00:00:00 John Daub: I find myself out on the Chikuma River right here in Nagano on the border of Niigata and Nagano in a beautiful location. I'll show you on Google Maps exactly where I am right now, but you wouldn't believe it. It's unfortunate I wanted to do a live stream up there in the mountains where the autumn foliage is absolutely stunning. I have two minutes of drone shots you're going to see right there—I'm going to show this in about 30 seconds. It's absolutely stunning. You're going to feel what it's like to be out there outside of the city of Tokyo.

00:00:30 John Daub: Please get out of Tokyo and Kyoto, off the beaten path, and come out here to places like Nagano and Niigata. This is the Shin'etsu Trail (信越トレイル), a hiking trail that follows along the border of Nagano and Niigata. I've been out here three times—I came scouting, did the actual hike on sections nine and four, and now I'm back for the autumn foliage because I just love it. It's such a great chance and a great day to take a day off, but I'm here hard at work. Where exactly am I? I'm right there, closer to the Sea of Japan than the Pacific Ocean. If you saw the earlier live stream about three hours ago, I took you to a highway service area for vending machine drip coffee, which is pretty incredible. But I'm here in the valley—you can see the Niigata-Nagano border just above there, the Chikuma River, and the hiking trail follows the ridge. It's absolutely stunning.

00:01:30 John Daub: If you're hiking right now, this might be the best time because the autumn colors have peaked in the countryside here. Bradshaw Studio, thank you for being a member—a traveler here for 63 months, I appreciate it. It's so beautiful. Why don't I live out here? Oh, because there's not a lot else to do. But it's nice to come visit the Chikuma River, one of the most beautiful and scenic in all of Japan. The color of it is outstanding. I'm going to take you now—let's go to the river in a second, but first, this is why you're here: let me show you the drone shots from the mountain. I wish I could have done the live stream here, but hey, Rondania, this is for you—do you get this kind of autumn in Hawaii? Look at that. I'm in the middle of the bridge—do you see me? That's what I call autumn. It's just awesome.

00:02:36 John Daub: It's beautiful. Friends at the hotel where I stayed told me I had to go to this bridge, and I did—I was there for an hour just looking at the colors. It is basically a firework show, ladies and gentlemen—really special to see out here. Rondania reports Hawaii doesn't have this kind of color unless it's actual fireworks on New Year's Day, which is a thing. This is Japanese autumn, everybody—most of Japan looks like this if you get away from the coast and cities. There are Japanese ryokan (旅館, traditional inns) and onsen (温泉, hot springs) out here. There's a reason to get out of the cities and off the beaten path, especially this time of year. I just love it—this is why I rented a car and drove four hours, and I've got to drive four hours back in a couple hours after I take a couple more drone shots. But these are going to be in the next video—and there I am in the center. No traffic—I'm the only dude. They should do some bungee—no, I think you'd hit that tree. But it's absolutely stunning. I decided to go under the bridge to be daring, then realized that's not going to go well—just missed. That's not the Chikuma River; that's a branch that goes into it. But you can see the colors—outstanding right now. It's peaked, probably the end of it.

00:04:10 John Daub: I had my bear spray with me—I keep it on my person, as the police say, and you've got to whip it out if bears come. I'll probably post this as a story on Instagram too if you want to see it in 9:16 format, but absolutely stunning. You can see I'm dressed in my hiking gear—sort of faking it here. I'm not actually hiking, but I'm going to insert this video into the main channel video coming out around Thanksgiving if I can work on the edit real fast. I want to give everybody a slice of autumn during the holiday break for the US. Hiking in Japan is really special. I'm pretending—wow, look at the view there. It's part of the job. I'm not really pretending because it's just so beautiful. Look at that—this is from the iPhone 16 Pro right now, a stunning view from the bridge instead of the drone. A lot of people would just stop the car right in the middle of the bridge—little dangerous. I had the drone following me for a couple shots, so this is gonna be pretty cool in the main channel video. Get out here—and there probably are some bears somewhere down there. I didn't see any yet. Okay, I'm slightly worried, but it's much ado about nothing. This is somebody's property, so I want to be respectful, but we can take a little time and walk down to the Chikuma River just a bit.

00:06:01 John Daub: Yeah, bear attacks are on the increase, but I want to put this in perspective—it's still extraordinarily rare. Oh, look at this—I don't know if I want to go to the spot next to the river. Let's call it a day right here. That pure water—thanks for that. The bear attacks are a real thing. I'm getting closer—there's some, I don't know if that's rice or negi (葱, green onions); it'd be unusual if rice because harvest has already taken place. But there's the river down there—it's got this really beautiful emerald green color. It's hard to tell because the sun's not out right now; you don't really see the full green. Autumn colors at ground level—you've got to look up. But in the mountains and countryside, it really has peaked here. This isn't a sudden thing—the bears were around last year and the year before. Hey, Chan. They were talking about the increase two years ago, but they're starting to come down because of the hot summer—not enough food for them to forage. Actually, it's the bigger bears winning all the food, so the little bears, younger or mid-sized ones, are coming down and attacking. They don't have the experience—they're just mall people. Put it in perspective: more bear attacks than in the past, but still rare. You do not need bear spray if you're going to Nara—I got this question: "Do I need bear spray?" I said, "Where are you going? Nara? No—you probably need deer spray or tourist spray to keep them away because there are so many tourists. But the deer and tourists are what to worry about—the deer are not."

00:08:36 John Daub: If you're going hiking or camping, you're going to need bear spray. I recommend the US-made ones with chili pepper spice—they're potent. Get ones that spray a mist, not juice—the cheaper it is, the less it disperses. You need something that disperses because bears come at you at 40 kilometers an hour—like 30 miles per hour. You need something that projects over a wide area fast—not like mace, which is good for close range. That's why you pay more for bear spray. If a bear attacks, make sure you've got a can—it's usually good for four years from purchase, so it's an investment, but after four years, get a new one. So I might go now to Katakuri no Yado, where I stayed a couple weeks ago—going to film drone shots around there. Beautiful area—try to get as many shots. Then I drive back. To be honest, I think I came out here more to get away from Tokyo than to film, but I'm getting critical scenes because I really want to show Japanese autumn in this video. A little taste with music and drone shots would be really cool. This is an area where I have friends in Myoko and in Sakae. There's an apple stand over there—Ben sent me like 50 bucks for apples last time, so I'm going back to get some more. Now I have the car—no need for Shinkansen; lots of space. Gonna take a bucket of apples—thanks to Ben for the Super Chat. I still remember, and for a lot of you others. I still have some apples at home, but Leo's been eating one a day—I told him it keeps the doctor away and he believes me. Saya, if I see you, maybe I'll bring some apples for you too. The apple stand is just over there on the other side of the river—that's where I'm heading. Then film and do the four-hour drive back to Tokyo. These live streams are good to break it up—eight hours of driving today. That's a lot, so I'm going to sleep well and start editing this video. Hope to get it out before Thanksgiving—maybe work really hard and get more edited videos out. Want at least five by year's end—I can do it. Been a couple months without videos, so we're ending strong. Got a lot to release. This is a stream day—maybe one more in November. But when you get outside Tokyo, how could you not stream? Hold on, got to get the car on. How could you not do more than one? It's just beautiful out here—that's why I drove to get away from everybody.

00:12:15 John Daub: There's a house there—a couple convenience stores, but not much else. Some good local restaurants—there's a soba restaurant where I spent the night when hiking. They had rooms and make soba on the first floor of the hotel—that'll be inserted into this video; gonna be awesome. Thanks guys for supporting the channel, watching—nice to take you outside Tokyo so you can experience it live with me. Did you see the Mitsubishi symbol on the building? Yeah, countryside. New patron from yesterday—whoa, welcome. I don't know if you signed up for the postcard club, but I'll send postcards around the 12th or 13th this month. Wanted to get a nice autumn image for it—so going to do that. Probably won't order until tonight; they'll go out before Friday next week—hopefully by month's end; it's a 30-day one, long compared to February. One of my favorite things is seeing nature in different incarnations—this is very beautiful. I'm happy to share it with you. I think I had one more shot—this is from my mobile phone, another drone shot that might've gone wrong, but it doesn't seem like it. That's nice. This isn't a national park, so you can use your drone—but part of the Shin'etsu Trail is a national park and part isn't, so be careful where you launch. There's a parking spot—I launched from there; can't from the road. Have to be at least 30 meters from cars and buildings. Some rules for drones in Japan—you can't just launch anywhere, but out in the countryside it's pretty nice to use one and enjoy. Look at that—that's so pretty.

00:14:52 John Daub: Gonna be fun to edit this video—here's a flyby. For those joining us—Jeff—little buzz. I've been using drones 11 years now—holy crud, time flies. Pretty out there—so it's peaked in the countryside. If you're in Japan right now, good reason to rent a car and get out, but a lot of rentals are booked. If not, check out this video before sleep—on the history of this amazing thing Japanese used for rice that visitors don't know about. Released it yesterday—love to see comments if you'd like it. Don't mind the AI images; it's my way to tell history engagingly. I get people saying it's cringy, but I didn't think so—the images worked. Leave a comment, share, hit like—always good if work is appreciated. Saiya, I'll be in touch—hopefully catch up while you're here. Thank you AJ, KO Adventures moderating, TJ here too—he's fine with the images; watched this morning. Wonder how the beans were made—I wonder too. The Tamakiya restaurant we featured from 1782 or something—pretty old shop, 10th-generation owner was great to meet. Tsukudani (佃煮, simmered preserves) is actually seafood, but the owner came from Niigata and brought beans—magic beans—and first made tsukudani with Niigata black beans called zassō mame (雑草豆 [?]). Really fun to eat—you pick them up with chopsticks one by one; salty, mochi-mochi texture, a little salty-sweet like soy sauce. Wonderful taste—you can get them at Tamakiya in boxes; pretty sure you can take back—they're processed, salted, sterilized through boiling.

00:17:54 John Daub: I know, Saya—little teeny spider looked cute, but don't think it could do damage—not the hairy ones with visible eyes, those are creepy. All right guys, take care—see you in another live stream, probably back in Tokyo. We'll do something fun, maybe walking around. I'm tired of drama like the video where people attacked me for AI images and stuff with other YouTube creators—we're past that into autumn with chestnuts, food, tempura soba tendon—stuff of autumn. Such a great time to be alive because we know winter's coming—the cold dark nights, not my favorite, but we'll get through it. Thanks for the support—see you.