00:00:01 John Daub: Greetings, welcome to Urasa. This is a lot of snow. I didn't expect it to be like this. I hope the signal is okay. We are deep in Niigata Prefecture. Look at this. This festival has been going on for quite a long time. I'll be participating in it. So I wanted to show you around before I actually get into my nakedness, which is a fundoshi (Japanese thong).

00:00:27 John Daub: I can't believe I'm running around in this weather. Couldn't the sun have come out or something? I could work on my tan then. So we're going to go to Bishamondo, which is the temple right up here. Right now you can see they covered the chōchin (paper lanterns) there. And we're going to go up into the temple here and take a look at the procession. There's some children that are going to be doing this festival as well. They'll be in fundoshi, which are white thongs.

00:00:55 John Daub: The one good thing about this is that the thongs are a little bit less revealing than the ones I've done in the past. Oh my gosh, it is so cold. Here's the procession. This just happened about 30 seconds ago. Check it out. Look how pretty they are. These are just the kids that are dressed for the gyōretsu (procession) that is coming in from the town into the temple. So we're going to see if we can go and see them.

00:01:30 John Daub: Where am I exactly? Let me just show you on the map very quickly. Niigata is on the Sea of Japan side. I think it was about an hour from Tokyo to get here. It's funny because once you cross the other side of the Japanese Alps, the mountains there, the snow is so heavy. The other side, there was no snow. And this is where we are on the top. You see Bishamondo. That's the temple we're at right now. We're about to enter. And there's a Shinkansen station so we're pretty close. Bradshaw Studios in the house, welcome!

00:02:07 John Daub: Here's the entrance. Let's get in there. They've already started the kids' procession. A lot of the people in media don't come until later on in the day, which is the reason why we came early. And by we, I'm talking about me and Waku, my cameraman, who's going to be in there already filming. I'm glad to have somebody with me. This is the route I'm going to be running in my fundoshi. Through here on this ice. Oh my gosh, this is hard to walk on. It's not like barefoot but it's not a lot of shoes. It's not really shoes I'll be wearing.

00:02:48 John Daub: Oh, the procession's already over there. That's an ice bath straight ahead. Alright, I'm going to have to submerge myself in there. Ugh. Let me take you over here. The procession's going through. Going through the temple grounds. They're famous for having these candles here in Urasa. They're made for the festival. What are they, like 20 or 25 kilograms? That wasn't a little snowfall. This is a big snowfall.

00:03:27 John Daub: Did they already pass through here? I'm lost. Alright, the kid's running this way. Yeah, we're live everybody. This is fun. I hope that's copyright free music. Alright, the kids should be coming through here. It's funny because just yesterday, I was showing you how the cherry blossoms were coming out and spring was here. And then they came, then you got that and boom. It's like the exact opposite.

00:04:16 John Daub: See the water that's coming out here? I think this might be onsen water and it's used to try to melt the snow and keep an easy foothold on the track here. Oh, here they come out! I can hardly see them. Ah, they're so cute. They must be really cold as well. See mom up there in the kimono. Oh no, somebody fell down over there.

00:05:14 John Daub: I wanted Kanae Daub and Leo to come today but it was just going to be too hard with the snow and the weather. And we actually couldn't find a hotel in the area. The Shinkansen was completely full until Echigo-Yuzawa and then it changed once and nobody was coming here. But everyone is going skiing. So in the area, all the ski lodges and the hotels are completely packed. So we're doing this as a day trip unfortunately.

00:05:48 John Daub: There's Waku. He's going to be... You're going to have to find me naked like everybody else. It's so hard. He's working the camera. Thank you, Waku. How was it in there? It was good. I got a little close up and some white shadows are walking. And are they going to stand up there? I think so. They're going to stand up for a photo. That's going to be nice. And then the Daimyo Gyōretsu comes I think at 10:10. So it's going to be... Oh, and the band... No, the band is at 10:10. There's a band.

00:06:38 John Daub: I guess they took the photo, no? Are you going to take a photo now? Oh, he fell down. That poor guy just took a massive spill. It is really slippery out here. Dave is just joining us right now. I'm in Niigata. This is... I guess I could show you once again really quickly where I am as we set up. The kids are getting... I'm down here on the other side of the mountains. For those that are just joining us in Bishamondo, which is the temple that we're at. And that's the Shinkansen station right there on the top of the screen.

00:07:22 John Daub: Here come the kids. There are rescuers, people in case I freeze. If I get too cold, I'm sure someone will rescue me. But this is a straight on naked man festival. I've done four of these. The most revealing one was in Miyazaki because it was based on the story of a man who was killed by a woman. It was basically like a Brazilian thong. They gave me the fundoshi and I was like, that's it? It was like dental floss. You could see stuff. That was done in Miyazaki but it's much, much warmer. It was like 15 degrees, 16 degrees. Even the ocean was the same temperature as the air. We had to jump into the ocean. But this is going to be minus two.

00:08:15 John Daub: And I'm going to take you to the water. Then we're going to go into the town to get some street food. Just check it out. But I think we're a little bit early for that. I might do another livestream later on for this. Okay, let's take a quick peek at the girls here. As close as you can get without censorship. Hey, it's cultural. It's historical. No one should be offended by that. I think Waku is going to get that shot.

00:08:48 John Daub: Let me show you inside real quickly. This is where I'm going to have to... After 6 p.m. Look at that excavator. It's completely shut down with snow. Exaggerating a bit. I'm sure it's not that bad. Down there is the town. We're going to go there in a second. That's where we started the livestream. And I'll be changing into my fundoshi at Kitamura-san's house, which is not too far away from here. Thank goodness. All right, let's get back under this covered area.

00:09:21 John Daub: And I want to show you... Holy smokes. I'm glad you guys are here because this is like one of these events I can't do alone. Here are the candles on the left side. Do you see that? They're going to light these at night and it's going to be really, really pretty. I wonder how much heat comes from so many candles. I'm hoping it'll raise the temperature. Whoa. Got to watch out for falling snow. So this is where I'll be jumping into the water at the end here. And trust me, it's cold. I mean, you can't feel it through the screen, but my hands are freezing. I've got gloves, but it's hard to operate.

00:10:16 John Daub: It says to be careful. So this is where you would typically wash your hands to go into the temple or shrine, right? You have to purify. But they've created a ramp with the snow and put this tarp in here so we jump in. I'm going to jump into that. You don't want to know. It's not heated. If fish can do it, I can do it. Because if other people can do it, I can do it too. There's people that can eat fire as well. There's people that can do some really crazy stuff, but that doesn't mean I can do that.

00:11:42 John Daub: It is really pretty. There's the main temple there. I'll take you in there really quickly. Then we're going to go in there. Typically, you can't film in here, but I've got a press access, so we're good to go. That's a great thing as a YouTuber. And if you are a YouTuber here in Japan, I recommend that you call ahead, get permits and stuff, because it makes so easy to get around. It opens doors. It's a beautiful temple. Now, at 6 p.m., there's going to be men up here in fundoshi, and they're holding the candles. This is going to be filled with people like me and thongs.

00:12:53 John Daub: There's also a place. There's a course that I'll run through the temple here. It's in here. Holy smokes. This could go so wrong. This all fell last night. Thirty centimeters fell last night, and they're going to get another 50 or 60 centimeters today. Gosh, go slowly.

00:13:46 John Daub: Signal will get stronger. All right. Signal will get better. Boy, the signals. There's no signal down here. There's not a lot of signal down here. Sorry, guys. I want to show you the street food. There's supposed to be about 100,000 people coming here tonight. We're early. It's still breakfast time, but I can already smell the dashi, the hot soup boiling in some of the stands. There's some yakitori. There's the jaga butter. But festivals are so much fun in the winter, I think. It's just too hot in the summer. Now, granted, it might be too cold now. Oh, look. We got takoyaki.

00:15:42 John Daub: That looks good. So just bear with me. The signal. We're out in the countryside, so you're never going to get the best signal. But wow, what is that? A kebab? But we're still early. I wanted to show you a little bit of the street food and the vibe. This goes down about 700 meters, I'd say, down the street all the way to the station, which you can see from up there on the temple. But this water is in the streets. If you ever walk around Japan's countryside in the summer, you'll see these. This is actually for this. So it melts the ice, and you can walk around. Particularly useful in places with a lot of people, you know. A lot of traffic. I think it's a great idea. There's a lot of water in this area, too, just from the melting snow.

00:16:36 John Daub: All right. I'm walking back up to the temple now, and I'm wondering where the band is. There's supposed to be a procession of a band, and the daimyo gyōretsu (procession of the feudal lords). But I don't see that here. Maybe it'll come. Crazy. All right. There's Waku, the cameraman here. Sorry. I'm blocking the shot. Hey, are those... Oh, careful. What, is the band up there? Oh. Maybe... You want me to safety pin it in? Camera first. I don't... Did you see the band? I didn't see... Maybe they decided to cancel because this is crazy. Yeah. There's supposed to be a band, and I don't see it. I don't know what's happening. We're going to go inside now. I need a coffee. I like the tea, but I need something hard. There's a 7-Eleven on the other side of the station I might run to. Do you want to make a food run? Sure. Even though the street food's not ready yet.

00:18:02 John Daub: So this is Waku. Waku, if you need a cameraman, he's a good person to get in touch with. wakushouji.com. He's on Instagram as well. wakushouji.com. Waku. wakushouji.com. It's H-O-J-I. There you go. I was shamelessly following him. No. That's not shamelessly. You should've seen my friend, Peter von Gomm. He had a t-shirt with his website and he made signs and stuff. That was the most crazy. This area, famous again for skiing. We're not doing that. Oh, it's starting to stick to my eyes. The last time that happened, I was with Matsumi. Remember that Matsumi and the snow festival? Look, it's sticking to my eyes, you see that? That's cool. Look at that.

00:19:04 John Daub: Alright. Okay, I'm going to end the live stream. I think this is a good place to do it. This gives you an idea. Again, we're really early before the festival starts. It's going to get really more fun in the evening when I have to get my massive wedgie. That's what they do. Somebody followed me on Instagram. Somebody followed you on Instagram? Somebody followed you. Oh my gosh. Oh, there's the tunnel potato. The chocolate bananas. Oh, there's karaage. Oh, this is going to be good. We're going to eat pretty good. Thanks guys for the super chats earlier. Appreciate that. That's going to be our lunch. Very nice. Crepes. That's a big gindako. That's a big, big pieces of tako. Did you see that? That stand is just imploded. Yeah. Oh, there's the shopping. That's Kanae's favorite food. Oh, these look good. The Hiroshima okonomiyaki looks really good too. Wow. I could eat one of those. There's our headquarters for today. I guess. Holy smokes. Dude, look at this. I can't go in like this. Oh, I'm frozen.

00:20:57 John Daub: All right. I guess I could show them the inside. All right. Let's show them the inside. It's so cold. I'm freezing. All right, let's see if I can get it actually. OK. Oh, I see. All right. In a second. Tada! It's a little less than we thought. Darken the story a bit. Let's start now. Do you know what that video is? A picture of you. A photo of you. Oh, a photo of you. It's a picture of you. Oh, oh. You don't have one now? You quit? You don't have one this year?

00:21:52 John Daub: Yes, yes, yes. Do you want some warm soup? It's okay. I'll go out again. You're okay, right? Soup? Japanese soup. Are you okay? You can come back later. Are we going to get food? Yes. Did you eat breakfast yet? Yes. You did? Okay. Otherwise, I couldn't do this. You want to thank your Instagram fans now? Oh, yeah. Thanks for those two or three people who follow me right now. That was pretty cool. I appreciate it. That was fast.

00:22:43 John Daub: Alright, everybody. That's all. I thought it was kind of cool. It's good that we're close stationed. I'm going to go back to the temple here. I get another reason to always get permission and ask and you make some local connections. For me, to do this festival, it's more about feeling that connection with Japan. After something like this and being really cold, you feel good for the rest of the year. You've done something amazing. It really is like going into battle. I hope this video is really fun for you to watch. You will have been here on the day when I filmed it. You understand what it's like. It's crazy out there. It's snowing so hard. Thank you, Saya. Anyways, I'll see you guys later. I might do another livestream later on. I'm going to be focusing on just trying to film and survive and then get home safely. We have a 10:13 Shinkansen to catch. It's going to be a long, long day. See you later.