Begin Japanology
tv show

251 total episodes
-
7 seasons
First Aired April 14, 2008
Genres:
Overview
BEGIN Japanology invites you into the world of Japanese culture, both traditional and modern, explaining how traditions evolved and the part they still play today in people's everyday lives.
Lifts
Season 4 - Episode 19 - 0h 28m
Air Date
June 16, 2011
Overview
Japan leads the world in building ever-faster and ever-quieter lifts, or elevators. In 2004, Japan's long history of engineering know-how was used to build the world's fastest elevator in Taipei 101, a 509-meter landmark skyscraper in Taiwan. The elevator travels at up to 60 km/h! At Tokyo's Roppongi Hills, one of Japan's largest multipurpose complexes, elevators serve two floors at once: an even and an odd floor. In other office buildings, cameras and ID cards connected to computers dispatch lifts automatically. Will "space elevators" someday carry people into orbit? The key may be carbon nanotubes, a material that was brought to the forefront of science in Japan. On this edition of BEGIN Japanology, we look at the continued evolution of lifts and how they have become an indispensable daily convenience in Japan.