0:00:13 > 0:00:17As a geologist, I believe that civilisations
0:00:17 > 0:00:20around the world are driven by the rocks beneath our feet.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24In this series, I'll be travelling around the Pacific Rim
0:00:24 > 0:00:27to visit some of the most volatile places on Earth,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31and discover how rocks are fundamental to human existence.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39I'm visiting the perilous volcanic landscapes of Indonesia.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45The geological booby traps of California.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51And the hostile peaks of the Andes.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59In this programme, I'll experience the breathtaking beauty of Japan
0:00:59 > 0:01:05where a nation's culture has been inescapably defined by a geological curse.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Japan is one of the most dramatic and beautiful places on earth.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38But here, the geological forces that created this awesome landscape
0:01:38 > 0:01:41have also dealt the Japanese a harsh hand.
0:01:45 > 0:01:51The problem is, this kind of rugged landscape covers three-quarters of the country.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04And it has forced the population on to a few small coastal plains,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07which have become some of the most overcrowded places on the planet.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19I'm fascinated by the impact geology can have on people's lives
0:02:19 > 0:02:25and I'm going to discover what the consequences are for the 127 million people living here.
0:02:26 > 0:02:33'I'll be finding out how this mountainous topography has shaped spirituality,
0:02:33 > 0:02:34'and everything from living space...'
0:02:34 > 0:02:37I can nearly touch both sides!
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Compact and bijou or what?
0:02:40 > 0:02:42'..to etiquette...'
0:02:42 > 0:02:44I don't think I can do that. Oh!
0:02:44 > 0:02:46'..and entertainment.'
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Hey, hey, hey, hey!
0:02:51 > 0:02:58And by the end, I hope to have discovered the secret of how Japan has overcome its geological curse.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10In Japan, three-quarters of the country's population
0:03:10 > 0:03:15is crowded into massive urban areas, sprawling endlessly across its coastal plains.
0:03:20 > 0:03:27Packed in cheek by jowl, these people are living in one of the most densely populated places on earth.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39You don't have to look far to find signs of a country where space is scarce.
0:03:39 > 0:03:45When it comes to building houses every square centimetre is at a premium.
0:03:47 > 0:03:53Most houses and apartments here are over 20% smaller than in Western Europe.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04At the core of the Tokyo central business district this much space,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08a square metre, costs three-quarters of a million pounds.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Domestic housing suffers from high land values, too.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18This is the Nakagin Tower in the heart of Tokyo.
0:04:18 > 0:04:25Here the Japanese have made the most of the lack of space and created a monument to miniaturisation.
0:04:25 > 0:04:33'I've come to see Seibee Yamashita, an international lawyer, who has lived here for 15 years.'
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Look at this place! This is amazing!
0:04:36 > 0:04:42- Ah! I can nearly touch both sides! - Yeah.- Compact and bijou or what?
0:04:42 > 0:04:46My mum and dad used to have a caravan and it was just like this.
0:04:46 > 0:04:47Where are your things?
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Ah, yes.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51This... This is my library.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56- This is your library?- Yes. - All right, yeah, I can see that.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58- This is my desk.- Your desk?- Mmm.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00Look at that.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04- And then I can work.- That looks fine, actually, doesn't it?
0:05:04 > 0:05:08- This is a refrigerator for something to drink.- So where's your kitchen?
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Oh, there's no kitchen in the room.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13But what if you want to cook food?
0:05:13 > 0:05:19I buy hot food in the convenience store downstairs.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23- So you have a convenience store downstairs?- Yeah. - How convenient!- Mmm.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25So where's your bed?
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Oh, this is bed.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29- This is the bed?- Yeah.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31What, like...?
0:05:31 > 0:05:33No. No, no, no.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35I'm sorry.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37It folds out.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41- Like this.- Well, that's not too bad, is it?- Mmm.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43This looks quite comfy, actually.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48- Yes.- But what's it actually like living in such a small place?
0:05:48 > 0:05:51That's enough for me. Enough for me.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55- Right. Why do people live in such small rooms in Tokyo, as this?- Oh!
0:05:55 > 0:05:59- Very expensive.- Ah!
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Land of Tokyo
0:06:01 > 0:06:03is very expensive.
0:06:04 > 0:06:11'I never expected to find an international lawyer living in five square metres.'
0:06:11 > 0:06:15But it seems to accommodate Seibee and many others like him.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24If the urban plains are so claustrophobic and expensive, why don't the Japanese spread
0:06:24 > 0:06:28into the mountains, like people do in many other parts of the world?
0:06:33 > 0:06:39This is a mystery I would like to solve, and I want to know if it's all down to the geology.
0:06:43 > 0:06:50Japan is an archipelago, a chain of islands extending along the eastern coast of Asia in the Pacific.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53The country is dominated by four main islands.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The far north is on the same latitude as Montreal,
0:06:57 > 0:07:02and it stretches to Kyushu which is as far south as Miami.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12According to legend, these Japanese islands were created by gods
0:07:12 > 0:07:18who dipped a jewelled spear into a muddy sea and formed solid earth from its droplets.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26As a geologist, my view is no less poetic or dramatic.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35The earth is like a... cracked boiled egg.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40Its surface is made up of a series of plates called tectonic plates.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43There's a huge one that covers the Pacific,
0:07:43 > 0:07:50and around its edges, around the Pacific Rim, are incredibly violent forces.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54A zone of catastrophic earthquakes and volcanoes, known as "a ring of fire",
0:07:54 > 0:08:00is created as the Pacific Plate literally floats around on the Earth's viscous interior,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02moving against the surrounding plates.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07With this tofu, I'm going to show you how Japan came to be in the danger zone,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10situated at the scene of massive collision.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16On the one side, two ocean plates, the Philippines and the Pacific, which are moving westward
0:08:16 > 0:08:22at about 7 to 8 centimetres a year towards the Asian continental plate on the other side.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27Because the ocean plates are dense or heavier, they push down underneath the continental one.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32As they sunk deeper beneath it they pushed the continental plate up into a ridge.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47That ridge forms the basis of the Japanese archipelago,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51so it's no wonder this place is covered in towering peaks.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01In fact, 73% of Japan is made up of mountains.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07The classic Western view of this country being full of sheer rock faces,
0:09:07 > 0:09:12with vegetation clinging on for dear life, isn't wide of the mark.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17There are signs all over the place that it's a difficult place to live.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22There's steep, winding roads, there's hanging villages and there's landslides.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Here in the mountains, farming isn't easy.
0:09:26 > 0:09:34The soils are mostly bad, they're thin, stony, unstable, and heavy rains leech them of nutrients.
0:09:37 > 0:09:43But how has geology made these mountains so particularly hostile?
0:09:43 > 0:09:51I'm heading to central Honshu, to what are known as the Japanese Alps, in search of clues.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00The Alps, both here and in Europe, are relatively young in geological terms,
0:10:00 > 0:10:05and they're still being pushed up by all that buckling and warping.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08There hasn't been enough time for them to be eroded, worn down,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10smoothed off and levelled by the weather.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13That's why they're still sharp and steep.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Just like the European Alps, these mountains have been made
0:10:17 > 0:10:22even more rugged thanks to the work of nature's giant chisels.
0:10:22 > 0:10:23Glaciers.
0:10:26 > 0:10:33Glaciers are made up of fallen snow that over many years compresses into huge, thickened ice masses.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Over time the sheer weight of ice bears down on the rock below
0:10:40 > 0:10:45cutting away at the landscape and scouring the mountains as it moves downhill.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54There aren't any of these great rivers of ice left in Japan today,
0:10:54 > 0:10:59but 18,000 years ago there were plenty and they left their calling cards.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07A telltale sign that this landscape has been carved by glaciers
0:11:07 > 0:11:12is the presence of these U-shaped valleys with their steep sides and their flat bottoms.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15These were once V-shaped river valleys.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19But glaciers follow lines of least resistance, stealing
0:11:19 > 0:11:23the river valleys for themselves and scouring them into U-shapes.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31All that glacial sculpting makes for beautiful scenery,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35but this isn't the place for towns and villages.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Instead, for the Japanese it's a place for tourism.
0:11:44 > 0:11:52They turn up en masse, in air-conditioned coaches, bringing their urban comforts with them.
0:11:59 > 0:12:06These steaming craters are also part of Japan's geological curse.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Different forces of nature are at work here.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14But the problem is they're even less sympathetic to urban settlement.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21To show you what I mean,
0:12:21 > 0:12:23I'm heading to Kyushu Island,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25nearly 1,000 kilometres to the south.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37This is Mount Aso, which lies almost in the centre of Kyushu.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41It's pretty much continually active.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Often it's too dangerous to come here,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46certainly not without special equipment.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49The reason it's so dangerous is that down there, sulphur dioxide
0:12:49 > 0:12:56and other toxic gases are bubbling off the molten magma, that's the molten rock far beneath the surface.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02If that magma gets to the surface, it goes bang.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05When it goes bang you hide in those shelters.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Mount Aso sits in the middle of one of the world's largest calderas.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17That's a feature created when a volcano collapses in on itself.
0:13:17 > 0:13:23This one is about 130 kilometres in circumference. You can see the edge of it just round there.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51This place feels completely different from the Alpine landscape I visited before.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05Those Alpine peaks were young, but here I feel like I've arrived right at the birth of a new planet.
0:14:07 > 0:14:13It's as if I'm the only life form in a barren and forbidding wasteland.
0:14:13 > 0:14:19That might sound a bit depressing, but to me this is geology heaven.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Just like the ridge I visited earlier,
0:14:22 > 0:14:29Mount Aso owes its existence to those oceanic plates going down underneath the continental plate.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33As they slide deeper down underneath it, fluids leave it,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37pass upwards and reduce the melting temperature of the overlying rocks.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42These melt to form magma, which forces its way up through cracks and fissures to the top.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46And when they get to the surface, it forms a volcano.
0:14:49 > 0:14:55This process of volcanic eruption and land building is still very much alive today.
0:14:55 > 0:15:01In fact about 60 of Japan's 186 volcanoes are still active.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Japan is one of the most volatile places on earth.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20And it's had more than its fair share of volcanic disaster.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31Just over 150 kilometres from Mount Aso is Mount Sakurajima.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Here, all that magma pushing up, and bursting through the fissures in the rocks,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43makes for a very perilous environment.
0:15:46 > 0:15:53In 1779, over 140 people died during a huge eruption here.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Like the victims of Pompeii, most of those perished due to a
0:15:57 > 0:16:01terrifying series of explosions, known as pyroclastic flows.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12These happen at ground level and are violent blasts of hot gases and debris material,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15like volcanic fragments such as pumice and glass shards.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22They move at high speed, 50 to 100 miles an hour.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25If you see one coming, it's too late.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46And Mount Sakurajima has been seriously dangerous ever since.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50At times during the last century,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53there have been up to 200 eruptions a year,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57earning it a place as one of the world's most active volcanoes.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Half a million people live in the shadow of the mountain in Kagoshima.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11Originally a fishing port, the city is squeezed along the shoreline.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22In the foothills of Sakurajima I meet Toru Minami who has lived here all his life.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27He teaches local people about natural history and the legends of the mountain.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30- So this is it, this is Sakurajima? - That's right, that's right.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33So what's it like when this thing actually blows off?
0:17:33 > 0:17:39Oh, today it's very quiet. Like back four, five years ago, we had four, five times in a week.
0:17:39 > 0:17:46You see that lightning on top and then huge... They're like mushroom-looking gas-smoke.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50- You get a big mushroom cloud that goes way, way up?- Way, way up.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Imagine like the atomic bomb explodes, huge in scale.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57But right after that, the thing that you don't like, ash falls.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02And then entire cities are covered with ash.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Some years, over 30 million tons of ash are discharged,
0:18:12 > 0:18:17consisting of minute particles which can lodge deep in the lungs.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25Unsurprisingly, the people of Kagoshima have to be ready for an eruption at any moment.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27ALARM BELL RINGS
0:18:33 > 0:18:38These pupils, running for their lives, are from the Oho Elementary School.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43Protected by their hard hats they dash for cover.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52Today it's only a drill, but they never know when it'll be for real.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58- Is it really necessary, all that? - It is necessary. They have to get used to it.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03If they don't know how to manage themselves like that, in case of the volcano erupts,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05they cannot control themselves.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08It's a part of their lives.
0:19:11 > 0:19:17The people around here do all they can to control the power of the volcano.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32On Sakurajima, even rainfall can be deadly.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39Following downpours, the water mixes with the ash and rock.
0:19:39 > 0:19:45This creates huge rivers of debris, we geologists call them "lahars".
0:19:45 > 0:19:50They sweep downhill travelling at over 50 miles an hour.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01I'm standing in the path of one of those rocky rivers.
0:20:01 > 0:20:08A network of massive canals has been built all over the volcano, costing two billion pounds.
0:20:08 > 0:20:14They divert the flows of muddy debris away from the people and straight down the mountain.
0:20:16 > 0:20:24The biggest flows are 600 cubic metres per second. That's equivalent to six double-decker buses rushing
0:20:24 > 0:20:29by every second, and last year these canals were used 17 times.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32You're obviously not supposed to be here.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36I've been told to be very careful and keep my ears and eyes open
0:20:36 > 0:20:39because you can't outrun one of those monsters.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46The next day, heavy rain brought a huge lahar down this very channel.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00I've got a feeling it isn't just the obvious physical dangers
0:21:00 > 0:21:03that keep the Japanese away from the volcanoes.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08There seems to be something more cultural, more spiritual going on in the mountains.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15'At the Sakurajima shrine, worshippers believe the mountain is ruled by a god.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25'Toru Minami takes me to a special service held in honour of this deity.'
0:21:32 > 0:21:36- What's he doing now?- Well, he's asking god of the volcano
0:21:36 > 0:21:39to protect the people from the anger of the god
0:21:39 > 0:21:46and at the same time to pray for the goodness and the good health of the people here.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51- So do these people believe that there's a god in the volcano? - Oh, yes, they believe in the god.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58- But what about the scientific aspects, do they...? - Oh, at the same time, yes,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01they always look at the scientific point of view, too.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05So they believe in the science and they believe in the gods at the same time?
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Yes, the balance is what they are looking for.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14So, are all mountains important, spiritual?
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Of course. The mountain itself is the house of a god.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22It is spiritually very, very important for the Japanese.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27Without the mountains, they probably would think that we cannot live, so that we always have to ask
0:22:27 > 0:22:31the god of a mountain to be quiet and to live together with us.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41'Maybe for the Japanese these mountains are more of a sacred domain for the gods
0:22:41 > 0:22:44'than a place for human habitation.'
0:22:56 > 0:22:59A few kilometres away the Island of Fire Drummers have
0:22:59 > 0:23:04taken a much more strident approach in dealing with the mountain.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13Every summer they set up shop in the middle of a field of lava flows,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16crashing their instruments as loudly as they can.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Wow! My ears are gone.
0:23:30 > 0:23:37- So, Toru, what is this?- Well, this is the typical Japanese, traditional Japanese beating, drum beating. Yeah.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Wow! And what was the music there?
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Well, the tune for that number is "Seiki Zunou".
0:23:43 > 0:23:49The literal translation for that is like "quiet mountain suddenly erupts".
0:23:49 > 0:23:52So why are they actually doing this?
0:23:52 > 0:23:59Well, it's very traditional, and then also that they - the humanity against nature.
0:23:59 > 0:24:05- So, they're drumming against the volcano?- Yes, drumming against the volcano.- Is it very difficult, this?
0:24:05 > 0:24:11It's very... Well, it looks easy, but when you actually try it, it's not that easy.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16- You can try it and see how it works already, yeah.- That big one. - OK, you can try that.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24It's quite hard. It's quite sore in your hand.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Wow, that's a big noise!
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Thank you very much. Do you know "Scotland The Brave"?
0:24:33 > 0:24:36- "Scotland The Brave"? - TORU SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:24:36 > 0:24:40IAIN HUMS "Scotland The Brave" TORU SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Whether you believe in the god of the volcano or not,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Sakurajima is due for another eruption at any time.
0:24:52 > 0:24:59I think it's amazing how these people have come to terms with life in the shadow of the volcano,
0:24:59 > 0:25:04but for most Japanese this kind of existence is quite simply a risk too far.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13As if the mountains aren't enough to force the people onto the plains,
0:25:13 > 0:25:15there's the weather, too.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Rather like us Brits, as a matter of routine,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26people always seem to greet each other by commenting on it
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and the changing seasons attract plenty of media attention.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Look, front page news in yesterday's paper.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Rainy season ends across most of Honshu.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39So this rain isn't rainy-season rain.
0:25:44 > 0:25:50The mountains are a barrier, creating contrasting climates on the east and west slopes.
0:25:51 > 0:25:57Winds blow air masses laden with moisture on to the western side of the peaks.
0:26:01 > 0:26:07In the winter this leads to huge snowfalls, sometimes as deep as ten metres.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21But on the eastern side of the mountains, the weather is much more suitable for human settlement.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29The air masses lose their snow by the time they reach the east.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36As luck would have it, that's exactly where the plains are.
0:26:36 > 0:26:43Unfortunately, they're mostly small, created by debris swept down from the mountains.
0:26:46 > 0:26:52To make things worse, those sheer mountains mean there are no gradual rising plains or hill country
0:26:52 > 0:26:57on the edge of the flat lands, which can be adapted for human use.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01The topography is dead flat and suddenly very steep.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10As a result, apart from a few patches of farmland and countryside,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13the plains are mostly crammed with people,
0:27:13 > 0:27:16and because they're hemmed in by steep slopes,
0:27:16 > 0:27:21once the plains have been settled, there's no more room for human settlement to expand.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24And now we've got to the real heart of the problem.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29The inhospitable volcanoes and mountains which cover most of Japan
0:27:29 > 0:27:32have forced the population on to the plains.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36I'm going to find out how this harsh geology has affected their lives.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47Japan has a vast population of 127 million people.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51The majority live in huge urban sprawls.
0:27:51 > 0:27:58Cities, towns and villages tend to merge into an indistinct blur of houses and humanity.
0:28:02 > 0:28:09The population density in Tokyo is a phenomenal 33,000 people per square mile.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Located in the country's biggest plain, the Kanto Plain,
0:28:13 > 0:28:18Tokyo has spread beyond its political boundaries to form a massive urban complex.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23The actual population of this metropolis is estimated at 30 million people,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27considered together as the world's largest city.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41The first wave of population was attracted to these plains here
0:28:41 > 0:28:43because this was where you could grow rice,
0:28:43 > 0:28:48Japan's most important crop and the perfect complement to my sushi.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52There's something else that drew a second wave of people onto the plain.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Japan's post-war economic miracle.
0:29:10 > 0:29:16At the end of the Second World War, Japan was left with a legacy of defeat.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18Its economy had been devastated.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23And once again geology had cursed it.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Metals and minerals were very scarce.
0:29:39 > 0:29:45Japan needed to rebuild its manufacturing industry on the back of imported raw materials.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51The place for the ports and harbours was the plains,
0:29:51 > 0:29:56and there, too, was the land to build the manufacturing plants and house the workforce.
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and fuelled by the low value of the Yen,
0:30:06 > 0:30:10Japanese goods opened up export markets.
0:30:13 > 0:30:21Almost overnight Japan managed to rebuild itself and become one of the world's most successful economies.
0:30:24 > 0:30:30During the 1980s, it was vying with the United States for the number-one spot.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42The country's become one of the biggest and most technologically advanced producers
0:30:42 > 0:30:47of everything from ships, cars and machine tools to electronic equipment.
0:30:57 > 0:31:02Today, the Kanto area alone produces nearly a third of Japan's entire gross domestic product.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04That's more goods than Great Britain.
0:31:06 > 0:31:13With rapid expansion and the chronic lack of space, the only option was to reclaim land from the sea.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20It was a classic example of a country fighting back against geology.
0:31:31 > 0:31:37Once, this was part of Tokyo Bay, an expanse of marsh and sea water.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42Millions of tons of soil were bulldozed to create factory foundations.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53Wetlands were converted one by one into sites for steelworks,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56oil refineries and electric power stations.
0:31:58 > 0:32:04Here you can find the ultimate industrial real estate.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Landfill is an expensive undertaking,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14but there might yet be an even higher price to pay.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22Japan lies on one of the most earthquake active regions of the world.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26As the ocean plates collide against the continental one this thick,
0:32:26 > 0:32:32the pressure builds up until suddenly it gives in and the ground starts to shake.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35You can feel hundreds of earthquakes each year,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39most of them are too small to notice without equipment.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43But several are large enough to shake buildings,
0:32:43 > 0:32:47to collapse shelves and throw things to the floor.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55This earthquake simulator at one of Tokyo's disaster prevention centres
0:32:55 > 0:33:01is used to teach people what to do when the big one strikes.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14I'm with these disaster volunteers, and what we're being trained...
0:33:14 > 0:33:17The key thing to do is to get some protection
0:33:17 > 0:33:22on your head and get under a sturdy table.
0:33:22 > 0:33:23Just kind of duck in cover.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38The rigid walls of tall buildings can shatter under the pressure of an earthquake,
0:33:38 > 0:33:46but in Japan, special features are added to absorb these forces and make the superstructure flexible.
0:33:46 > 0:33:53Here at Tokyo's Nihon University, bendable braces have been designed for this new laboratory building.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59Professor Masao Saito is the earthquake engineer responsible.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Can you tell me about the system you've got here to reduce earthquake shaking?
0:34:03 > 0:34:05These bracing systems
0:34:05 > 0:34:08are arranged along the whole wall of this building.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12So you have this - a bracing system all the way along the wall.
0:34:12 > 0:34:19Hundreds of these braces ensure the laboratory is twice as flexible as a conventional building.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21I'll show you through this model.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25As Professor Saito's model shows, when an earthquake hits,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29each brace contains a piston which acts like a shock absorber.
0:34:29 > 0:34:36So if the frame move and the piston...
0:34:36 > 0:34:37work this direction.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41- So it's dampening down everything? - Dampens here.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43- Beautiful.- OK.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45- This is the safest place to be in Tokyo?- Sure.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50- Standing here, holding on to this? - Yes, yes, you, you are safest place in Tokyo.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57And these buildings do need to be able to withstand huge seismic forces.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05In 1995, fires and widespread destruction
0:35:05 > 0:35:10were caused by the massive Kobe earthquake in western Japan.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15It killed 6,400 people and left 300,000 homeless.
0:35:18 > 0:35:23But the horror of what happened at Kobe is dwarfed by the great Kanto earthquake,
0:35:23 > 0:35:29which in 1923 reduced Tokyo to rubble and killed 140,000 people.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Tokyo's overdue for another great earthquake
0:35:36 > 0:35:41and these low-lying reclaimed areas are particularly vulnerable.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50With some earthquakes, like this one in 1964, the shaking can loosen soil
0:35:50 > 0:35:55and earth particles so they mix with water and become suspended.
0:35:55 > 0:36:02The ground transforms into quicksand. This is called liquefaction.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07It causes the foundations of buildings to give way so that they collapse.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15Despite the perils of the plains,
0:36:15 > 0:36:20that's where geology forced the Japanese to create their economic miracle.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30But there's an upside to this geological lottery.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Because the country's transport network serves vast urban areas
0:36:36 > 0:36:40on the coastal plains it's incredibly cost-effective.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50Every kilometre of infrastructure such as motorways and railways
0:36:50 > 0:36:55is able to reach far more people than the equivalent services in, say, Britain and America.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04So it pays to spend heavily on transport.
0:37:10 > 0:37:16The Japanese are building the fastest and most expensive railway in the world.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20The Super Maglev.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29I feel like a trainspotter.
0:37:31 > 0:37:36But these beautiful, sleek triumphs of engineering are just amazing.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41These trains don't run on wheels, they float on super-conductive magnets.
0:37:44 > 0:37:50The technology may be German, but it's the Japanese
0:37:50 > 0:37:55who are prepared to spend £90 million a kilometre to build the track.
0:37:55 > 0:38:01A price worth paying because the train will connect vast urban centres.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17As titanium super-conductors a few centimetres beneath my feet generate
0:38:17 > 0:38:24an immensely powerful magnetic force the train is hurled forward.
0:38:24 > 0:38:29At this speed it could make the journey from London to Glasgow in just over an hour.
0:38:31 > 0:38:37I can't believe it, we're doing 500 kilometres an hour, that's about 300 miles an hour.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39I feel a bit sick.
0:38:39 > 0:38:46Soon the Japanese are to build a 560 kilometre long track between Tokyo and Osaka.
0:39:05 > 0:39:12The funnelling of so many passengers along the same routes certainly makes for efficient transport.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17But it does have a downside.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19Overcrowding.
0:39:21 > 0:39:28Here at Ikebukuro Metro Station nearly half a million people pass through during the daily rush hour.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32Even though these trains run every minute not everybody can get on.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36These guys in the caps are shovers, they regulate access to the train
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and then they squeeze on as many passengers as possible.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47So far, I've discovered how Japan's savage landscape
0:39:47 > 0:39:51has hemmed the population into a small area.
0:39:54 > 0:40:01But wherever they can, the Japanese have turned this geological adversity to their advantage.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05Now I want to find out just how far the effects of living in these
0:40:05 > 0:40:10overcrowded plains have reverberated throughout the country's culture.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Hello.
0:40:18 > 0:40:24Wherever I go in Japan it occurs to me that all the people I meet are incredibly welcoming and polite.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31In fact, the Japanese are famous throughout the world for their good manners.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35Their rules of etiquette are very different from our own and can leave
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Western visitors completely bamboozled.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40I'm Iain Stewart.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51I want to find out whether good manners
0:40:51 > 0:40:55are a coping mechanism for an overcrowded society,
0:40:55 > 0:40:57so I've come to the Ogasawara School
0:40:57 > 0:41:02where Japanese etiquette has been taught for 33 generations.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11- Hazime masite.- Hello.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22'Sayuri Maeda is my guide to some of these perplexing rules.'
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Everyone is so polite in Japan.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29Can you teach me some Japanese manners?
0:41:29 > 0:41:33OK. We start the bowing, OK?
0:41:33 > 0:41:35The first one is like this.
0:41:36 > 0:41:43- OK.- It's almost five degrees, and this is to say hello or something.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47And the second one is like this.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52And this is almost 30 degrees and this is for say thank you
0:41:52 > 0:41:56- or say goodbye or something.- OK.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58And the third one is like this.
0:41:58 > 0:41:59Oh, my!
0:41:59 > 0:42:02- This is 45 degrees.- 45 degrees?- Yes.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05- Right.- This is for apologise.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07The fourth one is like this.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10I don't think I can do that. Oh!
0:42:10 > 0:42:11- Almost 90 degrees.- 90?
0:42:11 > 0:42:14- Yes, and...- You're joking?
0:42:14 > 0:42:17- And this is for Emperor or a God. - Thank goodness. Can I get up?
0:42:17 > 0:42:20Yes, you can go up.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23Oh, it really hurts the back of your legs. It's like a fitness exercise.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25Yes, that's right.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28- It's very good for you, I guess. - Yes, I think so.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36But etiquette doesn't stop at bowing, there are lots of rules for
0:42:36 > 0:42:39conducting yourself in Japanese society.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43I've noticed they give presents to each other all the time.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Why are presents so important in Japan?
0:42:47 > 0:42:54- Almost every summer and wintertime we give the present to build a good relationship to the others.- OK.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57So maintaining good relationships between people you give presents?
0:42:57 > 0:42:58Yes, that's right. Yes.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01What a good idea. That's lovely.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07Of course, choosing the right present is always important,
0:43:07 > 0:43:13but in Japan the way you wrap it also has a special significance.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17In this case the wrapping is carefully shaped like a bird,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20the crane, which sends a powerful message.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24The crane is a symbol of long life and happy.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26The crane, the bird?
0:43:26 > 0:43:28That's right, that's very symbol.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33That's great, that's the head and the tail, yeah?
0:43:33 > 0:43:36- Mm-hm, that's right. - That's absolutely beautiful.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45Look at that, that is exquisite, thank you very much.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47You're welcome.
0:43:47 > 0:43:53Even the most minute detail is important when building relationships in Japan.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57I've got this theory that in Japan, good manners and politeness are to
0:43:57 > 0:44:02do with overcrowding, the people being squeezed in. Do you think that's the case?
0:44:02 > 0:44:04It's actually now it's so.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08But it goes back about 700 years ago,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12the Samurai Warriors, it's for the manners for the Samurai Warriors
0:44:12 > 0:44:16but it's very useful in modern Japanese lifestyle.
0:44:27 > 0:44:33Who would have thought that the swashbuckling Samurai could have created such refinement?
0:44:40 > 0:44:46It seems this fine Japanese etiquette isn't just the response to post-war overcrowding.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50It's been long embedded in much of the country's culture.
0:44:50 > 0:44:55Japanese people were pre-equipped with a coping mechanism for the lack of space.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57Good manners.
0:45:00 > 0:45:06But I want to find signs of how they reacted to overcrowding after the fact.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08I'm looking for something more recent.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11It's time to see how the Japanese spend their spare time.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15You might think this a bit extreme,
0:45:15 > 0:45:20but to me everything you're about to see is actually down to geology.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25Inside here is a rather strange looking game.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28It's actually the largest industry in Japan.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33Few people outside the country have ever heard of it, but it's the world's biggest gambling enterprise.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Vegas is small change compared to this.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42This is Pachinko.
0:45:46 > 0:45:52Pachinko employs a third of a million people, three times more than the steel industry.
0:45:57 > 0:46:03It accounts for a staggering five per cent of Japan's gross national product.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11What's Pachinko to do with geology and overcrowding?
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Well, it's all to do with the mountains.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22There simply isn't enough room for the landscape to be
0:46:22 > 0:46:26dotted with football fields and sprawling golf courses.
0:46:29 > 0:46:30Pachinko is the remedy.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33It requires hardly any space.
0:46:33 > 0:46:40In fact, the Japanese have adapted it to take up even less room than the original US design.
0:46:40 > 0:46:46Modelled on an American horizontal pinball game, the machine was tilted vertically.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Now you can seriously pack them in.
0:46:54 > 0:47:02To me, this really is a product of Japan's geological lottery, where land is at a premium.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09Although this room is crowded, these people seem unaware of each other,
0:47:09 > 0:47:14nor do they hear consciously the incessant deafening noise.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22This is all about just one person facing one machine,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25having a dialogue with little steel balls.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Excuse me, what are you doing?
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Balls go here. Ball goes here.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41So it comes down here and you've got to get it in there?
0:47:41 > 0:47:43- Correct, true.- All right.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48I'll get it.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52Did you see it?
0:47:52 > 0:47:54You got it!
0:47:56 > 0:48:01These machines are a wonderful form of miniaturisation.
0:48:01 > 0:48:08Instead of a football pitch there are square centimetres of backboard, instead of players, tiny nails.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Instead of footballs, tiny steel balls.
0:48:15 > 0:48:20I wonder if this reduction in size is always created by a lack of space
0:48:20 > 0:48:25or is it that the Japanese find a beauty in small things?
0:48:29 > 0:48:35I'm here to meet Emiko Miyashima, a poet and lover of Japanese literature.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Emiko what is this place?
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Oh, this is a Haiku pub, very famous Haiku pub in Japan.
0:48:41 > 0:48:47This was run by Massao Suzuki, a famous female poet, who happens to be his grandmother.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49Oh, right.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51A Haiku pub, that's great, so...
0:48:51 > 0:48:55It's like a Haiku Mecca for for Haiku poets.
0:48:55 > 0:48:56Right, so what exactly is Haiku?
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Haiku is a short form of Japanese poetry.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03Haiku read in Japanese takes only one breath.
0:49:03 > 0:49:04Right. Wow!
0:49:06 > 0:49:13Haiku poets regularly gather at the pub to appreciate each other's poetry. It's called a Kukai.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Today is a weekly meeting of Emiko's group.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23- Beer with your Haiku. Slainte, Slainte, Slainte.- Slainte.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25What does that mean, like, long life?
0:49:25 > 0:49:30Er, it's Gaelic, Scottish for down the hatch or, you know.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35Everyone submits poems anonymously and then reads out their favourite.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38WOMAN RECITES HAIKU
0:49:43 > 0:49:47A child writing eight, number eight, with the house.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49Oh, yes!
0:49:49 > 0:49:52- Oh, that's beautiful, you can really see that.- That's eternity.
0:49:54 > 0:49:55SHE RECITES HAIKU
0:49:55 > 0:49:58That's mine? Oh, that's mine.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00Congratulations!
0:50:02 > 0:50:05- You're a Haiku poet now. - I didn't recognise it.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09- May I read mine in English and Scottish first?- Yes, yes.
0:50:09 > 0:50:14OK, it's Mount Fuji, melting snow, rocks revealed.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18Did you like it?
0:50:22 > 0:50:25And the conviviality continued for hours.
0:50:25 > 0:50:32Who would have thought that poems nearly 17 syllables long could so touch the imagination?
0:50:34 > 0:50:38I simply love Haiku, its shortness, because it's more,
0:50:38 > 0:50:43it is just my size, it is, maybe it's something in my genes to prefer those smaller, shorter things.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55In the great cities of Japan there are hidden wonders which blend
0:50:55 > 0:51:00the appreciation of the miniature with the need to save space.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03On the 11th floor of a 20-storey skyscraper
0:51:03 > 0:51:07in the middle of Tokyo is a small terrace.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09And it's here that you step into another world.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12This is a miniature garden.
0:51:25 > 0:51:30The garden belongs to the famous architect Kishu Kurakowa
0:51:30 > 0:51:32who also designed the Nakagin Tower
0:51:32 > 0:51:35where Seibee the international lawyer lives.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39- Pleased to meet you. - Thank you.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41What a beautiful garden you have.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Ah, it's very small but this is typical tradition of garden.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49You say small but it's very big for for central Tokyo.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51Yes, sometimes it's...
0:51:53 > 0:51:55expressing natural landscape.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00Each feature in the garden evokes something larger.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03We have a waterfall there,
0:52:04 > 0:52:05and then lake.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08- This is a lake?- Lake.- Wow. Yeah.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10And lake is spread to the...
0:52:10 > 0:52:14- You know this is white sand, means water.- Right, yes.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16- This is water.- This is water.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18We have a huge wetland...
0:52:18 > 0:52:20Flood plains, so sometimes sand.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23And then the island.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29It certainly looks like a real landscape to me, I can imagine if I was
0:52:29 > 0:52:32in the Japanese Alps or somewhere, this would look just a...
0:52:32 > 0:52:39Yeah, this is way for the Japanese people they enjoy the imagination of the Alps, you know, landscape.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43So you live in the middle of Tokyo but you have your very own Japanese Alps?
0:52:43 > 0:52:44Yes.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54The garden leads to that most enigmatic of Japanese buildings, the Tea House.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56My this is small.
0:52:56 > 0:53:02Originally designed by the Samurai, a sanctuary from a violent world.
0:53:02 > 0:53:07This space is a space of art, a space for imagination,
0:53:07 > 0:53:12so that's why this calligraphy means the inside of the water.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16It means the cosmos is here
0:53:16 > 0:53:19in the small tea ceremony house.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22In such a small space you have a cosmos.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24So the room is the cosmos here.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26Yeah.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Centuries ago the inventors of the Tea House didn't need to worry
0:53:30 > 0:53:34about space, nevertheless they chose to make it small.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39By doing so they created an inner space
0:53:39 > 0:53:43in which the imagination could flourish.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47The geology which puts a squeeze on much of Japanese life
0:53:47 > 0:53:51doesn't fully explain their fascination with the miniature.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56There's a joy found in small things which pervades this country.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08The Japanese natural affinity with miniaturisation
0:54:08 > 0:54:12played a crucial part in the post-war economic miracle.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20When it came to the development of mass manufacture
0:54:20 > 0:54:25of pocket-sized electronic goods, Japan was leagues ahead of the rest.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32It didn't matter that the country had few resources.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37They had the perfect mindset to make and market these goods.
0:54:37 > 0:54:42But geology played a starring role in this success too.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47It all began in 1955 when the forerunner of the Sony Corporation
0:54:47 > 0:54:52put out the first pocket-sized transistor radio, the TR2K.
0:54:56 > 0:55:02This was the first made-in-Japan item to overrun world markets since the folding fan.
0:55:02 > 0:55:09The transistor was actually invented in the US, but it was the Japanese who made it a marketable item.
0:55:09 > 0:55:15A few years after the first, Sony came out with a smaller model the TR620.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23This was then the world's smallest radio.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25It was a phenomenal success story.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29The even tinier TR730 soon followed.
0:55:32 > 0:55:38Sony went on to develop the Walkman and first tested it on the Japanese market.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44The resulting success allowed Sony to become a world beater
0:55:44 > 0:55:51and led the way for Japan to dominate the global consumer electronic market for decades.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56But why did the Walkman do so well here?
0:55:56 > 0:55:59It's all down to the rocks.
0:55:59 > 0:56:05As we've seen, it's because of the rocks that we get overcrowding and it's because of the overcrowding
0:56:05 > 0:56:07that people here crave personal space.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13As people are crammed into trains and buses on their way to work
0:56:13 > 0:56:18these stereos enable them to fulfil a fundamental human desire.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22They can create their own personal cosmos.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26In the old days you could make your own psychological space by
0:56:26 > 0:56:29contemplating the riddles of Zen through meditation.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Nowadays you can create it with headphones.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37In this way the spirit of Zen lives on in mobile phones,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40which even show soap operas and documentaries.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44Commuters that are crushed together on trains are touching physically, but
0:56:44 > 0:56:51thanks to miniaturised technology they're separated immensely by barriers of sounds and vision.
0:57:02 > 0:57:09Japan is a land of great challenges, a place whose rocky surface has been
0:57:09 > 0:57:12violently shaped by the huge forces beneath their feet.
0:57:15 > 0:57:22This geology has tempered the Japanese people and given them a steely resilience.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29In rebuilding their defeated nation from the decimation of war, the inhabitants of this
0:57:29 > 0:57:34magnificent archipelago had to dig deep into the reserves of ingenuity
0:57:34 > 0:57:37and understanding of the world around them.
0:57:37 > 0:57:42It's little wonder that their success story was called a miracle.
0:57:45 > 0:57:51And the miracle means Japanese industrial might reaches across the world.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55A potent influence in most developed economies.
0:57:59 > 0:58:05Now the tectonic forces which pose an ever-present menace here affect us all.
0:58:07 > 0:58:12Another major earthquake in Tokyo would be devastating for the country's economy.
0:58:12 > 0:58:17If it happens, Japan won't be the only nation in the firing line.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21So many countries have a stake in the financial markets here
0:58:21 > 0:58:25that the effects of such a disaster would reverberate around the world.
0:58:44 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:47 > 0:58:51E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk