Japan's Prettiest Railways The Travel Show

Now on BBC News time

for the Travel Show.

This week, Japan's prettiest

railways... There is a push for the

last carriage, maybe it has the best

views. Chomping your way through the

big apple.

We just eat crazy things

for the sake of eating crazy things.

The things we eat are actually

really delicious.

And road testing

apps for keeping your mobile.

This

gives you a lie in.

This is the Tadami Line in central

Japan. It is regarded as one of the

country's most beautiful train

routes, and hugs the river as it

makes its way from Fukushima to

Niigata prefectures. And it is a

specially beautiful in autumn. The

train stations along the Tadami Line

are quaint, this doesn't even look

like a train station, it looks at

the post office to me. It is really

bustling inside. People come here

for the view and it attracts a

particular crowd. Its popular

chiefly with older people, a handful

of railway enthusiast and of course

at this time of year, Leif Peters.

There is a bit of a push for the

last carriage, maybe it has the best

views. Today is unusually busy.

Normally only around 35 people a day

come here for the eight-day -- eight

daily departures. It is a Sareen

trip through some of the country's

lesser-known backwaters. But there

is a problem. This is Tadami

station, at everyone has to get off

now, because the whole area was

damaged in the floods. This area

escaped tsunami and nuclear disaster

that made Fukushima famous. But just

too much -- two months later Mother

Nature struck again. Heavy storms

caused flooding which made a long

stretch of the track here unusable.

A handful of stations were shut and

to this day remain abandoned. This

is one of the six disused stations

-- 60 disused stations and the sign

says beware of the bears. Locals

don't much use the service that is

remaining. It is less useful now

that you can't travel and

interrupted from one side to the

other. But it does still occupy a

special place in some people's

hearts. Well, look at this view. The

colours are amazing. For a start,

it's a beautiful thing to

photograph.

There is quite a view from up here,

no matter what season is his. And it

is not one that Kenko is alone in

enjoying.

In Thailand we don't have

any autumn, I come to the autumn,

believes change colour. -- the

leaves change colour. I thought this

train moving is a very perfect shot.

How did you feel in 2011 when the

floods destroyed part of the Tadami

line?

The operator, JR East plans to

restore the entire line by 2021. But

in the meantime, in an attempt to

get more junk Japanese -- young

Japanese using the line, these

comedians are hosting tours.

You will notice a very different

crowd from the passengers I was with

earlier. This time, it's exclusively

young women. Most of them would

probably never have come here in the

past. Each comedian, including this

palm reader, takes turn entertaining

each group of passengers, so

everyone gets their money 's worth.

Money line. Happy line!

The Tadami

experience also takes in local

temples, and the Kanayama well where

you can drink the naturally

occurring sparkling water. I

expected to see a lot of old people

on a tour like this, but I was

really surprised to see so many

young people. I think it's a really

clever marketing tool to get these

comedians on board. This looks like

a lot of fun.

And if you are planning a visit

soon, here is the Travel Show guide

of things to see and do in Japan

this winter. The snow festival is

arguably Japan's most famous winter

spectacular. Around 2 million people

had the northern city of Sapporo

every year to see the 200 snow and

ice sculptures carved there. Entry

is free and the next one starts on

debris to fifth. Japan is a very

popular ski destination and many

people tend to head their, where

more snow is received in any other

part of the world, or Nagano, where

the Winter Olympics were held in

2012. Another place receives trees

blasted sideways by the snow. You

can also see the snow monkeys in

Nagano prefecture. A troupe of wild

macaques come to the bustard they've

done all year round because they are

-- come to the baths all year round

because they are fed by the park

wardens. This island north of

Hokkaido is well worth thinking

about. It is the country's most

untouched national park and the

place to go and see the mating

rituals of the red crowned cranes.

You can combine it with a careful

walk along the drift ice or a ride

out on one of the icebreaker shift

-- ships there. In winter is also a

really beautiful time to head for

the Buddhist monasteries at Mt Koya,

south of a sucker for some come.

Stay overnight with a month, -- with

the monks, eat what they eat and set

your alarm for morning prayers. We

are told the peace that comes with

the morning mountains is a wonderful

experience. Next this week we are

off to south-west China to meet the

man responsible for one

inspirational building project in

the mountains of Guizhou.

Still to come here and the Travel

Show: Lucy is here with the best

tech for getting you around town

fast. This is simply a case of

following the Arrow and making your

way safely to your destination. And

we pull on our eating trousers for

one of New York's most eclectic

foodie sewers.

We just eat crazy

things for the sake of eating crazy

things. The things we eat are really

delicious. -- tours.

The Travel

Show, your essential guide wherever

you are heading.

You may have noticed in recent years

Right howling at a place in the

traditional arm in the air. And it's

easy to see why. In a couple of taps

your pre- booked turns up at your

feet. Huber is the market leader in

most of the world but some have

raised concerns about its work into

this is and the service has faced

suspensions and even outright bans

in a few places. The alternative,

your guide to the rest of the rest.

First, get together, it merely

serves the UK currently in London

and Manchester and it's a black cab

ride sharing service on routes they

say are underserved by public

transport -- Gett. I'm standing at

one of the start of the routes, it

is an easy interface with one quick

click the will be here in five

minutes. Fares start at £2 and will

be shown with other passengers which

is fine when there is a thought they

are as nice as Lucy. This service

gives it a bit of a lie in.

Exactly,

yeah.

London, the service is limited

to four but they are plans to roll

it out to other areas across the

city, I like the fact you can hop on

and off at any point on the route

and the cabs use bus lanes which

means you don't have to sit in

traffic. You take the options

differ, though, depending on what

part of the world you are in. Andrew

has been looking through the options

for us. What of the best I should

use?

Depending on where you live, if

you are in the States you probably

would be using Lyft, they are an

underdog in the battle but it is

making good ground. Here we have

Manhattan, you can use different

types of cars and save on the amount

of people you have or you can go

luxurious all if you have a child

and she wanted child seats, at your

destination and say you want to go

to Macy's, it brings up a total of

what it will be, you request it, and

then it arrives. If you are in

Europe, and you will probably

looking at myTaxi, it is available

in about 50 cities in Europe, in

nine years, countries, you say where

you are, it can geo- locate you, or

you can put in a destination and all

of that. You then order a taxi. It

isn't the same sort of tailored

service you get from Lyft or Huber

but you get region specific cars. So

if you are in London and you want a

black cab because you want to

support them and mix with the new,

the new, the next one, I have got a

bit strange, so... Housetrained?

Pretty strange. Pedal me. This is

actually a Right howling when you

get driven on a bicycle. A summer

application? You can see here we

have our location, your drop-off,

and you go I want to go to

Buckingham Palace, because why

wouldn't you? And it comes up with

the thing that will tell you it will

cost you less than £10 so it is

actually pretty reasonable.

Not as

expensive in each top in London.

A

similar approach to water and Huber

would be and you get to have a good

experience.

And just in case you

don't fancy sitting in traffic all

day, there is a line. It isn't

classed as they satin Avenue, a

smart compass. And attach it to the

compass of your bike, it makes it

handy for exploring big cities all

over the world. The destination in

your phone and the application will

relay instructions. It is incredibly

straightforward. While some riders.

A dedicated site computer or a

smartphone to their handlebars, it

can prove the struck in rest with

this it simply is a case of

following the Arrow and making your

way safely to your destination.

Finally this week we're off to New

York City and the drop in on a fruit

club that aims to try the most

interesting dishes the town has to

offer. But you can forget the usual

salt beef bagels or pastrami on

right, the Gastronauts are looking

for something a little special.

New

York is a food city, there are a lot

of different kinds of foods we eat,

tremendous ethnic diversity. We are

in Flushing Queens which is New

York's kind of major Chinatown. It

is really big, it is far away, about

40 minutes by right, but it is

outside the city and we are coming

down here so this is the luxurious

entrance to the Golden mauls. We

descend into the stomach of Flushing

Queens. I love coming here. Whenever

I hear, I try to stop by and at

least have some lamb dumplings or

some peers or some duck heads. My

name is Curtis Bail I am one of the

founders of the Gastronauts. Which

is a club for adventurous eaters.

Here in New York. We started the

club in 2005 and we started off in a

tiny little relation Chinese place

in Manhattan Chinatown. It was six

people. We had pork intestines,

tripe, it was a fantastic feast. The

next time we met, there were 12

people and then the next dinner

there were 20. In 30 and 50 and 100

and it just kind of kept going. So

now we have I think somewhere around

2500 members in New York City and

1500 in Los Angeles and 1000 in San

Francisco. The Gastronauts is not a

dinner club that is about eating out

at fancy restaurants in Manhattan.

It is the kind of club we are. We

are interested in going the more

far-flung places throughout New York

City, to the other boroughs, to the

definite ethnic sections, some club

meets once a month and every month

we find a different restaurant or

place to make us an amazing usually

four or five course feast that

features the more challenging

aspects of that particular cuisine.

We have had lambs had in a Greek

restaurant, we have had 16 day

fertilised egg which the Filipinos

and the Vietnamese love to eat.

Tomorrow we are going to have

Shillington food in Staten Island

and to get there we are going to

have to take a subway, a fairy, and

a van to get to the restaurant --

Sri Lankan. -- ferry.

This is egg

plant, like a sweet and sour.

Sanjay

is great. It is at this restaurant

for at least ten years, from what I

can see. Before that he cooked in

Saudi Arabia and in Bahrain as a

private chef to somebody very

important. He has travelled all over

the world. These restaurants are

usually extremely excited to see us

because it is a small out of the way

place that don't see 30 people

coming at once.

Hello, my name is

Sanjay. Welcome. Thank you, thank

you. Before we start with the main

course I want to show you what I

cook. So I will bring around to

everybody, OK?

What is the biggest misconceptions

about the Gastronauts is that we eat

crazy things to the sake of eating

crazy things. It isn't true. The

things we eat are actually really,

really delicious. That is chicken

liver, that is gifted and that is

black curry on beef. This is

unsurpassed. Excellent. The

Gastronauts is a food club but is

also a social club. We are a mixed

bunch, there is journalist, Morley

is, a few policemen, architects,

construction workers. -- lawyers. It

is diverse. People have

relationships, there are the

Gastronauts marriage, the relay

baby, someone has attacked two of

the Gastronauts on their forum, the

people, it has become a fixture in

people 's lives. The Gastronauts

isn't an eating clubs are people who

want to eat in Manhattan, it is a

club where people want to explore

the outer reaches of their city and

what it has to offer.

That is also this week. Coming up

next week. The buyer, a special

program- we had our deep into the

desert to try our hand at

traditional falconry, 2000 feet in

the air from a hot air balloon.

The

four 2500 years ago we relied on the

Falcon the way the people relied the

supermarket. Traditionally the way

it worked, it still happens today,

in Europe and Asia, my great epic

piece on the way to Africa because

on the migration is Wendy people

would attract the Falcons from the

wild and use them for the winter

months and at the end of winter they

would release them. Really beautiful

system.

Unique experience,

beautiful.

Don't forget you can join us on the

road by signing up to a social media

feeds but in the meantime from all

of us indifferent Ashima prefecture

in Japan, goodbye. -- Fukushima

of us indifferent Ashima prefecture

in Japan, goodbye. -- Fukushima.