combine my two passions, tech and travel. this time, i'm injapan, a country facing big challenges from climate change. you can turn these into batteries? yes. but i am here to see how its tech innovators are trying to help. is that lunch? very tasty. i will be seeing earth friendly energy project on land and at sea. the noise is really something else! putting the future fuels like hydrogen to the test... and understanding how nature can inspire totally new materials. absolutely massive! this is terrifying! thank you. welcome to japan! everything you could

want, all in one place! japan is a place i know well, but as my green tech journey begins, i can already tell i going to see a different side to this great country. i'm starting two hours east of tokyo in this sleepy port city which stares out at the mighty pacific ocean, whose weather often crashes into japan's shores. it is at sites like this you really get a sense of japan as an island nation, one that's very conscious of the threat posed by climate change. the typhoons and storms coming from out there are growing ever more powerful and the heatwaves and wildfires are becoming more common. going green is the only option. i'm here to meet somebody who advises on big renewable

projects. i'm paul, lovely to meet you. hi, paul! so good to meet you! this is beautiful. welcome to japan. it is very windy. it's perfect for the wind turbine. it has historically relied heavily on imported fossil fuels but now aims to be carbon neutral by 2050. one answer lies at sea. wow. oh, god. wow indeed. three kilometres from land, this is japan's third spot on fixed onshore wind turbine, many others have popped up across the country recently. worldwide, wind is one of the fastest—growing green energies. japan is very energy poor.

for energy security issues and full sustainability we need to do something. what are the challenges of installing and maintaining things like this in these kinds of conditions? any weather problems you can imagine, we have them. we have earthquakes, we have tsunamis. let's hope none of them today. more than a fifth of japan's energy comes from green sources like solar and hydro power already, but with limited land to play with and one of the longest coastlines in the world it makes sense to put these out here. the noise is really something else. we are very close. it is quite intimidating being this close. the turbine you can see above the water is only half the story.

deep under these waves these enormous structures had to be maintained, even in conditions like this . but this is not a job for the faint—hearted. having experienced the conditions myself, i can see why there might be a lack of divers wanting to do this work. but while it is a challenge for humans, for robots it is less of a problem. i'm in tokyo to meet a team developing a drone to help with wind farm maintenance. welcome, welcome. this is your drone? what are the uses and applications? mainly to inspect and maintain the infrastructure underwater. things like wind turbines and dams?

because they are hard for human divers to maintain? the number of divers are decreasing injapan. to support the divers or to replace theirjob, this has been developed. unlike a human this does not get tired, i suppose. what is some of this equipment? it very complicated. it has four led lights. very bright. wow! they are bright. designed for inspections at 300 metres deep, navigation tools are vital. he explains that it has sonar to avoid objects where visibility is not so good. the thrusters and sensors help the device withstand the waves, and of course a camera to record its findings. this is the camera, and it moves? oh, that's me! it is usually controlled from a boat but today it is time to take it for a test dive in a pool.

shall we get it into the water and see it in action? there it goes. the field specialist is ready to show me the moves, using a game controller for steering and manoeuvres. it is faster than i thought it would be. really responsive. i see we've got some things in the water too, a shrimp and lobster. is that our lunch? very tasty. this could go beyond basic reconnaissance. in the future we could grab or manipulate. it will be able to make repairs and do things as it goes? with its little lead, i saw this as an amiable pet. and of course i wanted to take it for a walk myself —

well, a swim. 0h, wrong way! it is quite intuitive. like a video game. exactly. anyone i meet on the sea floor is on dangerous ground. oh, i think i hit it. sorry, mr lobster. this is undeniably fun, is the hot take from the tank! these drones may breathe new life to japan's historic maritime communities. we have brought it to many fisheries aboutjapan and had the local fishermen operate then, this fascinated them. it's kind of works as an additional revenue stream. if these fishermen could do lots of surveys and checking of the equipment it is a win—win for both us and the local community.

but japan's push for green energy goes way beyond wind. japan was one of the first to bet big on hydrogen, setting its sights several decades ago. now hydrogen is seen as a fuel to help meet climate change goals, the world is playing catch up and looking to japan. japanese car—makers toyota and honda were among the first to launch hydrogen cars. this is a toyota which takes just minutes to fill up at the hydrogen pump like this in tokyo.

on a full charge it can travel about 550 kilometres, enough to get you about halfway across japan's main island. there are more than 100 filling stations injapan, more than anywhere else in the world. apart from a few clues on the dashboard you would not know this is a hydrogen car, and in terms of ride quality it feels like any other ev. hydrogen is about much more than personal vehicles for japan. it wants to change its biggest polluters, something to think about as we whisk west on the famous bullet train to the hydrogen capital ofjapan, kobe.

this is kobe. yeah! beautiful, isn't it? i often come here for leisure but it is also a place to see the technology of hydrogen. 0n port island, homes, hospitals and universities all receive heating and electricity from hydrogen. kobe's docks are totally switching over to this fuel and the potential for this to transform the country, city and world at large which is huge. that energy comes from australia? that's right. yes, this pioneering project requires hydrogen to be shipped across the world so there are carbon emissions to be considered and hydrogen needs to be stored safely at a very low temperature. we had to think about social acceptance, there is the image that hydrogen is a bit dangerous, even though kerosene or other fuel is dangerous, we have not accumulated enough

experience yet to be sure that using hydrogen is safe. from the technology side to the social aspect we have many things to overcome. with the development of hydrogen fuel to planes, trains and automobiles, some applications face more trials than others. hydrogen produces only water, that is cool, but if we think about aviation, but it's not always cool when the water makes clouds, that is another climate change sources. it is almost solving one issue but creating a different one? yeah, the world is not easy to solve. it is hard not to be taken with japan's single—minded

commitment to hydrogen over the years. seeking energy from the elements and pushing new sustainable fuels to the fore. and as kobe embarks on huge scaled—up hydrogen experiments which will be watched by the rest of the world, i'm very excited to return to see what happens. despite being a global centre for energy, much land remains forested. a mindset of using natural resources wisely is widespread. this watering hole turns its seafood waste into decorations and light fittings. but i am here to try it speciality.

better give it a go. it actually tastes like the sea. i think that is what you would call an acquired taste. i am not sure i would want to eat a whole one. to me, it tasted like burnt rubber, but whatever i think of it, thousands of tonnes of sea pineapples are harvested each year to eat, with thousands of tonnes of the squidgy shells thrown away. until now, because i've been told about a group of scientists doing something remarkable with all this waste. i am here to meet a university professor and his team. these are sea pineapples and this is what they look like fresh. that's right. they look very, very different in this kind of state. they are very strange.

they are quite squidgy but leathery at the same time. this sea creature's shell is surprisingly rich in cellulose, an ingredient that can support electrical conduction. why are they here in your lab, what are you doing with them? you can turn these into batteries? that is incredible. tiny cellulose fibres are extracted and mixed with another waste product from livestock, blood. all that's combined and popped into a vacuum at 900 degrees celsius. so, once it goes inside, how long would it take to become into carbon? about two hours or three hours. two or three hours? yes. it's about the time it takes to make a roast dinner. but unlike my burnt home cooking, this resulting carbon is rather special. it's particularly strong and stable, so battery cells like these can safely receive three times more power than traditional lithium—ion ones.

can we — can we see them in action? yeah, so, when we put it inside here... oh, wow! i notice you have a phone plugged in here as well, so you can actually charge the phone too? yeah. there we go. phenomenal. what incredible work. tabletop gizmos aside, sea pineapple waste could even power drones injust a few years and beyond that, electric vehicles. i feel like i should appreciate these things are little more. these could be the future. yeah. i still don't like touching them, though. almost every industry has an environmental impact but fashion is famously one of the world's biggest polluters. hey! hello. hello! nice to meet you! this is manon, a generation z pop icon and fashion influencer.

she is giving me a tour of tokyo's street fashion. cheese! you don't need the filter, i do! lots of pink around and bright colours. and cute ears. manon, like many young people here, deeply cares about her clothes�* environmental footprint. do you think that particularly forjapanese younger people, that they are becoming more aware of sustainability and where their clothes might come from? i think so. vintage shops are getting more popular injapan because they are so cool. and also, i wear the vintage denim that my friends re—make. amazing. yes! this is the only one for me, i feel so special when i wear vintage clothes.

reusing and upcycling clothes is important for reducing waste but really, it's a drop in the ocean. if the fashion industry is going to become carbon neutral, it has to go a lot further and reinvent how it makes its clothes. so, i'm back on the road — this time to rural yamagata, 250 miles north of the capital where a start—up is weaving inspiration from nature, particularly spiders. scientists at this company have created a way to make

a special protein polymer. so, here are the fermentation tanks. the microbes are in there. their oxygen and nutrient levels are closely monitored. and they are making the protein for us right now. they are working very hard in there. working very hard. thank you. it looks a little bit like beer but i imagine you probably do not want to drink it. these can be transformed into fibres and used to spin yarns, resulting in different materials. they felt similar to cotton or polyester. that is nice. this is still a relatively new tech so it will take a while until these garments can be made with brewed polymer only. the fashion industry uses around 27 million tonnes of cotton a year, so this is huge undertaking.

just before i go, there is a reason why this company is called spiber. i have to meet the creature that inspired all of this. i can't believe i'm about to do this, to be honest. even if it means facing one of my biggest fears. oh, my god! this is terrifying. uh, no! japan's golden orb weaver spider. absolutely massive! i swear, but one is looking at me. you'rejust going to put your hands right in there, yeah? oh my goodness me. don't come too... oh, my god!

now, i may not be their biggest fan but even i have to admit, they are rather remarkable. i'ill have nightmares tonight. but what will also stick with me is what spiber has done here in replicating the spinning skills of these creatures in their labs. we have so much to learn from the natural world. looking out at this rugged, beautiful landscape, it's easy to see how innovators across japan are turning to nature for their inspiration. and maybe the answers to saving our cities, coasts and countryside — and ourfuture — could be out here. that's it for this tecthlore japan — a country that's leading the world in sustainable innovation, creating inspired, surprising and impactful technology.

i will forever be amazed by the passion of its pioneers, those who are saving waste, forging future fashion and helping us go green on land and at sea. hi, i'm ellis with the catch up.

tonight, scottish gender laws, a time travelling teen and shane macgowan�*s funeral. our top story. judges have said the uk government acted lawfully in blocking changes to gender identity laws in scotland. the changes would have made it easier for people to change their legally recognised gender and were passed by the scottish parliament last year. but the uk government blocked them over fears they would impact equality laws across the uk. the scottish government has 21 days to decide whether it wants to appeal the decision. some other stories now. an australian man who died after being buried in sand on a beach. josh taylor, who was 23, fell into a hole reported to have been to roast a pig in queensland. police there are investigating what happened. a man who was expelled from secondary school as a teenager has returned as a governor. dwayne williams has been credited

with helping to turn around the fortunes of colton hills community school in wolverhampton. and meet the teen who lives like it's the 1940s. cam grubb lives in kirkcaldy, scotland and is only 19, but nearly everything he owns is from eight decades ago, including his clothes and his phone. he says it's gone beyond an obsession. time now to leave you with 10 seconds of shane macgowan. crowds in dublin lined the streets earlierfor the pogues singer's funeral procession, which went on to county tipperary for mass with guests, including bono and johnny depp. you're all caught up. bye for now. have a good weekend. hello there. it's going to be quite a mixed bag for us this weekend. not a wash—out. there will be some sunshine

at times, but that's going to come in between two spells of rain that are coming in from the atlantic. atlantic, that means it's going to be mild, but saturday looks like it could be quite windy for many places. now, one part of the country sensitive to more rain is dorset, where we've got a number of flood warnings already and there could be 20—30 millimetres of rain here. you can keep up to date with the flood warnings online. we could see the risk of flooding increasing this weekend with more rain moving in. and this is the rain that's heading in at the moment from the southwest. we've got this rain still across scotland leftover from earlier on that is moving northwards. allowing that rain to come in from the southwest and usher in some milderair as well as some stronger winds as well. so for many parts, it's going to be a wet start. and because of that, we're looking at a mild start to saturday, no frost this time. you can see the extent of the rain across england and wales and northern ireland. it's going to move northwards and eastwards. could be quite heavy for a while. for england and wales,

we should eventually see some sunshine coming in from the west. the odd shower but rain could return to northern ireland, and it looks quite cloudy for scotland with some rain from time to time. mild though temperatures 8—9 in scotland to a high of 14 in the southeast with some late sunshine. it's going to turn quite windy through the day, though, across england and wales and northern ireland, gales quite widely, and around some irish sea coasts the winds could be gusting 60—70 miles an hour. now, those winds will tend to ease overnight and the rain will continue for a while across scotland and northern england. and then as that move through, we've got the next band of rain just approaching the far southwest by sunday morning. again, it should be frost free temperatures, six 0!’ seven degrees. and it's almost a repeat performance, really, on sunday. this band of rain moves in a little later, but it's not going to be quite as heavy. shouldn't last as long. and again, we'll get some sunshine coming in after the rain for england and wales. more rain returns to northern ireland and still cloud and patchy rain left over in scotland. temperatures not quite so high,

but it's probably not going to be quite as windy. should be a reasonably mild start to next week. there's still some rain around from time to time. it does turn drier as the week goes on, but it does turn a little chillier.

live from washington. this is bbc news. the united states rejects a un resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. vladimir putin says he's running for a fifth term as russian president. his announcement comes amid renewed violence in ukraine. plus, the last meal for a long—lost creature. what scientists in canada are

learning about the tyrannosaur. hello, i'm helena humphrey. we begin in new york where an attempt at the united nations to agree on a humanitarian ceasefire in gaza has failed tonight as the us opposed the proposal. despite 13 nations voting for a halt in fighting, the united states�* veto means the resolution failed to pass. earlier, the un secretary general warned that the people of gaza are at breaking point. meanwhile, the palestinian health ministry in the occupied west bank says six palestinians have been killed in an israeli raid on al—fara refugee camp. israel says any ceasefire would cement hamas�* control of gaza. here's our correspondent nada tawfik in new york, this meeting and vote took place after the secretary

general used a rarely invoked article