00:00:01 John Daub: Well, it is the end of the year and that means travel plans for 2026. December 2025, we've seen the exchange rate for the Japanese yen versus the U.S. dollar fluctuate greatly between about 140 and 155. It's currently at 155, 156 to the dollar. Last week it hit 157, 158, which is crazy. During this spring season when a lot of tourists visit for the cherry blossoms, it was down to around 140, 145-ish. You could see that was a low point. And last January it was 155. So we're exactly where we were last holiday.

00:00:31 John Daub: So you see that it's almost cyclical in a way that in the center, the middle of the year, you're going to get lower rates. At the end of the year, you're going to get higher rates, I suppose. At least it seems to be going that direction. And it looks like the currency exchange rates are going to get a little bit weaker, meaning that the yen is going to get a little bit stronger and the dollar is going to get a little bit weaker. It seems like that because for the longest time, I've been hearing possible rate hikes by the Bank of Japan, BOJ, this month. And what that means is that the Japanese yen is going to get stronger. More people are going to invest in Japan, more money coming into Japan.

00:01:00 John Daub: So the yen will get stronger and that means the exchange rate will get a little bit weaker. So I would imagine it's still going to be around 150 to the dollar for quite a long time. However, it might come down a little bit, maybe in the 145, 155 range throughout 2026. That's the way I kind of see things right now. You can see this came from Ueda-san who's in charge of the Bank of Japan. He's been talking about a potential rate hike. The Japanese economy has seen inflation. That was one of the criteria.

00:02:01 John Daub: We've had deflation since like the 1990s, where prices were going down, not up. And recently, it's been a while now we've seen inflation, which is something that Japan has desperately needed. But the problem with the Japanese economy is without wage hikes, it's very hard to raise prices on goods and services without people making more money. And that's the biggest issue right now because wages have not been catching up to the inflation. So that's something to watch for in 2026, economically speaking.

00:02:31 John Daub: But for us, or most of you who are tourists here, you can see that it looks like it's going to stick around where it is right now, which is good, a good thing for those coming to visit Japan in 2026. Lamborghini Omar's here. I am doing well. Thank you so much. I appreciate that very much. Just a shout out. This month's postcard is the end of the year postcard. If you sign up on Patreon as a supporter, I usually do a lot of postcards.

00:03:02 John Daub: I usually will send them out to everybody in the postcard club or the daimyo tier. And for samurai members who have been supporting for a couple of months, I'm sending the postcards out from the top of the Tokyo Skytree. And I plan to go there and film dropping off those postcards at the top of the Skytree, which is most likely the highest point in Tokyo, unless you're like in a helicopter or something. So if you guys sign up for the postcard club, you're going to get a really nice postcard of the Skytree from an airplane. I took it when I was going to Hokkaido. I got this break in the clouds and there's the freaking Skytree. We're right like almost on top of the Skytree. I've never seen an angle like this before.

00:03:32 John Daub: So it's a real special postcard that's coming out and I'll be sending it from the top of the Skytree probably on Monday or this weekend, which is going to be incredible. I have like a lot of postcards to send out. But if anybody who joins the postcard club, you're going to get one from the top of the Skytree. They give you a very special cancel mark on top of this Japanese stamp. This is the end of year stamp or the Japanese New Year stamp that's going on there. I think it's the year of the horse. And on top of that, they put a very special Tokyo Skytree postal mark on it. So it makes it really special when you send the postcards from a different area.

00:04:02 John Daub: I'm going to initiate the live stream chat here in the corner. So we get a record of all the questions that are coming in here. I apologize if I miss it. But we're going to talk about the costs of 2026 travel and if you're going to be able to travel. I mean, it's just weird to me that Japan is a budget destination. As somebody who came here decades ago, I'm closer to my 30th year in Japan than I am my 20th year. Absolutely. And back then Japan was one reason people didn't visit Japan was because it's freaking expensive. And now it seems like it's become one of the budget destinations, especially for American travelers where the dollar is so strong.

00:05:02 John Daub: European, I don't know if it's so much a budget destination for our friends in Indonesia and the Philippines and Malaysia. I think it's pretty good. But I heard that Jakarta overtook Tokyo as the world's biggest city. Is that true? Is Satrio here? Satrio lives in Jakarta. Indonesia's capital in Jakarta overtook Tokyo, which is crazy. I'd like to get confirmation on that. But we'll talk about budget travel in this episode coming up here.

00:05:32 John Daub: Let's look really quickly at the rate hike here. So like right now there is the interest rates in Japan feel like 0%. I think it's like point two five or something. The interest rates in Japan have been really bad for a very long time. Like there's no reason to even, I think they had negative interest rates, meaning it was better for you to just keep it in a bank account than to put it and invest it in like a postal savings account or something. It didn't make a lot of sense. Just holding cash meant that you were making money because of deflation. It's just crazy, right? You didn't have to invest. Your money was more of a risk than just keep it in your bank account.

00:06:33 John Daub: But nowadays with inflation, there's more reason for people to invest and do stuff with their money, which is a good thing. It's a good thing for the economy. But the interest rates between the US and Japan are really, really wide right now as the Fed in the United States keeps raising the interest rates little by little, which is a good thing, especially if you're saving money. A lot of people are flooding the US market with dollars because you're getting a pretty good rate of return. 5% is pretty good considering if inflation is like 3%, you're making money on that investment. In Japan, you're not making money if you're investing in Japan.

00:07:03 John Daub: So raising the rate of return is a good thing. The reason why the Japanese yen is historically strong is because the Bank of Japan is known to be a very conservative one, meaning they don't take chances or risks. And when the world is crazy and there's depressions and recessions and everything's going on around the world, wars going on, people invest in the Japanese yen because it's a safe option because the bank is quite conservative with its policies, sometimes to a fault. But you can rest assured that the Japanese are not going to do something crazy with the money. So a lot of people will flock to the Japanese yen at times of turmoil in the world economy. And that makes the yen stronger. And that's why the yen would pick up some speed here. But it looks like it's going to stay around 140, 150 range through 2025.

00:07:56 John Daub: So the higher interest rates, what does this mean really quickly? The Bank of Japan, definitely they're considering it. I don't know if it's going to happen, but it's now December, so it's probably going to happen. Investors around the world want the best return on the lowest. So this is basically what I just said here. It makes holding yen more attractive. There's really not a reason for you to hold a lot of yen unless you're going to be traveling here. But as an investment, Japanese yen or the Japanese market is not a great place for it because you're not getting any return on your investment, right?

00:08:26 John Daub: So a rate hike, which happens probably this month, will attract global investors into Japan. They buy yen. Of course, and cheaper yen borrowing. Traders are so smart. You could borrow yen real cheap because you wouldn't have to pay the money back at almost no interest rate. Invest that money in another market with a much higher interest rate. You make a lot of money and you could pay back that money. And it's just like free money, which is crazy. I think there is a term for it, but people would borrow Japanese yen, invest that in other markets to make money. It's like free money, basically.

00:09:03 John Daub: But the markets will be changing. It shrinks the US Japan rate gap because we have 0% effectively and 5% here. It starts to narrow down and then Japan looks like a better bet as well. And it signals economic strength. There is some optimism over the Japanese economy, despite the fact that we've got a declining population. There's some trouble with our biggest neighbor on the other side over there. But there's also some positive things to look at with the economy as well. But it looks like we're going into a time of uncertainty, which is the future in general, but more so now, I suppose. And 2026 looks like a pivotal year. So I think if you're going to be visiting Japan, 2026 is the year. I say that for every year, though.

00:10:03 John Daub: If you look at Japan from 10 years ago and you look at Japan today, it is so much cheaper. And for those of you that visited in 2023, you could not have gotten a better deal than then compared to now. The reason why is competition. It's the fact that there are more people who want to come to Japan. That means the flight prices are higher because of supply and demand. So if you come into Japan in the off season, on a weekday sometime, what are the low seasons here? It could be like right now before the holidays at the end of the year, you're getting an amazing deal. If you come in the middle of January to the beginning of March before the cherry blossoms, you're getting an amazing deal on travel to Japan. This is great for skiers in particular.

00:11:01 John Daub: The airfare costs being one of the biggest things that you have to invest in coming to Japan. The exchange rate has something to do with it, but there's forecasts expected that airfares will increase from 2025 to 2026 based on rising operating costs. I don't know because gasoline might be really cheap right now, or at least it looks like it's been going down over the last year. The prices of jet fuel is different, apparently. So we'll see how that goes. That seems to be the biggest cost associated. But there are other costs with airlines. I've never seen an amazing amount of penny pinching in this industry as I have right now.

00:12:01 John Daub: Sasha writes in here from Canada. What about traveling in May? That's my favorite time of the year to travel with the weather is absolutely perfect. After the cherry blossoms, when people are starting to go home, you have prices going down after the Japanese Golden Week holiday. So if you come to May around May 8th to the rainy season, you're getting slightly lower season. There's still prices are cheaper than the cherry blossoms and cheaper than the middle of summer. But it's still not going to be the cheapest like it is right now. But oh my gosh, May is the best. That's my number one time to visit after the cherry blossoms.

00:12:35 John Daub: You know, cherry blossoms are so unpredictable and you can always catch it in elevations and in other places. If you miss it in Tokyo, you only have to go north about an hour and you can catch it again or go up to Hokkaido and you can catch it a month later. So it just depends on where you want to go to how much you really want to see those cherry blossoms. You can see them anytime between the middle of March and the middle of May, actually. So that's my response to you. Thanks so much for the super chat.

00:13:05 John Daub: But I would expect that airfares to get a little bit expensive and the flying experience to get worse. We're flying to the US in a couple of weeks and I'm going to tell you my experience flying there as well as the food. I noticed this. I love ANA. The food quality got worse on our last flight this summer. It was the worst food for economy I've had on a Japanese-based flight in a very long time. I don't know if it was just because they ran out of food because there's more flights. But the food was barely edible. This, and I'm not joking. I usually will post these pictures on Instagram stories and stuff. It was okay, but it was well below expectations. So that's a bad sign. When the food starts to deteriorate, the quality of the food in economy used to be really good.

00:14:18 John Daub: So I'm hoping that ANA does better with that. But it's 2026, everybody is pinched out. This industry is pinched. It seems like they're always pinched. But they're adding more flights in the budget realm. The Air Japan is, I think that's an ANA initiative. And what's the other? The Zipair, which is JAL's, as well as other budget carriers are leaving from Los Angeles. The cheapest flights are coming from California to Japan. So it might make a lot of sense to get a cheap flight to California, change and get a cheap flight to Japan. It's just, when you're on vacation, you want to kind of make it easy. So it depends on what level of travel that you want to do.

00:14:56 John Daub: But I would say in 2026, it's going to be still cheaper than it was 10 years ago to come to Japan. But it's going to be more expensive than a few years ago. And it's slightly going up like this because there's just more people coming. The demand to come to Japan is higher. And Japan does have inflation. Inside of Japan, prices are getting more expensive. So despite the fact that the exchange rate might be cheaper, the prices inside of Japan are starting to go up, even for everyday people like me. I got to pay more at the supermarket. Milk and eggs have definitely gone up over the last few years. And I can feel it. Every time I go to buy a liter of milk, I try to get Jersey milk, which I kind of prefer. So it's about four to five dollars for one liter of milk. Eggs, the same thing. It's less than the US, but it's certainly more than it was back in the past.

00:15:56 John Daub: So you can feel it through the groceries that everything is going up. And it is for tourists as well. And Japanese are taking advantage of that. They are really treating the tourists like tourists, finally. And if you're going to tourist spots like Tsukiji Market, this is total tourist trap. If you're going to tourist traps, you're going to pay more. Because they're catering to you. But they also speak English. So there's some give and take with that.

00:16:17 John Daub: Let me break down now. Because I want to keep this nice and short here. If you haven't already, I appreciate everybody who's leaving comments on this. Three hours from Tokyo, I take you out to the Niigata-Nagano border for a hiking adventure at an abandoned school. I stayed inside there. They turned it into a high class Japanese inn. But it was an abandoned school. A town that was rejected and forgotten. Just three hours away from Tokyo. I take you away from where all the tourists are. It's a great episode. If you haven't seen it already, I really do appreciate the support. And just watch it to the end because there's a surprise ending. Maybe. I don't remember.

00:17:03 John Daub: I get this asked all the time. How much is it per day to travel to Japan? My answer is, I don't know who you are. I don't know how much money you make. It's very hard to say how much it is per day. This is the price for a 10-day vacation. Okay. So the average length of a trip to Japan is approximately 10 days. I would say the best is two weeks. I'd say 15 days is probably the best. Catherine, thank you so much for watching the video. She just went out there and she said she's watching it. Watch this too, Catherine. But I appreciate the support very much. Catherine, I love you. I got the notification from Patreon right there.

00:17:50 John Daub: So I don't know how much money you have, how much is your comfort zone. But if you're coming for a vacation to Japan, you kind of want to budget is good. You can have a lot of fun with it. But you probably want to go mid-range, I think, because Japan is a very comfortable country to do that in. I'm a backpacker, though. And by spirit, I was paying a dollar a night in Cambodia, for example. Phnom Penh, I was like $1, $1.50 a night. In South America, I was paying like $3, $4 a night for guesthouses. Nepal, $2 a night or something. So I get that.

00:18:26 John Daub: For bare-bones backpackers, and I'll take some questions at the end of this, by the way. We're looking at 80 to 120,000 yen. That is like, I can't even believe that. You would spend in 10 days, only $550. But this is bare bones, okay? This is like hostels and dorms. You're paying about $25 a night, typically. Capsule hotels, $25 to $30 a night, depending on where you stay. It's probably going to be a little bit more in Tokyo and Kyoto. Konbini meals, like onigiri for a dollar. Cheap ramen. I'm talking about cheap ramen, because there's levels within the ramen as well. No sit-down dinners, which is a shame, unless it's McDonald's. Local trains only, no shinkansen. Hitchhiking is an option. You could probably get that total down if you hitchhike, which I don't recommend. But it's possible.

00:19:21 John Daub: No JR pass, no shinkansen, unless absolutely needed. That's kind of a shame. But this is what's called bare bones. You can take buses to Osaka for like $30. You can get to Osaka by a Tokyo night bus. And save a night of accommodations too. It's not comfortable. Will you sleep? Probably not, unless you take melatonin or you're really good at this kind of a situation. But you can technically do Japan cheap, but you sacrifice a lot. It's like, what's the point? But if you paid for that budget, if you paid for the plane ticket, you just don't have a lot of money. I would save up another couple of weeks then. Maybe get to this total. At least where you can stay in some business hotels.

00:20:07 John Daub: The APA Hotel, the Super Hotel, the Toyoko Inn are some good ones. The Dormy Inn is maybe a little bit higher quality. They usually have onsen (hot spring baths) water inside there. So you get a more Japan experience, I think, at the Dormy Inn. But that's just a little bit more. It's $1,000 to $1,500 for a 10-day vacation. It's called budget. Cheaper restaurants. So you can't have sit-down meals. I'm talking like Denny's. Which actually has Japanese food. I've had Denny's food here in Japan. And it's quite good as well. The quality of Denny's Japan is quite good. With the drink bar, all you can drink. It's a pretty good deal. Regional trains. You can take the express trains, maybe the shinkansen occasionally.

00:20:51 John Daub: By the way, you can get discounted shinkansen tickets if you don't get a JR pass. About 10% off of the price if you go to the discounted ticket office right across from Tokyo Station, for example. And every major train station has a budget ticket king or discounted ticket where they buy the tickets in bulk. And they pass on the savings to the consumer. So that's something that you might want to consider if you're trying to pinch the pennies to try to make an extra day out of it. Because I totally get that. A couple paid attractions. You could actually go up the Tokyo Skytree. You could go to a museum or two that might be paid to get in there. But no fancy shopping. Which is fine.

00:21:31 John Daub: You know what? I honestly, I don't buy. They're just going to be sitting in a box. There's not a lot of stuff. The only thing I would say is buying clothes in Japan is kind of neat. Because then you can wear that when you get home. Or buying Japanese shampoo. Or buying some Japanese snacks. But buying trinkets and stuff, I never really understood. Getting a t-shirt. Now you can get that on Amazon.com or something these days.

00:22:01 John Daub: The reality is that the sweet spot for solo travelers trying to keep costs without suffering. That's it. You know, the manga cafes are always going to be pretty cheap. But even the manga cafes have gone to capacity because of foreign tourists taking advantage of it. Sleeping the night there. The more comfortable ones are the ones that have like beds. Like flat panels. But you can get these chairs. Or super saunas. They're just like La-Z-Boy chairs that you sleep in. It's really comfortable. Those cost about 20 bucks a night or something like that. So you can get away with saving a lot of money.

00:22:37 John Daub: I want to say thank you. We just got a super chat in here. Lamborghini Omar is back. Two weeks is the perfect amount of time. My friend is the owner of Hirohata, a digital creative company. And he shows me around. Well, there's a little plug for him. You might know him. I know a lot of people. Thank you for that. I appreciate it.

00:23:02 John Daub: This is what's called normal. Mid range. For 10 day trip here. I'd say like 170 to 2400 [?] is like for 10 days. So you're spending about $170 a day. So I think it's a three star hotel. Maybe the best way to do things is a fusion of staying budget and staying mid range as well. And there probably is a category between this. I would say the first two days of your trip, you're going to have jet lag. So you're not going to. That's why maybe 14 days is better than 10 days because the first few days if you're coming from the US in particular, the jet lag is going to really knock off a lot of time. You're going to be waking up in the middle of the night. It's not as much fun.

00:23:32 John Daub: Just stay in Narita for the first night where it's a little bit cheaper because you're not going to get that much done. And then the next day you can move into the city with maybe a nice breakfast or clear mind. Or stay in Narita for two nights perhaps. That might be the better way to go. Or stay. I always recommend Tokyo Disneyland because the rooms are really big at that Sheraton. But it's gotten kind of pricey lately. It's like $150, $200 a room now if you're going to the Sheraton which is probably our go-to one. And we can't afford the Tokyo Disneyland resort hotel so we stay at the Sheraton or one of the other ones that usually has a deal. The Hotel Okura usually has a deal because it's a little bit older than the other ones.

00:24:34 John Daub: A mix of restaurants and casual izakaya (Japanese pubs). You've got to add in izakaya. So you're probably going to spend about $20 to $25 per person at an izakaya if you're getting alcohol. Alcohol can be relatively cheap. About $2.50 for a jocky (large glass) of beer at the izakaya. So it depends if you drink or not. But you've got to stop there for dinner a couple of times because you really get a lot of good Japanese food. And it's fairly cheap anyways. Shirokiya used to be the go-to but I think that chain might be gone. A lot of good izakaya. There are a lot of good izakaya chains that are pretty moderately priced. Moderately priced shopping which you can do. Popular attractions like the Ghibli Park. You can get those tickets I think at Lawson's or something. TeamLabs, museums, temples and stuff. Temples are free to go to.

00:25:25 John Daub: That's another thing with the budget travelers. But I always give 5 yen or you can give 50 yen or a little bit of money to them because it's a blessing. You should help the temple and the shrine a little bit. This is what most visitors pay. The typical cost I would say is between $150 to $250 a day to travel in Japan. And that extra $100 really does improve the level of travel. And you can travel by the shinkansen and you might probably have a rail pass.

00:25:58 John Daub: Let's step this up just a bit. So now we're going into the high end, the comfort focused. This might be like honeymoon type of stuff. But I got one more after this. This is about $250 to $430 a day, something like that. Four star hotels. I got to tell you, Japan does comfort better. A four star hotel in Japan probably is a five star hotel in other countries. Just put that out there. Walter Walters, thank you so much for being a traveler for six months as well. I appreciate that. We have memberships on here.

00:26:29 John Daub: High end dining. Oh my goodness. The kaiseki (multi-course) cuisine, the high end dining in Japan is worth it. You got to do that at least once. High end sushi, high end tempura. Oh my goodness. The service and the quality and the little attention to detail. And there aren't many countries in the world where high end dining makes sense. Japan is one of those countries because you can actually see it in the presentation and taste it comparatively. High end sushi, you definitely can tell the difference between high end sushi and the hundred yen sushi place. Because I think I would eat the hundred yen sushi first and then move into the high end stuff. It would definitely tell the difference. Then you have an appreciation for it. You might become a ruined person as a result.

00:27:10 John Daub: Some private tours and experiences. I highly recommend taking a tour. Magical Trips has been my go to. I've done some jobs with them to show you. They've been really well with locally resourcing the guides, making sure that local businesses get the business, not looking at chains, etc. Trying very much to give a local perspective, which is what you're paying for with a tourist guide. They're the best kind of chain tour guide experience. But if you contact JNTO, the Japan National Tourism Organization, they are underutilized. There's an office for JNTO in every major city in the world. They speak your language. If you call them and make onegai (request), they sometimes will help you out with finding a guide or at least point you in the right direction.

00:28:02 John Daub: The city of Tokyo has free tour guides. Free guided tours. Free. You can make an appointment with a local and have a free guided tour provided by Tokyo Visitors Convention Bureau. It's free. Not a lot of people are taking advantage of it. I made a Reels on Instagram. If you check that out, it'll give you the information there. But there's about, I think there were 17 tours at the time last year. They might have another one coming in. I made one on Asakusa. So it was free. So you got to take advantage of some of this stuff here. You can drop down this cost if you look at some of these secret free stuff.

00:28:39 John Daub: Shopping budget and better ryokan (traditional inn) stays. You've got to stay in a ryokan. It is the biggest waste if you don't stay in a ryokan. I would expect ryokan prices in 2026 at popular places to increase though. It just seems like I believe the wages will start to rise. I think ryokans are going to go up in price a little bit too. Families have been eating the costs. Family run businesses. Because they know that their Japanese counterparts, the people who come to relax the regular customers, just don't have the money. Because they're not getting the big bonuses that they used to before the Lehman Brothers crash in 2008. Every Japanese office worker used to get massive bonuses. After that hit in 2008, I know a lot of people stopped getting bonuses and the bonuses that they do get these days are not as much.

00:29:26 John Daub: In particular, domestic companies that don't have businesses or investments in North America, they're just not making their money in yen and they're just not making enough to hand out bonuses to their workers. So the Japanese are feeling it a lot more than you realize. They're just really good at taking the pain, I think. So a high-end comfort. Again, a fusion of this. If I was a budget traveler, I would fusion in a high-end two or three days in a 14-day trip. And that would be the thing I look forward to. At the last 25% of my trip, I would spend maybe two nights at a ryokan. And I would just live large. And I would save up maybe a couple of weeks. Eat at home. Cook at home or whatever. Don't eat out. Save your money. And then really have a good time with your money.

00:30:24 John Daub: CNCW. Well, thank you for that. Jason Sift W. from Canada. Thanks for all your content. You're very welcome. Thank you for posting these live videos as well. Love from Canada. Oh, I love Canada. Jason from Canada had made me an honorary Canadian. Although sometimes I don't feel worthy. But I appreciate it.

00:30:51 John Daub: Let's talk about the luxury. This is a division of travel in Japan that has evolved over the last five years. I've been fortunate enough to be invited to a lot of prefectural and government initiatives to try to drive tourists to these areas. And one of these. And by the way, Norm, thank you so much for Godzilla. He's making an appearance here. I'm sure I know Norm is either watching now or in the playback. That Godzilla comes from Norm. That's one of Leo's favorite best friends there.

00:31:26 John Daub: The luxury industry has just grown and grown and keeps growing. And although like almost all of us can't afford it. I'm not saying that I'm going to afford this. It's something like I would love to try one day. And I did. Me, my wife, I invited my friend Peter von Gomm, you know, PVG, and his wife to pay him back for the years of doing such nice stuff for the channel. I invited him and his wife with an opportunity with the Japan travel, the travel channel for some cable network channel. And I went down there into Fukuoka. And you know who was there? I was like waiting in the room for the Seven Stars, which is a luxury train. It's like a four-year waiting list. We were able to get on there to help with the production.

00:32:13 John Daub: It was Tabi Eats, my friends Satoshi and Shinichi. Gosh darn it, I have not seen them since 2019, which is crazy. It's been five or six years since the pandemic. We're just so darn busy, even though we live in the same city. But those two are really great. And I got to see them on that and share a luxury trip with them. And I couldn't have shared it with two better people than the Tabi Eats guys. But if you are going to be traveling in luxury, you could be able to afford that train. It's $10,000 per person, I think, for that train. But the meals are so good. The food, the service. You have your own like private butler, this guy, an assistant. And he will make sure that you have no problems. You're not going to have any problems anyways. The rooms are amazing. They're made out of like wood and glass. And it feels like refined. Like 1920s style. Big, big window in the room. The caboose of the train is a massive window in the back. I sent a postcard out from it in 2019 to everybody who was supporting.

00:33:16 John Daub: This is the best. If you have a honeymoon, you're going to be traveling perhaps like this. Aman Hotel in Tokyo is amazing. I had a friend who stayed there and invited me up to her room. Holy crap, that was nice. And I stayed for a snack afterwards and coffee. And that restaurant was amazing. The Aman. And that was when it first opened. Amazing. She'd save up her money to travel like this reporter for, I believe, she was anchor for CBS News in the New York area. Which is great. I see her every now and then. But she was a friend of a friend. And when she came to Japan, we would always kind of catch up. And it's been a while. But she invited me over to see her place at the Aman. I was like, holy crap, man. This is amazing. That's what you save up for.

00:34:01 John Daub: Ritz-Carlton, Park Hyatt. If you stay at the Park Hyatt, you will have the Lost in Translation with Bill Murray experience because that's where they filmed a lot of it, in the lobby there. That's like a, the hotel's now about 20, it feels like it's 25, 30 years old now. But brings me back to a time when I first came to Japan. I kind of like it, walking in that lobby. Kaiseki dinners, omakase (chef's choice). You're going to have it all, baby. You're going to have private drivers. You're going to take Uber VIP, you know what I mean? You get the white glove treatment here. Helicopter tours, which I highly recommend, especially at night. Oh my, that's lovely. Luxury ryokan. Ryokan prices. If you get a luxury room, these are the nicest tatami rooms. You're getting like great yukata (light kimono), private baths and stuff. That's wonderful. You don't even have to leave the room, more or less.

00:34:59 John Daub: Shopping, premium experience. You're going to be able to go to experience places. When I talk about premium shopping, I mean like going in and having the artist talk about the products that he's selling. And you get the background story of it, you bring it alive. This kind of stuff. A lot of people come to Japan to buy luxury watches. I didn't really understand this, but apparently there's a lot of watchmakers that make stuff. They're like $10,000, $20,000 a watch. But the maker might make watches one every month. He doesn't make a lot of these. And luxury travelers, they like to meet the watchmaker and get the story behind a custom watch. Like what are some of the things about it. Because then it gives it a story. Then when you meet other luxury dudes and dudettes, you can share your story about the luxury watch you bought in Japan. I guess that's something that they do. I can't afford to travel this way very often, if at all. But if I had a lot of money and I was traveling like this, I would do it for the story. I would do it for the experience. Once in a lifetime.

00:36:00 John Daub: So there you go. This is about $500 to $1,500 a day. You'd be able to afford quite a bit. Gil Asakawa is in the house. Good to see you. Sorry I missed you the first half hour. Hoping I'll be able to afford a trip to Japan next year. I hope to see you, Gil, real soon. Gil's got an amazing book, by the way. If you're thinking of a present for Christmas, supporting Gil, buying his book is one of the things that I. Where is it, Gil? I have it here. Here it is.

00:36:42 John Daub: I actually did this a couple years ago with Gil. I'm like, this is Gil's book. Gil, I have this. This is one of my favorite books. I love the front. So cute. This is the story of Japanese food in America. This is such an amazing book. This takes you through Gil's experience as well. It's got so much information in here as well as pictures and historical information on Japanese food in America. Pick this one up. It's from Stonebridge Press. Pick this up online. Gil, I want to get you on one of these like as soon as we can to talk about this because I'm fascinated.

00:37:26 John Daub: You know what? Gil, I'm going back to the U.S. in a couple of weeks. I don't know what you're doing over the holidays. Let's get in touch and get this done because I want to talk about your book and talk about Japanese food in America while I'm eating Japanese food in America. Wouldn't that be fun? But this is a great book and you're also supporting one of our regular viewers here. So there's a return on investment for Gil for doing the Super Chat. I'm so happy to see you here, brother. Gil has been so kind for so many years and to be able to meet you in person. I wish I'd been able to catch you the last time you were here.

00:38:05 John Daub: Yeah, so that's a look at 2026 and what the experience is going to be like, I think, for people visiting, at least with costs. It does make a lot of sense to change your money whenever you get a chance. I think if the yen is over 155 to the dollar, I don't really think it's going to get into the 160 or 170 range, for example. A lot of people were saying, oh, it's the end of the yen. I don't see that happening. I see perhaps an economic slowdown. A lot of people are talking about the stock markets crashing because of the AI stocks or AI bubble, stock market bubble. You can't really predict that. There's a weird feeling when Warren Buffett takes his money out of the stock market and keeps it in cash. Like, he feels like there's a bubble and sometimes if you're looking at the tea leaves, that might be something for you to consider. But you can't travel or plan your life based on stuff that hasn't happened or might happen. You have to travel when you can travel.

00:39:10 John Daub: The greatest thing, and I'm going to talk about this maybe next week in a live stream, but in more detail. But the smartest thing I did was not listen to anybody. After I finished university, all of my friends went into a career. I was the only one that said, you know what, I'm going to go and travel. And oh my goodness, was I the smartest person out of all the group of my friends. I saw so many things. It was the greatest time to travel. 1996 to 2003. It was really hard after the attack in New York. Things got a little bit tougher, but the prices went down. Travel costs were so cheap. I saw so much. And there weren't any travelers. Over-tourism didn't exist.

00:39:52 John Daub: It was amazing. I got to see, when I went to Romania, which is one of the most beautiful countries, it was just a few years removed from the Cold War. And I was able to, like, I still remember taking the train from Budapest into Romania, arriving in Cluj-Napoca, where I have such great friends right now. In Bonižua, they're watching. And walking down the main street from the station with horse and buggy on a dirt road. It's like, what the heck? And there's old communist-era cars driving around. But their economy turned around real fast. Hard-working people there. And now Cluj-Napoca looks nothing like it did when I first arrived. It a little bit does. But, my goodness, I got to see how the world has changed by traveling when I did.

00:40:42 John Daub: Because I didn't listen to everybody else telling me, oh, you've got to save money, oh, the smart thing is to go straight into a career to make $20,000 a year. I said, you know what? I'm going to wait tables all summer. And I'm going to take what I save and I'm going to go and travel as a backpacker. And that's what I did. And when I ran out of money, I got a job working in Japan as an English teacher. I did that for a year. I saved all my money. I'm a single guy. I'm like in my mid-twenties. I took the bonus that I got for doing a good job at the end of the year and I backpacked and I spent it all. I saved, like, virtually nothing. Probably a big mistake. I don't know. It doesn't feel like it.

00:41:17 John Daub: I always said if I ever had to spend the rest of my life in jail or something for something, I could just close my eyes and take myself back to Tahiti and sitting on the beach on a coconut tree. Or I could close my eyes and look at the Moai of Easter Island or Machu Picchu as I came out of the jungle of the Inca Trail into what was a lost city of Machu Picchu with like no tourists around. Think about that. So don't listen to what everybody else is doing. Don't follow trends. Go out and do what you want to do when you want to do it. When you can afford to do it. And do it as soon as possible because your health can change. The situation can change. The world can change. What just makes it harder to do the stuff right now. But right now it seems like the world, there are some sore spots there were back then. But right now this is, there's never been a better time to travel and visit Japan than right this very second if you can afford it. Just get on a plane and hop over here and do it.

00:42:20 John Daub: And don't listen to the trends and stuff. And wait until this time. Wait until your friend can travel. Screw your friend. Get on the plane and just go by yourself. I'm telling you right now, don't wait for other people to travel. Because half the time those people, something happens and then you ended up waiting for no reason. I went by myself. It forced me to talk to other people. It forced me to be a more assertive person. It changed my personality. I was very shy, very reserved as a high school student and even at Ohio State. Which is crazy, right? I was very much, and then after I traveled in 1996 and I came back for one more year at Ohio State. I left Ohio State with two degrees, which I'm very proud of. That last year I was a lot more talkative and friendly because I had spent 45 days in Europe backpacking and traveling on my own. Where I was forced to be out of my comfort zone and meet people. And it was the greatest experience.

00:43:22 John Daub: A lot of the friends that my mom has, she came by herself. I was working as an English teacher and she would go out and explore Tokyo on her own. And she always made two or three friends with other travelers, many of whom she keeps in touch with to this day. So I'm telling you right now for those of you that aren't sure whether or not you should come to Japan as a solo traveler, just do it. Don't wait. You'll find a way around it. You'll meet other people. It changes who you are sometimes, but getting out of your comfort zone often helps you grow as a person. That's my only thing.

00:43:51 John Daub: John, you can do a tour guide host with a tourism agency. Do I really want to though? I've had some nice people from the Middle East that wanted to hire me at very large sums of money. And I turned them down and I said, I'm just not a tour guide. I'd love to. Actually, you know what? I'll hang out. I'll come up and meet you and say hi because I appreciate it. But I'm not much of a tour guide, at least not right now. My friend Kevin Riley does the best tour guide. He's got the best tours in Osaka. If you ever go down there, he'll give you a tour. He'll drive you around. But that's not what I do yet. I've got a four-year-old son and a wife. My focus is to tell a story. That's where my passions are, to bring you stories of the countryside to take you other places. But I appreciate the sentiment of the question. I'd love to do more of that though, maybe in the future.

00:44:45 John Daub: If you want to see one of my stories, there it is right there. There's a bunch of other ones. I did the solo trip last year. It was fun. I'm glad to hear that. Overtourism in Tokyo made the experience far less authentic. Well, actually, I would love to. This is from Csyih. He writes in that comment there. I completely agree with you. I think that you have to, now as a tourist, just coming to Tokyo and coming to Japan does not make it an authentic Japan experience anymore. It's not like it was ten years ago or even maybe six years ago.

00:45:23 John Daub: When you come to Japan now, you have to actually plan your trip to make it so it becomes an authentic trip. This is like any other country now. Because of the success of Japan's travel industry, you now have to make more of an effort to get off of the beaten path so that you can have a more authentic experience. That's what I'm doing with my main channel. I'm trying to take you guys out there to find those places on your own. So you don't have to rely on tour guides. Tour guides really help a lot for local knowledge. But I'm telling you, you have to get off of the beaten path. You've got to get out of Tokyo. It's just really, you hear more English and other languages than you hear Japanese. Most of the Japanese don't shop in Tokyo anymore. They go out to other places. You'll see more people in Fukuoka. Well, actually, Fukuoka is quite crowded. People are just buying stuff online. Locals are buying stuff online. Try and avoid going out into the city.

00:46:23 John Daub: Heath Runyon 4036, thank you so much. I'll be in Japan in January for the third time in seven months. Whoa! I'm so happy to hear that. Love the country. I'm so glad. I would love to ask you, where have you gone? What part of Japan would you recommend to tourists? I wish I did the Discord. Next time, we're going to have to do a Q&A. I'll get the Discord. I'll do that when I'm in the US because I've got lots of time there. We'll do some Q&As because I want to hear you guys share your experiences because we can learn from each other. Right? If you're coming here for your third time in seven months, you have some experiences that you've got to share with us. I want to hear it. I want to see your photos. I want to hear more about what's driving you to come back here.

00:47:11 John Daub: That's, I think, not just a selling point for people to make their first trip here, but to make your second and your third ones. There's a lot to love about Japan. Thirteen trips right in here. The first trip was in 2016. Things have changed a lot. Oh, my goodness, they have. And you know what? After you wrote that comment, I want you to think about my experience, okay? I came here in 1998. What do you think Japan was like compared to that? You know what? UFO Bob is in the house. UFO Bob, you've got to get your butt over here. I don't know how we're going to do it. Maybe it's on a cargo ship, but UFO Bob came here in the 80s, right? Imagine what it's like now. You're not even going to recognize the place, I think.

00:48:01 John Daub: So, that's one of the things. It's a blessing. That's one of the reasons why I think the Only in Japan, like my, why I'm really proud of it. It separates itself from other YouTube channels, I think, because I have been here for so long. I have seen another side of Japan, more so than someone who came here just ten years ago, for example. I've lived through generational shifts, okay? And I've got friends that have been here like 50 years. And I sit there and I listen to their stories like a sponge, taking it all in. They're like, what was it like to live here during the bubble era? Because I lived here during this weird time in the Heisei period where we had some really weird trends. And Japan was making the most out of little. No one was visiting. No tourists. I was the only foreign face. I was the tallest person. Sometimes on the subway, which is weird. What am I, like 180 centimeters, give or take? 5'11".

00:49:00 John Daub: So, I've seen a lot. And it's built up a love of the Japanese culture. I think perhaps you see it in the editing and the way that the main channel episode. This is a different channel. The main channel episode is. And I appreciate the support, guys. When I go back home, I'm not going to stop live streaming this year like I did in the past. I'm going to keep doing live streams. And talking to you even when I get home. I'm going to be sharing more stories. Because 1998 is like we're moving into the 30-year territory. Holy crud.

00:49:28 John Daub: One more question here before we shut her down for the day. My wife and I are going to Japan in February for the second time. We are going to see our brother-in-law. What festivals should we go to in February? Only one I can recommend is, like there's a lot of regions that have the Naked Man Festival. They have usually some pretty good street food. I think it's the first Saturday in March. The one in Niigata that I ran in. That's a good one to go to. It's one stop from Yuzawa. It's like an hour from Tokyo. And it's an amazing adventure. It's usually snowy. It's a lot of fun. But it depends on the region that you're in. But you can find. And JNTO was underutilized. You can send them an email or call them. And ask them. And they speak English. Or they speak Polish if you're in Warsaw. They'll speak Italian if you're in Rome. JNTO has got an office just about everywhere. And you can get that information locally. And they'll let you know all the stuff for free. Or you can join my Patreon and ask me a question with a direct message. I usually respond in a couple of days or less. Or an hour.

00:50:41 John Daub: Hey John, what's the best spot to celebrate New Year's Eve in Tokyo? Gosh. I always, you know, when I came here. And this is the last question. And I saw that one about how did me and Kanae meet. I'll see if she'll do a livestream and talk about it. Because I wouldn't do the story justice. But back when I came, I moved to Tokyo in 2005. I lived in the countryside in smaller cities until 2004, 2005. So for the New Year's of 2004, 2005, like what did I do? I think I went and I hiked to Okutama and I saw the sunrise. And there's a culture where the trails are open. The soba shops are open. We got a hot bowl of soba. You bring a gas stove and you can make your own coffee, tea or hot sake. And you can drink it and watch the sunrise. And there's a place where a lot of people seem to congregate at Okutama. So a lot of people climbing Takao-san, for example. It's quite busy on New Year's. You wouldn't believe it. That's a really popular place to go.

00:51:48 John Daub: Asakusa is my go-to because I like to be where the tradition and the culture is. A lot of people go to Shiba Park, which is right in front of Tokyo Tower. A lot of people go to Hachiko, but it's just been too crowded and they've been discouraging people from doing that. But back in the day, people would just make a reservation or RSVP hotel or an event or a club, depending on your age. And you'd go there and you'd have a really nice meal. And you'd welcome in the New Year. And it's a lot warmer. Depends on your age as well. But going to the temples and the shrines is the way to go. The bigger and the more famous the temple, the more there's going to be people congregated around there. And it's free to go there. It's just cold. There's usually a street food market, Shibamata, in Tokyo, which is a little bit outside. They have a street food market and that's quite crowded. And you feel more of an old Japan feel out there, even though you're in Tokyo. Shibamata.

00:52:42 John Daub: So there's a lot of places that you can go, but it just depends. All the temples ring the bell 108 times at midnight. All right. So that's a big tradition here in Japan. And everybody goes to line up to be the first one for the New Year's prayers. So that's another reason to go out and do that. Thank you to Lamborghini Omar from the Mile High City. And that's also where Gil is, in the Mile High City. Gil said, come west to Denver when you're in the U.S. Gil, I totally will do that. I would love to hang out and see you over there in a beautiful college. I would love to hang out in Colorado one of these days.

00:53:20 John Daub: Before the pandemic, my wife and I were talking about renting a car and then driving from California to the Southwest. And we got friends in Utah and Colorado and Arizona. I've always wanted to see the Grand Canyon and see that area of the world and that area of my country, more west of the Mississippi, but just never got a chance. But Mile High City, for sure. I just got back from Fukuoka, so it's so much more chilled in Tokyo. Oh yeah. And you know, with more Chinese package tours canceling, Fukuoka and Kyushu was a lot more crowded. And now that seems to be the go-to for Western tourists, I think, because Fukuoka and Hokkaido have kind of. Tokyo's always been really packed, and Kyoto as well, with Western tourists. But with Chinese tourists kind of retreating, that opens up a lot more opportunities for visitors going to Fukuoka to Kyushu, to even Sapporo. And there's going to be some deals, I would expect.

00:54:25 John Daub: And that's the last thing, you know, I forgot about this in the beginning. But with China, and they're making. This is such a big mistake on their part, I think, but who am I to judge? It goes deeper than I do. They're asking their tourists not to come because Japan's dangerous. And my response to that is, now look, Japan's removing businesses from China. 100,000 jobs left China. This over a policy that's been in effect for the last many prime ministers. She just said it publicly, and China had a hissy fit. And as you can tell, I have no. I'm not going to be visiting China for right now, but. Chinese people absolutely love them. They've got families just like everyone else. China's a super beautiful country to visit. Food, everything. I can't speak highly enough about being a tourist in China. It's really, really a good experience, I thought. But just, it's a government thing, you know? Just let them work it out.

00:55:23 John Daub: But if you pull out the tourists, then Japan's going to be pulling out the jobs. 100,000 jobs from Canon, I think, left. So now it's starting. And I'm really worried about it because this is the wrong direction. I think China was too. China's testing the prime minister too much. And she's a strong woman, and I get a lot of respect for her. But with Chinese tourists pulling out, there's a huge opportunity and a possibility of cheaper prices in the long run. Because China was the biggest country of tourists coming to Japan. I don't think tourists are going to slow down from the West. And if deals come up as a result of China pulling out, we can get to 50 million visitors here. And Chinese tourists weren't really necessary. And that's a shame because I think Chinese tourists. I love going to China to visit, and Chinese tourists love coming to Japan to visit. I think that they know it's not dangerous. But patriotism is a very strong thing. National pride is a very strong thing in this area of the world.

00:56:26 John Daub: And when one side feels slighted to another side, they can sometimes go off of the edge in what we would consider such in Western thinking. But again, I'm not Eastern thinking. But get it. More travelers from the Philippines. Joy, come on back for a visit. We can get more travelers from Hawaii perhaps. Take advantage of the stronger dollar. I don't know. But I think we're just going to be fine. There's going to be an adjustment. You can't rely on one country to do all of your business. You have to diversify too. And Japan has done that. So we're going to be okay. It's really bad though because I have so much love for China. And it's just the governments. The disagreement is too strong right now. But I really do. All of our neighbors. Kanae and I were talking about going to Korea as well. Taking a weekend trip there. Maybe longer to go and see. Introduce Leo to Korean culture a little bit. Because we have so many Koreans living in Japan too. I want them to understand about our neighbors. I want them to grow up learning about the history and the background of not just Japan, but Japan's neighbors. Philippines as well. And to be somebody who's not just a Japanese. But somebody who can bridge the cultures. That would be really cool.

00:57:48 John Daub: Korea is also an amazing place to visit. So is Taiwan. So is Hong Kong. So is China. And I think everyone coming from the West, using Japan as a base to travel to those countries is a great