this is a country facing big challenges from climate change. you can turn these into batteries? but i'm here to see how it tech innovators are trying to help. is that our lunch? very tasty! i'll be seeing earth—friendly energy projects on land and at sea. we're very close! putting future fuels like hydrogen to the test. and understanding how nature can inspire totally new materials. absolutely massive! this is terrifying! thank you. welcome to japan. everything you could want all in one place! japan is a place i know well, but as my green tech journey begins, i can already tell i am going to see a different side to this great country. i'm starting two hours east of tokyo in the sleepy port city which stares out at the mighty pacific ocean, whose weather often crashes into japan's shores. it's at sites like this where you really get a sense ofjapan as an island nation it is one that is very conscious of the threat posed to it by climate change. the typhoons and storms that come from out there are growing ever more powerful and the heatwaves and wildfires are becoming ever more common. going green is the only option. i'm here to meet someone who advises on big renewable projects. hi, i'm paul. good to meet you. this is beautiful. welcome to japan! it's very windy. perfect for the wind turbines! it has historically relied heavily on imported fossil fuels but now aims to be carbon neutral by 2050. nice and snug. and one answer lies at sea. wow. gosh. wow, indeed. this is great. three kilometres from land, this is japan's first bottom—fixed offshore wind turbine, but many others have popped up across the country more recently. worldwide, wind is one of the fastest—growing green energies. japan it's a very energy poor for energy security issues and also for sustainability, we need to do something. what are the challenges of installing and maintaining things like this in these kinds of conditions? any kind of weather problem you can imagine, we've got them here. we have earthquakes, we have tsunami. let's hope we have none of those things today! more than a fifth of japan's energy already comes from green sources like solar or hydropower, but with limited land to play with and one of the longest coastlines in the world, it makes sense to put these out here. the noise is really something else! we're very close! we are very close. it's actually quite intimidating being this close. but the turbine you can see above the water is only half the story. deep under these waves, these enormous structures have to be maintained, even in conditions like this. and i can tell you something — it's not a job for the faint—hearted. having experienced the conditions myself, i can see why there might be a lack of divers wanting to do this work. but while it's a challenge for humans, for robots it's less of a problem. so i'm in tokyo to meet a team developing a drone to help with windfarm maintenance. welcome to our lab. wow, so this is the drone? yes, our underwater drone. what are the uses and applications of this? mainly it is to inspect and maintain the infrastructure underwater. and that's things like wind turbines and dams? yes. because those things are hard for human divers to maintain? and also, the number of divers is decreasing injapan so to support them or replace theirjob, we can do this work. unlike a human, this doesn't get tired! so what if some of this equipment, it looks complicated? it has caught bright lights. designed for inspections at 300 metres deep, navigation tools are vital. he explains that it has a sonar to help avoid objects when visibility is not so good. the thrusters and its centres help the device withstand the waves and of course a camera to record its findings. this is the camera, and it moves? that's me! it's usually controlled from a boat, but today it is time to take it for a test dive in the pool. shall we get it in the water and see it in action? wow. there it goes. this field specialist is ready to show me the moves, using a game controller for steering and manoeuvres. wow, it's faster than i thought it would be, really responsive! sorry! i see we've got some things in the water, a shrimp and lobster. is that our lunch? very tasty! this could go beyond basic reconnaissance. in the future, we get a gripper or a manipulator. so it can make repairs and do things as it goes? with its little lead, i couldn't help seeing this as an amiable pet. underwater dog! and of course, i wanted to take it for a walk myself. well, a swim. there we go. wrong way! it's quite intuitive. like a video game. exactly. anyone i meet on the sea floor is on dangerous ground. i think i hit it! sorry, mr lobster! so the hot take from the tank is this is undeniably fun. hello! these drones may breathe new life to japan's historic maritime communities. we've brought it to many fisheries around japan and had the local fishermen operate them, and this fascinated them. it kind of works as additional revenue stream. if these fishermen can do lots of surveys and checking of the equipment, it's a win—win for both us and the local community. but japan's push for green energy goes way beyond wind. japan was one of the first to bet big on hydrogen, setting its sights several decades ago. now hydrogen is seen as a fuel to help meet climate change goals the world is playing catch—up and looking to japan. japanese car—makers toyota and honda were among the first to launch hydrogen cars. this is a toyota, and it takes just minutes to fill up at a hydrogen pump like this in tokyo. on a full charge, it can travel about 550 kilometres, which is enough to get you about halfway across japan's main island. there are over 100 filling stations across japan, more than anywhere in the world. apart from a few clues on the dashboard, you wouldn't really know this was a hydrogen car, and in terms of ride quality, itjust feels like any other ev. forjapan, hydrogen is about much more than personal vehicles, it wants to change its biggest polluters. something to think about as we move west on the famous bullet train, to kobe, the hydrogen capital ofjapan. this is kobe. it's beautiful, isn't it? i often come here for leisure but now it is a place to see the technology of hydrogen. 0n port island, homes, hospitals and universities all receive heating and electricity from hydrogen. kobe docks are totally switching over to this fuel, and the potential for this to transform the city, country and world at large is a huge. all of the hydrogen comes from australia? that's right. yes, this pioneering project requires hydrogen to be shipped across the world so there are carbon emissions to consider, and hydrogen needs to be stored safely at —253 celsius so transporting it is a huge technical feat. we have to think about the social acceptance. we have an image like hydrogen is a bit dangerous, even though kerosene or other fuel is dangerous, but we have not accumulated an experienced enough yet to be sure that using hydrogen is safe. from the technology side to the social aspect side, we have many things to overcome. and with the development of hydrogen—fuelled planes, trains and automobiles, some applications face more trials than others. when we use hydrogen, it produces only water. but that's cool, but if we think about the aviation, that's not cool always when the water makes a cloud and there is another climate change issue. it's almost like you're solving one issue but it creates a different issue? yes, the world is not easy to solve! it's hard not to be taken with japan's single—minded commitment to hydrogen over the years, seeking energy from the elements and pushing new sustainable fuels to the fore. and as kobe embarks on some huge, scaled—up hydrogen experiments, which will be watched by the rest of the world, i am very excited to return to see what happens. despite being a global centre for industry, more than 60% of japan's land remains forested, something few other countries can claim. a mindset of using natural resources wisely is widespread. this watering hole, for instance, turns its sea food waste into decorations and light fittings. but i'm here to try its speciality — something called a sea pineapple, a strange—looking sea creature, a filter feeder with a squidgy shell. i'd better give it a go. it actually tastes like the sea. i think that's what you would call an acquired taste. i'm not sure i'd want to eat a whole one. to me, it tasted like burnt rubber, but whatever i think of it, thousands of tonnes of sea pineapples are harvested each year to eat, with thousands of tonnes of those squidgy shells thrown away. until now, because i've been told about a group of scientists who are doing something remarkable with all this waste. i'm at this university to meet professor hiroshi and his team. these are sea pineapples and this is what they look like fresh? that's right. they look very different in this kind of state. they're very strange. they're quite squidgy. but leathery at the same time. and this sea creature's shell is surprisingly rich in cellulose, an ingredient that can support electrical conduction. so why are these here in your lap? you can turn these into batteries? that's right. that's incredible. tiny cellulose fibres are extracted and mixed with another waste product from livestock, blood. all that's combined and popped into a vacuum at 900 celsius. once it goes inside, how long will it take to become carbon? about two or three hours. wow. about the time it takes to make a roast dinner! but unlike my burnt home cooking, this resulting carbon is rather special. it's particularly strong and stable so battery cells like these can safely receive three times more power than traditional lithium ion ones. can we see them in action? this is it, when we put it in here... wow! i notice you've got a phone plugged in as well so you can charge the phone? yes. there we go. that's phenomenal, what incredible work. table top gizmos aside, sea pineapple waste could even power drones in just a few years, and beyond that, electric vehicles. i feel like i should appreciate these things a bit more because these could be the future. i still don't like touching them, though. almost every industry has an environmental impact but fashion is famously one of the world's biggest polluters. hey! hello! nice to meet you. this is a generation said pop icon and fashion influencer. she's giving me a tour of tokyo's street fashion. say cheese! you don't need the filter — i need the filter! a lot of pink around and bright colours. and cute ears. manon, like many young people here, deeply cares about the environment or footprint of her clothes. do you think forjapanese young people, they're becoming more a way of sustainability and wear their clothes might come from? i think so. vintage shops are getting more popular injapan. because they are so cool. and also i wear vintage denim that my friend, we make it. amazing. this denim is only one for me so i feel so special when i wear vintage clothes. reusing and upcycling clothes is important for reducing waste, but really, it's a drop in the ocean. if the fashion industry is to become carbon neutral, it has to go a lot further and reinvent how it makes its clothes. so i'm back on the road, this time 250 miles north of the capital where a start—up is weaving inspiration from nature. particularly spiders. this is a company called spiber — scientists here have created a way to make a special protein polymer. here are the fermentation tanks, the microbes are in them and their oxidant level and nutrient levels are closely monitored. they're making the protein for us right now. working hard in there. yes, working hard, thank you! it looks a little bit like beer but i imagine you don't want to drink it? they call it the brewing process. this can be transformed into fibres and used to spin yarns. resulting in different types of materials. they felt similar to cotton or polyester. that is nice. this is still a relatively new tech so it will take a while until these garments can be made with brewed polymer only. the fashion industry uses around 27 million tonnes of cotton a year so this is a huge undertaking. before i go, there's a reason why this company is called spiber. i have to meet the creature that inspired all of this. i can't believe i'm about to do this. even if it means facing one of my biggest fears. this is terrifying. japan's golden orb weaver spider. it's absolutely massive! i swear it's looking at me. you'rejust going to put your hand in there? oh, my goodness me. don't. . .! i may not be their biggest fan, but even i have to admit that they're rather remarkable. i'll have nightmares tonight, but what will also stick with me is what spiber has done here in replicating the spinning skills of these creatures in their labs. we have so much to learn from the natural world. looking out at this rugged, beautiful landscape, it's easy to see how innovators across japan are turning to nature for their inspiration. and maybe the answers to saving our cities, coasts and countryside, and ourfuture, could be out here. that's it for this tecthlore japan, a country that is leading the world in sustainable innovation, creating inspired, surprising and impactful technology. i will forever be amazed by the passion of its pioneers. those who are saving waste, forging future fashion, and helping us go green on land and at sea. hello, a lot of rain and wind recently. and really quite stormy around some western coasts. how about the outlook for the next ten days or so? well, i think the next few days will bring further bouts of wind and rain. and relatively mild, too. after that, there are indications that high pressure may build from the south and the weather could settle down. but not necessarily everywhere. let's concentrate on the here and now, so the weather map for sunday, and this is actually storm fergus approaching ireland with some very strong winds here. to the south of this area of low pressure, a plume of relatively mild air streaming into many parts of western europe. now, let's concentrate on sunday, then. so i think overall it is going to be anotherfairly wet day, but towards the end of the day things may actually dry out across some western parts of the country. so this is midday. you can see that band of rain or the weather front spiralling into the centre of storm fergus here as it approaches western ireland. and notice this clearance to the west of the weather front, so actually the weather may end up being pretty decent around the middle of the afternoon. 14 in plymouth but colder there in the lowlands of scotland, and wet, too, with that rain continuing into the evening hours on sunday. then these are strong winds moving from ireland, transferring into the irish sea. so eventually turning very blustery with further rain across western parts of the uk. that's sunday evening. so really quite a stormy spell of weather at the moment. now, here's monday, then. so, as one area of low pressure pulls away, so the remnants of storm fergus, another low—pressure approaches. but we're in between weather systems. it's actually called a ridge of high pressure where the winds tend to be fairly light. you can see that from the wind arrows. windy there in the north sea, windy out towards the west. we're in between. and actually, pretty decent weather. some sunshine, i think come around on monday with temperatures of around 12, 13 in the south, 10 in liverpool and about 7 degrees in glasgow. and then that ridge of high pressure moves away or slips away and the next low—pressure comes in. it's that conveyor belt of weather systems being pushed by quite a strong jet stream. so we're right in the middle of this area, more or less, low—pressure on tuesday, strong winds around some of these south—western coasts out of the west. strong winds out of the east here in scotland. the other side of the low, quite wet and unpleasant here around fife and the coast of aberdeenshire. and then that low pressure on tuesday night into wednesday pulls away into the continent and there are signs of high—pressure to the south—west of us trying to build in, but it's going to be quite a slow process. i think on wednesday the best of the weather will be across scotland, northern ireland, but many north sea coasts and also the south—east often cloudy, and probably some spits and spots of rain as well. really feeling quite chilly, for example on the lincolnshire coastline. and then the next few days — so thursday, friday into the following weekend. look how this high pressure tries to build in. but to the north of it, weather fronts are sort of running around the area of high pressure. so not necessarily turning settled everywhere. so here's the summary, then, for sunday and monday onwards, and it does look as though things may settle down at least across some southern areas as we head towards the end of the following week. that's it from me. goodbye. live from london. this is bbc news. fighting is intensifying in gaza's second city, khan younis — with residents ordered by israeli forces to leave central areas. the head of the world health organization has said the war in gaza is having a catastrophic impact on health care there. the who has verified more than 419 attacks on healthcare in gaza on the west bank and 60 attacks on healthcare. health care should never be a target. health care should never be a target. also in the programme... britain's former immigration minister robertjenrick redoubles his attack on the government's rwanda plan, saying it's unworkable. ajudge has ordered the bbc to release emails relating to the scandal over martin bashir�*s 1995 interview with princess diana on panorama. and the huge skull of a 150—million—year—old sea monster is revealed, after it was extracted from cliffs on the south coast of england. hello and a warm welcome to bbc news. israel has ordered residents to leave the centre of gaza's main southern city, khan younis, as fighting there intensifies. there's been heavy bombardment of the territory overnight. the head of the israeli army has called for the military campaign in gaza to be stepped up. israeli tanks are reported to be slowly advancing towards the centre