Hey Bim • 2019 • episode "S1E4" • James May: Our Man in Japan

58:39

The clean minimalism of the Japanese home has been exported around the world, from modernist architecture to lifestyle stores like Muji. But the origins of this ubiquitous aesthetic evolved from a system of spiritual and philosophical values dating back centuries. James visits one of Japan's last surviving traditional wooden villages, and the 17th-century villa of Rinshunkaku, and reveals how the unique spirit of Japanese craftsmen turned joinery into an artform - creating houses without the need for nails, screws or glue. Exploring some of the traditional arts of the Japanese home, James also investigates attitudes to domestic culture in modern Japan, meeting photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki, chronicler of Japan's crowded cities and tiny apartments. Other highlights include a performance by calligrapher and artist Tomoko Kawao and a visit to the hometown of architect Terunobu Fujimori.

S1E3 • The Art of Japanese Life • 2017 • Travel

58:32

He explores how the artistic life of three Japanese cities shaped the country's attitudes to past and present, east and west, and helped forge the very idea of Japan itself. In Kyoto, James reveals how the flowering of classical culture produced many treasures of Japanese art, including The Tale of Genji, considered to be the first novel ever written. In Edo, where Tokyo now stands, a very different art form emerged, in the wood block prints of artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. James meets the artisans still creating these prints today, and discovers original works by a great master, Utamaro, who documented the so-called 'floating world'. In contemporary Tokyo, James discovers the darker side of Japan's urbanisation through the photographs of Daido Moriyama, and meets a founder of the Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata, whose film Grave of the Fireflies helped establish anime as a powerful and serious art form.

S1E2 • The Art of Japanese Life • 2017 • Travel

47:10

Levison and Alberto trek through beautiful landscapes and colonial cities, climb active volcanoes and mountains, navigate deadly highways and meet fishermen and migrants.

S1E3 • Walking the Americas with Levison Wood • 2017 • Travel

47:06

The Banat region borders on Serbia and Hungary, so its capital, Timisoara, is a very multi-cultural, cosmopolitan city, and provides the main social and economic hub for western Romania.

S1E7 • Flavours of Romania • 2018 • Travel

44:00

World traveler and Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan invites you on a one-of-a-kind tour of his homeland, New Zealand. On this cross-country tour at the edge of the world, Keoghan visits eccentric and fascinating places and people who epitomize the spirit of Kiwi innovation. From "The Lord of the Rings" film director Peter Jackson to a revolutionary farmer who uses drones to herd sheep, Keoghan brings you captivating and humorous stories you just won't find in a travel guide.

2017 • Travel

59:01

In the first episode of this eye-opening series, Giles Coren and Monica Galetti join the 9,500-strong workforce in one of the world's biggest hotels - Singapore's Marina Bay Sands. This epic hotel caters for one million guests every year, cost 3.5 billion to build and was created as part of a government plan to triple tourist income to Singapore within ten years.

S1E1 • Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby • 2017 • Travel