RISING

Hashimura Kazunori specializes in rejuvenating unlikely destinations as luxury glamping sites. Since his first venture, a secluded cove in Shizuoka Prefecture that now receives some 3,000 visitors per year, his model has helped revitalize various depopulation-hit areas, like one Gunma village where the unmanned local train station was reborn as a glamping hub, creating jobs and even attracting new residents. We follow his latest project, the transformation of an abandoned school in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011, Japan's market for emergency rations has skyrocketed. However, once purchased, most homes and workplaces forget about such supplies until their use-by date approaches, and they are ultimately thrown away. Yokohama college students Seki Yoshimi and Kikuhara Misato launched a social business that avoids such waste by leveraging these resources to tackle burgeoning food poverty that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mori Kenshiro is the creator of an online learning platform that equips adults with the skills they need to navigate Japan's pandemic-hit job market. Along with free livestreamed evening classes, and an interface that lets users ask questions and chat with classmates in real time, a small monthly fee gives access to thousands of archived lectures. And as well as individuals and businesses, Mori's firm is working with depopulation-hit areas to prepare them for the digital economy of the future.

Japan is home to some 730,000 bridges. With most built during the rapid economic growth of the mid–late 20th century, many are potentially in need of maintenance, but without the personnel to conduct the necessary checks. Morikawa Haruna and husband Ayumu are working to address this through a specially developed AI system that uses detailed photographs of bridges and other infrastructure to automatically generate repair plans. And this technology is also helping to promote workforce inclusivity.

In the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture lost about 4,000 lives, with damage to 77% of local homes. Since then, population decline has seen more homes go empty, but, 11 years later, a unique enterprise led by Watanabe Kyoko is leveraging these properties to revive the community and ride out the pandemic. By renovating them into guesthouses, co-working spaces, communal houses and a creative hub for artists, she is actually attracting new residents to the area.

In traditional sake brewing, sake lees is a major byproduct that is typically thrown away in large quantities. Yamamoto Yuya runs a distillery that is trying to change this by using these long-overlooked leftovers as a base for the production of craft gin, lending astonishing depths of aroma and flavor to the final product. And this sustainability conscious business also makes use of other surplus ingredients like cacao husks, coffee grounds, and beer that has gone unsold due to the pandemic.

In recent years, growth in the global aquaculture market has seen yields overtake traditional fisheries. But conventional aquaculture techniques are a source of pollution, and also susceptible to weather events. Professor Yamamoto Toshimasa of Okayama University of Science has solved these problems and increased yields through a sustainable new approach that enables faster growth at higher stocking densities, also providing a promising solution for poverty and food security in developing nations.

Japan is full of both young people keen to visit new locations but lacking the funds to do so, and provincial towns seeking a fresh influx of younger workers. Nagaoka Rina created a service that tackles both issues by offering young people paid placements with local farms and businesses, also providing free accommodation and enough downtime to explore in exchange for a few hours manual work per day. And as well as labor, the towns gain new ambassadors to showcase their appeal more widely.

With traditional Japanese carpentry on the decline, young architect Akiyoshi Koki is rejuvenating age-old construction approaches through digital fabrication technology like laser cutting and 3D printing. From award-winning reimaginings of traditional homes, to the promotion of local timber production and consumption cycles using digital equipment, and unique online platforms for ordering pre-cut furniture and even homes, he is breathing new life into both the construction and forestry sectors.

Based in Toyama Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast, Noguchi Tomohisa runs a unique business making sustainable leather from fish skin, a major waste product of the region's active fisheries. After a three-year development process working to ensure the material's strength and eliminate fishy odors, the firm's fish leather wallets and card cases are now stocked by high-end stores in Tokyo, and their attractive sheen is a welcome replacement for unsustainable exotic animal skins.

In a big year for parasports in Tokyo, we follow 3 technicians whose expertise aids the performance of competitors from around the world. Wheelchair engineer Ozawa Toru calibrates his devices to match athletes' requirements to the nearest gram and millimeter. MIT alumnus Endo Ken creates prosthetic blades both to suit the needs of top competitors and ease hurdles to access for parasports beginners. And Hamada Atsushi pioneers novel blade designs to maximize the performance of para-athletes.

Painting and decorating is an industry that has long been dominated by men. But Takenobe Yukio, CEO of an Osaka-based construction painting firm founded in 1950, is solving the issue of an aging, shrinking workforce by proactively recruiting female staff. Trained using innovative digital platforms, his team including tradeswoman Ishimoto Nozomi leverages a creative female sensibility to tackle projects such as schools and the traditionally built temples of historic Kyoto Prefecture.

Since 2018, twins Matsuda Takaya and Fumito have run a social business built around the unique artistic talents of individuals with learning disabilities. In partnership with facilities across Japan, besides organizing award-winning exhibitions, they license artists' work for use in stylish products including garments and accessories, as well as design tie-ups with craft beer brands and on hotel décor, with profits providing vital income for the artists themselves.

Taniguchi Hisashi is CEO of a mobility services company that is tackling the pandemic through self-driving technology that facilitates social distancing. From automated trolley systems for mail-order warehouses experiencing a surge in orders, to robots that patrol and disinfect indoor facilities, and self-driving scooters aimed at mobility-impaired seniors, Taniguchi's aim is a society that leverages robots in every facet of our lifestyles.

Kuji Kosuke heads an Iwate Prefecture's sake brewery with 119 years of history. Through an approach that melds tradition with the French "terroir" philosophy, using mountain spring water and rice varieties suited to the local environment, his beverages have won prizes in Japan and overseas. But with demand for sake falling due to the pandemic, he responded with "Japanese spirit," turning his surplus rice crop to more storable gin made with local botanicals, and vodka filtered with Iwate charcoal.

Food waste is a global issue. And fresh fruit -- easily bruised; rejected for minor deviations in size, shape and color; and prone to price dips due to bumper crops -- is among the most widely discarded items. Kinoshita Masayuki set out to solve this with tailored flash freezing technology that maintains the taste and texture of cut fruit without the need for conventional preservatives. And now his approach is even helping pandemic-hit restaurants deliver their dishes with no loss in quality.

With human interaction restricted by the pandemic, robotic communication aids are in the spotlight. Aoki Shunsuke heads a firm that develops such devices, with user-friendly messenger robots aimed at children and seniors uncomfortable with smartphones; home sensors that pair with the robots to let you monitor the wellbeing of isolated relatives; and robotics kits that help kids learn while expressing their creativity. Follow a unique business developing innovative solutions for the new normal.

Around the world, the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought calls for a green recovery focused on eco-friendly businesses and renewable energy. Yoshida Hiroko runs an NPO promoting green energy and sustainable food production in rural Japan. By creating virtuous cycles, and organizing events that attract participants from further afield, she leverages local natural resources to revitalize mountain areas hit by depopulation.

In spring 2020, with Japan facing a shortage of protective gowns for medical staff battling COVID-19, one 18-employee apparel firm in Nara Prefecture produced 100 thousand gowns in just 3 months thanks to a nationwide network of tailors working from home. Using a unique online platform, founder Tani Hideki recruited some 250 craftspeople left without work by a declining sewing industry. Moving forward, he aims to develop a new generation of craftspeople suited to the demands of the new normal.

Japan's food supply chain has long followed a model of mass production for mass consumption, with produce from farmers nationwide sent to Tokyo for redistribution, squandering freshness, fuel and money. With calls building for a shift to local production for local consumption, Kato Yuriko stepped in to revitalize regional agriculture with a new approach to logistics, leveraging local vendors, news delivery trucks and more for a system of collection and delivery that follows local bus routes.

With its many volcanoes, Japan has the world's third-highest potential for geothermal energy. In 1984, Hachimantai, Iwate Pref. opened the country's first such power station, with greenhouses reusing the hot spring water to grow vegetables in the harsh northern winters. After falling out of use, they were revived by Kodama Norihiro, who has fused geothermal spring water with the Internet of Things to create a simple, sustainable new agricultural model that aims to revitalize this rural area.

Small scale, specialist technical workshops, or "machikoba," have long been a lynchpin of Japanese manufacturing. But without the ability to effectively communicate their supreme skills, overseas competition and a lack of successors have seen the sector shrink in recent decades. Entrepreneur Furukawa Taku is aiming to change all that, working with a network of over 100 workshops in downtown Tokyo to refresh their old-fashioned business models and promote creative cross-sector collaborations.

In March 2020, to curb the spread of COVID-19, schools across Japan were urged to close, prompting widespread fears that children may fall behind on their studies. Enter Yunokawa Takahiko, developer of a unique e-learning platform that uses AI to assess students' shortcomings and provide an adaptive learning experience to match. Having rolled out to almost 370 schools during the pandemic, Yunokawa aims to provide affordable, egalitarian learning opportunities to students in Japan and overseas.

Widespread school closures due to COVID-19 have thrust online learning resources into the spotlight. In Japan, one such service offering a fun introduction to the world of smartphone and computer programming received 10 thousand signups in just one month, with over 600 schools considering integrating it into their curriculum. We follow founder and former supply teacher Mizuno Yusuke's efforts to bring new opportunities to teenagers at a crucial stage in their educational journey.

In Osaka, Japan's second-largest city, one NPO is working with the homeless to help them get back on their feet. Founder Kawaguchi Kana has launched various initiatives providing temporary work and accommodation as a bridge back into mainstream society. These include a city-wide bike share scheme and a social business selling photos that leverage the unique perspectives of those who live on the streets. Follow a unique enterprise striving towards a society that offers everyone a second chance.

In Japan, a new kind of hotel is giving visitors from around the world the chance to experience Buddhist culture firsthand. Due to depopulation and aging congregations, many of Japan's 77 thousand temples are disused or endangered. Business entrepreneur Mai Sato and ordained priest Shunko Umino are striving to solve this issue by helping temples to find fresh value through hotel facilities that also bring benefits to the broader community.

In Japan, over 6 million tons of food, much of it perfectly edible, go to waste every year. To combat this, Kazuma Kawagoe developed a web application that aims to rescue food otherwise headed for the dumpster. Users can browse and reserve items for collection at reduced prices at registered restaurants and bakeries. Follow a unique venture using technology to raise awareness of this issue and change the attitudes of both, consumers and producers, while reducing the waste of precious food.

As Japan prepares for the Tokyo 2020's big events, efforts are underway to prepare for the arrival of international athletes and spectators, but wheelchair users still face various hurdles. To promote accessibility for those with disabilities, wheelchair user Yuriko Oda created a "barrier-free map" app that helps users locate and share info on elevators and accessible toilets while avoiding steps and other obstacles. Follow a mobile venture aiming for a barrier-free society.

Year round, Japan plays host to an estimated 300 thousand matsuri. But dwindling rural populations and weakened community bonds now place around a quarter of these colorful traditional festivals in jeopardy. Manabu Ohara heads a unique organization that recruits young people from across the country and overseas to help keep these festivals alive, forging ties with locals and giving a much-needed lift to every aspect -- from preparation, to float-bearing, to cleanup.

Agricultural science PhD Yukihiro Maru is head of a unique business striving to raise the floor for science and technology in Japan, through both educational workshops and support for science-based startups. Staffed by science graduates and postgrads, the firm conducts around 300 workshops each year aimed at boosting interest in STEM subjects among kids and teens, and has also helped kickstart over 200 tech ventures. Follow their efforts to save the world through the power of science.

A Kyoto Prefecture umbrella maker with 160 years of history drove to the brink of bankruptcy in 2003, falling demand for traditional Wagasa paper umbrellas. Son-in-law Kotaro Nishibori left his job as a civil servant to take over the helm, with the motto "true tradition always moves with the times." Since then, lampshades and other products leveraging Wagasa making techniques have won fans at home and abroad, and brought collaborations with international designers.

In Japan, crowdfunding isn't just about money. There's also a site aimed at test marketing new products which has built up an impressive track record. CEO Ryotaro Nakayama finds the ideas slumbering within local small and medium-sized businesses and helps turn them into new products, putting declining industries back into action. From projects like a foldable hybrid bicycle to kitchen knives modeled after Japanese katana swords, we take a deep dive into Nakayama's revolutionary business model.

Across Japan, aging and depopulation see over 8 million properties currently standing unused. One town at the forefront of this issue is Mino, Gifu Prefecture. Once known for some 4,700 traditional mills making UNESCO-recognized washi paper, now only 6 remain. Takeshi Fujiwara launched a plan to re-activate Mino's empty buildings as resources for culture and tourism. Follow his efforts to revive this community by promoting local crafts and transforming empty homes into unique guesthouses.

In Japan, blemishes and inconsistencies in size or shape see some 20-30% of vegetables rejected as unfit for sale. Keisuke Soda had an idea to spare producers the heartache of scrapping perfectly good crops: He buys such items at a fair price, and presses their pulp into colorful, paper thin-sheets which store well and can be used as you would dried seaweed. Learn how a product originally intended to help regional farmers is now taking off among vegans and mothers of young children alike.

At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA, top plaudits went to a wearable ultrasound sensor that provides users with mobile notifications of bladder fullness. Based on the personal experience of developer Atsushi Nakanishi, the device aims to help an estimated 500 million people worldwide who suffer from urinary incontinence. And this groundbreaking tool is already improving quality of life for both staff and patients in care and rehabilitation settings in Japan and overseas.

Fujio Kojima leads a company using IT to tackle waste, from litter to fly-tipping and ocean plastics. A unique social media app that encourages users to pick up litter and share their activities, has been a hit with private users and companies alike in 84 countries. The firm has also developed an AI system that scans the streets for garbage, and launched a project surveying plastic waste in rivers and outlets around Japan. Follow a unique business trying to solve the world's garbage problems.

The global boom in wearable technology has seen one traditional Japanese textile maker is in the spotlight with smartphone-linked garments that monitor wearers' heart rate and other data, with applications in sports, healthcare, and industry. Since taking over the family business in 2014, CEO Ayumu Mitera has revived the ailing firm's fortunes through world-leading silver metalized fibers. Find out more about the benefits these unique textiles are bringing to the elderly, epileptics, and more.

The global drive to cut fossil fuel usage has put electric vehicles (EVs) in the spotlight. Spurred by the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, engineer Hideo Tsurumaki created a compact EV that is equally at home on land or water. Despite being only 1.3 meters wide, his aquatic car can seat 4 people, and reach top land speeds of 80km an hour. We follow this pioneer of affordable EVs as he expands his operations to frequently flood-affected Thailand.

With over 27% of the population currently aged 65 or over, Japan as a nation is experiencing unprecedented demand for assistive technology. Hideaki Tamada heads one Osaka-based firm that developed walking aids tailored to the smaller physiques of Japanese seniors. A runaway hit, the firm now leads the domestic "walker" market, helping older adults nationwide to maintain their independence. Follow a pioneering business prolonging healthy lifespans for Japan's graying society.

Flying cars have long been a staple of science fiction, but recent years have seen a global explosion in projects that aim to make these futuristic vehicles a reality. With the aim of making flight available to all by 2050, one such project is led by Tsubasa Nakamura, whose team of young engineers is working to create a zero-emission road vehicle that can also take to the air via propeller power. Follow their efforts to have their invention light the Olympic Flame at Tokyo 2020.

In Japan, long-distance express coaches are a fast-expanding sector. Including an increasing number of foreign visitors, annual users now stand at an estimated 120 million. Koji Hirayama runs a coach operator that has helped fuel this growth through an emphasis on safety, comfort, and value, introducing measures like IoT systems to monitor drivers' health and stop them falling asleep at the wheel; specially designed seats; and a system that makes unreserved places available at reduced prices.

Long beset by depopulation and industrial decline, these days the town of Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan, boasts a science park that's a honeypot for tech startups and international researchers. Daisuke Yamanaka runs a local firm that has brought an innovative approach to community development. Frustrated by bureaucracy, he turned to partnerships between civil enterprises, also bringing researchers and local government on board to promote truly holistic regional revitalization.

A trunk room is rented storage for items you don't often use but just can't throw away. But it's not always easy to keep track of inventory or pick up possessions when you need them. Hayato Matsuzaki launched a service using couriers and carefully photographed cloud-based galleries of stored items to give users round-the-clock access to possessions at the click of a mouse or the touch of a screen, and even letting you give new life to items you no longer want by putting them up for sale.

Virtual reality: currently a hot technology in the world of video gaming, and now also on the brink of transforming the medical field. Surgeon Maki Sugimoto has developed a system that uses precise 3D modeling of patients' internal organs to help plan surgical procedures down to the last scalpel incision, maximizing safety. Currently used at over 50 facilities working across the medical spectrum, this groundbreaking technology is also revolutionizing the way young doctors are trained.

With 80% of Japan's regional bus routes operating at a loss, Masaru Yajima runs a firm working to revive these vital transport lifelines. GPS and sensors are used to track progress and passenger flow, and this big data is analyzed to optimize routes and departure times. Further innovations like waiting rooms and wholesale local produce at bus stops have helped to attract passengers beyond the typical user base. And this pioneering transport firm is now taking its successful template overseas.

In January 2018, at the Global EdTech Startup Awards in London, a Japanese firm came through a field of over 2,000 to claim the top prize. Goichiro Arai's company triumphed with an app designed to help students organize and share their study notes, and even create Q&A exercises. Allowing students to study together independently of teachers, and even helping to close the achievement gap between rich and poor, this cutting-edge tool is ready to carry success in Asia over to the global stage.

Around the world, one sector relatively untouched by the IT-driven paradigm shift known as the sharing economy has been dining and catering. Miwa Okada is helping to change that with a service that introduces local users to Japan-based foreign nationals who open their homes to offer lessons on how to cook their own native cuisine. We follow an innovative business using food as the medium for cultural exchange and integration between Japan's growing foreign population and their host country.

With many up-and-coming nations undergoing rapid development, Japanese construction equipment is finding new popularity around the world due to its safety and reliability. Takayuki Aoki (32) founded an online service that offers overseas buyers affordable access to used heavy machinery from Japan, providing comprehensive information, detailed photos and even a refund policy. Follow a young entrepreneur using information technology to take Japanese construction equipment to the world.

Across Japan, a decline in public transport and small retailers is said to have left as many as 7 million seniors unable to access basic daily necessities. 6 years ago, to address the needs of these "shopping refugees", former magazine editor Tatsuya Sumitomo set up a mobile supermarket service. Now with over 300 trucks, each offering up to 1,200 items, along with clothing and monitor services, his business regularly serves around 40,000 people nationwide, with an average age of 80.

The key to gold medal success at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games may just be held by Toru Ozawa, engineer with a specialist wheelchair manufacturer in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo. Fine-tuned to match each owner's precise needs to the last millimeter, and trusted by top wheelchair athletes around the world, the firm's custom devices have helped win 122 Paralympic medals to date. With 2 years to go until the Tokyo games, we follow a pioneering Tokyo wheelchair maker with sights set on gold.

The last decade has been tough for cattle breeders in Japan. Four-tenths of farms have folded, and the experience needed to succeed limits the influx of new talent. Shinya Kobayashi founded a business to address this situation through the Internet of Things. Cattle are tracked using sensors, and the data analyzed to give farmers powerful insights via their mobile devices, along with digital records on animals' breeding and health. Follow a business using IT to support Japan's cattle breeders.

Atsushi Yoshida runs a 70-year-old firm specializing in high-voltage lightning arresters. Its devices, produced via research at the world's largest lightning-test facility, protect homes and infrastructure, as well as Japanese icons like Shinkansen bullet trains, the TOKYO SKYTREE and Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera Temple, with a 70% domestic market share. Now Yoshida is taking this expertise to Rwanda, one of the world's most lightning-prone countries, conducting research and training local engineers.

Keiichi Yoshino left a career in finance to open a chocolatier in Kyoto, Japan's former capital. Only 4 years in, his brand has already won international awards and been picked up by an exclusive Kyoto hotel. He uses cacao from Indonesia, the world's number-two producer, boosting the economy by raising quality and prices via guidance for local farmers. Now pursuing a similar scheme in the Philippines, we follow a luxury chocolate brand transforming the fortunes of farmers in Southeast Asia.

Along Japan's northeastern coast, efforts to develop young fisheries workers by boosting recognition for local marine produce and organizing training have put one fishing collective in the spotlight. Sensing peril for local fisheries after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011, founder Takuya Hasegawa teamed up with workers to reform distribution channels and pursue sales and promotion activities. Join a group aiming to rear 1,000 local fishermen and women by 2024.

Kyoto is a long-established center of craft excellence. Hiroyasu Koma's 30-person start-up firm brought that power together to make a high-performance electric sports car. Unlike in the case of gasoline cars, parts for electric cars can be sourced from outside the insular supplier networks that serve major car makers, so even small start-ups can make cars. Koma sells the technology in completed cars to other companies, a feature of his business model where various firms share development costs.

Up to the 1990's, Japan's home electronics giants led the global market. But recently, unwilling to implement key reforms, they have been slow to catch on to the digital revolution, and products without IoT compatibility are considered old hat. Takuma Iwasa is the CEO of one Japanese tech venture winning fans worldwide with unique, web-ready devices. Targeting the global niche market of early adopters has put this firm in the spotlight, as it strives to create unprecedented consumer electronics.

Miyazaki Prefecture's satsumaimo, or sweet potatoes, are selling fast in other parts of Asia thanks to Makoto Ikeda, the CEO of Kushima AoiFarm. Since he started this company with a staff of 4 family members in 2013, exports have been booming. Now the firm has 68 employees and annual sales of 700 million yen. Interestingly, the type of sweet potato that is popular in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan doesn't sell so well in Japan. We explore what Ikeda has done to achieve sweet potato success.

At some of Japan's most exclusive department stores, colorful African-print bags are gaining a following. The appeal lies in their 4-way versatility: each piece, made from colorful batik fabric, can be used as either a handbag, clutch bag, shoulder bag or tote. Made in Uganda, they are the brainchild of Chizu Nakamoto, who runs a company offering employment to the country's struggling single mothers. Follow Nakamoto's team as they develop new items and expand their business operations.

Japan is dotted with buildings and houses with centuries of history, but maintaining them can be economically challenging, and many are in danger of being lost. Enter Jun Tarikino, an entrepreneur who rents these structures and gives them new life as wedding halls, restaurants and more. We'll take a look at Tarikino's current project and see how this entrepreneur is using his business talents to preserve these structures' history and culture and pass them on to the next generation.

An educational app that's popular with young users. In addition to allowing users to track study hours and study resources, the app also has rich SNS functionality for fostering communication between students. In Japan it's so popular that one in three high school students uses it. The app was developed by Takashi Hirose. His goal? Nothing less than changing the way students study and the educational system in Japan.

In a small, unassuming factory in Kyoto, one firm is helping save lives. That firm is run by Masatoshi Takeda, who invented a method to build hyper-accurate replicas of the organs of patients, from those with heart defects to liver cancer, who require difficult surgical procedures. Doctors use the replicas to perform simulated surgeries, increasing the chance of success in the operating room. Created hand-in-hand with doctors, Takeda's technology is changing the face of surgery as we know it.

Entrepreneur Yasuyuki Toki and his team won the 2017 Startup World Cup for their revolutionary IoT-based service which tracks and records the physical and mental well-being of children in nursery schools, connecting caregivers and parents. The service, which frees up child-care professionals to spend less time on paperwork and more on providing quality care, also helps prevent sudden infant death syndrome and other issues. Discover the secrets behind Toki's digital child care revolution.

There are about 30,000 food-producing companies in Japan. The top 1% are industry giants. The other 99% are small businesses that struggle to compete with the majors on price and get their products sold. Kenta Kurokawa is the founder and CEO of a company that searches regional Japan for the hidden gems of the food industry, and helps them find markets for their great offerings. Several companies he's worked with have created hit products that brought them back from the brink of bankruptcy.

While still a student, Shunji Sugaya started an IT company focused on artificial intelligence and robots for use on the farms of the future. Agriculture in Japan faces serious challenges like an aging population and shrinking workforce. Sugaya imagines robots and drones that reduce labor demands and farms that are run using big data. Today we look at Sugaya and the young engineers at his company in their efforts to shape the future of agriculture and fishing with cutting-edge technology.

Yasukane Matsumoto is the founder of a web-based printing service that has seen revenues increase 50-fold over in just 4 years. Using a network of small printing firms, the service matches each job request to the ideal printing press, boosting efficiency for customer and printer alike by using factory downtime to produce limited runs. Also offering distribution through haulage firms, Matsumoto's company uses IT to empower small, long-established businesses as part of the sharing economy.

For social businesses, the need to address social issues while also making a profit means that many young social entrepreneurs falter at the first hurdle. To prevent such good intentions going to waste, Kazunari Taguchi runs a firm that offers investment and expertise that help set such projects on the path to success. We follow a social business incubator that has already helped launch 9 social businesses with a combined annual turnover of around 3 billion yen.

In 2013, from earthquake-hit northeastern Japan, Hiroyuki Takahashi launched a new kind of food magazine. Packaged together with local ingredients, the publication offers insights into producers' philosophies alongside the chance to try their wares, while you can also order produce via a dedicated social network and app. The model proved a hit and has since spread across Japan, spawning over 30 similar magazines linking other provincial areas to consumers in the major cities.

Paper: even in our digital age, demand for this material continues, and at great environmental cost. But one man is gaining attention for using Japanese technology to create a new kind of paper from... stone. The man who made this limestone-based paper possible is Nobuyoshi Yamasaki. Yamasaki, whose goal was to create "a business that helps society", has been hailed as a revolutionary. Why did Yamasaki spend 6 years chasing this epoch-making goal? Join us and find out.

LED grow lights for use in agriculture are currently in the spotlight. Not only do they enable vegetables to be reliably grown all year round, for crops produced in a sterile environment they allow the elimination of agricultural chemicals. And fine adjustment of this lighting even enables regulation of a crop's nutritional content. We follow developer Seiichi Okazaki, a man hoping to harness the cutting edge of veg for a future food revolution.

With high labor costs and little space, Tokyo's local factories are at a disadvantage compared to those abroad. But one metalworking factory in Tokyo has attracted attention from as far away as MIT. Keiichi Hamano has transformed his long-standing factory into a space where startups can develop new, world-class ideas. Innovations that have emerged from this space include a typhoon-resistant wind turbine, a wheelchair that can navigate difficult terrain, and a solar panel-cleaning robot.

Despite their superior workmanship, recent years have seen Japan's apparel factories losing work to lower-cost ones abroad. Entrepreneur Toshio Yamada has teamed up with those factories to create a new, Japan-based clothing brand. Yamada's innovations include selling directly to consumers online and funneling profits back into factories, allowing them to experiment with new techniques. Yamada's goal is to push Japanese factories to the forefront and create a clothing brand recognized worldwide.

Taro Nakamura develops robots based on imaginative imitation of living organisms. His expertise is in great demand from numerous firms and government funded research programs thirsty for innovation, and he currently has over 20 individual projects in progress. We focus on his development of an earthworm robot, the first of its kind, designed to traverse the narrow, twisting tunnels of Japan's aging water infrastructure, and other projects including robots with man-made muscle fibers.

Japanese whisky is currently undergoing a boom in popularity around the world, with numerous buyers willing to pay high prices when prime examples come up for auction. In 2008, Ichiro Akuto founded a small distillery in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, and the drinks produced there in limited quantities owe their distinctive flavor to the local environment, as well as to Akuto's own experimentation with techniques and materials. We follow an innovator who is taking Japanese whisky global.

Toshihiro Nakamura founded a social business providing simple, durable, affordable technology to developing countries. The goal is to improve lifestyles while boosting both productivity and income.

In Bangkok, Thailand, a Japanese-style dry cleaning and laundry service is currently attracting widespread attention. Driving this success are the efforts of local factory manager Makoto Seino, and sales representative Toshiyuki Abe. The firm's superlative service combines Japanese methods with skilled local operators and the latest machinery. We follow 2 men embracing a foreign culture to promote Japanese-style cleanliness overseas.

With many children across Japan unable to find a place in nursery daycare, Hiroki Komazaki, CEO of NPO Florence, is leading efforts to meet the childcare needs of working families. From 2010, using empty urban properties, he launched daycare centers with space for 10 kids, successfully pushing for nationwide licensing for nurseries with fewer than 20 places. His other innovations include Japan's first home daycare service for sick children, and services for kids with disabilities.

Creative director Hiroyuki Mizuno traveled to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to find out the fate of discarded and used military uniforms. He was faced to see historical background of the country and started to turning them into a bag with local sewers for a symbol of peace.

Orihime is a desktop avatar robot that can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world. Its creator, Kentaro Yoshifuji was inspired by his own childhood experiences of suffering from loneliness to produce a robot to connect those unable, through physical illness or anxiety, to leave their homes and interact with others. Unlike AI-equipped robots, Orihime is human-controlled, allowing users to participate by proxy at conferences or school, with eye-tracking controls under development for those with full paralysis.

In recent years, economic pressures have seen numerous Japanese watch brands send the production of their devices overseas, forcing the closure of domestic plants that had long upheld Japan's watchmaking tradition. To preserve this heritage, Hiromitsu Endo enlisted plants that had lost major contracts to launch a brand rooted in the appeal of the "Made in Japan" mark. With some 6,000 custom designs, and the creative use of traditional crafts, the brand is winning many fans in Japan and overseas.

To many in Japan, industrial waste disposal carries an image tarnished by practices such as illegal dumping. Since inheriting her family recycling business aged 30, Noriko Ishizaka has overseen reforms intended to transform the firm's reputation. A new eco-friendly plant, an employee training drive, superb recycling technology and a commitment to regreening have won praise in Japan and overseas, and earned the trust of local residents. We follow this company's change from pariah to paragon.

With Japan's population aging, around 2 million adults now use diapers, and incontinence management is a major burden for many elderly citizens and their carers. We follow the work of professional carer Yoshimi Ui, who is developing a bed sheet equipped with odor sensors and wireless technology to automatically monitor discharge within a patient's diaper. By relaying regular updates to carers, this revolutionary device removes the need to regularly check a patient's undergarments directly.

As Japanese tea grows in popularity around the world, more and more people from overseas are being drawn to a plantation on the outskirts of Kyoto. From a base in Wazuka, an area famed for high-quality ujicha tea, Akihiro Kita runs a business that sells to 65 countries around the world. The firm uses online content, seminars, and a 3-month intern program that offers the chance to get hands-on experience of tea-picking and tasting to spread the appeal of Japanese tea around the world.

When the Olympic games come to Tokyo in 2020, robot taxis may already be a common sight. Led by Hisashi Taniguchi, robotics venture company ZMP caused a major stir by announcing a collaboration with the company DeNA to bring these futuristic vehicles to market. Taniguchi is also involved in schemes featuring self-piloting drones and robot carts designed to reduce injuries in the shipping industry. We follow his efforts to promote safe, fun, convenient lifestyles through robotics.

Japan's corporate culture has a reputation for discouraging independent thinking. Daichi Konuma created International Corporate Volunteering Program. It connects workers from some of Japan's most recognizable companies with over 200 NGO's in 8 emerging countries in Asia. Participants use their professional skills to develop solutions to that country's needs. By fusing global corporate social responsibility with human resources development, Konuma is pioneering a new field of opportunities.

With mottainai, the Japanese word for "waste", gaining currency around the world, one Japanese entrepreneur is using the term as the inspiration for an innovative web-based business. Akiko Nishiura runs a website which finds uses for dormant urban spaces, such as residential driveways, the entrance spaces of buildings, and shops outside of business hours. By utilizing these wasted spaces, Nishiura seeks to boost the Japanese economy with a firm that deals in untapped potential.

Kohei Hayamizu is the founder of Soundpower, a company trying to solve the energy problems facing the global community through entirely novel means. His kinetic energy generation system converts the vibrations from everyday actions like walking and driving into electricity, for the ultimate in locally produced, locally consumed clean energy. Recent projects harness this technology to boost security both in Japan and overseas. Meet a man striving to help create an energy-harvesting society.

In 2010, Toru Tokushige founded Terra Motors with the goal of being largest producer of two and three-wheeled electric vehicles in the world. Operating from a tiny office, he managed to capture the Japanese market after only 2 years and is now expanding into countries throughout Asia where vehicle exhaust is a major environmental problem. Tokushige personally leads sales team around the world, leading to skyrocketed sales in Nepal. Meet the man behind this "mega venture".

Hirofumi Seo uses cutting-edge computer graphics to visualize the most complex medical data. After securing the University of Tokyo President's Grand Award for his work as an expert forensic witness, elucidating exact details of victims' wounds, in 2015 he won a category prize at leading CGI conference SICGRAPH, for his digital recreation of the human heart. Seo now seeks to revolutionize clinical practice with a virtual surgery simulator to train physicians to perform tricky liver operations.

Yuya Nakamura is President and CEO of a company currently drawing attention from around the world through the development of compact satellites. The advantage of the firm's microsatellites is their low cost, with the process from design through to launch said to require only one tenth of the budget typically needed for the larger devices familiar in years gone by. Nakamura's company has breathed fresh life into an industry that was once the preserve of state-funded projects.

A groundbreaking meals-on-wheels service provides the sick with bento meals tailored to their individual medical requirements by trained dieticians, who also offer over-the-phone nutritional advice. We meet Kosuke Abe, who came up with this business model that moves dieticians from a supporting role to center stage. Driven by the motto "food comes first", he is committed to demonstrating how nutrition can improve a patient's condition before the need for medical treatment.

Although Japan's long-established fresh fish industry is said to be worth around 3 trillion yen a year, a lack of new blood has recently brought the sector close to stagnation. But help is at hand in the form of innovator Masanari Matsuda (35), who has introduced tablet computing to circumvent lengthy supply chains, cutting the time from trawler to table to as little as one day. We learn about the unique business model of the man striving to bring Japan's consumers the world's freshest fish.

Japan's unique yuru-kyara costumed promotional mascots are in the midst of a boom. And the maker behind many of the movement's biggest stars is Kigurumi.biz, led by Hiromi Kano. Her highly skilled staffs have a love for their work that gives birth to lovable characters, and with Japan's yuru-kyara attracting increasing global attention, the firm is also starting to receive orders from overseas. We follow Kano and her team as they take costumed Japanese cuteness to the world.

With many traditional Japanese crafts facing decline, Rika Yajima founded a brand seeking to preserve such artisanship in a novel way: offering traditionally made goods aimed at children and babies. Combining aesthetic refinement with functionality, her range includes baby clothes given anti-UV, insect-repellent and thermal properties by ancient indigo-dyeing techniques; and the "unspillable" dishware series, featuring bowls with an inner ridge to help children nudge food onto their spoons.

Medical tests at just 500 yen per criterion; on-the-spot results; and advice from a trained nurse: all features of the "self health check", a revolutionary healthcare business founded by Takashi Kawazoe. With plans for expansion into India in Autumn 2015, Kawazoe is already turning his attention to markets outside Japan. We follow this young entrepreneur, whose innovative system aims to provide opportunities for newly graduated nurses, and also offers an on-call home nursing service.

What kind of life awaits Japan's estimated 10 million baby boomers as more and more of them enter retirement? Mio Katagiri is the representative of Ginza Second Life, a firm that supports seniors who wish to continue working despite their advancing years. Katagiri's background in law and finance, along with a desire to assist the older generation, has helped to create a business that has so far helped some 650 companies get off the ground, and is attracting attention from all over the world.

Mitsuru Izumo is the CEO of bio-venture firm Euglena, named after a microorganism with enormous potential as a future food and energy source. Euglena is rich in nutrients and can also be processed to make bio-fuel. As a freshman at the University of Tokyo, Izumo visited Bangladesh where he was shocked to find many children suffering from malnutrition. He vowed to help them. After extensive research, he discovered a way to mass-produce euglena. Now, he is on a mission to save the world with his discovery.

Martinsville tests Jesse Love and Rajah Caruth, who put it all on the line for a shot at Phoenix and a title. Then, Carson Hocevar races for a different kind of title with Cleetus McFarland at the 2.4 Hours of LeMullets.

After a disappointing start to the 2025 season, Rajah Caruth earns his second career win in Nashville. Jesse Love relives the most challenging years of his life before returning to his home track in Sonoma. And at Daytona, Carson Hocevar has one last shot to prove he's a playoff driver.

Carson Hocevar becomes the talk of the NASCAR world. Relive three of the most impactful weeks in the young driver's life, where he had a shot to win three races in a row.

After Carson Hocevar's disastrous day at Daytona, he changes his tune and dazzles the NASCAR world with his aggression in Atlanta. Learn more about where Rajah Caruth comes from, as well as his philosophy on the peaks and valleys of a NASCAR season. Jesse Love prepares for his NASCAR Cup Series debut on the golf course with fellow driver Connor Zilisch.

Three of NASCAR's youngest stars are thrown into the fire as they take on the most famous and dangerous track in America, Daytona Motor Speedway. Go deep inside the lives of Carson Hocevar, Jesse Love and Rajah Caruth as they prepare for the biggest race of the 2025 season.