Toyako - Scenic Site of G8 Summit  (03:32)  
The scenic resort of Toyako, in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, will be the site for the next G8 Summit. World leaders will discuss issues including the global environment in this area of great natural beauty, with its crater lake, forested mountains and nearby sea coast, that is also a fine example of sensitively adapting sports and leisure facilities into the environment. Facilities constructed for the Summit will include advanced environmental technology such as a snow cooling system.

A designer's ideas transform local industies  (03:28)  
When Kiyoyuki Okuyama, a world famous designer especially known for his automobile designs, looked at his birthplace of Yamagata, he saw a region with a long tradition of craft industry that was in danger of dying out. Japan's famous old regional-based crafts had been decaying since the post-war industrial modernization. Okuyama started a project that is revitalizing these industries – combining modern design concepts with traditional craft skills to create unique products and brands that are selling well abroad.

Revealing the hidden side of industry  (04:07)  
Educational tours that take you behind the scenes to learn about how industry and the social infrastructure really work are increasingly popular in Japan. Facilitated by today's heightened sense of corporate social responsibility, tours are based on the same idea as school social studies trips, but also visit sites not be suitable for schoolchildren. Citizens interested in how their society functions can now sign up for a first hand look at sights such as a vast underground power plant and a giant hangar where aircraft engineers maintain jumbo jets.