The samurai sport of kendo is practiced by the Japan’s police officers but every police department and academies said “No” to filming them.

Eventually, the crew got access to a community class at a Tokyo suburb, filled with practitioners of all ages: from young schoolchildren to one in his nineties. Peter had so much fun learning the basic moves and sparring with a ten-year-old! The story shows how sport is still so entrenched with the Japanese today.

The K-wave has captured the hearts of many around the world but how do we talk about pop culture when featuring the history of the Joseon dynasty? Production co-ordinator Jason recommended the crew to listen to one of his favourite groups, sEODo band. They marry an old form of traditional singing called Pansori with western instruments and modern beats. The crew had to meet the band! Despite the band’s busy schedule, the crew got to listen to the band up-close and live, but the real treat was seeing Peter singing along with them.

• Kendo is used to train the Japanese police force.
• Sushi began nearly 200 years ago as a street food in Tokyo, and was much, much larger than it is today.
• Even as some Japanese became affluent, there were laws that banned commoners from dressing lavishly.

• Okinawa was an island favoured by China and allowed most frequent exchanges than any other nations during the 15th century.
• After invasion by the Japanese, the Ryukyu people increasingly adopted elements of Chinese culture.
• Nunchuks came from Okinawan martial arts and may have originated from a traditional horse bit called muge.

• Less than a hundred people are fully conversant in the Ainu language.
• The Ainu make clothes from tree bark and boots from salmon skin.
• The most important Ainu ritual was the bear sacrifice. A bear cub was raised and pandered in a village for a year before it was sacrificed to return its soul to the realm of the gods.

• The Korean alphabet, ‘Hangul’, was created in Joseon dynasty as a simplified writing system to replace Chinese characters.
• Kimchi, the fiery red national dish and basis of Korean food was originally a purely pale-coloured pickle.
• Hahoe Talnori is a 200-year-old Korean masked dance-drama that offered freedom for performers to anonymously express their criticisms of powerful local people.