｜Length : 25min ｜Year : 2022 ｜

For the opening ceremony of the Emperor’s Cup football game, calligrapher Bisen Aoyagi put on a calligraphy performance for tens of thousands of people on New Year’s Day 2020. This was not her first time performing with a large brush to paint on a giant folding screen; she has carried out this performance to great acclaim in over ten countries. Aoyagi’s calligraphy, which captivates people around the world, is marked by its dynamic power. Her writing dances across the paper as if it has taken on a life of its own. She says a truly great work has an alluring empty space and letters that rise from the paper.
When Aoyagi is not performing, she practices tirelessly in her studio. Our cameras capture her diligent work that goes on behind the scenes of her flashy performances. Although her life revolves around calligraphy, Aoyagi immerses herself in nature once a year to enjoy some fishing or surfing. This respite can sometimes lead to surprising new ideas.
The calligrapher is currently absorbed in preparing for her fifth exhibit. She exclaims it will be something people have never seen before and puts forth a revolutionary idea of expressing three-dimensional objects through calligraphy. In order to make this happen, she visits a small factory and uses a forming press to cut out metal sheets in the shape of her writing. Come witness this up-and-coming artist’s challenge of transforming 2D into 3D.

｜Length : 25min ｜Year : 2021 ｜

Standing proudly in the heart of Nara Prefecture is Mount Yoshino, a World Heritage Site and one of Japan’s top three sakura cherry blossom sites. The view of 30,000 cherry trees blossoming over 50 hectares of the mountainside in spring is simply breathtaking.
People who care for cherry trees are known as “sakuramori” or “sakura guardians.” At Mt. Yoshino, three men are in charge of this responsibility: the captain Ito, a native of the Yoshino area; Okunishi, a former landscaper; and the always cheerful Yamaguchi.
Sakuramori have a wide range of duties, including picking cherry tree seeds, planting them, growing saplings, planting trees, cultivating soil, weeding, and at times, treating trees that have fallen ill from getting damaged by wild deer. If cherry trees are children, then sakuramori are everything from parents to doctors.

The sakura are in full bloom for a mere week, and the sakuramori devote an entire year all for these seven or so days. Captain Ito says, “The more work we put in, the sakura answer to us and bloom beautifully.”
Every year, Mt. Yoshino is flooded with tourists during sakura season, but last year was an exception due to the State of Emergency. Even Ito, born and raised by the mountain, had never seen the area so empty. “We’re hoping that this year, people will get to see the sakura that we care for, and perhaps bring a bit of joy to this gloomy world” say the three cherry tree guardians. Come witness the story of the sakuramori.

｜Length : 25min ｜Year : 2020 ｜

The new corona virus is running rampant and many in the entertainment industry are faced with a difficult situation. As musical bands cancel their live gigs one after another, classical music concerts are no exception since despite its size, a concert hall is still a closed space.

When the state of emergency was lifted temporarily and some normalcy returned, Japan's oldest orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, welcomed the audience back to their hall. It was an arduous road with a major hurdle being how to attain safe distancing for the performers as well as the concert-goers.

Despite the easing of restrictions, professional sports play games without spectators. So what drove classical musicians to risk their own health to perform a concert? Dealing with the huge obstacles before them, dedication and a passionate love of music guide these music professionals as they prepare for their first concert in months.

｜Length : 25min ｜Year : 2020 ｜

Japan’s mountain-climbing boom has not only led to more climbers of all ages, but an increase in climbers getting lost and injured.

As the nation’s first Doctor of Mountain Medicine, Kazue Ohshiro mans the 24-hour First-Aid Center at Mt. Fuji's Eighth Station where she treats the myriad of ailments that can plague climbers; with little medical equipment. An experienced alpinist who honed her expertise by climbing the world’s most dangerous mountains, she passionately believes that prevention and education are key to raising the low success rate of mountain rescues.

Treating patients in the one-man clinic, she wastes no opportunity to give advice on how not to get lost and to prevent the three main causes of death in the mountains—external injury, heart attack and hypothermia.

It is a passionate summer for this mountain doctor who is doing everything she can to save the lives of climbers.

｜Length : 25 ｜Year : 2019 ｜

In a world of mass-production, the “independent watchmaker” creates a watch from scratch - from original design to crafting every, single mechanical piece and putting them together. There are only 31 of them who have been officially certified by the Horological Academy of Independent Creators. Masahiro Kikuno became fascinated in his twenties by a Swiss independent watchmaker, and when he was 30, he became the first Japanese, and youngest ever in the world, to be certified. His creations which feature uniquely Japanesque designs and elaborate precision mechanisms, attract orders from around the world, commanding prices ranging from 45,000 to 160,000 dollars. He makes only two watches a year, hand-making screws as little as 0.001 millimeters. Our cameras follow Kikuno for eight months as he creates a one-of-a-kind timepiece for an overseas client, and delve into why he persists in making something commonly mass-produced with his own hands.