Episode 1

Today, one of the best ways to understand any country is through its latest innovation. BBC tech reporter Paul Carter is on a mission: to explore destinations across the globe, hunting down their cutting-edge tech and the people who are creating it. Paul starts by exploring some of the latest technology in Japan, a country long renowned as a leader in the tech world. Starting in Tokyo he visits a cafe whose disabled workers, unable to leave their homes, serve customers remotely from hundreds of miles away using robots and telepresence. He also gets a workout in the city's first e-sports gym. The professional coaches say it takes a hundred hours to get to even a basic level but even in a short time they help Paul sharpen his skills. Paul discovers how tech is revolutionising Japan's world-famous food sector; he travels to the South coast to investigate the story behind a start-up aiming to make shrimp farming sustainable, before continuing westwards to rural Hyogo, to the home of the prized Kobe beef. On a famous Japanese cattle farm, Paul tries his hand at some of the age-old cattle-rearing techniques which go into the production of wagyu beef and then visits Osaka University, where scientists are trying to recreate lab-grown wagyu in petri dishes: Paul wonders whether lab-grown "tech" meat can really compete with the real thing?
Finally, Paul finishes his journey at Japan's most sacred mountain - Mount Fuji - where artificial intelligence is being used to help predict rockslides and protect visitors to this stunning volcanic landscape. Join Paul on his tech journey as he techXplores Japan.