00:00:17 John Daub: Hey everybody. Good day from very cold and wet Tokyo in the beginning of March. I'm out here in the elements and I wanted to go over a question that I get a lot right now because this is sort of the peak season for visiting Japan. When is the best time to visit Japan? I've been getting so many email messages over the last six weeks from people that want to know when to come to Japan. A lot of people are interested in the cherry blossoms and that's the season that we're coming up to in a couple of weeks. So before we get to that, I thought I would answer this question. If you're coming for the cherry blossoms, is this the best season for you to be in Japan? And I can answer that pretty easily. It depends. There are two seasons. Today in Tokyo, you can see that the weather is not very nice. I'm walking down the street in my neighborhood. I live just on the outskirts of the city and we have a wet day.

00:01:27 John Daub: Many people in Japan will have these clear umbrellas because when the wind is coming, you can point the umbrellas down and still see through it, which is why these clear umbrellas are pretty nice to have. The temperature is a lot cooler. And at this time of year in March, the temperatures will get pretty warm to like up to 15 degrees Celsius, which is like 60 degrees Fahrenheit maybe. And then they'll drop down to like near freezing again. And this constant shift in temperatures from hot and cold make this not a very good time of year to visit Japan. The end of February and the beginning of March, I would say is not good because you have to bring a lot of clothes. You have to be prepared for winter and you have to be prepared for spring. So that makes it not ideal.

00:02:28 John Daub: The best time of year to visit Japan is late spring and late autumn. Basically, that means the last week of March and then the end of May. And then again in autumn from September 1st to about October. I'd say all of autumn is pretty good. Spring is easy. Right now, this is kind of the start of spring and it's not a nice time because winter is still here and the weather's breaking.

00:03:53 John Daub: You have to be able to reserve a couple of weeks in advance. I mean, you're always going to be able to get on a Shinkansen. I think they have one on the Tokaido Shinkansen (Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka main line) leaving every 10 minutes. So you're always going to be able to get on one. But that might mean you have to stand. And especially during Golden Week (late April holidays), which is another time of year. Golden Week is from April 29th to May 5th. And this time of year, all of the trains in Japan are booked. I've had to come back on the Shinkansen and the Shinkansen was packed. But you can get on it, you just have to stand. So I had to stand for three hours holding on to a seat in the row in one of the cars. And it was kind of uncomfortable, but I got back. If you have a seat reservation and you book a month in advance, then you're going to be able to sit. That's one reason why I think the holiday seasons in Japan should be avoided. Which is April 29th to May 5th. And then again, Obon (mid-August holiday), which is the second or third week of August, should be avoided. Because everybody in Japan is traveling. And that's the peak season inside Japan. Peak season for tourists is all of April. Because everybody wants to see the cherry blossoms. So you might want to avoid that and come in May. The cherry blossoms are important to you. You can still see them in Hokkaido in May. But once you've seen the cherry blossoms once, then I think that's pretty much enough. So once again, it's late spring and late autumn. Those are the times that are best.

00:05:56 John Daub: My favorite month is May. May is good because it doesn't rain. And you have the warmth of spring. The flowers are out. There's new leaves on the trees. You might not catch the cherry blossoms. But you're going to have that nice green color that's really beautiful. And I like that just as much as the cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms in Tokyo are overrated. So if you're coming to Tokyo to see the cherry blossoms, it's overrated. You want to be outside of the city, I think, to take it in. I recommend Yoshino-yama (cherry blossom mountain) in Nara Prefecture. And if you want to see where Mt. Fuji is, probably go to Kawaguchiko (Lake Kawaguchi). That has really nice views and a beautiful cherry blossom area. You get views of Mt. Fuji in the distance. Or to Hakone as well is nice. But cherry blossom season is a beautiful time. You should see it once. But it's going to be very crowded and expensive.

00:06:55 John Daub: This is why they have Golden Week. I believe they call it Golden Week because it never rains really. It never rains. Like this day is miserable. All around me, it's just a really awful day. It never really rains like this during Golden Week. It's just golden. It's just sunshine. Blue skies. It's beautiful. The end of April. That's the peak of Japan. But after May 5th to May 20th, it's gorgeous in Japan. And I think that's the best time to be here.

00:07:33 John Daub: Japan has four seasons. Winter, spring, summer, fall. A lot of people in Canada and the US are like, well, of course it does. But a lot of people in the Philippines or India or in tropical regions, they don't have four seasons. So this is something that's very attractive. Each season has its own unique attractions. You should consider when you visit Japan. Do you want to see something seasonal? Winter is skiing. Winter is snow. Winter is different cuisine. It's kotatsu (heated table). It's onsen (hot springs). It's a different environment. Spring is the cherry blossoms. It's cooler. But you have the flowers blooming. Things coming back to life. And you kind of feel that spring vibe is really in the air.

00:08:32 John Daub: Summer is hot. Long days. You don't really know how hot Tokyo summer is until you've been here. It's hot in Tokyo. You're just melting. But the long days help. And all of the festivals too. Summer is a great time to catch festivals and get festival food and kind of feel the vibe of that time. The fireworks. And autumn is wonderful because if you missed the cherry blossoms, Japanese autumn is beautiful. You have a lot of colors. And I've done some live streams, notably in Yonago last year, where the autumn colors were just stunning. And the weather clears up. The weather just clears up in the end of September. And it's just beautiful in October and November. And around November 10th, it starts to get cold. But before then, it's just absolutely beautiful. The only thing you have to worry about in autumn is typhoons. Because they just roll in and you don't know which way they're going to roll. They come from the Pacific, start down in the Philippines, and then they roll either towards Hong Kong or they come up towards Japan. If they roll towards Hong Kong or inwards to China, then usually we might get some of the effects down in Okinawa. Okinawa is a tough season in the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. But other than that, the weather is just really beautiful in the fall. And prices are lower, which is weird. Prices get cheaper in the autumn and after Golden Week in May. And these are the best times to travel. Very, very underrated.

00:10:39 John Daub: I hope this is very helpful because people have been asking me this question. There's no real easy way to say it. For those of you who are joining this livestream right now, you have four seasons in Japan. There's no best time to visit. But if you're thinking weather-wise, normally what I say to people is that it's May and the end of September to the middle of October. Gorgeous. And it's cheaper because everybody wants to see the cherry blossoms. And you should. But maybe you shouldn't. That just means that maybe this is such a crowded time that you might not like it the same.

00:12:02 John Daub: These umbrellas are like about $2 or 150-200 yen. They're see-through. They're clear. If you missed my explanation, because when the wind comes in or you're riding a bicycle or you're walking in crowds, you can see through the umbrella. That's why these clear umbrellas exist. Now because Japan has four seasons, that also means that you have to consider where you want to go. So in the fall, Tohoku (northeast region) is just stunning. This is north of Tokyo. And gradually it starts off in Hokkaido and the autumn colors come down towards Kyushu. But Tohoku is just incredible because they have these onsen towns, which I showed you in live streams and on the main channel all through January. It's just stunning. And if you get a chance and you're in Japan in autumn, you have to go to the onsen. You have to visit some of the national parks up in Tohoku. And if you're here in the spring, I tend to think that the best place for cherry blossoms is down in the Kansai area (Osaka-Kyoto region). But I'll be honest with you. All of Japan. It's just stunning. All of Japan except for Tokyo.

00:13:33 John Daub: One of the things you have to consider is that Tokyo is just so crowded and it's overrated for the cherry blossoms. And everybody who's been asking me where's the best spot to visit the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. And I have to say like there isn't really any. I mean, they're nice places in Tokyo, but it's just so crowded. This is where you start to feel that connection with Japan. Japan is very deeply connected with nature. That's why the food is really good here. I think the people, the chefs and even like mothers who are cooking for the families or fathers that are cooking for the families. They really keep in mind the ingredients that they're putting into the food here. That's what makes the food and the cuisine here so good. It's that deep connection with nature.

00:14:30 John Daub: So that's why I think in the springtime when you're talking about Tokyo's cherry blossoms, you go to your local parks, try to find a small park, try to get a vibe from there, but you have to leave the city. The only reason that you know who goes to the cherry blossoms in Tokyo? It's the company employees and a lot of people who go out there and they get drunk and there's always some poor schmo who has to get a blue sheet. And he reserves a spot underneath the tree and he sits there all day waiting for the company employees to finish their job. And his job is to protect the blue sheets and nobody steals it. And then at night between 6pm and maybe 10pm they just drink and drink and drink and it gets really loud. There's lots of food. It's a festival vibe, but it's totally different. You don't feel any connection with nature. Not very much. Yoyogi Park might be the best. But I would say I'm never really satisfied because it's too crowded. Every time I've been to Yoyogi Park, I can't remember a good experience that I thought was better than going to some place like Yoshino or Hakone or being out on the Sea of Japan side or someplace different. I can't recall a cherry blossom experience that I really enjoyed in Tokyo.

00:16:17 John Daub: Yoyogi Park is the go-to place for locals, but the thing with Yoyogi Park is that it's not really, it's just a convenient place. It's like Central Park in New York and you don't really get a very good vibe with nature. It's about meeting your friends more than being around nature, I think. And that's Tokyo. You do the cherry blossoms here to be with your friends and meet up because there's cherry blossoms. You don't do it to celebrate the cherry blossoms so much as meeting your friends, I think. That's my experience from the cherry blossoms here in Tokyo. People just want an excuse and there you go. Cherry blossoms are a great excuse. In the comments here, before I turn off this live stream, why don't you write it because now YouTube is sharing the chats here. So why don't you write in the best time of year in Japan that you've had when you visited. What was great about it or what are some of the times of years that you didn't like? Maybe if you want to mention that in the chats of the comments section, I think that'll be really helpful.

00:17:13 John Daub: I've been here for 20 years and that sort of makes me something of a professional as far as seeing the country and knowing when the best times to go and where the best places to go. I don't know where the best places are but when people ask me for my advice on where to go, I'm very hesitant to give an answer. The reason is simple. Every single person, I get about 100, 150 messages from people on all the social network platforms and I read through them and I can't answer them all but one of the most asked questions is where's the best place to go in Japan? Where should I go? What route should I take? My answer is I don't know you. It's such an intimate question to me for someone who's been here for a long time because everybody's personality is different. What you're interested in. Some people don't like museums. Some people love museums. Some people love castles and history. Some people like manga and anime and prefer the subcultures. Japan is such a small country on the map, on the globe. But inside this country, Japan is so big. With the 47 prefectures, each one with its own history, its own culture, its own dialect. It's really diverse country in my eyes. So when you ask what the best place is, geez, that's such a hard question to answer.

00:19:14 John Daub: Does Japan get lonely if you travel alone? That's a good question because one of the patrons, Amanda, will be making a trip here alone. And you know what? I would say, yeah. Traveling alone in Japan, yeah, you're probably going to be some moments where you are alone. I've traveled mostly alone. You will feel alone because you're traveling alone and Japanese people are quite shy. It just depends on your personality. This is the reason why I can't give really good travel advice to you unless I know you. To me, traveling is a very intimate thing and if you're an adventurous person, you're not going to ask me what the best route is. You're going to know already before you ask me. Like you've already done your research. If you're traveling alone a lot, I backpacked to 70 countries over many years around the world five times as a backpacker and I always did it alone. And the reason why is because when you're alone, your mission is to meet other people as well as travel and I've always been more outgoing when I was alone and had better experiences when I was alone than when I traveled with the group. So you know, Japan is an extremely safe place. People who've traveled alone have had amazing experiences. I hitchhiked alone last year. I had an amazing experience. So it just depends on your personality. If you're someone who's an introvert, you're going to feel lonely a little bit. But you're going to meet people at guesthouses, other travelers on the same route and you can make friends and then branch out if you want to go to other places. The cherry blossoms is a really wonderful time to do that because people are a little bit more social during that time. So you have a drink. You can go and sit down with usually if you're a foreigner in Japan, people will invite you over to sit with them during the cherry blossom seasons and you can make friends with the locals but don't get too clingy because you never know how long it's going to last.

00:22:20 John Daub: Coca-Cola has an alcoholic drink coming out and I'll tell you what, it's just a gimmick and a fad and it's not going to be very popular in Japan. I think people will try it for two months and it goes away. You have to understand. If you've been following this channel. Japan is a trendy place. Coca-Cola is not as good at innovating but not with Coca-Cola the drink. Things come and things go. It's like the four seasons. It's like the cherry blossoms. One month you have something that's really popular. The next month it's gone. So if Coca-Cola wants to establish something in an American way, they're going to fail big time here because as Pepsi, something will be here for three weeks and it's gone. They have to innovate, innovate, innovate and have an alcoholic drink. Coca-Cola is really going to have to add flavors to it all the time. So it'll be Coca-Cola plus something. Because if you check the vending machines in Japan, the vending machines are Coca-Cola machines but inside Coca-Cola is one of the least popular things. The cola is one of the least popular things in the vending machines. It's the tea that's most popular. And they're making a chuhai (shochu highball). Chuhai is a drink mixed with shochu (distilled spirit). And shochu is made out of either mugi (barley) or imo (potatoes). Kagoshima being one of the most famous places for shochu. So we're gonna see Coca-Cola chuhai. And chuhai, if you've been to Japan, is a really cheap alcohol drink where people just smash it and get wasted off of this. But yeah, it can be refreshing as well.

00:24:05 John Daub: I heard that there's an ancient village in Japan, in the center of Japan. Yeah, Nagano. It gets a lot of press, but I'm not gonna announce it yet because I was thinking of going there. But the internet has been going crazy over some images of an ancient town that's not unknown. Everybody knows about it. It's just a couple of popular sites feature it, and then it goes big on the internet, and somebody has to make a video on it, right? The Mario Karts. As a local, I hate them. I do. People don't follow the laws, and there's been accidents. I think it's not 100% safe unless you have driven on the other side of the road. They give you a crash course, and I've seen a lot of near miss accidents, okay? Before you start wanting to dress up like Mario and drive around, think about, it's an actual roadway, and people, I don't know if anyone's ever been in a major accident, but I've seen too many close calls at intersections where you have to turn, or the guide is, he's inexperienced, and he's not very good at keeping the group together. I've seen just too many scary moments to want to do it myself. And it, yeah, I don't know. I put it in the last video because I thought, I think it's kind of neat to see, but another part of me says this is not something that is gonna last past the 2020 Olympics. But if there's a market for it, it'll always exist as an attraction. So we'll see, you know? I think it's about $70 or $100, 70 to $100 for 45 minutes or something. I'm not sure, I've never tried it before.

00:26:18 John Daub: Have you climbed Mount Fuji? I've climbed Mount Fuji three times and twice for NHK. I've climbed Mount Fuji twice for NHK for TV and once for myself. The best time to climb Mount Fuji, and this goes with the topic, is that the course, according to the media, officially opens on July 1st. But you go either on the day that the course opens or you go a couple of days before and there's no reason for you to follow what the media says. The course is open like all year round just about. Anybody can climb Mount Fuji in the fall or if you're in the middle of the year, in the early spring. It's just colder and the weather isn't perfect. But climb before July 1st if you can. It's sort of still the rainy season, but nothing is worse than waiting in line to get to the top for five hours. It's like going to Disneyland and waiting in line when you climb Mount Fuji. There's a queue and you're waiting for all the old people to get, it's not their fault, but you're waiting for people to get to the top and it ruins the experience. It's a good experience of actually feeling like you're climbing something. You're climbing an icon. So 3,776 meters up, which is a pretty significant height. Usually the next day I have a massive headache because my body hasn't adjusted to 3,776 meters. So you can get altitude sickness even at Mount Fuji. You can get altitude sickness at any mountain over 3,000 meters. The best time to climb Mount Fuji is just before or just after the climbing season.

00:28:26 John Daub: When is your meetup? I'm planning on doing a meetup in the spring during the cherry blossom season here in dreary Tokyo. I just literally told everybody not to spend time in Tokyo and I'm doing my meetup here in Tokyo because that's where everybody is. And I told everybody not to go to Yoyogi Park. But I also said though that Yoyogi Park is a place where everybody meets their friends. So I'm thinking of doing a cherry blossom meetup in the beginning of April or the very end of March. And I might do more than one. The event will be announced here on the Only in Japan Go channel and the main channel as a community post. YouTube has a community setting. And then I'll have the event will be listed on Facebook. And everybody who is using Facebook and is following that page will be able to see it. Instagram or Patreon is the best place if you have a question. And you want me to concentrate my time on it.

00:30:18 John Daub: As soon as March 20th comes the Only Japan Go channel becomes the only in Japan Sakura channel. Because we're going to do like a bazillion. What is the best time of year to make new friends? The best time of year to make friends is probably cherry blossoms. Spring. But it's not limited to that. I think summer is well because the days are longer and you're outdoors more. Spring because everyone's outside drinking. And when people have a drink in their hands they're a little bit more friendlier to talk to people. I think that's probably the best time of year for that. Because you know what? You get a drink and you walk around. And people were always inviting me. Hey, you, foreign guy. Come sit down over here. They'd hand me a beer or an onigiri (rice ball) and I would just start talking with them. And I think I made three episodes on the main channel about the cherry blossoms and you can see that it's a pretty fun experience. Especially Yoyogi Park for making friends. Not so much with connecting with nature but definitely for making friends.

00:32:15 John Daub: Kentan asks a really good question. Does it rain often in Japan? And this is the last thing I want to say because I'm going to end this live stream and I'm going to go back to the video. The rainy season or the monsoon in Japan is maybe the toughest time to visit Japan. Because it rains almost every day. It starts in June. I'd say around June 5th. And it starts to get bad around June 15th. And then from June 15th till the end of July it's raining almost every day. It starts tapering off around July 20th. But it will still rain all the way up to August 1st. Here's the funny thing. On August 1st, the rainy season is over. And you know what? It gets really humid. Really humid. Like a sauna. And then on September 1st, all the humidity is gone. And it's like autumn. You start to smell autumn in the air. You can smell the seasons changing. I think it was about 10 days ago. March 1st. I smelled spring for the first time. It was a warm day. You could just smell it. Spring. It's just so amazing. The rainy season is like that too. I can kind of feel it when it's just about to start. Which is like June 5th. You can feel the tingle. And then June 15th it's raining all the time. And I know because every time. I go running. I run a lot here in Japan. I run along the river here. And June to July is the hardest time to run because it's raining all the time. But you still run. Because it's warm enough to run in the rain. But your feet get all soggy. So the rain. It does rain a lot.

00:36:07 John Daub: Does it snow early in January in Tokyo? It snows a total of two to three times. Total. In Tokyo in the winter. Tokyo doesn't get much snow at all. It'll snow twice. Three times if you're lucky. And there's usually one late snow. So maybe it was two times. It snows really hard. And then the next day it melts. And that's it. It just turns to rain and it's gone. This year was a little bit colder. I think the snow stayed around. There was a snow-kyo they called it. And we had some snow in Tokyo that lasted for more than a day. So they called it snow-kyo. Because Tokyo is not equipped to handle snowfall. Because we just don't get it. Tokyo I would say is comparable in weather-wise to Washington DC. Washington DC is warm and it gets snow every now and then. But the snow is not really sticks around very long. Washington DC and Tokyo have a lot in common.

00:37:17 John Daub: My mother's from Mumbai. She was born in India. And she's an American citizen now. She's been living there since the mid-1970s when she married my father. But I have a ton of family in Mumbai. I have a ton of family in the Bangalore and Kolhapur, Pune. Just this area of India. There's a lot of family. I didn't go to India until I was 22. And on my father's side nobody has been to India except for me. And my brother went for the first time at age like 38. Like last year. It's crazy, right? So I'm the only one in my family living in the US besides my mom that has an affinity with India. I went there when I was a college student. And it was the most amazing experience. I've seen India and if you're Indian and you're watching you've seen the country change so much over the last 20 years that I've been going to India. It just changes so much. And it's kind of an exciting time. And I've seen the city of Tokyo change so much. And I think that's something that we have in common. There's so much connection between India and Japan that we don't see on the surface. By the way, I'm going to be this month in a place called Sano in Tochigi Prefecture. And Sano is going to be having a cricket match. And I'm going to go there and live stream a couple of times because it's just so unique. I don't know much about cricket. It's like a weird baseball. But India's really good at it. And I'm going to go there and focus on the Indian community in Sano and cricket.

00:40:10 John Daub: What's your job there? International work. Consulting other companies about how to bridge between Japan. Because I've traveled a lot and I can converse in both languages. And I've been in Japan for 20 years so I can kind of feel what people want here. And I can feel what people want abroad. And I can make a living out of connecting cultures. Which is really a dream job. In many ways. Would you compare Tokyo to New York City weather wise? No. Tokyo's winters are more like Washington DC. New York City's summers are milder than Tokyo. Tokyo is like Washington DC in so many ways. It's just humid. New York gets a little bit humid but it's nothing like Tokyo. I've traveled the world and been to many places. I've been to Singapore. Singapore is pretty humid hot. I gotta tell you though. Tokyo in the summer it's an island like Singapore but there's just something about the heat. It's just so hot. And unbearable. And these 2020 Olympics I'm telling you right now everybody they have no idea. Because of the pollen and because it kind of sounds funnier. But people have no idea what the Summer Olympics are going to be like in 2020. And they put it right in the middle of the end of the rainy season and the season where it just gets blistering, blistering hot. And that's going to be something that you're going to want to keep your eyes on. Nobody has reported on this yet. On the mistake of putting the Olympics. I would have put the Olympics at the end of August. But they made a huge mistake I think and put it in July. And I think maybe NBC or the US had something to do with this. It's going to be people are going to be passing out. You just do not know how hot Tokyo Summer Olympics are going to be. 1964 Olympics were not held I think in the center of summer. I think they were held in October. October 10th to 24th. The Summer Olympics 1964 were held in October 10th to 24th for a reason, okay? Might have to do with the construction. I'm not sure exactly but the weather is so much better. And now we put it right in the center of summer. So keep your eyes on this everybody. It's going to be pretty funny. The best time of year to visit Japan is not when they put the Olympics.

00:44:01 John Daub: Winter is amazing because of the foods, I think. And the culture. Because when you have to be inside, you eat more. And when you eat more, you have to have more variety. And there's a lot of really amazing winter foods like nabe (hot pot). Like sukiyaki (beef hot pot). Like yakiniku (grilled meat). These are things that have fire. Okonomiyaki (savory pancake). Teppanyaki (griddle grill). All these grilled inside the house. And that's such an amazing part of winter food. And the kotatsu. Winter's not bad either. It's just not the best time. It just depends on what your interests are. If you like skiing, then you're going to love winter. If you love winter, you're gonna love it here in Japan. Because they offer so many different things. If you're a tropical person like me, I'm not a big winter fan, but I'm starting to appreciate it more because I'm discovering all the other things that Japan has to offer besides just freezing in your house.

00:46:06 John Daub: Japanese homes. And this is important if you're considering an Airbnb. Airbnbs... You have to understand Japanese homes, they're cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and really wonderful in the spring and fall. They don't have central heating or central cooling in houses in Japan. So, rooms with air conditioners will be cool and then the rest of the house is just hot in the summer. Or in the winter, it's just cold. And that's why you have really heavy futons and blankets and sweaters and things like kotatsu. I think if you're doing Airbnb and you're not staying in a hotel, you have to be mindful that it's gonna get cold in the winter and hot in the summer and the bills are gonna be astronomical. Because insulation stinks in Japanese homes. And you can just watch any video on this topic you'll see. Traditionally you had the paper washi doors that would close and the air can go in and out of it. And it's again connecting with nature, which is an important part of the Japanese culture. So when you have really bad insulation, you're really connecting with nature because that cold air is coming straight to you! And that hot air is coming straight to you! And the air conditioning does not last very long. So something to keep in mind. May is the best time. I would say May and September 15th to October 15th are my favorite times to travel.

00:48:24 John Daub: How did you know you wanted to do YouTube? I didn't. I started this channel in 2012 really. After the tsunami and the earthquake in 2011 and came up with the concept that I said I wanted to do something. Before 2011, I think you can still see my videos on iTunes. I was a podcaster for... I was one of the first video podcasters in the world. As soon as I got that iPod video back in 2005, I started producing and finding how to put the videos on a server because iTunes, you need your own server. And then dishing that out to people by broadcasting it. The problem with iTunes was that you have to pay for your own bandwidth. And it became really expensive. I lost about $30,000 paying for the server to give to people. So iTunes was not a... Unless you have a sponsor, iTunes does not work. It's not a consumer generated media company, Apple. They want professional brands and movies and TV. In 2012, at the end of the year, I said I'm going to do a YouTube channel. I started coming up with the philosophy and the way I wanted to do it before I launched the channel. In 2013, the beginning, I started to film the episodes. And then released the first one, I believe, right after the Naked Man Festival. And I wanted the first episode to be something that was challenging for me because that would set the pace for the rest of the channel. The first episode is the Naked Man Festival, probably one of the most difficult episodes that I ever had to make because there's just so many things that could go wrong and it went so right. And that was an amazing telltale of the direction of how this channel would go.

00:51:57 John Daub: I had been reporting very regularly on NHK World, a show called Tokyo Eye. And I do Journeys in Japan about once a year. And I don't do too much of that TV stuff. But back then, I wanted to do things my way. And I wanted to try to do things my way. And I took the things that I learned from NHK. I learned so much. When you work with a professional team, like NHK, or any TV company where you have a cameraman and you have a lighting guy and you have audio and you go into studio shoots and you work with celebrities who are very smooth at talking. It ups your game. So, I said, I love what they do, but I want to see if I can do it better. I want to see if I can tell different stories. I want to do things that interest me, not interest a producer at the TV network. And YouTube was the perfect platform to do that. YouTube, even though YouTubers will complain about being demonetized or stuff, I come from an era where I had to pay for my own bandwidth. I'm very appreciative that YouTube exists and this platform exists because it's free bandwidth. And they have a way to monetize the videos. We didn't have that when I started putting videos online back before YouTube even existed. I was putting videos online before YouTube. You had to pay for your own bandwidth or the service providers were not good enough or they didn't offer enough bandwidth for video. It was a very tough age, 2005 to 2007 for being a video producer for the internet. So I've been making videos for mobile applications since it started, pretty much. All the way back to 2003, which is when I started making travel videos.

00:54:11 John Daub: Look on NHK World, save videos, Tokyo Eye. Yeah. You can see that Tokyo Eye has some of the newer episodes, but I did most of my work with when Jennifer and I, Jennifer Julian, who's on the live streams a lot, that's where I met her on the I'm gonna go inside here. I met Jennifer on the set of in Tokyo Eye where we were both working. I think the first episode we did was the Tokyo Skytree and the Tokyo Tower before Tokyo Skytree was finished because there's a lot of buzz on this new tower that was being built. So NHK Tokyo Eye sent the two of us on a one week shoot around the city interviewing people who remember Tokyo Tower and we talked a lot, mostly about Tokyo Tower but also about the Skytree coming. That's when I met Jennifer for the first time and yeah, we just became really good friends and since then we've been like this.

00:55:41 John Daub: March 11th I want to do a live stream that kind of explains to you what was going through my mind and what happened on that day seven years ago on 2011. That's a day, if you were in Japan on that day, you felt what an earthquake really feels like for the first time because that was the big one. And that was a tough time for me. That was a tough time for this whole country. And I want to do a special live stream on the 11th, which is just a couple of days from now when I talk about that. And I think you're going to get to know a lot of questions about me personally. You're going to get to know me a lot when I talk about that because I lose it. When I talk about what I saw after the earthquake and the people I met. There's a term called flyjin (fleeing foreigners) going on at this time where people were running away from Tokyo. Foreign residents who lived in Tokyo all their lives or for 20 or 30 years longer than me were leaving when the country needed them the most. And I can understand that and it makes me sad because I had a lot of friends leave at that time but when the country needed you the most and you left because you were afraid because you could leave and the Japanese couldn't leave to me I couldn't leave. That was the one time where I thought I had to stay. And that's after this and seeing the people and seeing tourism drop that's when Only in Japan started to take shape as a channel in my mind because I'd been producing videos for iTunes I'd been a reporter for NHK I've had a lot of experience with this medium and that's when it evolved into a channel. It evolved into the show that you see now. And it came from a place of love for Japan.

00:58:05 John Daub: The video is done. There's a lot of Japanese in it. This video was hard. Living to 100. Living long in Japan. It was hard to make because there's a lot of interviews with people in Japanese and I had to translate all of those episodes. It should be out either tomorrow or this weekend. It should be out really soon. It was a really hard one to make because of the amount of. Tomorrow, Peter von Gomm and I are going to try to do a live stream in Shinjuku. It might involve a scooter. So, you're going to want to tune in tomorrow. I'm guessing like around 5pm Japan time which is ridiculously late in New York. It's like 3am I think in New York. Near midnight in LA. You're going to want to tune in for that one because I think when Peter von Gomm and I get on the scooter, it can get pretty freaky out there because the signal goes in and out. He's driving it. I'm holding the stick like this. It's pretty cool though because you get to see the city of Tokyo. I've been wanting to do this one for a long time everybody. I'm going to ride on the back with Peter von Gomm. I'm going to have this camera in my hand. We'll both have helmets for those of you who are worried about me having a helmet. I've picked a great day to live stream. I want to take you on... Everybody's seen the movie Tokyo Drift, right? Well, not everybody but a lot of people have seen those images of Japan going through Kabukicho which is where all these neon lights are. These signs that go up like 7 or 8 stories high. I think it would be cool to get on Peter von Gomm's bike and the two of us to ride at sunset or when the lights come on through this area and kind of take it in and check it out. Even if the lights aren't on it's still going to be a lot of fun because we've got two dudes riding a bike through the center of Tokyo. It's a little moped. Well, he's got a decent bike but it's got a little engine to it. So it's got a little beep beep and we should have some fun.

01:01:02 John Daub: I'm a big supporter of my friends' efforts on YouTube. As well as all of you. If you want to ever share your content with me, let me know. I'll have a look at it. I try to support the people who support me. This is a good philosophy. This is something that I've learned in my life. If you are a friend of mine and you're somebody who I know cares, I'm going to always care back. And Peter von Gomm, he's one of the most amazing voice talents ever. He could do all the movie trailers for Hollywood movies. He's got that voice and he's got so much talent. He should excel in the movie industry. He should excel in a format like YouTube. I really want to see his channel grow. He's very creative in ways that are beyond his own profession of voice talent. To tell stories and to see a different side of Japan through his eyes is going to be really special. As he evolves as a YouTuber. As Jennifer as well. Jennifer is like the foodie. You're going to see some amazing stuff from Jennifer. Always support your friends. Never forget where you came from and who are the people who are behind you. Those are the people. This is why I don't do collaborations with a lot of other YouTubers. It's because I have such amazing friends that I would rather bring on the show and introduce you to that are not already on YouTube. New people. That's sort of a mission this year for me too. To try to use this Only in Japan Go channel this platform that we have. And introduce you to different points of view and different kinds of people. We started off the year with Hana. Hana is Ruth's daughter. Ruth is a friend of mine. She played a song for us. I thought that was a pretty cool experience. If I could do more of that and bring you different kinds of people not just YouTubers that you already know but people who can't start a channel or they want to start a channel or they have dreams of their own and they have big visions that aren't shown for you these are the people I think that we really want to meet more because they're not into themselves or their channel so much they're into something else like a different kind of person. For me, those are the kind of people that I'm more attracted to as friends not somebody who is always taking pictures at the dinner table for example. I like to put the phone away and have somebody that I can talk to that's a real friend and these are the kind of people that I'm bringing to you because Peter von Gomm and Jennifer and Kevin they're that kind of people.

01:04:37 John Daub: In Japan, there's an amazing term in Japanese called KY and it's just the words K and Y and it stands for kuuki yomeru (read the air). And if you can read the air that means you're looking at the things around you and you're not looking at yourself. And there's too many people or people who are new to Japan or people who haven't been here long enough. They could do a better job of KY which is reading the air and seeing the things around them and reacting to that instead of themselves. I think that's when you start to grow that's when I started to grow as a person. It was when I put myself out of the center and I started to kind of join into what was around me and to listen more and find ways to connect with people through listening and I learned a lot more. I know a lot of stuff in Japan because I listen to people and because I travel and I do a lot of leg work and I go around and I listen and I read and I listen and it's now after 20 years maybe I can talk a little bit and share this experience but listening is a skill that you get maybe when you're older after failing miserably many times you just change your style and you start to listen and you KY. Read the air a little bit more.

01:06:15 John Daub: Sometimes we like to watch like a fly on the wall. I try now to take like a minute and I'll just turn the camera around and I'll just walk and I want you in the live streams to sort of take in the atmosphere. And that's another part of the main channel the Only Japan show I don't want to give you my opinion that's another reason why I'm hesitant to tell you what to do I want you to make up your own mind. I want you to see these areas and make up your own mind if that's what you want to do you see how beautiful it is you can hear the history of it you hear from other people in Japan. I made three episodes in Fukushima if you want to go to Fukushima if you don't that's okay if you do, I've shown you enough beautiful things to help you make up your mind and that's the freedom and that's my respect for the viewer.

01:08:01 John Daub: There is a channel called Rambalak where the guy only walks around yeah this is another reason i think another viewer had recommended me to watch this channel and i kind of dig that i think when you make it's just like cooking you have to have a balance of the ingredients and live streaming is sort of the same thing and this is very balanced on me talking but in the live stream i think you can feel the way that the things are going you can feel the mood of the chats when you look at it but you can feel the mood that's why i like the live streams i can feel from some of the comments on when to change something up a little bit or when to do something differently when to turn the camera around and just let you take it in for a couple of minutes or just something that we don't need to make a comment on and jennifer is behind me i'll tell jennifer like this and just try to let you take in something because when i'm with jennifer all we do is talk we just want to talk talk a lot you know so if we can give you your time then we will do that i think it's important for you to feel the atmosphere behind you like the pitter patter on the umbrella right these little things i can feel as a creator i can feel like yeah you know audio and lighting and these are two of the things that youtubers should spend more time on like lighting better and better audio and these are things that enhance the viewing experience that we can control we can't control the smell yet and you wouldn't want to smell some of the stuff although this area doesn't smell too bad.

01:10:46 John Daub: I'm in my mid 40s my changing era is done although i do have some big news some of you might know so i will be making march is going to be a big month for us on the channel and i say us because the channel is evolving always evolving and i have some announcements that might surprise you and i have some fun stuff that we're going to be doing so thanks everybody thanks everybody for tuning in you almost slipped on the thing it's kind of slippery down there so there's gonna be some big announcements coming up so i think tomorrow live stream check it out me and peter von gomm will be riding around on a bike a lot of big news coming up this month so thanks for taking the time to watch this live stream i appreciate all the super chats thank you very much and i will talk to you again soon thanks for tuning in.