Decades of urban migration wreaked havoc for rural Japan. All but a few remained with an elderly population and no money for services like trash removal. This sparked a tiny, local revolution that led to the zero waste movement in Kamikatsu. Meet the residents who share their experience and how zero waste is much more than just a waste policy. Next, visit a village where a natural spring weaves in and out of more than 200 homes, creating a dependency on the whole village to be responsible. Follow that same water to Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan and one of the world’s last remaining ancient lakes. Here we meet Eiji Nakatsu, a visionary biomimetic engineer. It’s at this lake where he was inspired to design a bullet train mimicking the diving kingfisher bird. Now in his retirement, he’s working to restore the biodiversity of the lake that had acted as his muse. It is here where we learn of the post war reforestation efforts that were abandoned and inadvertently led to deforestation in Philippines and Indonesia.