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.

Also, if you like this video, help me out hit that like button.

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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