00:00:13 John Daub: Welcome, everybody. Welcome. This is a live stream and I wanted to take this time to introduce to you the fireworks project. This is the Kickstarter that has been launched. A lot of you have backed it because we are 55% funded. That means we have 45% of the way to go before we can have this fireworks event up in Akita in October. And without further ado, before we discuss this, at the end of this, I will continue with this live stream.

00:00:44 John Daub: I want you to watch the video that's on Kickstarter. Roll it.

00:01:14 John Daub: I want to introduce to you a project that I'm doing here on Kickstarter. 2020 has been a really challenging year for everyone around the world and here in Japan. So many festivals and events have been canceled or suspended. That includes the Sanja Festival in Tokyo, which draws 3 million people. My favorite festival up in Aomori, which is the Nebuta Festival, that's been canceled as well. And countless Hanabi Taikai or fireworks festivals in all 47 prefectures in Japan.

00:01:44 John Daub: Have been canceled. And that's kind of a downer. So I thought I would bring fireworks back. That's right. I'm starting my own fireworks event called the Only Japan Fireworks Festival. I'll be working with the Japan Fireworks Association and professionals in the fireworks industry here in Japan to manufacture the fireworks as well as put on this amazing event. It's going to take a lot of work, but we have a really good team of people that have done this before. So I'm very hopeful that this is going to be a success. Now, I know that a lot of you have been —

00:02:14 John Daub: Who wanted to come to Japan had to cancel your trips in March, April, May, June, probably the rest of 2020 and maybe a part of 2021. So I want to bring you to Japan with me in this Only in Japan Fireworks Festival. I'll be live streaming this to everybody for free, but it's going to require the backing of supporters to make this a reality because fireworks actually are kind of expensive. And so is putting on a festival that we hope to do. The event is going to be held in —

00:02:44 John Daub: Probably Akita Prefecture, and it'll take place in the middle of October. This, though, has an even deeper meaning than just this year. The history of fireworks in Japan goes back to 1600, but really the first fireworks festival took place in 1733. The year before, about 900,000 people died from disease and hunger, and it was an extremely difficult year. So because Japan was at peace, there was no war going on. They had a lot of gunpowder,

00:03:14 John Daub: They made 20 shells and launched them up along the Sumida River here in Japan, and the Sumida River Fireworks Festival was born from these 20 fireworks. It brought people hope, and it was a good way to honor those that had lost their lives. And in the spirit of that, 2020, this festival has some similarities. This has been a really difficult year for so many people. We've lost a lot of people all around the world. And I think that fireworks is something in that same spirit that we can —

00:03:44 John Daub: Can do to bring us all together and maybe feel some hope as well as remember those that lost their lives just like in 1733.

00:03:50 John Daub: For people backing this project, we have some great perks that include posters and postcards —

00:03:54 John Daub: With the event artwork as well as towels and fans, part of Japanese summer culture to stay —

00:04:04 John Daub: Cool.

00:04:05 John Daub: But I really want to produce a documentary about this whole process and that's going —

00:04:11 John Daub: To be a digital download that you can purchase as one of the perks for backing and that will —

00:04:17 John Daub: Include not just the festival itself in glorious 4K but also the making of and all of the things that were needed to put this together.

00:04:24 John Daub: Drone shots, cannon shots, I want to make this a really unique experience that you can —

00:04:31 John Daub: Watch on your TV and enjoy at home.

00:04:33 John Daub: I'm looking forward to this challenge as well as the live stream which is going to be for —

00:04:37 John Daub: Everybody because I know that you have to stay at home.

00:04:39 John Daub: So there you have it.

00:04:41 John Daub: Let's bring it home.

00:04:41 John Daub: Let's bring some hope and light to this year 2020 and make the second half a really memorable one.

00:04:45 John Daub: Thank you so much for watching and for supporting.

00:04:56 John Daub: Miyajima.

00:04:58 John Daub: I love this one.

00:04:59 John Daub: There's also a scene with Mount Fuji.

00:05:01 John Daub: I think that's like Fuji Rock, one of the concerts there.

00:05:04 John Daub: Awesome.

00:05:05 John Daub: That is the Kickstarter project that is launched a little bit over a week ago and we took about five, six days off because we had to rework the rewards.

00:05:14 John Daub: So we ended up with four tiers.

00:05:18 John Daub: I'm working.

00:05:20 John Daub: The one thing I want to point out to you, this is very important for those that backed Kickstarter before.

00:05:25 John Daub: I learned from the first experience in 2017 that when you do a Kickstarter, don't do it by yourself.

00:05:30 John Daub: If you can, bring other people in to help you out.

00:05:31 John Daub: This time I have the Japan Hanabi Association which is the Japan Fireworks Group.

00:05:39 John Daub: This is the all national organization that coordinates the fireworks for the country of Japan.

00:05:46 John Daub: It's an amazing group.

00:05:47 John Daub: It's really, really cool to work with.

00:05:48 John Daub: They have an office about a 10-minute bicycle ride away.

00:05:52 John Daub: And I talked with them last year when I filmed the 420-kilogram firework episode.

00:05:58 John Daub: And we're working together on this project.

00:06:01 John Daub: So it's not just me.

00:06:03 John Daub: It's a team of people that are helping this time to make this a reality.

00:06:08 John Daub: And I really think that this is going to be so cool because I cannot manufacture fireworks.

00:06:12 John Daub: I need somebody to help me, and this group is helping us.

00:06:17 John Daub: That's sort of the X factor here.

00:06:20 John Daub: I could never do this by myself.

00:06:22 John Daub: This is something that requires a team to do.

00:06:25 John Daub: This is the Kickstarter page.

00:06:28 John Daub: I think... Hold on a second.

00:06:30 John Daub: That's not the Kickstarter page.

00:06:32 John Daub: That's the YouTube page.

00:06:35 John Daub: Here's the Kickstarter page.

00:06:36 John Daub: We have 1.3 million yen.

00:06:39 John Daub: Whoa! What?

00:06:40 John Daub: We just went up to like 1.392.

00:06:43 John Daub: That's awesome.

00:06:44 John Daub: Did you see that? It just moved. What?

00:06:47 John Daub: So this is the page.

00:06:49 John Daub: This is where you can go and back this project.

00:06:52 John Daub: And there is a FAQ, updates, and comments here.

00:06:56 John Daub: And I really want to have a very close, like, back and forth with you.

00:07:04 John Daub: Meaning if you have some questions, if you have ideas, if you have concerns,

00:07:08 John Daub: If you just want to say something nice to me because that always makes me feel good,

00:07:14 John Daub: You can write that here or on Patreon.

00:07:16 John Daub: Or on YouTube or just leave a comment, whatever.

00:07:18 John Daub: But you can back this.

00:07:19 John Daub: If you back the project, leaving a comment is really nice to do.

00:07:23 John Daub: Shout out to Edo for the super chat before.

00:07:27 John Daub: That was pretty cool.

00:07:28 John Daub: I don't want to miss any of this.

00:07:30 John Daub: I'm looking at so many different streams.

00:07:32 John Daub: Irvan is here.

00:07:34 John Daub: Irvan writes in help.

00:07:37 John Daub: Eugene as well.

00:07:38 John Daub: Herbert.

00:07:39 John Daub: Thank you, Eugene.

00:07:40 John Daub: And Edo.

00:07:41 John Daub: We always love Edo when he's chiming in from on the other side over there in Holland.

00:07:47 John Daub: So I have some FAQs, fax answers, questions here.

00:07:51 John Daub: How will the packages be sent?

00:07:53 John Daub: Because of the pandemic, airmail is suspended in many countries.

00:07:57 John Daub: I think, though, that we're going to have airmail in October again to more countries, hopefully Australia.

00:08:04 John Daub: Right now, everything is still possible to send.

00:08:06 John Daub: But seed mail or service mail might be the option.

00:08:10 John Daub: You see that the rewards will be I wrote in here December 2020.

00:08:16 John Daub: This is to give a little bit of time in case I've gone through this before, just to make sure that we have everything and can send it.

00:08:23 John Daub: I hope that this is to you well before December,

00:08:27 John Daub: Because I think two weeks after this, we're going to start sending everything out.

00:08:31 John Daub: Two weeks after this, I'm hoping to have the project all edited as well.

00:08:36 John Daub: Last time I got in trouble because I actually wanted to make physical discs and I couldn't find places and life hit and all this other stuff.

00:08:45 John Daub: This time, we have help.

00:08:46 John Daub: I don't expect to have those same types of problems.

00:08:49 John Daub: Japan Post has a list every two weeks or so, and August list is in here.

00:08:55 John Daub: And I'm consistently looking at that to make sure that there's no problems.

00:09:01 John Daub: When will the 4K video be available?

00:09:04 John Daub: I'm saying four weeks after the event, but probably a lot earlier than that.

00:09:08 John Daub: I'll be working on the documentary as we go along, meaning by the time I film this event, all I have to edit is this event.

00:09:16 John Daub: I'll have to put it into the video, and I render it out, and that's it.

00:09:23 John Daub: I upload it and then give you a link that you can go to download this 4K video or stream it if you want to off of a server.

00:09:31 John Daub: I want you to see something special that's different.

00:09:35 John Daub: This event is going to be brought to you in a live stream,

00:09:43 John Daub: Meaning you're going to be able to see this on YouTube.

00:09:47 John Daub: You don't have to pay anything.

00:09:49 John Daub: But in order for this to happen, we have to pay something.

00:09:54 John Daub: We have to pay something.

00:09:56 John Daub: We're like 60% of the way there, which is crazy close.

00:10:00 John Daub: And we have 24 days to go.

00:10:02 John Daub: So I think we're going to hit this goal.

00:10:03 John Daub: But in order for this live stream to happen, I need your support.

00:10:08 John Daub: We need your help.

00:10:10 John Daub: The 4K video is, I think it's like $25.

00:10:14 John Daub: And if you want a postcard like this one, from this month, this is the Kanazawa postcard that I sent to everybody.

00:10:23 John Daub: This is also on Patreon, by the way.

00:10:25 John Daub: We have the new ones going out.

00:10:27 John Daub: I'm going to send event postcards as well.

00:10:29 John Daub: I think that's for like another $10 or something.

00:10:32 John Daub: I wanted to keep it very reasonable.

00:10:34 John Daub: You can, by the way, support with any amount of money that you want.

00:10:39 John Daub: So if you want to support another $5 on top of that, you can do that.

00:10:43 John Daub: You don't have to support.

00:10:44 John Daub: These are just suggested support levels.

00:10:47 John Daub: It's like when you go into the museum, they suggest $17.

00:10:50 John Daub: And then people will pay like a penny.

00:10:52 John Daub: I've seen people do that.

00:10:53 John Daub: And they just smile and take it.

00:10:54 John Daub: I'm not doing that.

00:10:55 John Daub: Because people would just like give a penny.

00:10:59 John Daub: I don't know.

00:11:00 John Daub: Maybe you give a little bit more.

00:11:02 John Daub: Maybe you give a little bit less.

00:11:03 John Daub: But it always sort of balances out.

00:11:04 John Daub: And what I've learned is that people are pretty generous.

00:11:07 John Daub: And if you don't pressure them, you just let them come on their own,

00:11:10 John Daub: They will usually more times than it will surprise you.

00:11:15 John Daub: People are very, very generous.

00:11:16 John Daub: And as you can see, we have an amazing community here.

00:11:22 John Daub: Let's see.

00:11:23 John Daub: What are some of the other things on this website?

00:11:29 John Daub: So that's the YouTube page.

00:11:31 John Daub: How big are the towels?

00:11:33 John Daub: This is something that I've been asked a lot from people here.

00:11:37 John Daub: I'm holding a sample towel.

00:11:39 John Daub: This is a towel that I got from Robert.

00:11:44 John Daub: Robert Denhart, thanks for your work.

00:11:46 John Daub: Greetings from Berlin.

00:11:48 John Daub: Thank you.

00:11:48 John Daub: We were just in Germany.

00:11:51 John Daub: You know what? Just for a second.

00:11:52 John Daub: I really miss Germany.

00:11:53 John Daub: We went there for the Christmas markets.

00:11:56 John Daub: We didn't go to Berlin.

00:11:57 John Daub: But Kanae and I were just talking the other day how incredible the time has —

00:12:01 John Daub: We were in a Christmas market eight months ago and the world was such a different place.

00:12:05 John Daub: This is an example of the size of the towel.

00:12:09 John Daub: Do you see this?

00:12:10 John Daub: So it's kind of big.

00:12:13 John Daub: Let me open this.

00:12:14 John Daub: Let me go into the —

00:12:17 John Daub: It's kind of big.

00:12:19 John Daub: And it's long.

00:12:21 John Daub: It's really, really long.

00:12:23 John Daub: And this is a towel.

00:12:25 John Daub: This is the towel.

00:12:26 John Daub: It says here Kanazawa.

00:12:29 John Daub: I like this towel.

00:12:31 John Daub: Where is it in the middle here?

00:12:33 John Daub: Kanazawa's Culture and Sports Commission.

00:12:35 John Daub: And they gave this to me when I went to Kanazawa.

00:12:36 John Daub: And I really liked it.

00:12:37 John Daub: It's the size of a towel.

00:12:39 John Daub: You can wrap it around your head like this even with your headphones on.

00:12:43 John Daub: Wow, that looked like an ET.

00:12:46 John Daub: So this is the size of the towel.

00:12:48 John Daub: I don't know.

00:12:49 John Daub: I'm trying to get the best quality that I can possibly get at a price that people will afford.

00:12:55 John Daub: Do you need ten towels?

00:12:57 John Daub: Nosh wrote in.

00:12:57 John Daub: And the answer is —

00:13:00 John Daub: Let me go back to the Kickstarter one.

00:13:01 John Daub: The answer is no.

00:13:04 John Daub: I'm thinking sort of maybe in a Japanese way with this.

00:13:08 John Daub: Meaning on the right side you can see the pledge here.

00:13:11 John Daub: For this deluxe pack, nobody needs ten towels.

00:13:15 John Daub: Okay.

00:13:15 John Daub: But we're sending you the towels because number one,

00:13:18 John Daub: We have to place a minimum order of a thousand so we have a lot of towels.

00:13:22 John Daub: And number two, these make really good gifts to give to people from Japan.

00:13:26 John Daub: And we're putting in the artwork on the towel.

00:13:29 John Daub: So I think this is something if you're thinking about Christmas presents,

00:13:32 John Daub: If you're thinking about stocking stuffers,

00:13:34 John Daub: If you're thinking about something that you want to give to your cousins or, you know, a little present.

00:13:38 John Daub: This is sort of what I was thinking with this.

00:13:41 John Daub: The uchiwa or fans, these are plastic fans that have the design on the front of them.

00:13:47 John Daub: It's going to be the same design.

00:13:48 John Daub: It's going to be the same design on the towels.

00:13:50 John Daub: And these are fans that usually they will just give them away.

00:13:55 John Daub: There's a cost to them, okay?

00:13:56 John Daub: They're not like free really.

00:13:58 John Daub: The ones that we're getting are pretty good quality.

00:14:01 John Daub: And this is the set that you would use in Japanese summer if you were to set up.

00:14:07 John Daub: And this is the geek in me, all right?

00:14:10 John Daub: This is the geek in me.

00:14:11 John Daub: I have done living room camping.

00:14:14 John Daub: You all know that if you've been watching the live streams.

00:14:16 John Daub: And I like to set up my tent in the living room and I have a campfire.

00:14:20 John Daub: My vision as a geek, we're all kind of geeks, okay?

00:14:25 John Daub: My vision is that you will set up your blue sheet in your living room and you will watch the fireworks on your TV with uchiwa fans and put your blue sheet on your living room floor.

00:14:38 John Daub: And that's, I thought that was pretty funny.

00:14:42 John Daub: Maybe not. No one's laughing. I'm by myself. Kanae's asleep.

00:14:46 John Daub: But that was sort of my vision with this.

00:14:50 John Daub: Will it come true? I don't know. I don't know.

00:14:53 John Daub: So there's that.

00:14:54 John Daub: The towels are, the size is written in there.

00:14:57 John Daub: So I think maybe we should put in inches as well.

00:15:01 John Daub: They're pretty big, right?

00:15:03 John Daub: I mean 84, these could be bath towels.

00:15:06 John Daub: I mean do you really need all that space?

00:15:08 John Daub: You know, let's be honest here.

00:15:11 John Daub: And the answer is no, all right?

00:15:14 John Daub: If you're being fully honest.

00:15:16 John Daub: I'm going to get back into the chat here.

00:15:19 John Daub: I don't want to miss anything.

00:15:20 John Daub: I talk a little bit about the Japan Fireworks Association as well as a video.

00:15:24 John Daub: I'm hoping one of the things that we can do is —

00:15:33 John Daub: I'm seeing if I can get some help from the Japan Cultural,

00:15:37 John Daub: The Japan Commission, some financial backing.

00:15:40 John Daub: Because the bigger we can make this fireworks festival,

00:15:43 John Daub: The cooler it will be.

00:15:44 John Daub: And if this is something that I'm showing the world,

00:15:46 John Daub: And there's some value in other government agencies supporting us too,

00:15:50 John Daub: And making it even bigger.

00:15:51 John Daub: I'm putting all the money into the fireworks because it just makes sense.

00:15:54 John Daub: This is something that I dream about doing.

00:15:58 John Daub: I've always dreamed to have the biggest fireworks festival.

00:16:02 John Daub: I miss the fireworks.

00:16:04 John Daub: I miss the fireworks, okay?

00:16:08 John Daub: Here's the video that they let me borrow.

00:16:11 John Daub: This video for my video.

00:16:13 John Daub: So this is, this is —

00:16:18 John Daub: I'll put a link in the description for this so you can take a look at it.

00:16:21 John Daub: But this commission is really cool and they're giving us some help.

00:16:25 John Daub: And any kind of financial help would be pretty cool too.

00:16:29 John Daub: Fireworks is not cheap, alright?

00:16:30 John Daub: I want to lay this out because this is going to be a short live stream.

00:16:34 John Daub: Fireworks are not cheap.

00:16:36 John Daub: They cost a lot of money actually.

00:16:38 John Daub: It's surprising.

00:16:39 John Daub: But they're not as expensive as like a new car.

00:16:43 John Daub: Wait a second.

00:16:44 John Daub: They're about as expensive as a new car.

00:16:45 John Daub: Okay?

00:16:47 John Daub: And like $25,000 is not chump change.

00:16:50 John Daub: That's kind of a big deal.

00:16:53 John Daub: And I'm hoping —

00:16:54 John Daub: Hey, Robert.

00:16:54 John Daub: Robert, thanks for your work.

00:16:56 John Daub: I'm looking at the chat here.

00:16:59 John Daub: It's kind of behind.

00:17:02 John Daub: Kind of behind.

00:17:04 John Daub: Mayor, how you doing?

00:17:05 John Daub: Thank you, John. We can do it.

00:17:07 John Daub: Yes, Faye's life is here.

00:17:08 John Daub: Hey, Faye.

00:17:09 John Daub: I always get happy when I see Faye.

00:17:11 John Daub: Hey, John.

00:17:11 John Daub: Hey, Faye.

00:17:13 John Daub: Kirby is a traveler.

00:17:14 John Daub: Welcome.

00:17:15 John Daub: I don't want to miss any of these.

00:17:16 John Daub: Sakura is here.

00:17:19 John Daub: How you doing, Sakura?

00:17:21 John Daub: That's awesome.

00:17:24 John Daub: All right.

00:17:27 John Daub: So that's kind of the project in a nutshell.

00:17:30 John Daub: Do you have any questions?

00:17:31 John Daub: I'm looking now at the live video just to answer some of your questions about the project.

00:17:40 John Daub: And I have no doubt we're going to get to this.

00:17:43 John Daub: We're going to get to the top.

00:17:45 John Daub: We're going to get to the goal.

00:17:47 John Daub: It's just going to take some time.

00:17:49 John Daub: Hopefully I can bring in some of my friends.

00:17:52 John Daub: And the event is going to be held up in Akita.

00:17:57 John Daub: And one of the things that I wanted to do is not tell you.

00:18:01 John Daub: One of the things I don't want to do is to tell you the location exactly because I don't want people coming.

00:18:05 John Daub: I want this to be something that's stay at home kind of an event because one of the reasons and one of the stipulations is that we can't have large groups of people coming together.

00:18:19 John Daub: The country of Japan actually has this stipulation, this rule, this policy for events.

00:18:26 John Daub: We can't have people coming together.

00:18:28 John Daub: So it's very important that I don't tell you the location.

00:18:31 John Daub: It's top secret.

00:18:32 John Daub: And if you want to know more about the location, you have to buy the documentary because I'm going to have that all in the video.

00:18:38 John Daub: And then the live stream, Kanae and I will travel up to the location which is in Akita.

00:18:45 John Daub: And in this large area.

00:18:47 John Daub: By the way, Akita is a very large place.

00:18:48 John Daub: Don't go there and try to find me either.

00:18:50 John Daub: Some of you people want to.

00:18:52 John Daub: You find me card and look for me.

00:18:54 John Daub: Adrian Head writes in here, fantastic idea, John.

00:18:57 John Daub: Great to see you live from Worsheshire.

00:19:00 John Daub: I can't pronounce it.

00:19:01 John Daub: Worsheshire.

00:19:02 John Daub: I'll get it right.

00:19:04 John Daub: Thank you.

00:19:04 John Daub: It's so good to see you.

00:19:06 John Daub: Let me take a look.

00:19:07 John Daub: What is the deadline for supporting?

00:19:09 John Daub: Great question, Edo.

00:19:11 John Daub: It's September 5th, I believe.

00:19:13 John Daub: I'm going to say September 5th.

00:19:15 John Daub: Basically in about 25 days from now.

00:19:18 John Daub: And the event, the Kickstarter will stop.

00:19:21 John Daub: And then we are either funded or we're not and this doesn't take place.

00:19:26 John Daub: So if you are supporting, you're now an investor.

00:19:30 John Daub: We have to make this happen.

00:19:32 John Daub: We have to make this happen.

00:19:34 John Daub: Hi, John.

00:19:35 John Daub: I just bought 25K Kickstarter thing.

00:19:38 John Daub: Yes.

00:19:39 John Daub: Here are 50 bugs additional for you and Kanae.

00:19:42 John Daub: Awesome.

00:19:43 John Daub: For lunch, dinner.

00:19:44 John Daub: How about breakfast?

00:19:45 John Daub: Because that's what's coming up after this.

00:19:47 John Daub: You might order something tomorrow.

00:19:49 John Daub: Thank you so much.

00:19:50 John Daub: This is from G-Scene 3000.

00:19:52 John Daub: Thanks for supporting the project.

00:19:54 John Daub: We're getting like closer to 60, 65%.

00:19:56 John Daub: Probably we'll be at 75%.

00:19:58 John Daub: The more I promote this, the better.

00:20:00 John Daub: I have some friends.

00:20:02 John Daub: Thank you so much from Switzerland.

00:20:04 John Daub: That's awesome.

00:20:06 John Daub: I have some people that are helping me behind the scenes.

00:20:10 John Daub: Nina is somebody who's helping.

00:20:13 John Daub: Hannah, my assistant, is in America.

00:20:16 John Daub: So she can't assist.

00:20:17 John Daub: So Nina is helping me here.

00:20:19 John Daub: And she's sent out a press release to about 15 major media outlets around the world as well as some that have offices here in Japan.

00:20:30 John Daub: And the Japan Hanabi Association has put out a press release in Japanese to like 50 media here in Japan.

00:20:39 John Daub: And the idea is we have an amazing family here on YouTube.

00:20:43 John Daub: And we're probably going to fund it with just Only in Japan support, which is awesome.

00:20:47 John Daub: But if we can make this even bigger, I'm putting all of the money into making more fireworks.

00:20:52 John Daub: I just want bigger, longer, as much as we can get.

00:20:56 John Daub: If I can even get bigger fireworks, I want that.

00:21:00 John Daub: This is going to be just epic.

00:21:03 John Daub: Every single blast that is in the sky is ours.

00:21:07 John Daub: Do you understand that?

00:21:08 John Daub: We own these fireworks, okay?

00:21:11 John Daub: This is the coolest thing in the world.

00:21:13 John Daub: For me and maybe for a lot of you, or maybe you just want the towel.

00:21:16 John Daub: I don't know.

00:21:17 John Daub: But this is like a dream come true for any kid inside of me.

00:21:21 John Daub: I'm a 47-year-old man.

00:21:24 John Daub: Whew.

00:21:24 John Daub: All right.

00:21:25 John Daub: That was like a mouthful to say all that.

00:21:27 John Daub: Struggle Bean, welcome to the Traveler.

00:21:30 John Daub: It's nice to see new members here.

00:21:32 John Daub: We're getting closer and closer to 1,000 membership on the Only in Japan Go.

00:21:38 John Daub: My main question is, Mr. Daz, will there be B-B?

00:21:44 John Daub: Beer.

00:21:44 John Daub: Will there be beer?

00:21:46 John Daub: Yes.

00:21:46 John Daub: There will be beer.

00:21:48 John Daub: There will be acai.

00:21:49 John Daub: And I'll make sure that there's one just for you sweating in the autumn.

00:21:54 John Daub: It's actually autumn.

00:21:55 John Daub: It's still kind of warm.

00:21:57 John Daub: Sweating in the autumn coolness.

00:21:59 John Daub: There'll be one there for you, Mr. Daz.

00:22:01 John Daub: Okay?

00:22:01 John Daub: Thank you so much.

00:22:03 John Daub: We appreciate it each time.

00:22:04 John Daub: I always look for Mr. Daz, too, in the live streams because he's always get the beer money there.

00:22:13 John Daub: So, $25.

00:22:13 John Daub: $25 has towels.

00:22:17 John Daub: $25 tier has towels.

00:22:18 John Daub: I don't think so.

00:22:21 John Daub: I like these questions because it helps to explain it.

00:22:24 John Daub: I'll go over the tiers with you.

00:22:25 John Daub: I'll go over the tiers.

00:22:27 John Daub: Tiers of joy.

00:22:30 John Daub: It's so bad.

00:22:33 John Daub: All right.

00:22:34 John Daub: Tiers of joy.

00:22:34 John Daub: Okay.

00:22:35 John Daub: Here we are.

00:22:35 John Daub: We're back.

00:22:38 John Daub: So, I can't see your chat, by the way.

00:22:40 John Daub: The first level is a pledge without a reward.

00:22:44 John Daub: We had somebody who gave like $100 with no reward.

00:22:49 John Daub: And I just want to say thank you to that person.

00:22:52 John Daub: I really want to send you something.

00:22:54 John Daub: So, just leave your address.

00:22:56 John Daub: You know, somehow I'll send you like a postcard or something.

00:22:59 John Daub: I can't not give you something for something so generous.

00:23:02 John Daub: The postcard starts at like the postcard club at 1500 yen delivered anywhere in the world.

00:23:09 John Daub: The next level is the 4K download.

00:23:11 John Daub: That does not have a towel.

00:23:12 John Daub: It will say clearly what's included.

00:23:14 John Daub: That's just the video.

00:23:16 John Daub: That's a lot of editing, by the way.

00:23:18 John Daub: So, it's worth it.

00:23:19 John Daub: All right.

00:23:20 John Daub: You're paying for my skill and for a great entertaining video.

00:23:25 John Daub: How long is it?

00:23:26 John Daub: I'm not sure.

00:23:27 John Daub: I believe it's going to be like it'll be over 30 minutes and less than an hour and a half.

00:23:31 John Daub: How about that?

00:23:33 John Daub: All right.

00:23:33 John Daub: In 4K.

00:23:34 John Daub: Glorious.

00:23:35 John Daub: It's glorious.

00:23:36 John Daub: It'll look great.

00:23:38 John Daub: 3500 yen, which is like $32.

00:23:41 John Daub: You get the video and a postcard.

00:23:43 John Daub: And the reason why is because I really want to send everybody a postcard.

00:23:47 John Daub: I think it's really cool to get something in the mail from this event.

00:23:50 John Daub: And if I can, I'm going to send the postcards from Akita Prefecture, meaning from the place that we send it,

00:23:58 John Daub: You will have a postmark stamp Akita.

00:24:01 John Daub: And maybe it'll say the town, but it'll be from there.

00:24:05 John Daub: And from this point, it just feels good to send it from the origin, right?

00:24:09 John Daub: So, you're going to get a postcard from where we launched this.

00:24:12 John Daub: On the day that we launched it.

00:24:14 John Daub: In fact, I might put putting the postcards to the post office in the documentary.

00:24:21 John Daub: That would be pretty cool.

00:24:23 John Daub: That'd be pretty cool.

00:24:24 John Daub: The next pledge level is 7000 yen.

00:24:26 John Daub: And this is a solo summer fireworks video pack.

00:24:30 John Daub: And I just wanted to come up with things that I could share with you my passion for Japanese summer.

00:24:36 John Daub: Something that was fun.

00:24:37 John Daub: This was one of those things.

00:24:39 John Daub: And what you get is a —

00:24:41 John Daub: You get a towel like this one.

00:24:44 John Daub: You get an Uchiwa.

00:24:47 John Daub: It says here summer fan.

00:24:48 John Daub: I wish they wrote Uchiwa.

00:24:50 John Daub: An Uchiwa is —

00:24:52 John Daub: It's a plastic fan.

00:24:54 John Daub: I'll put a picture in the next update.

00:24:56 John Daub: If you're a backer, you'll see an Uchiwa.

00:24:58 John Daub: It's a fan that they usually will give away for free, but it has an advertisement on it.

00:25:02 John Daub: But you can buy them for like 200–300 yen.

00:25:05 John Daub: Sometimes cheaper.

00:25:06 John Daub: You can make your own with your own family picture on it for like 500–600 yen.

00:25:11 John Daub: Or something like this.

00:25:12 John Daub: So you get one of those, a towel, a postcard, the movie, and you get a blue sheet.

00:25:18 John Daub: This is —

00:25:19 John Daub: A blue sheet is one of those sheets that you see in Japan for picnicking for the cherry blossoms.

00:25:25 John Daub: You get a little blue sheet that you can have to sit in your living room with the blue sheet.

00:25:29 John Daub: I don't know what you're going to do with the blue sheet.

00:25:31 John Daub: I don't know.

00:25:32 John Daub: It's good for picnicking, but it's a Japanese thing.

00:25:34 John Daub: It's just —

00:25:35 John Daub: I thought it was cool to send this.

00:25:37 John Daub: It'll be sent in an envelope.

00:25:38 John Daub: I believe —

00:25:40 John Daub: In the estimated delivery is December.

00:25:42 John Daub: I believe it'll get there before there.

00:25:44 John Daub: As long as we send an airmail.

00:25:46 John Daub: The next one is the Couple Summers Bioworks Pack.

00:25:49 John Daub: This is two towels for you and your loved one.

00:25:52 John Daub: Or your child or whoever you want to give the other towel to.

00:25:57 John Daub: And then a summer —

00:25:58 John Daub: Two Uchiwas.

00:25:59 John Daub: So you both can fan yourselves.

00:26:01 John Daub: This is another blue sheet.

00:26:05 John Daub: Japanese Festival Essentials Blue Picnic Sheet.

00:26:07 John Daub: I wish this was a blue sheet.

00:26:09 John Daub: Postcard.

00:26:10 John Daub: Download of John's video.

00:26:12 John Daub: And your name in the credits.

00:26:14 John Daub: Which is something that we put in —

00:26:17 John Daub: Hold on.

00:26:17 John Daub: The name in the credits is every —

00:26:18 John Daub: I think if you buy the video, you get your name in the credits.

00:26:21 John Daub: How about that?

00:26:23 John Daub: The pledge for 10,000 yen or more.

00:26:25 John Daub: This is the special one.

00:26:26 John Daub: This is the poster, postcard, and video level.

00:26:29 John Daub: This reward.

00:26:30 John Daub: This is a hundred dollars or Ichima Yen.

00:26:33 John Daub: Which is about a hundred dollars.

00:26:35 John Daub: You're going to get an event poster.

00:26:37 John Daub: Which I believe will be the —

00:26:38 John Daub: The largest size that —

00:26:40 John Daub: I believe it's like —

00:26:43 John Daub: We do everything in like A4, A3, A2, A1.

00:26:47 John Daub: I believe it was an A2 or an A1.

00:26:50 John Daub: It's a pretty big —

00:26:51 John Daub: It's poster size pretty much.

00:26:52 John Daub: And it comes in a cylinder.

00:26:54 John Daub: And we have to send that to you special.

00:26:56 John Daub: The reason why it's not in any of the other packages is because the poster is a special edition.

00:27:02 John Daub: Meaning there's extra cost to not just the poster.

00:27:07 John Daub: Because we intend to sign it by the way.

00:27:09 John Daub: But not just the poster but actually sending it.

00:27:11 John Daub: We can't send it in the box or else it'll get all wrinkled up.

00:27:16 John Daub: You have to fold it.

00:27:18 John Daub: If we can come up with a way around that then maybe we will add posters to all the other levels.

00:27:23 John Daub: That's the way the posters aren't in the other levels.

00:27:26 John Daub: I want to make that clear.

00:27:27 John Daub: Each level clearly states what's in it.

00:27:30 John Daub: And the poster is not in any of these other levels.

00:27:33 John Daub: Just to make that clear.

00:27:34 John Daub: But if there is demand, we can make another level with those posters in it.

00:27:39 John Daub: That's possible.

00:27:42 John Daub: Next week.

00:27:44 John Daub: Next week.

00:27:45 John Daub: Pledge for 15,000 yen which is about $150.

00:27:48 John Daub: Family pack.

00:27:49 John Daub: Four towels.

00:27:50 John Daub: Four fans.

00:27:50 John Daub: Because kids don't like to share.

00:27:52 John Daub: I know.

00:27:53 John Daub: I don't like to share.

00:27:54 John Daub: But I will just give it to Kanae and give up.

00:27:57 John Daub: I give her everything.

00:27:58 John Daub: Digital download of the video.

00:28:00 John Daub: A postcard.

00:28:01 John Daub: One postcard.

00:28:02 John Daub: Okay.

00:28:02 John Daub: Even though it's a whole family.

00:28:04 John Daub: One postcard.

00:28:05 John Daub: One digital download.

00:28:06 John Daub: Which is —

00:28:07 John Daub: Yeah.

00:28:08 John Daub: And four fans and four towels and a bigger blue sheet.

00:28:13 John Daub: And I think that that's —

00:28:15 John Daub: Yeah.

00:28:16 John Daub: That really helps to support the project.

00:28:20 John Daub: For the same amount —

00:28:22 John Daub: So I actually —

00:28:24 John Daub: We actually had to limit the pledge because of spelling errors and stuff.

00:28:30 John Daub: So we recreated the level which is still available.

00:28:34 John Daub: The 25,000 yen one which is a deluxe package.

00:28:37 John Daub: We had to limit this too because initially deluxe was spelled incorrectly.

00:28:41 John Daub: And there were some mistakes.

00:28:43 John Daub: So we had to redo this a few days ago.

00:28:46 John Daub: So we have one backer for that.

00:28:48 John Daub: Hey.

00:28:48 John Daub: That's the backer from Switzerland.

00:28:50 John Daub: Thank you.

00:28:52 John Daub: This has ten towels.

00:28:53 John Daub: Ten summer fans.

00:28:54 John Daub: I know you don't need these towels.

00:28:56 John Daub: But these are gifts that you can give to friends.

00:28:59 John Daub: And to family for Christmas.

00:29:03 John Daub: Whatever you want to do with it.

00:29:04 John Daub: You get a copy of the video.

00:29:05 John Daub: You get your name in the credits.

00:29:07 John Daub: And I might —

00:29:09 John Daub: Nosh Abroad, one of our moderators, recommended something really cool.

00:29:13 John Daub: You can do shout outs in the video.

00:29:16 John Daub: And I think anybody who gives a certain amount maybe will do a shout out.

00:29:23 John Daub: So I'm going to be doing another update on this project every week or every few days.

00:29:28 John Daub: Because I want to get this project back.

00:29:31 John Daub: So possibly adding a shout out in the video from the event might be something that's pretty cool.

00:29:38 John Daub: So I might add that in if you're willing to pledge at —

00:29:42 John Daub: Let's just say that that will be guaranteed into the 25,000 yen pledge.

00:29:46 John Daub: We'll do a shout out for you.

00:29:49 John Daub: And there was an early bird that's all sold out.

00:29:53 John Daub: There's always an early bird that's sold out.

00:29:55 John Daub: That's the first one that goes each time really fast.

00:29:57 John Daub: All right, I'm looking now at the YouTube to answer some more questions here.

00:30:06 John Daub: Let's see.

00:30:09 John Daub: I might have missed some of the super chats as well.

00:30:14 John Daub: I apologize if I did.

00:30:19 John Daub: Struggle Bean is now a traveler.

00:30:20 John Daub: How cool is that?

00:30:22 John Daub: So Mr. Das' question has been answered.

00:30:25 John Daub: I'm looking at some more questions here.

00:30:31 John Daub: Almost 75% funded? Really?

00:30:37 John Daub: No.

00:30:38 John Daub: We're not that close.

00:30:40 John Daub: We have less than a million yen to go.

00:30:44 John Daub: That's pretty significant.

00:30:47 John Daub: There's less than a million yen.

00:30:49 John Daub: That's less than 10,000 of the 25,000.

00:30:53 John Daub: That's awesome.

00:30:54 John Daub: So we're getting there little by little.

00:30:58 John Daub: A towel and poster combination would be cool.

00:31:01 John Daub: Okay, Edo.

00:31:02 John Daub: We're going to see if we can put together different coordinations.

00:31:06 John Daub: The thing is that it won't be that cheap.

00:31:10 John Daub: The prices keep going up.

00:31:12 John Daub: But we have to make a certain amount of —

00:31:15 John Daub: In order for this to work out, you have to order a certain amount.

00:31:19 John Daub: So if we have to order 1,000 towels,

00:31:21 John Daub: It makes sense for us to give towels in the deal.

00:31:27 John Daub: As well as the posters.

00:31:29 John Daub: This is all about giving you rewards for backing this.

00:31:33 John Daub: I don't know if this might not be worth it to you.

00:31:37 John Daub: Or it might not be.

00:31:38 John Daub: I don't know.

00:31:39 John Daub: All I know is that we're less than $10,000 away from our goal.

00:31:44 John Daub: And once we hit the goal, this will 100% take place.

00:31:49 John Daub: And one of the risks that was —

00:31:52 John Daub: Can you add PayPal as payment?

00:31:54 John Daub: I don't know.

00:31:55 John Daub: This is —

00:31:55 John Daub: The only way you can pay is the way that Kickstarter —

00:32:00 John Daub: You have to pay through Kickstarter.

00:32:02 John Daub: Alright?

00:32:03 John Daub: Everything has to go through Kickstarter.

00:32:04 John Daub: And all that money is going to the —

00:32:07 John Daub: Japan Hanabi Association to make the fireworks.

00:32:10 John Daub: None of that is coming to me.

00:32:14 John Daub: Everything is going for this.

00:32:15 John Daub: After we get to the stretch goal, then maybe I make a little bit off of this.

00:32:20 John Daub: But I want to put everything into this project.

00:32:23 John Daub: And I want to put everything on the line.

00:32:25 John Daub: Everything is going into this.

00:32:28 John Daub: I want to just make more fireworks.

00:32:30 John Daub: So it's not about me getting a payday out of this.

00:32:33 John Daub: It's 100% about me making a heck of a lot of fireworks.

00:32:36 John Daub: And filming them.

00:32:37 John Daub: Because nothing brings me more joy than filming things exploding from cannons.

00:32:41 John Daub: Alright?

00:32:42 John Daub: And I couldn't do that before.

00:32:43 John Daub: Now I can.

00:32:44 John Daub: Now we can.

00:32:46 John Daub: Because you're coming with me.

00:32:47 John Daub: So you can come with me and film it too.

00:32:50 John Daub: It's kind of cool.

00:32:51 John Daub: Alright, back to this.

00:32:54 John Daub: Congrats on hitting 50,000 fast on your main channel.

00:32:58 John Daub: Thank you, Wing Live S.

00:32:59 John Daub: Appreciate that.

00:33:02 John Daub: Mrs. Quills.

00:33:03 John Daub: Not the color and print though.

00:33:05 John Daub: But something of that size.

00:33:07 John Daub: I missed something there.

00:33:09 John Daub: The print.

00:33:10 John Daub: Okay.

00:33:11 John Daub: So I think I can show you a little bit.

00:33:14 John Daub: What is —

00:33:15 John Daub: Some people are going to be asking about the towel.

00:33:19 John Daub: I put an update in the last Kickstarter here.

00:33:25 John Daub: If you're backing it, you can see the updates.

00:33:27 John Daub: And I wrote here 50% funded.

00:33:30 John Daub: And if you click that and open it up, there is a picture.

00:33:34 John Daub: Do you see that in the center of your screen?

00:33:37 John Daub: That is the picture.

00:33:38 John Daub: That is the picture that you're going to see on the towel.

00:33:46 John Daub: But right now we're going to fill it in with color.

00:33:50 John Daub: And we're going to fill it in with fireworks above there.

00:33:53 John Daub: And we're going to put people on the bridge.

00:33:55 John Daub: And then John and Kanae somewhere on there as well.

00:33:59 John Daub: And this will be on the towel.

00:34:00 John Daub: As with Only in Japan Fireworks Festival 2020.

00:34:04 John Daub: That is —

00:34:05 John Daub: That's going to be really cool.

00:34:09 John Daub: This is —

00:34:10 John Daub: It's very important that we have a really good artwork.

00:34:16 John Daub: And so I hired a local artist to do that.

00:34:19 John Daub: Which is going to be pretty cool.

00:34:21 John Daub: King Wong is here.

00:34:22 John Daub: Wong want big kabooms.

00:34:25 John Daub: Sorry.

00:34:26 John Daub: King want big kabooms.

00:34:32 John Daub: King, I love you.

00:34:33 John Daub: That's —

00:34:34 John Daub: King, you're going to get some king size kabooms.

00:34:37 John Daub: Okay?

00:34:38 John Daub: They're going to be massive.

00:34:41 John Daub: The fact that we can get —

00:34:42 John Daub: The fact that we can get really close to this is going to be pretty amazing.

00:34:47 John Daub: The fact that I can put cameras near the camera —

00:34:50 John Daub: Cannons and I can do stuff because it's not a government funded thing.

00:34:55 John Daub: It's a fan funded thing.

00:34:56 John Daub: It's different.

00:34:57 John Daub: I'll have more flexibility.

00:34:58 John Daub: I don't know about the drones yet.

00:35:00 John Daub: 100%.

00:35:01 John Daub: But I'm pretty sure I can film with cameras.

00:35:04 John Daub: I can film with cameras by the cannons and things like this.

00:35:05 John Daub: Because this is going to be —

00:35:06 John Daub: This documentary is going to be awesome.

00:35:09 John Daub: I want you to see a picture in 4K.

00:35:11 John Daub: There's an image of the firework.

00:35:14 John Daub: Some dude lighting the fuse.

00:35:17 John Daub: I don't know how —

00:35:17 John Daub: I don't even know how they do it.

00:35:18 John Daub: I believe some dude lighting a shell.

00:35:20 John Daub: Putting it in like a mortar.

00:35:22 John Daub: And then going —

00:35:22 John Daub: And then you see it like the burst.

00:35:25 John Daub: And then the next shot is the firework stream going up.

00:35:28 John Daub: That —

00:35:30 John Daub: And then it just exploding.

00:35:32 John Daub: And then —

00:35:33 John Daub: That's what I want to show you.

00:35:35 John Daub: Like from —

00:35:36 John Daub: And then the making of the firework shells.

00:35:39 John Daub: Where the artists are putting it all together.

00:35:41 John Daub: We're going to be following this from the origin to the explosion to my elation to degradation.

00:35:52 John Daub: Just reminded with elation.

00:35:55 John Daub: It's hard to do live streams and be really crafty here.

00:36:00 John Daub: Anyways, this is a full 1080p live stream.

00:36:03 John Daub: You're seeing that 1080p is a little bit pixelated and jerky.

00:36:07 John Daub: This is why we still use 720p.

00:36:09 John Daub: This is on my Wi-Fi.

00:36:10 John Daub: So this is another reason why 720p is still the king of live streaming.

00:36:14 John Daub: 1080p is still not here without the 5G.

00:36:17 John Daub: It's just a little bit harder to do.

00:36:19 John Daub: Put a camera on the fire —

00:36:21 John Daub: Dario, can we do that?

00:36:23 John Daub: Nosh?

00:36:24 John Daub: Anybody?

00:36:25 John Daub: Can we do that?

00:36:26 John Daub: I don't know.

00:36:30 John Daub: Fravelist writes in here.

00:36:31 John Daub: Hi, John.

00:36:31 John Daub: I'm a certified fireworks —

00:36:33 John Daub: Fire director doubt I'll get over to Japan this year.

00:36:36 John Daub: Good luck with the project.

00:36:37 John Daub: Thank you.

00:36:38 John Daub: Whoa.

00:36:38 John Daub: Certified fireworks firer.

00:36:41 John Daub: That's awesome.

00:36:42 John Daub: Isn't it?

00:36:42 John Daub: Wait, hold on.

00:36:44 John Daub: Fravelist, you don't have to give another super chat.

00:36:45 John Daub: But isn't there a name like pyrotechnician or something for people who do this?

00:36:52 John Daub: I've been trying to research this and coming up with the names.

00:36:55 John Daub: I think pyrotechnician or something.

00:36:57 John Daub: That is an amazing name for like a job.

00:37:02 John Daub: What's your job?

00:37:03 John Daub: Pyrotechnician.

00:37:04 John Daub: Like that's just —

00:37:06 John Daub: That's awesome.

00:37:06 John Daub: I want my business card and just look like fire on it.

00:37:11 John Daub: Pyrotechnician.

00:37:14 John Daub: Let's see here.

00:37:14 John Daub: Hit the like button, everybody.

00:37:15 John Daub: Oh, yeah.

00:37:16 John Daub: I keep forgetting to ask about that.

00:37:19 John Daub: Irvan writes in here.

00:37:20 John Daub: Another reason to get a Sony a7S III.

00:37:22 John Daub: Irvan, I'm going to be filming this with a new camera.

00:37:25 John Daub: That's for sure.

00:37:25 John Daub: The problem with the a7S III is in Japan.

00:37:29 John Daub: It comes out October 9th.

00:37:30 John Daub: This project is set to take place on October 10th.

00:37:33 John Daub: So it's going to be really hard to get that camera in advance.

00:37:36 John Daub: I can contact Sony, but we'll see.

00:37:40 John Daub: We will see.

00:37:42 John Daub: It is almost 3 a.m.

00:37:44 John Daub: I'm going to bed in a couple of minutes.

00:37:46 John Daub: Don't worry about me.

00:37:48 John Daub: I'm up for America.

00:37:49 John Daub: All right?

00:37:50 John Daub: This is a patriotic thing.

00:37:54 John Daub: It truly is.

00:37:55 John Daub: Fireworks.

00:37:55 John Daub: When I see the fireworks, I still like stand up and I want to see the Pledge of Allegiance.

00:37:59 John Daub: For me, fireworks also is so much connected, I know, to Japan, but also to like America.

00:38:04 John Daub: Because July 4th, it's like July 4th every Saturday in the summer in Japan.

00:38:09 John Daub: And before I go, I showed you the, oh, Fravelous wrote in here, yes, pyrotechnician is the title.

00:38:15 John Daub: Not my real job, though.

00:38:18 John Daub: Yeah, I know.

00:38:19 John Daub: I know.

00:38:20 John Daub: But still, that's such a cool, that's a cool title for anybody's job.

00:38:24 John Daub: I have my pyrotechnician's license.

00:38:26 John Daub: Whoa, Tony's got one, too?

00:38:27 John Daub: Tony, you're like, like the James Bond of, I mean, every time I see Tony, he's got like a different background.

00:38:34 John Daub: And stuff.

00:38:34 John Daub: He's doing some pretty amazing stuff.

00:38:36 John Daub: Jeff Ang writes in here, I have, hi, John.

00:38:39 John Daub: Just updated my contribution to the fireworks festival.

00:38:42 John Daub: Can't wait.

00:38:42 John Daub: Thank you, Jeff.

00:38:44 John Daub: I appreciate every single, even if you just support a dollar, that's, that's, we don't, then we need, we need $25,001 bills.

00:38:54 John Daub: That's, actually, that's a lot.

00:38:56 John Daub: I didn't, when I, when I first did the Kickstarter the first time, I asked for $5,000 to hitchhike the country.

00:39:02 John Daub: I didn't expect that we would get like $25,000.

00:39:06 John Daub: And this is the same amount as what I got in the last Kickstarter.

00:39:12 John Daub: So I figured we'd be able to make the goal.

00:39:15 John Daub: The last Kickstarter, I got to, we got to $5,000, my goal, in less than five days.

00:39:23 John Daub: That's how awesome our community is.

00:39:24 John Daub: I was in, I remember when I was hitchhiking and the goal was reached in five days, and I was, I think it was in like Fukuoka.

00:39:31 John Daub: I was crying in the hotel room.

00:39:33 John Daub: Because I could not believe that, that the trip had been funded in five days.

00:39:37 John Daub: I thought I would have to be fighting and, and really have to like work hard for it.

00:39:44 John Daub: But we hit $5,000.

00:39:45 John Daub: I think I kept it realistic and didn't make a goal that was outrageous.

00:39:50 John Daub: The fireworks goal, actually, the Hanabi Association said that we should probably start at like $35,000.

00:39:58 John Daub: But I said, let's start at $25,000 and just make it really, really small.

00:40:02 John Daub: And then from this, grow.

00:40:03 John Daub: I think it's good to reach the goal and get everybody excited and then stretch and do a stretch goal.

00:40:09 John Daub: So we're at the lowest, this $25,000 is the lowest possible price that we can start this Kickstarter.

00:40:15 John Daub: All right.

00:40:16 John Daub: Anything less than this, we can't really hold the event.

00:40:19 John Daub: And this, inside of the price is bringing me and Kanae, another cameraman, the Hanabi Association people, up to Akita.

00:40:28 John Daub: It's all baked into the budget.

00:40:30 John Daub: And to hold this there.

00:40:32 John Daub: As well as to transport the fireworks.

00:40:34 John Daub: Like everything has a cost associated to it.

00:40:36 John Daub: And we have a budget list to it.

00:40:39 John Daub: And it comes out to roughly $25,000.

00:40:41 John Daub: And this is the starting point.

00:40:43 John Daub: With maybe a little bit of money in case some things go wrong.

00:40:48 John Daub: We have a budget, of course.

00:40:50 John Daub: A contingent.

00:40:51 John Daub: There's like a, maybe like a little bit of a contingency fee in there.

00:40:54 John Daub: But after $25,000, that's when we start to build on this.

00:40:58 John Daub: And I'm really hoping we hit that goal and exceed it.

00:41:01 John Daub: So we're going to be celebrating like at $16.99, reference from the last video, when we get funded.

00:41:07 John Daub: And then we're going to fight like mad to get to double it.

00:41:10 John Daub: I really want this to be, I want to have some amazing fireworks.

00:41:14 John Daub: So if we can double this, this is even better.

00:41:15 John Daub: Or triple it.

00:41:16 John Daub: Or get to like $100,000.

00:41:19 John Daub: We haven't even gotten the press releases out.

00:41:20 John Daub: So I don't know how much of an impact that's going to be.

00:41:24 John Daub: But if we can get to like double it, that's crazy.

00:41:28 John Daub: You hit $15,000 plus on Kickstarter.

00:41:29 John Daub: So our UFO Bob, that is, that's something that's going to put me to, make me sleep with a smile tonight.

00:41:37 John Daub: $25,000 gets you snakes and sparklers.

00:41:41 John Daub: I love those snakes.

00:41:43 John Daub: Remember those?

00:41:43 John Daub: You just light them, the little black pellets that go pfft.

00:41:47 John Daub: Those are awesome.

00:41:48 John Daub: Well, you know, I can never find that here in Japan.

00:41:51 John Daub: Although I admit, I do not look that hard.

00:41:54 John Daub: Drone footage of explosions.

00:41:56 John Daub: Drone aerial footage has not been that impressive.

00:41:58 John Daub: Unless you've, the fireworks are pretty much like right next to the drone.

00:42:02 John Daub: I'm not sure I want to lose my drone.

00:42:05 John Daub: I had input into the original Sony 7S.

00:42:08 John Daub: Okay, there's camera talk.

00:42:10 John Daub: All right, folks.

00:42:11 John Daub: I, oh, Yay Wahoo writes in here, I want to buy the Hitchhiking DVD.

00:42:16 John Daub: It's not available as a download anymore.

00:42:18 John Daub: And I'm not giving that away.

00:42:20 John Daub: I had it up for over a year.

00:42:22 John Daub: And I just two weeks ago deleted it off of the server that it was delivering it to.

00:42:27 John Daub: So I'm only selling these and the postcard that's signed on it.

00:42:42 John Daub: These right now, the sales are suspended due to the worldwide epidemic.

00:42:47 John Daub: I can't ship it.

00:42:49 John Daub: But I'm talking with a friend and like a brother from another mother in the U.S.

00:42:56 John Daub: Where I have some of the, I had to order a thousand of them.

00:42:58 John Daub: So selling these is a top priority too.

00:43:01 John Daub: So we'll try to get this going sometime before the end of the year for sure.

00:43:06 John Daub: And I want to get rid of the stack of DVDs.

00:43:10 John Daub: Blu-rays.

00:43:11 John Daub: These are Blu-rays by the way.

00:43:12 John Daub: And they are packaged.

00:43:14 John Daub: They are so cool.

00:43:15 John Daub: They're packaged and shrink wrapped as well.

00:43:19 John Daub: And the inside has a picture of all the people who picked me up.

00:43:23 John Daub: And it's like three hours long.

00:43:26 John Daub: Less than, a little bit less than three hours long.

00:43:28 John Daub: So it is like a Lawrence of Arabia type of movie.

00:43:31 John Daub: You will be inspired.

00:43:35 John Daub: Irvan gave more money for me to get this A7S.

00:43:39 John Daub: Listen, Irvan, I'm going to get it, okay?

00:43:42 John Daub: I will get it.

00:43:43 John Daub: Everybody's going to get this camera.

00:43:45 John Daub: That makes me want to get the R5.

00:43:47 John Daub: Just because everyone else, no one else is getting that.

00:43:51 John Daub: All right, one more question and then I got to go to bed.

00:43:54 John Daub: Kanae's going to be so angry.

00:43:55 John Daub: She's probably angry that I'm still talking really loud.

00:43:59 John Daub: Got to keep it down.

00:44:02 John Daub: Question.

00:44:03 John Daub: Thank you for the update.

00:44:05 John Daub: Please, I, can I please buy it for the future?

00:44:08 John Daub: Yes.

00:44:09 John Daub: You can buy it for the future.

00:44:11 John Daub: At a future date, I will tell you about the future.

00:44:14 John Daub: Tony P. loved it.

00:44:16 John Daub: Florencia loved it.

00:44:17 John Daub: Daniel wants to buy it.

00:44:19 John Daub: These will be on sale soon.

00:44:21 John Daub: When can you get the Blu-ray when you start back selling them?

00:44:26 John Daub: What?

00:44:28 John Daub: Let's talk about the fireworks.

00:44:29 John Daub: Let's focus on this.

00:44:31 John Daub: Fireworks.

00:44:32 John Daub: I just joined your postcard club.

00:44:34 John Daub: Yes!

00:44:35 John Daub: Stephanie Flores Miller.

00:44:36 John Daub: Love you.

00:44:37 John Daub: Thank you.

00:44:38 John Daub: We are, those postcards are going out on Thursday.

00:44:43 John Daub: Because of Obon, the post office was closed when I went.

00:44:46 John Daub: So, going to send them out on their merry way.

00:44:49 John Daub: It's a holiday week.

00:44:51 John Daub: Wow, didn't expect you to be up at this time.

00:44:52 John Daub: I didn't expect me to be up at this time.

00:44:54 John Daub: But I'm working hard to promote these fireworks.

00:44:58 John Daub: I want to get this funded.

00:45:00 John Daub: I will do 24 hours if I have to.

00:45:03 John Daub: Do not make me do this.

00:45:04 John Daub: No, I'm just kidding.

00:45:07 John Daub: About making me do this.

00:45:08 John Daub: Because I would.

00:45:10 John Daub: And you wouldn't be making me.

00:45:11 John Daub: It would be my pleasure.

00:45:12 John Daub: Be my pleasure.

00:45:13 John Daub: I hope you manage to raise the funds for the fireworks.

00:45:16 John Daub: Rozroz writes in here.

00:45:17 John Daub: I hope so too.

00:45:17 John Daub: That's why we're doing it.

00:45:19 John Daub: That's why it exists.

00:45:21 John Daub: Can't wait for the fireworks.

00:45:23 John Daub: Yay writes in Andy.

00:45:24 John Daub: I like the enthusiasm, Andy.

00:45:26 John Daub: Only one exclamation point.

00:45:29 John Daub: Well done.

00:45:31 John Daub: Marty did some.

00:45:32 John Daub: Marty.

00:45:33 John Daub: Marty just like bought.

00:45:35 John Daub: He bought.

00:45:35 John Daub: Marty's like putting.

00:45:36 John Daub: Now I'm putting money into the lenses for the A7S3.

00:45:41 John Daub: What lens do you want, Marty?

00:45:44 John Daub: Marty and I were just talking on Patreon about the new Apple iMac as well.

00:45:48 John Daub: And which one we should get.

00:45:49 John Daub: The one that I'm broadcasting on.

00:45:51 John Daub: The reason why it's jittery might just be because it's the 2015 iMac with an old processor.

00:45:56 John Daub: And only 32 gigabytes of RAM.

00:45:59 John Daub: And an older video card.

00:46:03 John Daub: Yeah.

00:46:04 John Daub: Andy, please don't make me.

00:46:06 John Daub: Because I would do it anyway.

00:46:08 John Daub: You don't have to.

00:46:09 John Daub: You don't have to make me.

00:46:11 John Daub: We got to get some firework emoji as well.

00:46:16 John Daub: Okay.

00:46:17 John Daub: All right.

00:46:17 John Daub: I think I took the last question here.

00:46:20 John Daub: Look, guys.

00:46:21 John Daub: I'm up until like 4 editing anyways.

00:46:23 John Daub: What is the deal with these fireworks?

00:46:27 John Daub: What is the deal with these fireworks?

00:46:29 John Daub: Where would they be at?

00:46:32 John Daub: Bronson Wally, I know you.

00:46:33 John Daub: Because I've seen you in the chat before.

00:46:35 John Daub: And Thomas Ronert Payday is here.

00:46:39 John Daub: Thank you, Thomas.

00:46:40 John Daub: That is awesome.

00:46:41 John Daub: Look, it turned red, Thomas.

00:46:43 John Daub: You made the whole chat turn red.

00:46:45 John Daub: That's awesome.

00:46:47 John Daub: Bronson, the deal is that in 1733, Japan held its first fireworks, the first official fireworks festival on the Sumida River after a pandemic.

00:47:00 John Daub: 1733 was the year after about a million people died of famine.

00:47:06 John Daub: That year.

00:47:07 John Daub: There was like a bug, weird bug attack from Shikoku that infested the rice fields.

00:47:11 John Daub: And there was problems with that.

00:47:13 John Daub: And the numbers at the time put it at a million.

00:47:16 John Daub: It might be less.

00:47:17 John Daub: I'm not sure.

00:47:17 John Daub: Records are sketchy.

00:47:18 John Daub: But a lot of people died.

00:47:21 John Daub: And there was a lot of gunpowder because Japan was not at war.

00:47:25 John Daub: So Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Tokugawa shogunate or the government at the time, Edo government, decided to fire up 20 fireworks.

00:47:36 John Daub: And they started to make rockets on the Sumida River in 1733.

00:47:40 John Daub: That started the Sumida fireworks festival called the Sumida Hanabi Taikai.

00:47:45 John Daub: And that started as a result of a pandemic.

00:47:48 John Daub: And I thought that it was very interesting.

00:47:50 John Daub: Like a pandemic, I don't know, like a disaster.

00:47:53 John Daub: I shouldn't say pandemic.

00:47:54 John Daub: It started because of a bad thing that caused a lot of people to lose their lives.

00:47:59 John Daub: And we're sort of in the midst of the same type of thing.

00:48:02 John Daub: And I thought that this would be an inspiration.

00:48:06 John Daub: Something that we can remember based in history.

00:48:08 John Daub: And it's a good story to sell to people anyways.

00:48:11 John Daub: But for me as somebody who appreciates history a great deal, especially living in an older country like this, Japan,

00:48:18 John Daub: That's the deal with this fireworks festival.

00:48:20 John Daub: And I wanted to do this to have something to look forward to because there really has not been enough to look forward to this year.

00:48:26 John Daub: I've been, you know, a lot of people have been not feeling great.

00:48:30 John Daub: And it's not like they, it's not because they have it.

00:48:33 John Daub: But it's because we all have it.

00:48:36 John Daub: We all are kind of down.

00:48:37 John Daub: And we want something fun and positive.

00:48:39 John Daub: And this is something that I can do.

00:48:40 John Daub: Fireworks, man.

00:48:41 John Daub: Who doesn't love fireworks?

00:48:43 John Daub: I love fireworks.

00:48:44 John Daub: I love fireworks.

00:48:46 John Daub: John, please get Tokyo on board too to fund you for the fireworks.

00:48:49 John Daub: It would be much easier.

00:48:50 John Daub: Bob, I would, but these aren't held in Tokyo.

00:48:53 John Daub: So maybe Akita or maybe if Yamagata wants to chip in, we'll do it there.

00:48:58 John Daub: I don't know.

00:48:59 John Daub: But yeah.

00:49:02 John Daub: I'm looking for ways to put this together.

00:49:06 John Daub: I'm going to put the money back into this festival and make it bigger.

00:49:09 John Daub: I don't know what, I don't think $15,000 or $25,000 can buy a huge fireworks show.

00:49:17 John Daub: It's not going to buy two hours of it, okay?

00:49:19 John Daub: So we got to build up as much as possible.

00:49:22 John Daub: The cities that pay for the fireworks, they're actually quite expensive.

00:49:28 John Daub: These are professionally made, professional grade fireworks.

00:49:32 John Daub: The big stuff.

00:49:33 John Daub: The good stuff.

00:49:33 John Daub: All right?

00:49:35 John Daub: Good stuff.

00:49:35 John Daub: If you want to, you can go and take a look at the website here.

00:49:41 John Daub: This is the Kickstarter project.

00:49:43 John Daub: Boom, right here.

00:49:44 John Daub: I look tired.

00:49:45 John Daub: We are at, we've almost been funded like $1,000.

00:49:52 John Daub: We've funded, we've created over $1,000 on this fireworks project by one live stream.

00:49:59 John Daub: Amazing.

00:50:00 John Daub: Amazing.

00:50:02 John Daub: So that's over $1,000 on the one live stream.

00:50:06 John Daub: That's amazing.

00:50:07 John Daub: That's really cool.

00:50:09 John Daub: I want to say thank you, everybody.

00:50:10 John Daub: I got to get to bed.

00:50:11 John Daub: It's 3 o'clock in the morning.

00:50:13 John Daub: But this is really worth it to spend my evening hours with you.

00:50:18 John Daub: UFO Bob, thanks for sharing the link.

00:50:20 John Daub: If you do want to back this, I guarantee you it's going to be an epic.

00:50:24 John Daub: And it's not just going to be like one day.

00:50:27 John Daub: I'll probably live stream the next day.

00:50:30 John Daub: And I'll probably live stream the morning trip on the Shinkansen up there.

00:50:34 John Daub: So there's going to be an event out of this.

00:50:37 John Daub: And it's all because we created this.

00:50:39 John Daub: This is something that we did together.

00:50:41 John Daub: That's what makes this so awesome.

00:50:43 John Daub: And why, you know, when you go to Disneyland or you go to a baseball game and you see the fireworks at a football match or something, it's not, it's, you didn't pay for it.

00:50:55 John Daub: You know, you did in the ticket, actually.

00:50:57 John Daub: But this is something that we created ourselves.

00:51:00 John Daub: And it's just this.

00:51:02 John Daub: And that's really special, I think.

00:51:06 John Daub: I'm looking forward to this so much.

00:51:08 John Daub: Thanks so much, everybody.

00:51:09 John Daub: Have a good night where you are, wherever you are in the world.

00:51:13 John Daub: I'm looking at your chats here.

00:51:16 John Daub: Big shout out.

00:51:17 John Daub: Thank you, Tony P.

00:51:18 John Daub: Tony P had to, Tony, I've never, I'm going to take a screenshot of this.

00:51:23 John Daub: I just took some screenshots of your dancing.

00:51:27 John Daub: I've never seen that one before.

00:51:28 John Daub: I think that's associated with a $50 Super Chat.

00:51:31 John Daub: And Thomas, thank you so much, Thomas.

00:51:34 John Daub: That made me feel really good.

00:51:36 John Daub: Sharing some love.

00:51:38 John Daub: Appreciate it.

00:51:39 John Daub: Kickstarter supports defunding.

00:51:41 John Daub: No, they do not, Zane.

00:51:44 John Daub: I don't know.

00:51:46 John Daub: Look, I'm not going to get into the politics of it.

00:51:48 John Daub: It's just a platform.

00:51:49 John Daub: All right?

00:51:50 John Daub: Platforms are platforms.

00:51:51 John Daub: And people make of it what they want to.

00:51:54 John Daub: And I'm using this to, because I used them before and they were really nice and, you know, worked out okay.

00:52:03 John Daub: If you have any questions at all, leave a comment.

00:52:07 John Daub: Leave them on, if it's relevant to the Firework Project, on the Kickstarter project.

00:52:11 John Daub: Or you can leave them in the comments below.

00:52:14 John Daub: Or you can email me anytime on the OnlyInJapan.tv website.

00:52:19 John Daub: Does everybody know about that one?

00:52:23 John Daub: The OnlyInJapan.tv website.

00:52:25 John Daub: You can go there and there's a picture of somebody's butt.

00:52:35 John Daub: There's a contact form on the top.

00:52:36 John Daub: Do you see that?

00:52:37 John Daub: You can click that and send me a message anytime.

00:52:42 John Daub: I do that mostly for media requests.

00:52:46 John Daub: If somebody wants to interview me, I make sure that that's there.

00:52:51 John Daub: And I'll try to do some Twitch as well.

00:52:53 John Daub: I think that the Twitch, it's been a while.

00:52:56 John Daub: So we'll get to that really soon.

00:53:00 John Daub: Yeah.

00:53:01 John Daub: Have a good night, everybody.

00:53:02 John Daub: Thanks for the support.

00:53:04 John Daub: We just got like $1,500 for the Kickstarter project by doing this, which is awesome.

00:53:08 John Daub: And we did pretty good with the Super Chats, too.

00:53:11 John Daub: And we appreciate that.

00:53:12 John Daub: I'm going to put that towards an amazing breakfast for Kanae at like 10 in the morning.

00:53:16 John Daub: I have a feeling I'm not going to wake up at 6.

00:53:19 John Daub: I might take my time there.

00:53:21 John Daub: Thanks.

00:53:22 John Daub: Have a good night.

00:53:23 John Daub: I'll leave you with the video, which you can see on the Kickstarter if you're joining me now.

00:53:28 John Daub: You can see this on the Kickstarter to get the information on the background of this.

00:53:32 John Daub: I highly recommend that you watch the video.

00:53:34 John Daub: And I'll be giving another update in a few days.

00:53:37 John Daub: And oh, by the way, before I leave on Thursday,

00:53:39 John Daub: I'm going to the Japan Hanabi Association to film there.

00:53:44 John Daub: I'm going to be filming the president of the Hanabi Association and talk with them about the fireworks and to get a better idea of what to expect from this project.

00:53:54 John Daub: Like what will the fireworks look like?

00:53:55 John Daub: This is something that we're doing together.

00:53:57 John Daub: And I'm going to keep bringing you inside stories related to this project on Only in Japan Go here.

00:54:02 John Daub: Thanks, everybody, for the support.

00:54:03 John Daub: See you tomorrow in another livestream.

00:54:05 John Daub: Yes, I got one tomorrow coming.

00:54:07 John Daub: I got one coming all the time.

00:54:09 John Daub: Bye.

00:54:09 John Daub: My name is John Daub, creator and producer of the Only in Japan series.

00:54:13 John Daub: That there behind me is Tokyo Tower, a symbol of the great city of Tokyo.

00:54:17 John Daub: And I thought this would be a wonderful place to launch, to introduce to you a project that I'm doing here on Kickstarter.

00:54:24 John Daub: 2020 has been a really challenging year for everyone around the world and here in Japan.

00:54:29 John Daub: So many festivals and events have been canceled or suspended.

00:54:33 John Daub: That includes the Sanja Festival in Tokyo, which draws 3 million people.

00:54:40 John Daub: My favorite festival up in Aomori, which is the Nebuta Festival, that's been canceled as well.

00:54:45 John Daub: And countless Hanabi Taikai or fireworks festivals in all 47 prefectures in Japan have been canceled.

00:54:53 John Daub: And that's kind of a downer.

00:54:54 John Daub: So I thought I would bring fireworks back.

00:54:57 John Daub: That's right.

00:54:57 John Daub: I'm starting my own fireworks event called the Only in Japan Fireworks Festival.

00:55:01 John Daub: I'll be working with the Japan Fireworks Association and professionals in the fireworks industry here in Japan to manufacture the fireworks as well as put on this amazing event.

00:55:13 John Daub: It's going to take a lot of work, but we have a really good team of people that have done this before.

00:55:17 John Daub: So I'm very hopeful that this is going to be a success.

00:55:20 John Daub: Now I know that a lot of you who wanted to come to Japan had to cancel your trips in March, April, May, June,

00:55:25 John Daub: Probably the rest of 2020 and maybe a part of 2021.

00:55:29 John Daub: So I want to bring you to Japan with me in this Only in Japan Fireworks Festival.

00:55:34 John Daub: I'll be live streaming this to everybody for free.

00:55:37 John Daub: And it's going to require the backing of supporters to make this a reality because fireworks actually are kind of expensive and so is putting on a festival that we hope to do.

00:55:49 John Daub: The event is going to be held in probably Akita Prefecture and it'll take place in the middle of October.

00:55:57 John Daub: This though has an even deeper meaning than just this year.

00:56:01 John Daub: The history of fireworks in Japan goes back to 1600,

00:56:05 John Daub: But really the first fireworks festival in Japan.

00:56:07 John Daub: The fireworks festival took place in 1733.

00:56:10 John Daub: The year before, about nine million people died from disease and hunger.

00:56:14 John Daub: And it was an extremely difficult year.

00:56:16 John Daub: So because Japan was at peace, there was no war going on, they had a lot of gunpowder.

00:56:21 John Daub: They made 20 shells and launched them up along the Sumida River here in Japan.

00:56:25 John Daub: And the Sumida River fireworks festival was born from these 20 fireworks.

00:56:30 John Daub: It brought people hope and it was a good way to honor those that had lost their lives.

00:56:34 John Daub: And in the spirit of that, 2020, this festival has some similarities.

00:56:40 John Daub: This has been a really difficult year for so many people.

00:56:43 John Daub: We've lost a lot of people all around the world.

00:56:47 John Daub: And I think that fireworks is something in that same spirit that we can do to bring us all together and maybe feel some hope as well as remember those that lost their lives, just like in 1733.

00:57:00 John Daub: For people backing this project, we have some great perks that include posters and postcards with the event artwork as well as towels and fans, part of Japanese summer culture to stay cool.

00:57:11 John Daub: But I really want to produce a documentary about this whole process.

00:57:16 John Daub: And that's going to be a digital download that you can purchase as one of the perks for backing.

00:57:22 John Daub: And that will include not just the festival itself in glorious 4K, but also the making of and all of the things that were needed to put this together.

00:57:28 John Daub: Drone shots, cannon shots.

00:57:34 John Daub: And I'm going to make this a really unique experience that you can watch on your TV and enjoy at home.

00:57:39 John Daub: I'm looking forward to this challenge as well as the live stream, which is going to be for everybody because I know that you have to stay at home.

00:57:46 John Daub: So there you have it.

00:57:47 John Daub: Let's bring some hope and light to this year 2020 and make the second half a really memorable one.

00:57:52 John Daub: Thank you so much for watching and for supporting.