00:07 John Daub: Greetings everybody, welcome to Katakai in Niigata Prefecture. Look at this view from up here on the mountain where Honda's fireworks factory, the Katakai fireworks factory. This is where everything is made up here on the hill, away from everything. You can see the concrete bunkers, that's where they house the yonshakudama (four-shaku shell), which was one of the biggest fireworks shells in the world, handmade. Each gunpowder ball is the size of a golf ball and it's over there. I could take you in there but it's hard with the signal. The signal doesn't get in so we would probably cut off but maybe if we ask, we'll get a chance to go in there and take a look at it. And over there, they were just mixing some of the powder to make the balls to go inside of the fireworks shells and we got a chance to film that about five minutes ago.

01:01 John Daub: And now we're preparing for tonight's festivities. It's really a lot more work than I thought it was going to be to prepare for a fireworks festival. You have to also have a program and what they've done is created one, a really nice one. And I want to show you some of the gifts that those that purchased the shakudama (shaku shell). We had actually about 10 people buy for almost $1,000 their own shakudama, which is a size 10 fireworks shell. It is the size of a watermelon. It's massive. And we're going to be firing those up at 7:45 tonight. The link is in the description of this video. Definitely push the reminder. If you click that link, you'll see the local time for the United States. It's going to be pretty early. I think California, it's like something like 4 a.m. New York, it's I think starting at around 7 a.m. in the morning. You can have that with coffee. I think California, it's still late enough to have it with a beer maybe. But this is where it's all made right here at the factory here in Honda's company.

02:05 John Daub: So there's Kanai over there. There's Hayashiya-san and Ide-san and Honda-san right there. So, Kanai, show us the program that we have here. So this is tonight's program. We say banzuke (program ranking). And this is tonight's program. So let me get out of the shadow here. It's okay right here. Yeah, that's perfect. So you can see here we've set up for all the people who have sponsored the shakudama. They have a message here inside of the program. And we'll try to give you a copy. There's Matsumi's there and Richard's here as well. There's Diana's from Singapore. Nicholas. Aloha from Hawaii. Brendan Walker is here as well. It's a beautiful message up here. Arthur Morgan. Hey, there's Grace's from Hong Kong as well as Gil's from Israel. So we have, yeah, very international group here. Marcus from Germany. There's Only in Japan's shakudama. Stay safe. Stay positive.

03:18 John Daub: So whenever they have a fireworks program, they, especially here in Katakai, they'll have messages here. And then you could read that out. And it's really good to sponsor your own fireworks for something like a retirement or if somebody is celebrating a wedding or you want to tell somebody that you love them. Tell them that you love them with a fireworks shell. It's beauty that lasts in the night sky. Illuminates the dark. I like it. So that's what we're going to be doing tonight. We have 10 fireworks shells. 7:45 the livestream will be starting. At 7:50 they start to do some... They'll launch some sounds that tell you that it's about to start and that at 8 o'clock we're going to start off with a star mine and then some shakudamas. It's going to be pretty incredible to see all this work that we put into this fireworks festival to finally come to fruition and to see the second of two festivals.

04:12 John Daub: About 10 days ago at Omagari in Akita we had 50,000 people already watch that video. You could see all the work that goes into it. And this documentary that I'm making shows you the process of making the fireworks all the way to the launching of it. It's pretty interesting to see that. In fact, to see the process of it. I think when you see them making the fireworks, how much effort that they put into making each shell. You really appreciate it more when you see it up in the sky. I think it's really important to see that there. Eugene Holbert's here. Thank you, Eugene. Very cool.

04:50 John Daub: Oh, can I... I think there's also one more thing, right? Like... Hold on a second. Come in here. Yeah, let's show this. So also for those that bought the shakudama, you get your own fireworks shell. Check that out. Okay, I'm ready. Whoa, that's so cute. This is a size three. Yeah, it's painted in here. And it's a gun. It's a gift from Katakai to remember that this fireworks took place here. So it's a nice little thing we'll send to the people who back to Star Mine and the shakudama get one of these. Yay. Good, nice modeling for you. And we're going to go over... After the live stream, we're going to go over and then confirm everything. Make sure the stickers are... We have Matsumi stickers. We have Brendan stickers. We got a sticker... Brendan's came from Osaka, which is really interesting. So we're going to be putting that on there and confirming it. And as we launch them tonight, we're going to be also telling you the messages through the live stream and saying thank you so much.

05:49 John Daub: Because especially Kanai and I and Hayashiya-san and Ide-san are also very appreciative of these generous gifts. And to share something really, really beautiful in a challenging time. I think that's a good thing with this Katakai special fireworks event. Before we go, I want to... I'm going to actually... We're going to see if we can take you down to where they have a monument, which is really interesting about... If you're interested about fireworks history, you have to put Katakai on the map because this place is historic. These are the cannons. And like... Kanai, come here. Kanai, stand next to me. Please stand. Look at the cannons. All right. These cannons here. This one is a nishakudama (two-shaku shell), which is double the size of the ones we're going to be firing off. Nishakudamas are pretty big. And sanshakudama (three-shaku shell) is the one in the middle here. There's Kanai standing next to it. You can just get an idea of how massive these cannons are.

07:00 John Daub: The sanshakudama for a very long time was the biggest. And then Honda-san decided I can do it bigger than that. So he created the yonshakudama. You have no idea how big... This cannon is so massive. And this is the actual one that they're going to be firing off. They'll take this out of the ground and put... They have to dig a hole to put this in. They put the yonshakudama inside of here and launch it. Yonshakudama for a very long time was the biggest firework shell in the world. But now the shells are getting bigger and bigger. It's pretty massive. The fireworks are getting bigger and bigger. But the quality of the firework shell is actually not that good. So the ones that I've seen, the Guinness Book of World Records, they're all kind of... But the thing is, with these kinds of firework shells, the Japanese ones are round like a mortar shell, right? They're beautifully round and perfectly shaped. They produce a really amazing visual effect that's very pleasing.

08:06 John Daub: So the reason why I think that they don't go even bigger than this is what's the point? They've already got it going 1 kilogram in length and width when it explodes. Bigger isn't always better. I know that's hard to believe. But if it's not beautiful and if it's just something to make it bigger, then there's debate on whether or not you need it at all. That's... What a waste, maybe, right? It's a waste. I don't know. So bigger isn't always better. But these days, everybody is trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records of having the biggest one. And in the defense of that, having the yonshakudama for decades as the biggest in the world, and it was, was actually pretty good for Katakai, I think. So I could see why people would want that. Alright, we're gonna take you down now. Hey, Brenda's here. Brenda, how you doing? Good night. Have a good night. Thank you so much. We're gonna take you down now to the monument and we're gonna drive down there. Let's go.

09:07 John Daub: Everyone looks like yonshakudama. I'll show you in the documentary. I don't think we can... If I took you in there, the signal would just drop off. Alright, itekimasu (I'm going and coming back). Alright. Kanae's coming with us. You ready for a road trip? Itekimasu. Beautiful day, isn't it? We're gonna drive now down. Hopefully, the signal might cut out a little bit. But we're gonna drive down to the monument, which is really interesting to see. I think this really puts in perspective the historical significance of this town.

10:07 John Daub: It's a small road trip. Jams. Scorpio. Gustav's watching from Germany. Kristi, everybody loves a road trip. Shadi's here from Finland. How you doing? Deanne writes in here, I will do my best to watch the fireworks. I'm having trouble with live streams after the live. Ah, here's the shrine. Yeah, after the live stream, you can still watch it. Alright, we've arrived at the shrine here. And this shrine kind of dedicated to fireworks. You're gonna be pretty amazed at this. There's the main street where we had last year a couple of really good live streams. Whoa! Tony P. Tony P's in the house. WRX Turbo's here. Another cool thing about Katakai, the manhole covers. Manhole futa (lids) has the images of fireworks on it, which is so cool. There's the Katakai post office. Oh, there it is! Very cool. Let's check it out.

12:32 John Daub: Got a monument here. What a beautiful day. You know what? If there was ever a reason to come out to the Japanese countryside, fireworks is the perfect reason to do that. This is awesome! They have here in this one spot laid it out. Now we saw the cannons. Those cannons at the factory are the ones that they actually use. I think they might actually use these too. Because they have two yonshakudamas. This is awesome. This is the size of all of the cannons that they use to launch the fireworks. We're going to get a closer look in a second. I'm going to just pan up here so you can get an idea of just how big the yonshakudama cannon is right in the middle. That is pretty darn big. And then you can also see how open the land is here. You can't launch these big ones in Tokyo. And I'm going to explain to you which ones you can't launch in Tokyo.

13:32 John Daub: By the way, for those that are watching, I put a link in the description. Tonight at 7:45 is the fireworks show. You gotta make sure you click the reminder on the button. If you click that link, it'll tell you the local time that the fireworks festival is going to be starting. Tonight! Which is probably tomorrow morning for most of you. Like in about eight hours from now. This is the size of the cannon for size 3s, 4, 5, and 7. They skip 6. Honda-san, why don't you have size 6? We don't have size 6 anymore. In the olden times they didn't have it. But we don't have it anymore. Yeah. So they go from 3, 4, 5, and they skip 6 and go to 7. I guess you can't really tell the difference between a 5 and a 7. Maybe it's kind of... doesn't make... And this is a shakudama. This is the cannon that we're launching tonight. A lot of them. It's a good size, the shakudama ones. This is pretty darn big actually.

14:36 John Daub: But this is where the ridiculous starts. Yeah, it's about the size of Kanai. The cannon is the size of Kanai. And then this is where the ridiculous starts. Next up is the nishakudama over here. That is... it seems like... We would say you'd think it's double the size. But actually the nishakudama seems like 4 times the size. And then 4 times that size is like the sanshakudama. And then the yonshakudama, it's just the width of it. And it probably goes down a little bit further into the ground there. But the width of the yonshakudama is... It's massive when you compare it to the little ones down here. And that nana, the 7 one right here, actually produces a pretty big firework. If you're in the city of Tokyo... Now they can't... Is it okay to have a firework festival in Tokyo? Yeah, at the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival. Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival? Yeah.

15:42 John Daub: So at the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival, which is Tokyo's biggest and most famous fireworks festival, they can only shoot up to about 5. Maybe 4 is... 3 and 4... 2.5... 3 and 4 are most common. But they can't shoot bigger than 5 at Sumidagawa, okay? Our Kickstarter backers bought this one, which is 4 times the size of the ones shot at the Sumidagawa River. So Matsumi, if you're watching, your fireworks that we're going to launch tonight is 4 times the size. Brendan, it's 4 times the size of the ones shot in the city of Tokyo. That's crazy. There's the 5 right there, and then there's the shakudama. It's just these are at the ridiculous ends. Maybe next year. Jeff Ang is here. I can't wait for the show. Get something good for lunch. We got soba coming for lunch in about 20 minutes. John Kimura, thank you. Welcome.

16:44 John Daub: Kanai, you have anything you want to say? They have a fireworks decoration on the building. Did you notice that at all? I... It's the little details. Honda-san just told me. Check it out. So on this building here, you can see the pattern of fireworks. Do you see... Boop, boop, where it's going up and then exploding. There's so many little details to Katakai. If you just spend a day and walk around on the streets, you're going to find vending machines with fireworks. Stores, they have fireworks Japanese sake. They have fireworks piggy banks in the shape of the shells. And they also have, right here, fireworks manhole covers. Manhole! I got to say that. It's like obligatory. I know. This one is really nice. They do have some that are colored, but you can see the details here. The festival, which... Yeah, that's the yonshakudama right there. That big ball here is what was for a very long time the largest fireworks shell in the world. And you can see the cannon there, the festival, and above it all, is that blast. I love it. This is one of my favorite fire... manhole covers. The Katakai manhole cover. Very cool.

18:16 John Daub: No, that is not over there a cannon. It's just something for... It's just something for the pipes underground. Back here is just rice paddies for as far as you can go. And one of the reasons that they can launch the bigger fireworks here in Katakai is because there's so much open space. And there's not a really big population. So the risk to... The risk if there was an accident... It's a lot easier to contain it and everybody is a lot safer just because of the amount of open space. You can see... And the great thing about having it out here is that there are some mountains, some hills. That's where we started it, up there on the hill. Up there. But because there isn't any really big mountains in the area, when a shakudama or a nishakudama goes up, you can see it from quite a long ways away. In fact, the sound of the explosion really echoes all across all these rice fields.

19:17 John Daub: Sometimes the best place to watch a fireworks festival is in the middle of nowhere, far away from everybody. And to get the entire picture. And in fact, for the yonshakudama, it's so big that from the place where everybody buys tickets, it's so big, you really can't... You just don't get a sense of how large it is unless you get deep into the farm fields and then watch it from maybe like two kilometers away. And then you really get a sense of how large it is when you compare it to the other fireworks that have exploded until the finale. It's a completely different image. Yeah. Anything else, Kanai? I'm really excited about the fireworks for tonight. So don't miss this. Don't miss this. That's right. Don't miss this. Yeah.

20:13 John Daub: And Honda-san says that I will have some kind of control. This is Honda-san's son, who you met in the interview. His son is running this festival tonight, which is really awesome. It's a family-run business, which I'm really happy that we were able to support Katakai Fireworks Festival because the fireworks industry lost 5.6 billion US dollars this year. Not just the fireworks themselves, also the food stands and the shops and things like this. So be able to inject some of that into the Japanese fireworks industry. I think it was a pretty good thing that we did for our community. So I want to say thank you for that. And I'll be saying thank you quite a bit tonight. But we're about eight hours away. And I still got some filming for the documentary to do. Kanai might be in that documentary. So we'll interview.

21:01 John Daub: And in fact, if you want to, on the Discord server, if you have some questions that you'd want to ask Honda-san or a fireworks maker, fireworks manufacturer, if you have a question, go to our Discord server, discord.gg/onlyinjapan. And write a question there. I'm going to check it before the interview and then ask that. And maybe I'll put your question into the documentary because I think it's really good to cover all the bases. Maybe there's something that you haven't thought of, I haven't thought of. So there you have it. Tonight's going to be a lot of fun. I'm getting a chance to look behind the scenes and watch them manufacture some of the fireworks. And tonight we're going to see all of that come to fruition and have a pretty amazing day. It's going to be an amazing festival. It's streamed live for everybody for free.

21:50 John Daub: Do you see that big crow? It's watching me. And you can watch this show. It's free for everybody tonight. Backed by 816 people who supported this. And we had such an amazing interest in this festival that we created two festivals. Ten days ago we had Omagari. You can see the playback. And tonight is Katakai. And I'm pretty excited about this one because this is the big one. Because they are all shakudamas and star mines, which is pretty crazy. This is the big one. And we're the only ones here. There's no other fireworks festival going on, just Only in Japan. So thanks so much for watching everybody. Make sure that you click the link for tonight's video and get a reminder. And if you want, you can watch the playback tomorrow morning if it's too late or too early for you. But it's a lot more exciting when you watch it live. So see you there. Bye bye from Katakai. I can't wait eight hours. I want to see them now.

23:05 John Daub: They actually have daytime fireworks. It's mostly about the smoke. But it's pretty interesting to see day fireworks too. I'll try to bring that story one day as well. Wangan Dreamer, thank you. It's nice to see you here. Suzette's in the house. That's great Suzette. And Cobra Bebop, of course. Great to see Cobra Bebop. King Wong is ready for the fireworks. Oh, vending machine fun. We stop in there and Peter, it's going to be another amazing show. Thanks Peter. Cody S. John, will you be singing again? I might. No, no, actually, Cody, there's no music. There's no music. I'll make my own music. Of course I will. Of course I will. Get excited everybody. See you again in eight hours.