- 5 days ago
Great Japanese Railway Journeys - Season 1 Episode 12 -
Tokyo (2)
tele: https://t.me/TopFilmUSA1
#film#shows#usa#usashows#hot#filmhot
Tokyo (2)
tele: https://t.me/TopFilmUSA1
#film#shows#usa#usashows#hot#filmhot
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:04Japan.
00:05Michael, welcome to Japan, a railway paradise.
00:08Its huge population, spread over Long Islands, lives by its railways.
00:13Welcome 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.
01:09I continue to explore Tokyo, one of the largest metropolises on Earth.
01:15I think Japan could lay claim to being the greatest railway country in the world.
01:20Its Shinkansen was well ahead of other high-speed rail systems.
01:25It seems that all its railways operate with extraordinary reliability.
01:30And here in Tokyo, I'm now using the world's most busy urban rail network.
01:37Japan was quite slow to adopt this technology, which it distrusted as Western.
01:42Japan.
01:42But it's certainly made up for lost time.
01:49This leg of my Japanese journey will take me almost 700 miles north from the capital Tokyo,
01:55on Honshu Island, to Fukushima and onto Sendai.
02:00Then, through a 14-mile undersea tunnel, I'll reach Hokkaido, the most rural of the country's four main islands.
02:08I'll visit Hakodate and stop off at Lake Toya and Sapporo before finishing at the port city of Otaru.
02:20I feel like I'm driving.
02:23Having got to grips with Tokyo's vast metro network, today I'll be travelling overground.
02:30Many cities that I know have the problem that they have pretty good communications from the centre to the outskirts,
02:36but very little opportunity for people to move around.
02:39For a century now, Tokyo has had the Yamanote Line,
02:43a circular railway with interchanges at almost every stop.
02:49The elevated service, with its distinctive green livery, forms a 21-mile loop around the city.
02:57With 30 stations, it's a vital part of its public transport system.
03:01From the tracks, you look down at the streets.
03:04From the streets, you look up at the trains.
03:07My first stop this morning is the western district of Shinjuku,
03:10one of Tokyo's major railway hubs.
03:24This is Shinjuku Station, first opened in 1885 in what was then countryside.
03:31It is now the world's busiest station by passenger numbers.
03:36Three million people a day make use of its 51 platforms.
03:41They enter and leave by its 200 entrances and exits.
03:45You can walk long distances underground from one part of the station to another, searching for your line.
03:52But, oh, the sense of achievement when you master Shinjuku.
04:01This is a neighbourhood of business and retail, crammed with some of the city's tallest skyscrapers.
04:08Crowds, energy, vibe, Tokyo.
04:14Shinjuku is a temple of capitalism with high-rise office blocks, vast shopping centres, nightlife and neon.
04:23The map on your mobile phone is inadequate here because life is lived in three dimensions.
04:28Your destination may be high up, suspended above the railway tracks, or it could be deep in the ground between
04:33the subway lines.
04:34And the signs advertising the businesses from the sky to subterranean basements.
04:41Japan is one of the largest and most advanced economies in the world.
04:46And its population enjoys one of the highest life expectancies.
04:50But it's grappling with a looming social problem.
04:57Almost 30% of the Japanese population is over 65.
05:02And there's recently been a collapse in the birth rate, raising the prospect of a shortage of carers for the
05:08elderly,
05:08which is made worse because there are very few immigrants in Japan.
05:12This must be painful in a country that reveres the aged.
05:16At a practical level, at least, robots may be part of the answer.
05:20And Japanese universities excel at robotics.
05:29At Shinjuku's Waseda University, a pioneering centre of robot development,
05:35I'm meeting assistant professor Yushi Wang.
05:40Seems I've come to the right place.
05:43Are you Yushi?
05:45Hi.
05:46Hello.
05:46What is happening to you?
05:48The robot is dressing the sock for me.
05:53How fascinating.
05:54How's it doing that?
05:55It sees where my foot and the sock are and tries to adjust the forces and the position of the
06:04hand.
06:05So little by little it pushes.
06:07You say it sees your foot.
06:09Yes.
06:10Where we have eyes, it has cameras.
06:12Yes.
06:12This university has a long history of robotics, doesn't it?
06:16Waseda University is the birthplace of humanoid robots.
06:20Really?
06:21How far back does it go?
06:22In 1973.
06:24The first one is called Robot One, which means Waseda robot.
06:30And it's the first humanoid robot in the world.
06:35And just three years later we built the second robot.
06:39It played the piano.
06:43Extraordinary.
06:44In the 1970s you were doing that sort of thing.
06:47Yes.
06:47And now we have an AI driven robot for care.
06:50Its name is IREC.
06:52You are using AI to train the robot to adapt to different people.
06:56That would be really, really useful.
06:59Like imagine a robot helper in your home.
07:02Absolutely.
07:03Now obviously this is of great interest in Japan, is it?
07:07Yes, because of the aging population, also the labor shortages.
07:11And what about acceptability?
07:12Do you think Japanese people will accept robots in their homes?
07:15I think so.
07:17Because in Japan it's easier to see the robots working in public places.
07:23Like airports, in the restaurant.
07:25So I think that helps people to get used to robots.
07:29Are you Japanese?
07:30No, I'm from China.
07:32And what brought you to Japan?
07:34What brought you to this institution?
07:36Previously most robotic research was about industrial robots or military robots.
07:43But in Japan, especially in our labs, we have a long focus on the service robots.
07:50So it's more challenging and to me it's more useful.
07:54You want a robot that's going to help society.
07:57Yes.
07:58To complete common household tasks, the robots are being taught to mimic natural human movement.
08:06Hello.
08:07Hello.
08:08Ah, so this is being manipulated by a human being.
08:12Yeah.
08:12So it learns how the human moves and it perceives the consequences.
08:18Okay, so it's done very well there.
08:22Now, would the robot eventually be able to perfect that?
08:26Would it be able to improve on its own performance?
08:28Yes.
08:29That's why we collect many trials of data and try to train the robots.
08:36I'm interested that you have made robots look somewhat like human beings.
08:40I mean, I guess a robot could look like anything.
08:43But you've given them eyes and arms and hands.
08:47It's easier for human-like robots to do the human tasks and for the people to accept the robots in
08:54their environments.
08:56It's important to make the robots look friendly, kind of a cartoon look.
09:02Well, exactly.
09:03Now, I have another test for you.
09:05Do you think it could do that with my jacket?
09:07Okay.
09:09My jacket is obviously heavier.
09:12Yeah.
09:12Yeah.
09:14And more precious.
09:19This is, for me, a nervous moment.
09:22Careful, why careful.
09:35Oh, that's a bit heavy.
09:39Work in progress.
09:43In another part of the lab, a robot is learning how to lend a hand to people most in need.
09:50Hello.
09:51Well, hello.
09:53Nice to see you.
09:54Nice to see you.
09:55Another robot?
09:56Yeah.
09:56So, the robot is going to take care of the human in bed.
09:59Would you like to be our subject?
10:02Your guinea pig?
10:04Have you tested it on human beings before?
10:07Yes, many times.
10:08You have?
10:09Okay.
10:09Right.
10:10So, shall I just lie down?
10:13Please.
10:14I'll pretend very hard to be an old person.
10:18The robot is literally sizing me up.
10:20He also talks to you in Japanese, but...
10:23Oh, okay.
10:25Konnichiwa.
10:29The robot is measuring your upper body.
10:34Oh, look at that.
10:36Oh.
10:38Oh.
10:38Look at that.
10:40Now, this is the alarming moment.
10:43The hand is advancing.
10:47Pushing my knee now.
10:49This machine must be very strong.
10:51It is strong, but gentle at the same time.
11:04I've been turned.
11:07And we've all got used to using machines.
11:09And why not use them in the home for these purposes?
11:12The one thing that I worry about is that what you need, probably,
11:16when you're elderly and on your own, is a cuddle.
11:21And I don't know whether the robots can do that yet.
11:37Continuing my travels on the circular Yamanote Line,
11:40my next train takes me around five miles south to Takenawa Gateway.
11:52Built in 2020, this state-of-the-art station
11:55forms the centrepiece of a futuristic urban community.
12:01Japan's privatised railways now make a lot of their money out of property,
12:05not just from running trains.
12:07This is Takenawa Gateway development.
12:09So this has been built on old railway land.
12:13And it consists of gleaming towers of shops and offices and convention centres.
12:20150 years ago, where this vibrant neighbourhood now stands,
12:25Japan's railway history began.
12:30During the two and a half centuries that the Tokugawas were shoguns of Japan,
12:35the country rejected Western technology.
12:37When that dynasty was overthrown, it very quickly moved towards modernisation
12:42and opened its first railway in 1872.
12:47I'm keen to hear about the British engineers
12:49who helped put Japan on track to such an outstanding railway system.
12:58Christopher Hood is an author and historian with a special interest in Japan.
13:03Hello, Chris.
13:04Michael, welcome to Japan, a railway paradise.
13:07Well, it is indeed, isn't it? What an amazing view.
13:10And we're quite near the place here, aren't we, of Japan's first railway.
13:14Tell me about that.
13:15Absolutely.
13:16About 100 metres from where we are is where the railway initially was,
13:19connecting Tokyo down to Yokohama.
13:22This section would have been an embankment above the sea,
13:24but the city of Tokyo has gradually grown and grown and the river
13:28and the sea has been pushed further and further back.
13:30I've seen pictures of this embankment built a few yards offshore.
13:34Why was this?
13:35One, they needed to do this to make the route as short as possible,
13:38but also near there is an army base
13:40and the army people didn't want any passengers being able to look in
13:44and see what they're up to.
13:45Japan begins to modernise and build railways,
13:47but it needs outside help and, in particular, turns to the British.
13:51Absolutely.
13:52The British have been known for developing the railways across the world.
13:55Of course, this is the time of the British Empire.
13:57So one of the key people who first came was Edmund Morel,
14:00who had been with the British Railways out in New Zealand.
14:03He dies in November 1871.
14:06And John England, who'd been working with Morel,
14:09he's the one who's working alongside the Japanese
14:11just to make sure everything's ticking over.
14:14The railway's grand opening took place on 14 October 1872,
14:20a little north of here at Shimbashi Station.
14:23Emperor Meiji addressed the crowd
14:25before boarding the train for the inaugural 18-mile journey
14:29from the capital to the port city of Yokohama.
14:33How did the public react to these first railways?
14:36There was lots of excitement among some people.
14:38We see it being commemorated in paintings,
14:40but there were also concerns
14:42because Japanese houses are often much closer to the railway
14:45than we would see in many other countries around the world.
14:48And although the steam trains are mainly emitting steam,
14:51now and again bits of coal are coming out,
14:54and with Japanese houses being predominantly wooden,
14:56this leads to fires.
14:57I've been very impressed by this circular line,
15:00the Yamanote line.
15:01Is there a connection between the first railway line and that?
15:04Yes. So the Yamanote line, part of the eastern side of it,
15:07is essentially running parallel to the original railway line.
15:10And so for that section, you're literally travelling alongside history.
15:14Could I ask you a question, Michael?
15:16I mean, you've seen railways all around the world.
15:18How do you view Japanese railways?
15:20I think they're absolutely supreme.
15:22I mean, they have the reliability and the punctuality of the Swiss.
15:25And they have the speed of the French and, I suppose, Chinese.
15:29And then it's just such an extensive network dealing with 120 million people.
15:35I think it really is unparalleled.
15:37Absolutely.
15:38I'd agree.
15:39Chris, thank you so much.
15:40Absolutely no trouble.
15:42Before I continue my journey on the circular Yamanote line,
15:46I stop off a mile south at Osaki to examine what happens behind the scenes.
15:52I've come to the rolling stock centre to see how they keep it all on the rails.
15:58And this historic building reminds me that it is now a century since that ring was closed up.
16:08I'm also interested in further decÃa that this is a classic as a secret director of the executor.
16:09Yuto Kondo is the depot's train inspector.
16:12We will go through the road.
16:15We will continue to check the right and left.
16:21Okay.
16:24Right, right.
16:26Right, right.
16:28Right, left, right.
16:32Right, right, left...
16:34learned? It means clear. And although this feels a bit like a routine,
16:42obviously in a stockyard like this it's important because any
16:48train could be on the move at any time. The carriages of these E-235 commuter
16:55trains are given a full daily inspection.
17:05Everything has to be perfect before it sets out and the attention to detail is striking.
17:12Look at this floor. I mean, really, it's so shiny and so perfect. I could comb my hair
17:19in the reflection. Spotless.
17:29Tokyo prides itself on an efficient public transport network despite operating in one
17:34of the most densely packed metropolitan areas in the world.
17:40It's a challenge to house a population of over 38 million. With land being expensive here
17:46in the centre, tiny apartments and micro houses known as Kyosho Jutaku are seen by some as
17:54the answer. In the smart district of Minato, I take a little look inside one.
18:01Okay. Come in. Hello. Hello, Kan-san. I'm Michael. Hello. What a pleasure to meet you.
18:09Please. Come in.
18:13Kan Lijima and his wife built this house in 2014 and won a prize from the Tokyo Architects Association
18:21for its design. You're quite central here. You're well within the Yamanote line, aren't you?
18:26Yes, yes, yes. Now, tell me about the house. It's quite a small plot, if I may say so.
18:31Yes, yes. And that's quite typical of Tokyo, isn't it?
18:33Nowadays, the Japanese people prefer to leave a small house because it's cheaper.
18:39What's your square metre, Richard? Do you know?
18:4119 square metres. Which would be about 200 square feet,
18:47which is actually the size of many a hotel room. Ah, yes.
18:51Over the last five years, the number of compact homes in the capital has doubled to over 2,000.
18:59Where do you store things at a small house?
19:01There are many storage. For example, especially my wife doesn't like the Japanese fridge,
19:08then we decided to hide. That's lovely. Tucked away.
19:12And also, there is some storage. Yes. With the stair passing above.
19:20Ah, yes, yes. Storage everywhere.
19:24And also, there is some secret storage.
19:28That's so clever. So, every step is storage. Yes.
19:33Oh, that's fantastic. Minimalist living is popular in Japanese culture
19:39and has its roots in Zen Buddhism.
19:42Surprisingly, even a tiny house like this, with just two rooms and a bathroom,
19:47can be clutter-free. Again, you've got a wonderful window, haven't you?
19:51Yes. Beautiful views of greenery.
19:53And your bathroom is extremely neat. Do you enjoy living here?
19:58Of course. We decided to have this one. Yes. A little drinking fountain.
20:03Yes. For making the Japanese cocktail on the bed for my wife, because she loves drinking.
20:13For me, I love taking the bath. Yes.
20:17Maybe twice in a day, we decided to have a big bath tub.
20:22A sunken bath, which is very Japanese and very, very lovely.
20:25Well, thank you so much for inviting me in. Thank you very much.
20:28And thank you for sharing this beautiful house.
20:30And may you be very happy here together.
20:32That's our pleasure. Thank you very much.
20:46As evening beckons, my final destination is the district of Shibuya,
20:51in the southwest of central Tokyo.
20:56This is one of the city's most popular entertainment hubs,
21:00renowned for its bars, clubs and restaurants.
21:06Tokyo caters for every niche, including classical music buffs.
21:11For us, sound reproduced on a portable speaker simply won't do.
21:15We demand high fidelity and listening bars meet our needs.
21:23I've come to check out this intriguing Japanese tradition
21:26with Tokyo-based documentary maker Nick Dwyer.
21:30Tell me then, Nick, what is a listening bar?
21:32So, the culture goes back a hundred years, Michael,
21:36and what they're called originally, they're ongaku kisa.
21:40In Japanese, kisa is short for kisaten,
21:44which means a tea house or a coffee house,
21:46and ongaku means music.
21:47And basically, Japanese men and women could listen to vinyl records
21:50played over incredible sound systems,
21:53and everyone listens in silence, and you just get to experience recorded music
21:58greater than you've ever heard it before.
21:59It sounds absolutely superb.
22:02And do you find quite a lot in Shibuya?
22:03There is a lot, of course, in the post-war period in this district where we are right now.
22:08There are a lot of jazz kisa.
22:10Also, as the 70s were ushered in, rock and roll was taking over Japan,
22:14and this is where all the rock kisa were,
22:17but it's very special because this is where the granddaddy,
22:21the originator of all of the ongaku kisa,
22:23began in 1926, a classical music cafe called Café Lion.
22:29Known as a mei kyoku kisa, or masterpiece cafe,
22:34customers here are treated to a considered programme
22:36from a collection of 5,000 classical records.
22:43The seats face the speakers, and chatting is forbidden.
23:04Actually, Michael, we're very lucky today.
23:06We're actually being given permission to talk.
23:08Usually, there's a strict no talking policy which is adhered to.
23:12If they find you talking, you'll get shushed,
23:14but we can have a conversation.
23:15So, what are your first impressions?
23:17Oh, I think it's absolutely wonderful.
23:19I love the decor, and the quality of what we're hearing
23:23is absolutely brilliant.
23:25Yeah, I mean, this is a march through memory lane for me
23:27because when I was a teenager,
23:30I had this whole, you know, ritual of taking the LP out of the sleeve
23:34and then out of its inner sleeve, touching it only by the edge
23:37and lowering the stylus onto the record.
23:41Yes.
23:41All of that is so familiar to me.
23:44So, you've made a study of these places.
23:47Well, I've made a documentary series
23:49that tells a 100-year history of this culture of music cafes.
23:53So, when Café Lion started in 1926,
23:56we were still talking about the gramophone era, you know,
24:00the chiku onki as it's known in Japan.
24:02During the war, 1945, a lot of Tokyo was raised to the ground
24:06and Café Lion was bombed.
24:101950, it was rebuilt to exactly how it used to look.
24:14In the immediate post-war period,
24:16how did Café Lion have records to play?
24:20So, all the original record collection was destroyed,
24:22but a lot of the American GIs that were stationed here
24:26bought records with them.
24:27They bought jazz, but they also bought classical music.
24:30And a lot of them, when they left,
24:32they would sell their records to the markets.
24:35In the post-war period, you know, life was tough,
24:37and a lot of people won't come to Café Lion
24:40and just sit and escape into, you know,
24:43this world of beautiful music.
24:46The way we access music has changed radically
24:49since the heyday of places like this in the 1950s and 60s.
24:53But listening cafes have remained popular in Japan,
24:56and recently they've begun to appear in European cities,
25:00including London.
25:01You come to places like this and you just listen
25:04to a record from beginning to end.
25:07You're not on your phone.
25:08You're not disturbed.
25:09You're just here to listen.
25:10Every single weekend, it's full
25:12and it's such an incredible environment.
25:14Everyone is listening together.
25:15It's a beautiful thing.
25:16And it's no surprise that it's taking off around the world.
25:20The man curating today's listening pleasure
25:22is the owner, Naoya Yamadera.
25:28Yamadera-san.
25:29Hi.
25:30Konnichiwa.
25:31Konnichiwa.
25:31I'm Michael.
25:34This is such a wonderful place.
25:36I'm absolutely loving it.
25:38Who was it who founded it?
25:43I've never seen a sound system like this.
25:45What's the history of that?
25:59What a fantastic legacy.
26:02Do you do requests?
26:04I wonder, could I hear some Wagner, please?
26:06Yes, I understand.
26:27I could hear it.
26:54To round off my last night in Tokyo,
26:57a short walk brings me to one of the capital's most famous landmarks.
27:02This is Shibuya Crossing,
27:04a giant intersection of seven different roads
27:07known locally as the Scramble.
27:10At its busiest, up to 2,500 people
27:13are thought to traverse it every two minutes.
27:17It perfectly captures the press of humankind in Tokyo.
27:22At first, this seems like an intimidating megalopolis,
27:26but in fact, its vast rail network
27:29is very well signposted in the Western alphabet
27:31and the people of Tokyo are friendly and helpful.
27:35The metropolis bustles by day,
27:37and buzzes by night.
27:39The skyline is dominated by the towers of big business.
27:43But up innumerable stairways,
27:45there are thousands of tiny restaurants.
27:48And down below, there are so many bars and so much music.
27:53And when you decide that it's time for bed,
27:55you'll be walking back through some of the safest streets in the world.
28:01Next time, the tsunami actually came about 10 kilometers inland
28:05and in places it was 10 meters high,
28:08in some places, 40 meters.
28:11That's what they call an open outcry auction.
28:14I guess the busiest don't know exactly what they're in for.
28:17Now they find out what quality they've bought,
28:20whether they've got a bargain or not.
28:22I never saw myself as a rice farmer,
28:25but I am enjoying this so much.
28:48I also found out what a disaster.
28:50They were walking back and forth.
28:51They were moving toward a place where they were to be,
28:51and that is what they're missing out here.
28:52And they made out here.
28:53And they made out here for normal cars.
Comments