All language subtitles for 1 1 Great.Japanese.Railway.Journeys.S01E09.1080p.WEB.H264-BeechyBoy

Japan. Michael, welcome to Japan, a
railway paradise.

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

Join me on an excursion like no other.
I'm too excited to sit down.

My rail journey continues on Mountain
Kyushu, which is the third largest of

Japan's islands and 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

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

I look forward to visiting youthful
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

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.

Portland is strongly associated with
Japan, and yet it's something that

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 Fukaomi factory, a
family business stretching back 400

which produced porcelainware for the
Japanese imperial family.

Its delightful ceramics are found in
museums around the world.

Fukaomi -san.

Hello, I'm Michael. I'm Sousuke.

How do you do? Good.

I mean, these wonderful colours, so many
different blues. This is like a temple

to colour.

Thank you very much.

When did Portland making first arrive in
Arita?

It was 1610, because Japanese shogun,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, invaded to Korea,

and then they brought back Korean potter
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.

That is extraordinary.

Today, the business specializes in
producing a vital element of

the underglaze, pigments used to coat
pottery before firing.

Most renowned of these is Gosu, a
traditional underglaze that transforms

rich blue when fired.

This is cobalt oxide and manganese,
iron, and

cowrie.

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 gossu 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 Ristogama, founded in 1930,
in the former residence of another

Korean potter, Yi Sam -pae, who's
considered the father of Arita Portland.

Everything is so very delicate.

Any little impurities.

are being removed from the basic
porcelain.

And here a glaze being applied.

Gorgeous liquid.

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 Terauchi.

Terauchi -san.

Great pleasure. I come dressed as a
humble student to

learn from the master.

Let's do some practice first. The pencil
pattern will not burn if you adjust it

in the end.

I will trace the lines drawn here with
this paint.

First of all, please mix the paint well
so that the paint itself is mixed well.

Please cut the paint in the brush well.

Beautiful confidence tricks.

So, make sure the particles are all
mixed together.

Get rid of the excess paint.

Get the brush into a nice point

Right.

This is extremely difficult. He's
telling me not to paint with this big

but just to let the paint flow down.

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

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.

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

for the night.

And I'm looking forward to experiencing
a ryokan, a very traditional style of

Japanese hotel.

Before I settle down for the night, I'm
taking a tea, which in Japan is elevated

to a ceremonial.

Thank you.

So the first thing with great reverence
is that the tea leaves are put

into my teapot on a weighing machine.

So that's exactly the right amount.

goes into the pot.

The piping hot water is measured in a
Pyrex jug,

but you cannot pour a Pyrex jug 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 century green tea.

Thank you.

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

Good morning.

Good morning.

Ah, 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
aesthetics.

And so too is the breakfast.

Here I have some miso soup.

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

Tofu custard.

Sashimi. Sesame seed.

Pickle. Cod roe.

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 worked.

And salty custard with 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

leaving my room.

Every present should have a wrapping.

A Japanese hotel room.

has many layers.

Moving through one's quarters is the
theory of revelation.

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.

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

own departure ritual.

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

of these employees is responsible for
punctuality. With precision, she marks

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

Komame 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

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 kilometres 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 centres.

So you get the gaggles descending from
the train, mixed with the crowds who are

doing their shopping, along with the
multitudes who are trying to grab lunch.

Japan has an ageing 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 state before
the city's youth makes an impression.

My name is Michael. Hello.

Thank you. You were very, very, very
good.

Thank you.

What's it called, this dance?

What is Fukuoka like for young people?
Is it a good city for young people?

Is Fukuoka the best city of all?

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

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

become a distinctive feature of the
city.

Have you ever been to Fukuoka?

I have not.

It's the first time I've been in Kyushu,
and I've enjoyed it so much. It's been

absolutely marvelous.

But I've left the best for last.

Fukuoka City, really attractive city.

Now, I'm so pleased to be here. Mr.
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 got an opposite side.
Yeah, yeah, opposite side.

What ideas did you have for the city,
for Fukuoka? What were your ideas and

did you want to achieve them?

There is a history of 2 ,000 years that
has been passed

down from Fukuoka to Japan.

Therefore, I would like to make Fukuoka
a city where new things are born, a

start -up, and where diversity is
important, including people from all

world.

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

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

break? Yes.

I don't want to create a small business.

I want to create new value here.

In short, I want to make it a city where
people who take risks and challenge are

respected.

In Japan, people who are advanced work
hard. For example, Sony,

Toyota, and so on.

May we take a risk on some beers,
please?

Good idea.

That's a good fight.

Cheers. Cheers.

Cheers to you.

Mr.

Mayor, I'm a little bit older than you.

I left politics many years ago.

It's a rough business.

Don't you want to give up and come back
to television?

Of course, there are times when Japanese
TV shows come out like this.

But during the battle,

it's a time of young motivation.

It's hard to change the whole country,
but changing the city can

be done by the power of the mayor.

Anyway, make an interesting city in
Japan.

You won't swap, and I won't swap either.

Over history, Japan, as a nation of
islands, has had to debate whether to

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.

The older chef has to take care of the
puffer fish. They have to have the

national license.

Everybody think about how to make it
beautiful.

A piece of engineering and almost a
piece of art at the same time.

Atomic bomb dropped just behind you and
entire community simply disappeared.