00:00:01 John Daub: Hello everybody. Had some technical difficulties, but we are on in Fukui at night. This is the center of Fukui along the river, and there's a place that is just absolutely stunning. I used to live in a city very similar to this where they would illuminate the cherry blossoms at night along the river. And what I'm seeing right now is absolutely stunning.

00:00:36 John Daub: Alright, I'm going to walk through it, which is super cool. I'm going to walk a couple of maybe about 20 meters along the bridge and then look back at it. And you can take a look at what it is like during the cherry blossom season at night. It's really stunning. Okay, so I'm going to be walking through this in a second. It looks like it snowed. The contrast between the dark sky and the illumination, the illuminated white sakura trees is absolutely stunning.

00:01:17 John Daub: And the city of Fukui has done an awesome job because they've also put in these paper lanterns along the street. Like if this were any other country, people would kick them, you know, do some vandalism. It's very easy to vandalize them, but nobody does that here. It's stunning. Pink paper lanterns lining both sides of the bridge. It really is beautiful. And then when you get to the river, you're like, whoa. You only see this for maybe a week out of the year. Loads of couples, loads of people holding hands. So I feel like an idiot walking around with the only hand I'm holding is a selfie stick connected to an Osmo mobile.

00:02:24 Local Man: Where did you get this?

00:02:26 John Daub: What?

00:02:26 Local Man: Where did you get this?

00:02:28 John Daub: Today?

00:02:29 Local Man: From Obama.

00:02:30 John Daub: From Obama?

00:02:31 Local Man: Where are you from?

00:02:32 John Daub: America.

00:02:33 Local Man: America? Do you want to drink together?

00:02:35 John Daub: Where are you drinking?

00:02:36 Local Man: Over there.

00:02:37 John Daub: Over there?

00:02:38 Local Man: Over there.

00:02:39 John Daub: Oh, on the blue sheet.

00:02:40 Local Man: On the blue sheet.

00:02:41 John Daub: Oh, so you're doing a live stream on YouTube right now.

00:02:45 Local Man: Seriously?

00:02:45 John Daub: Yeah, because foreigners can't go here. So I want to introduce you to Fukui.

00:02:50 Local Man: Oh, I want to introduce you. So when you're done, I'll go.

00:02:51 John Daub: Yeah, I'll wait. There's a lot of alcohol.

00:02:54 Local Man: Oh, really?

00:02:56 John Daub: Okay, come on.

00:02:57 Local Man: Okay, come on.

00:02:59 John Daub: See you.

00:03:00 Local Man: I'll wait.

00:03:01 John Daub: Cool. So he lives here in Fukui and he invited me to drink down at his blue sheet. And that's a really cool blue sheet. They got like lights. They really are professional.

00:03:12 John Daub: So you can see behind me what it looks like at night during this sakura season. This is ohanami (cherry blossom viewing), kind of celebrating underneath the cherry trees. Now I'm going to turn this around. You don't want to see my face. I've been hitchhiking all day. I haven't even gotten in the shower yet. You're better off looking at this.

00:03:39 John Daub: Okay, so what I'm going to do for the next couple of minutes is shut my trap and just walk through this beautiful tunnel at night. And you can kind of take it in yourselves wherever you are in the world and see what it's like to do cherry blossom viewing. And I'm going to show you the cherry blossoms in Japan.

00:04:20 John Daub: A lot of the trees have now sprouted leaves and the white cherry blossoms have fallen to the ground because it rained earlier today. That's how delicate they are when they once they reach what's called mankai (full bloom). Mankai is 100% bloom. 100% the next wind, the next rain, the next anything that shakes them causes them to fall down to the ground. And you can see a lot of them now. I'm going to take a look at this. So here we are on the ground. That's what happens after mankai.

00:06:15 John Daub: Lots of couples, lots of people on dates here. So I hope you enjoyed that. That's sort of a treat because I don't know many people who come to Fukui to see the cherry blossoms. I just happened to be here today to see this and it's just stunning. So if I have a date, it's you guys tonight or that dude who invited me to his party. He has a bunch of people drinking. He says, I got a lot of booze. Come on down to my blue sheet. That's what he said. That's his translation. He said, where are you from? And I said, America. He says, come on down to my blue sheet. I got a lot of booze. I was like, okay. Do you guys think I should go down there? Do you really think I should go down there and check out the drunk party?

00:07:11 John Daub: He didn't tell me his name. There's a couple of people writing in now. I'm answering the questions. So I'm not sure who he is, but I bet you if I go down there, he'll invite me over anyways. Just cool. This is the end of the road, but you can see it just keeps on going. The cherry blossoms on the other side. So I could just ride this wave of white cherry blossoms along the river for a long time. And this is a quieter area. The cherry blossoms that I just walked through that stage is where also the entertainment district is. So it's sort of a hub of boozing. But this is Saturday night in Fukui. You know, it's really quiet. It's only, it's not even nine o'clock. It's what eight o'clock.

00:08:06 John Daub: I think I'm going to walk back through and see if I can find the drunk guy now before. Well, I just for a little bit because there is a 350 year old tree on the top of a hill nearby that is absolutely huge and in full bloom right now. And I'm not sure if it's because of the cherry blossoms or the cherry blossoms. But I think it's because of the cherry blossoms. And if you're in Tokyo and you go to Kudanshita near Yasukuni Jinja, you'll see the lake. They're just floating. It turns white just floating with sakura petals. Stunning. Look at that. I love it when they illuminate it like this. It's, I don't find too many cities doing it like this. And when I do, it's usually so crowded. And here, there's not a lot of people for a Saturday night. This is really unique.

00:09:12 John Daub: You see a lady leaving a party in her kimono. Those are the kind of sights you see during ohanami. Sakura, sakura. Guys, I should have learned the words. I've been here too long. Sakura. I'm not sure why they haven't lit the lanterns. It's nice that they're here. It would be nice if they also illuminated it. You can see the writing on it. A lot of local companies will sponsor the event. And they'll write their company names on the side. There are a few food stalls down along the riverside that you can see. Not that many. I'm going to take a look. It really doesn't look like a lot of people today. You can see there's also a place where you can pay and sit upon tatami mats. And you can see the little petals, a few of them falling from the trees. There really isn't any wind. It's a perfect night. It's warm. It's very comfortable.

00:11:10 John Daub: And I just wanted to bring you guys here for a few minutes before I go up to the top of the mountain where there's probably no cell phone reception. But I'm in the city center. Stunning, isn't it? So if you come to Japan, this is why you come during the cherry blossom season. Those that came to Tokyo and celebrated in Ueno, it's nothing like this. Two reasons. One, Ueno is so wide in the middle, you can't make a tunnel very well. It is very, it is beautiful though. But this is just, it's very intimate. And to me, cherry blossoms are intimate. Ueno is not an intimate park. It's a massive park full of people. This, you can come here and bring a date. You feel a little bit alone and feel that intimacy together. That's cherry blossoms. That's sakura season.

00:12:19 John Daub: So I'm just going to walk down to the river and see. See, okay, that's the problem. If I go down there to the party blue sheet, you see them down there? If I go down to the party blue sheet, I'm not coming back. I gotta leave for the dinosaur museum. So what's more important, dinosaur museum or drinking with locals on the riverside? And he's already drunk. I'm like 10 beers behind him. I already had a beer at the restaurant. I had Fukui's famous sauce katsu in a restaurant, European something it's called. It was pretty good.

00:13:07 John Daub: All right, I'm going to end the live feed here. I don't know where this is going to go. But it is absolutely amazing. Absolutely stunning. Which road do you take? The high road or the low road? You are here with me. I need you with me, folks, because I'm at the intersection of life, I guess. Do you go drinking and boozing or do you go the high road? Go check out the 350-year-old cherry blossom tree.

00:13:39 John Daub: Soak this in. I decided, those who watched the live stream earlier, I decided that I was going to camp here. Actually, on the other side of the river. But I went back to the information center and they said there was a family house that was like $30 a night. And he really wanted me to stay there. And I said, well, if you want me to stay there, maybe you'll give me a discount more, right? Or just let me stay. But no, no. So, to make a long story short, I'm staying at this guy's guest house. There weren't any guest houses in the city of Fukui. He wanted to make a guest house. He made a guest house. And I can support that. So I'm staying in a bed with a cot. It's a little, you know, it's a guest house. For $30. Which is 60% cheaper than the hotels at the station. Which is good. So I'm not camping. Although this is a perfect night to camp. But I'm going to be doing that tomorrow or the next day for sure.

00:14:39 John Daub: The number one most beautiful Starbucks in the world is in Japan. And I'm going to go to that Starbucks the day after tomorrow if I can. This should be pretty interesting. I'm not a big fan of chain coffee anymore. I used to go to Starbucks all the time. But the chain has been around for a while. This Starbucks in Toyama is stunning. It really is. I saw pictures of it and I thought it was beautiful. And I'm going to make a stop there. I'm going to make a Starbucks pilgrimage. I know a lot of you watching here like Starbucks. So I'm going to make a Starbucks pilgrimage this one time. And go to the world's most beautiful Starbucks. And see if I can live stream from there. Because when you look at it from the outside, it's like, whoa, what? Come on. This is too nice for Starbucks. And Starbucks has pretty nice locations. Pay me for the PR.

00:15:31 John Daub: Alright, I made my decision. I'm going to the 350-year-old tree. I have a very, very long day ahead of me. And you know what? We're not even close to done with the sakura. I'm only like 55% of the way up to Hokkaido on this trip. That's it. And people in Tohoku, they drink way more than here in Fukui. Well, I don't know about that actually. But, well, they drink a lot up in Tohoku. And when I get to Hirosaki in Aomori, oh yeah. You're going to see a lot of boozing. Because that's the end of the trip. I don't have to wake up early the next day when I get to Hirosaki in Aomori. Oh no. No, no, no. I'm going to be boozing. I'm going to be getting lots and lots of beers. And whatever the heck they throw at me. And just guzzle it down. Because this is freaking sakura season. And this is just a warm-up, people. So, knowing that. I guess it's okay. It's okay to bypass, you know, drunk dude. And go to the dinosaur museum. The kid in me, which is, you know, who I am. Wants to see dinosaurs. What can I say? More than beer.

00:16:45 John Daub: Alright. So I'm going to walk through for the next 20 seconds before I stop this livestream. I'm glad that all of you joined me for this. Because it's just something that you don't want to see alone. And I'm happy to have brought you on this mini trip through Fukui's cherry blossoms at night. I'm going to go up to the hill. Apparently there's the big 350-year-old tree is up on the hill. By the shrine. And it's illuminated. And it's stunning. And I have my GH5. My Panasonic GH5 and tripod here. So I'm going to take some awesome shots tomorrow before I leave to the dinosaur museum. I'm going to get some drone footage. Absolutely fantastic. I'm going to see if I can fly the drone somewhere around here. To get a nice, high view of the city. Drone use is okay. I found some okay areas to fly. My Mavic Pro. So... With that... There you go.

00:17:34 John Daub: The next 20 seconds I'm going to walk out here. And leave you guys with this beautiful view. And stop talking with this very creepy voice. See you on the road tomorrow.