TOKYO – If you spend just a little time in Tokyo, you will realize that it is a huge, beautiful, and extremely efficient city with a lot of layers.
KPRC2′s crew in Tokyo connected with a unique guide to walk them through the city.
“What I tend to do is just try to show people actual, real-life here,” said Rob Dee, an in real life (IRL) streamer. “Not just the touristy stuff.”
Dee is an Australian who knows a thing or two about Tokyo. He has more than 200,000 followers on his vlog, who connect with him up to eight hours a day to get a raw, inside look into the world’s most populous city.
Dee has lived in Tokyo for the past seven years.
“It’s an easy to live kind of place. Very convenient,” he said.
KPRC 2 met Dee in the upscale Ginza district. One thing we noticed was that even under an extended state of emergency due to rising COVID numbers there are plenty of people on the streets.
“The lockdown here has been way less strict,” said Dee. “So people still be able to go out and go around whereas in other countries people are being stuck inside.”
Ginza is often referred to as Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive of Tokyo. It is just one layer that makes up this vast and vibrant city with a population of 38 million in its metropolitan area. Our crew wanted to go even deeper so they went with Dee to the Shibuya section of Tokyo.
Shibuya is one of Tokyo’s 23 special wards. If you want real and raw all you have to do is venture off into one of the area’s numerous side alleys known as yokochos. There you’ll find 20- and 30-somethings eating, drinking, and mingling in the izakayas -- pubs and collections of eateries tucked away in Japan’s busy streets. That’s where we came across Mia Ikeda.
The 21-year-old spent time in Arizona as an exchange student -- traveling and getting to know the U.S.
“My host family was really good and I went so many places,” Ikeda said. “Like Las Vegas.”
While Mia takes pride in the Japanese reputation as polite and reserved she says there are other engines that drive the younger population. For instance?
“Hmm. Nightclub,” she says. “Probably they are dancing and singing and you’re going to see like wild side.”
KPRC 2 bosses probably wouldn’t approve of a nightclub charge on their expense reports so they stuck with the izakayas.
In their conversations in Tokyo, we’ve also learned that many residents weren’t opposed to holding the Olympics in the midst of a pandemic. They’re largely ambivalent because they aren’t allowed to participate as spectators or in many cases as volunteers.
But many-- like Mia and her friends -- are enjoying the games.
“I recently went to Osaka and so many people watching t.v. and watch Olympic,” she said. “That was a baseball game and everyone was happy. Japan won that game I think, and everyone was happy.”