00:02:00 John Daub: Greetings from beautiful Yonago City in Tottori Prefecture. I've come here with my friend Otsuka-san. This is Nanbu-chō. Before I go, I just want to explain something. I'm not just here for the cherry blossoms. I'm here because this is a cherry blossom tunnel. It's so cool because you're just surrounded by the whiteness of cherry blossoms. And right now, today, it is at 100%. That makes this not just special, super special because it's so rare. It looks like it could rain, so that means this won't last very long. Maybe a day or two.

00:47:00 John Daub: So it's really special. I just wanted to say this before I turn the camera around and you're shocked. Alright, here we go. Ready? Boom. Now, we're gonna take a look at the cherry blossoms and we're gonna take a walk through Nanbu-chō in Yonago City. Look at that. Alright, it's only gonna get better, folks.

01:26:00 John Daub: And you know what's really amazing? Here in Yonago, there aren't that many people on a Saturday at this festival. If this were Tokyo, you wouldn't be able to walk. It'd be like a line up all the way to the end, and it wouldn't be as much fun. But here in Nanbu-chō, you can actually walk like this peacefully and enjoy the cherry blossoms. You're gonna come to a point where the volume of cherry blossoms increases where it really is tunnel-ish. Which is super cool. Ah, so cool. I'm so excited to be here, to just sit back and relax and you can hear the birds chirping. You can hear the water running in the river sometimes. Just enjoy the nature.

02:34:00 John Daub: Well, this tree didn't make the test of time. It's an old tree that's already withered. It's a tree that's lost its power. They're kind of old trees, so they had to be cut down. But they'll be replanted with new ones to fill in. This is so breathtaking. And smells... the air is so wonderful after living in Tokyo. For being in Tokyo for so long, to be out here outside of the city is just wonderful. Ah, now you can hear the river.

04:00:00 John Daub: I'm looking straight ahead, and it's totally awesome. Honestly, there are some places in Tokyo where you can see this, like Aoyama Cemetery. But nothing so close where it's a road filled with cars. This path is only for pedestrians, and it's not crowded at all. This is insane. This is Saturday. It's 100% bloom, and it's not crowded at all. I'm not exaggerating. This is amazing.

05:21:00 John Daub: Now the population of this town is not really high. There's not many people. But Nanbu-chō is very famous for this and its proximity to Daisen (Mount Daisen), which is the Mount Fuji of the West. That's another episode. Daisen is a stunning mountain. I'll be back here for an NHK show in June. I'm reporting about the summer festival at Mount Daisen, which is gonna be really, really a lot of fun. This is my third time to do this festival. Keep the river clean for the kids. Otsuka-san is waiting for me. Let's take a look around.

06:26:00 John Daub: OK. We called it Komedia. Oh, Komedia. Are you from Tokyo?

06:33:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: Yes, nice to meet you.

06:36:00 John Daub: Nice to meet you. I'm Yoshimoto Kogyo. Yoshimoto Kogyo, wonderful. I'm a living artist. Are you from? I'm from Tokyo. Tokyo? I'm American.

06:50:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: American joke.

06:55:00 John Daub: No, it's not a joke. I'm living in Tokyo. Actually, I came from my mother. I'm from my mother.

07:02:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: Oh, your mother. It's a comedian, right? It's a joke. Because your mother said, I'm from my mother. I was born from my mother.

07:10:00 John Daub: Okay, never mind. First of all, you know the words. Father joke. I was born from my mother. I love you.

07:21:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: I love you too.

07:23:00 John Daub: Oh, yes. Yes. It's not beautiful, is it?

07:28:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: It's very beautiful. It's beautiful. It's amazing from here. It's a good feeling. It's a tunnel. Are you impressed?

07:37:00 John Daub: I'm impressed. I can do it with you.

07:40:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: It's clear that there are people who don't have the power of trees.

07:42:00 John Daub: That's right.

07:42:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: This is because the trees have power. The cherry blossoms are solid and many of them bloom. But it's a little old. People who don't have power of trees are just falling apart. It's full, but there are few buds. It's like you can see the branches. It's like a power cherry. Power cherry. It's a cherry tree.

08:09:00 John Daub: I'm going to upload this video on YouTube. The video of the three members of Tottori is very popular. The video made by the Great King of Daishin. This video is very beautiful.

08:24:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: Of course it's beautiful. Of course it's beautiful. How is it? Of course it's beautiful. It's amazing. It's a video with a camera, right?

08:34:00 John Daub: This is the iPhone 7 Plus.

08:38:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: Oh, 7 Plus. Oh, it's so beautiful. That's right. It's amazing. There are comments coming. It's a live broadcast.

08:49:00 John Daub: It's a live broadcast. It's a live broadcast. It's a live broadcast. It's a live broadcast. I don't know what it is.

08:57:00 Yoshimoto Comedian: I don't understand pretending to be Japanese.

09:00:00 John Daub: I don't understand pretending to be Japanese. I don't understand pretending. Don't you? That's it, right? Please. Please. Please come to Japan. Please come to Japan. Welcome to Japan!! Come on in, everyone. Thank you!!!

09:28:00 John Daub: That was fun. There are two comedians, Yoshimoto comedians. Do they live in this area?

09:38:00 Otsuka-san: Yes, they live in this area. In Konomaru.

09:41:00 John Daub: Okay, they live in this area and they come here every year. We just bumped into them. That was fun. They didn't get my jokes. Maybe you didn't get my jokes either. They asked me where I'm from. I said, actually I'm from my mother because that's where all people come from. Yeah, that's not very funny. But it was fun anyways to see their reaction of absolute like death. I don't think I'd be able to make it as a comedian.

10:10:00 John Daub: And there's nothing funny about this tunnel. Look at that! The trees are really curving. Isn't that amazing? Look at the way that the trees are curved down. And the cherry blossoms on this end, they're just sort of hanging low making the tunnel. And I think the volume seems to increase as we go on. Yeah. Alright, that's not nice. This guy... Really? You have to do that on a Saturday? I wanna hear the river. This dude's going to town too. He's gonna chop this whole river down by hand. That's amazing. He's eating it all by himself.

11:02:00 John Daub: I don't know which side to go from. So this side's open right now. And when we get about 50 meters ahead, the tunnel's gonna close up again. The great thing is you get a view of that gas station and the open field. But, you know, it's been raining all sort of on and off this morning and awfully cloudy. And in fact I can feel a few drops of rain. So if it rains, there's no place to escape to, unless the tunnel gives us some rain protection. But the weather's been cloudy all day. Whoa, a car! Didn't know this was a road. Must be an emergency. The best view of the gas station. There you go, with cherry blossoms. But this is... it is really, really a stunning place. And now we're getting into where there's a volume of cherry blossoms.

12:10:00 John Daub: I'm gonna let this car go by because it's ruining my view. But for those of you who are joining us, this is Nanbu-chō in Yonago City. Hi. I'm Otsuka-san. I've known Otsuka-san for... well, it's been 3 years, right? About 3 years. And when I first came to Yonago, he was there. And he's been helping me finding amazing things to shoot in the Yonago area. And I'm so thankful for his help.

13:05:00 John Daub: I'd love to take a drone and just drive it through here, but there's sort of rules against that. And this is only one weekend a year it's like this. If you're lucky enough to catch it on a weekend. Because once it gets to 100% like this, the flowers don't last long at all. In fact, this tree is already... this tree has reached beyond 100% and the green leaves are starting to pop through. So that means the first rain... if it rains once, it'll probably be over, right? If it rains on weekends or there's a windy day, just once now at this state, it's over. It's the cherry blossom's fall and that's how delicate they are. So it's really, really special to get a chance to see this.

14:20:00 John Daub: This is a cherry blossom tunnel and you can see behind me I'm walking through trees of white. Some really amazing-looking visual. The green, the white, the color of the sky, the brown of the buildings. The sound of the birds chirping and the water running. It's all such a very natural place. And that's one of the reasons why I love this Sannin area, this area of Japan. Yonago in particular because it's just such a natural area. I think in Japan, this might be the place with the cleanest air and the cleanest water. Where you could drink the water from the tap and it's like you're drinking bottled water.

15:03:00 Otsuka-san: Really? The water from the tap is delicious, right? Yeah. Yeah.

15:08:00 John Daub: In fact, the groundwater hasn't been purified. That's right. In fact, it's so clean that Suntory, one of the major bottlers, has a bottling plant here. And they bottle the water and ship it all over this area of Japan. Because Daisen has the cleanest water in Japan. It's just this area is one of the most natural in Japan. And this is where the Sunrise Izumo train that I introduced to you a couple of years ago, this is where one of the terminus is, just close to Izumo. So if you come into Japan, you definitely have to check out Yonago. I love it.

15:58:00 John Daub: There's a big, big, big, big cherry blossom in the lower part of the area. It's a beautiful cherry blossom. Ah, wonderful. Look at the people picnicking. I love that. You can come here with your family. Japanese ohanami (cherry blossom viewing).

16:11:00 Otsuka-san: Yeah. Japanese ohanami.

16:26:00 John Daub: What? What's that? Look at that sky. It's not exactly inviting me to stay for a long time. But I'll tell you what. I'm going to stay as long as I can because it's just absolutely beautiful. And this cherry blossom tunnel goes on for about a kilometer, which is, well, almost a mile. I could walk on for a long time. I think... there's more. Wow. It's about a mile.

17:36:00 John Daub: So this area is a signing area. I'll put a link down below. There was a really beautiful PR video that they did. I'm not a fan of PR videos actually. But this one had some amazing drone shots that shows how natural the area is. And I like that. It's such a contrast with Tokyo, which is maybe the opposite of natural. But, you know, I love Tokyo too. Here's a baby one. So the ones back there that you saw that were cut down will be replanted with young ones like this. And it'll make a whole new tunnel. This is why you come to Japan in April. This is why! To see stuff like this. To see stuff, you know, green and white. And this, you know, sky and colors and smells. And all of your senses just exploding. It's so awesome.

18:34:00 John Daub: And I think... this is the end. Maybe this is about the end. And come to a point where... there's still about 1km to go. Oh, really? 1km. If you run away from the water, it'll be beautiful. That's right. Just a little bit. So this is about the end. And there's more. I could probably go on for a long, long time. So let me just show you from here what it looks like from the center of the river. This is a bridge. Oh, wait. It's a tree. So be careful a little bit. Most people are driving pretty slow. I just want to show you from here. And we've been walking for about a mile. I mean, just the density of those cherry blossoms in the distance is stunning. Man, I'm out here in the countryside. I don't even know if this is full 4G signal. So I apologize about the quality of the video. But I cannot help myself from not sharing this live to you. It's just stunning. And I've just walked from there. We just walked through there. And what you just saw is a continuation. It's just stunning, you know.

20:01:00 John Daub: You can't see Daisen, can you? Today you can't... you can't see it over there. So normally Daisen, Mount Daisen would be over here. But because it's the biggest peak in the west side of Japan. Mount Daisen. And it's nicknamed the Fuji of the west because it sort of looks like Mount Fuji. You don't have to go to Mount Fuji to have the... In fact, that's the one thing that I love about Daisen. If you go to Mount Fuji in the summer, you try to climb Mount Fuji. Yes, it's the tallest peak. But you're going to be lining up like it was Disneyland. And you just line up all the way to the top. And for me, that's not a hiking experience. That's an amusement park. They have Wi-Fi on the top of Mount Fuji. That's actually kind of cool. But Daisen is a much more natural experience where you feel a lot more free. And you get better views, I think, from the top. You're not so high where you get altitude sickness. And it's easy enough where kids can do it. So it's more family friendly. That's another reason why. I'm really pushing this area, aren't I? I guess I really do love this place. That's worth pushing. It is absolutely worth it.

21:13:00 John Daub: Yeah, Wi-Fi on Mount Fuji. They got 4G signals. And DoCoMo has... some of the cell networks have towers on the top of Mount Fuji. So you have telephone service. Look how crazy it is. Daisen doesn't have that, though. Daisen... Do you use your phone from the top?

21:29:00 Otsuka-san: I don't know about the top. I think it's fine. It might be fine. Maybe because it's not so high you can use it.

21:38:00 John Daub: But Mount Fuji is 3,776 meters high. That's pretty darn high for a mountain. And you can use 4G signal up there. Basically, you have internet. You can use Google Maps. And you can probably broadcast like this from the top of Mount Fuji. It should be pretty cool. So there aren't any cars. So one more time, this is Nanbu-chō.

22:05:00 Otsuka-san: Nanboku-chō? Nanbu. Nanbu-chō!

22:11:00 John Daub: All right, cut that. Nanbu-chō. This is Nanbu-chō in Tottori-ken. And I'm going to put a link in this so you can find out where this is and Google Maps as well. If you come to Japan in April and you want to check out this Sakura Tunnel in Nanbu-chō, it's next to Yonago City, which is where the airport is. So that's why I keep saying it's Yonago City. So check it out.

22:46:00 John Daub: Thanks so much for watching this live stream. I hope it was helpful. It was a lot of fun because I'm going to walk through this like a few times to film it. It's just stunning before the rain hits. And I just wanted to take 20 minutes to share this with you. I'm going to leave you with a final view of the cherry blossoms before I cut off on this feed. But before I leave, I just want to thank everybody once again for supporting me on Patreon and for the Kickstarter DVD project. I'm now hitchhiking from Kagoshima to Hokkaido for the next month. I'm live broadcasting on the channel almost every day to try to give you as much content in Japan in a natural format like this as possible. And I just thank you so much for the support on Kickstarter as well for the DVDs and stuff. Ah, they're here again! These two are bicycling across it. We're hitchhiking. Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! So everybody, thanks again for watching the live feed and I'm going to leave you with a view of the cherry blossoms from here for the next few seconds before I cut off. So wherever you are in the world, have a nice day and night and see you again from the road!