"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... Clearing landmines.

It's said that more than a 100 million mines

are buried across the world.

We introduce a machine that can clear out these insidious weapons.

Later... These smoothly sliding components.

Their secret?

Right here!

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

I'm your host, Jason Danielson.

In the first half of our show, we take you "Behind the Creation."

Today's topic is this.

Landmine clearance machines, developed in 1998.

A drum attachment with spinning metal blades

connects to the arm of an excavator.

They're used to dig into the ground and safely detonate landmines.

Over 100 units have been used to clear mines

more effectively than by hand

from affected areas in places like Cambodia or Afghanistan.

Development started after a Japanese engineer

encountered something on a trip overseas.

A company that deals in construction machinery in Yamanashi Prefecture.

Around 75 employees work at this small local company

that also repairs machinery.

This is a mine clearance machine that we make.

We made it white because we didn't want it to appear hostile.

Their mine clearance machines

have been shipped to 11 countries and regions.

The company wanted to use their construction machinery

to contribute to the international community.

The operator cab is protected by a thick layer of bulletproof glass.

It's made so that even if an explosion

causes debris to strike the windows,

the operator will be safe.

That's the design.

Our story begins in 1994.

The news at the time reported on the state of Cambodia

after the end of their civil war.

Four groups were involved in the conflict,

and many landmines were buried in the country.

With between four and six million charges buried,

it was said to be one of the countries most contaminated by landmines.

Landmines are indiscriminate weapons.

Many civilians became casualties of them, even after the civil war.

A Japanese man was in Phnom Penh,

the capital of Cambodia, during that time.

Amemiya Kiyoshi, the CEO of a construction machinery company.

He'd been there working to export his company's machines

as Cambodia would need construction machinery to rebuild.

An acquaintance told me how the civil war had ended in Cambodia.

There was going to be great demand for construction machinery

as the country rebuilt.

I thought it was an opportunity.

But things didn't go as planned for Amemiya.

No business discussions went ahead.

As he prepared to head home, he made a stop at the Central Market.

It's the largest market in Phnom Pen,

offering everything from food and clothing to home appliances.

He brought along an interpreter and walked into the market.

He was met by a certain sight.

Child beggars, who had nowhere else to turn after the civil war.

Amemiya spoke to an elderly woman sitting next to those children.

She was an older woman,

and she was missing her right leg from the knee down.

I asked her what had happened.

She told me that after the civil war had ended,

many people coming back died

because of explosives buried in the roads or around homes.

As Amemiya turned to leave, the woman desperately pleaded with him.

She wouldn't let go of my hand.

And she said, you're Japanese, right? Please, help our country.

Those words stuck with Amemiya as he boarded his flight home.

On the plane, he remembered what his mother told him when he was young.

"Grow up to be someone that lives for others."

I was thinking about it on the plane.

You see, my mother was a schoolteacher.

Cambodians wouldn't be able to farm unless the mines were removed,

and the roads were filled with them.

I thought, someone had to do something to clear out the mines.

After returning to the office, Amemiya gathered his employees.

He announced that they would be developing a landmine clearance machine.

Development had commenced,

but Amemiya worked with construction machinery.

He didn't have any knowledge about explosives, let alone landmines.

Amemiya began by learning the basics about landmines.

He sought out experts on them.

He even went to live with Cambodian locals in villages

close to minefields to learn more.

Through this, Amemiya turned his attention towards the vegetation.

To clear a mine, first the plant life has to be removed.

It's a laborious task, said to take 70% of the time to clear a mine.

With manual labor,

it takes about an hour or two to clear a square meter.

Plants grow quickly in the hot and humid tropical climate of Cambodia.

I wondered if a machine could do the whole job

instead of doing the work by hand.

Amemiya had an idea to use an excavator.

The arm would provide distance away from the explosions.

Could an attachment for the arm be made to clear vegetation

and a landmine at the same time?

Amemiya pondered how the attachment would look.

He spent days sketching designs.

He remembered something he saw back home on the farm.

A threshing machine, used to harvest rice.

My father was a farmer, and he grew rice.

The thresher had needle-like blades on it.

You pedaled it and it would remove the rice off the stalk.

It was very effective.

This is one of the original sketches that Amemiya drew.

Like the thresher, it had metal blades on a rapidly spinning drum.

The idea was to uproot the vegetation

and safely set off the mine at the same time.

Amemiya was inspired by the threshing machine

to create the new excavator arm attachment.

But the new machine would need to withstand the blast of a landmine.

The key development challenge

would be the durability of the metal blades.

How strong would the blades need to be?

Cambodia has a tropical climate.

Some of the minefields had become like a jungle.

The blades would need to cut through thick tree roots too.

And another concern.

Tremendous heat would be generated when the landmines exploded.

Anti-personnel mines generally reach over 800 degrees Celsius,

spiking to about a 1,000 degrees for a moment.

It had to be strong against heat,

strong against rocks, and strong against trees.

The key would be the metal alloy used for the blade.

Many compositions were tested to try

and make a blade that would be hard and strong.

The blades would need to be tested,

but there was an unexpected hurdle in the way.

In Japan, private companies are not allowed to use explosives.

So, Amemiya looked here for help.

The training grounds of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

There are several locations throughout Japan,

and explosive testing could be done there.

Amemiya reached out to the Ministry of Defense,

which is responsible for the Self-Defense Force.

He emphasized how this could contribute to the international community.

Their response?

I think it seemed like a crazy request at first.

But I went many times and explained how if the tests were successful,

then a Japanese product could do a lot of good overseas,

and it'd raise our reputation.

I asked them over and over again before getting approved.

I'm very thankful to the Ministry.

Could the metal blades withstand the blast of a landmine?

Amemiya brought the mine clearance machine

to the Self-Defense Force training grounds.

The result?

This is an actual blade used in the test. It broke under the impact.

Even after adjusting the composition many times,

the blades still broke.

They were weak.

The blades would break or get totally worn down.

We tested over ten times.

We focused on how it had to be able to destroy a mine,

and we kept on trying.

But it didn't go well at first.

Was it wrong to focus on strength and hardness?

Amemiya searched for some kind of breakthrough.

As he worked, one day, a thought occurred to him.

Baseball. Playing catch.

When the ball is caught, the arm is brought in,

absorbing the impact of the throw.

I was coaching a junior baseball team at the time.

I remembered how you pull the glove in when the ball hits,

and then it doesn't hurt to catch.

The blade couldn't be too hard or too soft.

It had to be somewhere in-between.

It needed to absorb the force of the impact and the debris.

And so, new materials were brought in.

Molybdenum and chromium.

The composition of the alloy was carefully adjusted

so that the blade would have some flexibility.

The prototyping work continued.

And so, in November of 1998,

four years after the start of development,

the first model was finally complete.

The attachment contained 40 blades made from their new alloy.

The mine clearance machine was complete.

As a final check, Amemiya headed for Cambodia for a practical test.

The machine was taken to a minefield.

Would it actually be effective for clearing mines?

And who would drive it?

Me.

If I couldn't operate it safely myself,

no one would be willing to use it.

Like, "Oh, Amemiya's on it. Alright, I'll try too."

Not, "You get on that, I'll be here watching."

No. That's nonsense.

And so the test began.

Residents and representatives from the Cambodian government

were there watching.

He drove up to a thicket, and began clearing it out.

Little by little, the ground became visible.

It was nerve-wracking.

For a while I was just clearing the plants,

and there was no explosion.

I couldn't tell where the mines were buried.

One could go off suddenly.

If the machine couldn't withstand an explosion,

the operator cab would blow away along with the arm.

Amemiya steeled himself for what was coming.

I was prepared to die.

And when that happens, you start to feel as if your sweat is like water.

Water comes out from you, from here and also from here.

That's what it's like.

It must be the fear.

I was like, "Bring it on!"

but I can't put into words what I was really feeling.

And then it happened.

All eyes turned to the machine.

Was Amemiya OK?

The operator cab was solid.

And the metal blades were fully intact.

Wow. I'm alive, I thought. I'm alive.

After that, the machine was used to clear many more mines.

People from the UN were there,

from non-profits for mine clearance, and locals too.

Many people saw it and said it was good.

It felt like this was a real step forward.

Amemiya's machine was tested successfully on location.

The Cambodian government recognized its value,

and ordered two units.

Since then, the mine clearance machines have been used

in 11 countries and regions.

What do experts have to say about this invention?

Today, we're joined by Watanabe Jinichi

who's involved with landmine clearance

at a Japanese international cooperation foundation.

Thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

Can you tell us how you are involved with landmine clearance?

I'm involved with a project for unexploded landmines.

Countries have organizations devoted to clearing landmines,

and we help fulfill requests for mine clearance machines.

I've been involved with this since 2009.

Where and in what way has Amemiya's machine been used?

It's been used in Cambodia, Laos, Colombia.

The way it clears shrubs

at the same time as removing the mine is revolutionary.

I think organizations that do actual mine clearance

are very appreciative of the machine.

What are the strengths of Amemiya's machine?

I think the biggest factor

is how the operator can truly work while feeling safe.

I don't think it'd be possible to develop something like this

without the amount of dedication Amemiya had towards this cause.

What kind of goals or milestones lie ahead for landmine clearance?

There are around 60 countries in the world with mines buried in them.

By removing the mines,

that land can be leveled and developed into farmland.

That will improve the quality of life for residents.

We want there to be more countries in the world

where people can live safe from landmines.

Thank you for joining us. It was a pleasure to speak with you.

Thank you.

"Top Niche Creations."

Our next segment is "Top Niche Creations."

Today, we'll be taking a look at this. Linear guides.

These components help facilitate smooth motion.

A manufacturer of mechanical components in Tokyo

holds about 50% of the global market share for these.

The reason that the guides can slide so smoothly is thanks to these.

But how does it all work? We went to find out!

The head office of a mechanical component manufacturer in Tokyo.

Take a look at the showroom next to the entrance,

and you'll find a wide variety of linear guides.

What do they look like in motion?

We asked Ono Ryo in sales for a demonstration.

This is our company's most basic product.

Move it around, and you can see how smoothly it slides.

This one follows a curve.

The curved track is just as smooth as the straight one.

And this one here is extremely small.

It's tinier than a fingertip, but it also slides smoothly.

But just where in the product is there a ball?

We asked for details.

These balls can be found here inside our products.

Can you see them? There's a bunch of them in there.

These metal balls are lined up inside the linear guide.

The smooth sliding is thanks to these balls rolling along the rails.

Just what can these linear guides be used for?

They're most commonly found in machine tools in factories.

They help to precisely line up the materials with tools

that do the cutting and grinding.

They're also used for sliding mechanisms on airplane seats.

Or for the bed of a CT scanner.

It's an indispensable part for facilitating smooth sliding motion.

They're usually found hidden inside a machine,

so most people won't ever see one.

But we're proud to be supporting peoples' daily lives

from behind the scenes.

The company currently holds 50% of the global market share

for linear guides.

It all started with this product, developed in 1971.

This was the first product in the world

to successfully use rolling contact to facilitate linear movement.

Until then, typical sliding motion featured full contact

between surfaces.

However, this creates a lot of friction.

To move a heavy object, a lot of force is needed to overcome this.

That's where roller balls come in.

Rolling reduces the amount of friction.

It allows you to move heavy objects with ease,

and to use less energy when moving things.

But there was an issue with using balls as rollers.

They contact the surface at a point.

The concentrated weight on a point could break the rail.

That's where the company had an idea. To add grooves to the rails.

There would now be surface contact between the ball and the rail.

The permissible load increased about 13 times

compared to with point contact.

By adjusting the roller ball diameter,

even large objects weighing over ten tons can slide smoothly.

It's been 50 years since their invention,

but the applications of linear guides continue to expand.

This type has rails meeting at 90 degrees.

This product allows our customers a greater range of motion.

Actually, this type has a use you might not expect.

There's an example in the basement of the headquarters.

Here they are.

Can you see the black parts over there?

This is actually a seismic isolation system for earthquakes.

The isolation system moves with the tremors

so that they don't directly shake the building.

Here is a clip from a demonstration.

You can see how much the shaking is dampened

when the seismic isolation system is active.

We're just trying to help

make the world a little bit more convenient.

We're going to keep on making products

that are helpful to people around the world.

These linear guides have many applications.

Aside from 2D movements adding one more dimension

allows for another use.

3D printing.

By using linear guides to move an extruder along any direction,

almost anything can be printed.

To think all these possibilities

come from combining these basic movements.

Wow!

That's all for this episode of "Japan's Top Inventions."

We'll leave you with what came next for the engineer

of the landmine clearance equipment from the first half of the show.

See you next time! And stay inventive.

(Amemiya developed the mine clearance machine based on a modified excavator.)

(He's 75 now, and still working on improvements.)

(This latest model moves forward while digging with a rotary cutter.)

(The rippers behind the machine till the soil at the same time.)

(They transform minefields into farmland.)

(Amemiya remains dedicated to his cause.)

I want to help make the land safe for people to live.

The smiles of the people when the mines are cleared

and they can farm again are my greatest reward.

I'm getting older, but even if it's while holding a cane,

I want to keep doing what I can.