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Origami Goes High-Tech (3’29”)
The old Japanese pastime of origami, these days known and loved the world over, has been finding new and practical applications in a number of high-tech fields. Using an origami technique known as namako-ori, medical technologists have created a device to help blood vessel surgery. The miura-ori method allows maps to be more conveniently folded, and adds strength to metal cans. And origami is now headed into outer space: these ancient techniques for folding materials have inspired some of the most cutting-edge of all technologies, those used by spacecraft designers.

Welcome to a World of Robots (3’48”)
There’s a hotel in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, mostly run by robots. Entering the Henna Hotel, you’re greeted at the front desk by an amazingly lifelike humanoid robot. Porter robots carry your bags, and robots perform all the usual hotel services. We’ll also meet a new kind of robot, able to recognize human feelings. The popular Pepper, which went on sale just this year, converses so skillfully it’s like talking to a friend. Humanoid companions, able to respond to our emotions – this is the direction in which Japanese robots are evolving.

Behind the Scenes in a Noh Theater (4’01”)
The classical Japanese art of Noh has a history of over 700 years. Over the centuries, the Noh theater’s stage was refined and developed to support and enhance the art of the performers as they depict Noh’s universal themes of life and death. For example, the hashigakari bridge that leads to the main stage is designed and constructed to strengthen the illusion that it connects us to the distant world of the dead. We go behind the scenes to explore audio and visual techniques that even Japanese Noh audiences are unfamiliar with.

Koji: Beyond the Traditional Usage (3’18”)
In Japan, instead of signing your name, stamping an impression of it from your personal engraved seal has long been the traditional method for authorizing contracts, signing for parcel deliveries, or certifying bank documents. A recent twist on this custom, so deeply embedded in daily life for the Japanese, is the stamp rally. In this pastime that’s become popular with young and old alike, people visit specified sites or monuments around the country to fill a book with impressions from their unique and attractively designed rubber stamps.