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The Documentary Podcast
Searching for my samurai mother
The Documentary Podcast
Jul 24, 2026

When her mother dies, Rimi Tanaka regrets that she never truly got to know her. And so when her mother’s literary agent calls Rimi out of the blue, and asks her if she wants to write the book Akemi was writing when she died, Rimi seizes the opportunity. Akemi was researching her samurai ancestry, learning more about their philosophical code, and how it can teach us to live a fuller life today. Can completing her mother’s spiritual quest help Rimi finally come closer to someone she felt she never fully knew?

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Jul 21, 2026
Italy’s child obesity time-bomb

Children who are so obese they’re banned from their local gyms. Two and three year olds who are so used to juice and fizzy drinks they find it difficult to drink water. This is the child obesity epidemic hitting Italy. The country is often considered the spiritual home of the fabled mediterranean diet, celebrated as the secret to a long, healthy life. But Italy’s children are now the second most overweight in the EU. The reasons for this change in a generation are complex and hotly disputed. Experts are putting it down to a daily diet heavy in pasta, pizza, potatoes, bread and meat proteins. Parents say their teenage children are eating a family dinner then going out to binge on fast food. Others accuse the parents themselves of overindulging their children from an early age. Italy is acting. It recently became one of the first countries in the world to formally recognise obesity as a chronic disease. Twenty five secondary schools in the Campania region of Southern Italy, including Naples, will take part in an ambitious clinical trial to try and get their pupils to eat more healthily in a bid to prevent a looming health crisis. Can Italy turn its child obesity crisis around? And what lessons does its experiment hold for other countries struggling with the same problem? Sofia Bettiza reports from Naples.

Producer: Bob Howard Sound engineer: James Beard Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

(Image: Medical assistant weighing young girl at the university hospital in Naples, Italy. Credit: Sofia Bettiza/BBC).


27min 10sec

Searching for my samurai mother

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