Original subtitles

Japan.

Michael, welcome to Japan, a railway paradise.

Its huge population spread over long islands lives by its railways.

I feel like I'm driving.

My new adventure takes me through the land that launched the high-speed train.

I love Shinkansen.

Where millions of journeys are made each day through some of the most bustling stations on earth.

Busy city.

I'll ride Japan's vast railway network to uncover a land of bold innovation.

Haven't quite got the hang of it yet.

A place of enduring traditions, volatile geology and remarkable people.

Kanpai.

Join me on an excursion like no other.

I'm too excited to sit down.

My rail journey continues on mountainous Kyushu, which is the third largest of Japan's islands.

And the one that is closest to Korea and lying opposite to Shanghai.

It's home to about a tenth of the Japanese population.

And accounts for about a tenth of the country's economy.

I'm looking forward to reaching its northern coast.

On this adventure, I've discovered how, in the 19th century, Japan experienced political revolution and westernization due to influences which

entered from the outside world through Kyushu.

I began in Kagoshima and have been traveling up the western side of the island.

I look forward to visiting useful Fukuoka.

I'll then dip under the sea to emerge on the western tip of Honshu Island to end at Hiroshima.

I'm beginning on a regional railway line which delivers me to Arita, a small town with a big reputation.

Known for its exquisite quality and artistic beauty, Arita Porcelain was shipped around the world by the Dutch East India

Company from the mid-17th century.

Even today, it's considered some of the finest in the world.

I'm so impressed by Japanese delicacy and good taste.

When you go to a restaurant, the food is elegantly presented on a range of beautiful dishes.

Porcelain is strongly associated with Japan.

And yet, it's something that arrived as a foreign influence from Korea at the beginning of the 17th century.

And so it's associated with Kyushu Island.

And in Japan, it has been developed to new perfection.

I've come to the Fukuokaomi factory, a family business stretching back 400 years, which produced porcelain ware for the Japanese

imperial family.

Its delightful ceramics are found in museums around the world.

Fukuokaomi-san.

Hello, I'm Michael.

Hello. I'm Sosuke.

How do you do?

Good.

These wonderful colours.

So many different blues.

This is like a temple to colour.

Thank you very much.

When did porcelain making first arrive in Arita?

It was 1610th, because Japanese shogun, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, invaded to Korea, and then they brought

back Korean potta to Kyushu.

And is this how your family arrived here?

They were Koreans originally?

Yes.

So, they're brought over by the shogun.

They arrive here as Koreans, foreigners, but they have this skill.

Are they treated with respect in Japan?

Yes, a lot.

Once my ancestor proved their skills,

regional shogun granted surname, Fukaumi,

and permitted to have swords.

Yes, so two great honours to carry a sword

and to enjoy your very illustrious surname.

My ancestor's name is Fukaumi Soden and Hyakbasen.

They were first potter to create arita porcelain.

That is extraordinary.

Today, the business specialises in producing

a vital element of porcelainware, the underglaze,

pigments used to coat pottery before firing.

Most renowned of these is gosu,

a traditional underglaze that transforms into a rich blue when fired.

This is cobalt oxide and manganese, iron and kaolin.

Cobalt comes from DR Congo,

mined and purified by Belgium and imported to Japan.

That makes it very expensive, I suppose.

Yes, a lot.

With cobalt in it, will it always be blue?

Yes.

We have 300 kinds of blue.

It takes a month of mixing, firing, grinding and refining

to produce the delicate gosu glaze.

What extraordinary machinery.

This looks like the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

What happens here?

What process is this?

This is refining.

We grind it over two weeks.

I'm in awe that you make 300 blues.

Yes.

But I suppose it means you can't make that or that.

It's not blue.

It's not blue.

The underglaze made here is used across the world

and by the many potteries in Arita.

There are around 85 just in the town.

I'm touring Risugama, founded in 1930,

in the former residence of another Korean potter, Yi Sanpei,

who's considered the father of Arita porcelain.

Everything is so very delicate.

Any little impurities are being removed from the basic porcelain.

And here a glaze being applied.

Gorgeous liquid.

A process that is not only hands-on but actually hands-in.

Here an artist with the finest of brushes

applying a pattern of exquisite detail.

For a lesson, I hope in somewhat less intricate painting,

I'm meeting the head of the company

and great-grandson of the founder, Shinji Tarauchi.

Tarauchi-san.

Great pleasure.

I come dressed as a humble student.

To learn from the master.

Yes, it's good.

Now, let's practice first.

This is done with a gray color.

Slighting, we will look at the best.

Yes.

The first picture, you know,

the hemisp Ji-san.

We will look at the best.

And then we will look at the tone.

We can change the shape of the type.

One year, we will look at the end.

This part is a great color.

This is a great color.

Like this.

Mm.

Beautiful confidence strokes.

So.

Make sure the particles are all mixed together.

Get rid of the excess paint.

Get the brush into a nice point.

It's nice.

Yes, that's it.

Nice.

Nice.

You're fine.

Nice.

And then we'll do it like this.

Right.

And then we'll do this.

And then we'll do it like this.

Oh.

This is extremely difficult.

He's telling me not to paint with this big brush,

but just to let the paint flow down.

But bearing in mind that at any moment it can run away with you.

It's difficult, isn't it?

It's very difficult.

We're joined together forever on a plate.

This town has been shaped by four centuries of porcelain making.

I find a Shinto shrine displaying the craft for which Arita is venerated.

What an extraordinary thing.

It must be highly unusual for the entrance to a shrine

to be bisected by a railway.

But here I am, Tozan, established in 1658.

And, most exceptionally,

decorated with the glorious blue of the porcelain of Arita.

Kyushu is dominated by volcanoes,

which accounts for the mineral resources

that have supplied its pottery industry.

One third of Japan's natural hot springs are on the island,

again thanks to volcanic activity.

Not far from Arita is the hot spring town of Ureshino,

where I'm making a stop for the night.

And I'm looking forward to experiencing a ryokan,

a very traditional style of Japanese hotel.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Before I settle down for the night, I'm taking a tea,

which in Japan is elevated to a ceremonial.

I'm going to put tea in here.

I cannot pour a pirate's chug into my teapot directly, so there's an intervening, much more elegant vessel.

So it goes from one to the other and then into the teapot.

Ah!

And now a little egg timer is inverted.

And as soon as the sands of time have run through the egg timer,

I will be presented with a doubtless perfect cup of censure green tea.

This morning I'm up early and ready for my breakfast.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Oh, thank you.

I'll follow.

With tatami mats covering the floor and paper screen walls,

the simplicity of the interior is typical of the Japanese aesthetic.

And so too is the breakfast.

Here I have some miso soup.

Some meat and vegetables that have been cooked in sweet soy sauce.

Salty custard.

Sashimi.

Sesame seed.

Pickle.

Cod row.

A little sauce that I'm going to make up with which to eat my tofu,

which is boiling merrily there in onsen water.

And here, some red snapper.

It can be very daunting for the foreigner eating in Japan.

So many things that are unfamiliar,

but people are always on hand to give you guidance

and foods that may seem very strange at first turn out to be rather wonderful.

I'm not used to having soup for breakfast.

But hey, it works.

And salty custard

is an acquired taste.

This ryokan is built around one of the island's many hot springs.

And I'm keen to experience a very special feature

which I can enjoy without leaving my room.

Every present should have a wrapping.

A Japanese hotel room has many layers.

Moving through one's quarters

is a series of revelations

crossing the tatami mat,

opening the shoji door with its washi paper

to reveal the garden beyond

and my own onsen pool.

Onsen are natural thermal baths heated by volcanic geology.

Sometimes communal, sometimes private,

they are integral to Japanese culture.

This onsen is delightful.

It's a warm bath.

And the water is so clearly natural.

You feel its warmth opening your pores.

You feel the softness of it on your skin.

You sense that you will emerge a new man.

Again...

Refreshed and relaxed,

I'm ready to continue my journey from Takeo Onsen Station.

With a few minutes to spare, I'll watch a great ceremony of the Japanese railway.

In a country full of customs and formalities, the bullet train has its own departure ritual.

Shinkansans are extremely frequent, so there is zero tolerance of lateness.

Each of these employees is responsible for punctuality.

With precision, she marks out each thing that she's doing.

The doors are closing, we are approaching departure time,

and I can guarantee you that it will go on time.

We are checking the monitor.

You can see down the train.

The doors are closing, all is clear.

But, as a final safety check, the guard leans out of the train,

and she will maintain that position until she's cleared the platform.

Missing you already.

My train is not a Shinkansen, but a limited express train called the Relay Komome 787.

The trains across Japan vary enormously.

Each has its personality.

This one sports a sleek black finish.

It's around a 60-minute journey to my next stop, Fukuoka, on the northern coast of Kyushu.

The city of Fukuoka has a history of more than 2,000 years.

In 1975, the opening of a Shinkansen tunnel, almost 19 kilometers long,

linking Kyushu with Honshu, gave the city superb connections to Tokyo.

But businesses are attracted to Fukuoka by its much lower rents.

And it's actually closer to Seoul and to Shanghai than it is to Tokyo.

The city has been marketing these advantages and offering tax breaks to start-ups.

The age range of the population is strikingly young.

It is a city both ancient and modern.

Fukuoka is Japan's fifth-largest city.

I'm fast approaching its center.

Feels like a metropolis.

Hakata Station is the island's largest and busiest.

From this hub, trains depart for Japan's principal cities.

Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo.

Major railway stations get combined with subterranean shopping centers.

So, you get the gaggles descending from the trains, mixed with the crowds who are doing their shopping, along with

the multitudes who are trying to grab lunch.

Japan has an aging population.

But you wouldn't know it here, as Fukuoka is the city with the highest proportion of residents aged 15 to

29.

And I'm barely out of the station before the city's youth makes an impression.

My name is Michael.

Hello.

Hello. You were very, very, very good.

What's it called, this dance?

This is a double-dutch rope.

What is Fukuoka like for young people?

Is it a good city for young people?

It's a great place.

Very, very nice.

First of all, people are warm.

When I walk in the street, I'm happy to be here.

I'm happy to be here, and I'm happy to be here.

I'm happy to be here.

Is Fukuoka the best city of all?

The best place.

The best place.

Yay!

Fukuoka is now the fastest-growing city in Japan.

It was granted the status as a national strategic special zone

for start-up entrepreneurial businesses,

which entails relaxed planning laws, tax breaks,

and special visas for entrepreneurs.

Driving this change is the city's mayor, Soichiro Takashima,

elected in 2014, whom I have the pleasure of meeting.

Nice to meet you.

Takashima-san.

Nice to meet you.

What a pleasure.

We're grabbing a drink at one of the street food counters,

or yatai, that have become a distinctive feature of the city.

Have you ever been to Fukuoka?

I have not.

This is the first time I've been in Kyushu,

and I've enjoyed it so much.

It's been absolutely marvelous.

Really?

But I've left the best for last.

Fukuoka city.

Really attractive city.

Now, I'm so pleased to be here.

Ms. Mayor, I've learned that your name, Takashima, means tall island.

High island.

Yes, that's right.

My name, Portillo, means small gate.

You used to be a TV host and are now a politician.

I used to be a parliamentarian and minister,

and now I'm a TV presenter.

Yes.

So we've gone in opposite directions?

Yeah, yeah.

Opposite side.

What ideas did you have for the city, for Fukuoka?

What were your ideas, and how did you want to achieve them?

I'm going to be an Asian country, which is the main thing to do.

I want to be an Asian country.

Yes.

And the city, in the old days,

the city, is that the impact of the world from the world.

And that's the impact of the world from the world.

So you have taken great advantage of the physical location of the city?

Yes, that's right.

You're so close to the Asian mainland.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

For example, from Fukuoka to Shanghai, Fukuoka to Tokyo, just same distance, 100 kilometers radius.

Yeah.

So...

And you've been attracting small businesses and startups with tax breaks?

May we take a risk on some beer please?

Oh, that's a good sight.

Over history,

Japan, as the nation of islands, has had to debate whether to admit

foreign influences. It absorbed porcelain making in the 17th century and in the 19th it imported

the industrial revolution from the west. In both cases with great success. But even today Japan

receives very few immigrants by comparison with other developed economies. It's open to ideas and

to technology, it's a great world exporter, but its population and its culture remain homogeneously

Japanese. Next time... Part of the fish is highly poisonous and dangerous yes oh the all the chef

has to take care of the puffle fish they have to have the national license everybody think about

how to make it beautiful that the shinkansen a piece of engineering and almost a piece of art

at the same time atomic bomb dropped just behind you an entire community simply disappeared