johnson has urged the government not to scale back plans to build the h52 high—speed rail line — amid speculation part of the route could be scrapped. now on bbc news, the travel show. my name is lucy edwards, and this is my first time injapan. yay! oh, it's a latte! i'm experiencing it through sound, taste, smell and touch. all the colours taste different. different, yes. i'm a content maker, activist and broadcaster. hi, guys, this is my first blind vlog. ten years ago, i lost my eyesight. and since then, i've been on a mission to prove that having a disability doesn't have to hold me back. i've come a long way, learning

to live with sight loss. hello, sweetheart. good girl. but i've never been this far away from home. it's just hit me like a ton of bricks that it's actually really hard, being in a new place when you can't see it. in this second part of my travels, i get to grips with the future in tokyo. ai voice: start navigation. i've never been guided by an ai before, this is so cool! and i discover a new sense of hope in hiroshima. lucy sobs there's so many names. i believe that this journey that i'm about to embark on is going to be one of the best of my lifetime. this is japan: the way i see it. i'm kicking off the second leg of myjourney in tokyo, home to 37 million people.

tokyo being the biggest city in the world, there are definitely sirens around, a hustle and bustle to the air. people injapan are so techie, and it's really cool. and for me, i think tech really does help me when i'm travelling as a blind person. it allows me to have a much more fulfilling experience. i think when you first go blind, you rip up the rule book of anything you've learned. you know, the sighted world doesn't apply. so making toast and buttering it is a massive achievement. those little wins that i had were just so amazing. and i want them here injapan. i walked up to the vending machine, had high hopes that i could take a picture with my ai app, and it lets me know everything that's

in front of me. i love the fact that it can translate japanese. it says, "the picture you sent was a vending machine "located on a street." it's telling me i'm in tokyo. there's fanta and coca—cola. because i'm not used to vending machines in this country. i'm used to the set—up being really different. 0k. ok. that is where the drinks come out of. how much is the coca—cola, question mark? 130 yen, right. what button do i press? "in the picture, the coca—cola is second row from the top. "third button from the left." "give it money." it's not talking. two, three. 0k — yay! i've got something,

and it's dinging at me. 0h, 0k. this doesn't feel like coca—cola. what's this drink, question mark? ooh, it's a latte! why not? i don't care, i've got a drink. never had a latte in a bottle. that is so good. i would've went with that, to be fair. i can't believe i'm standing on a street in tokyo, and i've just managed to get myself a drink independently. that achievement will stay with me for the rest of my life. i haven't been able to do that for ten years, since i lost my vision. so, yeah, ifeel quite emotional, and i love this latte. guys, was there actually coke in the vending machine? producer: no. ai has completely changed the game for me. at first, i was quite freaked out that a computer could tell me what a sighted

guide could tell me. but now i think it's so cool. i'm going to meet an extraordinary inventor who's pioneering tech for accessibility. nice to meet you. hi, lucy, nice to meet you. dr chieko asakawa is developing what could become the world's first robot guide dog. oh, my gosh, is it a navigation tool? is it like a different aid, other than a long white cane? yes, yes. 0h, brilliant! a mobile phone app is used to programme a destination into the suitcase, which plans a route and directs the user. just hold the handle — not too tight. which button? ai voice: resume navigation. yeah, resume navigation. just hold. 0h! 0k, bye. bye! i've never been guided by an ai

before, this is so cool! ai voice: push the elevator button on your front. .. - push the elevator button on your front left. no way — no way! it's moving me round the lift! we're going down. go! it's not a guide dog. forward ! no, door�*s not closing! no, suitcase! ok, i'm out the lift — go! faster, faster, faster, faster, faster. i think he's possibly going slow because there's loads of stuff around me. he's just being careful. he cares about my wellbeing. come on, robot, you can do it. there's amazing people out there developing al to change the lives of our community.

and now a! is allowing me to see the world again. this is so cool. i know i keep saying that, but it's just insane. you have arrived at - exhibition number one — how your body is made. hi, lucy. hello, i made it! why was it your mission, when it wasn't anyone else's, to make the world accessible? it was my first priority to be independent. i didn't want to give up anything because i cannot see. you might think your options, choices are limited compared to sighted people, but that's when you take a fresh approach, act, and never give up. it will lead to chances you never imagined. i, for so long, felt that i couldn't really have a lot of hope, because i never

believed that the world would ever accept me for who i am any more. and when you have to grow up overnight and you don't have any vision any more, that really does shape your view of the world. my time in tokyo has come to an end, and i am on the move again. i have to ration my energy levels when i'm in a new place. understanding and navigating that environment, and then, trying to hear all of the different sounds around me, that is so overwhelming. whoa... may i help you? is that 0k? that would be amazing. i think there's like... i was always telling myself, "i've got to be independent."

and then independence became a really, like, negative word. in here? in there, yes, put in there. 0k. and then i realised that, you know, everyone on earth relies on someone. yeah, thank you — thank you so much. your train departing from track number 19. i9? i9. hiroshima. thank you so much. thank you. have a nice day. you too. in some ways, i feel much more confident coming through tokyo station because of the tactile paving. it is absolutely incredible. no matter how many people went in front of me, behind me, i had my line and i had a sense of direction. i always say that i live in a sighted world that isn't made for me. and i'm in a city that

accepts blindness so much. voice breaks: and i can't quite let myself believe... ..that i'll ever be truly accepted. but it feels like it here. feeling quite low—energy, to be honest. and i think i was so elated about getting on the train, the shinkansen, and feeling happy about the platform being accessible, it'sjust hit me like a ton of bricks that i'm now going to a new place and have to learn a new hotel room and a new environment. it's actually really hard, being in a new place

when you can't see it. i've taken the bullet train from tokyo about 500 miles to hiroshima. it's impossible to come here without acknowledging its past. gong clangs but first, i'm going to stay overnight in a buddhist temple on the outskirts of the city. the majority of japanese people are buddhist, so i want to understand what i can learn from this religion's teachings. good afternoon. konnichiwa! welcome to the kokubunji accommodation. oh, thank you for having me — i'm lucy. my host is shoko, the wife of the head monk. together, they run the temple. can i take your arm? mm—hm, yes. lovely.

watch the steps. 0k. when i first heard that i was going to a buddhist temple, i was like, "am i going to sleep on the floor? "am i going to be able to plug in my straighteners?" but then the innerjournalist within me was like, "you know, can you be a buddhist monk if you've lost your eyesight?" hi, lucy, thank you very much for waiting. the temple for me is somewhere that you can really be with nature. i love that i can hear so much of the wilderness because it is in such a remote destination. have you ever slept in a futon before? no. 0h! it's the first time! yeah! oh, i love it! perfect. perfect! cooing it's 5am. i slept so well on this futon, it's so nice.

i realised i've hardly opened my eyes. good morning. bell clangs monks chant i went to listen to the monks�* morning service, and the chanting really does relax you to the core. bells chime gong clangs it's

something about being in fight—or—flight all the time, and having a stress response to different environments around me. i feel like it really centred my nervous system. thank you, arigato. this has definitely helped with my sensory overload of being in a new country and experiencing different things because, at the end

of the day, i am just relying mainly on my hearing, so coming here, it's like a reset button for me. thank you so much for preparing this. i'm so excited to try it all. first time using chopsticks! 0k... 0k, like that. i'm a chopstick novice. ijust could not get the hang of them. no! chuckles. but i was pleased because i've been taught by a monk. i got a little grain then! i actually felt really proud that i was eating with them. i was very slow, but i'm going to use them at home.

i'm a very confident person but i don't believe that my hope is still shining in the same way that it did before i lost my vision. i still do see hope as a glass half—empty, rather than half—full. i think this self—exploration injapan is teaching me a different way to view hope and acceptance of myself. is buddhism accepting of disability in — you know, just being in this temple, ifeel like it is.

it's my last day, and i've come to meet mariko higashino in hiroshima peace park. ever since i learned about the disaster there, i felt compelled to find out about how people from the blast and the families that have followed actually deal with the aftermath of that. nice to meet you, lucy! konnichiwa! konnichiwa. could you audio describe where we are, mariko?

0k, mm—hm. mariko's mother and grandmother lived in hiroshima at the time of the bombing, and mariko has been sharing their story with the world.

wow. i'm so sorry.

is it this here as well? they were so young. they were the same age as me when i lost my eyesight. stifles sobs. there's so many names. does it keep going? sobs. yeah. oh, my god — i didn't know it was this big.

thank you for showing me. even though i've lost one of my main senses, they didn't have the chance to start again and to figure out what their future was. you know, i owe it to them to have a future that is bright. 0h, 0k — to there? mm—hm, hold there — press? oh, wow! giggles. meeting mariko—san and learning about her family story and history... is this the symbol of hope? ..made me believe that you can have a massive trauma in your life and still — and still have hope.

meeting everyone that i've met on this trip has been a true blessing. go! yeah. squeals. i can't wait to take a new sense of hope back home. i'm going to remember what the monk has taught me, how to meditate, understand that being with nature is one of the best things you can do for your mental health. understanding that hope comes even from the darkest of times. mariko taught me that. and... woman calls out in japanese. ..a tactile experience is a beautiful one. sighted experiences don't have to always come first.

hello. this week, it has certainly felt like autumn. the weather has thrown wind and rain at us and, at the end of the week, it has felt decidedly cool. over the weekend, things are set to turn warmer but there is more wind and rain in the forecast. the main driver of the weekend weather is this swirl of cloud. this was a hurricane — hurricane nigel. not a hurricane any more but it is set to inject some extratropical moisture into this deep area of low pressure that will be swirling to the north—west of us. that will bring some wind and some rain but it will also bring some slightly warmer southerly winds in our direction. but what we've had is northerly winds and some clear skies.

a chilly start to saturday. through the day, some spells of sunshine, turning increasingly hazy and then, thicker cloud rolling into south west england, wales and northern ireland through the afternoon. a little bit of rain getting in here by the very end of the day. temperatures between 12 and 18 degrees. and then, as we head through saturday night, this weather front here starts to wriggle around and that will essentially hold it back across northern and western areas into sunday. so, we can expect some quite heavy downpours of rain at times on sunday, particularly for northern ireland, wales, north west england and then up into scotland — turning particularly wet across the western side of scotland. further south and east, some spells of sunshine and, actually, some warmth returning — temperatures getting into the low 20s celsius. and then, as we head through sunday night, well, plenty more rain to come across western parts of england, wales, northern ireland and, perhaps most especially, western scotland, accompanied by some strong, gusty winds — wind gusts of 50 to 60mph.

the rain could be sufficient to cause some problems with localised flooding and some travel disruption. but then, as we head into monday, our band of rain really weakens. this weather front really weakening as it pushes down towards the south—east corner. sunny spells and showers following on behind. still, broadly speaking, a south—westerly wind. some strong winds once again towards the western side of scotland. but with that wind direction, we will continue to see some warmer conditions. so, temperatures in aberdeen up to around 18 degrees, 22 in norwich and in london, and we keep that feed of warm south—westerly winds as we head into tuesday. this next frontal system swinging its way in from the atlantic. that will bring some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain across northern ireland, western scotland, wales, the western side of england, then pushing eastwards through the day, sunshine and showers following on behind, and temperatures between 15 and 22 degrees. now, for wednesday, it looks like — and remember, this is still a long way off, the details could change — but it looks like we'll see another developing frontal system.

this one could spin up into quite a deep area of low pressure. so, that will bring further heavy rain, driving its way northwards and eastwards across the uk with the chance for some strong and gusty winds. temperatures still up into the 20s down towards the south—east corner. a little bit cooler further north and west — 1a or 15 for lerwick and for stornoway. for the end of the week, it's just a conveyor belt of weather systems, areas of low pressure. just from time to time, we'll see high pressure building towards the south of the uk, so that is probably where we'll see the best of any dry weather through the end of the week and into next weekend but plenty of rain, some strong winds at times — a decidedly autumnal feel to our weather. that's all from me. bye for now.

good morning. welcome to breakfast, with naga munchetty and ben thompson. 0ur headlines today: calls for urgent action to help vulnerable households with their energy bills, as a group of mps say a new winter crisis is inevitable. hello there, you awakening wonders. honestly, it has been an extraordinary and distressing week. russell brand makes his first comments since he was accused of rape and sexual assault, and lashes out at the government and media organisations. the businesses backing hs2 — they urge the government to re—commit to building the high speed rail line from london to manchester.

good morning. it is the clash of the titans at the right world cup today, as ireland, the world's top team, face their biggest rivals, defending champions south africa, in an almighty showdown in paris. sir michael caine on his new film, inspired by a true story, and a hint that retirement might not be far off. speaking from a professional actor's point of view, you don't get many leading roles at 90!— point of view, you don't get many leading roles at 90! good morning, all. our weekend _ leading roles at 90! good morning, all. our weekend is _ leading roles at 90! good morning, all. our weekend is shaping - leading roles at 90! good morning, all. our weekend is shaping up - leading roles at 90! good morning, all. our weekend is shaping up to l leading roles at 90! good morning, | all. our weekend is shaping up to be all. our weekend is shaping up to be a tale of two halves. not about to start this saturday. sunny spells for most of us, clouding over from the west and little later in the day, with rain into northern ireland. that will spark some wet and windy weather for some of us for sunday. all the details coming up. it's saturday the 23rd of september. our main story: urgent action is needed now to help vulnerable energy customers this winter, according to a group

of cross—party mps.