♪ ♪ (Rudy Maxa) I'm crossing one of the world's busiest intersections.

It's an absolute nonstop river of people flowing here in the most electric, lively, shopping-mad, food-obsessed, fashion-addicted city in the world...Tokyo!

(woman) "Rudy Maxa's World," proudly sponsored by The Leading Hotels of the World.

Quests for travel begin at LHW.com, where you'll discover a collection of nearly 450 unique hotels worldwide... including the distinctive family of Taj hotels, resorts, and palaces.

♪ ♪ Every quest has a beginning-- online at LHW.com.

Additional funding for "Rudy Maxa's World" provided by: Medjet.com, medical evacuation membership protection for travelers.

Take trips, not chances.

And by... Yokoso!

Or "Welcome to Japan."

And by Delta--serving hundreds of destinations worldwide.

Information to plan your next trip available at delta.com.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [a koto and bamboo flute play] ♪ ♪ [fast-paced electronic music plays] (Rudy) It seems the most mind-boggling mass of contradictions ever concocted... a private, polite people who think nothing of flaunting the most outrageous fashions... ♪ ♪ a society with a strict history of consensus and conformity that night after night hits the town, a culture with a refined, simple, aesthetic that adores gaudy kitsch.

This crazy collision of tradition and modernity, East and West, modesty and madness is uniquely, delightfully, Tokyo!

♪ ♪ Tokyo is located on Honshu Island, and it's home to around 25% of Japan's population.

Tokyo is many things-- by day, shopping madness, by night, a carnival.

On weekdays, it's a mob of commuters, and on weekends, it's a fashion parade.

Want a change of scenery?

Hop the nearest subway and take it to the next neighborhood.

I can't get enough of this city.

It's exciting, edgy, full of life, and at the same time, safe, spotless, and unfailingly polite.

The Japanese strive for perfection in all things, so everything from food to fashion is done with elegance, grace, and precision.

The obsession for the perfect translates into a craze for the latest and greatest.

Shopping is simply huge here.

Every neighborhood offers a different way to shop, from boutiques to mega shopping malls, to downtown department stores.

♪ ♪ Ten floors of teen fashion at the store called Shibuya 109 draw young women in droves.

They're here seeking the latest bag or bangle or fashion advice from trendsetting salespeople.

♪ ♪ New malls open constantly to great fanfare.

This one rated live full on TV coverage.

[woman speaks Japanese] [applause] I just happen to be in town for the opening of the Akasaka Sacas shopping center.

It's the mall of the moment.

What else is hot in town?

Well, tennis shoes encrusted with jewels, hot tub karaoke, and oxygen bars for dogs.

And fads and crazes aren't limited to fashion.

Combining their desire for the latest and greatest and their age-old appreciation for nature, the Japanese make much of the first food of the season-- the first melon, the first buckwheat for noodles, the freshest fish.

Isetan is one of Tokyo's huge department stores with floors of beautifully crafted and displayed foods.

Shinji Nohara, a food writer in Tokyo, introduced me to some very special fruit.

All right, now why does this one single muskmelon cost 105 U.S. dollars?

Okay, you see, these are perfect so you don't see any single scratches.

And then they have special light that senses how much sugar they contain.

So you mean they have a light that can tell them the sugar content of this fruit?

So it's the perfect sugar content.

It has not one mark on it.

It's the most perfect muskmelon in the world right now.

That's true.

Here are about 10 strawberries for $31.

Again, are these, the perfect strawberries?

Yes, perfect color, perfect shape, and perfectly, ah, taste.

$84 mango?

And this is a $250 mango.

A $250!

Let's just look at the 84.

I can't afford the $250 mango.

Yeah, okay.

From all the avid shopping in Tokyo, it's hard to tell that the Japanese economy has been depressed for years.

After World War II, the country pulled itself up by the bootstraps and turned Japan into one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

But in the 1990s the real estate bubble burst.

Japan suffered a decade of recession and deflation.

♪ ♪ Tokyo by day is the warm-up act for Tokyo by night.

The city is lit up like a carnival.

Commuters stream home, and restaurants are hopping.

At night, Tokyo gets all dressed up in neon and simply knocks you over.

♪ ♪ The Shinjuku area is a mad combination of peep shows, pachinko parlors, and arcades.

Tucked alongside the skyscrapers are alleys with some of the world's smallest restaurants.

Jammed with salary men after work, these tiny establishments serve up yakitori, grilled meat on skewers, or offer set menus cooked all day by the proprietress.

♪ ♪ Just south, Shibuya is home to the world's most exciting intersection.

It's nonstop action.

The people never stop coming.

But it's orderly and never crushing.

This is one of the city's best neon and jumbotron shows made even more dazzling if you can't read the advertisements.

Night or day, Tokyo's pachinko parlors are humming.

The game is a cross between pinball and a slot machine, and I'm feeling lucky.

I'm gonna put 1000 yen up here and see how this puppy starts.

All right!

The idea is you get all these little ball bearing things, and you wanna get them right into this little slot here so that they collect in this pan here.

Need another one in there.

Come on baby!

Come on baby!

There we go.

No.

Come on, right in there, right in there.

Ah!

Come on, here's one right here.

Drop in there!

No!

So, here's all I got down here.

This is not very impressive, I can tell you.

Not very impressive at all!

We'll go one more time.

I think this is the idea.

I'm gonna make these turtles swim.

These little puppies are gonna swim like they've never swum before.

Okay.

Told ya I'd have 'em swimmin'.

Look at those guys go!

Need one in.

Come on baby!

Oh!

Something good's happening.

Okay, I did much better this time.

Here we go.

Look at this!

Now we're talkin'!

All right, one more time.

I promise, just one more time.

Now they're goin' in.

Now I got it.

All right.

All right, we're in the money now.

I don't know what happened, but look at these lights!

We're going nuts here!

She's waving at me.

She's waving at me.

(female electronic voice) Lucky!

Lucky!

Lucky!

I can understand "lucky" in any language.

We're cookin'!

Look at this!

Look at this!

We're cookin' here now.

I may never go home.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

♪ ♪ [speaks Japanese] I'm getting little plastic sticks.

This is it, huh?

They're little plastic things.

Turns out it's illegal to win money in the parlor, so you can take your plastic things next door for hard cash.

After a long night on the town, morning comes fast.

Hours before dawn arrives, workers at the enormous Tsukiji Fish Market are up hauling around fish from all over the world.

This isn't a fish market, it's a fish city.

2000 tons of seafood pass through here each day, much of it headed for Tokyo's restaurants.

More than $5 billion worth of fish from all over the world is sold at Tsukiji market each year.

Shinji introduced me to a blowfish.

Does anybody ever really die from eating a blowfish?

Actually yes, there's some people dying, but just because--they're not eating at the nicest restaurant.

They go to the ocean, they fish by themselves.

And they don't know what they've caught.

Exactly.

Yes.

Wow.

I'm taking a good look at these fellas.

If you ever come across this in the ocean, throw it back in... fast!

Tunas are the stars at Tuskiji.

Japan consumes 1/4 of the world's tuna.

One 600-pound giant recently sold for $55,000.

Before the tuna auction, buyers with flashlights and picks examine the fat content of the tuna.

The more fat, the more expensive the fish.

$13,000 for this one tuna right here?

That one tuna, yes.

And that's why a piece of fatty tuna on a piece of rice costs $4?

Exactly.

Yes.

So, if one of those is $13,000, and there are hundreds of these here, there's a lot of money represented in these frozen nuclear warhead- looking things here, right?

Um-hum.

(Rudy) The tuna auction kicks off at 5:30 in the morning.

While visitors are allowed, new rules limit access for tourists.

[bell rings] [speaking Japanese] [calling the auction in Japanese] Now, the auction seems sort of confusing to my eyes.

They do a finger language.

Oh, it's with fingers.

Yeah, fingers.

Be careful-- you just bought a 300-pound tuna.

Exactly!

(Rudy) After the auction, the tuna fly out of the market on their way to sushi bars all over town to be cut up and served.

The freshest of the fresh get served here at little sushi restaurants alongside the Tsukiji market complex.

Hour and a half in line so far.

This is like trying to get in Studio 54 in the '70s.

♪ ♪ [speaking Japanese] (Rudy) Sushi began centuries ago as a way to preserve fish using vinegar and rice.

It was traditionally a working-class food.

Here in the early hours at Dai Sushi, I devour a succession of the freshest tuna, mackerel, eel, and shellfish I've ever tasted.

Oh, that's beautiful!

This is proper way.

And he put a special sauce on it, so you don't have to dip in the soy sauce.

So, take this and just turn like 90°.

So that the fish is on your tongue?

Yes, fish is on the tongue.

Right.

It's like filet mignon of tuna.

Beautiful!

Beautiful!

Umm!

Can we do that again?

We can do that.

We'll take 2.

This was worth the wait.

It's spring in Tokyo, and when the first cherry trees blossom, it's blossom mania.

♪ ♪ Photographers are out in force either shooting the flowers or setting up wedding pictures.

♪ ♪ And the real estate under the trees is in high demand for hanami, the spring ritual of picnicking under cherry blossoms, drinking saké, and singing songs.

At night the trees go electric.

They are Tokyo's "stars of the moment."

♪ ♪ Spring is also wedding season, and the city's peaceable Shinto shrines host numerous ceremonies.

♪ ♪ The couple dresses in traditional kimonos and drink saké to confirm their union.

[loud, but muted sustained bass tone] ♪ ♪ Shinto, an animist religion that worships the spirit in things, was the native religion before Buddhism arrived in the 6th century.

Tokyoites mix and match their religions, fanning the healing incense at a Buddhist temple, hanging prayer plaques at Shinto shrines, and even celebrating some Christian holidays.

♪ ♪ [clickety-clack of wheels on a track] Tokyo subway is one of the best in the world.

Once you get the hang of it, the city is yours.

Day and night, it's quick, safe, and very clean.

The subway makes the city's diverse and somewhat distant neighborhoods quickly accessible.

One of the surprises of Tokyo is that amidst the urban sprawl, there are lovely, peaceful neighborhoods like Kagurasaka.

That's where I met Weston Konishi, a Japanese American living in Tokyo.

Really, like all great cities in the world, Tokyo seems to be a collection of villages-- very distinct.

That's right, but I think even more so than other cities in the world.

I mean, it's such a large, sprawling city with numerous neighborhoods, each one having its own characteristic, its own flavor, different kind of population.

(Rudy) What's the characteristic and flavor of your neighborhood?

(Weston) It's very traditional; at the same time very international.

(Rudy) Is this a very fashionable place to live?

(Weston) It is, yeah.

It hasn't been a very famous part of town.

There are a lot of other more chic and trendy neighborhoods, but this one is becoming more and more trendy.

(Rudy) A wedding party in one of Kagurasaka restaurants invites us in to watch a dance in honor of the newlyweds.

[drums & koto play] ♪ ♪ Kagurasaka is small-town Tokyo, a quaint lively little gem in the swirl of Tokyo satellites.

♪ ♪ Food, food, more food-- this svelte population is utterly, rapturously obsessed with food.

Ask some Tokyoites about their favorite hobby, and they'll tell you it's tae ba ra oki(ph), which means wandering the streets to find new restaurants.

Mine brought me to Honmura An in search of the perfect soba noodle.

Soba are buckwheat noodles served hot in broth or cold with a dipping sauce.

Koichi Kobari carries on a family noodle tradition begun by his grandfather, and clients from all over the world come to taste his soba.

We use a very coarse grind of flour, and then we only add water to it.

And then by hand, it's mixed and made into dough.

It takes about 10 minutes.

And thereafter, the dough is placed on the table, and using a roller pin, it's spread thinner, thinner, thinner, and fold it, and finally cut by a huge cleaver by hand.

(Rudy) No machines are involved in the process.

(Koichi) No machinery is involved.

Our principle is freshly ground, freshly made, and quickly eaten.

(Rudy) So you make the noodles every day?

(Koichi) We grind and make the noodles every day.

Well, I think one of the major characters of Japanese cuisine is its emphasis on seasonalities.

I think there is a perfect word in Japanese.

It's called hatsumono.

It's the "first in season."

(Rudy) "Hatsumono."

(Koichi) Hatsumono yes.

For instance, we get first batch of new harvest of buckwheat, we put a sign says "New harvest has arrived."

And also consequently, we have a special tasting menu New Harvest Dinner.

In the front of your menu you say there's no problem with slurping.

In fact, you encourage it.

Yes, we very much encourage our customers to slurp it.

Because in order for the texture and the flavor of soba to be appreciated, you need to eat it quickly, and quickly eating noodles is slurping, and slurping naturally comes with a sound, a noise.

I'll try it.

It goes against what my mother taught me.

Absolutely!

That's why we make a special notation on the back of our menu, it's okay to slurp it.

♪ ♪ The same quest for perfection is true for saké.

My friend Haruko Satoh takes me to a traditional saké bar called an izakaya.

This is a major bottle of saké.

Is this a traditional size bottle?

Yes.

This is how-- it's so big.

It's the traditional size.

It's a beautiful label, and it's cold.

It's cold, yes The best saké is served cold, I've learned.

That's a generous pour!

Hello!

Is that a traditional pour?

Yes.

That's an enormous amount of saké.

Well, saké's like wine so it's... Yeah, now it seems to have spilled over to the side.

Is that traditional?

This is also the generosity...

The generosity of the saké bar that we're in.

That's right.

Japanese food is all about, part of it has to do with the...

Display?

Presentation?

Enjoyment of the eyes, yes.

That's part of everything in Japan, isn't it, whether it's flowers or gardens... That's right.

...or food?

That's right.

Even politics.

Even politics?

Form is important?

Form is important.

The birth rate's very low, isn't it?

(Haruko) It's very low.

(Rudy) Does that suggest problems down the road?

(Haruko) I think it's got to do with women working, and it's very hard for women to bring up children as well as work because the Japanese men traditionally tended to not bear any responsibility with children.

(Rudy) Careers for women in Japan are typically low-level jobs.

Fewer than 10% of corporate managers are women, and the majority of working women are effectively forced to resign when they get pregnant.

Today's youth is a contrast to the hard-working older generation.

The weak economy and the decline of the corporate culture have more and more young people unemployed and living with their parents.

Some of these unemployed kids become comic book addicts.

They're known as otaku, young geeks who obsessively collect manga, the ubiquitous Japanese comic books.

They also worship anime, the animated movies born from manga.

Manga isn't just for kids, and the topics can run from the innocent to the prurient.

Manga grew out of the American cartoons introduced by American GIs after World War II.

Despite the glitz and the hyper modernity, old Japan is never far from the surface.

Behind rice paper screens, the rituals of a tea ceremony are enacted with absolute perfection.

Here at the Imperial Hotel, visitors can indulge in traditional tea or a modern cocktail.

The Imperial dates from the 1890s and was one of the first European style hotels in Japan.

In 1923, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a new building for the hotel, and for more than 40 years, it was a magnet for visitors from around the world.

The stunning Frank Lloyd Wright suite preserves that era.

Floods and earthquakes damaged the Imperial, and it was rebuilt again in 1970.

I'm not normally fascinated with toilets, but again, Japan makes art out of all things.

The Japanese have brought technology to many parts of life including the bathroom and I'm here at the Toto showroom where we have this wireless unit that controls this very fancy toilet.

Now, the ability to press a button and put up the seats or down the seats, that's just the beginning.

This control over here controls a bidet function, and you can set the force of the water, the temperature of the water, the angle of the water.

And not only that, they've brought entertainment technology to this unit.

[piano plays softly] And, of course, the seat is heated, and you can control that temperature too.

[electronic dance music plays] ♪ ♪ Traditional, ultra modern, serene, chaotic-- perfectly delicious Tokyo.

This city is all the more delightful for its many contradictions.

The problem is how to leave behind the perfect soba noodle, the freshest of fish, the first blossoms, and the sheer vitality of Tokyo.

After Tokyo everything seems well, slightly shy of perfect.

The night's still young in Shinjuku, and I'm not ready to call it a day.

There's soba, sushi, and a pachinko parlor calling my name.

Reporting from Tokyo, I'm Rudy Maxa.

"Jan ay!"

♪ ♪ (woman) For information on the places featured in "Rudy Maxa's World," along with other savvy traveling tips, visit... To order DVDs of "Rudy Maxa's World" or the CD of world music from the series, call or visit... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Cc--Armour Captioning & Twin Cities Public Television ♪ ♪ "Rudy Maxa's World," proudly sponsored by The Leading Hotels of the World.

Quests for travel begin at LHW.com, where you'll discover a collection of nearly 450 unique hotels worldwide, Including the distinctive family of Taj hotels, resorts, and palaces.

Every quest has a beginning, online at LHW.com.

Additional funding for Rudy Maxa's World provided by Medjet.com, medical evacuation membership protection for travelers.

Take trips, not chances.

And by... Yokoso!

or "Welcome to Japan."

And by Delta--serving hundreds of destinations worldwide.

Information to plan your next trip available at delta.com.

[orchestral fanfare] ♪ ♪