Ours to Keep
One place or one living tradition that the world has agreed is worth keeping, told in about ten minutes every weekday: what it is, how it came to be, one thing seen up close, and why it made the list. Your narrator, Mira, is an AI voice, as is every other voice you hear; the facts come from official records and checked sources.
New episodes every weekday, early morning (US Eastern) · about 9 min
Cuzco
The Inca capital and the Spanish city built on top of it: the Temple of the Sun under a monastery, what earthquakes left in its walls, how the twelve-sided stone was fitted without iron, and who really laid out the straight streets.
The Scissors Dance
Two iron blades in one hand, a violin and a harp: how a scissors dancer earns his name, contests at the water festival that can last ten hours, how the blades are played, and who gave the dance its Spanish name.
The Nasca and Palpa Lines
Lines and giant figures on Peru's coastal desert: the Paracas and Nasca peoples who made them, Maria Reiche's forty years on the plain, how a trapezoid was cleared and used, and the hundreds of small figures found beside old footpaths in 2024.
The Q'eswachaka Bridge
A grass bridge over the Apurímac River, rebuilt every June by about a thousand Quechua villagers: the offerings that come first, how grass becomes cable, the year it fell into the river, and why they still build it beside a metal bridge.
Machu Picchu
Peru week begins on an Inca ruler's mountain estate: the farmers living there when Hiram Bingham arrived in 1911, what the bones and DNA say about who served there, the water system that ran past the ruler's door, and why it was never really lost.
Shirakawa-go and Gokayama
Praying-hands farmhouses in Japan's snowy mountains: a roof re-thatched in a day, silkworms in the roof, and gunpowder under the floor.
Washi
Hon-minoshi, the most exacting of Japan's hand-made papers: the town of Mino, the mulberry growers and the few makers left, one sheet made start to finish, and why 'rice paper' has no rice in it.
Itsukushima Shinto Shrine
A shrine built out over the tide on Miyajima: the warlord who rebuilt it, the fires and storms it survived, and a close look at how its great sea gate is built, and why it doesn't float.
Washoku
Square rice cakes in the east, round in the west: Japan's New Year food traditions, and why UNESCO listed a way of eating together rather than any dish.
Himeji Castle
Japan's whitest castle, kept white with lime, hemp and seaweed: how the White Heron was built, why UNESCO listed it, and how it survived 1945.