All language subtitles for James.May.Our.Man.in.Japan.S01E01.Go.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTG

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Hello, viewers,

you join me in an exciting place
at a critical time.

It is 5:45 in the morning.

I am in a land that is equally
fascinating and baffling;

a country that is charming
and hospitable,

but where we from the West
tread in fear and trepidation,

believing that the slightest
transgression of good etiquette

is like slapping somebody's
sainted mother in the face.

It's a country I've been to
many times before

but never really understood.

So join me over six episodes

as I explore
the enduring mystery

that is the land of this...

Which was supposed to be
the rising sun,

but it hasn't really worked out,
has it?

It's a good job
it didn't look like that

when they named Japan,
otherwise it would be

the Land of the Gray Overcast.

The flag would be rubbish.

♪ ♪

(gong clangs)

JAMES:
We all know travelogues:

beautiful views,
tranquil music,

exquisite local food,

some traditional dress,

and the presenter saying
something charming

and English to a local.

-Are you mad?
-(laughs)

And we all think
we sort of know Japan.

Cherry blossom,
very busy crossroads,

kei cars, samurai,

and seizure-inducing
animations.

I've got a part,
owing to my excellent

Japanese language skills.

I'm a dog.

(indistinct shouting
in Japanese)

(barking)

But dig a little deeper,

and from the most
tranquil vistas

to the most built-up
metropoles,

there is unearthed
a fascinating land

of contradictions:

the ancient clashing
with the new.

The courteous meeting

-the furious.
-(shouts)

The musical and the karaoke.

♪ Touch me, touch me now. ♪

The microscopic...

If I clean your ears,

the video inside of your ears

is displayed on your iPhone.

-Isn't that fantastic?
-No.

...and the ginormous.

This is the weirdest thing
I've ever driven.

James, I'm coming to shoot you.

JAMES:
Yes!

And Japan's private parts
are rather public.

-Today, we have this, uh,
penis festival.
-Mm.

So join me as I venture forth

in peak physical condition...

That's very slippery.

...traveling by land, sea, air,

-and go-kart...
-(horn honking)

...as I journey
from Japan's icy north

all the way
to its balmy south.

A British bloke
trying to fit in.

I can't, I feel like a pervert.

-Literally risking my life...
-(grunts)

...to find out
just what makes Japan...

TRAVEL ROBOT:
Traveling is kind of

getting me excited.
Mmm-mmm-mmm.

You can adjust how strong

-you want to clean your asshole.
-Yes. Yes.

Forwards to Tokyo.

Plus, yes,
some beautiful views.

A bit of exquisite
local food...

-Oh, Jesus Christ.
-(laughs)

...and traditional-ish dress.

In advance.

Right, well, you've seen
all the good bits now,

so here's me
driving down a road.

My actual purpose
in coming here,

because I'm fascinated
by the place,

is not to simply look
at all the tourist sites

and go,
"Ooh, isn't that lovely"

and "isn't that unusual."

It's to actually find out

what Japan and being Japanese
is about,

because it is quite possibly

the most "abroad" place
you can go as a British person.

Everything about it
is slightly alien,

slightly surprising,
and, dare I say it, confusing.

In the interests of that,
I've decided not to start

at the busy Shibuya Junction,
or cooing over Mount Fuji,

or even buying ladies' panties
from a vending machine

in a dark alley.

Instead, I'm starting here.

The icy, northernmost island
of Hokkaido.

If somebody mentions Japan,

you don't really think
of this vast, snowy emptiness.

Now, Hokkaido
has only actually been

part of Japan
for the last 150 years or so.

It's about 20% of the land mass
of the whole country,

but only has five percent
of its population.

A lot of it looks like this
and is very, very pretty.

♪ ♪

Amazingly, Hokkaido sits
at the same latitude

as the south of France,

which is what
I'm telling myself

as I leave the heated seat
of my car

to deliver a long piece
to camera

with rapidly retreating
testicles.

Now bear with me on this one.

In 1957 there was
a Japanese expedition

to Antarctica using dogs
and sleds.

Now, the expedition
was a disaster.

It had to be abandoned
and the dogs were left behind.

When another expedition
went out a year later,

they found, amazingly,

that two of them
were still alive.

Those two dogs became
national heroes of Japan.

And as a result of that,
it became fashionable in Japan

to own a husky-type dog.

And as a result of that,
the leisure sport

of dogsledding returned
to Japan.

I've come here to this, uh,
remote part of Hokkaido

where they do dogsledding
using a descendant

of the Russian version
of the sleigh dog,

known as the Ruski Huskiski.

And let's be honest,
what could be better than this?

This beautiful scenery,
the silence of a sledge.

It's gonna be like being
Prokofiev, it'll be fabulous.

♪ ♪

Right, James, only one
in a million people

will get that reference
to Prokofiev at the end.

Well, they might just think,
"There goes James being

a bit pompous
and intellectual again."

Am I being pompous
and intellectual?

Nobody's ever said that about--
well, they've said pompous,

but they haven't said
intellectual.

Am I being pompous
and intellectual, viewers?

Press the red button now.

I am.

Well, all right, shall we just
do the end bit again then

and I'll say
it's gonna be like being...

It's gonna be like
being Raymond Briggs.

SEAN:
What about Elsa from Frozen?

-What?
-(Sean laughing)

I decided to let it go.

Helping me learn the ropes

is local sled-head Mr. Terada.

Not too much brake.

-I can't ski.
-(laughter)

As Terada-san releases
the hounds, I try

desperately to remember
the crash course he's given me.

Irony noted.

I stand on here.

If it's going slowly,
I can stand like that,

but if it's accelerating
or going around bends,

I've got to crouch,
a bit like a pooping dog,

-and move my weight like that.
-(dogs barking)

And if you come and have
a look at this,

when you start panicking,
there is a brake,

which is sort of two paddles
that go down into the snow,

so I can stamp on that panic
and squeal like a girl.

And the words I need to know
are "Daru,"

that's the name of the lead dog.

Hai.
(shouts)

That meant "go."

Whoa, that's tr...
(laughs)

(barking)

That's a lot faster
than I expected.

(shouts)

SEAN:
Oh, whoa.

(laughs)

I wasn't expecting that bit.

(dogs barking)

Can you go a bit slower?

-SEAN: Put the brake on.
-Oh, put the brake on.

Okay.

Oh, God, there's a bendy bit
coming up.

Can't steer!

Whoa!
(laughs)

Whoa!

JAMES:
Sorry.

Eventually, though, my runnings
finally started becoming cool.

Right.

(whistles)

So, I don't know
how these relatively small dogs

pull this enormous sled
with big fat me on it.

Whoa!

This is exhausting.

(exhales)
I wish I had more time

to appreciate
the lovely scenery here,

but I'm desperately trying
to hang onto this bloody thing.

Hai, hai, hai!

Go wide, in Japanese.

Whoa.

I'm using a little bit
of braking-- whoa, whoa, whoa!

Stop, stop, stop!
(exhales)

-Stopped.
-TERADA: Oh, very nice.

(panting)

-Okay. Yes.
-Change, change.

Here, have...

Geez, that's the...

that's the hardest thing
I've ever done.

(laughs)

(exhales)
Cut.

Here come the rest of the crew
in the luxury of a Ski-Doo.

Oh, well done, everyone.

They didn't even stop
to say congratulations.

It may have escaped
your attention,

but high-octane
physical activity

is not my cup of matcha.

Fortunately, though, I have
many other thrilling interests

that I'm eager to share.

Now I'd like to talk to you for
a moment about Japanese poetry.

But don't be alarmed, I'm merely
going to talk about the haiku,

a very classical
ancient Japanese form,

a very simple form of poetry.

And each haiku
has multiple meanings.

The most widely accepted form
is a line of five syllables,

a line of seven
and then a line of five,

such as, "Fleecy little lamb

"Leaps and bounds
into the spring

I see a jumper."

We're going to head off
to a quiet,

sort of snowy knoll somewhere,

and I'm going
to read one to you.

(clears throat)

(speaking Japanese)

"When I think of it as my snow

"How light it is

On my bamboo hat."

Nice, isn't it?

Actually, should I try and write

a few haiku of my own
on this trip?

Because that would be quite
an interesting challenge.

TOM:
You could even write a haiku

to sum up the entire trip
at the end.

One haiku for the whole thing.

Well, that's actually
what haiku are for,

because if they're
written properly,

they're so laden with meaning
that they can explain

the whole human condition in
five, seven and five syllables.

Should be a breeze.

Let's try it. We'll have a few
practice haiku on the way.

(chuckles)

Thank you very much.
That's the end of double poetry.

Haiku scene over.

First city of trip beckons,
named Obihiro.

I say "city,"
but by Japanese standards,

with a piffling 169,000 people,
it's practically a hamlet.

Still, having so far met
mainly dogs,

I'm rather keen
to find the local boozer.

These are yatai.

They're a sort of Japanese
friendship concept, if you like.

Most towns have them.

In warmer towns,
they're usually just a canopy.

Here, in Hokkaido, because
it is cold, they are huts.

And each one of them is
a miniature restaurant and bar,

and you can go there with
your mates or you can go there

as a couple or you can also,
as I'm going to,

go there on your own
because you're lonely,

maybe a bit depressed.

The people who are in there
will be friendly,

you snuggle up to them.
It's very, very intimate.

So I'm going to try, since we've
just arrived at it... this one.

-PATRONS: Konbanwa.
-May I?

-Excellent.
-(indistinct chatter, laughter)

As with most social gatherings,

my entrance
is met with laughter.

I'm now going to use my very
formal beginner's Japanese

to ask for a beer.

(clears throat)
I say...

ALL:
Onegaishimasu!

(speaking Japanese)

-JAMES: Ah, arigato.
-Thank you.

Cheers.

ALL:
Kanpai!

Because I've already exhausted
my Japanese, I'm going to resort

to technology.

Tonight I am very hungry.

(girl over device
speaking Japanese)

-ALL: Oh!
-Okay.

JAMES:
The second stick translates
back into English.

(speaks Japanese)

-Fantastic. How good is that?
-(laughter)

Let's see if this works
back to front, so...

Tonight, I am very hungry.

(girl over device
speaking Japanese)

-"Divorce tonight"?
-(laughter)

What is it?

Technology is rubbish.

(laughter)

Oh, forget those.

(girl over device
speaking Japanese)

-Shut up.
-(laughter)

Despite
the communication problems,

we're getting on rather well.

And this tiny, warm restaurant
is a cramped haven,

especially as it tragically
can't fit most of the crew.

-Oh, is it origami?
-WOMAN: Origami.

Oh, origami. Oh, okay, uh...

-Origami, origami.
-Okay.

JAMES:
I'm five and a half
thousand miles

from home,
a stranger in a strange land.

Which way up is it, that way?

No, that way.

(laughter)

But here in the yatai,
I feel among friends.

-(applause, oohing)
-Oh, no, you're too generous.

Obviously, I'm not really alone.
I have my crew and so on.

But if you really were
traveling around,

and you were completely
on your own of an evening,

it's so intimate and so close,

that you have to, you have
to talk to the other people

and have a nice time.

It's great.

-This is for you.
-WOMAN: Thank you.

(cheering)

(laughter)

-Sam, this is for you.
-Oh, great.

Actually, it's James.

I will treasure that.

(laughter)

I didn't realize
I was so funny

until I came to Japan.

(laughter continues)

After my state-of-the-art
translation tech

failed me last night,
I've decided to go analog.

-Just great. Please.
-Thank you, thank you.

Please welcome, now
accompanying me on my voyage,

Masayo.

Good morning, everybody.

This is Masayo-san.

-Konnichiwa.
-Konnichiwa.

And she's my guide.

I can only say...

And...

-That's correct?
-Yes. Yes, and...

And I can say "onegaishimas."

So I say...

-(laughs)
-That's it, for a beer.

-Fantastic.
-That's the most
important thing.

Masayo wants to show me
another Japanese take

on a traditional
winter activity,

and she seems
like a civilized type,

so it's probably something
like building a snowman.

(shouting)

Oh.

In fact, it's
the world's most regulated

and violent snowball fight.

Apparently, here in Hokkaido,
they've turned snowballs

into a fully-fledged
team sport,

with strictly controlled
snowball sizes,

contact rules,
leagues, uniforms,

-stadiums and referees.
-(whistle blows)

The rules-- as I'm sure you'll
want to play along at home--

each seven-player team can use
up to 90 regulation snowballs

per round to hit the other team
or capture their flag.

Oh, I see, the people
at the back roll the snowballs

to the forwards,
we'd probably call them.

-It's best of three, and if
you take a hit, you're out.
-(whistle blows)

Yukigassen means yuki: snow,
gassen: war or fight.

And I'd never heard of it.
Maybe you haven't, either.

But, anyway, can we bring
the teams out, please, coach?

(whistle blows)

Shigo!

Shigo. Shigo?

-"Get together."
-"Get together."

(coach speaking Japanese)

JAMES:
But Masayo's surprise

doesn't stop there.

-You want me to play?
-MASAYO: Yes, please.

Please, please enjoy
snow-snowball fighting tonight.

Yeah, I'm sure I'll love it.

(grunts)

MASAYO:
Oh, James, you look so nice.

-Do I?
-You look like a sportsman.

-Thank you very much
-You can do that. Okay?

(laughs)

Here's a ball
from the la-- the la...

-It's rea-- it's very hard.
-Very, very hard.

-Very hard.
-Feel that.

-Yeah, it's kind of a ice ball.
-Throw it at me.

-Yeah, It's quite hard.
-(laughs)

It's quite small.

(chuckles)

To make this
even more schoolyard,

we're doing boys
against the girls.

Which probably means we fancy
them, but we're too shy to say.

-(speaks Japanese)
-(whistle blows)

-(man shouts)
-(Masayo laughs)

MASAYO:
Be careful, be careful.
Be careful!

Come on, James!

You can throw ball.

MAN:
James, go!

James, go for it!
Go for it!

JAMES:
I'm starting to think Masayo
might be a bit of a sadist.

What are you doing?
It's terrible.

-What are you doing?
-(grunts)

MASAYO:
Don't let me down!

-(whistle blows)
-(Masayo laughs)

JAMES:
I'm hit, which means I'm out.

As one of my teammates
makes very clear.

MASAYO (chuckling):
You're terrible.

-You're terrible.
-(James chuckles)

James! Come on!

I d-- I didn't see it coming.

-James, come on.
-Oh, I'm sorry.

-That's your fault.
-I know it's my...

Because of you, your team
lost the first game.

Look, the Japanese way
is to elevate the achievements

of others
while diminishing your own.

-I know, but...
-That was a bit rubbish...

-That's your fault.
-It was my fault, yes.

You should not--
should not be coward.

-Okay?
-Not be...?

Not be coward.

-Covered?
-Coward.

(chuckles) Sorry, do you mean
"covered" or "coward"?

Coward!

-Coward!
-I mean coward.

Scared.

Yeah. You shouldn't be scared.

I wasn't scared, I'm just
too big, and they could--

I stuck out from behind the...

Don't tell me that excuse.

-Okay.
-The next set you should
do the best.

-Okay, next time
I will do better.
-Okay.

-Please trust me.
-I do.

-Please don't let me down.
-I won't let you down.

That's like my mother telling me
she's disappointed in me.

It's terrible. (sighs)

Right. Stand by.

My team lost the first set,
no small thanks to me.

-So if we lose again,
that's it.
-(whistle blows)

(grunts)

A near miss.

I like to think
that the problem is

that I'm much taller
than the average player,

not that I'm a bit fat.

(shouting)

-Oh, I got one!
-MASAYO: Very nice.

-MAN: James, go, go!
-MASAYO: Go, go!

Go, go, go, go!
Very nice. Go, go.

JAMES:
I fight tooth and nail.

But pinned down
and screaming for help...

Where are they?

-MASAYO: James,
be careful, be careful!
-(James grunts)

(chuckles)

-(whistle blows)
-I'm hit again.

(chuckling):
Oh, my. Oh, my.

(laughing)

-(man shouting)
-(whistle blows)

-Finished, finished.
-Who won?

-Did they?
-You lost.

Oh.

Thank you.
Domo arigato.

Well, to be honest, I thought
it might be a bit pony,

but it's actually really good.

It's quite frightening. And it
does make a hell of a racket

when it hits you on the helmet.
(clears throat)

But, um, uh,

Domo arigato gozaimashita.

-Very, very good game.
-(others speak Japanese)

So the red team, the men's team,
lost by one hit.

One person out. That person was
knocked out in the first round,

the only person knocked out
of the men's team

in the first round,
and it was me.

-Yes, it's your fault.
-Okay? It's my fault, yes.

Uh, so I should say to them,
I should say...

-Sumimasen.
-(laughter)

Right, then.
Where to next?

Oh. Mmm.

No, not there.

Here.

(gong clangs)

It's the next morning,
and we're up early,

with some big plans
for the day.

Unfortunately...

So, today I've got up at 5:00

to go to some sort of...

exclusively Hokkaido
horse racing event...

...and it's been canceled.

TOM:
So, what do you want to do now?

Can we go inside?

-(laughter)
-JAMES: No.

No, you can't.

SEAN:
Is breakfast open yet?

Breakfast is probably not open
for another couple of hours.

-Has anybody seen my hat?
-No. Sorry.

-Does anybody care?
-(woman laughs)

We have to film
something today,

or the knife-edge finances
of the struggling Amazon empire

will tip into the red,

so here's my hotel room.

Ah. Ohayo.
Come in.

I was wanting to talk
to you, actually.

Um, I was going to say that...

hundreds of years ago,
when I was a child in the '70s,

and everybody was basically
a racist, it used to be

considered great fun to laugh
at slightly wonky

Japanese translations
in the instruction books

that came with, you know,
power tools

and the early Japanese cars,
and all that sort of thing.

Bits that said,
"Cement the driver's arm

to the handle," and so on.

But actually the translation
of Japanese into English

often yields
very, very fetching phrases

that are actually much nicer
than the words we really use.

For example, the first time
I came to Japan-- that was

25, 26 years ago--
the little sign

next to the kettle
in the hotel room said

"electricity pot,"
which is a much nicer name

for it than kettle.

We often still say that at home,

we say, "I'll fill up
the electricity pot."

Here's another one.

Um, this is a pencil
I bought recently.

It's Japanese, and it's got
all the usual sort of, you know,

pencil rubbish written on it,

but then if you look
at that side, look, it says,

"made by elaborate process."

Now, the original Japanese
probably says something

completely trite,
like "finest quality,"

but once their version
of that is translated,

it says
"made by elaborate process,"

and I like things that
are made by elaborate process.

And here's another one.

If I just put my, um,
what the crew call

my children's TV presenter
specs on.

There was a, a sign in
the bathroom in the last hotel

that we were in, and um,
it was instructions

on how to operate the shower,
and it says:

"Slip knob into bracket
on opposite wall."

No idea what it means, really,
but it's much nicer

than just saying whatever it was
supposed to say.

I just thought I'd mention--
oh, look, there's my hat.

Um, I just thought I'd mention
that, because we can't go

to the racing now,
and I'm sorry about that,

but as
the Japanese proverb says,

"Never try to bite
your own navel."

(Japanese music playing)

JAMES:
Masayo's taken the day off,

but as the snow's stopped,

and the best budget
in the world

doesn't cover
a Japanese minibar,

I've decided to go in search
of a simple snack.

The real problem for me
is the language, because

if I travel to Germany
or France, I can't

really speak
those languages properly,

but I can look at the words,

and they make a noise
in my head.

And often their words
are related to our words,

and you can work out
a few basic things.

But in Japanese,
when you look at the signs,

there is no noise in your head.

I know a lot of you
are thinking,

"Oh, James is just being a dork.

It can't really be
that difficult," but it is.

Come and see.

Now, this is the food
ordering machine,

but obviously you can't know
what any of it is,

'cause it's all written
in kanji.

And, if you're trying
to play along at home,

know that the numbers and
symbols on the picture board

don't relate to the numbers
and symbols on the machine.

Oh, no, it's different
on there, though, isn't it?

It's none of those...

The numbers are different.

So the colors
will mean something.

I think the orange things
are... hot...

or are they?

Television shows
are often accused

of exaggerating the truth
in the name of entertainment.

This machine genuinely took us

six full minutes to work out.

(server speaking Japanese)

Yes, there you go. Right.

JAMES:
Even after that, I've only
unlocked door number one.

No?

So, just to summarize, I went
to a very complicated machine

to buy some noodles, when
I could have just asked a man,

but I got a ticket from
the machine, which I then had to

give to the man, and he tore it
in half immediately

and sent me over
to the noodle bar,

where I offered the ticket
to the lady,

but she didn't want it.

But three minutes later,

it turned out I had
hit the jackpot after all.

Ah... wow.
Look at that.

And now everything is okay,

because I have
a bowl of noodles.

Mmm.

Japan is famed
for its raw fish,

but a bowl of ramen
is what gets things done.

In face-shatteringly freezing
Hokkaido,

it feels like the beans
and sausages of the Orient.

Anyway, I'm delighted to say
that having been

pelted with it and had my face
rubbed in it,

we're leaving
all this snow stuff behind,

and we're heading
for the broad sunlit uplands

of southeastern Hokkaido.

Where the haiku are all about
fresh, dry tarmac.

And where, finally, I'm allowed
to film a proper scene

about people making stuff.

Hidden
in this unassuming building

in the hills of Hokkaido
is a forge

run by a very special man.

We've come here to meet
Korehira Watanabe-san,

and he is one of the last
surviving makers

of samurai swords.

This is going to be excellent.

♪ ♪

(gong clangs)

James-san.
Very nice to meet you.

Anyone who's seen Kill Bill

knows people
will travel the world

to find an elusive
Japanese master swordsmith

so they can hack ninjas
to pieces in style.

Korehira Watanabe has been
honing his craft for 40 years

and is edging ever closer
to the perfect blade.

And what an edge it is.

Oh.

Wow.

That's spectacular.

-May I?
-Okay.

Domo arigato.

Oh, that is achingly gorgeous.
Look at that.

-Oh...
-No?

Okay. Okay.
(laughs)

That feels fantastic
in your hand as well.

That's proper craftsmanship.
There's a lot...

"Craft" is a fantastically
abused word.

It's used by people who,
you know,

make wooden boxes
on a band saw, but that is...

it's fantastic.

How long does it take
to make?

How many people
can still do this?

Do you have an apprentice?

Do you want another apprentice?

(Watanabe speaking Japanese)

May I be an apprentice
for one day?

-Okay. Domo arigato.
-Hai. Hai.

What do you think?

SEAN:
You look like a sushi chef.

-I don't look like
a sushi chef.
-Yeah, you do.

JAMES:
As I join in the forging
of a new masterpiece,

I'm instructed to follow

the rhythm of the hammers.

One, two, three.
(grunts)

Luckily, I have a degree
in music, so this proves easy.

-Ah...
-Oh, no. (chuckles)

(speaks Japanese)

I'm asked to sit out
the rest of the process.

Clearly, I'm too much
of a natural at this,

and he doesn't want to show up
the other apprentice.

WATANABE:
Hai.

Master Watanabe-san
has spent decades

trying to replicate the ancient
Koto samurai swords,

considered the finest
ever made.

The rhythm of the hammers
are instructions to one another.

It's fantastic.

Listen to 'em go
ding-ding-chh, ding-ding-chh.

He's telling him
with his hammer taps

how regularly and how hard
to hit the piece of metal.

The metal will be shaped
across many months

in continual pursuit
of this mythical perfection.

Hai.

The samurai believed that
the sword embodied the soul,

and there is
a spiritual reverence here.

This ancient process
of sword-making

is actually part
of the Shinto religion.

It's a-- it's a ritual event, as
well as a manufacturing event.

Then, hence this.

I don't know
their exact meaning,

but this is all part of...

These are all votive things
to the gods around the forge.

Where applied,
this layer of clay

makes the steel cool
at a different rate,

changing its characteristics,

as well as providing
that signature curve.

After all these processes,
you end up with a blade

that has a different
quality of steel here,

from here, from the very edge.

The edge is very hard and can
be made very-- very sharp.

The middle is slightly
more ductile,

so the sword won't break.

The edge here is thicker,

so that the thing isn't wobbly.

And all the steel
that you start with

is all still in the blade.

Nothing is ground or cut away.

It's all hammered into that.

It's-- it's breathtaking,
really.

Luckily, Watanabe-san
has a work-in-progress sword

that's a few months
further down the line.

And he lets me take it
for a little test drive.

Hai!

(all exclaim)

How far did I go in there?
Two inches?

And it's perfectly okay.
It's not even notched.

The blade is absolutely fine.

♪ ♪

Domo arigato gozaimashita.

Arigato gozaimashita.

Arigato.

I would quite happily
have spent the next ten years

being Watanabe-san's
apprentice,

but I think the crew would have
thrown me into the forge.

Plus, his current apprentice
was sharpening a blade

and looking at me funny.

Time to move on.

After all this wilderness,
it's high time to head

to Hokkaido's biggest city,
Sapporo,

named after the beer.

Now, this is Sapporo, and I have
to say I'm quite relieved,

because my one criticism
of Hokkaido is that

it does feel a bit deserted.

Everything is a bit empty.

But this is the fifth-biggest
city in Japan.

♪ ♪

Sapporo, along with Asahi,
Kirin and Suntory,

makes up the foaming head
of Japan's beer industry,

and its presence
dominates the city.

But my director thought
I'd prefer

the more intimate setting
of the Sun and Moon,

one of the growing number
of microbreweries

setting up in the city.

He was wrong.

The issue I have...
is that most microbreweries

in Britain or America
are a bit... crap.

Everybody's going on about,
"Oh, it's 'craft' beer."

But there's a reason why
Sean, the cameraman,

isn't using a "craft" camera.

♪ ♪

-So, you call this a bitter?
-Bitter, yes.

It's very pale.
It's like a pale ale.

-India pale ale.
-Oh, it is a pa--
India pale ale?

-Yes.
-Yeah. Okay.

Smooth.

♪ ♪

That's refreshing
in so many ways.

It's a beer,
which is refreshing.

It's a good microbrewery,
which is also refreshing.

Mmm.

Very nice.

-Thank you.
-Very nice.

Moriya-san, the owner
of the microbrewery,

has agreed to give me a guided
tour of the whole operation,

which amounts to a closet
behind the bar.

(James laughs)

It's very steamy in here,
obviously,

which is a problem
with the camera.

This is a genuine microbrewery,
even by microbrewery standards.

Sorry, I'll wipe it
and then speak.

While our Aussie cameraman
steam-proofs his kit,

I add some hops.

Hang on a minute.

-Clear?
-Yes.

Go, go, go. Okay.

Perfect.

Whoa, you can smell it.
(sniffs)

The smell of hops.

It's the beginnings of beer.

It is remarkably hot in here.

I hope my beer's still cold.

It's weird, this, isn't it?

If you went to a-a restaurant,
and they said,

"Yeah, of course you can have
egg and chips,

but you've got to help us cook
it," you'd be really annoyed.

But if you have to help
make the beer,

you don't mind, somehow.

(clears throat)

Excellent.

That has gone down
since I left it.

Um...

(chuckles):
All right.

This obviously isn't the beer
I've just helped to make,

but I am brewing
a plan for that.

Um, when will this beer
be ready?

-One month.
-One month?

Where will we be in a month?

-TOM: Uh, Osaka.
-Osaka?

I should point out that
one of the problems we've had

with Japanese hotels is
they only have small bars,

and they often close
really early.

Often before we've arrived.
I wonder,

could you send it if--
We will pay, of course.

Could you send beer to Osaka?

-Yes. (laughs)
-Yeah?

In-in bottles, you know,
is fine.

-Yes.
-Yeah. Okay.

I'd love that, if our own beer
followed us across Japan.

Fantastic.

Kanpai.

I bloody love beer.

(gong clangs)

(seagulls squawking)

I'm nearing the end
of the first leg of my trip,

but before I cross
to the mainland,

I thought I'd experience
fishing Hokkaido's

bountiful coastal waters,

hence the low-end,
copyright-free

sea shanty music.

Good morning, viewers.

Today, we are in Otaru, and
for lunch we are having tako--

octopus-- very, very popular.

Japan eats two-thirds
of the world's octopus catch.

But this being television,
before I can eat it,

I have to catch it, so we
are here to meet Narita-san,

who is the skipper
of this fishing boat.

James. How are you?

I have-- this is very correct
Japanese etiquette--

I have my business cards ready.

And... using two hands,

face towards the recipient,

-I present it.
-Ah. Ah.

Make a point of looking at it

even though
you don't understand it.

Oh. Excellent.

Now, there's a bit of a story
behind my business card

because I wrote it as a haiku,

and it says,
or I believed it said:

"My name is James May.
My business card is before you,

as indeed am I."

And then we turned it into kanji

so it looks proper
Japanese haiku and so on,

but then we gave it to one of
our Japanese fixers and said,

"Can you just translate that
back for us

to make sure it's okay,"
and it actually says:

"My name is James May.
Please bear this in mind.

Thank you in advance."

Shall we go?

(laughs) Yes.

-Okay, okay, okay. Okay.
-Yes. Okay. Okay.

(both chuckle)

JAMES:
Yet again,
I'm accidentally hilarious.

♪ ♪

A couple of things you might not
know about the octopus:

it has eight legs--
you probably did know that--

but you might not know
that it has three hearts,

and also that it has more
intelligence in its arms

than in its head.

So it's excellent
at multitasking,

it can be using its arms
to get some food out of rocks

while its head is thinking

what to watch on television
that night.

The only thing that could
go against us here

is that the skipper's
a bit worried about the sea.

They normally go out
at 5:00 in the morning

because that's when
it's very calm.

It's now gone 9:30,

so it could get a little bit
choppy, but let's see.

I'm very confident and this is a
great way of earning your lunch.

Or a great way to revisit it.
Unfortunately,

once we leave
the enclosed harbor,

things get choppier
than a karate tournament.

Half a mile out of the harbor,

it's as choppy as hell.

The cameraman can hard--
well, he's not standing up,

to be honest,
he's kneeling in front of me.

(coughs) I might rephrase that.

(laughter)

Um, I've never been seasick,

I'm very grateful for that,

but some of our crew...
(coughs) do it quite a lot.

Bet they're regretting nicking
my beer in the last scene.

Japan update.

Subject: octopus fishing.

The news is we're about halfway
to where the octopus pots are.

They're dropped in advance
the day before,

but it's too rough,
says Narita-san,

to stop and winch them up.

The risk is that
you break the ropes

and then you lose your
precious octopus pots forever.

I think I've understood that
correctly.

♪ ♪

Well, if we were...
certain other

unmentionable TV programs,
we would fake that

and just find an octopus and put
it in the pot, and then pretend,

"Hey, look at the octopus
we've caught."

But we can't really do that,
can we? 'Cause that's not true.

-No. Uh...
-So what do we do?

Well, I've heard that some
people have actually managed

to catch an octopus
this morning,

so we might be able
to buy an octopus

or borrow an octopus
from somebody else?

JAMES:
You know, as long as we can get
to the restaurant and do the,

-"Here's how you
prepare an octopus."
-Yeah.

If somebody here's caught one,
we could do-- we can just revert

to the 1970s and say,
"Here's one we caught earlier."

And here's one
we caught earlier.

What a weird-looking thing.

So I think the deal is,

I'll walk round
to the restaurant,

which is only about
100 meters that way,

and I'll prepare lunch
for the crew.

I was gonna say cook lunch
for the crew;

it won't all be cooked.

Obviously some of it
will be raw.

Does that sound like a deal?

He's quite
a sweet fellow really.

I think I'll call him Bob.

Moments later,
Bob is dismembered by the staff

of Narita-san's restaurant
and readied for the deep fryer.

We're going to do
sashimi, tempura,

and a sort of stew,
which isn't called a stew...

shabu-shabu, that's it.

I bet that's nothing like
as easy as it looks.

This knife is absolutely
phenomenally sharp.

It's all happening in a very
Zen-like, peaceful way.

It's not like Jamie Oliver

and-and Gordon Ramsay
where they run around

shouting at everybody.
No, this is, this is calm.

It's...

James, I'm so hungry.

-Hurry up, please.
-JAMES: Yes, all right.

(laughs)

It'll be better
because you've waited for it.

Who needs MasterChef?

Octopus sashimi, tempura,

and shabu-shabu, a broth into
which you dip raw ingredients.

A feast to mollify
even the harshest critic.

-Very good. Very delicious.
-Very good.

The trouble is,
the Japanese are so polite

that if it tasted like
shabu-shabu wellington boot,

they'd still say,
"Oh, yes, it's very nice."

Is it really very nice?

-Really very nice. Mm, mm, mm.
-Really very nice, okay.

(seagulls squawking)

-So...
-(chuckles) Yes?

So I have two sorts
of ice creams,

-so which would you like, James?
-Yes.

Well, I'm guessing
from your body language

you want me to take
the black, gray-colored one.

-Yes, this is for you.
-Thank you. I thought so.

-Thank you very much.
-Do you know what's in it?

-Coal?
-Huh?

No, I'm gonna guess...
something--

some sort of chocolate or...

-tea, actually, maybe it's tea.
-No, no, no, no.

-I'll try it.
-No. You try?

Actually tastes slightly fishy.

-Really?
-Yeah.

Exactly. It's squid ink.

-Is it?
-Yes.

Is that vanilla?

-It's sea urchin.
-Is it?

I love it. It's very creamy.
I love it.

JAMES:
I had hoped for a sweeter end
to my trip through Hokkaido,

but I'll settle for this.

Now where do I get
a crab stick flake?

-Mm-hmm.
-It's 90% ice cream.

-Mm.
-Ten percent fish fingers.

So far on my Japanese journey,

I've brought great shame
to the world of dogsledding...

(shouts)

-...shame to my
snowballing team...
-(grunts)

...shame to an
ancient sword master...

-(shouts)
-Whoa!

...and worn a mask in a scene
we didn't end up using.

That was actually
quite painful to start with,

but by the end,
I was perfectly happy.

And while still undeniably
feeling like an outsider,

the warmth and patience here
is so genuine...

-This is for you.
-Oh, great.
Actually, it's James.

-(laughter)
-Domo arigato.

...that I feel the Japanese
mask of rules and protocols

is slowly slipping.

And as my ferry
gets ready to cast off

for the mainland,
there's just time

for Masayo and me
to have one last...

Konbanwa.

-I have a gift for you.
-Really?

-Yes.
-Thank you very much, James.

I have a gift for you.

-Thank you.
-I hope you like it.

-Please open it.
-Okay.

Be careful,
it's-it's quite fragile.

Just put it on my...

MASAYO:
I'll do this first.

JAMES:
This went on for
a good five minutes,

so we ended up replacing it

with something
that just unfolded.

-Please open it.
-Okay.

Wow. Wonderful.

Very beautiful.

-Ah, yes!
-(chuckles)

Fantastic.

It's a traditional
Japanese happi jacket,

and I'm very happy indeed.

It's great, isn't it?
I like it a lot.

-It's been a pleasure.
Thank you.
-Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

JAMES:
Now I'm departing,

I've written a small haiku
to commemorate the occasion.

"Springless Hokkaido.

I'm off to Honshu to pop
my blossom cherry."

See you next time.

I'll do this first.

(both chuckle)

Oh... Sorry.

JAMES: Hold it by the edge.
Hold it by the side...

-Uh-huh.
-...and shake it,
and it will come down.

Somebody pull it off it.

(laughter)

Pull it off it.

JAMES:
It was a teapot.