This video is brought to you by SquareSpace. This is life in Tokyo now that everything is opening up
So I'm finally back after a short break and I just wanted to get back and show you what's really going on in Tokyo
As many of you know, my son was recently born on May 25th
And that's actually the time that Tokyo lifted its state of emergency
So things here in Tokyo are starting to open back up and I wanted to take this time in this video
to kind of show you what's actually
happening here in Tokyo. It's mid July right now and you can see behind me that stores are starting to open up
In fact, I'll be taking you all throughout Tokyo showing you all the popular tourist destinations
And we'll be ending up in Shinjuku in the evening to show you what it's really like there
But before we start if you want to see what I'm doing on the daily check out my Instagram account and if you want to
Help support our channel, check out the Tokyo merch. All right, let me begin this tour of Tokyo
Tsukiji fish market. The Tsukiji outer fish market is one of the most popular tourist destinations in
Tokyo early on a summer Saturday morning
This place is usually brimming with tourists and locals wanting to experience all the delectable treats
but since Japan has international travel entry bans for more than
120 countries these days, you'll only find domestic tourists and locals.
Let me ask one of the local shop owners business is doing these days.
As you can see a lot of the stores are open, but in fact eating here on a Saturday at 9:00 a.m
This place should be packed
Trains have operated this entire time in Tokyo
But during the state of emergency
Many businesses shut down while others had employees work from home drastically reducing train usage
But with many people going back to the office these days and trains being the only viable form of transportation
Rush hour times are again seeing packed train carts, which I decided to avoid for this video
But during the middle of the day on weekdays and on weekends when people are less
Obligated to ride the train you'll see less commuters
Asakusa
Since many flights from overseas these days have been canceled or banned,
what you'll find is that many of the tourists here are all here locally.
Another prime destination, Asakusa is a place for many tourists and locals come to experience Japanese culture, food and even an amusement park.
Many of the shops are open, but some locals are still being careful of unnecessary travel.
In fact throughout this entire time, Japan has never forced a lockdown of its citizens but have only strongly recommended it.
How does this compare with your country?
And do you think these new policies are justified? Let me know in the comments.
So we're in Asakusa's Hoppy Street
and many people come here on a Saturday to drink.
As you can see is that there's a lot of tables set out, but not a lot of customers.
In fact many of the customers who come here on a Saturday and a Sunday come here to drink and gamble on the horses.
So just behind me is Hanayashiki amusement park. The last time that we were here, it was closed
But as you can see, now it's open. But it's just not a lot of people.
Akihabara
Akihabara is famous for its electronic retail shops,
its beloved anime and manga culture, as well as its maid cafes.
Although many tourists previously frequented this area,
these days, it's filled with locals taking advantage of the slightly less populated streets
I would say this is one area where life in Tokyo seems have returned to normal,
except for the fact that a majority of the people are walking around wearing masks.
So we're in Akihabara right now.
And if you just look around you'll notice that a lot of people are still wearing masks.
In fact a lot of people in Japan are wearing masks.
There's no real law or rule where you're supposed to wear masks
But people still do it just because of courtesy.
During Tokyo's state of emergency,
many local businesses, schools and restaurants temporarily closed down.
But these days it seems that most places are back open, even if some services are limited.
Most businesses and shops are taking precautions
such as setting out hand sanitizers at the entrance,
all staff wearing masks,
setting up plastic dividers between the customers
and even establishing a cleaning routine during business hours.
Even this suit company has started making masks -- check that out!
Ginza
So we're here in Ginza, Tokyo's luxury shopping district.
And although it rained just a little bit ago,
you can see that there's still people out here shopping and enjoying the area.
Ginza is a popular high-end shopping area among many tourists and especially loved by Chinese
In fact, I would normally see large groups of Chinese tourists
and their tour buses parked on the sidewalk here and there.
But I didn't see any on this day.
The drop in tourists have definitely impacted businesses in this area,
as well as tourist-heavy parts of Japan
But since the apartment stores in Ginza are mostly international brands with flagship stores here,
you'll still see locals shopping the streets.
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Let's continue on with this tour
Tokyo Tower, so we're just in front of Tokyo Tower and just like a lot of amusement areas and landmarks
They've actually opened back up here in Tokyo and a lot of places throughout Japan.
Although a lot of them have opened up,
they still have far less customers visiting than they would normally during this time
Some of the people who have actually told me that the customer base has reduced up to 50%,
in some places even more.
How does that compare to your country with people visiting landmarks and tourist locations?
Although Tokyo has reopened many museums and theme parks like Tokyo Disneyland
and even places like Tokyo Skytree,
there's been a recent increase in reported cases from the month of July
reaching to more than 200 cases per day, which hasn't happened since April 17th.
Look we're both wearing masks!
Harajuku Takeshita Dori
So I quickly wanted to take you to Harajuku Takeshita Dori Street
The last time we were here there was not a lot of people on the street.
But as you can see from just looking around, there's more and more people.
Let me show you around.
Harajuku is known for its youthful fashion,
colorful streets with many junior high and high school students hanging out in this area.
During Tokyo's state of emergency, the streets nearly emptied out.
But since Tokyo slowly started to reopen, in the last several weeks, numbers have been increasing.
Harajuku station was recently renovated for the 2020 Olympics
and a new shopping area was developed around it.
Many places such as this were gearing up to complete construction
But now many of these businesses are struggling as their anticipated customers never made it to Japan,
or are deciding to stay home instead.
Yoyogi Park
So I also wanted to show you all around the local park
Right now we're in Yoyogi Park which is just right between Harajuku and Shibuya station
As you can see there are people out here
but a lot of them are social distancing
All the groups are kind of in their own little spot and they're not too close to each other
Shibuya. So we're finally back to Shibuya, one of the places that's closest and dear to my heart.
As you can see it's getting a little bit dark outside, but there's still quite a lot of people out here right now.
This is just in front of Shibuya station where people usually meet friends.
Usually during this time there'd be no space to walk straight through
as it's pretty much chaos on the weekends, but it's not a problem now.
It's a good indicator overall of how many people are out and about in Tokyo these days
And this is how it looks at Center Gai.
So walking around it feels like a little bit less people, but personally
It feels like a little bit more than it should be. Let me show you exactly how it feels at the crossing
This is definitely not your Saturday Night scramble crossing numbers
as it's easy and enough to cross the street without bumping into anyone
But maybe a challenge to properly social distance
Shinjuku, another major transportation hub in Tokyo just north of Shibuya where many locals and tourists gather
Shinjuku though has a special nightlife area where I'm taking you tonight
So it's been such a long day
We finally made it to Shinjuku
It's just after 7:30 and we're in the Kabukicho area, the heart of Shinjuku
Also known as a red-light district
let's look around a little bit and let me show you what the nightlife is really like right now
A recent trend in Tokyo showed that a majority of the reported cases were people in their 20s and 30s
And the Kabukicho red-light district becoming a major source of these cases
Clusters have been found among Kabukicho's host and hostess clubs
So although Tokyo is officially reopened, only time will tell if reopening Tokyo was the right move.
We should see in the next month if Tokyo residents will be able to reverse the recent surge on its own,
or if the Tokyo Government will again step in and strongly request its residents
to close down businesses and stay inside.
Omoide Yokocho
Omoide Yokocho is another ultra-popular eating and drinking street in Shinjuku where many locals frequent.
On a Saturday this place would be packed,
but these days it appears that many customers are avoiding going out unnecessarily in the evenings,
especially to confined spaces such as bars and restaurants despite businesses reopening.
All right, so that concludes our tour of Tokyo. Let me know how it compares to your country?
How you guys are dealing with the pandemic -- are stores opening? Are restaurants opening?
Let me know all of that in the comments below.
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if you want to see what I'm doing on the daily check out my Instagram account
Special thanks to Newton for helping me film today
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