The pollen makes my face a little blotchy too. And I feel pretty... I can't sleep too well. And the pollen is pretty bad.

00:44:31 John Daub: I was supposed to get off of this live stream, but I can keep it going. Because there's still people here. There was a comment that I got that was really interesting. I came from Poland, and I'm really appreciative of this. Just didn't quite understand. They said that era is over, but Japanese are still wearing masks. Like, a lot of Japanese are wearing masks. And the reason why they're wearing a mask isn't because of what you think. It's because right now, between the end of February, that's when I started to feel it, and until about the first week in April for me, and maybe a little bit longer, the pollen in Tokyo is the worst in the world, I think. It is really bad. My eyes hurt. I feel like my body is fighting it, so I'm always...my immune system is low. So I need to wear a mask sometimes too, just to reduce the amount of pollen to let my body catch up. My eyes itch from the pollen.

00:45:34 John Daub: After World War II, everybody knows the firebombing and the bombing of the city left the city in utter ruins. So they started to plant a lot of trees out in western Tokyo in the late 1940s and early 50s, and they started to grow, but it became too expensive to actually cut them down. So Japan imports its wood, even though it doesn't make, you know, save the world greenhouse gas sense, it's just too expensive to harvest it. It doesn't make business sense. So we get our wood mostly from Thailand and Indonesia and Malaysia and whatnot. But these trees are there, and they're giving off pollen, and it's the biggest... It's been an issue for like 30, 40 years in Japan, where the kafunshō (hay fever) is so bad in Tokyo as a result of it. That's why people wear masks. It is just horrible. And yeah, you could probably fight it off for a few days. You can't tell. But if you live here, it's bad. And, you know, the older you get, it's also worse too.

00:46:45 John Daub: So that's why they're wearing masks, maybe a little bit, but it's not because they're anti-foreign and they want to stay away from stinky tourists, which you do stink, because you're wearing, not because of BO, but because you're wearing perfume and stuff, and nobody likes the scent that you have. Keep your perfume to yourself. It's bad for your health as well when you come to Japan. Leave your Stetson and gas station cologne at home. You don't need it. All right? It's the worst when you have tourists who like dumped cologne on themselves, and they walk around town, and that's all you can smell. It gets rid of this... That's why we don't eat hot bentos on the Shinkansen, because we don't want to smell your McDonald's on the Shinkansen, although you're free to eat it. But the question is, should you? So there's lots of little issues, things we won't say to you personally, but I hate perfume. You don't need to wear it. It's not attractive to me anymore. I love the smell of soap, but that's just me. As I said, Jūnin Toiro, there's a different stroke for everybody, and you're welcome to your opinions, and I love it when you disagree with me.

00:47:51 John Daub: My brother loves to wear cologne. It's disgusting, and it makes my eyes hurt, and living in Japan made me ultra sensitive to smells and tastes, and I find that hanging around foreigners, I tell them, do you really need to wear that? And that's what I get... I only say that when I get frustrated. I'll tolerate it like a smoker for like 20 minutes, and then I'm like, can you just put it out, please? Or can you stop? Can you just like wash yourself or something? It gets a little frustrating. I do have brothers, yes. Every time I have a shower, I have allergies from the shampoo. There's people like that. Smelling perfumes give me a headache, they do. I think it's, you know, it masks your body odor. Maybe you should just wear deodorant, but not wear a strong one. I don't know. Everybody, but they don't do that in Japan. And one of the things that I notice when I leave Japan is the scent of cologne is strong elsewhere. I think it's a marketing thing, because you think you need it. I don't know. It's up to you. But that's not Japan, because there's no strong smell in Japan. That's not true. If you ever walk past the yakitori (grilled chicken skewers) place or a place grilling unagi or yaki, it smells pretty good. There's some strong smells in Japan, but you don't get it. People try not to do that because it can offend somebody. It's funny that people think that far.

00:49:35 John Daub: All right, everybody, that's all I have. I appreciate the questions. The comments coming in were fun. This was great. What about deodorant? You know, Japanese don't wear deodorant because they don't have a body odor issue. It's not that pungent or strong. And maybe it's the food that people eat, but I had a girlfriend years ago who, whenever I came back from the U.S., she said that I smelled funny for the next couple of days after coming back from America. And she said, I don't know, but I smell funny because of the food that I ate. And Japan, I guess, just has different food, so the bodies don't have that odor. But maybe the U.S. food has so much chemicals in it that makes us cheese or dairy. I don't know. Makes us smell in a way that we need to mask it. I don't know.

00:50:34 John Daub: All right, thanks for watching, everybody. Leave me a comment below. I want to hear from you. But honestly, nobody's trying to ban you. Japan's not trying to ban you. There's areas in Kyoto, the taxes, every country's doing it now. Bali's doing it. Venice is doing it. You're going to see places that are ultra-popular with tourists doing it more. Japan is one of those places. And I don't think it's going to stop tourists from coming, but it might be one of the things that keeps you from coming. And that's probably not a bad thing because there's other places to also go. If Japan gets so populated and they don't have the ability to deal with you, then maybe you should go to Korea. I love Korea. I love the food in Korea. Korea and Japan are like brother and sister that I wish would get along even better. Gosh, you know, I would do an Only in Korea series. The food there, the people, there's so many things to love about Korea. They're the best storytellers in the world. Some of the best dramas on Netflix come from Korea, you know. I was watching this crazy show called, like, Physical 100. I don't even know what... I was like playing in the background. And I'm like, wow, this is actually an interesting concept and really good, although quite shallow. But they find a way to tell an amazing story in Korea that's different than what we could do in Japan because of the culture. I don't know. Maybe go there. It's cheaper.

00:52:01 John Daub: If you're not happy with Japan, you can complain about it, but you're not... The one thing you're never going to do is to make Japan the way that you want it to be made. And every foreigner who does that, you're not the first one. You're not going to be the last one. I know, right? Isn't it the best? I find myself, like, a lot of the Korean reality shows getting hooked into it, and I don't even know why. They're just really good at that. It's good. Tim's like, yeah, it's pretty good. How is it this addictive where it's distracting me from editing and it's not supposed to do that sometimes? Anyways, I hope that this was informational. I just like rapping with you guys, talking about it. It's good to hear from you. I like the criticism. I like the feedback. I like the praise, too, by the way. But I really respect that. And I respect everybody's thoughts and feelings. And if you do have an issue where you feel like Japan is doing something wrong, let me know. I want to know because it gives me an opportunity to kind of go back and check and maybe I can try to fix this because I do talk with people.

00:53:04 John Daub: I would like you guys to check out this episode if you haven't already. This is going to give you really great insight into Japan. I made this... It took me a year to do it. It's a lot of work. I'm really excited to do it. As well as this one on cherry blossoms. I think you'll love this episode. For some reasons these didn't get seen very much which is kind of breaking my heart. If you're interested in supporting the channel, the postcard club is out. This is the postcard of my son and my wife and I enjoying the cherry blossoms last year. And this is for me a very personal, intimate time of the year where we can see our local trees bloom that we love every day. And I love this photo. and I wanted to share a little bit of me this month. So, yeah, I appreciate the support as well. I have, I think, about 20 postcards left.

00:53:54 John Daub: All right, everybody, have a good day, have a good night. I'll see you next livestream. Matane (see you later). I think my fingers, I like this intersection. I think my fingers are gonna get a little better over the coming days. It does look a little creepy, though. It's not too bad. Wait until I get the shoes, they look really good.