this is bbc news, the headlines: president biden has condemned an attack on the husband of the leading democrat, nancy pelosi, as despicable. mr biden said there was too much hatred in us politics. police have charged a man with attempted murder, after paul pelosi was beaten with a hammer at his home in san francisco. a new wave of violence has broken out in iran — with security forces firing on anti—government protestors. iranian state media says one person has been shot dead in the south—eastern city of zahedan — while“; people, including members of the security forces, were wounded. the final televised debate of brazil's bitterly contested presidential campaign has been taking place in rio dejaneiro.

this is the last chance for the candidates — jair bolsonaro and luiz inacio lula da silva, to reach millions of brazilians before sunday's election run—off vote. now on bbc news, the travel show. mind blowing. look at this. i have been to japan several times but never to explore the remote rural and volcanic south where you can expect the unexpected.— where you can expect the unexpected. the extroverts. risktakers- _ unexpected. the extroverts. risktakers. and _ unexpected. the extroverts. risktakers. and the - risktakers. and the unpredictable. i risktakers. and the unpredictable. risktakers. and the unredictable. ., ., unpredictable. i want to see an asect of unpredictable. i want to see an aspect ofjapan. .. _ unpredictable. i want to see an aspect ofjapan... . _

japan. a country of 6000 people dominated by honshu, the home of their country's capital. —— 6000 islands. but 500 kilometres south of tokyo is the kansai region they call the heart ofjapan. and a city the kansai region they call the heart of japan. and a city with a very different history and personality. 0saka. this was japan's real first gateway to the rest of asia. korea and china especially. it is a real

trading hub, export, import, commerce and it was run and still is by the businessmen. and it is those generations of wealthy traders who have shaped the city, creating its own unique culture. it has become a centre forfood and unique culture. it has become a centre for food and a home for popular entertainment. it is frantic behind there. in particular, humour became a speciality of osaka. flourishing into a multimillion dollar business. it is about nine o'clock in the morning and look at this. this is the hottest ticket in town. 0saka is japan's maker of comedy. these guys are really famous here. this theatre claims to be the busiest and most popular comedy venue in all ofjapan. the demand is phenomenal, it is

open 365 days a year to full houses of up to four shows a day. that is around i million people a year. thanks to constant tv exposure, comics are huge celebrities. fans travel from all over the country to see the stars live on stage. why are you here? the show includes many types of comedy for one of the most common and popular is a man's life. a double act with a straight man and a funny guy trading jokes and it is this style merged in osaka. this is

now the third act that we are seeing and each one is going down. i wanted to find out more about the roots of comedy in this city. hello! kaishi—san! nice to meet you! katsura kaishi practices the traditional story telling, rakugo, and he says it evolved from 0saka's trading history. speaks japanese. so there was a very special sense of humour here in osaka. 0k. he has learned to perform in english as well as japanese

in english as well as japanese in order to share his art with the world. i'll go to your show tomorrow, we'll see, i'll find out. rakugo comedy was invented by buddhist monks to make i'll go to your show tomorrow, we'll see, i'll find out. their teachings more entertaining. speaking english: there was a car accident, mother, father and children were all hospitalised, but a monkey was the only one left, with the police. i'll go to your show tomorrow, we'll see, i'll find out. it's a storytelling tradition that obviously resembles stand—up comedy, but this

is some 200 years older. what was the father doing? he was drinking, maybe he was drinking and driving. what were you doing, monkey? after the show, i wanted to get some tips from the expert. hold the pen? "monkey, what was the father doing?" "hang on a minute, what were you doing, monkey?" and that's it? they laugh. you should maybe move to japan and should be a professional rakugo performer. really? laughter.

�*s time now to leave 0saka �*s time now to leave osaka and had to a satellite city, home to japan's most famous and dangerous festival. iam about i am about to witness something really quite special, one of japan's wildest annual festivals. and it is rehearsal time for a jamboree that has been going on for 300 years. it began when local craftsmen would show off their wares to the lord of the castle. the tradition continues today with teams, still all—male, from individual neighbourhoods, competing in a procession around the city. this year

marks the debut of a brand—new float and p0 is the proud master craftsman. are you excited? maybe i could help, could i help with your rehearsal? maybe. help with your rehearsal? ma be. �* ., . , help with your rehearsal? ma be. �* ., ., , maybe. before anything can ha en maybe. before anything can happen there _ maybe. before anything can happen there is _ maybe. before anything can happen there is an - maybe. before anything can happen there is an official l happen there is an official blessing where they pray for safety. they are making an offering to the god for an wish for a happy and safe festival. i am now a member of a very special group. this even though

this is a rehearsal it is deadly serious. deadly serious. it may not technically be a race but pride dictates the four ton float hurtles around at full throttle. every year there are accidents and even deaths. but the tradition continues. wow! 35 floats in total tackle this course at the same time. so when you get down these very narrow streets in particular this will be really dangerous because that is a four ton log on top and they

can bash into the corner of buildings when they turn corners. is crazy. it is corners. it is crazy. it is like running in spain. after three hours of rehearsal, the teams take a breather. were there any dangerous moments of times when you were a bit worried? do you have the energy to do two more days, long days? so ijoined the hundreds of thousands of spectators for the real thing. the biggest event of the year. right now we have

the perfect vantage point and they are about to do what is called yarrow masci, the really dangerous corner turn. we are now doing what surprisingly few visitors to japan do, which is to leave behind the main island of honshu and head out to explore one of the thousands of others.

my one of the thousands of others. my next destination is japan's fourth biggest island where roads become narrow and winding and you are by dense forests. the views from up here are simply stunning. we are now in the mountains on the western side of the island. in the 11th and 12th centuries these remote islands were hideaway, literally. right, i'm now going to relive a bit of ancient japanese history. we're really inland and remote here up in the mountains, and this is where disgraced or defeated warriors would escape to. so this is the legendary

kazurabashi bridge, apparently about a thousand years old made of vine and wisteria — here we go, it's supposed to be really dodgy to cross. but hey, if warriors did it before, so can i. the plan would be you'd get across this bridge and then cut the vines so that the enemy couldn't catch you. mind you, getting across the bridge in the first place is hard enough. the gap between these planks of wood here is, i'd say, large enough to have your foot go through. look at that, they are sprinting across here. doing very well.

so these guys are using the side railings which is very sensible, but i think the real samurai way is to walk across the middle, so i'm going to do that. 15 metres up, 150 feet across, this bridge is today reinforced with steel girders and rebuilt every two or three years. yes! so i'm now walking into a village, nagoro, which on the face of it, it's like many other rural villages injapan, it's peaceful, serene and quiet — almost too quiet.

nagoro is going to the same process as thousands of other villages here — a low birthrate and an exodus from the countryside to the big city, leaving an alarming number of new ghost towns. but one lady who returned to her home village to look after her elderly father was dismayed by this trend, and vowed to try and repopulate the village...after a fashion. can it you are! nice to meet you. and yourfriends. —— konnichiwa.

now it has become a cottage industry, new document using old newspapers and close donated by fellow villages and well—wishers, ayano has created her own scarecrow community. it takes two days to prepare and make each scarecrow, and now it —— there are 350 of these manikins, where outnumbering the ten villages remaining here. it's brought unexpected celebrity tourists arrive in regular numbers from all over the world. and there's an annual scarecrow festival.

now it's time to take the new boy to find some friends. ayano used to attend the school, as did most of the locals. but two years ago it closed down. so she has preserved for posterity, frozen in time from its last ever day.

from a community on the verge of extinction, to one forever on the edge of danger. my next destination takes me 600 kilometres south to japan! third—largest island and the city of kagoshima, in the shadow of the country's most volatile mountain, sakurajima. japan is home to 108 active volcanoes, more than almost any other country. beneath us, three peaks of the volcano and two craters. there are three eruptions a day on average from sakurajima, and today it is happily gurgling sulphuric

gases, making the air pungent. 100 years ago there was a massive eruption from this volcano which basicallyjointed to the main island. it used to be a separate island. even now new islands are being created across japan new islands are being created acrossjapan because new islands are being created across japan because of volcanic activity. 5000 people live in this area. their daily lives are constantly affected by what this volcano does. so what is it like actually living down there? 0nly what is it like actually living down there? only a couple of months before our visit, 77 people here were evacuated. akira amaura is a local tour guide who has lived here for six years, and he says he loves the energy of the place. first stop, an unusual beach where the sand isn't really sand, rod laver ash.

tourists he meets are always surprised that the volcano erupts so frequently and that people actually live here stop but that's because they are so well—prepared. the monitoring equipment here are some of the best in the world, and locals take the danger in their stride. mayumi was recently forced to evacuate from her beloved hometown.

but in spite of the constant threat of upheaval, she wouldn't live anywhere else. and there are some fringe benefits from living in a volcanic zone. south of kagoshima lies a unique hot spring resort. basicallyi kagoshima lies a unique hot spring resort. basically i am about to be slow baked in a sand of 50 celsius. for therapeutic reasons, i am assured. it's hot, i'm sweating underneath here. and it is a

very strange experience but i think the thing is to relax into it i guess. so at the end of my all too brief time in japan i am struck by the sheer diversity of the country in terms of culture, landscape and people. terms of culture, landscape and --eole. ., ,, terms of culture, landscape and --eole. ., ., , ., people. yeah, you are smart! you're good! _ people. yeah, you are smart! you're good! laughs - people. yeah, you are smart! you're good! laughs. - people. yeah, you are smart! you're good! laughs. as - people. yeah, you are smart! l you're good! laughs. as soon people. yeah, you are smart! - you're good! laughs. as soon as i got off the regular tourist trail, i encountered quirky, humourous, adaptable individuals who love to live life to the max. and ultimately, i am left with a deep sense of serenity and tradition that is, i would venture to say, uniquely japanese. that was... unlike anything.

hello. the weekend weather delivers more of the same of what we've had over the past week — couple of weeks, actually. it'll be very mild, actually. it will feel quite warm when we get see some sunshine. there will be rain at times, too. we have low pressure anchored to the west of the uk at the moment throwing across us at times these rain—bearing weather fronts and even when they're not moving in, there are showers around. but all the while, with some changing for now is the air coming up from the south, keeping temperatures well above the average for this stage of october. another spell of rain moving in overnight and into the mornings through wales and parts of england and actually, a little bit cooler first thing compared with friday morning.

some spots in single figures. through the day, this rain is moving its way northwards, so through the morning, northern england, eventually reaching northern ireland and then, through the afternoon spreading north through scotland, not reaching the far north until the evening where some sunshine hangs on for longest. behind it, further heavy showers from northern ireland, northern england, wales and the south—west. much of the midlands, though, especially to east anglia and the south—east, having a fine afternoon and this is where there'll be some hazy sunshine in the south—east, lifting temperatures into the low 20s — 22 degrees celsius in london, compared with an average of 1a. rain to northern scotland, then, into the evening. some showers pushing further eastwards we go through saturday night and into sunday morning. a night, of course, where you'll remember to push the clocks back to mark the end of british summer time. and as for temperatures, a little bit higher again as we start off on sunday. there's a lingering weather front east anglia and the south—east during sunday. that will make for a cloudier, cooler day and there'll be some spells of rain hanging

on on those weather fronts at times. elsewhere, it's sunny spells and there will be showers. and if you catch these, they're likely to be heavy, could come with a rumble of thunder, perhaps some hail as well and gusty winds. it's a windier day on sunday and especially around western coastal areas — there may be some gusts of 50 miles an hour or so — so some coastal gales around here and temperatures into the mostly mid to upper teens. there are weather changes on the way next week. we will still have areas of low pressure, more weather fronts coming our way and, indeed, into monday as it gradually turns wetter toward the end of the day across the south and west of the uk initially. so, more of the same in regards to windy weather next week with rain at times but this is going to be significant — temperatures gradually heading downwards. closer to the average for early november, just the average, but it'll feel very different compared with what we've had.

good morning. welcome to breakfast, with charlie stayt and rachel burden. 0ur headlines today: the head of the royal navy orders an investigation into reports of inappropriate behaviour towards female submarine staff, calling the allegations "abhorrent." as the uk deals with its worst ever outbreak of bird flu, a warning of a turkey shortage this christmas. a clearout at twitter, as the world's richest man elon musk makes a number of immediate changes after buying the social media platform. good morning. ireland on the brink of going out of the rugby league

world cup as new zealand put in ten