this is bbc news. the headlines: armed soldiers have been offered to london's metropolitan police after a large number of officers stepped back from firearms duties. their decision is linked to the case of a police officer charged with a man's murder. we have touchdown. and there you heard it — the nasa probe, which has spent the last seven years flying through space carrying the largest asteroid sample ever collected — touches down. police in kosovo have ended a standoff with serb gunmen at a monastery which followed a deadly attack on ethnic albanian police. questions surround the future of the uk's high speed hs2 rail line — speaking to the bbc, senior cabinet minister grant shapps says it would be �*crazy�* not to review the project — amid rising costs and inflation.

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. 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. 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

speaks japanese. 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. itadakimasu! first time using chopsticks! 0k... ok, 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, i feel 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? ok, 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. 0h... 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. oh, ok — to there? mm—hm, hold there — press? oh, wow! giggles. meeting mariko—san and learning about her family story and history... ..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 there. wet and very windy weather on the way overnight for some of us. now, as far as the rainfall goes, the heaviest falls of rain will be across western scotland, where we're likely to pick up around 30 to 50 millimetres, double that over the high ground. so there could be some localised flooding building in across parts of scotland. it's all down to an area of low pressure. a rapidly developing low, that's just the south of the republic of ireland. and this will also bring some very strong winds to the far north—west of scotland as well, where overnight we could be looking at gusts of 60 to 70 odd miles an hourfor the hebrides and the highlands. the heavy rain bringing a risk of some localised flooding as well. further southwards, that band of rain crosses wales and england. by the time it reaches eastern areas, not really a great deal left on it. it's going to be a mild night, gusty south—westerly winds, ensuring that.

temperatures around 12 to 15 degrees. now tomorrow, a much brighter day overall with a lot more in the way of sunshine to go around. it's not entirely dry, though, there will be some showers. particularly for scotland, a few for northern ireland and the north of both northern england and north wales as well. the midlands, east anglia, southern counties of england should stay dry with their sunshine and these temperatures continue to be above average for the time of year — 17 to 22 for many of us. now entering into tuesday, it's another unsettled day. a couple of weather systems kind of combined to gang up on us here in the uk bringing, i think, outbreaks of rain for many of us. so rain at times probably best sums up the weather, the wettest weather in the morning across western areas. but by the time we get through the afternoon, rain will become pretty widespread with potentially some of it turning thundery. probably turning a bit brighter in northern ireland with the main rain band clearing through, but there'll still be a risk of some showers here. temperatures not changing too much — highs for many between 16 and 22 degrees. now for the middle part of the week,

we're looking at a deep area of low pressure. this is going to be bringing widespread heavy outbreaks of rain, but some very strong winds as well. inland gusts are expected to reach around 50 to 60 miles an hour, but stronger gusts likely around some of our irish sea coast where we could see gusts of between 65 and even 80 miles an hour. so potentially damaging disruptive gusts of wind with us. with this area of low pressure on wednesday, we're quite likely to see some disruption then towards the middle part of the week. that's today's weather. bye for now.

live from london, this is bbc news. armed soldiers are offered to the metropolitan police — after a large number of officers step back from firearms duties. britain's prime minister faces mounting criticism over his u—turn on several key climate change commitments. touchdown. a space capsule carrying the largest asteroid sample ever collected lands safely in utah. uncertainty surrounds the future of the uk's high speed hs2 rail line. a senior cabinet minister says it would be crazy not to review the project amid rising costs.

good evening.