Guy visits a slum in Yokohama, where he sneaks into `love hotels', illegal gambling dens and the yakuza-organised crime gang headquarters. The rest of his offbeat itinerary includes working with the maintenance team on the world's longest, strongest and most expensive suspension bridge, and training under the mystical guidance of one of Japan's last remaining swordsmiths. Guy also makes a special detour to pay his respects at Hiroshima, where he finds the tram that was up and running just three days after a nuclear bomb destroyed the city in August 1945.

Guy Martin embarks on a journey across Japan, hoping to learn more about what keeps the country going. He trains with one of Japan's engineering grand-masters, who made parts for the country's first nuclear power station, and finds out how the nation deals with 1,500 earthquakes a year on the intense simulators at Tokyo's Disaster Training School.