Cool Japan - Season 16 / Year 2021

Fruits produced in Japan are attracting the world right now. The secret to their popularity is their superior sweetness. In America, Japanese strawberries are cultivated in greenhouses and sold at multiples of the price that they are sold in Japan. Russian tourists take back mountains of strawberries on airplanes as souvenirs. However, foreigners find it strange that Japanese people don't eat the skin of fruits. Our foreign guests report on Japan's dried persimmons, whose popularity in Europe is quickly rising, and the strawberry development wars, in which sweetness and appearance are pursued. Will Japan's fruits become the next flavor of the world? 

Japan is an Osozai heaven where you can easily find Osozai anywhere, including convenience stores, supermarkets and basement floors of department stores. Osozai has recently been popular among foreigners too due to its wide variety, deliciousness and healthiness. There are many foreign tourists who not only go to restaurants but go out to buy popular Osozai, and some basement floors of department stores have become tourist locations. At the front lines of Osozai, which is bound to become increasingly popular in the future, we close in on the capabilities of Japan's Osozai, including container technology that supports it in the background.

Japanese people love fortune telling. Foreigners find the fortune telling mansion in the city of young people and dispatch fortune telling at shopping malls to be strange. The latest types of fortune telling on smartphone applications and social media are also popular, and the fortune telling market is growing year by year. Fortune telling can be found in all parts of life in Japan, for example Omikuji for the year's first visit to temples and shrines, and fortune telling on TV every morning. What do foreigners think of Japan's fortune telling?

Various Japanese foods such as sushi and ramen have become popular around the world, and the category of Japanese food that the world is currently focused on is Teishoku. In just 10 years, a Japanese Teishoku chain restaurant has opened 110 restaurants in 8 countries around the world. They are always fully occupied in New York, and you'll be waiting for a few hours if you don't have a reservation. The secret to Teishoku's popularity is their cheapness and nutritional balance. In comparison to foreign cuisine, which has many single dish items and course meals on the menu, Teishoku are popular for allowing you to eat many dishes at the same time and being healthy due to there being many vegetables. We investigate the appeals hidden in Japan's Teishoku.

As foreigners become increasingly interested in Japan, Japanese characters continue to draw attention. There are foreigners in the city with T-shirts and tattoos that have kanji and katakana. What about Japanese characters do they think is cool? Japanese people are particular about beautiful handwriting and believe that written characters express personality, but foreigners feel that handwriting shows individuality even if it's messy. What differences are there in the way that they sense characters? As the eyes of the world turn to Japan, we investigate the appeals of Japan's characters.

Otaku, a term originating in Japan, has evolved a surprising amount in the past ten-plus years. Otaku, who love anime, games and manga in the limelight, used to just be seen as strange people. That has now turned into a nation-wide otaku era. 60% of university students identify as an otaku and 80% of high school girls have a positive impression of otaku. Otaku is now an internationally recognized word. What has changed in the past ten-plus years? We investigate the latest occurrences in the world of otaku.

Paper has been used in many aspects of life from long ago and is indispensable for the daily lives of Japanese people. Japanese paper has excellent quality and durability and has even gathered attention from around the world and has been used for repairs in overseas museums and libraries. Further, Japan is said to have the greatest variety of paper in the world. People from around the world will be able to see a variety of Japanese papers during the Tokyo Olympics. How does Japan's paper compare to the world's? We search for cools down to paper-thin differences.

One thing that foreigners living in Japan notice is that Japanese people always seem to be smiling. The way they smile when they share their opinion, fail at something, and even when they say "no" is unique to Japan. There are many kinds of smiles that are rooted and expressed in Japanese culture. We rediscover Japan's emotive smiling culture with various smiles such as fake smiles, slight smiles, bitter smiles, embarrassed grins and laughing with ridicule from the perspective of foreigners.

With aging, health consciousness and the pandemic, medicine is indispensable in our lives. Japan is actually third place in the ranking of the number of new drugs developed by a country. Further, development of drugs and quasi-drugs that are intimately tied to daily life is also common. There are over 58,000 drugstores in Japan, which is more than the number of convenience stores. Are Japan's medicine situation and the way Japanese people relate with medicine cool compared to the rest of the world? We investigate the cools of Japan's medicine in comparison to the situations in other countries.

Kappabashi Utensils Street, where there are all kinds of kitchen utensils, and kitchen sections at 100 yen shops are very popular among tourists in Japan. Foreigners are taken in by slicers and peelers at specialty shops that can cut things into unbelievable shapes. 100 yen shops have containers that can cook rice in microwaves and peelers that prevent skin from going all over the place. Japan is a kitchen utensils heaven. How will foreigners view Japan's kitchen utensils that perfect convenience?

The third installment in our series on sustainable development goals (SDGs) is "Life on Land." Each year 13 million hectares of forest are lost and 40,000 species go extinct. However, Japan is full of wisdom left from predecessors for protecting life on land. There's a sacred shrine forest in the city that took 100 years to build, slash and burn agriculture that doesn't destroy ecosystems, and people who protect endangered species. We search for ways to maintain the abundance of life on land while looking at Japan's initiatives and the situation overseas.

The restaurant industry has been significantly damaged due to the long pandemic. Takeout menus have become popular as a way for restaurants to create new opportunities, and demand is increasing. Demand for takeout has increased among those who aren't married, got married late in life, or live alone, and the available dishes and containers are evolving. Shopping streets that expand their takeout menu, takeout containers that take deliciousness and the environment into consideration, ramen takeout, etc. How is Japan's takeout different from overseas? We investigate from the perspective of foreigners.

Japanese pianos, wind instruments and guitars have the greatest share in the world. The secret to their popularity is the uncompromising craftsmanship of sincere craftsmen and the inquisitive minds of Japanese people who continue to make improvements without end. In one of the world's top 3 musical competitions, 5 out of 10 finalists chose Japanese instruments. Instruments made in Japan are becoming representative of the next generation of Japan. So we put the spotlight on Japanese instruments and investigate Japanese people's relationships with instruments.

Much of Japanese culture that has attracted attention from around the world was born during the Edo period. Even the fundamentals of Japanese cuisine, which was registered as a world cultural heritage, were completed during the Edo period. It has garnered global renown through its unique expressiveness and techniques. Forms of cultural entertainment such as ukiyo-e and kabuki blossomed during the Edo period and have a significant impact even today. What about Edo culture was unique and revolutionary? We take apart Edo culture from the perspective of foreigners. We investigate the roots and backdrop of the creation of its unique culture and find hints as to what makes Japan cool.

When foreigners come to Japan, they say they are surprised by how clean roads are, how little garbage there is, and how vegetation on median strips is well-kept. The level of detail in the maintenance of highways is unique to Japan. This is symbolized by traffic professionals called traffic forecasters. Also, Kumano Kodo Street is highly praised by foreigners as a miracle for existing without changing for over 1,000 years. Foreigners are realizing the appeals of Japan's roads more than Japanese people. We investigate the cools of Japan's roads.