High-Capacity Optical Disks / Automatic Skewer Machines

"Japan's Top Inventions"

The behind-the-scenes tales of hit productions and creations from Japan.

This is "Japan's Top Inventions."

On today's show, these special disks.

Developed in Japan, they can store many hours of high-definition video

and are now a global standard.

We tell the story behind their creation.

Later, yakitori, a staple of Japanese cuisine.

We show you a unique invention

that helps serve up skewers behind the scenes.

Hello, welcome to "Japan's Top Inventions."

I'm your host, Jason Danielson.

In the first half of our show, "Behind the Creation,"

we go behind the scenes

and discover how Japan's top inventions were made.

Today's topic is this.

High-capacity optical disks,

developed by a Japanese company in 2002.

Special lasers can read data off these disks for video playback.

They can store five times more data than a DVD.

This Japanese technology has become a global standard,

finding use with home video releases of movies,

and for recording TV programs.

The key to unlocking the large storage capacity was this...

pencil and paper.

The digital video recorder section of an electronics retailer in Tokyo.

On display are the latest models made by Japanese companies.

The machines all record video onto these disks.

A single one of these holds up to three hours of hi-def video.

The disks with the biggest capacity are 128 gigabytes

that can hold about 15 hours of video.

Customers looking to record a favorite TV series or anime

with good video quality

and fit it on a single disk buy these.

Our story begins back in the 90s.

DVDs were beginning to replace VHS tapes as the dominant media format.

And on TV, high-definition broadcasts were starting to be offered.

It was the start of the HD era.

This major company based in Tokyo sensed a business opportunity.

They'd identified a shortcoming with DVDs.

Their storage capacity.

Crystal clear high-definition broadcasts.

More resolution meant more storage was needed.

A single DVD would only be able to hold about 36 minutes of footage.

Could a new optical disk with more capacity be created?

The company launched a new development project.

One of the key members of the development team

would be Kashiwagi Toshiyuki,

a veteran in the field of optical media.

Here's how he remembers things.

With TV going high definition,

it was only natural that the recording devices

would also need to be suitable for HD.

The company could take advantage of this

by investing in developing new technology.

The start of HD broadcasts was one trigger for development.

That was how the company started developing a new optical disk.

Kashiwagi rolled up his sleeves for the task ahead.

How to increase the storage capacity of an optical disk?

Kashiwagi thought about it

like writing on a sheet of grid paper with a pencil.

With a finer grid and a sharper pencil,

you can fit more text onto one sheet.

Could the same principle apply with an optical disk?

If you have very big line spacing on a sheet of paper,

you can only fit a bit of large text

but if your lines are very dense, you can pack in a lot of small text.

That was the idea.

Kashiwagi turned his attention

towards the recording layer of an optical disk.

Under a microscope, you can see lines known as "guide grooves."

If these grooves were closer together,

then more could fit, just like lines on paper.

Kashiwagi began experimenting straight away.

He shone laser light onto a metal disk used for creating masters,

seeing how close together he could get the grooves to be.

After many trials, this was the disk viewed through a microscope.

When compared to a DVD, the increase in density is obvious,

with many more grooves.

But going back to the paper analogy...

the lines were ready. Now what about the pencil?

The dense grooves on the recording layer.

Data is read off an optical disk from this layer using a laser.

If the grooves represent the lines on a sheet of paper,

then the laser is the pencil.

The problem was the spot size of the laser.

DVDs made use of a red laser.

But now the grooves were about half the distance apart from before,

and the red laser was too wide to read the data.

How could the laser's spot size be made smaller?

This was going to be a real challenge.

Optical disks work by using a laser

to read data encoded onto its surface.

The red lasers that had been used up until this point

could not read the extra-dense recording layer.

If not red, then what kind of light would work?

Kashiwagi looked to this.

Blue-violet light which is what the disks would take their name from.

The development team focused their attention on optics.

They were thinking about the phenomenon known as refraction.

Here is white light passing through a prism.

The colors that make up the light each refract,

or bend, differently.

The red light bends relatively little,

but blue-violet light bends a lot.

Perhaps the blue-violet light could be used

to produce a finer spot size.

When white light passes through a prism,

you get red, yellow, green, blue.

Blue bends the most among these.

The idea was that we could pass blue-violet light through a lens

to get the smallest spot size.

The developers got to work on the test bench.

They spent many days passing blue-violet light through a special lens

and seeing how small they could get the spot.

After much testing,

they were able to achieve a suitably small spot size.

This is an actual photo of the laser spot, only 0.58 micrometers.

The new blue spot was five times smaller than the old red one.

Would the new laser be able to read the data?

The team members recorded some video to put on a test disk.

This is the actual test footage.

The development lead is sitting next to the test bench.

Would it work?

They gave it a try.

Test footage successfully came up on the monitor.

With that, we were able to show how key the blue-violet laser was.

It proved we had the right idea.

And really, that had been our top priority.

The developers were so happy,

they were all cheering, "It works, it works!"

And so, the prototype for the new disk was a success.

But there was one more big hurdle.

The recording layer was extremely delicate.

How could it be protected from dirt or damage?

Their idea? A protective coating over the recording layer.

If the coating was 0.1 millimeters thick,

the laser would have no trouble getting through to the data.

Their first attempt was with a clear film, 0.1 millimeters thick.

With this attached, the recording layer would be protected.

But there was a problem.

It cost too much to make, and it couldn't be mass produced.

Was there no other way?

Kashiwagi continued the search.

He came across a method that used centrifugal force called spin coating.

Transparent resin would be dropped onto the center,

with the disk spun at high speeds.

Through the action of centrifugal force,

the resin would spread to the outer rim of the disk,

creating an even coat.

He tested it right away,

but the resin hardened before reaching the edge.

Kashiwagi diligently tested various kinds of resins,

searching for something that would work.

2002, seven years after development of the disks first began,

the team succeeded in producing a disk with a protective coating.

The disks would go on sale the next year,

alongside a compatible digital video recorder.

But Kashiwagi was frequently getting back this report.

"The disks aren't selling."

The reason? There was a rival optical media format.

Another company had also developed a disk

for storing high-definition video.

Retailers were waiting on the customer response.

Which format would become the new world standard?

Kashiwagi was constantly working on a strategy.

They turned their focus on the US, Hollywood.

Major movie studios release their films on video.

If they could secure their support,

homes all around the world would suddenly be using the disks.

It was common for people to buy lots of movies on DVD in the US.

There were two DVD factories in America that the studios relied on.

I heard those two factories alone

produced about 70% of the world's DVDs.

Kashiwagi made the trip out to the US.

His destination? A DVD factory.

He did his best to make the case in front of the company reps.

"These disks can hold five times more than a DVD.

We want your help making them."

While the company was interested, they had a concern.

"We can't use our existing production line, can we?"

There was another HD format which was based on DVDs

but a little more sophisticated.

But those could use the existing production lines,

so we were told they preferred the other format.

Our product required a new production line.

Kashiwagi's son was ten at the time.

With all the repeated trips to America,

he had limited time at home in Japan.

Over the course of five years,

Kashiwagi would visit America over 100 times.

We'd get them to send over 100 disks to Japan,

then we'd check all of them.

I'd go to America and tell them

what exactly was wrong with the samples,

working together to make another set of samples.

Then one day, in January 2008.

Kashiwagi opened his morning paper.

His eyes popped open at the headline.

One of the largest movie studios had adopted their format.

I'll never forget the headline.

It was written big.

How can I put it.

A huge weight suddenly lifted off my shoulders.

It was like, wow it's finally over. We really did it.

American retail stores, the other studios, everyone,

there was a sudden avalanche of support.

It was really gratifying.

And so, these high-capacity optical disks became widely recognized.

This Japanese format was commonly used for movie releases,

becoming a world standard.

And that was how these high-capacity disks

came to be used around the world.

Now, people all over can enjoy their favorite movies in high-definition.

What do experts have to say about these disks?

We're joined by Kawata Satoshi,

an expert on optical media, to learn more.

Welcome to the show.

Good to be here.

High-capacity optical disks.

What is their technological significance?

Many engineers have tried their hand at optical formats for storage.

It was a huge technical challenge working with the lasers

and trying to increase the capacity of DVDs.

I think Japanese companies were in the best position

to come up with something.

They've had an enormous impact, changing the way production works.

What else can these disks be used for

other than watching movies or recording video?

I think they have a lot of potential as backups at data centers

for cloud services.

There's still room for the capacity of optical disks to grow.

And they are good for long-term storage.

For example, footage from 24-hour surveillance cameras.

If those are sent to the data centers and recorded onto optical disks,

we could eventually have footage from car accidents from 20 years ago.

I think using optical media as a solution for storing data in the cloud

is the best choice at the moment.

I see. What's next for optical media?

I've written a thesis

about putting in 1,000 recording layers into current optical disks.

That way, we can have an incredibly dense amount of data in one disk.

A thousand times more.

I think there's a business opportunity there.

It's the kind of tech that could inspire fresh innovations.

Thank you for your time. Great talking to you.

My pleasure. Thank you.

"Top Niche Creations."

In the second half of our show, "Top Niche Creations,"

we discover Japanese products doing well in niche markets worldwide.

Today, we're looking at this device. An automatic skewer machine.

Yakitori, or chicken skewers,

are a staple of casual Japanese dining.

This machine helps with getting all that chicken onto the sticks.

Development began with in-depth research into how yakitori is made.

A machine manufacturer in Kanagawa.

It's a small company of 11 employees,

but it's said their automatic skewer machines

have 90% of the market share in Japan.

They're even being used in yakitori shops across the globe.

Here it is: our latest automatic skewer machine.

This machine is used by a major yakitori restaurant chain.

We asked Saito Shinji, who works in sales, for a demonstration.

First, the skewers are loaded in.

Then, the chicken meat is lined up.

Hit the power.

And off it goes.

As you can see, the meat is automatically skewered.

If we slow the action down,

we can see it takes only a fraction of a second

for the stick to pass through.

The machine can make up to 1,500 skewers in a single hour.

That's over five times faster than a typical cook.

Major food manufacturers, small yakitori stands,

restaurants, supermarkets,

those are the kinds of clients we get.

It saves a lot of human effort. I think that's the biggest appeal.

The device can skewer other ingredients too.

Like sausages.

Japanese oden.

Even traditional sweets.

You've just got to be able to put a stick in it.

The possibilities are limitless.

We're trying to accommodate any ingredient, any type of skewer.

The company's first skewer machine was made in the 70s.

The founder was inspired after hearing a yakitori chef

talking about how much trouble it was skewering the chicken.

While there were other machines on the market at the time,

they simply poked through the meat. Ingredients frequently fell off.

How could they prevent the meat from slipping?

After in-depth research into yakitori techniques,

they discovered that the meat had to be threaded in a certain way.

By going up and down while passing through,

the meat would stay on the skewer.

That's why they came up with this special tray.

There appear to be ridges all over it.

So I think you can see the pattern here.

This causes the meat to be in this wavy shape.

It's held like that as the skewer goes through.

Let's take a closer look.

The meat is loaded in the tray.

After being pressed from above, it forms this wavy shape.

Put the skewer through while it's like this,

and the meat won't fall off.

Let's see an actual skewer.

You can make out the wavy pattern.

And if you give it a shake...

It doesn't fall.

If you just poked through it normally,

it'd be all off in about three shakes.

This is our specialty.

Using this custom technology,

the company has prepared trays for many other kinds of ingredients.

From vegetables to fish, they've come up with trays

that support over 1,500 different ingredients.

Even something as small as a kernel of corn.

The skewer gets each one.

In addition to Japan, this company's machines have also been

shipped to over 40 countries and regions worldwide.

From Spanish pinchos

to Indonesian satay,

the machines are being used in many cuisines.

It was quite surprising to me.

About ten years ago I started realizing

how so many dishes around the world use skewers.

It's amazing.

We can't predict what kind of request we're going to get next,

but we're doing our best to support any ingredient.

The automatic skewer machines

can now handle many kinds of ingredients used in different cuisines.

And there are more improvements on the way.

This model was recently announced at an exhibition.

As you can see, even the process of lining up the chicken meat

is done by a robotic arm.

It's more automated than ever.

It might not be long before you have a skewer

that was made with one of these machines.

That's all for today's "Japan's Top Inventions."

We'll end by showing you a follow-up

about the developer of the high-capacity optical disks.

Thanks for watching. See you next time and stay inventive.

(Kashiwagi Toshiyuki helped develop the high-capacity optical disk.)

(He keeps this treasured disk safely at home.)

(What's on the disk?)

(Home videos of him spending time with his son.)

(A record of precious moments between all the business trips to the US.)

I really wanted it recorded on my disks.

We started off not knowing if this was even possible,

we pretty much had no chance.

But then we succeeded.

I went through that whole process. What a valuable experience.

If you really persevere, you can do it.

That was my biggest lesson.