00:00:00 John Daub: An episode from the Only in Japan main channel. And I'm going to be discussing the latest episode, "Hiroshima Bombing Story Tour Around the Atomic Epicenter." This was an episode that I've been wanting to do for a very long time now. This is the Only in Japan Go channel, I'm going to be talking live. You can take a look at the livestream chat in the playback to see what some of the viewers are talking about here. And I'll be taking at the end of it some questions from our supporters on Discord. If you're a Patreon supporter, we have something called a Samurai chat in there where we can have a telephone conversation back and forth. We'll do this for a couple of minutes at the end. Maybe there's some things that I missed, and it's a chance for me to talk directly with some of the viewers, which is really interesting to hear back from them.

So some of the background on this episode, if you haven't seen it—first of all, there's a link in the description. I'm going to put it right here where you can go take a look at the episode. I highly recommend that you go and you see that episode that I put up yesterday on the anniversary, the 74th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Take a look at that and then come back and watch this, if you haven't already in the playback.

But it was something... I used to live in Hiroshima. I lived in a place called Yokogawa in the year 1999 and again in the year 2000. And it was when I lived there, I knew the name Hiroshima. It's such a brand, especially for World War II, in the sense that this is—it's in all of the history books. It's what we learn about with World War II about Japan. We all know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but to live in that city in 1999, it was just mind-blowing to me. I'm like, "Wow, this is where the atomic bomb exploded." Like, can you even talk about it in this city? What do you say? Are people upset at Americans? I was 20, 24 years old at the time, and I really didn't know how to feel working there and living there. But what I found was that the people were so nice, the food was delicious. I just fell in love with that city. And it is probably the most livable city, I think in my opinion, in Japan for me. Everything is very close together, and there's just a vibe to it. It's close to Miyajima. It's not too far away from Shimonoseki where you can catch a ferry to go to Korea, and it's on the Shinkansen line. There's so many things to love about Hiroshima.

So when— when I started this channel in 2013, I really wanted to examine the bombing at Hiroshima and to learn a little bit about it and use this platform that we have to maybe go a little bit deeper. And that's exactly what we did. I found, to start off with, I found last year a company called Magical Trip. They're really a group of really nice people that do tours for visitors to Japan. And last year I did one with in Kyoto about restaurants, because people have been asking me about food with restaurants. It just seemed a good, good opportunity to work with them. So with this one, they had a tour guide. And it was exactly what I was looking for. It was a story with someone who could speak English. That was sort of my criteria—somebody who wanted—who would want to be a tour guide for the atomic bomb. It's such a deep, tough subject, I think, for Westerners. And then—and then to answer their questions, it had to be somebody who was pretty— pretty knowledgeable and had a background with this. And Yuji fit that.

So I remember I had a Skype call with him to talk about— about his tour and what we would talk about. So this is well planned in advance. I talked about his tour and got an understanding of his background. And then he told me about his uncle. That's when I said, "I gotta talk with your uncle." And this will put everything in perspective. Because the one thing that was lacking was with all the other content that I saw on the Internet was that there was no actual witness— first person somebody who was there who saw the aftermath of the bomb. And that was his uncle. And he was still alive at age 92, living in Saitama. He's since moved from Hiroshima prefecture to—to New Tokyo, which is great for me because it took me about four, 45 minutes to travel to his house. Knocked on the door, and here he's in perfect health. Lively guy in his 90s, answered the door by himself. He gave us some desserts, and there you go. There we started the interview. And what he told me just made my— my jaw drop. And I was— while he was telling the story, it was in Japanese. I was so into— I could not— I could not stop. I was just so into what he was saying. Just everything around me was gone. And I was inside of his story while he— while he was saying it. To admit I— I didn't get all of everything that he told me. My Japanese is— is good. It's conversational, but it's not that good. And I think it was about 85%, I could gather, but later on I wanted to listen to it. It was just— it was just— it blew me away. So we— we added a great portion of that. I granted a great portion to this.

Now, all these episodes on the Only in Japan channel I— I've edited and filmed myself. So I think you can see that when you watch the episodes, a little bit of my personality comes out in each of these. You can see I started off with some of the footage of the bomb. There's new Matasan, and there's Yuji and his son. Get right into this. There's a— there's so much to talk about with this episode. It's been about the gong or bell. There's a Japanese gong that we— we play in— the beginning of this, was absent for— for kind of a reason. I just wanted to be a little bit silent. And we entered into this episode without it. Actually, it was an offline asset. And I edited this on my MacBook Pro and not on a desktop. And that asset, the gong, was not there. And I said, "Wait, all right, let's just leave it out." And that's what I did. And it was good. It was like a silent tribute, I guess, to do something differently with this episode. I don't know if anybody picked up on that.

75 years since the bomb was dropped. Its impact felt for generations, which is why I'm here. The city can't erase its past, but it can build on its long history, move to the next chapter, which is what I think is happening in Hiroshima today. This is the last generation that will grow up hearing firsthand accounts of the bomb. So right now I'm on the river. And I'm on the— you can go down onto the river. I was there in the morning, so there weren't a lot of people around. You can see this area is pretty empty. I stayed there an extra day after Yuji had given me the tour. I spent the next day filming B-roll, looking around, just talking with people, watching all the kids, trying to build a story for this episode. I don't— of course I've lived here, so everything was already in my mind of what, how I wanted to tell the story. But I think you have to step away from all of that. And with my camera, I walked around. This is the scene before I got onto the Shinkansen. Those who were watching, I brought a bunch of gifts for my Patreon supporters onto the Shinkansen to come back to Tokyo. So this was that day. And in the background, it was just a perfect shot because you're low down on the river. I'm almost eye level with the Genbaku Dome, the atomic bomb dome. So this is the place where I thought it was just quiet. There wouldn't be people bothering me. It was still early morning and it's just perfect. It's very hard in this area to not get passersby making noises. So also the cloudy— it was cloudy. You can tell most of the tour. When Yuji gave me the tour, it was sunny. And here it's cloudy. So that's how you can tell which day that I filmed it on. The Saturday was sunny, the Sunday was cloud. Sunday was sunny and Monday was cloudy. So the red sky, the black rain, and the tragedies to follow.

The third generation is now the one sharing the stories. And I thought I'd share one with you too. Today I'm going to be meeting a father who is sharing those experiences he learned from his family elders and now passing the baton to his 10-year-old son. So we will never forget that tragic day, August 6, 1945.

The Music Choice for this was so hard. I looked and looked and looked. It took me two days before I can come up with sort of a score that was tasteful and set a mood. Music is so important. Audio is so important with all the videos because it's another feeling. It's another ingredient into this dish that I'm baking for everybody. A story and this music, like a light string— strings seem to make sense for me because there's— there's so much feeling when you have strings. So this one is a step in a different direction for a lot of the— thank you. Sudaru says that the music synced up pretty well. I appreciate that.

The next song is sad, in fact. Well, let's get into it a little bit. The Enola Gay was a B-29 Super Fortress bomber, departed Tinian, near Saipan in the Pacific, loaded with a nuclear bomb, the first to be used in war. Hiroshima came into view. The T-shaped T bridge— easy to see from above. It was dropped from a height of 31,060 feet— 9,470 meters. The Enola Gay turned around and the bomb detonated 43 seconds later. 1,960— 8 feet— 600 meters above the ground. The cloud seen from the air, rocking the plane 11.5 miles, or about 19 kilometers away. I have to put in miles and kilometers because the base of our viewers are based in the United States. About half is in Canada and the United States. So you have to put in kilometers and miles, feet and meters— it makes it a little bit complicated, but it's important because it's for everybody. You know, this episode wasn't for one group or another. It's for everybody. No matter what system you use.

This footage here is all public domain footage taken by the Army. Now any military footage that's been taken, I forget the amount of years, but if it's taken by military staff, it automatically goes into the public domain, I believe. This came out in the 1990s or something. Maybe it was 50 years. But anybody can use this. So a lot of online videos have used this footage. This is from when they flew the flight from Tinian, which is near Saipan, which is in the Pacific. That's where the Enola Gay took off from. They had, I believe, three airplanes following it. One of them is one of— the purpose of one of the planes was to just study and to film what was happening. So you had— everything was also being documented from filming of the dropping of the bomb and to the mushroom cloud. The US was filming all of this. And because it was military that filmed it, it turned into the public domain. So anybody can use this. In order to find this video, you have to go to the Library of Congress or to the US Archive website to download them. And there's thousands of videos that you can download for free for public domain. The problem with using some of this is that some of the people who make YouTube content might have— that have monetized it. They probably also have like a copyright protection on their YouTube page. So using this, it could— you have to dispute everything if this comes up. But I— to me, this episode was only about getting a story out there. So I— that was a consideration because if it's blocked by YouTube for one reason or another, it also kind of— people won't see the story. So I— that was something that was in the back of my mind.

The long strings and the music. Hiroshima on the ground around the hypocenter. The city was devastated. Homes, offices, parks... I had to search a lot of video footage. So I saw hours and hours of archived videos. And then I saw this— I saw this landscape scene, which was taken just on the other side of the river, I believe, panning this way onto the— you can see the hills here. So I believe it was— it was looking into this— into the city, this way. I— having walked around Hiroshima and looking at the archive videos, I had a pretty good sense of where they had taken all of it. And on the second day I was sort of looking around for the places to— to film the B-roll for. It's very interesting. This shot is from the Orizuru building, which is a brand new building. I think it was completed a couple of years ago. Behind it, I'm— if you ask me personally, I have mixed feelings about this Orizuru building. Part of it is really nice because I can see that Hiroshima has moved on and it's attracting foreign tourists and tourists in general. And this building would not have been built maybe 20 years ago because it's still very sensitive. It's— it's just a lot of traffic. There's music being played in there. I don't know. Not too far away from the Genbaku Dome. I remember I was watching that at night and I can hear like loud rock music, and to me just kind of disturbed the balance of it. Maybe because I'm— I lived there 20 years ago and to me it has a different meaning.

But it's as I— one of the reasons why— like I'm trying to be careful with my words here— but one of the reasons that I wanted to make this episode now is because compared to 20 years ago, the city of Hiroshima really has moved on. It looks like we were losing some of the older generation, so we're losing a lot of the people with the firsthand accounts. But the newer generation is remembering and respecting that past, but also realizes that the city must continue, and that's what's happening right now. So you see more tourism here, you see more people taking advantage of that, people who are coming in to see Hiroshima. There's more options for tourists, more English available. These are not bad things, but it's a different vibe than it was 20 years ago. So if you do revisit— visit Hiroshima, you will notice this. The city has come back to life.

Yeah, there's— the teaching— lessons of the past are all around the city. And I'm meeting Yuji and his son Ko— third and fourth generation Hiroshima residents. After the bomb, Yuji decided to become a guide to share the city's history with international visitors, as well as make sure his son— I thought it was great that he brought his son with him to see the— the father and the son together. Doing something like this just shows the importance of protecting this— this history. So it does go on to the next generation. Now Kato doesn't speak a lot of English, but he's getting— Yuji's father— Yuji, I believe, also works with the US Military a little bit. There's a Marine base in Iwakuni, which is not too far away. So that's one reason why— his English is pretty good. It's pretty casual. One of the tough things with this episode was he— when I was editing it, he says, "You know, I know— you know— you know a lot." That's like something you get— you pick up when you're hanging out with a lot of Americans, right? "You know, you know." So it was tough to edit that out, but he did great. I think he was a little bit nervous because I had a camera and he knew that this is a big, important episode to me. But they both did such an amazing job. Because this isn't easy to do, to give a tour knowing that many people are going to be watching it.

So this is the T bridge. This is— was the initial target right here. Where you can see the cars are turning left. Not a lot of cars will go— because this goes through the park. You have to go quite slow. Most of the cars in the traffic go this way. And you can see there's a chin chin densha, or streetcar. Chin chin gives the sound of the bell. The streetcar will go this way. I used to live in Yokogawa, which is right here. It's just way far in the distance. So I used to walk along the river almost every day into Hondori, into the shopping district here. Took me about 25 minutes, but it was— it's one of these memories and walks that I used to do. So this is my old neighborhood. Walking up and down the street here, it felt good to come back.

This is where Yuji started to explain— like the target. You can see this is Aoi Bridge right here. And then the bomb, when it was dropped, it was about 300 meters away from here, which is what? I don't know, about 1,200 feet or so— 11, 10, a thousand feet away, I'd say. So it was pretty close, considering there was some wind, and I believe that knocked the bomb off target a little bit. But yeah, this is what— this is what it looks like. Hiroshima's on a delta, you see. It's just a beautiful, beautiful city. There's hills all around it. There's the castle. So Hiroshima is originally a castle town, but this castle, of course, is rebuilt.

This is the Genbaku Dome here. And it's up here. This is the A-bomb dome. And this is the T bridge. This is after the bomb had— had detonated. This is— by the way, this across the street is the old Hiroshima baseball stadium for the Carp. And now it's just a parking lot, which is sad, but I used to— I lived up here and I used to go into the games because they stunk so bad, you can always get a seat. But now it's just a parking lot across the street from the atomic bomb dome. So to me, I get so many memories in this— in this town.

Here's the hypocenter. I didn't know it when I started this— if it's epicenter or hypocenter. Epicenter we would use for earthquakes, hypocenter for this— for bombs that explode in the air. So the hypocenter is here and there's the bridge. It's about a thousand feet. It takes probably, I don't know, about five minutes to walk there across and down, around. And I actually— from the Orizuru building, if you look out this— this side window, you can see where the hypocenter is. It's— there's a pink and gray building that's striped on the side there. And just— it was— it exploded 600 meters above that building, which is just incredible to see.

For me, if you're a historian, here's the Peace Museum down here. We'll go to their— we'll go to their next— and I have a lot to say about that. The structure of the Atomic Bomb Dome, or the Hiroshima Industrial Promotion Hall— it's— it's pretty well intact. You can see the style of it. It was designed by a Czech designer in 1915. The building was completed right on the river. It was a beautiful building. Japanese buildings were not made out of rock like this traditionally. So this is unique, and this— that uniqueness and beauty and— and this dome from 1915 is one of the reasons why it was such a beautiful building. Hiroshima— it's— and it's still here today. That's one of the reasons why it's such a symbol to the city to this day, because it's still here.

This is what it looked like in 1915. I have another picture of it coming on and I talk a little bit about the atomic bomb dome because I— I used to walk past here right along the river when I lived there 20 years ago. Sometimes after drinking for work— work functions and it— you would just— this is gonna look like it— not very— not much has changed since 1946. You see, this is old archive video from the US Army, or is it the Navy? One of the US departments of military took this video. This is from inside of the Dome in March 1946. The US took a lot of video. I saw maybe three or four reels of video that were taken of the city and the aftermath. A lot of it in color, which is really nice to have because then you can feel a little bit more— with the blue skies and some of the objects that are— it's just different than black and white.

But the— the now the atomic bomb dome— you can see it's— it's now— it wasn't always like this, but it has now a fence around it and it's lit up at night. So at night it has a different— a different feeling to it. It's kind of neat to go back if you do in the day, to come back in the evening and you can see it lit up against the dark sky. To me, that's a tribute because after the bomb exploded, that whole day there was really nobody to come in and help anybody. So if you were trapped or stuck, there's really— everybody was dead. So the chances are you didn't make it. And that night after the bomb, probably was just the worst night of them all. And the next three or four days following until some help came in, it must have been just awful. You couldn't drink the water. We'll get into that later.

So people were always asking for water. But to see the atomic bomb dome with your own eyes— and this is why I really think that people, especially Americans who study this in schools, no matter what— it doesn't matter about the politics, who did what or said what. I think it's important to go and just see it because this is— this is such an important part of American history as well. The decision that Truman had to make to drop the bomb, first of all, and the aftermath, and then all the stuff that happened afterwards. President Obama went in— was it— I— I want to get the year right. I believe it might have been a little bit later, but he— he had embraced a— a Hibakusha, a survivor of the atomic bomb, which kind of put the whole thing to rest. I don't know. I mean it just brought everything centered because it was the US President that— that had made the decision to drop it and it announced it. The Japanese actually didn't know that the atomic bomb had been delivered— been dropped— until Truman announced it in a radio address. And then to have a US president go back 70 years later and then embrace one of the survivors, it's just— it's not a political thing. It's just something that made a lot of people cry. It was an emotional thing. It didn't have anything like— you used to be in— it had nothing to do with that. It was just— this guy is— this symbol of America and here he is in front of us. And it means a lot to be here. And that was such an impactful moment for people of Hiroshima. They still kind of talk about that. It was a very beautiful moment for people in— in Hiroshima to have the US President come.

Yesterday was the 74th anniversary and I watched this on NHK. I put some Instagram stories on there for anyone who follows on Instagram. And you can see just how— like why does Japan still do it? Because— because you have to. So many people died in one event— like hundreds of thousands of— a lot of people. I don't know the number off the top of my head exactly, but it's about 290,000 people that are enshrined inside this cenotaph. Just a lot of people. And this also ended the war, which is a good thing. So from something really bad, something good happened. It's— it's hard to justify it. So I'm not even going to try to. But what I will say— it's still something that's very important to the people in Japan and as well as Nagasaki, which is actually the day after tomorrow, I believe— at the 6th and the— and the 8th. So that's tomorrow. So I— it's— it's such a sensitive topic. But you— you can't not— not talk about it as well.

So this is where I— I talk with Yuji and he explained some of the things about the atomic bomb dome. I— I wanted— I didn't know where to put in his great uncle's interview. Do I— do I start with it? Do I end with it? So I put it into the middle, I put it in the middle of this video before we went into the museum. Now I gotta be honest with you. I think the reason why you take a tour is because you want to meet someone who's local and get inside knowledge and stories. That's pretty much why you want to take a guide for anything, right? Yuji can do that because he's— his grand— great uncle was there and he grew up listening to stories from his parents as well, as well as his grandparents because he's from Hiroshima and like that. I guess that's why you take a tour.

I'm not a big tour guide— I'm not somebody who takes a lot of tours because I like to study from books and then go and see the history with my own eyes. But there are a lot of things that came to light because of the guide. Now— Yuji's uncle made this story so much more important. I think the one thing that I think with this series, Only in Japan, that is so important to me is to not just give you my— my opinion and— and my— that's why it's not a vlog. Only in Japan is not a vlog, a video blog. What it is, it's a— it's a— it's a series. It's a program. I try to get people who know more than me— some people that might be experts or some— or a different point of view, not just mine, into each episode so that you— when you watch it, you get something back from it. Not just my opinion, my point of view, which you can see in the editing, the style, but from somebody else. And in this case, it's Numata san, who was there that day. And this changes the episode. This makes it so real. You— You can— if we just— if I just walked around the atomic bomb dome, which I've already done for 20 years, it wouldn't be really special to me. Talking with New Matasan makes it— I don't know— it made it more impactful to me. And I— I think hearing from his own voice and you can see it in his eyes as he talks— this is why this is so important and why I was so engaged when he was telling me the story. I didn't want to say a word and interrupt him. Nothing. And I like to interrupt Peter all the time when doing live streams. He— he makes fun of me for doing that. I like to keep— keep the pace going. But this was in one of these situations— you just let him talk and every single word that he said, I'm just attached to.

He showed me some of the photos of his family and I thought that this was important. That's Miyajima. You can see the deer. Nothing's changed in a century, right? Miyajima is the same Miyajima that it was 100 years ago with the deer walking around. And it's— it's Kashima, the shrine there. This is in front of— in Tokyo where— with the family in front of the imperial palace. And some of the other pictures were the registers. And there's Yuji in the 1980s. He's changed about as much as I have. But this is where we start to talk a little bit. And now the whole interview was about 20 minutes— yeah, the whole interview was about 20, 25 minutes, and I cut it down to about seven minutes, and I didn't want to cut anything, to be honest with you. But he talked about some things, and I'm not gonna— I'm not gonna redo the talk. You can see— you can see him, and you can see this in the main channel episode, but I'll talk for a couple of minutes. You can see he was talking about the Constitution, Kempo. He was talking about some political stuff. He had opinions. I think everybody— I think he's entitled to one. But for this, I seriously didn't want to add anything more than an eyewitness account. I wanted to keep it as unbiased and just factual and just what's there— what happened. I don't start with any why. I don't start with war, the Pacific theater. I don't talk about any atrocities. I don't talk about Pearl Harbor. There's a reason for that. I'm focused just on Hiroshima. And that's the purpose of this. It wasn't to— to say, "Oh, well, America started it." So that's— that has nothing to do with this episode. It's literally to just show what happened on 1945. Whether it's good or not good, I don't get in— of course it's not good. It ends the war. That might be good, but if you read the comments in the main channel video, I bet you everyone is— is really conflicted. And then some people are not. They're very, very sure in what they write. But for me, I just wanted to focus on what happened, what was it like in 1945? So— because this is one of the— one of the top tourist attractions for people who visit Japan, want to go to Hiroshima and feel what happened in that day in 1945. This is a fact, just like— you know— in Pearl Harbor. I'm sure people go there because they wanted to remember, they want to feel what happened that day, to try to understand what— what was going on. Because we studied this history. So that's why it draws in, especially Americans into Hiroshima to try to understand what happened, to see what it was like on that day from what we'd studied in the books. And I know this— I know it because you see all the Western faces. That's why I think when I made this episode, it had nothing to do with everything else. It's for people who want to come to visit— some of the background. You're not going to get a chance to talk to Numatasan. You're not going to get a chance to see the 1945, '46 video footage. I wanted to put them all together into a story. So when you do visit Hiroshima, you'll have a different appreciation for it— the information— or it'll sink in a little bit deeper. You'll get more out of your visit. It's not a political thing where it's like, "Oh, well, why—" I think a lot of the comments are missing the point on this.

Now— one commenter, John, had a really good point. Any war video of any kind is— cannot be fully unbiased. It cannot be 100% unbiased. And he might be right. I can see that point of view— for— to me— for me— for me— yeah. I guess after reading some of the comments, I was also conflicted. I'm an American. I— I grew— you know— I studied that this ended the war. But I also have lived here in Japan and I've seen the pain. When I was here 20 years ago, I saw Hibakusha that had burns or that had— you know— like missing limbs and things like— and cancer and stories. I'd heard all this too. So it's very conflicting when you— you're in the middle of all of this. But I— I don't see it through that prism. And that's why— that's why I kind of made that episode not talking about anything else with the war. The war doesn't matter. It's just about the bomb. The Hiroshima now and the Hiroshima in 1945. What did you see? What was it like? And that's what you will see if you walk around.

So what— what New Madison is doing right here is he's putting everything that he saw because he went into the city the next day. Imagine like 24 hours later, he— he's in the city helping. And all that's in the city are dead bodies. People that are alive are seriously injured, and there's nothing to— everything was burned. There's no cloth, no bandages. It just— I think you need to hear— if you go to visit Hiroshima, you— you really need to understand. And the museum does a really good job, but nobody is there— like with looking at you, with their eyes at you and telling you about these things like this. And this changes a little bit— this— no— you know what, it changes a lot. I think the way you see the museum and the history of the Hiroshima after 1945, listening to what it was like that day. And I— I didn't know what he was going to say. I didn't interview him before. I was just told "Go here." And he— he might tell you a story that— he might tell you a story. I didn't know what to expect. I just put in— I— I attached a GoPro camera here and I had another camera right here. We checked the audio. It worked. I put a pin mic on him and we talked. You can see the time— it's even— it's 1:35 in the morning— in the afternoon.

What you said reminds me of the anime Corner of the World where the girl from Hiroshima got mad. She didn't want her country to surrender after losing so much. Yeah— you know— I— I don't want to talk too much about surrender and— and the war and things like this. Everyone has their history books on it. You can all study this— whether they did it for the reasons why. I don't get into that with this episode. A lot of the people the comments do, and you can read the comments— YouTube is a social network, so I think everybody should— should sound off and give their opinions in— in the comments in them on the main channel. But for me, I try to— want to step away from that even though I also have my own opinions. But I don't think that that's what this is all about. This is about something bigger than me. It's about something bigger than Yuji and— and that's why this episode was so hard and so had to be so sensitive. I had to put a lot of time into this episode. And you can't make a mistake when you talk about something at this kind of a scale. Usually a production like this, you will have like half a dozen people because they're fact checking, they're gathering everything— they— this was really hard for me to put together. That's why I was just really happy to have Yuji there and to have help from the Magical Trip— people were really great helping me to get the information— to get the permissions to film inside this, the Peace Museum, to get the permissions to film in certain places. That really helped a lot.

Tim Lawson writes in here— "I went to the peace park in 1979. It was a very humbling experience and impacted me to this day." And thanks for sharing that, Tim. If you go back, it's really changed a lot. I can't imagine what it was like 1979. That was 20 years before I visited— that's 40 years ago. It's changed a lot. So I think you can see after 40 years how much the city has grown. Tim, if you do go back to Hiroshima, the Peace Museum, by the way, has been completely renovated. So if you go back, it was renovated, and I think it just opened about a month ago. So if you go back, you're going to see different— the displays in a different way. It's also more expensive. It used to be 50 yen, which is about 45 cents or 50 cents to get in. Now it's 200 yen, which is still like nothing— it's like really cheap. But they wanted to make a museum that was so cheap that people would go maybe more than once. And I think that was a great idea. But the— the renovations helped because it was feeling a little bit retro when I was there in 1999. And the last time it hadn't changed much when I went back in the 2000s. So it was good to see that they— they made it more relevant to today. And they did a great job with— with the museum because you still feel that pain. Nobody— you can't not go to the Peace Museum and not feel something.

We'll talk about that in a minute. I just want to— to finish up with New Matasan— he really wanted to— I mean, I think— I think. I think he wanted to talk about this to get it off of his chest. I think it's not something that he— he told the stories to Yuji and to other family members, but he never really said any of this stuff publicly. So I think for him, it was a way to preserve what happened that day in his mind. That's what I love doing— doing this to— to interview people that have eyewitnessed. There was no Internet in 1940s or 50s or 60s. It was great to have a chance to hear from him and put this on the Internet so that everybody can hear what New Matasan had seen. To me, this is why I do this job. It's just a chance to connect an amazing story with so many people. And I— I can't— I can't say thank you enough— to him.

I brought him, by the way— I brought him some sweet potato cakes as a gift. Whenever you go into a Japanese home, you'll bring a gift. So I brought him some sweet potato cakes that I bought from Yurakucho in Tokyo. And he— he gave us some Coca-Cola and some cake. I guess we all had sweet tooths that day. He's got a big sweet tooth, but amazing. He's an amazing guy. He's in great shape for 92. He looks like he's like 20 years younger than that. He's walking around just like Mr. Seiichi, my wife's grandfather who passed away last year— he was in amazing shape at 94 doing push-ups and he died at 97. But people in Japan keep in pretty good shape.

This is the Peace Museum from the Orizuru building. This Peace Museum— it's an iconic shape. It's got two wings on the side. You start from this side of the wing and then you go through here on the backside and then you exit out of here and then you come out the front— or you can exit back. I think you exit back where you came in from. But it's a route that goes around. The exhibit is well done. It used to be— I think— over the top. At the end of it, they showed the people— melting wax figures— that was sort of over the top, and they've— they've changed a little bit. It's still pretty strong, but they've made it more taste— I don't know— tasteful, but it still drives the home— drives home without like the 1970s feel to it, which is what it felt like 20 years ago when I went. But the museum is very— it's like one of these must— must visit museums when you come to Japan. Same in Nagasaki, by the way. I don't want to forget what happened in Nagasaki. The bomb of Nagasaki was not as big as the one in— in Hiroshima. It was also a little bit off target. And Nagasaki is surrounded by mountains, so it didn't do the same amount of damage. But Nagasaki had more wooden buildings than Hiroshima. So there are some amazingly awful fires that happened in Nagasaki. So Nagasaki is a different story. It's one a lot of people don't tell and maybe I'll talk about that in the future. But for me, it all started in Hiroshima because I lived here. So I have a personal connection with— with this city compared to Nagasaki. That's why I chose Hiroshima before Nagasaki.

So let's take a look at this museum. Any— if anybody's been there before, I think you can find a lot of— leave me a comment below and tell me what your experience was. What were some of the things that impacted you when you went in there? You can do it on the main channel because more people be looking at that than here on Only Japan Go.

Yeah, so this is— it takes you back to that. So in the old museum, it was in the center of the— in the center where the first floor was. So they've moved it around. Now what they've done is they've darkened the Peace Museum— the Peace Memorial Museum— and they still have this radius, I guess, of the center of the city. And before, I guess they just had really sad music and did it. But now they've added projection mapping without the sad music— a vibrance— you don't need them— the explosion and the aftermath. And then they put in very personal and grim details. They put in the p— satellite picture from the US on top of the texture of the city. And then they show you how the bomb drops and then the hypocenter and then it— it's— it's— it's amazing to see that after you walk the city and then the— the life-size pictures of the city— it's like you're walking through that— from the clothing of the victims— to lawyers and heroism after.

This is the exhibit of the shadow. One of the most— the saddest— it's one of the things that really impacted me the first time I saw it. My heart stopped just for a second. Like a man was waiting for the bank to open, I believe the story goes. And then when the bomb dropped, he was just disintegrated, and it left a shadow. So all that was remaining of him was a shadow on the wall burned into the wall. And I remember in 1999 standing— it was in a different part of— they've basically cut out the part of the bank and moved in into the— into the museum. But I remember standing there for a very long time thinking about that. Just imagine just— I mean we've seen it with ray guns and science fiction movies— but it— that's— that makes it real. That's what— that's what a nuclear weapon is. And you know— I— I stood there for a very long time in 1999. It's a museum that will leave a very strong impression.

This is the tricycle. This is also a piece in the museum that— and— and the two kids from, I believe, whose tricycle it was. It leaves a big strong impression. When you see this— just tell— Hiroshima is now a few generations past the war and how the generation— history from all of the world. And then the pictures in the back— they've changed it up. Remembering the past is now as important as finding ways to move on from it.

This is Sadako. It's a place for remembrance. And this is the center top— this is probably the best angle that you can see here. Yesterday when they had the memorial taking place, they had people lined up on the left and the right here and it was raining. They had a bell on the side where kids also told the story and— noticed— it's— it's a very— if you do— if you're in Hiroshima on the 6th, it's— you feel it because you can see survivors that are there. You can— you can feel the vibe in the city that— it's a mix. I've never been there on the— on the 6th of August. But maybe next year I'll go. It's during the Olympics, actually, in 2020. So this event is going to be mentioned in the Olympics. There's no doubt because this takes place during the 2020 Olympics. So another reason why I wanted to do this video in advance.

The Cenotaph here— memorial event of August. So the Cenotaph here— you can see there's a box in the middle. This box is one of the things in the city because the Hibakusha— the— which is the atomic bomb survivors— their names, all of them are in here. There's 290,000. And they didn't— they— they buried about— I think it was 70 or 80,000 people in one spot in this— in the Peace Park. And I believe they take people— they're still identifying people through DNA and records and things like this. This is what I was told. So it's— it's just mind-blowing when you— when you start to hear the stories like that. They're still identifying people because what do you do when you— what could you do?

Yuji said that he— one of his duties— responsibilities as a volunteer was to bury bodies— was to take care of the bodies of people. There's just so many. It's— it's just hard to wrap your head around that. Like, what was he seeing?

This is the memorial to Sadako Sasaki. There's a couple of things I want to say about this. This is Sadako Sasaki right here. It's one of the stories— I studied this actually in junior high school. A teacher had brought up her story. It's just something that affects all school kids. She had— she came down with leukemia 10 years after and she died. And the year of her death, her father told her about that— 1,000 paper— 1,000 paper cranes. If you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you'll be granted a wish. And with that wish you can wish to— to be cured. Right? That was the big hope. There's a popular version of the story and then there's another version of the story. There are two of them. The popular version of the story is the one that I— I tell everybody in this one because I don't want to get too much into the story— that's maybe a separate episode. You have to think about it like the episode is already 20 minutes. I have to— I have to cut somewhere. And with this, I just kept it simple to the popular version, which is that she folded— was it 744? 644? 744, I believe paper cranes before— by the time she died. So she didn't hit her target. That's what people believed for a very long time. And that's what I— I guess it was her family that came out and said, "No, no, she got— she— she had actually 1,300 by the time she died." So she kept on going. So I wasn't there. I'm not sure which is the exact version. I can't confirm either one. But I'm guessing maybe it was the one that the family told. But I just told the popular version. For better or for worse. I think it's something that people can research. I definitely think that people should— should read the story about her and the paper cranes because it's a big part of the city of Hiroshima and every kid is taught the story of Sadako Sasaki who 10 years after died because of the bomb. And this is kimono that her mother gave her from Kyoto, I believe. And she took a picture with this kimono, and it's the one that's in the museum now.

Ko Kato read this— that he read to this day people from around the world for grants and sends them to Hijima— this statue has a continuously dependent collection of all their grand. So I put the text here because for some people who are not native speakers, you probably don't understand exactly everything that he's saying. I— I can't even say I got maybe 90 of it, to be honest with you. But also when you read it— the— the words sink in a little bit more. So there's no disadvantage to putting this— the words on there. One commenter said that "how dare you put the subtitles in there." He was upset about it. And I said, "Look, it's— you know— not everybody's a native speaker. Not everybody—" I think it makes sense to put the subtitles here.

Kate— it's very impactful to me to have Kato read that. His feelings, because he's a kid in Hiroshima. Just like with this— this is not just to her— this monument. This is to all of the kids.

The one thing that— and this— this is only going to be an hour long, by the way. We got 47 minutes. The one thing that— the improve— one thing I want you to take away from this— this is very important. All of these memorials, including the— the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, all of these are not Japanese. They're international. They say "world" on them. It's for all of the kids lost. There were kids, there were Koreans, there were Chinese, there were people— more than just the Japanese lost. And all of these monuments reflect that. It's very important because I— I don't know. I saw some of the comments in here. I don't think they get it— to Hiroshima. This isn't just a Japanese— what happened wasn't just a Japanese thing. We lost— a lot of people, including Americans, lost their lives. There were Americans here— their POWs. There were other— other visiting people from other countries were here. A lot of people died from all over the world, mostly Japanese. But they— they made this for everybody. They made this so that everybody can reflect about this. It wasn't just Japanese that were lost. It's a— it was something that happened to everybody when the bomb was dropped. That's how they feel. And that's important to realize that this is for all of the kids that left— Korean kids, Chinese kids.

So when we always— I— I don't know— we look at the relationship between Korea and China today with Japan, for me, it's perplexing to me. This goes back, like, all the way to the occupation of— how people can't just move on from that. They need something to be said to move on from that. And this is deeper than me. I don't really have an opinion on it. But the one thing I think is that in order for you to move on, you have to just let go. You can't sit there and wait for an app— I demand— you can't do that. You have to just move on. And that's when you start— think good things start to happen. Japan and Korea had the 2002 World Cup, and it was a huge success. Korea was— I think even stronger than Japan, and they had an amazing economic duo. And when Korea and China and Japan work together, so many things are possible. And right now we're at probably the darkest period since the war. Maybe it's— it's— it's really bad right now between the two countries. And that sort of breaks my heart because both countries are really great places, and I don't like to see that. But when you— when you talk about this and I— there's a lot— like some fringe people in Korea that are writing very— like nasty stuff about Japan and radiation and things like this, or they should do it again. Like, I— I saw some really disgusting comments that have since been deleted because of this boycott that's happening.

Yeah, we really have to think— these memorials were for people from Korea as well. They're not just Japanese memorials. So it affects everybody. I think it's something that's in the past and you have to leave it there and you have to move on to the future. Unless you release and let go, you'll never really ever move on. And that's— I think that's a problem with the countries in this area. From a humble— like, who am I to voice my opinion? Let's just move on.

The bell is designed to ring like a wind chime. I didn't know this until this episode. It's not just a bell— it's more like a wind chime. It's a golden paper crane. Tobacco folded only 644 before her death. But children from Hiroshima and around the world have folded the rest for her thousands of times over. I thought it was interesting that they don't— they recycle this paper into diplomas and to other certificates for achievement for kids. I thought that was really good touch and very interesting.

Hiroshima residents dislike Americans— I added this in because so many people were asking me, "Is there hostility to Americans?" I didn't really understand why people would ask that then. I remember back 20 years ago when I sort of wondered the same thing, and the answer is no. It's just the opposite. After the war, it was America that was very, very kind and generous. I had an uncle that was in— a great uncle that was in Japan during the occupation. And he told me when I was a kid amazing stories of sincerity and kindness. Where he gave an egg— that was his favorite story, my great uncle Ed, where he gave an egg to a boy and he was just so grateful. He'd never seen somebody so happy just to receive something so simple like an egg. And then to him, that left the biggest impression of the— the gratitude, and it made him want to do more to help.

And it's kind of a sad— to me, it makes me a little bit sad because I remember those stories. But during the occupation, when Douglas MacArthur was here afterwards, one of the things that he made sure of was that Japanese were treated with a great deal of respect and kindness. And he wanted Japan to be a democracy and— a place of hope— an opportunity for— for everybody. When Douglas MacArthur left in— in 1950, '52 or '54 after the occupation— or was it '56? It was one of the even years, I believe, in the '50s. He left a— the— a copy of the Liberty Bell in Hibia Park in Tokyo. Not a lot of people know about this. If you're on the Only Japan Go channel— there is a— a Liberty Bell episode. I went to go and see it and it's an exact replica of it presented by Douglas MacArthur to— to Japan in the hopes that Japan would create a democracy where the people would have a say and they would not have another problem like this in the region ever again. Let the people decide. Because it wasn't like that— it was— it was a military rule place, and that's what we have today— it's a peaceful constitution. The Kel— it's not something that I think is going to change unless North Korea keeps firing missiles over it and it freaks people out. That's the worst thing North Korea could do. I think they're provoking Japan into doing that, which is a big mistake, but that's my opinion.

But MacArthur left Japan with great hopes. And I think you've seen an amazing friendship between the United States and Japan ever since. Japan is not the same Japan as it was in 1945. It's changed. And the sins of the fathers and the grandfathers should not be onto this generation. I'm just seeing too much hatred from both— from all the countries in this region that it just— it's hard for me to understand.

So I asked this question and the response was that Hiroshima—

00:53:57 Yuji: Hiroshima's education is very unique. So teacher and a textbook said don't blame Americans. Just— just blame war itself. So that's— I think that's a key for the step forward. I think it's good for the education to me and to next generation.

00:54:15 John Daub: I think everybody always looks for somebody to blame in this kind of situation. Imagine there's like— everybody— so many people had died. Imagine if they couldn't move on from that. You have to blame somebody— in this— you can't— if you did that, you would just eat yourself and there'd be no resolution. So they— they just— it was war. And when you have this kind of feeling, you can move on from it a little bit better. You can move on. Let's just say— and yeah, this— I'll get into this. It's just— it's a hard thing. You can't blame somebody. You have to just let it go. That's— that's basically the only way you can move on from anything, right? Like if you lose— if you lose somebody that you love very much, you have to let them go. And that's— that's one of the reasons why in Japan they cremate the bodies and at the cremation— and they— passed the bone from chopstick to chopstick. This is why you never use the— put the chopsticks into the rice. There's rules with chopsticks, right? When somebody dies in Japan, the body is cremated pretty quickly. Then they pass the bones of the cremated loved one from family member to family member by chopstick. And it's a way to find closure and to let it go— your family member is no longer in this world. And I guess you had to think like this— you can't blame anybody. They're just gone. And then you can move on.

I'm trying to find ways to rationalize it because to me, it's still so hard to put my head around— how many people were lost in that day.

The Orizuru building is pretty neat. I don't know— maybe it'll take a little bit of time to get used to it, but it's sort of a tourist attraction type of building. But a lot of tourists go to the Genbaku Dome, the atomic Bomb Dome. And here's the old stadium. And this wall is really neat. You can take the origami that you make— I believe it's free. I think you have to pay to go up to the top. But this was maybe included in it. You can put your hand in here— I don't know— because I was on this— I was on his tour, so I didn't pay for anything. And then drop it into down this wall. And then you can see down this wall there are thousands and thousands already dropped by people who had visited the Orizuru building. I thought that was pretty neat.

One of the other neat things with this building is if you watch the live stream— you probably saw this. But there's this really fun slide that you can go down to now. It's meant for people with disabilities and for kids to get out of the building in case of a fire really quickly. There's a slide in the middle of it, but— but adults can ride it too. And yeah, I rode it a couple of times. It's fun. But that last loop where you go like this— kind of hurts your hip. So don't— don't go at high velocity because you can— you might throw your hip out like I did as well. I'm going to limp back to the hotel. Let's keep this between you and me.

This is the last sort of footage. This was taken from the bridge. And the atomic bomb dome is here. Not the T-shaped bridge, but there's another bridge that leads into the park. This is the bridge that I often took— and it goes straight to the cenotaph— the end of the cenotaph where the flame is. So this is that bridge. So it's still in pretty good condition. And then you can see the atomic bomb dome and you can see two people walking across there. I believe this is in the autumn of 1946 still— the city is in ruins. And now this is the city today. The same park not too far from the bridge, which is over here. I saw kids that were— I try not to get anyone's face in it because they're kids, but I got them— look— studying and learning about Hiroshima from the other side. And then here's a tourist— where was he from? I think it was from the Czech Republic. And then here's the last scene from the bridge of the atomic bomb dome with all the buildings in the distance. Just to put it— the city has grown around the hypocenter, which is great. I mean, they've rebuilt everything and the city's got that life back to it. And that makes me really happy because when you see the pictures of the devastation and— and the pictures today— makes me happy.

When I made this video, that's what I wanted to show. That was the purpose of this video—to show where Hiroshima was, what happened, and then where they are today—

00:58:49 Yuji: I don't know. So it's a nail— it's a nail story, but I'm not— I don't know that, you know, reality, but I know that story from him— or meaning, you know— so text back— or stuff I learned in many things. So I— I— I want to give him the next button too.

00:59:09 John Daub: This is why the story just is so good. He wants to pass on in the future— the legacy, the knowledge from his grandparents to his son. Recently volunteered to help the recovery from tragic landslides that Hiroshima had— some really bad landslides in 2017. You should Google it— watch on YouTube. It's amazing— it's just a devastating— it's another tragedy that happened in Hiroshima two years ago. And when it happened, they needed volunteers and Keita was one of the people to go there in 2017. And— and the night before I— I arrived, they had a candlelight vigil for that and they invited me, but I just couldn't go—

To remember the victims of that— that happened around the same time as I filmed this— where many people lost during the rainy season of Japan. He was so nervous doing this interview.

They say time covers all space scars. They fade over the years, but are always visible. So we won't forget—

That this shots up on the top on the— this is Hiroshima Station down here. If you ever have time, I recommend that you go up here. There is a temple up on the hill behind the station. It takes about 20 minutes to walk up to the top of it. But from here you have a really beautiful panoramic view. Here's the inland— inland sea— the Seto Inland Sea. And you can see all the way to Shikoku on a clear day, but you can see all the hills around it. And the epicenter— the hypocenter is on the other side here. You can't— you can't see that side of the city, but it's a really cool vantage point. So we were up here for about 20 minutes. Super hot day. And then our hotel was down in the center— on the other side— down here, not too far from the Washington Hotel, is where I stayed. If you want to stay here, it's just— it's near Okonomi Mura, which is a great— it was a great place to stay, the hotel.

And then I ended with another time-lapse. If you go at sunset to the— it's— it's here. If I turn the— turn it down, you can see the colors a little bit better. If you go at sunset, you will see the lights come on to the atomic bomb dome. And there's always like this purple background to it. If you go in the spring— just depends on the time of year you go. It's really, really stunning. If you're on the back side of it, away from the river, the sun sets behind the riverside and then the sun rises over the horizon on the other side. So it's better to see the sunset than the sunrise. But it's a really memorable shot when you get the time-lapse of all the clouds moving, the sun setting.

Yeah, I think this episode is different than what I've been doing. I try to find light, fun, and quirky things to cover, but everybody— anybody can cover that. This is just something I thought that not a lot of people could probably do. And it was something that I always wanted to do. The channel is set up for that— Only in Japan. It's— you know— not a vlog, but something where I can inject history. And for me, it was fascinating because I've always loved history— to— to go back and look through that footage and put this story together for you. That was— it was a lot of hard work. I have to be honest with you. This is really, really one of the hardest episodes I've had to make. But it was— it was one that gave me a lot of insight. I'm not— I don't have a degree in— in history on this topic. I'm not the most knowledgeable person in the world on it, but I researched this quite a bit and I learned a lot from it. And I hope that the video that I made helps you when you go to visit Hiroshima, or if you're just studying this— there's— there are books that are better than— about what happened and the politics around it. But if you just are interested— "What is it like there in Hiroshima? What was it like in 1945?" And just on this place then— this episode is really interesting, I think, for you.

I'm going to go now to our Discord server. We have a Discord server and— see— see if I can get some people's opinions and you can hear some voices of some— some— some viewers here. And if you're— anyone can go to this Discord server, you just have to download the app. We have about 2,500 people that are— are part of it. And it's kind of neat because it's 24— 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can use— you can use Only in Japan— it's kind of neat. Let's— let's talk to our wonderful Samurai supporters in Discord. Hello? Anyone there? Hello? Megan? Hello? Megan. All right, let's see if I get the volume up here. So what'd you think? Do you have any questions or thoughts on Hiroshima?

01:05:20 Nash Vern: Vern?

01:05:21 John Daub: Any— any Jason? I think we're having technical difficulties because I'm not hearing you through this. Are you not hearing me through Discord? Okay, but you can just talk then. If you can hear me through YouTube me just fine. Megan hears me just fine. Okay, let's— let's get— if anybody else wants to— to add anything to this— to share what they thought or ask a question— by, just go ahead and do— do— so that'll make it easy. Just— just say anything. Yeah. Some people are shy. It's not easy to just speak out, I think. Yeah. Okay. So we can go into this Discord chat. Let's go into— where's Jim? Jim usually has some of the same— Jim always has a lot to say. Jim might be— I don't know— doing something. Sometimes he's out and about. We also have a general— general voice chat where you don't have to be a supporter. You can go in and talk. Go ahead— go ahead.

01:06:52 Nash Vern: No, the problem—

01:06:53 John Daub: The reason I didn't speak up was because—

So he's saying this— the episode left him speechless. I think two people were trying to talk at the same time. Nobody talks for like 20 minutes— for like 10 minutes, and then everyone's talking. Yeah, I can hear you. All right. All right. I'm breaking up pretty bad. All right. So we're gonna— just gonna— not hear from them. This is a little bit too hard right now, but yeah— I— I hope that you enjoyed this episode. I— I hope it's something that impacted you. A lot of people said that they— that it made them emotional. Some people cried. I think that that's good. Then it— and when you do go to Hiroshima—

Yeah, it's even hard for me to talk about this. When you do go to Hiroshima, hopefully that this kind of helps you understand a little bit more about what you're seeing. That's basically all I wanted to do with this episode. And now for the rest of the history of— Only in Japan— we'll have an episode on this really difficult and complicated subject. And to me, that makes me really happy because somebody has to tell this story and I— I hope other YouTube creators go ahead and do this in their own way and tell the story of Hiroshima.

Thanks, everybody. Leave a question down below if you have any questions. If you have any questions in the livestream chat, you can go ahead and ask me— for the next minute— I'll be on and then I have to get back to work. Tomorrow I'm going to Beijing, China, with Kanai for the Asian Spelling Cup. I go there every year— not to China— sorry— I do something with the Asian Spelling Cup every year where kids from Asia will try to— to spell words in English. And I'm the MC. They're pretty smart here. I'm looking at some here— I will probably visit Hiroshima in the— in a large part due to your coverage. Thank you, Carolyn. That's very nice to hear. I'm glad. Yeah. The spelling— be Sudaru. Yeah. It's going to be fun. I don't know if I'm going to be live streaming it. It's different to live stream in Beijing, China. I say Beijing, China— because we say Peking— for— in Japan for Beijing. I don't know if we can live stream in China, but maybe I'll try. I don't know. I have a VPN which allows me to do that. And yeah— it's nice to see the kids learning English in— in China and— with all the stuff that's happening, it's— it's important for me to go there. I'm the— I'll probably be the only American there, but I think there's a couple thousand people will be in attendance because the one in China is bigger than the international one, and with everything that's going on with China and the US— it's— I think it's a good time for me to go there and— and say, "Look— you know— I'm— I have to give a speech to a couple thousand people, and I'm just going to tell them the message— you know— like we all have our own— we all have our dreams. Whether you're American or you're Chinese, it doesn't really matter. We all have our dreams. We're all connected as people, and that's the most important thing." So hopefully it goes over well. I'll have some stories about that to tell.

We're leaving from Haneda Airport, so I guess you can expect a livestream from Haneda Airport. We love doing live streams at the airport. This is so exciting. I cannot— not help but push going live at the airport. So Kanai and I will be leaving tomorrow morning to go to Beijing. I still gotta pack and I still have to write the speech. Shoot, I forgot about writing the speech. I was toying with doing a midnight snack run tonight or something. So if not, it will be as soon as we come back. So the midnight snack run is overdue. I— I understand that.

I do appreciate you watching. Definitely click the like button if you like— these directors cuts— these directors talks. It does mean a lot to me. Clicking the like button doesn't mean that you agree with everything you see. It means that you think it's good and we should do more of this. That's what I use as an indicator, the like button. That's the value of it. And make sure you hit the— hit the notification bell and click on "always." I checked in the— in the analytics, and only about 13% of people have "always" clicked on with the notification bell. And a lot of people say that they don't get the notifications right away. That could be the reason why— you can pick "always," "sometimes," or "never." So try to pick "always" and you'll always get the notifications because I try to give maybe a 30-minute heads up at least. But these should be spontaneous— they should be fun. They should happen at different times for different time zones— from different people.

Thanks everybody. Have a good day. Good night, wherever you are. Leave me a question or comment below. I'll see you in the next livestream.