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00:04Japan.
00:05Michael, welcome to Japan, a railway paradise.
00:08Its huge population spread over Long Islands lives by its railways.
00:13I feel like I'm driving.
00:14My new adventure takes me through the land that launched the high-speed train.
00:19I love Shinkansen.
00:21Where millions of journeys are made each day through some of the most bustling stations on earth.
00:27Busy city.
00:28I'll ride Japan's vast railway network to uncover a land of bold innovation.
00:35Haven't quite got the hang of it yet.
00:37A place of enduring traditions, volatile geology and remarkable people.
00:44Kanpai.
00:45Join me on an excursion like no other.
00:48I'm too excited to sit down.
01:12My rail journey continues on mountainous Kyushu, which is the third largest of Japan's islands.
01:19And one that is closest to Korea and lying opposite to Shanghai.
01:25It's home to about a tenth of the Japanese population.
01:28And accounts for about a tenth of the country's economy.
01:31I'm looking forward to reaching its northern coast.
01:39On this adventure, I've discovered how, in the 19th century, Japan experienced political revolution and westernization due to influences which
01:49entered from the outside world through Kyushu.
01:52I began in Kagoshima and have been traveling up the western side of the island.
01:58I look forward to visiting useful Fukuoka.
02:02I'll then dip under the sea to emerge on the western tip of Honshu Island to end at Hiroshima.
02:19I'm beginning on a regional railway line which delivers me to Arita, a small town with a big reputation.
02:31Known for its exquisite quality and artistic beauty, Arita Porcelain was shipped around the world by the Dutch East India
02:40Company from the mid-17th century.
02:42Even today, it's considered some of the finest in the world.
02:47I'm so impressed by Japanese delicacy and good taste.
02:50When you go to a restaurant, the food is elegantly presented on a range of beautiful dishes.
02:58Porcelain is strongly associated with Japan.
03:01And yet, it's something that arrived as a foreign influence from Korea at the beginning of the 17th century.
03:09And so, it's associated with Kyushu Island.
03:12And in Japan, it has been developed to new perfection.
03:22I've come to the Fukaomi factory, a family business stretching back 400 years,
03:28which produced porcelain ware for the Japanese imperial family.
03:33It's delightful ceramics are found in museums around the world.
03:39Fukaomi-san.
03:41Hello, I'm Michael.
03:42I'm Sosuke.
03:44How do you do?
03:44Good.
03:45I mean, these wonderful colours, so many different blues, this is like a temple to colour.
03:52Thank you very much.
03:53When did porcelain making first arrive in Arita?
03:57It was 1610, because Japanese shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded to Korea,
04:04and then they brought back Korean potter to Kyushu.
04:08And is this how your family arrived here?
04:10They were Koreans originally?
04:12Yes.
04:13So, they're brought over by the shogun.
04:16They arrive here as Koreans, foreigners, but they have this skill.
04:21Are they treated with respect in Japan?
04:22Yes, a lot.
04:24Once my ancestor proved their skills, regional shogun granted surname, Fukaomi,
04:33and permitted to have swords.
04:36Yes.
04:37So, two great honours to carry a sword and to enjoy your very illustrious surname.
04:42My ancestor's name is Fukaomi Soden and Hyakbasen.
04:49They were first potter to create Arita porcelain.
04:53That is extraordinary.
04:56Today, the business specialises in producing a vital element of porcelainware, the underglaze,
05:02pigments used to coat pottery before firing.
05:06Most renowned of these is gosu, a traditional underglaze that transforms into a rich blue when fired.
05:13This is cobalt oxide and manganese, iron and cowl.
05:22Cobalt comes from DR Congo, mined and purified by Belgium and imported to Japan.
05:31That makes it very expensive, I suppose.
05:34Yes, a lot.
05:36With cobalt in it, will it always be blue?
05:39Yes.
05:41We have 300 kinds of blue.
05:47It takes a month of mixing, firing, grinding and refining to produce the delicate gosu glaze.
05:58What extraordinary machinery.
06:01This looks like the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
06:05What happens here?
06:06What process is this?
06:08This is refining.
06:10We grind it over two weeks.
06:13Yes.
06:13I'm in awe that you make 300 blues.
06:16Yes.
06:16But I suppose it means you can't make that or that.
06:20It's not blue.
06:22It's not blue.
06:27The underglaze made here is used across the world and by the many potteries in Arita.
06:34There are around 85 just in the town.
06:37I'm touring Risugama, founded in 1930, in the former residence of another Korean potter, Yi Sanpei, who is considered the
06:46father of Arita porcelain.
06:49Everything is so very delicate.
06:54Any little impurities are being removed from the basic porcelain.
07:01And here a glaze being applied.
07:05Gorgeous liquid.
07:08A process that is not only hands-on but actually hands-in.
07:19Here an artist with the finest of brushes, applying a pattern of exquisite detail.
07:27For a lesson, I hope in somewhat less intricate painting, I'm meeting the head of the company and great-grandson
07:34of the founder Shinji Tarauchi.
07:38Terauchi.
07:39Yes.
07:39Hello.
07:40Hello.
07:42Great pleasure.
07:43I come dressed as a humble student.
07:45Yes.
07:47To learn from the master.
07:49Yes.
07:52Let's do a bit of practice.
07:54This piece of paper is done by the end.
07:57When it's done by the end of the paper, it is going to be done by the chain of the
08:06painting.
08:07And here, it's going to look at the painting of the painting.
08:12I'll do this to the painting of the painting.
08:12I'll pues right down place.
08:13Yes.
08:14I'll put on the painting of the painting of the painting, but it will be done.
08:19I will take the painting of the painting.
08:19I'll put it down.
08:20And then, you can use it like this.
08:35Beautiful confidence strokes.
08:40So make sure the particles are all mixed together.
08:45Get rid of the excess paint.
08:47Get the brush into a nice point.
08:50Here we go.
08:57It's good.
08:58Yeah, it's good.
09:08Nice.
09:11Nice.
09:14In Arita, we use this kind of paper.
09:17Mine are done.
09:23Yeah.
09:29Right.
09:30I'm going to do this with a mistake.
09:36I'm going to do this.
09:38I'm going to do this.
09:41I'm going to do this.
09:42Oh!
09:51This is extremely difficult.
09:53He's telling me not to paint with this big brush,
09:56but just to let the paint flow down.
09:58But bearing in mind that at any moment,
10:03it can run away with you.
10:14We're joined together forever on a plate.
10:25This town has been shaped by four centuries of porcelain making.
10:29I find a Shinto shrine displaying the craft for which Arita is venerated.
10:46What an extraordinary thing.
10:49Must be highly unusual for the entrance to a shrine to be bisected by a railway.
10:57But here I am, Tosan, established in 1658 and, most exceptionally, decorated with the glorious blue of the porcelain of
11:10Arita.
11:14Kyushu is dominated by volcanoes, which accounts for the mineral resources that have supplied its pottery industry.
11:22One third of Japan's natural hot springs are on the island, again thanks to volcanic activity.
11:28Not far from Arita is the hot spring town of Ureshino, where I'm making a stop for the night.
11:36And I'm looking forward to experiencing a ryokan, a very traditional style of Japanese hotel.
11:45Good evening.
11:46Good evening.
11:47Good evening.
11:49Good evening.
11:50Good evening.
11:50Good evening.
12:01Before I settle down for the night, I'm taking a tea, which in Japan is elevated to a ceremonial.
12:14So, the first thing, with great reverence, is that the tea leaves are put into my teapot on a weighing
12:24machine, so that exactly the right amount goes into the pot.
12:30The piping hot water is measured in a pyrex jug, but you cannot pour a pyrex jug into my teapot
12:40directly, so there's an intervening, much more elegant vessel.
12:44So, it goes from one to the other, and then into the teapot.
12:49Ah, and now a little egg timer is inverted.
12:54And as soon as the sands of time have run through the egg timer, I will be presented with a
13:03doubtless perfect cup of sencha green tea.
13:36This morning, I'm up early and ready for my breakfast.
13:45Good morning. Good morning.
13:48Oh, thank you. I'll follow.
13:53With tatami mats covering the floor and paper screen walls,
13:58the simplicity of the interior is typical of the Japanese aesthetic.
14:03And so, too, is the breakfast.
14:08Here I have some miso soup.
14:14Some meat and vegetables that have been cooked in sweet soy sauce.
14:20Salty custard.
14:24Sashimi.
14:25Sesame seed.
14:27Pickle.
14:28Cod row.
14:29A little sauce that I'm going to make up with which to eat my tofu,
14:33which is boiling merrily there in onsen water.
14:37And here, some red snapper.
14:46It can be very daunting for the foreigner eating in Japan.
14:50So many things that are unfamiliar.
14:52But people are always on hand to give you guidance.
14:58And foods that may seem very strange at first turn out to be rather wonderful.
15:03I'm not used to having soup for breakfast.
15:08But, hey, it works.
15:12And salty custard is an acquired taste.
15:20This ryokan is built around one of the island's many hot springs.
15:24And I'm keen to experience a very special feature which I can enjoy without leaving my room.
15:31Every present should have a wrapping.
15:35A Japanese hotel room has many layers.
15:40Moving through one's quarters is a series of...
15:46..revelations.
15:48Crossing the tatami mat.
15:51Opening the shoji door with its washi paper.
15:56To reveal the garden beyond.
16:02And my own onsen pool.
16:06Onsen are natural thermal baths heated by volcanic geology.
16:11Sometimes communal, sometimes private.
16:15They are integral to Japanese culture.
16:22This onsen is delightful.
16:26It's a warm bath.
16:27And the water is so clearly natural.
16:31You feel its warmth opening your pores.
16:34You feel the softness of it on your skin.
16:38You sense that you will emerge a new man.
16:51Refreshed and relaxed, I'm ready to continue my journey from Takeo Onsen Station.
17:00With a few minutes to spare, I'll watch a great ceremony of the Japanese Railway.
17:06In a country full of customs and formalities, the bullet train has its own departure ritual.
17:15Shinkansen's are extremely frequent.
17:17So, there is zero tolerance of lateness.
17:21Each of these employees is responsible for punctuality.
17:24With precision, she marks out each thing that she's doing.
17:28The doors are closing. We are approaching departure time.
17:32And I can guarantee you that it will go on time.
17:41We are checking the monitor. We can see down the train.
17:45The doors are closing. All is clear.
17:51But, as a final safety check, the guard leans out of the train and she will maintain that position until
17:59she's cleared the platform.
18:00And I can see you all ready.
18:20My train is not a Shinkansen, but a limited express train called the Relay Komome 787.
18:31The trains across Japan vary enormously.
18:35Each has its personality.
18:37This one sports a sleek black finish.
18:42It's around a 60-minute journey to my next stop, Fukuoka, on the northern coast of Kyushu.
18:51The city of Fukuoka has a history of more than 2,000 years.
18:55In 1975, the opening of a Shinkansen tunnel, almost 19 kilometers long, linking Kyushu with Honshu, gave the city superb
19:06connections to Tokyo.
19:08But businesses are attracted to Fukuoka by its much lower rents.
19:12And it's actually closer to Seoul and to Shanghai than it is to Tokyo.
19:18The city has been marketing these advantages and offering tax breaks to start-ups.
19:25The age range of the population is strikingly young.
19:30It is a city both ancient and modern.
19:52Fukuoka is Japan's fifth-largest city.
19:56I'm fast approaching its center.
19:59Feels like a metropolis.
20:07Hakata Station is the island's largest and busiest.
20:11From this hub, trains depart for Japan's principal cities.
20:15Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo.
20:25Major railway stations get combined with subterranean shopping centers.
20:31So, you get the gaggles descending from the trains, mixed with the crowds who are doing their shopping, along with
20:38the multitudes who are trying to grab lunch.
20:42Japan has an aging population.
20:45But you wouldn't know it here, as Fukuoka is the city with the highest proportion of residents aged 15 to
20:5229.
20:56And I'm barely out of the station before the city's youth makes an impression.
21:00Welcome to Tokyo.
21:30Hello.
21:30Hello. You were very, very, very good.
21:35What's it called, this dance?
21:37This is a double-dutch rope.
21:41What is Fukuoka like for young people?
21:44Is it a good city for young people?
21:45It's a great place.
21:48Very, very nice.
21:50First of all, people are warm.
21:52It's a great place.
21:56It's a great place.
21:57There's a lot of people who are very happy.
22:06I'm happy to be here at the道端.
22:08It's a great place.
22:08Is Fukuoka the best city of all?
22:10It's the best place.
22:12Yay!
22:20Fukuoka is now the fastest-growing city in Japan.
22:24It was granted the status as a national strategic special zone
22:28for start-up entrepreneurial businesses,
22:32which entails relaxed planning laws, tax breaks,
22:35and special visas for entrepreneurs.
22:38Driving this change is the city's mayor,
22:42Soichiro Takashima, elected in 2014,
22:45whom I have the pleasure of meeting.
22:48Nice to meet you.
22:49Takashima-san!
22:51Nice to meet you.
22:52What a pleasure.
22:53We're grabbing a drink at one of the street food counters,
22:56or yatai, that have become a distinctive feature of the city.
23:01Have you ever been to Fukuoka?
23:03I have not.
23:04This is the first time I've been in Kyushu
23:06and I've enjoyed it so much.
23:07It's been absolutely marvelous.
23:08Really?
23:08But I've left the best for last.
23:11Fukuoka city.
23:12Really attractive city.
23:14Now, I'm so pleased to be here.
23:16Ms. Mayor, I've learned that your name, Takashima,
23:18means tall island.
23:19High island.
23:20Yes, that's right.
23:21My name, Portillo, means small gate.
23:25You used to be a TV host and are now a politician.
23:28I used to be a parliamentarian and minister,
23:31and now I'm a TV presenter.
23:33Yes.
23:34So we've gone in opposite direction.
23:35Yeah, yeah, opposite direction.
23:36Yeah, yeah.
23:38Opposite direction.
23:38What ideas did you have for the city, for Fukuoka?
23:41What were your ideas and how did you want to achieve them?
23:46Yes.
23:46Yes.
23:47Yes.
24:31So you have taken great advantage of the physical location of the city.
24:36Yes, yes.
24:37That's right.
24:37You're so close to the Asian mainland.
24:41Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:41For example, from Fukuoka to Shanghai, Fukuoka to Tokyo,
24:46just same distance, 100 kilometers radius.
24:50Yeah.
24:50So.
24:52And you've been attracting small businesses and startups with tax breaks?
24:57Yes.
24:59Nice.
25:01Yes, you should be able to do this small business with little business,
25:02but with new prices that I'd like to have new people.
25:08And I want to do this at this point of time.
25:15So, what would you like to do?
25:17In Japan, all the people who are selling to the ihracons.
25:21And with your employees,
25:22How long is that IBM?
25:25How long is that IBM?
25:26Toyota, and cars have been challenged to the world in various areas.
25:33But now, Japan has a little bit of pressure,
25:37and it's a new challenge that's hard to make a new challenge.
25:40I want to break it down from Fukuoka.
25:56Okay,乾杯!乾杯
25:59!乾杯!
26:03Mr. Mayor,
26:04I'm a little bit older than you. I left politics many
26:08years ago. It's a rough
26:10business. Don't you want
26:12to give up and come back to television?
26:26So, Japan's TV shows are good.
26:29Well, when I was like,
26:34I'm kind of making a motivation for the day.
26:38I'm trying to make a lot better than me.
26:41But I'm trying to make something more important.
26:44I'm going to make a big part with the country.
26:50So, I'm helping Japan,
26:51because I'm in love with the country,
26:52I'm looking forward to different things,
26:53or if you want to move to television,
27:00You won't swap and I won't swap either.
27:26Over history, Japan as a nation of islands has had to debate whether to admit foreign influences.
27:34It absorbed porcelain making in the 17th century and in the 19th it imported the Industrial Revolution from the West,
27:43in both cases with great success.
27:46But even today, Japan receives very few immigrants by comparison with other developed economies.
27:53It's open to ideas and to technology. It's a great world exporter.
28:00But its population and its culture remain homogeneously Japanese.
28:07Next time, part of the fish is highly poisonous and dangerous.
28:12Yes. All the chef has to take care of the puffer fish. They have to have the national license.
28:18Everybody think about how to make it beautiful. That's the Shinkansen.
28:23A piece of engineering and almost a piece of art at the same time.
28:27Atomic bombs dropped just behind you and entire community simply disappeared.
28:34Yes.
28:36Yes.
28:50Yes.
28:51Yes.
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