Great Japanese Railway Journeys

Michael travels to the cultural heart of Japan, Kyoto, the city that for a thousand years was the capital. He visits a Shinto shrine, learns about a classic of Japanese literature and meets a geisha.

Michael takes a luxury, panoramic Shimikaze train to the beautiful Shima peninsula. He visits Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, and encounters one of the largest bronze Buddha statues in the world.

Michael begins in the city of Kanazawa, where he goes behind the scenes of the Shinkansen operation. He discovers the history of the Maeda family and rides the exhilarating Kurobe Gorge railway.

Michael ends the first leg of his Japan adventure on a Shinkansen bullet train, heading to Nagano, the host city of the 1998 Winter Olympics and the gateway to the Japanese Alps.

Michael starts a journey in and around Japan's southernmost main island, Kyushu. He begins in Kagoshima, an extraordinary city which sits in the shadow of Japan’s most active volcano, Sakurajima.

Michael Portillo takes the ferry to the Amakusa archipelago, visits the town where missionaries brought Christianity to Japan and meets a master swordsmith in Shin Omuta.

Michael visits a Kyushu tea farm and the city of Nagasaki, the only port open to foreign trade when Japan was closed to the outside world for more than 200 years.

Michael arrives in the home of Japanese porcelain, Arita, where a railway line runs straight through the town’s stunning porcelain Shinto shrine.

Michael tries the deadly delicacy of pufferfish in the harbour town of Shimonoseki and visits Hitachi’s Kasado Works, where the iconic Shinkansen high-speed trains are manufactured.

On board a sleek Shinkansen bullet train, Michael arrives in Tokyo, one of the greatest cities on earth, with a population of 37 million in the metropolitan area.