Hokkaido - Snowy Mountains to Sunny Meadows

Japan's northern island of Hokkaido covers 20% of the nation's land mass and is home to 5.7 million people. The regional capital, Sapporo, has hosted many sports events, including the 1972 Winter Olympics and the 2002 World Cup. Its famous Snow Festival attracts visitors form all over the world. Hokkaido is a land of open spaces - rolling farmland, high mountains, extensive wetlands harboring rare wildfowl. From autumn's glorious reds to winter's frozen white seas, nature here is spectacular.

Japan-USA - 150 years

On July 8^th, 1853, the arrival of Commodore Perry's fleet changed the course of Japan's history, opened the scheduled nation to the world and began the process that brought Japan into the modern era. At Kurihama, the site of Perry's first landing, the town's festival to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Japan-US relationship included re-enactments of the treaty signing, costume parades with US military bands, and a concert by the Washington DC Youth Orchestra.

Power Rehabilitation

Japan has a larger proportion of elderly people than any country, and the population continues to age. Power Rehabilitation is a new program that aims to help release seniors from their costly reliance on care helpers and return to an active life. Designed by a doctor specializing in rehabilitation issues, this strictly supervised course in using weights and physical training has had a high 75% success rate in returning wheelchair patients to their feet and stroke victims to the dance floor.

The Solar Future

Japan has been developing solar power is a clean energy source for 30 years, and leads the world both in the manufacture of solar panels and their use - over half the world's solar panels are in Japan. New technologies replacing the old solid black solar panes include see-through panels that can be used as windows or billboards, and flexible, multi-colored cells that can be incorporated into fabrics and plastics.