Channel Japan

For some years now, my must-watch program on Sunday mornings is Channel Japan, a 2-hour infotainment program on economy, business trends, food, travel, culture, innovations, technology and interesting people and products within Japan. I can’t remember when I first came to know of this excellent program but I set my alarm for 8am every Sunday because I don’t want to oversleep. However I have rarely needed to depend on the alarm as my internal clock tells me it is time to wake up and get ready to watch my favourite program on all things Japanese.

There are at least 5 to 6 segments to this program and my favourite segments are the first and last. The first segment is almost always on food, sometimes focusing on unique restaurants. Yesterday’s program featured food processing machines such as those that can peel oranges and remove potato eyes in a jiffy as well as European vegetables but grown in Japan.

The last segment is always on travelling around Japan and lately it’s been “Getting To Know Beautiful Japan”, featuring a region such as the Oki Islands in Shimani Prefecture. There’s so much to discover through this program. I’ve learnt a lot about the country just from spending 2 hours watching every week.

There have been many features which touch on improving the lives of elderly or incapacitated persons. It’s very interesting to see how they develop special foods for those who have difficulty eating or how special services are made available to bring food to the elderly in small towns where they have problems getting about due to heavy snow.

Another memorable segment which they haven’t shown recently is where a host (Westerner who has been living in Japan for decades and speaks fluent Japanese) brings students from other countries around Japan to discover a particular region. Most of the students have only been in Japan for a few months but obviously they all love Japan as some of them speak Japanese like they have been there for years.

Channel Japan repeats on Sundays at 5pm on CNBC.