00:03 John Daub: Welcome to Nihonbashi in Tokyo. That in front of us is a fireworks shell. That's right, in Japan they don't look like rockets. They look like bowling balls or watermelons. How you doing everybody? I'm at the Japan Hanabi Association's office in Nihonbashi and I wanted to introduce to you a little bit about fireworks making in Japan, but also discuss a fireworks project that I'm putting on myself. These are not Roman candles and little bottle rockets that we are producing. This year because production has been down and a lot of the fireworks shows have been cancelled, I've decided that we should put on our own show.

00:47 John Daub: I'll be working with a team of other people that know how to do this. This is quite important. I wanted to introduce to you the Japan Hanabi Association as well as Eriya-san who is such an instrumental person in bringing this project to fruition, meaning the production of everything and making sure it runs really smoothly. That right there, do you see that ball? That is a shakudama (star ball shell), which is... that's a pretty big size. Actually in Tokyo you cannot fire this up into the sky. It's too big for Tokyo. In Tokyo you can only use fireworks about this big. This one is bigger than my head. And we're going to get a closer look at this as well and discuss where you can launch fireworks and things like this.

01:34 John Daub: First I want to introduce you to Eriya-san right here. How you doing? Konnichiwa. We're trying to practice social distancing here. We know we're living in a pandemic so we're going to add friction, I think that's a word, right? Like we get the live chat here. I'll take some of your questions to answer them about Japanese fireworks at the end of this. Definitely click the like button if you like this content and we'll try to bring some more productions about Japanese fireworks. I think it's a very special craft here in Japan to have fireworks. And there's some uniqueness to it that's different than other countries. And over time I'm going to be able to bring you that story. Which I have a big fascination and love for fireworks from when I moved here in 1998.

02:24 Eriya: I'm Eriya.

02:25 John Daub: Eriya-san's company name is Eriya and Eriya-san is... Please explain your work.

02:35 Eriya: Yes. In Eriya, we're a company that's doing fireworks sales. This is the Japanese Fireworks Promotion Collaboration. We're helping out with a lot of things. And this time, we're doing this Only in Japan fireworks.

03:02 John Daub: So Eriya-san's company kind of helps with all of the activities for the fireworks all over the country. As well as promotion and things like that. And we met last year when we were doing the Katakai fireworks festival. Which is the yonshakudama (four-star ball shell). Which is way, way bigger than this. It's like half the size of a man. Basically, it's bigger than a child. And we wanted to continue and do more this year. Because the Olympics has been cancelled. Because so many fireworks festivals have been cancelled or suspended. We thought that this would be a good chance to do something pretty original. It's with Eriya-san and her company that we have some kind of power to put on this kind of a show. Which is pretty impressive.

04:09 John Daub: Next up, this year, there aren't many fireworks festivals all over the country. How is the industry doing? Do you have any work to do?

04:20 Eriya: Not at all. Not a lot of work right now. We are just starting to put out fireworks that are not for the public. Little by little. But the fireworks shops that are like the ones we have in the next year are all gone.

04:34 John Daub: So they've lost a lot of work over this year because of the suspension of fireworks festivals. There really isn't a lot. They've lost a lot of money as a result of it. And one of the reasons why I want to do this fireworks festival is we're going to be putting people to work. So if our community can raise a certain amount of money, which we have done pretty good. We have a fully successfully funded campaign. We can now take that money and put people to work, which is such a great thing. So this festival has so many different meanings than just launching fireworks into the sky. It's about giving people some hope. Not just watching the fireworks, but producing it too. And even the Sumida Fireworks Festival here in Tokyo has been cancelled.

05:37 John Daub: Jersey Girl writes in here, how many years have they been doing hanabi? Is it a family business? That's a great question.

06:49 Eriya: If you could make 5 million yen, what would you make?

07:06 John Daub: So the event here, and this is a really kind of an update as well for the fireworks festival. We believe it's Akita, but we're not really sure. It could be another prefecture. We're not quite sure right now. The more money we raise though, the more flexibility that we have, meaning we can launch bigger stuff. And I'm about to explain something that's really cool to you. I'm about to announce something. I need a drum roll, please. So I've been talking with Eriya-san about what else we can do with the fireworks festival. So now that we've raised the amount of money, what we can do is, we can do a lot of things.

08:13 John Daub: And see this thing right here is, this is a size seven firework, okay? It's pretty big. In my hand, it looks like the size of a Mie-ken (Mie Prefecture). It's about this big, okay? You can see in the size of my hand. It's quite large. This here is another level firework, okay? This is a shakudama. Shakudama is a size 10. It's really, really big. It's so big, I'm holding it in my hands over here. This is pure fireworks, okay? It says Reiwa on the side. I love this. This is a massive firework, okay? You are going to be able to sponsor one of these. And we're going to be putting on the Kickstarter next week as a way to raise more money because we really want to get to 5 million yen and make even more.

09:07 John Daub: I'm giving you the chance to sponsor one of these now. This is a massive firework, okay? This is the biggest one that most people use, right? Most of the fireworks competitions. It's the most common. We cannot sponsor a yonshakudama, which is four times the size of this. Or a three shakudama, which is only Honda-san. It's very special. Maybe one other person, I think. But Honda-san is one of the only people who can do the four shakudama. You have the chance to sponsor this. We're putting the price at about 100,000 yen. Which is under $1,000 for one of these bad boys, which we will launch in Japan with your name on it and send you also the towel and the uchiwa (hand fan), and you'll get the gift pack as well.

10:43 John Daub: Unless you come to Japan. And even then, we're practicing social distancing. So you shouldn't do that. But this shakudama now, you have a chance now, starting next week, to sponsor this. In Kickstarter, whatever you pledged before, you can update your pledge until this campaign ends. So you have three weeks about to alter your pledges. And we have three weeks to add more to make it fun. We might be able to sponsor smaller fireworks, but we want to just keep it real and keep it to the big guns. Because these things are pretty expensive to manufacture. We were talking about the prices, and each place has a different price for it. It's not a consistent thing. But I thought that it would be pretty cool to give the option to sponsor one of these. And this will help also raise some more money.

11:34 John Daub: When we do launch your shakudama into the sky, you are lighting up the lives of all the people that are watching it. I'm live broadcasting this, by the way. As well as on the 4K download, you'll be able to see this in glorious colors as well as yours goes up into the sky and launches. You can dedicate this. In Japan, especially at the Katakai Hanabi Taikai, people sponsor their own fireworks for an occasion, maybe for their wife, for their child's graduation, or somebody who has retired from their job. They've worked hard for 50, 60 years, and they're quitting their job. The company will put money together and buy a big firework or a nijūshakudama (20-star ball shell) or a movement to music. And this is a really special thing, I think, to give to somebody. It's not a possession. It's not a ring or a watch. It's something very special.

13:17 John Daub: Fireworks are not cheap, actually. This is a massive firework here. That's a size 10. And, yeah, this is a size 7. So if you put them together, let me just show you here. This is a size 7. So you can see 10 is much, much bigger. And a shakudama is pretty big. Do you see those big ones up there? They're shakudamas, okay? They're the big ones over there, you see? Those are shakudamas. So they're massive. Massive, massive fireworks. This is the stuff that are, like, professional-grade fireworks. You can't make this. You can't buy this. You can't go to Don Quijote and buy one of these, okay? You cannot buy them. So this is very special to be able to. You're going to be able to sponsor one of these. And when yours goes up there, we will announce it, and you'll be able to see all that money just go up in smoke. But it's actually a beautiful thing. It puts people to work. You know you're doing a really good thing.

15:17 John Daub: So that's pretty much all that I wanted to talk to you about. The production of the fireworks. Ah, yeah, recently, China's also making this type of fireworks. But it was Japan that does the ball shell. America did rockets? The short rocket, bottle rocket-looking things. But Japan has always done the balls, these round ones. And you're going to be able to buy your own. This is pretty darn cool.

15:55 Eriya: There's no takoyaki stand there, right? Where? Akita. The place where they make takoyaki. Takoyaki stand? I don't think so. If we get to 5 million yen, we'll see if we can get a takoyaki stand. If we make a small stand, we can make a make-believe stand of takoyaki. That is a festival. We need takoyaki, I think. Then, we'll have takoyaki at the table. Yes, takoyaki and then maybe some beer. We need beer, maybe.

16:42 John Daub: But again, the documentary that I made for this that's in the Kickstarter project, there's going to be a link in the description here if you don't already know. The moderators will put it right there for us to take a look at it. When we do this festival, I'm going to be able to show you on this documentary the making of the fireworks, what actually takes place into it, show you what the makers are doing, as well as get really unique shots that I could not do if a municipality was doing it. You can't get near the rockets and the cannons and stuff. I can set up cameras nearby to get great shots. And we're going to have, I believe, four or five cameras. But go to the Kickstarter page and do that. Please put it in the Kickstarter fund. Everybody who supports by buying a video will get their name in the end of the video. So you're going to have a credit roll with your name in the video.

18:32 John Daub: The whole thing is this, okay? Because we're sponsoring this festival, we're doing this ourselves. Because we're sponsoring this ourselves and doing this ourselves, we have a lot of flexibility with what we can do with it. So your input, this is your festival. This is our festival. This is something that we can do. So we want to hear your input as well. You can leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts on what you want to do with this. Again, that's the beauty of this. And if this is successful, we can do this next year. So then we can do this every year. If we get support, Only in Japan fireworks festival is annual. That means it's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. We can have people coming from all over the world. I think if the situation changes, we could have you come to the event. You'll have an invitation to come to the event. Just you to come to Japan and watch the Only in Japan fireworks festival in 2021 or 2022, whenever the situation changes in the world.

19:43 John Daub: This is sort of the direction that I really want to take this. But it's all based in history. In 1733, the first Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai (Sumida River Fireworks Festival) was put on. 1732, there was a famine, meaning some insects, I think it started in Shikoku, had infested the food supply, the rice and all the vegetables. And I think it was 80% of the food was destroyed. So people died of famine, almost a million people. So to remember them as a kind of a memorial, they used the gunpowder because Japan was in a time of peace to create 20 pyroclastic bombs. And then they used the nijūshakudama, which is 20 fireworks shells like you see behind you right there. And they launched that up into the sky and over the Sumida River. And that started Japan's fireworks festivals. Japan had fireworks in the 1600s, but it wasn't until 1733 that festivals started. And now we are doing that in that spirit because we are in a pandemic. A lot of people have lost their lives. You can't travel here. So we're using 1733 as a way to put some specialness into this event. We're bringing back fireworks.

21:09 John Daub: Creating fireworks takes some time. This project ends in September, right? About 5th. So in about 3 weeks, this project will end. It takes about a month. So it takes one month for the fireworks to be produced. After we have raised the money, we're going to put in the order. And it takes one month for the team to do that. And I'm going to go to the factory. And I'm going to make a film about them making our fireworks. Probably spend a couple of days up there. Get to know the people that are making the fireworks. And then show them putting in the gunpowder into the shells. This is all into one movie. The 4K documentary. And then we're going to go up to Akita maybe. Or wherever it's decided to be held. And I'm going to show you some information about the town. Some of the area. And really put together a good film. I believe it's going to be close to an hour long. Maybe longer. Maybe less.

22:26 John Daub: And then the event itself. So 2.5 million yen buys not a very long festival to be honest with you. It's about like 8 minutes. So what we bought is about 6 minutes. This is why it's so important. This includes the transportation all the way to the place. Setting up the cannons. And hiring the pyrotechnicians and everything. So the overhead is done. So now we're just adding to that. That's why I really want to try to get to the stretch goal of get to 5 million yen. And this allows us a lot more flexibility. And a heck of a lot longer. So we can do it a lot longer. Like 10 minutes or more. Again, this is going to be like a finale, man. Okay? This is going to be an amazing, amazing experience. So I'll start the livestream before that. And the livestream afterward with a post-event. What was it like to see the fireworks? What was the experience in all this? And take some of your questions after the livestream. Everybody can watch the livestream for free.

23:55 John Daub: The sponsoring of this and bringing it to you is all on our community. And we have some press releases that went out two days ago. So I'll be doing some interviews with the media over the next two weeks. Really fighting hard to try to get us to that 5 million mark. And we want to send you uchiwa, which are the fans, the towels. And we might come up with a digital calendar is an idea. We can add in as a perk. The rewards may be going to get stronger and stronger. You can also buy piggy banks where these are. You can store like pennies and stuff. So you can buy actual firework looking things that's no gunpowder inside of them. But they're piggy banks. So that might be something that we offer. I thought that was pretty cool to see. At the Katakai Hanabi Taikai. So that might be a perk that we offer next week. So I want to kind of do all sorts of things that bring Japan fireworks closer to you. You are not in Japan right now because you can't come here. But we want to bring fireworks to you from Japan. We want to share with you the beauty of hanabi (fireworks). Hanabi Taikai. This is not maybe not a Taikai. But it's a hanabi event and special because it's ours.

25:21 John Daub: You can stick it on your shelf in the background and you can say, you know, this is a Japan fireworks shell. I like this. So we can get to this. I think we can get to the five million level. I got three weeks to try really, really hard to do this. And this is a passion project of mine that I've been wanting to do since I was a kid to have my own festival. Didn't you ever like that? Just to be honest, did you ever go to the fireworks festivals in your hometown? On July 4th or whichever country you're in and you see them going, wow, I only got sparklers and bottle rockets. It would be great one day for me to launch my own. That's every kid's dream. And now that dream is yours, too. So that's why I think this fireworks festival is going to be so cool and get bigger and bigger every year. If any YouTuber would like to sponsor a firework or anybody again, like you have that chance. This thing right here is a shakudama, you can sponsor this. OK, it's a thousand dollars. That's and we're not making that much money off of it. All of it. Like we're putting people to work by building this. You can sponsor one of these with your name on it. We will launch it from Japan for you and you'll have a chance to see this thing explode. That's like just exploding money. But it's the beauty of it. And the fact that, you know, you're bringing happiness to all these people.

27:03 John Daub: Anyways, I want to say thank you to everybody who supported the project. If you have any questions, leave them down below. Do you have any questions right now? I'll give you for the next two minutes or so. You can go ahead and ask. Shaku dama shares tier, please. We can do that with like three people. Sponsor one, maybe. So if you don't have a 100-man yen, maybe. Well, we're going to talk about this after the live stream and then see what we can put together. Because I think if we can do like shared time share on a fireworks would be pretty cool. So the piggy banks will be really, really interesting as well. So put together a package for you. So right now, just back the project. Pick any tier that you want right now. Back the project. You can change your pledge, your reward level when we add more. Don't wait. Just back something. And then next week when I change the tiers and we talk about this, we're going to see how we can put together. You can make your own shakudama and maybe another one. We'll try to find something for everybody. OK, we'll try to find something that can do. The link to this is just you can just Google only in Japan fireworks October. That'll come up in the Google. But I believe one of the moderators will put it in there for sure.

30:30 John Daub: I do have next week as well. The design is going to be launched. So we're going to show you the design. Our artist's name is Dakota. He lives in Gifu and we wanted to hire somebody who was local, somebody who's living here in Japan. He has a very unique style that's kind of a kind of looking and he's already put together the background, the foreground. And next he's going to be doing the fireworks. And he said next week he should have this design finished. I'm so excited. It looks awesome. We're both in the design. And there's a crow, Toby has made his way his evil ways somewhere in the design. So US $45,000 is the stretch goal. That's right. If we can get to that number, our flexibility is so much greater. What we did was the bare minimum because I wanted to make sure that we launched this. Next up, we want to get to we want to double that if we can. And if we can, then just the stuff that we can do is amazing. We're going to have more like bigger yon shakudama is going up. It's going to be completely awesome that you can sponsor this thing.

31:52 John Daub: The crow shakudama tier. I will draw a Toby on a shakudama for you. You do not give your address until the project is fully funded. That means that you after this project ends in 23 days, 22 days from now, I'll send you a survey or questionnaire. And in that survey I'll have questions on you be able to put your address as well as do you want to? How do you what do you want me to write on the shakudama? And it's going to be very limited in the space. But what do you want me to write on the shakudama? So you'll have these options after the campaign ends. We'll give you a space in the survey, the questionnaire to customize your contributions. Right now, the biggest level is deluxe that will change next week. We're going to raise 5 million yen. This is a big deal. This is awesome. We're going to put people to work. This is just such a good story. This is such a good thing that we're doing. And I'm going to see maybe Eriya and I are going to buy a shakudama too. I kind of want to buy one just out of pure love of what like that's that's mine. That's not is that not the coolest thing? I'm going to try to I'm going to buy one for me maybe. And then that's it. You know, I'm going to write Eriya USS Eriya or something like Eriya this is how much I love you and then we're going to explode it. This is awesome. We got options.

33:24 Eriya: I'm really happy to be part of this event.

34:15 John Daub: So thanks. I want to thank you to Eriya-san down there. Arigato for giving us this opportunity to do it and thank you all for sponsoring the fireworks show. If you have a question, leave it in the comment down below and Japan fireworks is back baby. We've done it and this could be yours too. See everybody have a good day. Good night wherever you are in the world.