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00:00Hey guys, one of our supporters sent a link to this story.
00:06So first of all, thank you to that person for sending it to us.
00:08We hadn't seen it yet, relatively new story apparently.
00:12So there are 71 countries that have visa exemption agreements with Japan, which means people
00:21from those 71 countries can just buy a ticket to Japan, fly to Japan or come to Japan on
00:28a boat or wherever they want to come and arrive in Japan.
00:32And usually they will be automatically granted a 14 to 90 day stay.
00:39So they just put a stamp in the passport, if they still do that, not sure they still
00:44do that.
00:45It might just be electronic now, but automatically they just give you a 14 to 90 day stay.
00:51And you can stay, you don't need a visa.
00:54The only exceptions are you can't have a criminal record or things like that.
00:57You just asked for that, you asked to declare if you have a criminal record and that's it.
01:02So that's very simple.
01:04And apparently America has a similar system where they have countries that can visit without
01:11a visa.
01:12And Australia has a similar system too.
01:16However, apparently America has a system called the ESTA, which is the electronic system for
01:25travel authorization.
01:28So the people from those 71 countries can visit the US without a visa, but they first
01:35have to apply online for this approval, right?
01:39Which starts to sound a lot like a visa, doesn't it?
01:45It's sort of like a reverse visa.
01:47You can come with no problems, providing we tell you you can't come, which is sort of
01:53similar in effect to a visa, isn't it?
01:55So as sometimes happens, we saw this with, with the postal system.
02:01Apparently the US has a similar system for posting and, and the story is that it's supposed
02:08to stop, help stop money laundering and terrorism, right, right.
02:15And cause apparently terrorists and money launderers don't declare it.
02:20I don't know.
02:22So because of that, uh, Japan adopted that thing to the postal one.
02:27And because of that, we stopped using Japan post cause to send internationally because
02:31every time we wanted to send something internationally, we had to go on the internet first and fill
02:36out three pages of forms and then print them off and take them to the post office with
02:41the thing that we sent and then fill out a couple more forms.
02:44So ridiculous system.
02:46And also they hadn't ironed the bugs out of the English version on the internet, which
02:50meant that we had troubles every time we tried to do it.
02:53So we stopped using Japan post for international postage.
02:57And now it seems like this, this ESTA system is very similar, but before I go on, you know
03:03what Japan called theirs, the American systems called the ESTA system, the electronic system
03:09for travel authorization.
03:11So Japan called theirs like good lapdogs, the Japan electronic system for travel organization
03:18or the JESTA, which is getting lots of funny comments on the internet because obviously,
03:25you know what clowns they are, what clowns they are, the JESTA system.
03:30So it seems that the JESTA system is a little bit similar to that postage system where,
03:36you know, before you come, you've got to register online and they want, it seems to be, you
03:42know, your personal information, uh, why you're coming to Japan and, um, where are
03:50you going to stay when you come here?
03:51Right.
03:52Which again, you know, the same as that thing with, with the post, they said the posting
03:57is going to help stop money laundering and terrorism, which why, why filling out three
04:05forms on the internet is going to stop money laundering or terrorism is ridiculous.
04:10And this seems to be similar.
04:12You know, you would assume that people who launder money or are terrorists, I'm not honest.
04:19They're not going to tick that box on the form, right?
04:22Why are you coming to Japan, uh, terrorism, right?
04:26Laundering cash.
04:27I imagine they're not going to actually say that, are they?
04:31So if you look at the application form from a money launderer and terrorist, and you look
04:36at the form from just Joe public coming to Japan to go skiing, you're probably going
04:39to find it's the same piece of paper.
04:43So it just seems absolutely pointless.
04:44Um, the other argument that Japan government's using is that it's supposed to reduce overstayers
04:50because apparently they have problem with overstaying.
04:52Now there's a couple of points with that too.
04:55Of those 71 countries where, you know, that have the visa exemption, how many overstayers
05:01do they get from Switzerland or from, from Australia even?
05:04You know, how many people are coming here on a, on a three months, three month exemption
05:10and then overstaying from Switzerland or Australia or Belgium or a lot of those other countries?
05:17No doubt.
05:18I mean, we know for a fact, we know for a fact, I mean Nagoya immigration center has
05:23a detention center on the first floor, um, where they detain people that they've caught
05:28overstaying or people where people are, or, and, and, or people that have overstayed and
05:35have handed themselves in.
05:36So we know there's overstayers, but if you look at the countries on those 71, on the
05:40list of 71, I mean, most of the people who are spending big money to come to Japan and
05:44go skiing, you know, they've got to get back to their own country so they can earn some
05:50money to come again next year.
05:51You know, they're not, they're not the risk of overstaying, are they?
05:55The ones that come here for a ski holiday in Nagano or, you know, one of the other tourists
06:03coming here for a holiday and then to go back again, you know, so it's, it's ridiculous.
06:07It is ridiculous.
06:08And again, is it going to stop overstaying?
06:12I mean, all the people that are planning on overstaying have to do is fill out that form
06:16before they come.
06:17Why are you coming?
06:19The where are you staying thing, that's actually been a, always been a question or often been
06:24a question that when you fill out the form, your arrival form, you know, it's sort of
06:29like anything to declare, it's sort of a customs and a customs and immigration form.
06:36And one of the questions on there is where are you going to be staying?
06:39And we know that some of the people that have come to visit us have asked us for our address
06:47when they filled out some form, you know, and this is, this is in the past.
06:53Because they were asked it.
06:54They needed to say where they were going to stay when they were here and they just put
06:58our address.
06:59And again, you can, you can book a hotel for a couple of days.
07:04And when you first arrived, because you imagine overstayers are going to have somewhere to
07:07stay when they come.
07:08Anyway, they're going to stay in a hotel or somewhere, aren't they?
07:11So it's just doesn't make any sense.
07:13The other thing you would have noticed in our title is it's not talking about, and this
07:18took a while to find too.
07:20It's not talking about being introduced until 2030.
07:24And I couldn't find that because what usually happens on the internet with stories like
07:27this is they call it something like, you know, Japan to be more difficult for foreigners
07:32to visit.
07:33Right.
07:34Which is probably what I'm going to call this video.
07:36But that's all I say.
07:38And then you read the story.
07:39It's like, oh no, oh no, oh no.
07:41And then, you know, oh no, I'm supposed to be going skiing the next year.
07:44Oh no.
07:45Oh no.
07:46And then when you finally, most of them, when you look into it further, you find out not,
07:51they're not even talking about doing it until 2030.
07:54And all the articles I could find on it, which weren't a lot, but all the articles I could
07:58find on it, only one of them said that.
08:00The rest of them didn't even mention when it might be brought in.
08:04So that's another good thing is Japanese government does take a long time to bring in any new
08:10systems.
08:11So, you know, those of you who are coming in the next five years, don't worry about
08:16it too much.
08:17Not likely it's going to happen.
08:19And if it does, or when it does, it's not going to be a big deal.
08:22I mean that, those forms for the post office, you know, it's not impossible.
08:28You just need to set aside, you know, 30 minutes of faffing.
08:35We just had bad luck.
08:36We know one of our, one of our friends who actually does a lot of overseas postage, he's
08:41had no problem with that postal system at all, but we just had trouble with it every
08:46time.
08:47We'd just log in and we'd get in one of those loops where it didn't seem, the English didn't
08:51seem to work.
08:52And we'd go back to the start again, you'd fill out a form and it'd take you back to
08:55the start again.
08:56And it was a pain in the neck, but our friend said he can do it all right.
09:00So if this system is brought in, it's just going to be another 30 minutes you've got
09:05to spend on your computer before you come.
09:07If you're a money launderer or terrorist, don't worry.
09:11Just as long as you've got a hotel to stay in when you arrive, don't, don't kick the
09:16terrorist or money launderer a box.
09:19Tell them you're just coming to go skiing or tourism, coming as a tourist and you'll
09:25be fine.
09:26It won't stop you at all.
09:29Obviously, obviously it's ridiculous to think that a couple of pieces of paper is going
09:35to have any effect on money laundering or terrorism, isn't it?
09:39There's a lack of logic.
09:41Unfortunately, we see this sometimes.
09:45We see Japan doesn't copy things from other countries.
09:49They probably could.
09:50Right.
09:51So some of the good things we talked recently about education, you know, some of the things
09:57that they should copy from other countries when it comes to education, they don't.
10:03Or mental health, they don't.
10:06The societal things usually they don't like to copy.
10:10But when it comes to nonsense like this, and because it gives me the impression of the
10:14guard man.
10:15You know, in Japan, if some guard man says, Oh, Abunaiyo, Abunaiyo, it's dangerous, it's
10:20dangerous.
10:21Everyone goes, Oh, OK, OK.
10:22Right.
10:23And this is the way Japanese society works.
10:26Someone goes, Abunaiyo, Abunaiyo, you know, the typhoon is coming.
10:30Everyone goes, Oh, you know, and it's a little bit like that.
10:35Obviously, America has said, you know, Oh, terrorism and money laundering.
10:40And if we if we fill out these forms on the Internet, that'll help stop it.
10:44And Japan's going, Oh, OK, we should do that.
10:47So they haven't given it a lot of thought first, evidently.
10:51So there will be different opinions on this.
10:54Some people will think it's a fantastic idea and that every country should do it.
10:58And it's all part of the battle against money laundering and terrorism.
11:03Some people think that that's fine.
11:05As always, different opinions and different ideas are welcome.
11:09As long as they're not too insulting.
11:12As long as they're not insulting at all, preferably.
11:15All right.
11:16That's enough of that.
11:17So, yeah, look, that's coming.
11:18The Jester system.
11:20Ha ha.
11:21Na na na na na na na na na.
11:23Some guy juggling balls.
11:26The Jester system is coming, but probably not.
11:29I mean, there's only one source said 2030.
11:31So we'll see.
11:32We'll see when it does actually come.
11:34If we hear any more updates on it or if it looks like it's going to happen earlier,
11:38we'll let you know.
11:39But don't worry about it too much.
11:41I mean, it's still easier than a visa, probably.
11:43And if you can do it online, it's not such a big deal.
11:46You know, just a couple of pages and off you go.
11:49In you come to do your terrorism and money laundering.
11:53You, you wicked people.
11:56All right.
11:57That's enough of that.
11:58More videos coming soon.
12:01Thanks for watching.