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Series 1: 1. Osaka to Nagoya



Michael begins his journey in Japan’s dynamic second city, Osaka, famous for its food culture, its nightlife and its friendly people. Using the city’s metro system, he heads for the bustling Shinsekai neighbourhood to taste the city’s signature dish - fried octopus balls.\n\nMichael explores the artistic and cultural phenomenon of manga, the Japanese comics that have taken the world by storm, pays homage to the godfather of manga, Osamu Tezuka, and becomes the subject of his own railway manga.\n\nMichael’s next journey is on one of Japan’s world-famous bullet trains, the Shinkansen. He meets an engineer, ex-Shinkansen driver and now Japan Rail executive to find out about the bullet train’s amazing history and is blown away by the extraordinary next generation of trains, the maglev.\n\nFinally, Michael arrives in Nagoya, Japan’s manufacturing hub, and outside the city is a factory that makes one of the country’s most talked about exports - the smart loo.

Source: BBC 2

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