- 4 weeks ago
Great Japanese Railway Journeys - Season 1 Episode 14 -
Sendai to Lake Toya
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Sendai to Lake Toya
tele: https://t.me/TopFilmUSA1
#film#shows#usa#usashows#hot#filmhot
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FunTranscript
00:04Japan.
00:05Michael, welcome to Japan, a railway paradise.
00:08Its huge population, spread over Long Islands, lives by its railways.
00:13Do 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.
01:08Today, my route is taking me to the country's wildest and most northern region.
01:15I'm travelling, as usual in Japan at high speed, from the largest to the second largest island.
01:21From Honshu to Hokkaido.
01:24There could be big surprises ahead.
01:27Hokkaido became part of Japan only in the late 19th century.
01:30And looking back 12,000 years, it was connected to Siberia by land.
01:37So its climate, its wildlife and its people are distinct.
01:50To cross the sea, we're going underground.
01:54This is the Seikan tunnel, which passes under the Suguru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido.
02:01It was opened in 1988 to carry both Shinkansen and narrow gauge railways.
02:08The part that is underwater is not as long as the channel tunnel between England and France.
02:14But overall, this tunnel is longer.
02:18It passes under the seabed at a depth of 100 metres.
02:22And in the tunnel, trains are authorised to travel at up to 160 miles per hour.
02:35Starting in the megalopolis of Tokyo on Honshu Island, I continue to Fukushima and then Sendai.
02:43On Hokkaido Island, I'll explore the coastal city of Hakodate, the volcanic lake Toya,
02:50and Sapporo, the island's capital, before finishing in the port of Otaru.
03:01After 33 and a half miles of tunnel, my mole-like Jinkansen pops out,
03:07and I have my first glimpse of Hokkaido.
03:14The island makes up a fifth of Japan's land mass,
03:18but it's home to just a twentieth of the population.
03:22Lots of pine forest looks quite different.
03:46My first stop is Hakodate, the island's third largest city with a population of just over 290,000.
03:56At the tip of the Oshima Peninsula, it lies at the foot of Mount Hakodate, which rises 1,100 feet.
04:06On its lower slopes, overlooking the bay, is the historic neighbourhood of Motomachi.
04:12It was established from the 1850s, when Hakodate became one of the earliest Japanese ports
04:19to start trading with the outside world.
04:22This is a part of town where there was a lot of foreign influence when Japan was first opened up.
04:27Today it is absolutely gorgeous, full of greenery and steep hills,
04:32old preserved houses and long, long views.
04:41Besides a grand town hall, the area also boasted three churches.
04:52This pretty Russian Orthodox Church was founded in 1858,
04:58at an unusual moment of cordial relations between Japan and Russia.
05:04Often there's tension over Sakhalin Island, which is to the north of Hokkaido, and the Kuril Islands.
05:10In August 1945, the Soviet Union opportunistically declared war on Japan
05:17after the atom bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima.
05:20And as one of the victorious powers, it was rewarded with the Kuril Islands
05:26and a chunk of Sakhalin Island too.
05:28Japan has never accepted that,
05:32and to this day remains wary of its huge neighbours, Russia and China.
05:50I'm travelling a mile east to the waterfront neighbourhood of Sakaijo.
05:59Hakodate's fleet of trams, everyone a different colour it seems,
06:03provides a very good way to see the city.
06:08Dating back to 1913, they were the first to run on the island.
06:12There are two routes with 26 stops, and tickets start at just a pound.
06:20Alongside wasabi and rice, another staple in Japan is miso.
06:26It's a paste which is made from fermented soybean,
06:30and it has a thousand different uses in Japanese cuisine.
06:35A family firm in Hakodate makes it by the ton.
06:40Priced for its rich umami, or savoury taste,
06:44it's a staple ingredient in Japan,
06:46and is thought to have been brought here from China in the 7th century.
06:52Donan Shokoryukogio has been producing its Kiko Kawaichi miso since 1942,
06:58and moved to this traditional factory in the 1960s.
07:02Its owner is Takashi Kawano.
07:06Kawano-san, hello.
07:09I'm Michael.
07:11Very good to see you.
07:13The business was founded by Takashi's grandfather Shigoni.
07:31What do the Japanese people use miso for?
07:43Which I've often enjoyed, and which I absolutely love.
07:48To create the miso paste,
07:50a mould has to be cultivated on steamed rice.
07:53It's also used to make soy sauce and sake.
08:13There were once more than 10 small miso producers in Hakodate.
08:18But now in this city, only this company makes it in the traditional way.
08:23Is Hokkaido a good place to make miso?
08:26HAKODATE
08:27HAKODATE
08:27HAKODATE
08:27HAKODATE
08:28HAKODATE
08:28HAKODATE
08:28HAKODATE
08:29HAKODATE
08:52HAKODATE
08:54HAKODATE
08:56HAKODATE
08:56HAKODATE
08:56HAKODATE
08:57HAKODATE
08:57HAKODATE
08:58HAKODATE
08:59HAKODATE
08:59HAKODATE
09:02HAKODATE
09:10HAKODATE
09:12They're making very good use of my services here.
09:16Right, the soybeans are warm and steamy.
09:22Ah, and a wonderful aroma too.
09:27As you get to the bottom, it's hot.
09:40And from spade man to barrow man.
09:53For food on an industrial scale, this feels small scale and manual.
09:58It's very charming.
10:00We're spreading them out a bit now.
10:03Give them a chance to cool down.
10:07I've so often had miso without any idea about how it was made.
10:15Now the salt's being added.
10:18And all that gets mixed in.
10:21I've often been to food factories and what you normally see there are huge pulsating machines
10:28It's so refreshing to come here and find that the implements are shovels and wheelbarrows and brushes.
10:36And a watering can.
10:42The mixture is pressed and then stored in an airtight vat and left to ferment to create the miso paste.
10:51Takashi has some ready for me to try.
10:54This is the finished miso paste.
10:57Do you want to taste it?
10:58I certainly would.
10:59Yes, please.
11:02It's a lovely, strong earthy fermented smell.
11:14It's quite strong, but it's a lovely flavor.
11:18Your miso, the miso you make here, what's special about it?
11:28I'm made with passion and you've got the whole family helping you.
11:36This is a delicious food.
11:40Chess, but the 에es of New York, the App 옆est High School, the
11:45the stage, which is one of the best business and the best business that is
11:47Three miles northeast in the center of the city is Hakodate's most important historic site.
11:53Fort Goryokaku, the 62-acre star-shaped citadel was the setting for the final battle in the 19th century Boshin
12:03War that would decide Japan's future.
12:07A critical moment in Japanese history was the ousting of the Tokugawa clan from power in 1868,
12:15and their replacement by a new government that restored the emperor as titular head of state and opened up and
12:23modernized Japan.
12:25The last remnants of the Tokugawa military forces were chased across Honshu and arrived at Hakodate, where they made their
12:35last stand in this fort.
12:39Today it's a public park, but its moat, 140 feet at its widest, has been preserved as a reminder of
12:46the history that was made here.
12:49Yukio Nakamura is a local guide.
12:52Yukio.
12:53Hi, Michael. Nice to meet you.
12:56Nice to meet you. Konnichiwa.
12:59When was this fort built?
13:01It was built in 1864. It took about seven years to build.
13:05It's built in a star shape. I associate that with European forts.
13:10This is the largest western-style fort in Japan.
13:13The Tokugawa shogunate, who'd ruled Japan since 1603, controlled the Hakodate region of this island, then known as Ezel.
13:23The fort was built to protect their magistrate's office, the area's government headquarters, from foreign invaders.
13:30But it would come under attack from within Japan.
13:34Tell me about the Battle of Hakodate.
13:37The old shogun army, they left Edo, which is Tokyo now, and they stopped at Sendai.
13:46Then they met other soldiers from old shogunate.
13:51And they just got warships and came to Hokkaido.
13:54And the leader was Enomoto Takeaki, and he was a vice-admiral of old shogunate navy.
14:02They decided to make this fort the base of their army.
14:09In January 1869, they declared a breakaway republic, with Enomoto Takeaki as president.
14:17But just four months later, the emperor's warships arrived in the harbour.
14:23How did the battle proceed?
14:26The new government army attacked Hakodate with almost 10,000 soldiers.
14:33Much more than the old shogun army occupied in this area.
14:38About 3,000.
14:39So they were badly outnumbered.
14:41Yes.
14:42The old shogunate army fought hard, but they lasted only a week.
14:50They just surrendered.
14:53Following their victory, the imperial army demolished all of the fort's buildings.
14:57But a faithful reconstruction of the magistrate's office, housing a museum, was opened in 2010.
15:06With the success of the new government forces, that's the end of resistance by the old shogunate,
15:13what is the impact on Hokkaido of that battle?
15:17Hokkaido was very much an empty area, a big area.
15:24Very small population in Hokkaido at that time.
15:26So after the war was over, a new government sent a lot of people to build road,
15:34and they, you know, made a lot of effort to develop their farms.
15:41Emperor Meiji's government officially annexed the island in 1869,
15:45changing the name from Ezo to Hokkaido,
15:48and sending farmer soldiers, or tondenhei, to develop and defend the new frontier.
15:54An indigenous ethnic group, the Ainu, who'd lived here for over 10,000 years,
16:00was subjugated and forced to assimilate into Japanese society.
16:05By the end of the Meiji era in 1912, Hokkaido's population had gone from under 60,000 to 1.7
16:13million.
16:14What was the significance of this battle in Japanese history?
16:18This is a kind of a symbol of the change from Edo era to Meiji era.
16:24After the battle was over in here, no more wars, the start of a new modern era of Japan.
16:45I'm leaving the city and continuing north to enjoy the natural beauty for which Hokkaido is famed.
16:54This Hokkaido line hugs the Pacific coast, taking me 100 miles to my next destination, Lake Toya.
17:04Although I love the Shinkansen, it's actually quite a relief to journey at a slower speed,
17:11a more human velocity, and on a glorious autumn day to appreciate the landscape,
17:19without the sound barriers which so often run alongside the high-speed lines.
17:34This is the least developed of Japan's four main islands,
17:39with cooler temperatures, snowy winters and 31 active volcanoes.
17:46The train line skirts around the base of the Hokkaido Komagatake volcano.
17:52It rises to almost 4,000 feet.
17:55It was dormant for nearly 5,000 years, but in the 1640s an eruption wiped out the local crops,
18:02causing a famine.
18:04And in modern times there had been about 50 eruptions.
18:13There's no dining car on the train, but before I board it I picked up a takeaway
18:18known as an ekiben, or station bento box.
18:22I've got some scallop, some omelette, and crab, for which Hokkaido is famous.
18:29Oh, I also bought a bottle of wine made from cantaloupe melon, for which Hokkaido is also famous.
18:40Unfortunately, I forgot to pick up a glass or a cup.
18:43So, from the bottle...
18:47So refined.
18:55From the coastal town of Toyako, on Uchiura Bay, it's just a couple of miles inland,
19:02to Lake Toya, part of the Shikotsu Toya National Park.
19:06The near circular lake, with four islands in the centre, stretches for just over 27 square miles.
19:14With the volcanoes, Mount Yotei to the north and Mount Usu to the south,
19:19it's a popular holiday destination, known for its hot springs, hiking trails and wildlife.
19:29On the lake's western shore lies the area of Tsukura, where there's a perfect spot to appreciate the beauty.
19:46This pick-your-own-herb farm offers a choice of 40 different varieties.
19:51Konnichiwa.
19:53Visitors can collect their favourite flavours or scents to create bath salts, incense or herbal tea.
20:01That is divine.
20:03Japan is noted for its spectacular views, but surely, that is one of the best.
20:13Arigato.
20:22This landscape is all about volcanoes.
20:26The lake is a caldera, a dip that's left after an eruption, which then fuels with water.
20:34This happened 110,000 years ago.
20:37But in the 1940s, the newest volcano emerged.
20:42In a matter of days, what had been a flat field became a mountain nearly 1,000 feet high.
20:49The volcanic lava dome was named Showa Shinzan, or New Mountain, reflecting the reign of Emperor Hirohito, known as the
20:58Showa Era.
21:00Imagine what this would have been like during one of those eruptions.
21:04And now it leaves us with one of the most lovely sights that any human being can observe.
21:12This stunning setting has attracted artisan businesses.
21:16And on the lake shore, you find an outdoor gallery of 58 sculptures.
21:23I'm visiting the artist Daisuke Tokatomi.
21:27He trained at the Tokyo Glass Art Institute, and worked for a company in the capital.
21:32But he opened his studio, GLAGLA, here in 2002, to create his own designs.
21:40Taisuke-san.
21:44Your glasswork is absolutely superb.
21:47And you work in clear glass, not colored glass. Why did you make that decision?
22:03I entirely agree. Is it alright if I touch something?
22:06Of course.
22:07Let's look at this piece here.
22:09Which is very lovely.
22:12This is so beautiful and so original. How do you make a shape like this?
22:16I have made a shape like this.
22:17I have made a shape like this, but I have made a shape like this.
22:23Alongside tableware, vases and lighting, Daisuke's work also includes large art installations
22:32that have been exhibited all over Japan.
22:34And maybe we could go outside?
22:36Yes, of course.
22:37I have just noticed your shoes.
22:39How very interesting.
22:40This is originally a Japanese old,
22:45a mountain climbing shoe.
22:50This shoe is really nice to the waist.
22:59This is so beautiful. Tell me about this creation.
23:03This is so beautiful. Tell me about this creation.
23:22May I try?
23:23Of course.
23:24With great care.
23:27With great care.
23:31Ah, it's lovely.
23:34When you have a wind, do they all play?
23:37Yes.
23:40I have made a lot of inspiration in the world.
23:42I have made a lot of inspiration.
23:47Daisuke and his assistant rely on simple tools
23:51and a mix of gravity and rotation known as free blowing.
23:56He runs classes here in his workshop.
23:59Ah, the furnace glowing away.
24:03What temperature are we at here?
24:04This is about 1200度.
24:07Today, I will create a plate of a month-to-day-place.
24:12The moon is important for people who live here
24:15and their family are very important.
24:18My son's name is also known as a month-to-day-place.
24:22And you see the moon here reflected in the lake.
24:25Yes.
24:25Two moons.
24:33What do you think?
24:36Okay.
24:40I love to watch this.
24:42The glow of the furnace.
24:45It's really very hot even at this distance.
24:58How different is life for an artist on Hokkaido from Tokyo?
25:03I don't have a lot of noise, so I'm very interested.
25:13Making sure the temperature is even.
25:15Glass has to be turned constantly.
25:17Each time it comes out, it's changed shape a little bit.
25:28This is a big responsibility.
25:33Yes, open it up.
25:35Up, up, up.
25:37Like that.
25:38Deep, deeper.
25:41Like that.
25:42Wow, you have to move fast here because that glass is cooling down.
25:46And one thing you have to do is obey orders.
25:48Okay.
25:49Is that okay?
25:50Out I come.
25:50Thanks.
25:58The whole thing is urgent.
26:02You feel a tension at the same time as this creativity.
26:09Oh, it's changed completely.
26:12That is stunning.
26:15From a bowl, it's become a plate.
26:23Now, I'll cut off the little stem.
26:27And it's gone.
26:33And into an oven, which I guess is to slow the rate at which it cools down.
26:47I can see that that is the moon.
26:49The moon may be with a little haze in front of it.
26:53Now, these bubbles here, how do you achieve that?
26:55So, you can put it in the water.
26:58You can put it in the water.
26:59You can put it in the water.
26:59You can put it in the water.
27:01You can put it in the water.
27:01So, you can put it in the water.
27:03I never thought of that as being a tool of the artist.
27:07It's a most beautiful effect.
27:09What a pleasure to see you.
27:17The Battle of Hakadati settled the future of Japan.
27:21It abandoned feudalism and ponytails and samurai, and it imported and copied foreign technology to become important militarily and industrially.
27:34The people, led by an emperor whom they regarded as divine, who adopted a Western hairstyle and Western clothes, embraced
27:42the change.
27:43The world's great powers, who had patronized Japan and urged reform, were forced to take her seriously.
27:51And we've since learned never to underestimate Japan.
27:59Next time.
28:01Potatoes, mushrooms, and can you see that?
28:05Oh, look at the salmon's head.
28:08That looks wonderful.
28:12Inside this bottle, ten nob-hearts.
28:16How did he do that?
28:19Oh, lovely fire in the throat.
28:21I'm not sure I've tasted a Japanese whiskey before.
28:23Really?
28:24And that is a very pleasant start.
28:26Yeah.
28:57There's some more drinks in the restaurant.
28:58Like c93 preparations.
28:58There's one more drinks for you.
28:58Thanks to me.
28:58Well, it's been fun.
28:58So, anyway, you're all trying to see that.
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