00:03 John Daub: This is the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. It is one of the coolest museums. We brought Leo here. This is one of our goals and just for a couple of minutes. I wanted to share with you the experience. I've done this like seven years ago. It hasn't changed that much but it's certainly one of the places if you're in this area you want to come and check it out.

00:25 John Daub: Just the entrance walking in here is really impressive. This is coming down the escalator. Every little detail of it is really good. Here we got a picture of us with the Brachiosaurus. It's pretty silly. And now I'm going to go up to the top here and just look down on it. But the most impressive part of this whole exhibit is probably when you come through the escalator and the entrance of it you get to see the big Tyrannosaurus Rex. And many people say that Jurassic Park was inspired by this one here.

01:31 John Daub: I think they might have upgraded this one because back seven years ago it didn't look as realistic. I think they have sensors in there because he was looking right at us. And I was taking pictures. Leo was really freaked out. Look at his eyes. The details on it. All the scales. His eyes are shifting left and right looking at you. And the sensors pick activity up. And he would move his head towards the activity. It is just the creepiest thing because it looks so realistic. And the way he's balanced. His tail balancing. That heavy head and those little teeny arms that are so famous. It is a beautiful thing. And people take pictures of it. He would roar. Leo was so freaked out. It's one of the scariest things I think he's seen in his entire life. Because I might have said that he's going to eat you. And Leo did not like that. But eventually he warmed up to it and started taking pictures of everything. You can see here he's fine with the dinosaurs now. He made friends with them. He's got a little camera too and he's taking pictures to learn about the dinosaurs here.

02:29 John Daub: So where exactly are we before I show you a little bit more? It's actually on the other side from Tokyo on the Sea of Japan side in a prefecture called Fukui. This is a prefectural museum. It's about an hour away from Kanazawa. About 30 minutes from Fukui City right there. So if you get on the Shinkansen you can grab a bus to come here. We have a rent-a-car. And the whole complex is so beautiful. It's a thousand yen for adults. Or about what is that? Seven dollars. Six dollars and fifty cents for adults. And kids under six are free. Which is great for Leo. And us because we're the ones who have to pay for him. They have a little dinosaur playground.

03:10 John Daub: So here's the sign coming in here. This is the left turn into the museum which I thought was really cool. We saw another dinosaur on the way. Look at this white Tyrannosaurus Rex in the countryside. That's so... dare I say... this is so cool. And this is the sign coming off of the highway at Katsuyama. I guess you could just see it. And here's a dinosaur sign to take a left to the museum here. It's kind of cool. Like the whole city of Katsuyama here is a dinosaur. There's a Tyrannosaurus Rex across the street there.

03:50 John Daub: Now I'm going to pan up here and check this out. We do have a Brachiosaurus. That is big. Eating. I guess he's eating leaves. They weren't meat eaters. Wow. He's up there. And this whole dome you can see can fit a lot of dinosaurs in here. And the dome projecting like that balloon. It's got a really blue dark color to it. There's Leo over there. I was going to pan around the museum. We're going to keep this pretty short here. There's a Tyrannosaurus Rex over there. It really... Leo was crying when we first got here. I think Kanae has those pictures on her smartphone. Here's the sign in the front. He didn't want to take a picture so that's the best we could do here. But it is a really amazing museum.

05:06 John Daub: And you can see they have some movies of the dinosaurs moving. So for kids it brings the dinosaurs to life. One of my favorite... I'm looking for Triceratops. But I found Stegosaurus down there. Stegosaurus is one of my favorite dinosaurs because he had a small head. Like a bird brain in the body of a monster. Stegosaurus was a herbivore. But he certainly could fight off Tyrannosaurus Rex. We've all seen the Jurassic Park. You really see it though when you put it in context of the rest of his body. But this is such a well done museum by the prefecture of Fukui. If you are in the area it is worth coming out here. It's a little bit of a hike from Fukui Station. But the Shinkansen Station is actually worth it. Because it's like in the front of it are mechanical dinosaurs in the front of the Fukui Station. That in itself is a lot of fun. And then to build up the next day maybe rent a car, drive out here or take the train. And then there's a bus from the station.

06:34 John Daub: And there's a path around here so you can see the Velociraptor. Very realistic. Darting right at the kids. Wow. Wow. Hahaha. There's a cafe. There's a cafe that's famous for its dino coffee. So why don't we go up here and see what we can see. Did Leo go back? Leo! He was here for a second. And then they kind of left.

07:28 John Daub: When I was here in 2017 I talked with the curator and was able to film inside of here. You can take a look at that livestream as well on this channel. It was one of the first livestreams I did on this channel a long time ago. And I'm happy to kind of be back here and just give you a glimpse in here for a couple of minutes. So you can spend your afternoon or evening with me if you're watching in the US. Leave me a comment below. I want to hear from you. What did you think of this museum? What do you think of dinosaurs in general? I mean dinosaurs are not well known or famous in Japan you would think. But this region actually has... There's a place where they excavate the dinosaurs. They're still doing it. Like an active dig. And you can go there and go and see.

08:23 John Daub: The drive here was so beautiful as well. It's so peaceful. You can see the centerpiece. The Tyrannosaurus Rex in the middle there. Someone was just going to ask about dinosaurs in Japan. Yeah, this is the most famous. This might be one of the most famous dinosaur museums in the world. I know the one in New York City is quite good. I remember going there as a kid. But this one is just... They put them all in one space. It's not too big. You can knock this out in like 90 minutes. There's a playground for kids as well. They want to get kids that are really interested into this. This has inspired paleontologists for a couple of... I don't know how long this museum has been around. But quite a while. Or at least 10 years. Because I was here 7 years ago. And it blew me away.

09:54 John Daub: But as a drive from Tokyo. It's about a 6 hour drive. So it's kind of a far drive. Just in tolls. I think it balances out to be about the same amount of time as the Shinkansen. But with a car you have a lot more flexibility. On this side you have dinosaur eggs. And they talk about the history a little bit more. Hey Nandi, that's right. I was here during my hitchhiking trip. I stopped here on the way. It's part of the documentary. That documentary is available on Blu-ray disc. You can buy it in the Only in Japan store. And Nightbot will put a link to the description in the live chat right now. I think we have about 25 Blu-rays left. That was a pretty epic adventure. I can't believe it was 7 years ago. I hitchhiked the entire country from the bottom to the top. Before Leo was born.

11:17 John Daub: Alright, let's come out to the front. We're going to get a front view of that big Tyrannosaurus Rex. There are dinosaurs from all over the world here. It's not just Japan-based dinosaurs. We saw some from China and some from North America. Alright, here we go. This is the dinosaur. And I believe they've had this for a long time. Somebody told me that the producers of Jurassic Park were inspired by this. And the design might look familiar to you. But here's the front of the dinosaur museum. This is an awesome sight from the second floor looking down on the centerpiece. Which is that robotic... Very real looking Tyrannosaurus Rex. Look at his movements! He's been scaring kids for a long time. Did you see that one? He gave a ferocious roar.

13:10 John Daub: So that's about it. I just wanted to give you a quick overview of this amazing museum. This is my second time here. It won't be my last. I'm sure to come back again. It's a great trip. If you've got families and you have a son that loves dinosaurs as Leo is getting into it more. This is the coolest place to come and visit. If you have any questions, you can leave it on the comments. I'll try to answer them about this museum. But, you know, well done Fukui Prefecture. Every time I've come, both times, I've been impressed. And, like, I don't know. I'll be having dreams of going back to the Jurassic period. I'm probably going to have to watch Jurassic Park tonight. And rewatch at least the first two. The first one was really good. I don't know about the new ones. What do you guys think? Alright, have a good day. Have a good night, everybody. This might be the postcard, right? This could be a pretty cool postcard. I'll see you in the next livestream tomorrow. Or later on today. We're staying in Shirakawago. And it was raining this morning. So I had to reschedule the livestream. Redo the livestream for that town tomorrow, maybe. Tomorrow morning or later today. So I'll see you again in a livestream in Shirakawago. See you.