Okayama - Sunshine and Smiles

The best way to discover little-known sights and make even familiar places feel brand new, is to go exploring by bicycle.

This time, we're exploring Okayama, a part of Japan known as the Land of Sunshine for its year-round fine weather.

Weather that's great for all kinds of farming.

A climate that produces people known for their open, sunny characters.

Okayama is also a land of invention.

I love this machine. It feels almost human.

Traditional comedy thrives in this land of smiles.

And behind the smiles lies a determination to carve out a brighter future.

This is my life.

Come with us now, on a 420-kilometer ride under the sunny skies of Okayama.

We start from Okayama City.

It's a three-hour Shinkansen ride from Tokyo.

Good morning.

Zac here, coming from Okayama Station.

Zac Reynolds from Australia has been living in Japan since 1998.

After many years of racing, Zac now cycles just for fun.

He's toured all over Japan.

Okay, the bike's ready.

I hadn't really ridden much in Okayama before, so this time we should get some nice coastal riding on the inland sea and then into the mountains a bit.

Hopefully see some of the culture and lifestyle of the people in Okayama, and get some good weather as well in the country of sunshine.

OK, Let's go.

This will be a four-day trip.

On day one, Zac rides along the coast to Kurashiki, famous for its textiles.

Day two takes us north into a farming region.

On day three, we go to the old town of Katsuyama.

And on the last day, we visit a remote village before riding south again.

We're starting off with some good sunshine today.

You can usually count on good weather here.

Okayama has fewer rainy days than anywhere else in Japan.

Looks like an old bridge up here.

On the other side of the bridge is Okayama Castle, first built in 1597.

We've come out onto a big plain surrounded by these low hills on three sides.

Starting in the 16th century, the lords of Okayama Castle developed this area, creating rich farmland.

Good morning!

What are you growing here?

Barley for making beer.

That sounds delicious.

- This whole area used to be sea.
- Ah, it's reclaimed land.

Yes, this was the sea bed.

- Built levees and pumped the water out.
- And made this farmland.

The reclamation that began 240 years ago resulted in this fertile plain, ideal for crops like rice, barley, and cotton.

The reclamation project also led to the growth of the prosperous town of Kurashiki.

Using locally grown cotton, Kurashiki became a famous textile manufacturing center.

- Good morning!
- Hello!

Zac is going to get a taste of the future of Kurashiki's textile industry.

We're coming up to a technical high school.

Good morning!

- Welcome to our school.
- My name is Zac.

I heard this school was famous for denim.

Yes. This denim apron was a student project.

I've used it for years now.

Kuboki Hiroyuki teaches textile engineering.

This class is learning the basics of garment design, dyeing and stitching.

These students will form the future workforce for the town's textile industry.

Special focus is placed on denim.

Kurashiki is where most of Japan's denim jeans are made.

- I made this one.
- It's very nice.

I kept the design quite simple.

These lines are lightning, right?

Denim is hard to sew.

I see you've made this at an angle.

Yes, I think it looks cute.

Kurashiki's textile mills originally made things like school uniforms and tabi socks.

Post war, when American culture became popular in Japan, the mills turned to making blue jeans.

Kuboki's uncle was a jeans manufacturer, so he grew up in a world of denim.

I was in elementary school when jeans first
became a craze in Japan.

I remember my uncle's workplace,
with piles of jeans, stacked to the ceiling.

That's where I used to play as a kid.

So many machines!

These ones are for winding thread.

This school has developed its own unique method for making denim.

Regular denim is white on the inside.

I encourage my students to experiment
with different colors and thread types.

As you see, they've had some interesting ideas.

This is a shopping bag.

The fabric is reversed to show off the colors?

Yes. It's regular denim on the inside.

This loom is the only one of its kind anywhere.

It's designed to allow the inner thread of denim to be easily changed, enabling a wide choice of colors.

I love this machine. It feels almost human.

Don't you think it's cute, rattling away like this?

Kuboki always tries to teach his students to think outside the box.

We shouldn't just keep doing things the same way,
we should always be innovating.

At the same time, it's important
never to forget the lessons of the past.

This is how we keep improving Kurashiki denim.

Kurashiki high school denim.

Destined for world success?

Wow. Look at this view.

As the sun begins to set, Zac has arrived at Kojima Bay.

Dinner tonight is going to be something special.

Okay, so look at these nets over here.

Yeah, big square nets.

I think this is how we're going to catch our dinner tonight.

The traditional way of fishing here was from these huts on stilts, using scoop nets.

Today, the huts are rented out to tourists.

- Hello! Tanaka san?
- That's right.

Nice to meet you.

The owners of the hut are waiting for Zac.

- We get a lot of families coming here.
- I bet it's fun for the kids.

Press the bottom button.

- Do I keep pressing?
- Yes, hold it down.

Here we go!

Everything is operated by machinery.

The net's now in the water.

Surely it can't be this simple?

- What kinds of fish do you get here?
- In this season, there'll be squid.

A species slightly larger than firefly squid.

- Also, flounder.
- Flounder? Big ones?

60cm or so.

Sometimes even bigger.

Zac could get lucky and catch something as large as this.

Sometimes you get a catch in 5 or 10 minutes.
But you might wait an hour and get nothing.

So it's a matter of luck?

Yes, everyone has the same chance.

While waiting for the net to do its work, Zac prepares some side dishes.

That'll do.

Thirty minutes have passed.

Will the net now hold the evening's main dish?

No, it's just going out again.

So, I'll wait... it's not working either.

One, two, three, four, five little squid.

Looks like a little prawn in there.

Oh, there is another squid here.

Beka squid are in season here at the start of summer.

I caught a few. In just 30 minutes.

Tanaka is ready to advise on cooking methods.

He tells Zac this squid tastes best simmered in soy sauce and sake.

Here we go!

It's hot.

But tasty.

Nice and juicy.

They don't taste so strong because they came straight out of the water.

This is really good.

Nice!

Thank you very much.

Do you enjoy this kind of fishing?

Oh, yes!

It doesn't matter if you don't catch much.

Fishing with the whole family is always fun.

A unique way to enjoy a seafood dinner.

The Asahi River runs north to south through Okayama.

Zac will follow it as he heads north.

I've got blue skies for our second day.

Even better than the first day in the land of sunshine.

The river has brought Zac to an area of open farmland.

- Hello!
- Good morning.

Lovely day. Nice and warm.

Getting quite hot now.

What are you growing here?

Yellow chives. An Okayama specialty.

Chives are used in cooking all over Asia, but normally they're green, like these.

Yellow chives are very unusual.

- They look just like the green ones.
- More tender and juicy, though.

Perhaps because of the humidity under here.
First time I've seen these.

Yes, they're quite unusual.

Kept out of the sunlight, the growing plants don't produce chlorophyll.

This is why they grow up yellow instead of green.

But the important thing is, how do they taste?

You can eat them raw.
They're tender, not stringy at all.

It's definitely more soft and tender than the regular green ones.

And yeah, it's got a strong garlicky flavor.

Yamamoto's family has cultivated yellow chives for three generations.

Not wanting to be a farmer, he left to work in the city, but at age 32, something happened.

We've been growing them here
ever since my grandfather's time.

I left to take up other work, but then
my father died and I had to come back.

I grew up farming here, so I felt
I had to keep our family farm going.

This is my inheritance, and it would be
a shame not to pass it on.

- Do you have children?
- Yes, two. And a third on the way.

So the farm's future looks secure?

I hope so.

Zac presses on northwards, still following the Asahi River.

Oh, beautiful shade here.

Zac's ridden 45 kilometers so far today, and is now in Akaiwa.

Should be just up here somewhere.

Oh, here it is. Here it is.

"Akasaka Tei."

Here you go. "Akasaka Tei." "Owarai."

Deep in the countryside, he's found a tiny theater specializing in traditional storytelling.

Hello there!

- Is this where you do rakugo?
- That's right.

Come in.

Hello. I'm called Zac.

That's a good name.

Come on in and chat.

Kaminarimon Kisuke, the rakugo artist, is 77.

Rakugo has been entertaining Japanese audiences for over 400 years with stories ranging from the comical to the sentimental,

performed by a single artist sitting alone on stage.

Come on in.

Is this where you perform?

Yes, I sit on that cushion.

It's just a small space we have here.

Is this your wife?

Yes, this is Kasuga.

- How long have you been married？
- 50 years now.

These are for the audience.

Am I this spacing them right?

Kisuke gives a rakugo performance once a month.

It's a big event for the village.

Hello!

Everyone's using 3-letter English these days.

You watch the idol group AKB on TV.

Then you record them on DVD.

That light on the ceiling is an LED.

And we call background music BGM.

If you need help with all this, say SOS.

In his 20s, Kisuke was a popular rakugo entertainer in Tokyo.

But television and other work claimed all his time, and his storytelling skills began to lose their edge.

Life started becoming too much for him, and one day, Kisuke just disappeared from Tokyo.

We heard nothing from him for a month.

Then out of the blue, he called to say
he'd moved to Okayama and we should join him there.

Honestly, rakugo is all he lives for.

- Why Okayama?
- No reason. I knew nothing about the place.

So anywhere would have been OK?

It was the last stop on the Shinkansen.

Just a few streets from the station,
and I was in the country. I was amazed.

I felt this was somewhere I could start
doing rakugo again. A fresh start.

Here in the countryside, Kisuke worked on refining his art.

By 1996, his local popularity had grown so much that he decided to open this theater.

For the past 27 years, Kisuke's monthly performances have been keeping these villagers entertained.

What do you like about this space?

He's right there, so you can talk with him.

There's nothing else around here,
no shops or anything.

This rakugo is all we have for live entertainment.

Thank you for coming.

13-year-old Akada Masataka has long been a fan of the local rakugo master.

When he turned ten, Kisuke started teaching him the art.

It's his way of thanking Okayama for its kind welcome.

What have you learned?

I play the drum before each performance.

And I'm starting to do rakugo myself now.

Sir! You have to pay your debts today!

Open the door sir!

What! You're not him!

Where's your dad?

I'm always nervous on stage,
but it feels so good when I make them laugh.

Yes, that's what it's all about.

I'm impressed by how you're still going strong.

Oh, I'll probably just die on stage one day.

But even if I do die in my sleep,
I'll have been performing that day.

I have no plans to stop.

This adopted son of Okayama has no plans to ever leave.

It's now midday, and the Okayama sun is already fierce.

Zac will cover 120 kilometers today, in the most strenuous stretch of the trip.

Oh, coming into another hairpin turn here.

Looks like a bit of water seeping out of the hillside.

Here we go.

Wow. Look at that view.

Looking down on those terraced rice fields.

The Kamimomi rice terraces date back over 1,300 years.

They contain 1,000 rice paddies.

Let's have a look in here.

It looks like a cafe or something.

It's like an old storehouse that's sort of done up a little bit.

Let's go and see if we can get something for lunch.

Take any table you like.

I'll sit in the middle here.

The view from the cafe is spectacular.

Here you are.

- Onigiri set lunch.
- Thank you.

It looks delicious.

And such a lot!

The rice is from the fields out front.
White rice and rice with millet.

And homemade yuzumiso topping.

Nice and fresh.

Nice savory citrus flavor as well.

And over here is the miso soup.

Kaiami Toshimi is the cafe's manager.

The aging population was abandoning the rice fields.

This cafe was part of a community project to revive the ancient terraces.

In this village, we have one big community
paddy field that we cultivate together.

Happy to eat the rice that was grown right in front of you, looking at this fantastic view.

This is awesome.

Freshly fueled up, Zac rides on towards today's destination - Shimoyubara Onsen.

And this is where we're headed for the evening.

The clear waters of this hot spring have a soft, silky feel.

They're said to help heal nerve pain and aching muscles.

Yeah hopefully we'll have another good day on the bike.

The weather forecast looks pretty good, and it should be another good day.

Today, Zac is headed to Katsuyama.

The road has brought him down into this beautiful valley.

So it looks like we're coming down into the old post town.

You can see a lot of these traditional buildings here.

Some shops have their "noren", entrance hangings out.

Look at this with the logo on it.

In the old days, Katsuyama prospered as a place where travelers broke their journey across the mountains.

Good morning!

Today, I'm looking for an artisan who makes specific tools for calligraphy.

Should be just up here somewhere.

And there's a little shop, Ah, here it is.

"Nakajima Suzuriten."

Hello!

- Wow. You've got all shapes and sizes here.
- Take a closer look.

This workshop makes a local style of inkstone known as Takata Suzuri.

Can I hold it?

Wow, it's heavy.

Two or three kilos?

It's made of stone.

A kind of slate found in this area.

Kadowaki Takeo has been an inkstone artisan for 40 years.

He encourages Zac to use one of his stones.

Grinding the inkstick with water on the stone produces the perfect consistency of ink for writing with a brush.

- It's starting to look like ink.
- Yes.

Not watery any more.

I'm a bit nervous.

I only get one try.

Brushed characters have depth and dimension because of the varying size of the ink particles that grinding produces.

It's quite embarrassing to show off my very poor skills, but I've written "rin," which is the character for wheel, since we're a cycling program.

This is used in the word "nirin" for a two wheeled vehicle.

This is the first time I've written in about 20 years.

These are the stones I'll use.

I see you have all sizes.

Here's a good one.

Very fine grain.

Katsuyama is blessed with high quality stone, and they've been making inkstones here for over 500 years.

Takata inkstones have an especially delicate grain.

This lets the ink be ground more finely, for the most beautiful result.

I've already prepared the surface.

Next step is to carve out the center.

I use three kinds of chisels.

I press the chisel against my shoulder
so I can put my whole weight on it.

It's stone so obviously it's hard.

Very hard.

You carve in along that first line.

Would you like to try?

- Really? I'm left-handed. Is that OK?
- You'll be fine.

Like this?

It makes quite a noise.

You're doing well.

30 seconds is enough.
I can't imagine doing this all day.

I'm already sweating.

I'll stop here before I break something.

Kadowaki's father passed away when he was in high school, leaving the 19-year-old to take over the family workshop.

My father didn't teach me anything directly.
He made me learn by watching him do it.

That must have been difficult.

It took until I was about 35 before
I felt I was good enough.

It's less common now to write with a brush the traditional way, so demand for inkstones is falling.

But Kadowaki is determined to keep the craft alive.

If I stopped, there'd be no one left doing this.

I'm looking for someone to succeed me.

What does this craft mean to you?

Well, I've never worked at anything else.

This is my life.

The last day starts off showery, a rare thing in sunny Okayama.

It's not really very heavy, so it should only last a few more minutes.

Look at this, sunshine.

I told you it would clear up.

It is the land of sunshine, after all.

But you know, the rain makes the green look really nice.

It's just green all the way around.

Zac is now in Shingokamamura.

Heading up here to see an old breed of Wagyu, maybe the oldest registered in Japan.

This looks like the right place.

This looks like the right place.

- Hello!
- Good morning!

- I've been told you breed cows here.
- That's right.

Hirata Itsumi is 80 years old.

His cattle are an old breed called "Take no Tani," said to be the ancestors of Japan's world famous Black Wagyu.

They say your cows are special.
What's so different about them?

Their DNA and even their blood set
them apart from regular cows.

Think about a human being with
an inverted triangle body type.

Wide and deep.

Ah, the athletic type.

The best way to explain is to give you a taste.

So this is Take no Tani beef.

This is a lean beef with a deep umami flavor.

Nice sizzling sound.

It's starting to smell good.

It's really flavorful.
The more you chew, the richer the flavor.

That's right.

It melts in the mouth like most marbled beef,
but it has a cleaner aftertaste.

I think so.

I really like this.

The Take no Tani breed was created in the 1800s to produce stronger transport animals, later gaining fame for the taste of its meat.

However, the popularity of heavily marbled wagyu meant that by the 1970s lean Take no Tani beef had almost disappeared.

Inspired by memories of the beef he'd eaten as a child, Hirata sought out the few remaining animals and began reviving the breed.

Don't you ever think about retiring?

I was going to stop last December,
but I found new energy and decided to carry on.

This one is ready to breed.

She seems very placid.

She'll calve on the 24th of this month.

I feel the calf moving inside.

For 40 years, Hirata single-handedly raised these special cattle.

Finally, others began to follow his lead, and today, there are about 50 of the breed on farms throughout Japan.

I've kept the breed going, but soon
it will be time to hand over to a new generation.

If I don't, all my years of effort will be wasted.

I'm always happy to give young breeders
the benefit of my hard-earned experience.

I try to help them whenever I get a chance.

The taste of the past has a future once again.

The fine weather is back as Zac nears his final destination.

One last spurt before the goal.

Wow. Look at that!

Look at this view.

From this height, Zac can see all the way to Kurashiki, the starting point of his trip.

Mostly good weather in the land of sunshine.

Oh, what a fantastic trip.

I met some really nice people too.

Most of the people I met were bright and friendly but without being, you know, overly friendly.

So, down to earth and modest.

I think that's a really good attitude for anyone to have.

Now, what they ended up doing, whether that was the family business or something they loved, was they seemed to, you know, take everything in their stride in a really modest and down to earth way and, you know, just take it as it comes.

And maybe that reflects the land they live in.

A sunny land, and a sunny people.