0:00:14 > 0:00:16MELODIC CHANTING
0:00:37 > 0:00:39I'm Charles Rangeley-Wilson.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41I am a writer and a fisherman.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45I travel to fish, and fishing is my passport
0:00:45 > 0:00:50to a different view of things, to people and places I'd never see without it.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54And fishing has pulled me here, Japan.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58A whole country obsessed by fish.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13An island nation, like Britain, where it is impossible to be far from the sea.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15The Japanese treasure fish.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18They exploit fish.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20They revere fish.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24For the next six weeks, I'll be travelling on trains, planes,
0:01:24 > 0:01:31buses and boats, from Tokyo to the farthest corners of this mysterious impenetrable country.
0:01:31 > 0:01:39And perhaps, because their passion is also mine, I'll discover a different side to Japan.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16I have arrived in Tokyo.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20But, going beyond the guidebook, finding the fishy places I'm after
0:02:20 > 0:02:28will not be easy in a country that is to most outsiders so closed off, so private.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33I'll need more than fish - I'll need a companion, a guide.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Out of a city of more than 10 million, only five people answered the ad.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Hisachi, a wannabe rock star...
0:03:08 > 0:03:10- How are you?- You are Charles?
0:03:10 > 0:03:13- I am Charles, yes.- Ah, wow.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15Meiko, a student from Vancouver...
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Very nice to see you.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Tatsuya, a car battery salesman...
0:03:22 > 0:03:27Koide-san, an underemployed humanities graduate...
0:03:27 > 0:03:33And Yuya, who just missed out on being picked for the Japanese Olympic horse riding team.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Five lucky candidates, only one position.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Wow.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44It's first time job interview I think.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46- It is?- Yes.- OK.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Well, we'll treat you very kindly.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52- I hope so.- I just want to learn a bit more and find out about you.
0:03:52 > 0:04:02I and my hobby, now my hobby is fishing and playing basketball, and playing the guitar.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07- I- like to eat fishing, and not very much for the fishing.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12I do fishing once a year, not so often.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13Fish.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16I like fish.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Um.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Well. Fish.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Only fish, or fish creature?
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Anything. Fish, fish creatures but also Japan.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31- Japan and people.- Japan people?
0:04:31 > 0:04:33And customs.
0:04:33 > 0:04:40But there was one candidate who, like me, seemed misplaced, out of water.
0:04:40 > 0:04:47He had been held at knifepoint in Colombia, taken tours in the Lebanon, been a truck driver.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50He was edgy, compelling.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Here is Aki.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58Maybe you are, I think maybe you are interested in...
0:05:00 > 0:05:05night club business in Japan, no?
0:05:07 > 0:05:15Aki is 36 years old, and he is the man who I hope can show me Japan from the outside, and the inside.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20If fish are everywhere on the Japanese menu, Aki
0:05:20 > 0:05:24tells me some places capture the obsession more obviously than others.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30Our first stop is a themed family restaurant in the Japanese manner.
0:05:30 > 0:05:37Here, it's a mock fishing boat afloat in a blue pool that also contains our supper.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Everything from shellfish to sharks.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43If we can catch it, we can eat it.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18So, we are having a snapper. If we can catch one.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43This is unreal!
0:06:44 > 0:06:45Hey, good man.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Aki, you are a fishing star.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54'He only fishes once a year, and he's beaten me to it.'
0:06:54 > 0:06:56I got snapper.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Aki, what can I say?
0:06:58 > 0:07:00You are more of a fisherman than I am.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03Well done. OK.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06So now they're going to cook it for you, yeah?
0:07:06 > 0:07:10THEY SHOUT AND CHEER IN JAPANESE
0:07:10 > 0:07:14It wasn't enough to catch our supper, we have to sing for it too.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21We have entered Planet Weird, Aki.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25That is just about the strangest thing I've ever seen.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30- WAITER SPEAKS IN JAPANESE- Aha.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Oh, it's sushi. I thought they were going to...
0:07:33 > 0:07:37I thought they were going to grill it. Sushi...
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Shit, it moved.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Still breathing since it arrived.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45That's, that's...
0:07:45 > 0:07:49OK, I - I meant sashimi, but they are live.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51It's weird. It's not, it's not...
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Hit it on the head. It seems to me a little cruel.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59- Yeah, cruel.- To take the flesh off the fish while it's still alive.
0:07:59 > 0:07:59I... It's...
0:08:02 > 0:08:07You look very... philosophical.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Just do it, just eat,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14forget about the complicated thing.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16This is Japan.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Forget about your country. Just eat it. Enjoy it.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Of course. When in... when in Rome, as they say.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Yes.
0:08:27 > 0:08:28This dish is not unusual.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32For Aki and the diners around us, there is a conflict between the
0:08:32 > 0:08:36apparent suffering of fish, and the eating experience.
0:08:36 > 0:08:43In the West, we like to get as far away as possible from the idea that our meal was once alive.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46In Japan, they celebrate it.
0:08:49 > 0:08:56It's a rude awakening, but freshness is everything in Japan.
0:08:56 > 0:09:02Unsurprising in a hot crowded country, completely dependent on the ocean for its protein.
0:09:02 > 0:09:10Japan's 120 million people, 1/50th of the world's population, eat 1/10th of its fish.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Vast amounts of marine life,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15and most of it comes here.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Tsukiji,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Tokyo's fish market.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23It's before dawn, but Tsukiji is wide awake.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29I'm not. I'm keyed up on cheap coffee and looking for Edesan,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33a man who trades in the king of fish, bluefin tuna.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Bloody hell.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46So many fish.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49'I'm overwhelmed by the body count.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52'By the sheer number of tuna in here.'
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Hello. I think we...
0:09:59 > 0:10:03OK, apparently these guys are the bluefin.
0:10:03 > 0:10:04The king of tuna.
0:10:04 > 0:10:11One of the world's most expensive fish, one of the world's most endangered fish.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13- Endangered?- Yeah.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16There aren't too many of these left.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21And, er, what they're buying, is not so much fish, as scarcity.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25And the fewer there of these things,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29the more the price goes up.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35Edesan's family have been tuna traders for more than 100 years.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Very long face. I haven't actually had a word with him yet.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41He's looking at his big bluefin.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Torch in the belly.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51Oh, he's knocking the ice out of it.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54'He has a lifetime's experience, but only a few seconds to check
0:10:54 > 0:10:57'each fish for fat content, for colour, texture.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01'All the qualities that combine to make the perfect tuna flavour.'
0:11:03 > 0:11:05AUCTIONEER CALLS OUT IN JAPANESE
0:11:11 > 0:11:13BELL RINGS
0:11:15 > 0:11:18It looks like our man got his fish.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22'A blizzard of grunts and bells, the auction is over in minutes and Edesan
0:11:22 > 0:11:25'has bought the largest wild bluefin in the market.'
0:11:39 > 0:11:46Back at his stall, Edesan's team has to work quickly to get the fish ready for Tokyo's top restaurants.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52He's come in to check his purchase.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Every slice and cut is critical, precise.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Tuna like this is as close as fish comes to beef.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05I wonder if this explains their obsession with it.
0:12:05 > 0:12:11In a country with so little pasture land, the tuna is their eight-ounce rib eye.
0:12:11 > 0:12:17If it's not a cheeky question, can I ask what you bid for these big fish?
0:12:36 > 0:12:42Per kilo? That works out at over £15,000.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50It's like a circus. It's on the Tokyo tourist circuit.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54It's not the scarcity of these fish, it's the value.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59And the more valuable they are, the more fascinated we become.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02It's that tens of thousands figure,
0:13:02 > 0:13:07but ironically the scarcer they become the more valuable they get, and the more
0:13:07 > 0:13:08we come to gawp
0:13:08 > 0:13:11at this incredible phenomenon.
0:13:11 > 0:13:17I wonder what will be selling here in 50 years' time.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19That's what I wonder about,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23will there be bluefin for sale
0:13:23 > 0:13:25in this fish market?
0:13:33 > 0:13:35Edesan is no-nonsense.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Ruthless in the execution of his work. Economical with his words.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41But he's not the only one.
0:13:41 > 0:13:47There's no Billingsgate banter here, just men and women working hard.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55As there are all over Tokyo, the hardest working city of all.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04But in the midst of all this industry, Aki tells me
0:14:04 > 0:14:09there is an oasis of fishy calm were stressed-out salarymen go to unwind.
0:14:13 > 0:14:21- This is our platform. This is our platform? - Yes. Number 13. To Ichigaya.
0:14:24 > 0:14:25Fishing centre.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30TANNOY: The doors on the right side will open.
0:14:34 > 0:14:44Ah, there it is. Ichigaya.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Ichigaya is both a fishing pond and a train station.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Is anybody here? Here she is.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Could she explain how it works and what fish we'll be catching?
0:15:31 > 0:15:34OK, so we catch as many fish as we can, to amass points.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37And if we get seven points, then we can stay for another hour?
0:15:40 > 0:15:43That's just like an arcade game,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46you reach the total...
0:15:46 > 0:15:49But all the fish go back at the end.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Let's get stuck in.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57What sort of people come here, are these businessmen or students or...?
0:16:16 > 0:16:20What are they looking for? What's the pleasure that they're finding?
0:16:31 > 0:16:35There's no wild nature here, and not much sky, either.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37But it is still an escape.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47People come here to space out, looking at a float.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49And it's everyone...
0:16:49 > 0:16:55Teenagers on dates, retired old men, office workers.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57I'm kinda seeing what they mean.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59I'm thinking about nothing.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02I'm think about how when you just stare at a float like that,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05it does wash the mind clean.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14It's like, it's like putting a computer to sleep.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16You know, the sleep mode?
0:17:24 > 0:17:25Bring it into the net!
0:17:26 > 0:17:31'Once again, Aki's beginner's luck has put him on the scoreboard.'
0:17:31 > 0:17:32It's big, yeah.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37You've caught yourself a fish, Aki.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40You've got, you're on the points board.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56What do you think the fish think of all this?
0:18:08 > 0:18:12The life span is very short.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15The fish are stressed out like the people who come to catch them?
0:18:22 > 0:18:25I have to admit, I'm ambivalent about this fish arcade.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28But I can see its place, its function.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Any respite in this storm of a city.
0:18:31 > 0:18:3830,000 Japanese commit suicide every year, often because they're stressed and overworked.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43I hope the stressed-out fish of Ichigaya are stopping that number from rising higher.
0:18:51 > 0:18:57Tokyo is a congested and expensive place, and privacy is a rare commodity.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Smells of disinfectant.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09It's almost a function rather than a hotel, I think.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Let's open the window.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16Strict morality and paper-thin walls have conspired to make sex for the
0:19:16 > 0:19:20young and adulterous a difficult proposition.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Hotels are more than just places to sleep.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27Aki tells me you can even rent a room like this by the hour.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Tell me about love hotels.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34It's a hotel just for having sex.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Who with? Girlfriends?
0:19:36 > 0:19:39- Or prostitutes? - Whatever, whoever you want.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Whoever you want!?
0:19:41 > 0:19:48It looks like all the programmes on offer are wall-to-wall pornography.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51You're taking me round the seedier side of Japanese life.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02Ominously, Aki's been doing research on the internet all day long.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05And he's being very secretive about it.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Just tell me what that call was all about.
0:20:13 > 0:20:14I have a...
0:20:14 > 0:20:19a little something for you tonight.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21Special gift.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28That's it, is it? Oh well.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30It's definitely not a ladyboy, then.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Or a lady. Or is it a video?
0:20:42 > 0:20:44Oh, my God!
0:20:44 > 0:20:45That's enormous.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51'To my huge relief, what I thought might be internet porn turns out to be internet prawn.'
0:20:51 > 0:20:54This one's still going!
0:20:54 > 0:20:56OK.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00That looks like a dead shrimp to me.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02How do you eat the thing?
0:21:10 > 0:21:12- Can you hear?- I can hear something.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14It's crying.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16- What?!- It's crying!
0:21:16 > 0:21:18What do you mean, crying?
0:21:18 > 0:21:24He's crying because he knows his destiny.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25Really, he's crying.
0:21:25 > 0:21:31'After my freak-out with the live sashimi, Aki is messing with my head.'
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Prawn has emotions.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38If prawn has emotions, why are we eating it like this?
0:21:38 > 0:21:40How did you order these things?
0:21:42 > 0:21:43- On the web.- On the web?
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Do you want me to have a go?
0:21:46 > 0:21:50Are you sure this is how you eat them?
0:21:50 > 0:21:52You don't cook them?
0:21:52 > 0:21:55You tuck into this one...
0:22:01 > 0:22:06What do you think? To me that's quite an intense experience.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15We better have them cooked by chef.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18I think the best destination for those is a pot.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27The prawns may have needed cooking, but what Japan is all about is raw fish.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31And they take that passion to some extraordinary lengths.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Before leaving Tokyo, we've come to suburban Chiba district
0:22:36 > 0:22:39to meet the world's only tuna tribute band, Gyoko.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47By day, humble fish merchants.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50By night, tuna rockers.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01- Are you the drummer?- Keyboard.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04And sampling.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10- You're the singer?- Yes, and the...
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Sword.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Singer and sword? Just the two of you?
0:23:14 > 0:23:16- Who else?- Deep sea.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19That's his name? What does he do?
0:23:20 > 0:23:22Guitar.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27The third guy is standing behind me, but he's not standing behind me
0:23:27 > 0:23:29because he's actually deep under the sea?
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Good stuff!
0:23:42 > 0:23:46- You've got a tee shirt! - Gyoko is great!
0:23:46 > 0:23:47- Looks good.
0:23:52 > 0:23:53Power. In soul.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36One moment Tzurizao is in a fishmonger's apron, the next he's
0:24:36 > 0:24:41swimming free as his alter ego, captain of the Gyoko submarine.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03I'm watching a rock musician become a tuna become an eco-warrior.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14It's a very surreal show.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28But there's more to Gyoko than just being kooky.
0:25:32 > 0:25:39As young people abandon fresh fish for convenience food, Gyoko use music to turn them around.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41Gyoko is making a stand.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47It's a good message, but a mixed one.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Not wasting fish is great to hear, but I'm not hearing anything about
0:25:51 > 0:25:55the problems of overfishing, about the fish running out.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Leaving Tokyo far behind us, we're taking the bullet train north
0:26:07 > 0:26:11through the mountains to the city of Ojiya,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14and the Niigata district on the north-west coast.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21It's here that water, soil and climate combine to make the most
0:26:21 > 0:26:26perfect place on earth for creating moving, living works of art.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33200 years ago, so the legend goes, an emperor gazing into a pond
0:26:33 > 0:26:37fell in love with the sublime movements and beauty of a red fish...
0:26:37 > 0:26:39the koi carp.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53Mano-san is a top koi breeder...
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Or an art dealer, depending on how you look at it.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00But his art is ephemeral.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01It will one day fade and die.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13Today, I'm helping him collect some of the most valuable koi
0:27:13 > 0:27:18in the world from their summer residence in the hills.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23They're so valuable that every fish must be accounted for.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25How much are they worth, each one fish?
0:27:39 > 0:27:44100,000? OK, we're having translation issues here.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47And fish inflation, as we talk.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51£50,000 per fish.
0:27:51 > 0:27:57It you got 38 koi carp, how much would that be altogether?
0:27:57 > 0:28:0038 times 50,000.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05So that's about £1.7 million.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10That's one hell of a lot of fish.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12He's counting them.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Two fish missing?
0:28:26 > 0:28:30We've got 38? So we've got them all. Thank God for that.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34This would give the average koi fancier a serious heart attack.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Up in the mountains, the ponds could freeze.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57Here, out the back of Mano-san's house, these carp will be pampered through the winter.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03What kind of people come here to buy koi?
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Ah, English. Koi.
0:29:37 > 0:29:42Koi fanciers. Hi there.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45- All right?- Yeah.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47You're koi enthusiasts?
0:29:47 > 0:29:50- Koi mad.- We've been trying to get inside the world of koi.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53- Don't! 20 years of doing it. I wanna get out!- Really?
0:29:53 > 0:29:55- No, I love it.- Is it addictive?
0:29:55 > 0:29:58- Yeah. Oh, yeah.- It is just a drug.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00An obsession. You just get in...
0:30:00 > 0:30:05I had a two-year break and it drove me mad.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Just had to dig out another pond. It's always been an ambition, to come here.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10It's a bit of a pilgrimage here?
0:30:10 > 0:30:13- It is.- Definitely is, yeah. This is the Mecca of the koi world.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18This is the icing on the cake. Once you've been to buy fish in Japan, there's nowhere further.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20You've reached the peak.
0:30:28 > 0:30:34Mano-san invites us to a local fish show, where he's a competitor and a judge.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Everywhere, there are koi carp in tanks, pools and buckets.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46And a steady stream of koi groupies.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57To my untrained eye, it's baffling.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Though I can see differences - a black spot here, a red spot there -
0:31:01 > 0:31:05I can't see what makes one fish better than the next.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09And there are prizes for fish in every size range.
0:31:09 > 0:31:10SPEAKS IN JAPANESE
0:31:12 > 0:31:14When judging begins, it is intense.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16Serious.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Lot of clipboards.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24Lot of deliberation.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28So it's already decided? That's what they've been deliberating.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32The grand champion is chosen.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25To my surprise, I was falling under the koi spell.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28There is something mesmerising about them.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31A uniquely Japanese art form.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33They don't challenge or ask questions.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35They just are.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47In Japan, the cities stretch out like seas of concrete
0:32:47 > 0:32:51across any land that is flat enough to build on.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55We're heading back south of Tokyo to Izu...
0:32:57 > 0:32:59where the mountains begin.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04The mountains give rise to clear, fast rivers.
0:33:05 > 0:33:12In many of them is a fish that, to the Japanese, marks the seasons as clearly as falling leaves or snow.
0:33:14 > 0:33:15The ayu.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18It's very good to eat.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24In late summer, the ayu, a tiny salmon, swarm on their spawning run.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27And fishermen swarm to catch them.
0:33:27 > 0:33:34Fishermen like Suzuki-san and Wada-san, a publishing magnate and a dentist.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38The ayu feeds by grazing algae from the rocks in the stream,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41which makes it impossible to catch with a baited hook.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Long ago, the Japanese developed a bizarre solution to this fishy conundrum.
0:33:48 > 0:33:49Tomo-zuri.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57That word means, literally, fishing with friends,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59the friend in this case being an ayu.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02One fish, used to catch another.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Wada-san explains the technique.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42The trick is to gently steer your ayu friend into another ayu's territory.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50The resident ayu attacks and gets foul-hooked.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01It's all about understanding how the fish wants to swim.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03That's the art.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07Oh, yes! Yes.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09We have one!
0:35:11 > 0:35:13Success!
0:35:13 > 0:35:15Nice catchie!
0:35:15 > 0:35:18The bottom one has attacked the top one and got caught.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20This is how they do it.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23'I guess I'm ambivalent about using live fish as bait.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28'But tomo-zuri is redeemed in that all these fish are caught for food.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32'And the meal that follows is as important as the fishing itself.'
0:35:32 > 0:35:34Mm. Good, eh?
0:35:34 > 0:35:36That's good!
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Salty.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40Very like a trout.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Oishi yo.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46What is so compelling about this fishing for you?
0:36:27 > 0:36:31They might dress like mad bikers from a crazy future,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35but the ritual of ayu is actually an echo of a rural past.
0:36:35 > 0:36:44All along the river, like so many samurai herons, wealthy, middle-aged men are keeping that past alive.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52The ayu is so revered as food, fetching £200 a kilo,
0:36:52 > 0:36:57that centuries ago, the Emperor appointed a team of fishermen to catch them.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02Over 1,000 years later, they are still doing it.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06These fishermen also burn the torch of tradition.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Without rod, line or net, they fish by firelight and have been
0:37:10 > 0:37:14working the Nagara River for over 1,300 years.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Gifu is a modern city of half a million.
0:37:21 > 0:37:28It has grown around a small fishing village that, even today, gives the city its identity.
0:37:35 > 0:37:41'Sugiyama-san is an imperial cormorant master.' I'm Charles.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44I am cormorant fish master Masahiko Sugiyama.
0:37:44 > 0:37:50Like 14 generations of his ancestors before him, Sugiyama-san works exclusively for the Emperor,
0:37:50 > 0:37:57harnessing the best fisher of all - the cormorant - to catch ayu for the highest table in Japan.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Fishing on the Nagara River has a long history.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04Over 1,300 years.
0:38:06 > 0:38:12By attaching a line to the bird and placing a ring around its gullet, he is able to prevent the cormorant
0:38:12 > 0:38:15from swallowing any fish it catches underwater.
0:38:15 > 0:38:22One cormorant can catch about 60 fish per hour.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24HE WHISTLES Very good fisher!
0:38:27 > 0:38:30The birds naturally pair themselves for life.
0:38:32 > 0:38:38Each day, Sugiyama-san selects the pairs that will fish that evening.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Ey!
0:38:41 > 0:38:44That one does not want to get out of the pond.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52Done. Do you ever make a mistake and put the wrong pair in?
0:38:52 > 0:38:54- Seldom.- Seldom.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58But if you did, they would have a big...argument.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00Yes, yes.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02- To death.- To death?- Yes.- Really?- Yes!
0:39:04 > 0:39:06The ones who stay will be fed.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09The others are kept hungry.
0:39:09 > 0:39:15- Before fishing. - Look at the size of this thing.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17Ah.
0:39:17 > 0:39:18Down it goes. Whoa!
0:39:18 > 0:39:21Just like dropping them down a drainpipe.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26'The title of cormorant master is passed from father to son.
0:39:26 > 0:39:27'It's a lifetime commitment.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32'Though it's a highly-respected tradition, it's also an obligation.'
0:39:32 > 0:39:34Have you always wanted to
0:39:34 > 0:39:36be the cormorant master?
0:39:36 > 0:39:38Be a what... cormorant master?
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Was it something you always wanted to do?
0:40:00 > 0:40:04What do you do all winter? You're nearly at the end of the season.
0:40:04 > 0:40:05You don't go fishing, I don't suppose?
0:40:05 > 0:40:08In the fishing season, I relax.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Sometimes play golf.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16- Golf?- Yes.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19And I love rock music. Red Zeppelin!
0:40:19 > 0:40:21Led Zeppelin!
0:40:21 > 0:40:24- What's your favourite Led Zep song? - Whole Lotta Love.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Whole Lotta Love! Yes!
0:40:27 > 0:40:29Da-dun da-dun dah!
0:40:29 > 0:40:30- Yes.- Fantastic.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41Fishing with cormorants is no longer commercially viable.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47But as a tourist attraction, this repackaging of tradition is incredibly popular.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57Gifu trades on the tradition of the cormorant master.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Every evening during the summer, tourist boats follow the cormorant masters
0:41:01 > 0:41:04as they fish the Nagara River.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07MUSIC: "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin
0:41:20 > 0:41:23The cormorants have no fear of the fire, which is used to light
0:41:23 > 0:41:28the shallow water and give them the advantage over the startled fish.
0:41:28 > 0:41:33Like a giant puppet master, Sugiyama-san handles all 12 birds at once.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47# Way, way down inside
0:41:47 > 0:41:50# I'm gonna give you my love
0:41:50 > 0:41:52# Gonna give you my love
0:41:52 > 0:41:54# Gonna give you my love, sweet babe... #
0:41:59 > 0:42:03In a carefully-choreographed finale, all the cormorant master
0:42:03 > 0:42:08boats fan out across the river in a blaze of fire and noise.
0:42:12 > 0:42:19It seems my fellow travellers can't get enough of this celebration of tradition.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24I can just about see Sugiyama-san through the flash photography.
0:42:24 > 0:42:30As the crowds gasp and clap, I wonder - is he a fisherman or a tourist attraction?
0:42:32 > 0:42:36Either way, he isn't an economics professor.
0:42:40 > 0:42:46His sacrifice seemed to me a perfect expression of the public and private faces of Japan.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31So far on my journey, I've seen and spoken to very few Japanese women.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36The historical stereotype is that they are demure and retiring.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40That they very much have a supporting role.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43But this isn't the whole truth.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49We've come to Ise on the southern coast of Japan,
0:43:49 > 0:43:53a vast bay of rich fishing grounds, opening onto the Pacific Ocean.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57Here, it is not men who do the fishing, but women.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03Breath-hold diving for pearls, abalone, urchins and lobsters.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05These are the ama, or sea ladies.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11The place feels like a Cornish fishing village.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18Until a rusty tannoy announces the location for today's diving.
0:44:20 > 0:44:26TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT IN JAPANESE
0:44:26 > 0:44:31Within minutes, the sea ladies arrive, togged up and ready to fish.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33I'm going along to see how they work.
0:44:35 > 0:44:40The fishing here is strictly managed and shared throughout the community.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42Ah! Ah! Ya!
0:44:45 > 0:44:49We head out along the coast, in search of turban shells.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Some sea ladies swim out from the shore.
0:44:59 > 0:45:06Others, like Shigeko-san, go out with their husbands, who work the boat on the surface.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08The ama say that it works this way round
0:45:08 > 0:45:12because women carry more subcutaneous fat than men,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15and in a cold sea, stay warmer for longer.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22It looks seriously hardcore.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26They're like seals. And it's not just that they're managing it once.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29They're going down again and again and again.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31I bet it keeps them fit.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37It's funny seeing the husband there, in the boat,
0:45:37 > 0:45:42chugging around, while his missus is sent never-endingly
0:45:42 > 0:45:45to the bottom of the sea to come up with more shells.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50Impressive.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53She's down a long time now.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58That's got to be about a minute.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Here she comes.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20OK. Here goes nothing.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23'Aki and I jump in to have a go.'
0:46:24 > 0:46:27It's quite clear.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Aki, how deep is it?
0:46:36 > 0:46:38- What?- How deep is it?
0:46:38 > 0:46:39Five metres.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Five metres. It looks pretty...
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Pretty serious to me.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51'It's incredibly hard work.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53'They make it look easy.'
0:46:56 > 0:47:00'It takes Aki three dives to get one shell.'
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Wa-hey!
0:47:15 > 0:47:20Back on shore, the sea ladies sort their catch.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24The average age of a sea lady today is mid-fifties.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27Some keep on diving into their seventies.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33CHATTER
0:47:36 > 0:47:41Work over, the ladies relax around a fire in their hut
0:47:41 > 0:47:44and cook themselves a late breakfast, fresh from the sea.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51It's a really lovely atmosphere, full of warmth and banter.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Can you tell me why ladies make better divers?
0:48:48 > 0:48:52Hell's Grannies takes on a whole new meaning at Ise,
0:48:52 > 0:48:54where these strong, confident women
0:48:54 > 0:48:58are making the most of a biological superiority.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07Everything I've learned so far about the Japanese and fish
0:49:07 > 0:49:09is how they celebrate freshness.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13But at Lake Biwa, 400 kilometres north-west of Ise,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16I've been told that the sushi is far from fresh.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21Funasushi originated here, beside Japan's largest freshwater lake,
0:49:21 > 0:49:26and is said to be the precursor of the sushi I know and love.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30We're meeting local entrepreneur Masayoshi Tanaka,
0:49:30 > 0:49:33otherwise known as 'Shacho' - the boss.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36TANAKA SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Shacho is a one-man marketing storm for funasushi,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46which is the opposite of fresh.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49It's actually fermented fish.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52This tough selling proposition ought not leave him much spare time,
0:49:52 > 0:49:54but somehow he finds it.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57And when he's not selling funasushi,
0:49:57 > 0:50:00he's producing videos and music for local companies.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10We're hoping Shacho will tell us about funasushi.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13But it's obvious from the start
0:50:13 > 0:50:16that we've met a man with strong ideas on how to do things.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21OK.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39OK, so...
0:51:12 > 0:51:15That's good, excellent. That's going very well.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20In the cut-throat world of funasushi marketing,
0:51:20 > 0:51:26there are no lie-ins, and Shacho has us up at the crack of dawn.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29He wants us to see the entire process from start to finish
0:51:29 > 0:51:33and he's hired a local fisherman to show us stage one -
0:51:33 > 0:51:35catching the fish.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38OK.
0:51:55 > 0:51:56OK.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07With our freshly caught carp
0:52:07 > 0:52:09we moved to an island in the middle of the lake,
0:52:09 > 0:52:14a sleepy little place that seems to be entirely populated by pensioners.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19We arrive at a tiny house where Shacho has told us
0:52:19 > 0:52:22we will see stage two of the funasushi story.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25The fish are scaled, cleaned, sorted,
0:52:25 > 0:52:27and packed in a bucket.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The next ingredient is rice.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Do we need to say anything about the rice?
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Good.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07'What Shacho meant to say is that the rice grown in this field
0:54:07 > 0:54:13'is packed with the salted fish and left to ferment for six months.'
0:54:16 > 0:54:22Shacho has arranged for us to visit an old lady to try a funasushi she made earlier.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33'As it turns out, this old lady is his mother.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38'But he thinks it better for our audience if he pretends not to know her.'
0:54:43 > 0:54:46'This is the rice the fish has fermented in.'
0:54:53 > 0:54:59'It smells like a music festival Portaloo after a hot weekender.'
0:55:00 > 0:55:01Oh, yeah!
0:55:03 > 0:55:06- Good?- Very good, good, good.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Six months old.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14'This mummified fish that has fermented in rice for half a year
0:55:14 > 0:55:18'and looks like it might kill my dog is actually a delicacy.'
0:55:18 > 0:55:20That is a brave section.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36No, no, no.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40No.
0:55:49 > 0:55:50He has to go.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55Aki, that wasn't a good advert.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01But Shacho, the ever-resourceful director and restless artist,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04feels we still don't have a killer sequence.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Something to really sell the story of funasushi to a British audience.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19A few phone calls later and we are off to shoot
0:56:19 > 0:56:22what he insists will be a climactic end to the story.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32'That's me in the panda suit.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34'Aki is the tiger.'
0:56:49 > 0:56:52- Do you want to fly?- Do I want to fly?
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Of course I do! Come on.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57Let's go. I just don't know why.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00Change. Change.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02Let me change.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07You're in the driving seat now.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25I can't see anything in this frigging suit.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40Shacho is made in Japan.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08It looks like he's enjoying it, the flight.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13I still have no idea what a flying panda or a waving tiger
0:58:13 > 0:58:15have to do with funasushi.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17But in Shacho's world,
0:58:17 > 0:58:20when you burst out of the box of ordinary life
0:58:20 > 0:58:24and on to the box that is the telly, you do it in style.
0:58:42 > 0:58:45That evening we head south to Taiji,
0:58:45 > 0:58:48the centre of Japan's infamous whaling industry.
0:58:48 > 0:58:53In the face of international condemnation, the Japanese
0:58:53 > 0:58:57continue to hunt whales for what they describe as research purposes.
0:58:59 > 0:59:02ANNOUNCEMENT Five minutes left.
0:59:02 > 0:59:04Five minutes.
0:59:05 > 0:59:08OK, we're nearly there. Whaleville.
0:59:09 > 0:59:14Aki, some people where I come from think it's terrible to eat whale.
0:59:14 > 0:59:17I want to know what you think.
0:59:17 > 0:59:20Whale?
0:59:21 > 0:59:23Whale.
0:59:23 > 0:59:27I prefer to eat dolphin.
0:59:30 > 0:59:33- There's a festival going on in Taiji.
0:59:33 > 0:59:37A festival in praise of the whale.
0:59:37 > 0:59:40The Japanese have none of our emotional attachment
0:59:40 > 0:59:44to the whale as a mammal. To them, it's just another fish.
0:59:46 > 0:59:48There's a huge queue!
0:59:48 > 0:59:50'From the Second World War until the mid-1980s,
0:59:50 > 0:59:54'Japanese children were fed protein-rich whale meat at school.
0:59:54 > 0:59:58'And going by the length of the queue at the barbecue, they liked it.'
0:59:58 > 1:00:00It's a hectic old queue.
1:00:00 > 1:00:04'Aki is keen for me to get a taste of his childhood.'
1:00:04 > 1:00:07Right, this is what you want me to try?
1:00:07 > 1:00:10This is the smell I remember
1:00:10 > 1:00:12when I was a kid.
1:00:12 > 1:00:14- From school?- Yeah.
1:00:18 > 1:00:21OK, here goes for a bit of whale.
1:00:27 > 1:00:29Nothing wrong with that.
1:00:29 > 1:00:32It's OK.
1:00:32 > 1:00:35But I... I never expected it to taste not OK.
1:00:35 > 1:00:38I always thought it would be all right.
1:00:38 > 1:00:41- It's quite like beef, isn't it?- I told you it's good.
1:00:41 > 1:00:43Tasty. Delicious.
1:00:43 > 1:00:45For me, that's not the point.
1:00:45 > 1:00:48What's the point? What's the point?
1:00:50 > 1:00:53The point is it's a big, rare mammal
1:00:53 > 1:00:56and it's very hard to kill it quickly.
1:00:56 > 1:00:59'There is a gulf between Aki and me.'
1:01:01 > 1:01:05'He can't see my point of view and I'm having difficulty with his.'
1:01:07 > 1:01:09Quite nice.
1:01:09 > 1:01:13'It seems wrong to be hunting some of the rarest animals on the planet
1:01:13 > 1:01:16'in the name of... a childhood nostalgia?
1:01:16 > 1:01:19'But talking to the people at the festival,
1:01:19 > 1:01:21'it's clear it's not so simple.'
1:01:50 > 1:01:54'These people are carved out of whaling. It is their identity.
1:01:54 > 1:01:59'And it is difficult to condemn the identity of a whole community.'
1:02:05 > 1:02:08'But I'm still haunted by that astonishing body count
1:02:08 > 1:02:11'of bluefin tuna at the fish market back in Tokyo.'
1:02:14 > 1:02:19'In the last 30 years, stocks of wild bluefin have plummeted by 90%.'
1:02:20 > 1:02:22Oh, my God.
1:02:24 > 1:02:27'This fish is heading for extinction, too.'
1:02:29 > 1:02:35'But unlike in Taiji, here at the Marine Biology Department of Kinki University in Ashima,
1:02:35 > 1:02:39'a few hours' drive away, scientists are busy working on a solution.
1:02:39 > 1:02:45'Here they have established the world's only successful captive breeding project for bluefin tuna.
1:02:45 > 1:02:48'It is an incredible feat.
1:02:48 > 1:02:50'Tuna are the muscle cars of the ocean,
1:02:50 > 1:02:55'fast-swimming predators that will cross the Atlantic and back in a matter of weeks.'
1:02:59 > 1:03:02Tuna - wow! Look at that!
1:03:02 > 1:03:06'Professor Hidemi Kumai has spent the greater part of his life
1:03:06 > 1:03:09'unravelling the secrets of the bluefin.'
1:03:10 > 1:03:16'He's battled for years with eggs that wouldn't hatch, with fry that died for no reason.
1:03:16 > 1:03:20'With adolescent fish that killed themselves against the glass walls of their tanks.
1:03:20 > 1:03:25'Until, finally, he reared adult bluefin from the egg.'
1:03:57 > 1:04:02Professor Kumai's treasure died 13 years ago.
1:04:02 > 1:04:04Things have improved since then.
1:04:07 > 1:04:11The mature bluefin are kept in vast circular pens in the bay.
1:04:11 > 1:04:14We're heading out for feeding time.
1:04:19 > 1:04:22In this cage there are 40 fish.
1:04:31 > 1:04:33Wow - look at that!
1:04:35 > 1:04:40Tokihiko Okada is also here to harvest a tuna
1:04:40 > 1:04:42to help fund work at the university.
1:04:42 > 1:04:47Each fish is worth more than £3,000.
1:04:49 > 1:04:53An electrical charge stops the fish in its tracks.
1:04:57 > 1:04:59Look at the size of that fish!
1:05:01 > 1:05:04Oh, my God!
1:05:07 > 1:05:08Oh, wow!
1:05:08 > 1:05:12'Three blows to the head stun this leviathan
1:05:12 > 1:05:13'so it can be winched aboard.'
1:05:13 > 1:05:16Holy smoke!
1:05:16 > 1:05:18WINCH CREAKS
1:05:21 > 1:05:23Oh, my God!
1:05:28 > 1:05:32'The last thing you want is a fish weighing 200 kilos
1:05:32 > 1:05:36'thrashing about on the deck, so they make sure it's dead.'
1:05:37 > 1:05:41So they put a hole straight into the brain, there?
1:05:43 > 1:05:46Right, down into the spine? Oh, my God, it's grisly stuff.
1:05:46 > 1:05:51Wow! This has turned from a very sort of silent thing
1:05:51 > 1:05:54into a grisly theatre in about ten seconds flat.
1:05:57 > 1:06:00The gills are coming out,
1:06:00 > 1:06:04so they wanna get the blood out of it as quickly as possible.
1:06:04 > 1:06:10The sunlight is very hot, so we have to keep it... Make it...
1:06:10 > 1:06:13- As soon as possible, make it cool. - OK.
1:06:19 > 1:06:24Five grand's worth of tuna in the ice chest!
1:06:28 > 1:06:31Five minutes from tank to ice chest.
1:06:35 > 1:06:37Unreal.
1:06:40 > 1:06:42'Farmed bluefin sashimi
1:06:42 > 1:06:46'might well represent a lifeline for the wild bluefin,
1:06:46 > 1:06:49'but given it takes 100 kilos of mackerel
1:06:49 > 1:06:51'to produce 10 kilos of farmed tuna,
1:06:51 > 1:06:55'it's not exactly a sustainable use of the ocean.
1:06:55 > 1:06:57'Shouldn't we just be eating the mackerel?'
1:07:05 > 1:07:09The bluefin is one of a triumvirate of iconic fish in Japan,
1:07:09 > 1:07:12fish that shape the national identity.
1:07:12 > 1:07:16The second is the koi carp, the third is the fugu.
1:07:20 > 1:07:24Shimonoseki is on the far western coast of Japan.
1:07:24 > 1:07:29It's the historic centre of the country's fugu industry.
1:07:29 > 1:07:33It's two in the morning at the Shimonoseki fish market.
1:07:41 > 1:07:44A fugu is a puffer fish. When threatened,
1:07:44 > 1:07:48puffers defend themselves by sucking water into their stomachs
1:07:48 > 1:07:52until they are completely spherical.
1:07:54 > 1:07:59'Hisashi Matsumura is a fugu trader of more than 30 years' experience.'
1:07:59 > 1:08:00Good morning.
1:08:00 > 1:08:02I'm Charles.
1:08:02 > 1:08:04Very early, as well.
1:08:04 > 1:08:08This is fascinating, seeing this large-scale operation going on.
1:08:08 > 1:08:11Can you tell me about the fascination with fugu?
1:08:14 > 1:08:16- Number one!- Number one?
1:08:16 > 1:08:17Very good.
1:08:19 > 1:08:21'There are many different types of fugu.'
1:08:30 > 1:08:33Touch?
1:08:33 > 1:08:35It's OK?
1:08:45 > 1:08:48Yeah, very shiny.
1:08:48 > 1:08:51Oh, I see. It's completely smooth. Completely smooth.
1:09:06 > 1:09:08'The auction for fugu
1:09:08 > 1:09:11'is conducted with secret hand gestures inside a sleeve,
1:09:11 > 1:09:14'hiding the bids to ensure the best possible price.'
1:09:14 > 1:09:18AUCTIONEER CHANTS
1:09:25 > 1:09:27So this is the processing?
1:09:29 > 1:09:34'Prized for its exquisite taste, fugu is as expensive as bluefin,
1:09:34 > 1:09:37'but eating it unprepared can hit more than just your wallet.'
1:09:43 > 1:09:46So, if I was to eat this now, what would it do to me?
1:09:57 > 1:10:01Alongside its ability to inflate, the fugu has developed another,
1:10:01 > 1:10:05less visible but far more potent, means of defence.
1:10:05 > 1:10:10By eating other fish infected with a deadly strain of bacteria,
1:10:10 > 1:10:14the fugu accumulates lethal toxins within its body, to which it is immune.
1:10:20 > 1:10:23Once, the process of safely preparing fugu
1:10:23 > 1:10:28was a secret closely guarded by individual restaurants.
1:10:28 > 1:10:31People died when they tried, and didn't know how.
1:10:31 > 1:10:33Now the myth has been rather dispelled.
1:10:33 > 1:10:37It still takes three years to learn how to prepare fugu,
1:10:37 > 1:10:40but it's become an industrial process.
1:10:43 > 1:10:46Kenji Ito shows me how it's done.
1:10:46 > 1:10:49It is another gruesome spectacle.
1:11:01 > 1:11:03Oh, the eyes, too?
1:11:45 > 1:11:50Fugu on the spin cycle! Is this gonna do something with the warranty on this machine?
1:11:50 > 1:11:53Does the manufacturer know you're using it to wash fugus?
1:11:59 > 1:12:01Made in Japan.
1:12:01 > 1:12:04So it won't go wrong, yeah?
1:12:04 > 1:12:06Even if you fill it full of poisonous fugu fish?
1:12:23 > 1:12:27In Shiminoseki's top fugu restaurants, a meal for two
1:12:27 > 1:12:29can cost in excess of £300.
1:12:31 > 1:12:35If much of Japanese eating is ritualised, when it comes to fugu,
1:12:35 > 1:12:37this reaches a new level.
1:12:40 > 1:12:42Restaurant owner Takeshi Wada
1:12:42 > 1:12:45introduces us to the fine etiquette of fugu dining.
1:13:07 > 1:13:11I'd assumed that eating fugu was some macho rite of passage,
1:13:11 > 1:13:14a dance with death being the principal pleasure.
1:13:14 > 1:13:17And, indeed, for his Imperial safety, the Emperor of Japan
1:13:17 > 1:13:19is forbidden from eating it.
1:13:19 > 1:13:22But this is a world away from the macho.
1:13:22 > 1:13:24It is instead culinary theatre.
1:13:24 > 1:13:28The remains of one course flows into the next seamlessly,
1:13:28 > 1:13:33a Russian doll of a meal, a course within a course within a course.
1:13:33 > 1:13:35Contrary to what I thought,
1:13:35 > 1:13:38the fact that it's poisonous seems irrelevant.
1:13:38 > 1:13:43The reason why people like fugu so much is simply that it is delicious.
1:13:45 > 1:13:48And this was the best meal I'd eaten in Japan.
1:13:59 > 1:14:03The Japanese have always known that fugu can kill,
1:14:03 > 1:14:06but 200 kilometres down the coast from Shimonoseki
1:14:06 > 1:14:11is a town where the people ate fish they didn't know were poisonous.
1:14:11 > 1:14:16On the southern coast of the island of Kyushu, Minimata is a small city
1:14:16 > 1:14:18that gave its name to a disease.
1:14:21 > 1:14:28For more than 30 years between 1932 and 1968, the Chisso Corporation
1:14:28 > 1:14:32pumped a lethal industrial by-product, methylmercury,
1:14:32 > 1:14:35into the waters of Minimata Bay.
1:14:35 > 1:14:37Here, it accumulated in fish
1:14:37 > 1:14:40and in the people and animals that ate those fish.
1:14:43 > 1:14:47Villagers began to suffer what to them was a mysterious illness
1:14:47 > 1:14:50which they called Dancing Cat Disease,
1:14:50 > 1:14:54though to the outside world it became known as Minimata disease.
1:14:54 > 1:14:58Symptoms ranged from numbness to insanity or paralysis.
1:14:58 > 1:15:01More than 2,000 people died.
1:15:02 > 1:15:06But it never was a disease - it was a poisoning,
1:15:06 > 1:15:10something the Chisso Corporation denied for too long.
1:15:15 > 1:15:18After 40 years, the bay is clean again.
1:15:18 > 1:15:23We're going out with local fishermen Minoru and Hajime Sugimoto,
1:15:23 > 1:15:27brothers from a family deeply affected by the poisoning.
1:15:30 > 1:15:34Hajime-san remembers seeing the effects of the pollution.
1:15:51 > 1:15:54They rendezvous with a spotter boat out in the bay
1:15:54 > 1:15:56and set their net between them.
1:15:56 > 1:15:59As we trawl, Hajime-san talked about the disaster
1:15:59 > 1:16:03that tore apart this community, half of whom were fishermen,
1:16:03 > 1:16:05half of whom worked at the factory
1:16:05 > 1:16:09which had brought economic prosperity to this impoverished area.
1:16:32 > 1:16:35Hajime-san said that far from doing any good,
1:16:35 > 1:16:37the company used the compensation
1:16:37 > 1:16:40to set one half of the community against the other.
1:17:06 > 1:17:11Yeah, we've been towing this net now for a couple of hours.
1:17:11 > 1:17:14Not for anything gigantic,
1:17:14 > 1:17:17but for a fish about half an inch long.
1:17:17 > 1:17:20It's like a giant tea bag.
1:17:24 > 1:17:27Incred... That's incredible numbers.
1:17:27 > 1:17:32- What are they called, again? - Shiroko.- Shiroko.- Shiroko.
1:17:32 > 1:17:35'These tiny fish are a ubiquitous snack in Japan,
1:17:35 > 1:17:37'a sort of fishy peanut.
1:17:37 > 1:17:42'They are washed, steamed and air-dried in the family's processing plant on the quay.
1:17:42 > 1:17:45'But Minoru-san likes them wet.'
1:17:53 > 1:17:56That's a big old mouthful. Straight in?
1:17:58 > 1:18:00Mmm! Mmm...
1:18:00 > 1:18:03That is pure sea, pure ocean.
1:18:03 > 1:18:05Beautiful, very salty.
1:18:12 > 1:18:15Having tasted the product of the rebirth of Minimata Bay,
1:18:15 > 1:18:19we go to visit the brothers' father, Takeshi-san,
1:18:19 > 1:18:22who is also a Minimata sufferer.
1:18:26 > 1:18:31His wife, Eiko, died earlier this year from the effects of the poisoning.
1:18:31 > 1:18:35She had spent her whole life campaigning for justice for Minimata victims,
1:18:35 > 1:18:39but suffered a backlash from many who worked at the factory.
1:19:06 > 1:19:11The Sugimotos broke a basic code of Japanese life, where the individual
1:19:11 > 1:19:14is subordinate to the greater good of the community.
1:19:14 > 1:19:19On the whole, those who were not fishermen in the town stayed silent.
1:19:19 > 1:19:22The Sugimoto family were one of the few that went public.
1:20:03 > 1:20:07In another strange riff on the surreal alter ego theme,
1:20:07 > 1:20:10that I have seen before with Gyoko and Shacho,
1:20:10 > 1:20:12Takeshi-san's sons Minoru and Hajime,
1:20:12 > 1:20:15performing as the Yaoichi Brothers,
1:20:15 > 1:20:19use comedy to offer a new, brighter image for the future.
1:20:19 > 1:20:22To break the prejudice that still surrounds Minimata.
1:20:35 > 1:20:38Perhaps because Takeshi-san and his wife and sons
1:20:38 > 1:20:43have kicked against the restraints so dominant in Japanese society,
1:20:43 > 1:20:46have had to bear their souls to the world to fight for justice,
1:20:46 > 1:20:49they seem more accessible to me.
1:20:49 > 1:20:53I feel as I near the end of my journey, that in Minimata,
1:20:53 > 1:20:57I have met a group of people who have truly let me in.
1:21:02 > 1:21:05Japan is famous for the longevity of its people
1:21:05 > 1:21:07and it is in the tropical southern islands
1:21:07 > 1:21:10that people live longer than anywhere else.
1:21:10 > 1:21:14I've heard of a form of fishing down here in Okinawa,
1:21:14 > 1:21:18practised mainly by men older even than the sea ladies,
1:21:18 > 1:21:21that encapsulates a lot of what I have seen on my trip.
1:21:21 > 1:21:25It is communal, collaborative and ritualised.
1:21:28 > 1:21:31It's also meant to be a tropical paradise.
1:21:34 > 1:21:36You promised me a tropical paradise.
1:21:36 > 1:21:38What is this?
1:21:40 > 1:21:42A typhoon.
1:21:48 > 1:21:5236 hours after we arrived, the storm has abated.
1:21:52 > 1:21:55HE SINGS
1:21:55 > 1:22:00Far from the frantic metropolitan heart of Japan,
1:22:00 > 1:22:04the island of Irabu-jima has a flavour of the Caribbean
1:22:04 > 1:22:06or a tropical outer Hebrides.
1:22:11 > 1:22:14'We've been told to assemble at the harbour at three in the morning.
1:22:14 > 1:22:18'A team of half a dozen boats piled with nets
1:22:18 > 1:22:22'and rows of bright battered scuba tanks await their owners.'
1:22:23 > 1:22:27'One by one, the fishermen arrive and sit quietly on the quay
1:22:27 > 1:22:29'in monastic contemplation.
1:22:29 > 1:22:32'Their average age is 55,
1:22:32 > 1:22:35'but some are in their seventies.'
1:22:35 > 1:22:38This is the most enigmatic fishing operation.
1:22:38 > 1:22:41They are all sitting around on crates
1:22:41 > 1:22:44and then suddenly, some completely unspoken gesture,
1:22:44 > 1:22:47they all stood in uniform to launch the boats.
1:22:55 > 1:22:59'The sky lightens, the weather looks good.
1:22:59 > 1:23:02The sea has been rough for days and 'the fishermen need a good haul
1:23:02 > 1:23:05'to make up for the time they have lost.'
1:23:07 > 1:23:13What is the secret? How come you guys defy ageing?
1:23:41 > 1:23:45'A short distance offshore and in the lee of the island,
1:23:45 > 1:23:48'it looks like we have found a good place.
1:23:48 > 1:23:51'Spotters hang off the side of the boats
1:23:51 > 1:23:55'looking for shoals of fish that are working along the edge of the reef.'
1:24:17 > 1:24:19'Suddenly it is hectic.
1:24:19 > 1:24:25'All around, the fishermen are chucking out nets or grabbing tanks and plunging into the water.'
1:24:26 > 1:24:31'They take the nets down to the bottom and arrange them in great hanging curtains
1:24:31 > 1:24:35'that will funnel the fish as they swim up from the depths.'
1:24:41 > 1:24:45On the surface, the launchers are dragging the nets into position.
1:24:48 > 1:24:52The drive can start as deep as 30 or 40 metres.
1:24:52 > 1:24:55There is no hanging around.
1:24:55 > 1:24:59The divers have to move quickly before the shoal of fish moves on.
1:25:00 > 1:25:04Aki and I wait above the nets
1:25:04 > 1:25:07and long before we see the drive hunters, we hear them.
1:25:09 > 1:25:13The clack-clack of their sticks and the shimmying sounds of bells
1:25:13 > 1:25:16as they drive the fish towards their nets.
1:25:19 > 1:25:24A curtain of bubbles turns the blue ocean into the sky at night.
1:25:25 > 1:25:29And ahead of the divers, a sparkling shoal of fish.
1:25:35 > 1:25:38The divers drop their pom-pom sticks
1:25:38 > 1:25:42and begin to lift the net around the trapped shoal.
1:25:42 > 1:25:46This is more like underwater ballet than fishing.
1:25:46 > 1:25:48It is spectacular.
1:25:48 > 1:25:53And in the midst of the show, a giant shoal of sea creatures.
1:26:02 > 1:26:05As the shoal of gurukan fish reach the surface,
1:26:05 > 1:26:10they perform one last act in the moment of their deaths.
1:26:10 > 1:26:14They change colour from grey to bright fiery red.
1:26:25 > 1:26:31These guys are fishing like this six days a week, diving to...
1:26:35 > 1:26:40..serious depths several times a day so they have enough fish to make it worthwhile.
1:26:42 > 1:26:45They're a fit crowd, they really are.
1:26:45 > 1:26:49More impressive than the catch is the age of these guys -
1:26:49 > 1:26:52never mind the old man of the sea, these are the old men of the sea.
1:26:52 > 1:26:59it is amazing how this lifestyle keeps them so fit and keen for life.
1:27:05 > 1:27:07'This fishing is not laid on for crowds.
1:27:07 > 1:27:12'It is not self-consciously pastoral or brutally industrial
1:27:12 > 1:27:15'and yet it is also so very Japanese.
1:27:15 > 1:27:19'It is tick-tock efficiency and order and co-ordination.
1:27:19 > 1:27:23'The co-operative community who never seem to argue,
1:27:23 > 1:27:26'the ritual of it, the intricacy of it,
1:27:26 > 1:27:31'but also, this is subsistence fishing on a scale the ocean can cope with.'
1:27:37 > 1:27:40On the way back, we eat some of the catch.
1:27:40 > 1:27:45Sashimi with a little rice vinegar and a handful of boiled rice.
1:27:45 > 1:27:48The elixir of eternal life perhaps?
1:27:55 > 1:27:58It is a beautiful way to end my journey
1:27:58 > 1:28:01in search of the Japanese and their fish.
1:28:04 > 1:28:06Aki, have you enjoyed your trip?
1:28:06 > 1:28:11Yes, I did enjoy your company very much.
1:28:13 > 1:28:15I enjoyed yours too.
1:28:27 > 1:28:30HE SINGS "UNCHAINED MELODY"
1:28:33 > 1:28:38It has been an amazing ride, this six-week journey through Japan.
1:28:38 > 1:28:41I came looking for a window into the Japanese world
1:28:41 > 1:28:43and I suppose I am leaving,
1:28:43 > 1:28:48knowing that window has a curtain over it that is hard to pull back.
1:28:48 > 1:28:52But with Aki and my crazy passion for all things fish,
1:28:52 > 1:28:54I think I got a glimpse inside.
1:28:57 > 1:29:01I have seen the public and the private faces of Japan.
1:29:01 > 1:29:04Their reticence and then their warmth.
1:29:04 > 1:29:06Their surreal humour,
1:29:06 > 1:29:08their repressed sorrow.
1:29:08 > 1:29:12I have seen how they are so very different,
1:29:12 > 1:29:16but how they are also, in the end, just like us.
1:29:16 > 1:29:21- Thanks a lot. - I hope you enjoyed Japan.
1:29:21 > 1:29:26- I did.- Hopefully you understood
1:29:26 > 1:29:30- some of Japanese things.- I did.
1:29:30 > 1:29:34Thanks a lot. I'll be seeing you.
1:29:34 > 1:29:39- I will see you somewhere in the world.- Cheers.
1:29:41 > 1:29:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
1:29:44 > 1:29:48E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk