CATCH JAPAN
Series Information
Explore a colorful variety of modern Japan’s most popular topics, including food, technology, ecology and regional promotions, with a focus on the innovative ideas and passionate effort from the people behind it all.
J-TRIP
As the Expo 2025 Osaka draws near, a travel tour with sustainability as its theme is being developed. This SDGs tour will visit agricultural and fishery industries around Senshu in Osaka, an area which boasts an abundance of gourmet food. This segment follows participants trying out the tour prior to its launch, and the efforts of people in Senshu to convey the charms of its food within Japan and overseas.
J-SCIENCE
A biotech startup founded by a professor at the Keio University School of Medicine is on the verge of realizing practical application of an innovative technology to artificially create heart muscle cells or cardiomyocytes using iPS cells. This segment features the technology that may revolutionize the treatment of advanced heart disease, which can now only be fundamentally treated by heart transplant.
J-TECH
A mountain slope collapsed behind a Japanese shrine with a thousand-year history. However, thanks to reinforcement work done afterwards, the shrine suffered minimal damage from a subsequent typhoon. A unique method in which long bolts were driven into the slope, points are covered with steel plates, and connected the steel plates with wires was utilized. This method is starting to be used worldwide.
J-NATURE
There are currently 34 national parks in Japan. This segment features the Towada-Hachimantai National Park in the northern part of the country. Our reporter, along with park rangers and nature guides, explore the park’s landscapes and the geological history of the moss-rich Oirase Gorge, as well as Japan’s one and only double-caldera lake, Lake Towada.