00:02 John Daub: Whoa, you guys are chasing me. He's really hungry and then he's gone. Good morning. Oh my gosh. Whoa, whoa. Down. I just started. These rabbits will follow you in the morning. Look, that's how a herd of zombies eats. They gather around their victim and eat them. Last night was kind of scary. There were a lot of rabbits around, but more than that, there were storms.

00:59 John Daub: I don't have any food. This place is kind of a magical place, especially for animal lovers and rabbit lovers in particular. If you spend the night here, you get the mornings off, meaning there's no tourists here. There's just a few campers, me, and people staying at the ryokan (Japanese inn). Even the staff to the island goes back to the mainland. So it's kind of cool. And if you're in the summer, the sun comes up at 4:30. So you kind of have all the rabbits to yourself. Another reason that you might want to stay here.

01:43 John Daub: Now, most of these rabbits in the summertime will hide from the heat, stay inside. So when you come on your day trip, they're not going to be out at all. So you want to come early in the morning or at night in the summer, or not at all. You might want to come in the winter. Look at them. They're all underneath the bus. I see croissants here. Is he coming after me? Oh, look at that. Rabbit crossing.

02:23 John Daub: Yesterday, I also saw a turtle, which means that the tale of the hare and the tortoise could have taken place right here. I think it was a turtle. Could have been a tortoise. Usually, if you sit down, they all swarm you. They think you have food, which is something we need to talk a little bit about. I know your first instinct is to bring carrots and stuff. Don't do that. That's a Bugs Bunny cartoon. They shouldn't be eating a lot of the vegetables that people bring.

03:04 John Daub: And the ranger showed me yesterday some of the leftover foods. People just jettison their food. They don't want to take it home. So they empty the entire bag of vegetables that the rabbits don't need because it's not indigenous to the island and creates kind of a problem. Oh my gosh. Look at the little rabbit. It's so cute. Excuse me. Are you two brothers and sisters? They've got to be. Oh, that one is so meek. He took off.

03:40 John Daub: Hey guys. You tickle my feet. Tickles. We're going to get wet. We're going to get wet soon. You guys can go underneath the bus. I can't do that unless I was very weird. That's the shuttle bus that takes you from the port all around the island, which isn't that big because it's only three kilometers. You can walk it in 30 minutes. There he is. This one is so shy. It looks like he was just born a couple of months ago. Oh, look how small you are.

04:28 John Daub: I want to give you food too, but they won't sell it to me. I asked at the hotel and they said only at the port. So that's a note for you guys. If you want to get some food, you have to buy it at the port. You can't buy it. Wow. Did you see that? I don't think the bus is going to run over them. The staff here, especially the bus driver, is very well accustomed. People that have been doing this job here on the island have been doing it for a very long time.

05:06 John Daub: When I came to Japan, Rabbit Island wasn't a thing. Rabbit Island was just, I don't know. People didn't know about it. How you doing? Can I feel him? You're grooming yourself. Is that okay? Just because he bumped noses, I drew a conclusion. I was wrong. There's some massive thundershowers. I looked at the radar last night. I did not sleep that well. I think I slept. All I know is that I made it through the night. It wasn't a good sleep, but I woke up a little bit after five and it rained downpoured like six, seven times. Tent was shaking. Wind coming from the southeast. It was really scary.

06:07 John Daub: Whoa. At first you think it's a cat. Then you look at the face and go, wait, that can't be a cat. That's a rabbit. All right. Sorry, buddy. We did this before. I remember you. I'm not carrying anything. I don't have any food. Oh, you don't believe me. You're going to keep following me? How far are you going to follow me for? Faster than I can go backwards, huh? I want to carry you to shelter, but I can't. Oh, you got a friend that looks just like you. You're all going to get wet. I've seen lightning strike already.

06:53 John Daub: I have to go to the hotel for breakfast. You have to schedule it in advance. I feel like I should have said I wanted the Western breakfast. I'm not feeling like Japanese breakfast this morning. When I got up at 5:30, also really, really beautiful scenery. The mountains across the other island. I can't remember what that other island is, but the mist in the hills was so stunning. And these are things you only get to see if you stay here. And because the sun rises so early in Japan, you want to get up at the crack of dawn, like 5 a.m. and walk the island. That's when it's at its best.

07:42 John Daub: I like just waking up from the night slumber or not slumber. I don't think these rabbits are sleeping. I think they're venomous meat eaters, prey on one another, have some sort of battle royale. I don't know. I ended up falling asleep at nine. How am I going to get back to my tent? How am I going to pack up my tent, get back home? It's supposed to rain 90% chance of rain all day. I'm so messed up. This might be the only break I have. I have another ticket to take a bath at the hotel. I might save that for a little bit later.

08:24 John Daub: This is where we walked last night. If you haven't seen that live stream, you might want to. It's kind of neat at night. I think during the daytime, I only counted like 13 rabbits, because it was so much rain. It's so hot. They all scram, go inside the center of the island into holes. They dig for themselves. Yeah, rabbits live in holes. And they come out at night or in the evening when it's cooler. But by that time, all the tourists are gone. They get back on the ferry and they leave.

09:01 John Daub: I never understood this. Did you ever try that? You have a friend in college, opposite sex, and say, let's be snuggle buddies. It doesn't work. Be friends. He's drinking the water in the puddle. Beware the evil rabbit spider. What? Does anyone have a snuggle buddy? I just want to get a curiosity. Rabbits do. Seems to be the best way to go. You need a snuggle. You have your snuggle buddy. And the rabbits seem to stick together. Whoa, lightning. Oh my gosh. It's going to really, that does not look good.

10:29 John Daub: HDR is not giving it justice. Thank you. Awesome. Smells like lightning. Something smells. You guys better get inside. Do you see that lightning? I'm serious. It's going to come down. You better get out of here. Don't stay in a clearing either and get away from the trees. Getting hit by lightning is not good. Speaking of which, there isn't anybody outside, which also creeps me out. Feels like I should be indoors.

11:06 John Daub: Hey, there's a storm coming. You probably should not be coming running towards me. I'm a lightning rod. Hey, get out of here while you can. Rain's going to come down copious amounts. You're going to be so drenched. You won't be able to hop around because you'll be double the weight. I highly recommend that you get into the hole. Go right now because this is your last warning. Do it now. I've seen the lightning. I've heard the thunder. Good. Good. You're listening. All right, get out of here.

11:47 John Daub: It looks bad, folks. It doesn't look good for this YouTuber. I've got a feeling that the lightning, getting struck by lightning does not give you superpowers either. You'd think maybe that could be the case when you get struck by 21 gigawatts of power. It's not the case. It just hurts a lot. It's like frying. Hey you, should get down from that high location. Hide in your hole. I'm telling you right now hide in your hole. Don't listen. Oh gosh they came from both sides. Although I look like a source of food let me tell you I have none.

12:51 John Daub: You best get out of here while you can. You're doing the opposite of what I asked you to do. Scram. Good you too little buddy. Scram. Yeah he's all blonde. I like the rabbits are really colorful. They're all related to one another too. I think the lifespan of a rabbit is about five to seven years. There was one rabbit who was about five to six years. There was one rabbit who lived to be eight years old that was pretty incredible. Holy macaroni this looks not good.

13:53 John Daub: Air to the throne how does she they're everywhere they are everywhere look at the holes they try to dig in the side of the hotel here. I couldn't really show this to you last night. I gotta go. I have to show you how bad it's about to get. I cannot believe the color of the sky. I haven't seen a rabbit in a while. It's dark in ages like in the morning sometimes. The great thing about an island is that you can see the rain coming.

14:31 John Daub: Now this is the ryokan the hotel it's a pretty nice place a little pricey. You can reserve six months in advance they told me dinner was six thousand yen it's the only place on the island to eat. And then she's got all these rabbits to herself. I don't have any food so I can't make any friends. I have to use my winning personality and that doesn't work with rabbits. Oh my gosh look at the cloud do you see this this is more impressive than the wabbits I think.

15:25 John Daub: I think we're just gonna I think the storm's just gonna miss us this is phenomenal look at it some sort of weather we're live wow crazy are you seeing this this is like godzilla ascending from the sea kind of weather i never seen a cloud like this this is so scary. All right I gotta you can see the rain on the other side check it out oh my gosh okay you know what i gotta look at that. You think it's gonna strike lightning it could any moment now i'm gonna get some video in 8k of this before i get it going for breakfast holy macaroni wow you ever see anything like this before.

17:08 John Daub: That bird's going crazy over there has anyone ever seen a cloud like this i bring death and crime away. This is the kind of thing that you can do in the desert this is like a no-hazard cloud of kind of like evenubu [?] in the desert like this is like a no-hazard cloud of kind of like this i think this is a hollywood movie set and blue screen thunder and lightning will rain down on thee. This is like one of those zeus background clouds isn't it zeus i'm on your side buddy. I shouldn't call you buddy i shouldn't presume but just keep it real i'm gonna go inside and i don't like the look of that cloud coming sneaking up on me here either.

18:52 John Daub: It is okay i could smell the rain. I think the people can too. I'm gonna get closer to the ryokan. Hey guys, I'm for real this time get indoors. Hey, this is not a drill. You should not be lounging around like that. That position is a position of comfort. You should be taking cover. They have no idea. I guess if their hole is like right here. My buddy is a storm chaser a friend from college Mike Bettis and I went to school together at Ohio State. He's a storm chaser for the Weather Channel.

19:47 John Daub: Whenever we were studying Geology and a bunch of other science classes to the core stuff. Then he went on to be one of the top weather guys in the US pretty cool. Mike if you're watching I got a storm for you. Only Mike Bettis would fly a kite. And that's whether I've been Franklin. Everybody's going inside. All right rabbits. All I can say is that it's gonna be rough, but you can do it. Stay dry. Rabbits and I'll be back.

20:44 John Daub: You get struck by lightning and turn into a human being. I'm on your side. Just remember that some sort of massive Godzilla from the sea coming out right now. Thanks for sharing the storm front rolling in John looks epic and relaxing somehow. Hope the tent stays dry. It's good good question. I'm really far separated from the tent now, but it looks like the rain is coming from this direction. You'd almost see the rain coming which is a kind of cool thing.

21:10 John Daub: Have you ever been in a boat or you've ever been on the island or the sea you can see the storm fronts coming in? It's just weird because you can't see the rabbits anymore. They used to be here what they'd watch people eating if you eat at this table the rabbits come and they watch you eat. Make you feel uncomfortable like you have to go outside and give them some all right the bird even the birds are escaping now. Wow. The wind is hit the trees here inside now everybody can sense. It's about to rain.

22:08 John Daub: It's raining it's raining. Get my mask on. It's raining. It's raining heavy whoa. I think the rabbits can be okay. I think my tent's gonna be okay. I'm glad I got to eat breakfast now. Oh my tent is buckled down. They're waiting for me. I got breakfast at my breakfast appointment at 7:15. Whoa, it's a lot of rain. Well, the weather's gotten ridiculously colder. I almost need a jacket. You can't even see any of the islands that were visible just a few minutes ago. Slight outline of the island across there.

24:05 John Daub: But this is a massive tropical storm. This is pretty cool. Rabbits stay dry, stay healthy, stay warm. I think maybe a rabbit hole would be a little dangerous. How deep do the holes go and how covered are they from something like this? Coming in with bands of rain right now. Really relaxing. Remember to unpack your tent when you get home. Yeah, thanks, Matt. I didn't pack it up that well last time I did the indoor camping. This is the first time real camping since, well, the pandemic started.

25:29 John Daub: There's some lightning now. One day in the future, there will be a war between Cat Island and Rabbit Island. I think the cats will win, although the rabbits are plentiful. They have those two really strong buck teeth. I don't know who would win actually. Rabbits can jump. But cats can jump high, too. It's a debate amongst yourself. Rabbits versus cats. You know, Cat Island versus Rabbit Island. War for food.

26:16 John Daub: This island also has inoshishi (wild boar), which are like wild pigs, wild hogs. And they dig a lot of holes, too. You can see they live up in the hills. So I was going to go and walk up there, but I can't today because obviously this, if it dries out, which I think it will, I'm going to have to go back up there. I don't think this storm is going to last very long. Already, I could see the islands in the distance again. You could debate amongst yourself who would win in a war. Cats versus rabbits.

26:48 John Daub: Rabbits are cute. But then if you watch Monty Python, you probably would say rabbits. I don't know. It's hard. Rabbits could be vindictive and revengeful and strike first. I don't know. All right, everybody. I'm going to go eat breakfast. Thanks for watching the stream and joining me beyond some unusual weather. It's already starting to clear up. I'm going to go eat breakfast. I don't see the rabbits anymore. Bye, everyone.