0:00:02 > 0:00:03I'm Ryan Gander.
0:00:03 > 0:00:05I work with ideas and concepts
0:00:05 > 0:00:08and I try to reconvey them in a visual language.
0:00:10 > 0:00:15Signs, symbols, meanings that aren't always obvious.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Conceptual art often divides people, but it's meant to make you think.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25And there's one place in particular where people always seem to
0:00:25 > 0:00:27try to understand what I do...
0:00:28 > 0:00:30..and that's Japan.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36The Japanese have a super-developed visual culture,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39a highly sophisticated take on even simple imagery.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45'I go there a lot and it's a constant source of inspiration.'
0:00:45 > 0:00:47So this is it, we're in the eye of the storm.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51My work is fuelled by visual references -
0:00:51 > 0:00:55pointers that might one day become ideas for artworks -
0:00:55 > 0:00:57and so many of them are Japanese.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Things that don't always mean what they seem,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02much more than just what they are.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Japan is dense with imagery that speaks of order and novelty,
0:01:08 > 0:01:10respect and innovation -
0:01:10 > 0:01:13ideas from a deep past that look to the future.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18The ancient icons of the geisha, samurai and even the cherry blossom
0:01:18 > 0:01:21embody old ideas, but they have more to reveal.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25So I want to explore what images like these mean to us
0:01:25 > 0:01:28and to the Japanese themselves.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Every country has its defining imagery,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40but ours doesn't change much -
0:01:40 > 0:01:43the White Cliffs of Dover have always been the stiff upper lip
0:01:43 > 0:01:49made of chalk. But in Japan, symbolism is so vibrant it mutates,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51and I think it's because the Japanese have
0:01:51 > 0:01:53a special relationship with time.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57When I think about history and tradition
0:01:57 > 0:01:58from a British perspective,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01I think about Dad's Army, the Empire,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05people moaning about how great it was in the good old days.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09And when I come to Japan, I think about how it informs society,
0:02:09 > 0:02:14how people use it as a sort of toolkit and learn from it
0:02:14 > 0:02:18and use parts of their history to help them live their lives
0:02:18 > 0:02:21in an optimistic and really functional, pragmatic way.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26But that can leave you with a present tense
0:02:26 > 0:02:28that's tricky to pin down -
0:02:28 > 0:02:32a unique, elusive mix of past and future.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34But it's up for reinvention.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39This is the Shinto shrine at Dazaifu in southwestern Japan.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43And this is Arata-chan,
0:02:43 > 0:02:45a character that I designed
0:02:45 > 0:02:49when I created a new spring holiday festival for the shrine's owners.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56So, artworks don't always have to be physical objects -
0:02:56 > 0:02:59they can be stories or they can be moments.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01And every year for the last five years,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Dazaifu has celebrated a national holiday that's called New New Day.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08New New Day was designed to encourage people
0:03:08 > 0:03:11to clean up after themselves.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Famously, the architect Le Corbusier,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15who was an infamous modernist,
0:03:15 > 0:03:20had a saying that was "by law, all buildings should be white".
0:03:20 > 0:03:24So Arata-chan is based on a sort of collision
0:03:24 > 0:03:28of a Gander manga character and Le Corbusier.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31He's got Le Corbusier's glasses.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Whoever's in here must be so warm!
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Got Le Corbusier's glasses and he's got a white paintbrush
0:03:36 > 0:03:38and a tin of white paint.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41He makes things clean,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44and not cleaning as in making things white and tidying up,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48but it's to do with a bigger picture of cleanliness.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Arata-chan embodies symbolism.
0:03:51 > 0:03:57Everything about him I've tried to think out as using visual language
0:03:57 > 0:04:00to communicate a series of ideas.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02And what's really interesting is that's my job,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05it's sort of like my trade, but that doesn't happen a lot
0:04:05 > 0:04:07in the UK in day-to-day culture,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09but it happens all the time in this country.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16A lot of these images have something in common and that's the fact that
0:04:16 > 0:04:19we in the West probably read them differently to someone Japanese.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Take the famous Scramble Crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28In all media all over the world,
0:04:28 > 0:04:33images from here symbolise the intensity of modern urban living.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Tokyo defines tightly packed.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41In the centre itself, there's 13 million people,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44and including all the outer boroughs,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46it's now pushing 40 million.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50No other country has a bigger city than Tokyo and,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53because Tokyo is a First-World capital,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55it seems to sound a warning to the world.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00But the Japanese see it differently.
0:05:02 > 0:05:03This is the quiet before...
0:05:05 > 0:05:08..the storm. Now this is the storm.
0:05:08 > 0:05:15It seems as if there's just chaos, confusion and mayhem here,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17but if you peel back the layers a little bit
0:05:17 > 0:05:19and you look under the surface,
0:05:19 > 0:05:24it's all really harmonious and it all works as one entity together.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28It's as if there's a sort of order that comes out of the chaos of it.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31So this is it, we're in the eye of the storm,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34surrounded by total confusion.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37But still everyone's really tolerant.
0:05:37 > 0:05:38There's no arguments,
0:05:38 > 0:05:43there's a few collisions and a few people running backwards
0:05:43 > 0:05:45from their point of no return,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47but everyone's still very respectful.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53The Japanese pretty much invented the image of the modern mega-city,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56but there's an order in what looks like disorder.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Apparent chaos is actually industry.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02BELL CHIMES
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Civilised behaviour, not angry commuters,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07and I've got a suspicion where this comes from.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Buddhism came from China and overlaid pre-existing beliefs
0:06:14 > 0:06:17known as Shinto, the way of the gods.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Most people go to shrines, but the emphasis is on practice, not faith,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24doing physical things that show that they
0:06:24 > 0:06:27observe the important distinctions that let them get on
0:06:27 > 0:06:29with harmonious life as part of a group.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35At the entrance to every Shinto shrine
0:06:35 > 0:06:38is some variation on this symbol - the red torii gate.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42It's a symbol you walk through,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45a line between the sacred world and the secular,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47between order and disorder,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and the shrine is a public space that's open to all.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Shinto's an animist faith, so things like rocks and trees and water,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59mountains, landscapes, they all are part of this
0:06:59 > 0:07:03very symbolic picture that makes up the Shinto way of life.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08And those objects and those things, they have a kami inside them,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12and kami is kind of an inner spirit of the object.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17So the shrine itself is kind of like a symbolic spiritual power station.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24Crowds of the faithful come to feel the force, to touch, to connect.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30And Shinto prioritises cleanliness, both real and symbolic.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31Here in the grounds of the shrine,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35but before we enter the main shrine building, where you go to pray,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39there's a sort of purification ceremony that takes place,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43and it's a really important stage of the whole process of going to pray.
0:07:43 > 0:07:44It prepares you...
0:07:45 > 0:07:47..and sort of stills your mind
0:07:47 > 0:07:50before you go into the main building.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Head priest Masako is ready to help me with a procedure
0:07:53 > 0:07:56that looks complicated, especially the last part.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00What's the significance of the part at the end,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04where you tip this ladle and the water runs down the handle?
0:08:36 > 0:08:40It seems to me that it wouldn't clean you much at all,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42it's a very symbolic thing.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46You do it to believe that you feel cleaner, would you say that's true?
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Can you explain to me what kannagara is?
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Cleanliness is godliness.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34The concept of kannagara demands citizens take responsibility
0:09:34 > 0:09:38for their space, which here is often shared.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Cleaning means belonging and it means membership,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44so beautiful tools help the user find pleasure in chores.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50As ever in Japan, there's symbolic hidden meaning everywhere.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54These are called tenugui, and it's a sort of household cloth
0:09:54 > 0:09:57that maybe in other countries would be disposable,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00but here in Japan they're elevated to the status of art.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Each of these is a unique print.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06They're screen printed and they're all incredibly beautiful
0:10:06 > 0:10:08and there's thousands of different designs.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13They're full of sort of a metaphor, symbolic meaning in the imagery,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16but also there's a function to them, they're a utility thing,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19which sort of embodies that design for Shinto living.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22There's something about the economy of them,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24of keeping them and caring for them.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Even though this thing is for cleaning other things,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30you would clean the thing itself and re-use the thing itself.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34So there's a nice sort of economy of recycling and an economy of re-use
0:10:34 > 0:10:36which is really Japanese.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41When you're here, it's easy to see how kannagara,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44the way of the community-minded Shinto gods,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46promotes a sense of wellbeing and of order.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50In Britain, in London during the Olympics,
0:10:50 > 0:10:55the British media were really intrigued to see Japanese spectators
0:10:55 > 0:10:59at the end of all games in the stadiums coming together
0:10:59 > 0:11:01and cleaning up after everybody else.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06These primary school pupils aren't cleaning for the camera -
0:11:06 > 0:11:09tidying is on the timetable, and we had just 20 minutes
0:11:09 > 0:11:13to film it between lunch and the start of maths.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15It seems like because this happens every day,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18it's such an everyday occurrence, that there's no instruction.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20All these little kids know exactly what to do.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25There's a nice sort of sustainability,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28sort of an ecosystem to it, as well.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31All these kids are essentially just looking after themselves.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36From the cradle, the Japanese learn to take care of their surroundings,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38and Shinto helps them see themselves
0:11:38 > 0:11:40as part of the natural environment...
0:11:42 > 0:11:45..which demands care and attention in the here and now,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48rather than waiting for reward in the afterlife.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Being here today and seeing all these kids working together
0:11:55 > 0:11:59as one entity for one single cause, I've never seen anything like it.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04It's really intriguing and it makes me think that we probably have a lot
0:12:04 > 0:12:06that we could learn from this in the UK.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09And I think when I get home and I see some fool in the car
0:12:09 > 0:12:12in front of me throwing a chocolate wrapper out the window,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16it's going to make that prospect even more infuriating.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25It's been said that there's two kinds of society -
0:12:25 > 0:12:27those where people jaywalk
0:12:27 > 0:12:29and those where they wait for the green symbol,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31even if there's no traffic.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Here, people respect the rules that oil society
0:12:37 > 0:12:39and they're shocked by anyone who breaks them.
0:12:44 > 0:12:45This mind-set makes Japan
0:12:45 > 0:12:48one of the least crime-ridden societies on Earth...
0:12:50 > 0:12:52..which is probably why not many thrillers
0:12:52 > 0:12:55are set in Japanese police stations.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59To the civically-minded Japanese, crime is anti-social,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01and therefore is disgraceful, as well.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Most Japanese wouldn't think twice about informing on a criminal.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07And for those that do try their luck,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11supposedly there's a 99% detection rate.
0:13:14 > 0:13:15Of course, there is crime here.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20It's a patriarchal society and domestic violence against women
0:13:20 > 0:13:22often goes unreported.
0:13:25 > 0:13:26But that isn't exclusive to Japan.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31The elephant in the room is the yakuza,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35and the yakuza are essentially Japanese gangsters.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37It's an organised crime network.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40And they're not a new thing, they've been around for a long, long time.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44What's interesting to me about the yakuza is the way that they have
0:13:44 > 0:13:48this sort of semi-legitimate status in society.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52They've been known to take part in religious processions and help
0:13:52 > 0:13:56save earthquake victims in the disasters and things like that.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00They are part of the fabric and the make-up of society.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05But I also think they're probably some sort of visual signifier
0:14:05 > 0:14:09that's quite important for the law-abiding citizens to see.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13They work like a visual scapegoat and, this being Japan,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16they have a dense symbolism all of their own,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19which is a celebration of their nonconformity.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29The back the yakuza turn on society they cover in tattoos -
0:14:29 > 0:14:34innocent images from history and folklore transformed in meaning
0:14:34 > 0:14:36when they're inked onto the skin.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Playing with this idea a few years ago,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44I designed a tattoo for a friend in Tokyo.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Cartoon stars, playful enough in the West,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50inked into his back become something more illicit.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00The moment the needle touched his skin,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03my friend Daisuke went from respectable businessman
0:15:03 > 0:15:06and art collector to outsider.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08Well, at least when he didn't have his shirt on.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14It feels very strange, being with a man who is taking his top off
0:15:14 > 0:15:16in a twin room. LAUGHTER
0:15:16 > 0:15:17- Can I touch it?- Yeah.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21You've got lots of tattoos. How many do you have?
0:15:21 > 0:15:25- Five.- And each one is by a different artist?
0:15:25 > 0:15:30Yes. My tattoo collection is contemporary art.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Many of my friends are young artists.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Some of them are very upcoming.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40This is not just a tattoo, it's like a commissioned work for me.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42When I come to Japan, one of the things
0:15:42 > 0:15:46that I look forward to the most is going to the hot spring,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50and I know that you're not allowed to have a tattoo in the hot spring.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Does that mean you can't go to an onsen at all?
0:15:52 > 0:16:00In Japan, it's very difficult to enjoy onsen, public baths,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03sport gym, public beach too.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08In Japan, the tattoo was illegal for a long time.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Conservative people, older generation, still misunderstand.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15So the tattoo is a symbol of mafia.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- Yakuza, a very dirty part of Japan. - Mm-hm.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22As a salaryman in society,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26- you're very much an insider and one of the collective.- Mm.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30But under your clothes you're kind of like an outsider,
0:16:30 > 0:16:31- but it's a secret.- Mm.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34So you've had to give up quite a lot...
0:16:34 > 0:16:36- Yeah.- ..from your life.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39- There's things now that you can't do because of your collection.- Yeah.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45These aren't just tattoos, they're taboos,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47and it's the medium that is the message.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Tattoos themselves signify transgression, whatever the image.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54I don't get a message about criminality,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56but then I'm not Japanese.
0:16:58 > 0:17:04The studio of Yokohama's master tattooist Yoshihito Nakano,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07known by the title Horiyoshi III.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10He isn't a yakuza, though over his 50-year career
0:17:10 > 0:17:11he must have inked a few.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16NEEDLE BUZZES
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Yoshi's client today isn't a gangster,
0:17:25 > 0:17:29it's his son, Kazuyoshi, also a master needle artist.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Both men are happy to bare designs they can't display outdoors
0:17:36 > 0:17:38in daylight because they're proud of their art
0:17:38 > 0:17:41and they want to change public opinion.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47The designs are dignified and the work is clearly skilled.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51So why do they cause fear and loathing?
0:18:29 > 0:18:31There's some kind of tradition that you follow.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34That tradition must also be in the symbolism.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11I think of you as a sort of bridge between the past and the future.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Do you have an empathy with that idea?
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Horiyoshi has spent a lifetime waiting for his art to be accepted
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and still can't see a future where it might be.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41But all situations, good and bad, will eventually change,
0:19:41 > 0:19:46according to Anicca, the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48represented by this circular symbol.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54Japanese feelings about the yakuza may not be about to change
0:19:54 > 0:19:57but maybe tattoos could become acceptable.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00In Japan, signs and their meanings can shift over time.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03That's exactly what's happened to
0:20:03 > 0:20:06the most powerful Japanese symbol of all -
0:20:06 > 0:20:10the geisha, a living embodiment of old Japan.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Today, it's Kyoto that's the main centre of geisha culture.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Two hours and 18 minutes exactly from Tokyo by bullet train.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Never more, never less.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26These living relics are only normally seen
0:20:26 > 0:20:28by the wealthy and powerful,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31But once a year the public queue up just to be near them
0:20:31 > 0:20:33and to be served tea.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37The geisha tell their story to the people
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and the people hang on every word.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46To the Westerner, a geisha symbolises the past...
0:20:48 > 0:20:51..enigmatic confidantes and maybe even courtesans.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55But what are they now to the Japanese?
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Where do they fit into modern life?
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Nasuzu is a geiko, as geisha in Kyoto are known.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07What's the differences between the work that you would have done
0:21:07 > 0:21:08in ancient times and the work you do now?
0:21:36 > 0:21:41What is it the men who employ you are looking for
0:21:41 > 0:21:45that they can't find at home or at work in offices or in a boardroom?
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Are you a sort of ancient Japanese agony aunt?
0:22:51 > 0:22:56It's really interesting when you have an idea about a symbol
0:22:56 > 0:22:59or an object and signifying what you think it will mean
0:22:59 > 0:23:02and then you're confronted with it in reality
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and the everyday reality of it is not what you expect at all.
0:23:11 > 0:23:16For me, the geisha feels a bit like a living lucky object in the present
0:23:16 > 0:23:20but in the place where the future's being written -
0:23:20 > 0:23:22the boardroom and the business meeting.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29Hypermodern Japan still needs people who are expert in traditional forms
0:23:29 > 0:23:33of social interaction, and it's not just men who want someone to laugh
0:23:33 > 0:23:35at their jokes and pour their drinks.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46We're in a bar in Tokyo and over there there's something
0:23:46 > 0:23:50that's a sort of confirmation of something that I've always thought
0:23:50 > 0:23:52that was totally fascinating about Japan,
0:23:52 > 0:23:58and that's the way the ancient lives on and sort of dictates life
0:23:58 > 0:24:01in the everyday in this really futuristic society.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11I think the young man talking to my producer, Georgie,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13neatly fills the geisha role.
0:24:13 > 0:24:14In lounges like this,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18it's now the monied young women who will pay to escape for a while
0:24:18 > 0:24:21to be entertained by unthreatening, gentle men.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Ryu Ikiru has been a host boy for 11 years.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30So, what type of women come here to this bar?
0:25:15 > 0:25:21So I can't help but draw comparisons between you and the geisha.
0:25:52 > 0:25:53In bars like this,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57old-world charm is provided by the entrepreneurial young.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01The past informs the future of hospitality.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06The romanticism of the geisha has almost evaporated, but that sort of
0:26:06 > 0:26:09tranquil force that she has still remains.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12And the host boy brings something new to the role of the geisha,
0:26:12 > 0:26:17but he still has that sort of traditional sympathetic ear.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19Now, you'd think that in Japan
0:26:19 > 0:26:22the weight of the history would make it a really difficult place
0:26:22 > 0:26:25to innovate, but that's simply not true and I think that's because
0:26:25 > 0:26:30this is a society that is transfixed with novelty,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34and that can be seen really clearly in the street fashions of Harajuku.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41This Tokyo district is at the leading edge of newness.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45So, we're here in Harajuku, which is...
0:26:45 > 0:26:49It's an area where all the teenagers and fashionistas
0:26:49 > 0:26:54come and congregate and show off their bonkers-looking outfits.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58It's a bit like what the King's Road would be 30 years ago.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04In Britain, new street fashions take a little time to bed in.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08But in Harajuku,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11styles come and go like bullet trains.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16It's a gathering point and a meeting point but also
0:27:16 > 0:27:19it's a bit like a place where everyone
0:27:19 > 0:27:21opens their peacock feathers and shows off.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23For someone who lives in the countryside,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26I find it a little bit stressful. Just the extremeness -
0:27:26 > 0:27:29I don't know which way to look cos there's so much happening.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31It's like an overload to the senses.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34People are dressed like you've never seen before.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38That inventiveness, that writing an identity for yourself...
0:27:40 > 0:27:41..it's part of a social make-up.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The innovation and the quirkiness in what people are wearing here,
0:27:44 > 0:27:48this is a real demonstration of people not thinking the same,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50not this collective consciousness,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54not this collective ideal of society but of individuality.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57This is Japanese exuberance,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and for every cliched salary worker in a blue suit
0:28:00 > 0:28:03there's a fashionista here starting a new trend.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11As editor of FRUiTS magazine,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Shoichi Aoki has watched them come go for 20 years.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27This is soft punk, we called.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29- Soft punk?- Yeah.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31- So is there hard punk as well?- Yeah.
0:28:31 > 0:28:32What would this be?
0:28:32 > 0:28:36This looks a little bit '60s, '70s, hippy inspired.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38I think so.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41In the West, new styles soon go high street and international,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45but most of these seem to stay in Tokyo or even just in this district.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19Take the Lolita look.
0:29:20 > 0:29:2319th-century Gothic European references.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27A classic example of the magpie tendency in Japan,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31which is both sexes thinking outside the clothes box.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39It's a fusion of different hierarchies and cultures and classes
0:29:39 > 0:29:41as well as a mixture of time.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Do a lot of the fashions here in Harajuku do that,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47take something from the ancient and fuse it with the modern?
0:30:22 > 0:30:25In 20 years, you must have seen so many young people
0:30:25 > 0:30:28with so many different styles and so many categories
0:30:28 > 0:30:31and subcategories of styles that you've exhausted it.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Maybe there's nothing left that's new for you.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Gender fluidity is a hot topic all over the world right now
0:31:05 > 0:31:09and Usuke Devil is a celebrity exponent of the next big thing...
0:31:11 > 0:31:12..genderless fashion.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18All over the world there's a lot of chat about gender fluidity
0:31:18 > 0:31:21as a kind of movement or a new genre.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Can you tell me a little bit about this genderless fashion?
0:31:51 > 0:31:54So, what was your style before this style?
0:32:06 > 0:32:09What is it about Harajuku specifically
0:32:09 > 0:32:14where there's this need for speed and for innovation and invention?
0:33:01 > 0:33:03The youth of Harajuku face a dilemma.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07If novelty becomes a convention that everybody chases,
0:33:07 > 0:33:09that becomes conformity,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12which is surely what their parents are all about.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17I reckon the Japanese love of novelty has a start date,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21a 19th-century Big Bang in what was then the capital, Kyoto.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29On 3rd March 1868, a sudden coup took place here in Kyoto
0:33:29 > 0:33:33and the shogun that had ruled Japan for 700 years or more
0:33:33 > 0:33:36and restricted relations with the outside world
0:33:36 > 0:33:39were overthrown by the young Emperor Meiji.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42When North America and Europe demanded free trade,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Meiji really turned on the tap, and it was at that moment
0:33:45 > 0:33:50when lots of new technologies and exciting new things came into Japan
0:33:50 > 0:33:52and started to change the culture.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56And for me, I think it's at that very time that the futuristic Japan
0:33:56 > 0:33:59that we think of today was really born.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04But even before Emperor Meiji, Japan was no backwater.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07The shoguns had traded widely within East Asia,
0:34:07 > 0:34:09and over centuries of peace
0:34:09 > 0:34:12the people became extremely sophisticated,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16super literate and consumer-orientated.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19So now Western merchants raced to service this new market.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25The new emperor made Tokyo his capital and started shopping.
0:34:26 > 0:34:27Within a few years,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31Japan had the start of a world-class railway system,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34gaslight, factories and telegraphy.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38It was industrial revolution at breakneck speed.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Japan shifted tense in an instant from past to future,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46and the past wasn't disrespected in this process,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49it was used as a tool to inform the future.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54Among the new ideas to arrive from the West was photography,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58and Japanese views like these helped create the first real ideas
0:34:58 > 0:35:00and cliches of Japan abroad.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Meanwhile, the Japanese fell in love with the camera itself.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09The new technology spoke to something deep in a people
0:35:09 > 0:35:12who understood layered meaning.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16It was an instant, time stopped, sentiment crystallised.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19It was science in the service of magic,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22delivering the art of the past.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25This wasn't just about taking pictures, it was business.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29The camera, of course, also represents Japanese electronics,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32but there's a bigger meaning here that I'm interested in
0:35:32 > 0:35:36and that's the Japanese ability to spot the potential in existing
0:35:36 > 0:35:41emerging technology to refine it and to sell it back to the world.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46Within the century, the Japanese dominated the camera industry.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49They didn't invent the chemical film business but they created
0:35:49 > 0:35:52the digital technology that made it obsolete
0:35:52 > 0:35:54and sold us the new cameras to use it.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59They won the technological game, but being Japanese,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02there's some old-fashioned grit in their futuristic oyster.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07There's a sort of divine super leap here.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10From the nation that brought us the digital revolution
0:36:10 > 0:36:12and the digital sensor,
0:36:12 > 0:36:17we are now seeing an increased popularity in film cameras.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21What's really interesting is this brand that makes incredible lenses
0:36:21 > 0:36:25and optics is German, not Japanese,
0:36:25 > 0:36:27but it's probably the most popular brand
0:36:27 > 0:36:30for photo specialists in Japan.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35We're in a country that holds very dear to notions of the future
0:36:35 > 0:36:39but we're seeing obsolete technology fetishized,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42and I think that has a lot to do with the pace of life
0:36:42 > 0:36:44and the speed of things.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47Analogue cameras are slow technology, just like a record,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50and there's a love for the analogue world at the moment
0:36:50 > 0:36:52because the pace in which we live,
0:36:52 > 0:36:56maybe we feel like we don't experience things in the depth
0:36:56 > 0:36:57that we used to.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09What's interesting about these is that for a select few,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11a group that are in the know,
0:37:11 > 0:37:15these cameras signal a sort of value of consideration
0:37:15 > 0:37:17or a shared skill set.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20These cameras, they're really, like, for making photographs,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23not for taking pictures. They're incredibly hard to use.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26I've had this one for a number of years and I still, when I pick it up
0:37:26 > 0:37:29after using my digital one, it's a real pain.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34'But for many Japanese, loss for the future is freighted
0:37:34 > 0:37:36'with a longing for the past,
0:37:36 > 0:37:38'creating a present tense that puts
0:37:38 > 0:37:42'a modern obsessive premium on the vintage.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45'Dr Angus Lockyer lectures in Japanese history.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49'I find the present tense hard to spot, but does he?'
0:37:49 > 0:37:50I see it differently.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54I see a place which is very intensely focused
0:37:54 > 0:37:57on the present, on the now.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00They do have a kind of easiness in...
0:38:01 > 0:38:04..going back into the past and bringing it forward,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06and using it now.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08There's an openness to the new.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Japan was a very effective consumer society
0:38:11 > 0:38:13way before we got into shopping.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15Certainly an interesting novelty in having something
0:38:15 > 0:38:18that's slightly different from everybody else.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21You know, the ease with which Japan embraces things like robots.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Robots aren't scary in Japan.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26Turns out some old people would prefer a robot
0:38:26 > 0:38:29to take care of intimate needs than a human being in front of whom
0:38:29 > 0:38:31they might need to face shame.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35Can you tell me a little bit about what Shinto has handed down
0:38:35 > 0:38:37to today's modern reality of Japan?
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Shinto is much more about cycles.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43You know, they knock down one of the most important shrines in Japan
0:38:43 > 0:38:46every 20 years and rebuild it cos you don't need the original,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48you don't need to hold on to the past.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50What you need is to make sure that the past
0:38:50 > 0:38:52helps you to cope with the present.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56Acceptance of the fact that you are on a planet that's unstable,
0:38:56 > 0:38:58that this moment will vanish.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02In Shinto, it's not us versus nature, it's, now we're...
0:39:02 > 0:39:04We're part of the environment which we are affecting.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06This is Hokusai's Wave.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09The title of the artwork is The Great Wave
0:39:09 > 0:39:12and it's one of my favourite artworks,
0:39:12 > 0:39:14it's a wood block print from the 1830s.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17But I've not picked it because I like it so much,
0:39:17 > 0:39:21I've picked it because it's a good signifier of a new beginning.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24A lot of historians say that this wave was in fact a tsunami,
0:39:24 > 0:39:26but that's debatable.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28One thing we do know is that it was a destructive wave
0:39:28 > 0:39:31and with destruction comes a new beginning...
0:39:32 > 0:39:36..something Buddhism says we should all be prepared for.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42The Japanese live in the moment because they understand
0:39:42 > 0:39:44there might not be another one.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48After all, they've survived the most symbolic full stop of all.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56This is by far the most significant symbolic object
0:39:56 > 0:39:59that I've come across in Japan.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02It's a small pocket watch that was carried by a pedestrian
0:40:02 > 0:40:07in the city of Hiroshima in August 1945,
0:40:07 > 0:40:12the day that the uranium bomb was exploded above the city
0:40:12 > 0:40:15by the Americans on behalf of all the Allied Forces.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20And that bomb killed 140,000 people.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23Now in March of the same year, a series of incendiary devices
0:40:23 > 0:40:30had been exploded over Tokyo and the death count of those bombings
0:40:30 > 0:40:33killed a much greater number of civilians,
0:40:33 > 0:40:38but what was key about this bomb is that it was new technology.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47The atom bomb was as much of a massive symbol of defeat
0:40:47 > 0:40:50as the Industrial Revolution was a symbol of success.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54But the Japanese had spotted the potential in nuclear energy
0:40:54 > 0:40:59and within ten years they'd began to invest heavily in nuclear reactors.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03They leapt at the chance of a hi-tech future
0:41:03 > 0:41:07and the opportunity to lay the recent past to rest.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09But buried in the Japanese subconscious
0:41:09 > 0:41:12was a new kind of monster,
0:41:12 > 0:41:16a prehistoric and the terrifyingly modern...Godzilla.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20In 1954, the B-movie monster mutant
0:41:20 > 0:41:22stomped on to the screens.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Spawned from an atomic disaster and with his signature weapon,
0:41:26 > 0:41:28his nuclear breath,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31he was by all accounts quite a vengeful creature,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34but he was also an agent of change.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Godzilla was a Shinto-saurus,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42innately understood by Japanese moviegoers
0:41:42 > 0:41:44rebuilding their world in a hurry,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47a reminder of their inability to control events -
0:41:47 > 0:41:53for nuclear survivors mindful of their good fortune every new day
0:41:53 > 0:41:54and well aware of its fragility.
0:41:59 > 0:42:04Luck, especially the good variety, is a very Japanese preoccupation.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07This is also a Japanese symbol,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11but often we mistake it as being a Chinese one cos you might find
0:42:11 > 0:42:15this character next to the menus at your local takeaway.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18He is in fact the Japanese lucky cat.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20And also, often, we decode him wrong -
0:42:20 > 0:42:23we think that he's waving but he isn't.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25What he's doing is he's beckoning,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28he's saying, "Come inside and get lucky."
0:42:30 > 0:42:32The Japanese believe in mysterious forces
0:42:32 > 0:42:35as much a space-age technology.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38I didn't see that coming when I installed a sculpture
0:42:38 > 0:42:40at this Shinto shrine.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43It was commissioned in 2011,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47a modern work for an ancient site full of symbolic objects.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53The sculpture that's inside this big, ornate, ancient kind of shed
0:42:53 > 0:42:57is called Really Shiny Stuff That Doesn't Mean Anything,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01and it's a ball made of stainless steel magnetic objects,
0:43:01 > 0:43:07and they've all collided together and made one big sort of mess.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11But I guess it's based in this culture of the magpie,
0:43:11 > 0:43:14and anything that's shiny feels like it should be hi-tech
0:43:14 > 0:43:16and it should do something, right?
0:43:16 > 0:43:19It looks alien so it's come from another place
0:43:19 > 0:43:23and then it's landed here in this old-school old world.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26What I really like is the collision between this thing
0:43:26 > 0:43:28that looks hyper-tech and the ancient.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Because it's magnetic, when we were installing it
0:43:31 > 0:43:35everyone here at the shrine was super scared of it.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38They would leave their phones and their credit cards at the entrance
0:43:38 > 0:43:40to this small island that's surrounded by a moat
0:43:40 > 0:43:44and they'd go up to it and approach it with trepidation
0:43:44 > 0:43:47and then worry about headaches because of the energy
0:43:47 > 0:43:49that this thing would give off.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53And it occurred to me that maybe it wasn't the magnetic energy
0:43:53 > 0:43:56that it was giving off, but it was kind of the metaphorical,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58cultural, symbolic energy.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04But if my silver sphere was giving off bad energy,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07visitors didn't have to go far for an antidote.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15Good luck is big business in Japan and every shrine stocks talismen
0:44:15 > 0:44:17designed to see off ill fortune.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21So, this is an omamori stand.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23Tell me a little bit about what they cover.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27- Yakuyoke is keeping away evil spirits.- OK.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31This is called negaigoto and these are for studying.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33This is for the safe driving.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37At home, I keep getting speeding tickets on a bridge
0:44:37 > 0:44:41called the Orwell Bridge on a road called the A12 by my house.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Do you have something that can control the speed cameras?
0:44:44 > 0:44:45I don't think so.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47- This is for wishes?- Yes.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50And I can write "art prizes" and all sorts of things on that,
0:44:50 > 0:44:52- whatever I want?- Yeah.
0:44:52 > 0:44:53And what's in these small bags?
0:44:53 > 0:44:56I shouldn't open them, so I've never seen it inside.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00So no-one ever opens these, otherwise the good luck is gone?
0:45:00 > 0:45:01Yeah, that's what I believe.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05Is there anything that would ward against cyber attack
0:45:05 > 0:45:07or e-mail spam?
0:45:07 > 0:45:09Amulet against calamities?
0:45:09 > 0:45:12So would that cover natural disasters?
0:45:12 > 0:45:13I believe so.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16I'm going to have to get one for every eventuality.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Every New Year you renew your omamori.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21- So I have to buy them all again? - Yeah.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23- I'm going to have to get another credit card!- Yeah.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30However modern your problem, Shinto luck is always worth a try.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39All these cars, when the boot opens, you can smell the new carpet -
0:45:39 > 0:45:40they're all brand-new.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44So I have this feeling that he's blessing them because they are new.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49He's almost trying to make sure they don't get into accidents.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52It feels a little bit like a...
0:45:52 > 0:45:55faith-based kind of insurance policy.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00This is evidence of the Shinto in their everyday reality of life.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03I mean, he's just blessed a Toyota Corolla.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10Each of the owners have kids, so it's also like a metaphorical,
0:46:10 > 0:46:12spiritual "baby on board" sticker, somehow.
0:46:16 > 0:46:22Shinto and Buddhism emphasise our insignificance in the grand scheme.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24The only sure thing is that time will pass
0:46:24 > 0:46:29and the seasons will change, and nothing sums that up more than this.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33Japan is renowned for its blossom,
0:46:33 > 0:46:35and the beauty of it almost means that
0:46:35 > 0:46:37it becomes a sort of cliche.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Now, the Japanese climate means that there's a real stark contrast
0:46:41 > 0:46:44between the seasons, and that wealth of white blossom
0:46:44 > 0:46:47against the stark blue sky is a message
0:46:47 > 0:46:48that no-one could really mistake.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Regeneration and regrowth are big in Japan.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Every spring, special trains make excursions
0:46:57 > 0:46:59to get the people to the trees.
0:47:00 > 0:47:01This is blossom fever.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06Everywhere you look there are citizens taking the same photographs
0:47:06 > 0:47:09they took the year before, and the year before that.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13These aren't just blooms and it's not just a love of nature...
0:47:14 > 0:47:17..it's a photographic ritual of spring.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22A few days of certainty in every year of increasing unpredictability.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35The culture that celebrates change and regeneration is just as well
0:47:35 > 0:47:38in a country facing demographic disaster.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41The economy has struggled for years,
0:47:41 > 0:47:45and while the salaryman always symbolised a uniquely Japanese ideal
0:47:45 > 0:47:50of dedication to the company, a new word - karoshi.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53It literally means overwork death.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Those who can drag themselves home from work aren't making babies.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59The birth rate is in a steady decline.
0:48:01 > 0:48:02To make matters worse,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06Japan has the world's highest population of old people per capita,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09and they're not the only things that are living longer.
0:48:10 > 0:48:1430 years ago, this would have been a symbol of Japanese modernity
0:48:14 > 0:48:16and industry, but me here, looking at it today,
0:48:16 > 0:48:21it seems like an antiquated relic of technology, which it essentially is.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Now, what's really interesting about the fax machine is,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27although they've been thrown in skips all around the world
0:48:27 > 0:48:29they're still used in Japan,
0:48:29 > 0:48:31and that's because an ageing population
0:48:31 > 0:48:33refuse to do business by e-mail.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37So you can imagine reels and reels of curly sheets of paper
0:48:37 > 0:48:41being stored away - undigitised information.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43It's interesting cos in futuristic Japan,
0:48:43 > 0:48:46it's really the old people that are calling the shots.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51The old always represented continuity from past to future...
0:48:53 > 0:48:56..but that stopped when the Japanese economy collapsed in the '90s.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01The office routine, a defining ritual for millions of workers,
0:49:01 > 0:49:04was suddenly unavailable to a generation
0:49:04 > 0:49:06that were waiting to start work.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09So an estimated million of them hide in the bedrooms
0:49:09 > 0:49:12of their family homes, consumed with guilt.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14They're known as the hikikomori.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20Journalist Masaki Ikegami writes about this very Japanese problem.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27But for the lost generation,
0:50:27 > 0:50:31the samurai might just perhaps provide a role model -
0:50:31 > 0:50:36obedient followers living a life of principle that sustained them
0:50:36 > 0:50:37without fear or doubt.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43Like his relatives, the geisha and the ninja,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45the samurai's an icon that's so powerful
0:50:45 > 0:50:47that his message really can't be mistaken.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50He's a warrior from back in the shogun days,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54a sort of incarnation of a Japanese cowboy
0:50:54 > 0:50:57cos he's a hero but he's also a loner,
0:50:57 > 0:51:01and he lives and dies by an ethical code of principles.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05Now, physically he is no more, but metaphorically he is everywhere.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08It's almost like he's hiding in plain sight.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17The samurai conveys Japanese ideas of honour, morality, tradition.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21But he's here too in the wide-eyed,
0:51:21 > 0:51:25candy-coloured modern world of gaming and animation.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32This guy's called Gundam.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35So, any Japanese teenager would know what this is.
0:51:35 > 0:51:37All those robots that we see, like Transformers,
0:51:37 > 0:51:41this is the real DNA of that stuff, this is where it all started.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45He's a legendary 1970s Japanese invention.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49The styling of him is really based in this tradition of the samurai.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53There's all these samurai swords and samurai knives,
0:51:53 > 0:51:56and even the body armouring that you would expect to see
0:51:56 > 0:51:59from the bamboo strips that you find on samurais.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01For me, it's reminiscent of a lot of things in Japanese culture,
0:52:01 > 0:52:06this compounding of the past tense and the future tense
0:52:06 > 0:52:09together in a para-possible present,
0:52:09 > 0:52:13a multiple universe or a multi-verse, if you like.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20Here's the samurai Gundam aesthetic for road warriors.
0:52:20 > 0:52:26I can see his unblinking eye at the heart of the Japanese car industry,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30gifting to carbon-age technology his ancient martial artiness.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44'The head of design at Nissan is an American
0:52:44 > 0:52:48'who had to learn a new culture and iconography on arrival.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53'It's Alfonso Albaisa's job to know which Japanese messages
0:52:53 > 0:52:55'whisper the loudest.'
0:52:55 > 0:52:58The styling of this in particular,
0:52:58 > 0:53:02it reminds me of the Gundam figures, the future we've not yet reached.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04Obviously, in Japan, we have...
0:53:04 > 0:53:06It's a very long history.
0:53:06 > 0:53:11Famously, the samurais and all of this kind of culture, which then...
0:53:12 > 0:53:16..in modern day, with anime, has transformed itself,
0:53:16 > 0:53:21so the Gundam and this kind of iconography is part of the fabric,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24and especially the fabric of my design team.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28The blade coming off the rear wheel, a samurai sword lunges forward,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31surging, cutting through.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Tension in the line, emotional geometry.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39And then these forms that come off of that structure
0:53:39 > 0:53:43mixed with a warmth of muscle of a warrior figure.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45A bit of a monster.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48Somewhere between a Gundam and Godzilla,
0:53:48 > 0:53:52its attitude is beyond itself.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54Complexity but harmony.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59- This is all Japan DNA.- Yeah.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02So, how long did it take you to adjust your eye
0:54:02 > 0:54:04to Japanese aesthetics?
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Cos the look of everything is very different to
0:54:06 > 0:54:08what you were used to in California.
0:54:08 > 0:54:13Almost every day I wake up, I live in Tokyo, and...
0:54:13 > 0:54:16there is some new inspiration and a new thing
0:54:16 > 0:54:20that I didn't know about or I hadn't felt its nuance,
0:54:20 > 0:54:22and the nuance became apparent.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25The collection of everything is obvious,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29but each thing is important and has great meaning,
0:54:29 > 0:54:34so you have to kind of learn each one of those as a designer.
0:54:34 > 0:54:39Even in complexity, the Japanese are seeking harmony.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42There is also a sense of humbleness, trust.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47The Japanese consider their actions on other people
0:54:47 > 0:54:53as a priority, so when they make an object like this,
0:54:53 > 0:54:57that's a huge responsibility for my Japanese team.
0:54:57 > 0:55:03The taxis and many parts of Japanese society are comfortably traditional.
0:55:05 > 0:55:06They're not ageing, they don't look...
0:55:06 > 0:55:09there's no patina, they're immaculate.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11But on the other hand,
0:55:11 > 0:55:15the culture and the country is known for progress and change
0:55:15 > 0:55:19and the future, and they live together, these two things.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22A polite society that is so respectful...
0:55:23 > 0:55:28..that actually it's working every day to break paradigms
0:55:28 > 0:55:31and to bring the future, a new future.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35Usually, a society that's bent on creating the new
0:55:35 > 0:55:40has a sense of revolution in every part of its fabric.
0:55:40 > 0:55:41Japan, no.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45A very old country with deep culture,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47but is dreaming constantly.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55They're dreaming of the future, and here it is.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59In the West we worry about robots,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02but here they say dozo - come on in.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07There's a pinch of the samurai in this robotic DNA,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10and that's because they're just here to serve, nothing more.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20When they want to impress the Japanese public
0:56:20 > 0:56:25with 21st-century thinking, tech turns to the symbolic helpmate
0:56:25 > 0:56:28to embody promises of shiny times to come.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32- ROBOT:- Let's shake hands to remember your visit.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35Ryan, I hear that you are a conceptual artist.
0:56:35 > 0:56:36That is interesting.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40What's really obvious about Asimo here
0:56:40 > 0:56:42is that he's incredibly strong
0:56:42 > 0:56:45and he could probably take me out with one swipe.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48The other thing that was really interesting, when he shook my hand,
0:56:48 > 0:56:51is the attention to detail in the design.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55The texture of his hand is really like skin and it's warm.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58I really felt like I was shaking hands with a person.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01You know why they've made him that size?
0:57:01 > 0:57:02So he's not intimidating.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07He's a good scale for me as a little friend
0:57:07 > 0:57:11cos I can get eye-level contact with him.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15But what's apparent also is he's been pre-programmed with
0:57:15 > 0:57:18really old-fashioned values and ethics and morals.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21There's a lot of civility and dignity in him,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24and he's a really gentle kind of creature.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28There's a sort of deference to his ancestors,
0:57:28 > 0:57:30which is essentially me and you.
0:57:31 > 0:57:32HE CHUCKLES
0:57:34 > 0:57:36Can I pour you a cold drink?
0:57:36 > 0:57:38Yes, please.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41Asimo is an internet star.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45He carries an easily understood message about the future, and Japan,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47to the outside world.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50Thank you.
0:57:50 > 0:57:51Cheers.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55At home, he says a lot more.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59Another symbol with multiple meanings to people here.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05Telling them who they are, who they were and who they will be.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11A kit of parts for an idea of Japan.