Episode 1 Japan's Northern Wilderness

Adventurer and naturalist Steve Backshall has circumnavigated the globe.

We are so, so lucky.

But there's one country that draws him back, again and again - Japan.

Japan is so unique. It's an incredibly diverse place.

Somewhere where people are immensely proud of their heritage and culture.

With him is his wife, Helen Glover.

She's a champion athlete,

world record holder and two-time Olympic gold-medal-winning rower.

It is amazing being back on the water.

I really think that to be immersed in the culture in Japan is really

unique and really special.

Steve wants Helen to experience Japan by going somewhere he's never been before.

They are going off the beaten track to the lesser-known highlands

of Japan's northern wilderness.

The rugged north of Japan's main island is one of the country's

wildest territories,

with active volcanoes, ancient mountain shrines

and abundant wildlife.

Helen and Steve will zigzag down the six provinces of this region

of outstanding natural beauty known as Tohoku.

In all, they'll be travelling some 2,000km in a little under

two weeks.

It's a landscape of extreme contrast,

where autumn turns rapidly to winter.

Outdoor enthusiasts Helen and Steve relish the challenge.

It's like a postcard. It's absolutely stunning.

At the northernmost tip of mainland Japan is Aomori,

renowned for its apple orchards,

fresh fish and having some of the heaviest snowfall on the planet.

Wildlife expert Steve is hoping to begin their adventure

by showing Helen some of the animals special to this region.

So this is us for the night.

-It's so pretty.

-They've come to meet professional wildlife photographer

Takayuki Isoyama and his wife Ryoko,

whose family have been welcoming guests to their hostel

for more than 50 years.

Mr Isoyama has been helping visitors track the local wildlife

and capturing rare sightings on camera for 30 years.

Are they all your photos?

-My pictures.

-Ah, snow monkey.

Snow monkey.

Look at that baby.

Isn't that beautiful?

About one, one month.

One month?

That is so cute.

This is what we're here to see.

So is it native to Japan or this part of Japan?

This is a very, very Japanese animal.

Is it a goat?

No, no, it's not.

From a zoological perspective, it's a difficult one.

It's officially a goat antelope.

They are a really, really unusual animal.

So this would be a real first for me, I've never seen a serow before.

And they are really unique to this part of the world.

It's such an incredible looking animal.

So if we manage to get that, that would be...

-That would be amazing!

-That would be nice, that would be great.

It's November and the first snow has come early.

Is it a bad sign that my fingers are already cold?

Er, yeah!

Just the last place you'd expect to go looking for a monkey, isn't it?

-I know.

-It just doesn't fit.

Steve's expert eye soon spots the traces of their first animal.

-Oh!

-What?

Look at this.

-Those...

-I can tell you it's poo.

It is poo. Yeah.

That's serow.

So that is...

the goat antelope that occurs here and nowhere else.

And you see how fresh that is?

I'll take your word for it!

Fresh tracks mean the serow can't be far away.

There's a serow.

What a stroke of luck!

Amazing. My first ever serow.

Wow! It's so beautiful.

It's just staring at us.

It's got such a shaggy...

It looks quite soft, doesn't it?

Yeah.

I expected it to look a bit more like a goat but it doesn't look

-at all like a goat.

-This is such a special animal.

So...

This is the only place in the world that you find this Japanese serow.

Only on these islands. They are endemic to here.

-And its your first one!

-It's my first one, I know.

Absolutely amazing.

Well, that is a fantastic bonus.

Very, very odd-looking animal.

It is, it has kind of got stumpy legs.

-It's not at all what I thought it would look like.

-Yeah.

Very strange, long face.

Very shaggy fur, particularly this time of year.

The Japanese serow was previously hunted near to extinction.

But with no natural predators, it's now thriving.

-That was cool.

-Really nice.

Also roaming far and wide in the extensive forests here

are the elusive snow monkeys.

But winter shrinks their feeding grounds, making them easier to spot.

Ah, there they are.

-Wow!

-Just below us, look at that.

Oh, my God.

-OK.

-OK.

We are so, so lucky.

This is brilliant.

That is amazing.

-How about that?

-Out of nowhere.

This is exactly what I was saying.

They are feeding in the top of the pine trees.

You can see this one here actually has a pine cone in its hands.

It's just nibbling away to get at the seeds that are inside it.

And they're all just perched precariously over the top

of the water, aren't they? It's fabulous.

In fact, once you get your eye in, there's dozens of them.

-There's quite a few.

-There are, yeah.

You can see how the actual waves are almost crashing below them,

-clear water.

-Yeah.

-And a monkey sat above it.

I know. It's such a bizarre sight.

I've filmed primates all over the world but there's nowhere

that it's like this. There's nowhere where they're living in a place

where it's so cold, so challenging.

The monkeys here are the most northern-dwelling primates in the world.

You are so jammy with wildlife!

-I know!

-It does have to be said, I kind of think that I should be

-taking you with me on all my filming trips.

-That sounds good!

Back after their hike,

Helen and Steve are staying on the edge of this remote peninsula

with their hosts.

But as it's a youth hostel,

they're going to have to make their own beds.

-Shall we have a race?

-No, this is not a good idea.

See, you thought I was going to be bringing you to a flashy five-star hotel.

I did not think that, Steve! I definitely didn't think that!

Here you are, in a youth hostel, making your own bed.

The next day, Steve and Helen are both eager to explore

the marine life on this coastline that regularly provides

some of Japan's most sought-after catch.

But this morning seems like downtime in the village.

This is definitely not peak fishing season.

I wouldn't much fancy being out there right now.

It kind of looks like most of the village has shut up shop, doesn't it?

It's quite quiet.

-It's beautiful, though.

-Yeah.

-It's really pretty.

When the harsh northern winter hits a fishing village like this,

there's still plenty of work going behind closed doors.

Ooh, wow! It's a wall of fish.

-Smells amazing.

-It hits you in the face.

Konnichiwa.

Ah, can I try? Thank you.

I have my tool.

The women of the village are preparing sardines for the barbecue,

a traditional winter delicacy to be sold in the city markets.

So it's the same...? You go for the ones that are all the same kind of size?

I'm being laughed at over here, Steve!

OK?

It's not good when you're laughed at when you put on your first fish.

No!

I'm not sure if I'm helping or hindering.

I'm sure you're helping. Every single one that I've put on

to the stick, this lady here has assessed and checked.

Ah!

You have to keep the front in line, Steve.

They don't want a jagged edge.

-Oh, OK.

-Yeah.

I guess we kind of think of Japan as being like a super-modern nation.

And all of a sudden finding something like this where you're

-just thrown back in time. Amazing, isn't it?

-Do you know what, though,

it's so lovely that you can meet people and just get stuck in like this.

Well, there's my sardine lollipop.

-I'm really proud of mine.

-Yours is way better than mine.

I know.

I have a feeling that as soon as we're finished they're just going to

take all my fish off the stick and put it on again.

Yeah, start again.

Can you ask them who's better?

-We're the same.

-Oh, what!

I thought she said I won.

Arigatou gozaimasu.

They now drive 200km to the marshy coastal wetlands of Lake Jusanko.

In early December, the temperature here plummets below freezing...

..as the icy winds begin to blast in from Siberia,

heralding the arrival of winter.

Let's go away, he said.

Let's have a nice relaxing holiday.

Yeah.

But it does feel like the extreme wild north that you promised me.

It does.

This place used to be known as the end of the road.

Right now it kind of feels like the end of the world.

But it has got a savage beauty about it, hasn't it?

But in a weird way,

I actually love weather like this cos you just have to get involved,

-don't you? You've got no choice but to embrace it otherwise you'll never step outside.

-Yeah, it's true.

There's a lot of life out here, though. You know, there's loads

and loads of ducks and other wildfowl on the water.

-There's actually quite a lot of birds out here when you get your eye in.

-Yeah.

These are whooper swans and they spend a lot of the year up in the

Arctic tundra. So this is probably like a winter holiday to them.

I think also being out here on the rice paddies, as well,

they've got lots to feed on.

The swans don't seem bothered about the cold at all.

I wish I was a swan right now.

-They look really cosy.

-Yeah.

Following the swans' example, Steve and Helen are heading south.

They find shelter aboard the most northerly train line

on Japan's main island.

Special winter trains have run across the Tsugaru Plains

since the line was built more than 80 years ago.

Smoke billows out of chimneys in the roof from the coal-fired stoves

that warm the carriage.

Definitely not what I pictured if someone said you were taking a train journey in Japan.

-Yeah.

-But they do call this the cosy train.

-Do you know that?

-The cosy train?

Yeah. The stove train or the cosy train.

-It's proper cosy.

-I know.

And the stove has another particular use.

So this is the squid then?

So we take some of this and we put it on the stove.

Are we about to cook squid on a train?

-Yes, we are.

-That's a sentence I never thought I would say.

Can you imagine that happening on a train back home?

It smells so good, though.

It does smell good.

Oh, wow, that was quick.

Wow. I think we put it on here, Steve.

OK. Yep.

Right, let's give it a try.

Oh, my days.

You need quite strong teeth.

But it's really tasty. The more you chew, the better it gets.

Your face tells me you're not so keen.

I'm not so keen.

I think I can polish this off.

I'm really into it. Squid's my new thing.

There's people on here who are definitely here for the experience,

-aren't they? They're here for the nostalgia like we are.

-Yeah.

And some people... It's their daily commute

and it's totally normal for them.

There is something so nostalgic about being on a train like this

and just trundling along, seeing the scenery roll past you.

Especially somewhere like Japan where, you think of trains,

you think of bullet trains going at 300mph across the country.

It is. And especially when it's so cold outside,

to be sat here with the stove warming you.

-Yeah.

-I feel the heat on the side of my face from the stove.

-I know, it's great, isn't it?

-A nice way to take a long journey, though.

Leaving Aomori behind,

Helen and Steve continue on their 2,000km journey by road,

south into Iwate...

..whose mountainous spine makes this the most sparsely-populated

province of Japan's crowded mainland.

Deep in the Tono Valley,

notable for its rustic folk traditions and architecture...

..they have chosen a farm stay for the night...

..where they're greeted with traditional Japanese warmth

by owners Mr and Mrs Yomada.

Konnichiwa.

They spent eight years restoring their 200-year-old home

to all its glory.

-It's beautiful.

-Yeah, beautiful.

Yeah. It's perfect.

Isn't it?

Oh, yeah. Like a thatched roof.

Yes, I noticed.

This might well be the most traditional place I've ever stayed.

-Really?

-Yeah, I think so.

Steve and Helen are welcomed as the last guests before Mr and Mrs Yomada

close up for winter.

Oh!

That is very Zen, isn't it?

The whole place - just so perfect.

Everything is exactly in its place.

And it's simple.

It's cut back. This is one of the things that is really typical

about Japanese culture, is just attention to detail.

It's all about the finest little minutiae.

And this place is perfect.

This is where we're sleeping?

Yeah, yeah, it is.

-Oh, wow.

-This is our bedroom.

Where are the beds?

Oh, wow.

The house adjoins the old stable,

originally to share warmth from the stove with their horses.

Now their hosts accommodate travellers for dinner, bed and breakfast,

with tasty local specialities made with home-grown vegetables.

-I thought we were just getting soup.

-Oh, wow. The most beautiful plate...

of food I've ever seen.

Arigato.

This is like a work of art.

Yeah. It is.

Kind of feels like the kind of place that could have sinister spirits

hanging around outside the doors.

With its paper walls and sliding screens,

there's still no central heating under the thatched roof.

So I guess later we can wrap ourselves under about 100 layers

of blankets and go and tell spooky stories.

Sounds good.

The following day, Helen and Steve cross the mountains into Akita province,

where the temperature continues to plummet.

We're in a winter wonderland.

I know, it's beautiful.

Tohoku is home to 18 active volcanoes,

and Akita in particular is dotted with volcanic hot springs

and mineral pools.

In winter, many of the roads here are closed.

Still open is Goshogake Onsen,

home to a volcanic hot spring and Japan's largest mud volcano...

..only accessible at this time of year on skis or snowshoes.

So how are you finding it, Hels?

Not too bad. I'm finding it quite easy.

I'm absolutely loving it.

I should think so, too. Pretty much our first date was on snowshoes.

Very surreal that in amongst all the glittering ice and snow is steam.

Every so often I get a waft of heat.

A waft of heat and a smell of stinking, rotten eggs.

I think this is kind of what I pictured when I thought about

how wild it could be.

And how perfect.

Yeah. Particularly now when it's fresh snow and no signs, no tracks.

We're the first people to come this way.

Whoa!

That is so dramatic.

Oh, wow.

Feel that steam in your face.

This is a cracking view from here, though, isn't it?

It is so, so beautiful.

And we're only two hours' walk away from the active volcano.

-Yeah.

-Which is on 24-hour watch.

So we're in the zone.

I think we're going to be OK, though.

It looks so inviting, doesn't it?

But actually the water is like 90 degrees-plus so I think if we

dived in there, it would really hurt.

Yeah, you can't imagine it being that warm when you're stood in this cold.

I know.

That's one of the things that's most intriguing about Japan,

is that massive duality between fire and ice.

You've got these mountains that through so much of the year

are covered in deep, deep snow, but because we are on the Ring of Fire,

the volcanic activity here is second to none, you know.

Well over 100 active volcanoes in Japan,

and they just keep popping off all the time.

And you get to places like this where you've got the vents

with steam and hot mud.

It really is somewhere that feels elemental.

It feels like you're almost close to the birth of the world.

Volcanic magma runs so close to the surface here that it heats the water,

and the local guide wants to show them just how hot it is.

-OK.

-A thermometer?

Good idea.

My guess is around 80 degrees.

Oh, that's big.

I think this is a little bit further away from the main pool so I'm going...

..60.

There you go. It's zooming up.

Oh, wow.

-That's 70.

-Don't burn yourself.

70 degrees and counting.

The hottest ones are 93, 94 degrees.

-Wow.

-Which is full-on.

-Nana-ju go.

-Nana-ju go.

75.

OK, that's more like it.

Wow.

Yeah. You do get them at least 80 around here.

So you have to be very careful where you walk.

Tohoku's volcanic region has blessed it with an extraordinarily

beautiful landscape.

But the elemental forces that shape Japan also provide

its civilising pleasures.

Nestling in the beech forest on the other side of the volcano

is Tsurunoyu Onsen.

It's a hot spring dating from the 17th-century Samurai period.

Once only for aristocrats, now open to all,

with healing properties that Helen and Steve have come to experience

after their strenuous mountain hike.

So nice.

This is such a nice way to start the day.

-Yeah.

-A little bit different from your normal start to the day.

Yeah. Probably I would have done a couple of laps of the lake.

This is the exact opposite.

Yeah.

Tsurunoyu Onsen takes its name from the legend that a local hunter

saw a badly injured crane, tsuru in Japanese,

healing its wounds in the mineral water here.

How are your aches and pains feeling?

Pretty good. Pretty good.

There's no doubt that a soak in a hot bath

really sorts out your aches, doesn't it?

But it's supposedly more than that, the minerals.

Hence the colour of the water.

-Yeah.

-I think this particular onsen is where people go for aches and pains.

And have done for over 300 years.

Yeah. It's amazing.

-And you can go and bath in the same place as ancient samurais.

-Yeah.

The whole idea of the onsen hot spring.

And having an island that is so dominated by volcanic activity,

it's not surprising, really.

And I love the fact that aside from people using it as health benefits,

I think definitely these people seem very holistically health-conscious.

But it's also quite a nice social thing.

You know, you see people coming with their friends and their brothers or

-sisters.

-It's such a massive part of Japanese culture.

We're in the middle of this beautiful beech forest and you've

got this steaming natural hot tub in amongst the snow.

Everything here just kind of looks like a silkscreen painting.

Now 1,000km into their journey through Tohoku,

Helen and Steve pause for sushi

and a moment to reflect on their progress.

So what's your favourite bit been so far?

One of the nicest things has been, people really are warm.

And they want you into their hearts and their homes, they want to teach you and tell you,

even if they don't have a sit-down conversation.

I just got this sense of what it's really like to live this far north,

this far away from cities.

-What have you enjoyed?

-I've not been to this part of Japan before,

and it has a very different, rustic flavour to it.

-Does it?

-That I really like.

Yeah. I think you get a sense of what rural Japan is like

for real people here.

-Has it surprised you?

-Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. But the thing about Japan is,

every day surprises me anyway,

no matter how often I come here, no matter how much time I spend here,

there are always new things to find out every single day.

Yeah.

And there are more discoveries to be made.

Helen and Steve still have another three provinces to explore

and about 1,000km left to travel.

Despite the fact that we are in just one region of Japan,

there's still an immense amount for us to cover.

You know, we have still only scratched the surface of Tohoku.

We still have lots and lots to see.

I think what I'm looking forward to seeing in this half of our trip

is that picture-postcard Japan.

You know when you think about the buildings that people live in,

but also the temples and that really spiritual side.

So to do just that, they're heading to a spiritual part of Yamagata.

Yamagata is home to the three holy mountains of Dewa Sanzan,

a pilgrimage site for 14 centuries.

It's the centre of worship for the Shugendo sect,

who believes that pain and endurance can lead to enlightenment.

Helen and Steve are meeting Shugendo devotee, Mr Kazuro Hayasaka.

He's one of the mountain-climbing ascetic monks called yamabushi,

or "men who lie down on the mountain".

HORN BLOWS

Here we go. This is exciting.

Like all pilgrims, they're dressed in traditional yamabushi outfits,

with hakama trousers and a suzukake robe,

unchanged for 1,000 years.

To get a sense of the pain and endurance the yamabushi go through

to reach enlightenment, they're taking on the steps of Mount Haguro.

I'm going to count every one of them.

But, as always, a big journey begins with a single pace.

HORN BLOWS

Well, I make this 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.

-Wow.

-This bridge is absolutely stunning.

Look at that waterfall.

So usually the initiates will come here for yamabushi and they will get

into the water, underneath the waterfall, and they will meditate.

I guess what he's saying is that, yes, it's very cold,

but you would try and separate your mental and your physical.

So your physical body may be going through extremes of cold but if you

can meditate and take yourself away from that, then you don't feel it.

I love this, because there's a lot of similarity in that and rowing.

Because I honestly think the best rowers are the ones that can

separate that mental... That voice inside you that says,

"Stop, you're in too much pain."

If you can separate yourself mentally,

then you can push yourself far harder than other people can.

He said you're already a yamabushi!

-Already!

-You are.

-Yes!

I don't need to get in the waterfall.

They may have escaped the cold waters,

but they still have the mountain to climb.

Do you reckon we're nearly there yet?

Think we've got about 2,400 to go.

It's this arduous ascent that's said to bring enlightenment.

At least for some.

Wow. It just turned from meditation into mountaineering.

This is more my kind of walking.

Everything's about training for you, isn't it?

I know. I think it's just the mentality I'm in.

Even when we're just walking, have a bit of silence, and I was thinking,

"I can really feel my glutes working."

"Yeah, that's 500 calories."

But, no, I'll try and be more in touch with nature and Zen.

As they climb, they pass a 1,000-year-old cedar

called the Grandfather Tree,

which provides a moment to stop and reflect for those on pilgrimage.

That is extraordinary.

Just imagine what was happening when this was a sapling.

Back home in the UK, people were living in the Dark Ages.

And 1,000 years of history here in Japan, that's seen -

it's a bewildering thought.

If you come here and you meditate or you pray,

especially if you are local,

and you know that your ancestors have done the same...

I mean, this tree would have seen so many generations

and different people.

A lot of Shugendo is about contemplating your place in nature,

and when you stand here as a human being with a lifespan of maybe

80 years, in front of a tree that's been here for 1,000,

it gives you perspective. I think it enables you to perceive yourself

as part of a natural environment that's bigger than you,

that somehow makes you feel very small.

On their journey towards enlightenment, Helen and Steve

reach another significant landmark of the pilgrimage.

First of all, it's 600 years old.

And then the things that are unique about it are that it doesn't have

any nails, so it's built by stacking all of the wood on top of each other.

And it's quite unique in that the rooms are the same height.

Normally when you see a pagoda like this, they start getting smaller and smaller as they get towards the top.

It's a bit of an optical illusion, isn't it?

Because it does actually look like the roof on the top is smaller

but they're actually the same size.

So this is the one we were reading about,

where a lot of Japan's modern buildings have features

based on this building, built 600 years ago.

So one of the features is there's a pendulum inside which gives it balance,

especially if there's an earthquake,

-it kind of prevents the building from falling over.

-Shifts...

And the other thing is that, because of its structure,

and because there aren't any nails, it actually in the earthquake

does shift a little bit so it has movement,

it's not totally rigid.

And modern-day skyscrapers in Japan...

-Are built to do the same thing.

-..are built to do the same thing,

based off the workings of a 600-year-old building

with no nails in.

In winter, when it's quieter here,

it's easy to slip into a moment of reflection.

THEY SPEAK JAPANESE

That means, "you must be tired."

And having climbed for a couple of hours,

they finally reach the summit.

They say goodbye to their guide...

..and join the Shinto shrine's regular ceremony.

People come from all over the world to pray at this holy site,

where the Shinto priest helps pass messages

from the pilgrims to the gods.

So are you feeling cleansed?

This is amazing. The effort that must have been put in to building this,

building these huge bells and thick thatching hundreds of years ago.

The people put that much effort into that sort of sense of spirituality

and the importance of us keeping in touch with nature.

It's really special.

I kind of feel like I've had more of a connection to the philosophical

side of Japan in this one day than I have done in all the years

that I've spent here in the past.

For the people of northern Japan,

spirituality has a deep connection with nature,

something that Steve is keen to explore further.

So to see more, they're heading to Miyagi, the fifth province of the trip.

Miyagi means Palace Castle.

It's a buffer between the wilds of the north and the more developed south.

Helen and Steve are heading into better weather,

and to Kinkasan Island - home to an 8th-century Shinto shrine,

and some sacred animals.

So do you think we're going to see much wildlife here?

Oh, yeah, for sure. Kinkasan's very well-known for its wildlife.

And actually, most of it, we're not going to have to work that hard to find.

The entire island is a Shinto shrine.

Most Japanese people observe both Buddhism and Shinto.

While Buddhism is a tradition that focuses on personal spiritual

development, Shinto is an animistic ancient folk religion,

which worships spirits that dwell in nature, in mountains, rocks,

rivers and, of course, animals.

So the deer weren't particularly hard to find, were they?

-No.

-He's so friendly.

Well, it is very much like this at Shinto shrines all over Japan.

They're often absolutely filled with deer,

and they're hand-fed all the time.

So they're totally habituated to human contact.

-Shall we head on up?

-Yeah.

When you visit a Shinto shrine,

it's important to first take part in a ritual purification.

This trip's turning into good training.

It is. It's just one long flight of stairs, isn't it?

This particular shrine is said to be for the gods of wealth

and prosperity, and I'm wondering if staying makes us even more prosperous.

Even more prosperous? You must be joking! You haven't seen my bank account.

I should probably have told you about this before we got married.

If you visit once a year for three consecutive years,

legend has it you will have no financial difficulties

for the rest of your life.

So there are a set ritual of things that you do when you're coming up

to a shrine like this.

So you clap your hands to frighten away any bad spirits.

Bow to show deference.

And then here, at this particular shrine,

people tie usually a five-yen coin.

Here you are speculating to accumulate.

Keeping the wealth theme.

Yeah. So you're hoping that the gods are going to show you favour

and you're going to receive financial benefit.

I think the most extraordinary thing about this place, though,

is just seeing how long this building's lasted for.

-Yeah.

-The first buildings here were sort of 700AD.

Some of these are going to be nearly 1,000 years old.

It is amazing, cos this island is the closest landmass to the

epicentre of the earthquake which caused the tsunami in 2011.

-And it's still here. It's mind-blowing.

-Yeah.

It survived through centuries of volcanism, earthquakes, tsunamis.

They just don't build them like they used to.

Hello.

The shrine's upkeep is partly reliant on offerings,

so Helen and Steve want to purchase a copper tile for the roof.

Copper is seen as a precious metal to the gods of wealth.

Konnichiwa.

And by putting their name and address on the roof tile,

the gods will know where to find them.

So we just put our name and our address on the tile.

So these copper tiles are going to end up...

..roofing the shrine,

and keeping up those continual bits and bobs that always need

to be repaired.

Are you doing it in Japanese?

Yeah, I'm going to try it.

Sutibu.

Your name's actually pretty easy, cos you've got...

He...

..re...

n.

-Wow.

-Heren. Heren.

-Heren and Steve.

-That's cool.

Isn't it? Do you know what's even cooler, though?

Is that Backshall can be written in Japanese characters

to mean an explosion of laughter.

-That's what Backshall means.

-That is so you.

Well, now, it's so us.

-There you go.

-That's so cheesy.

I think I say this every day, but this is my new favourite place in Japan.

-Have I said that to everywhere we've been so far?

-Pretty much.

-But I think this is it.

Kinkasan is really special. Having a place like this is where the entire

island is a shrine is very unusual.

Every single foot of ground here is sacred.

And I can kind of understand it. You know, it seems very natural.

Certainly when you're standing here and you're looking at a view like that.

I think you wouldn't be human if you didn't feel something

stirring inside you.

This shrine is still a pilgrimage site today,

as people come here for a Shinto blessing.

And the spiritual aspect of Japanese life is starting to rub off on Helen

and Steve.

As soon as we walked through those gates that signify a holy place,

I wouldn't say I'm massively spiritual person,

but I think because of the connection with nature,

I'm really finding myself going, "Oh, yeah."

They're not the same words I would use, that's not the same way I would

always look at it, but it is the same thing, that appreciation of what surrounds you.

And here it does feel more spiritual.

Having got in touch with their spiritual side on Kinkasan Island,

Steve and Helen each want to challenge their body.

So they're heading to Sendai, the capital of Miyagi,

a homeland for many martial arts.

Steve first came to Japan to study judo and karate.

And he can't resist entering another dojo, or training hall,

to practise a 400-year-old fighting style he's never tried.

This is so different from any martial art that I've ever studied before.

All of the modern martial arts have come out of old fighting forms like this,

particularly jujitsu and judo.

This is a completely ancient Samurai fighting form.

You can see in what they're wearing that it hasn't changed in centuries.

No. No, exactly.

This style is known as yagyu shingan-ryu, a form of jujitsu.

All martial arts have a name.

Judo is "the gentle way" and karate is "the way of the empty hand".

This is "the way of mind's eye",

so the whole idea of it is that you are perceiving what your opponent is

going to do before they do it,

you're getting into your opponent's head.

But will it be easy for Steve to get into his opponent's mind?

Martial arts schools are common across the region and popular with

visitors and locals alike.

Steve has obviously impressed the masters and,

with a few new moves to add to his repertoire,

it's time to explore the last province on their trip, Fukushima.

Now recovering from the earthquake and tsunami of 2011,

Fukushima is a place of hiking, mountain springs and skiing.

But there is one place to shelter from the cold - underground.

And Steve is hoping to surprise Helen with some wildlife hidden

in these caves.

Tight squeeze.

-Breathe in, Steve!

-What are you saying?

I'm just not built for this!

This is the Irimizu limestone cave system.

There is nearly 1km of trails open throughout the year and it's filled

with snowmelt that filters down from the mountains above.

It's quite a lot of water.

It is.

And it's cold too.

-Ow!

-Are you OK?

I just smacked my head again.

The tight tunnels and sharp bends quickly block out the wind from outside,

making it a good place for various Vesper bat species to spend the winter.

-Isn't that amazing?

-Wow.

This is hibernating.

I've never been this close to a bat that's hanging.

You can see its toes and it just looks like it's got no effort in holding on.

You'd think to hold its own body weight up upside down...

That's exactly right, and that's one of the most unique things about bats.

When we relax, our hands fall open, but when bats relax,

they close up and clench.

So it's actually perfectly relaxed right now.

No energy whatsoever to hang there in that position and it will be here

for the entirety of the winter.

You can feel it is slightly warmer inside the cave so it's a great

environment for them to hibernate.

Leaving the bats in the warmth of the cave,

it's time for Helen's physical challenge and she has an opportunity

to do something close to her heart.

Konnichiwa.

The Tohoku University rowing club was devastated in the 2011 tsunami

and Helen wants to see how they are getting on at their new training camp.

Amazing. So do you row together as a team?

-Yes.

-So can I join your team today?

-Yes.

-Amazing!

Many of these athletes are hopefuls for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,

so rowing with a double Olympic gold medallist is a great inspiration.

And for Helen, she will take any chance to get back in a boat...

..whatever the weather.

It is amazing being back on the water.

And you girls are doing an awesome job.

I feel like I'm fitting in to the team all right.

After a tough training session, they come in to refuel.

It's a chance for Helen to speak to the university's rowing coach,

Matuzawa Gaku,

about how they bounced back in the years after the tsunami devastated

the area and the club.

As a sport and as a community, did any of the rowing boats survive?

-Almost nothing.

-Wow.

It must have been very difficult to see.

Thanks to donations from their alumni,

the university boat club has been completely rebuilt.

How do you feel the club is improving?

Do you see it getting better?

-After the disaster?

-Yeah.

Getting improving because we...

That crew was

number one crew in national rowing championships.

It hasn't actually been that long and yet five years later,

you have a thriving boat club, the community has sport to hold on to,

and you know it was the right thing.

For me, that's just...

That's so amazing to hear.

Sport has been a big part of my life and I know what it can do to people

and for their lives, but I've never seen it

so close to something that's been so important.

Even in these really hard times, to say that sport is still important,

I think that's amazing. So thank you for doing that and for our sport

to play a part in holding the community together.

Thank you. I agree with you.

It's a fitting end to their emotional trip.

It really is somewhere that feels elemental,

it feels like you're almost close to the birth of the world.

After travelling nearly 2,000km, they have visited all six

provinces in northern Japan.

Everything here just kind of looks like a silkscreen painting.

This is the end of our journey.

You've had your first taste of Japan.

-What do you make of it?

-I love it, I really love it.

I don't think I've seen anything that has felt as much genuine Japan

as here, kind of rustic, real, authentic Japan.

Everywhere we've gone has had something about it,

whether it's the people or the buildings or the wildlife.

You just don't know what you're going to see when you turn up at the next place.

Yeah, every single time you think you've got it

and every time you think you understand the place,

you unpeel another layer and find something new and something deeper.

And that is what is going to keep bringing me back to Japan

for the rest of my life.

With you, of course!

For more on Steve and Helen's journey, visit bbc.co.uk/earth.