Joanna Lumley's Japan

Land of the midnight sun's pristine Japan Hokkaido island shields the red crowned crane Old ways remembered by an Ainu man And in Sapporo city soldiers plan Ice sculptures when snow grips each window pane Within the Fukushima zone, a ban On all but one, who hopes that his lifespan Will see him staying on in his domain Elsewhere some folk brew sake, rice fields plan The Shinto Fire Festival, with such elan The fireballs wheel, fantastic and arcane Pagodas, earthquakes, lava rivers run Hot springs. Those of the macaque monkey clan Soak, preen their partners, coquettish and vain Like little people bubbling in a pan And then, to Tokyo, magnificent, urban Fast as the wind, the famous bullet train See high buildings rise, dwarf ryokan All risen since the war, no more shogun Few Geisha girls, white faced, demure, remain Quick Sushi bars for the pedestrian The Nakasendo Way, exhaustion! Tokyo to Kyoto walking through the pain Where Cherry blossom flowers, Utopian! Mount Fuji's on Honshu, cerulean Skies, lakes and peace together jointly reign A land of Buddhist temples is Japan Try a hotel of robots, no woman Will wait upon you, that's against the grain See Nagasaki's resurrection A radish farm, huge veg for the vegan Beneath a live volcano, Nature's chain At Okinawa, meet a karate dan Hear elders singing. One musician Sounds out the gong, monks chant out a refrain Elsewhere, small children's class custodian Puts them through drills, should a volcano damn The day, erupt and redly rain Lava and ash, deliver Armaggedon And Thomas Glover, that amazing man A Scottish Samurai, trade magician