｜Length : 46min ｜Year : 2020 ｜

Located in the northern part of central Japan, the Asahi Mountain Range straddles Yamagata and Niigata prefectures.
With an elevation of 1,870 meters at its highest point, the mountain range’s numerous peaks have seen little development, preserving their ancient landscape. For this very reason, hikers must shoulder their own food and equipment and climb from trailhead to summit, relying on their own strength.
Departing from town, they drive 15 kilometers across steep mountain roads before arriving at a solitary mountain hut amidst a thick forest of beech trees: The Naturalist House. Here, the Asahi Mineral Spa gushes forth, a little-known medicinal spring from times long past. Roughly 40 years ago, owner Nobuo Nishizawa moved from western Japan and re-opened the once-shuttered medicinal spring, attracting hikers from all over Japan, their gazes fixed on the Asahi Mountain Range.
According to Mr. Nishizawa, “To fully appreciate the Asahi Mountain Range’s nature, you must traverse its ridge.”
Local TV announcer Haruka Koyama of TV-U Yamagata accompanies him. Together they attempt a 3-day, 30-kilometer-long hike.
Through her journey with Mr. Nishizawa, Ms. Koyama encounters breathtaking views and discovers the allure and profoundness of these ancient mountains.

｜Length : 48min ｜Year : 2016 ｜

Chimpanzees and human beings are very similar…yet different. Chimpanzees can do things we humans cannot, and we can do things chimpanzees cannot. Finding these differences allows us to explore the wonders of being human and reminds us of what makes us special. Mother and son chimpanzees Ai and Ayumu have learned language and numbers. Ayumu is able to instantly memorize numbers randomly displayed on a touch screen and sequence them in ascending order even after the numbers have been masked. At the Japan Monkey Centre, a zoo next door to the Primate Research Institute, visitors can take their turn at the same test, but they are no match for Ayumu. Are chimpanzees smarter than us?

｜Length : 41min. ｜Year : 2008 ｜

Murodo, which is located at the foot of the peaks of the Tateyamas in the North Alps, with mountains in the 3,000 high-class, is the area where the habitation density of the ptarmigan is the highest in Japan. Various dramas are developed there every season, such as males' fight over the territory, intent courtship behavior, birth of baby birds, mothers' child-care, molting to become the wonderful protective coloration and so on.
The mysterious bird which was left behind in the alpine belt of island Japan in the end of the glacial epoch. This is the nature-interest document which stared at the one year of the ptarmigans to survive powerfully in Murododaira, Tateyama, which is 2,450 meters above the sea and covered with snow for more than half a year.

｜Length : 52min. ｜Year : 2006 ｜

The magical blue glow of firefly squids lights up the dark sea. A forest of marine plants submerged for over ten thousand years lies beneath the deep waters. Toyama Bay is an underwater world of rare natural phenomena. Countless legends about this mysterious bay have been passed on through generations of fishermen. Some fish are thought to "drink"the water welling up from the ocean floor and certain sea creatures are considered messengers of the sea gods.

｜Length : 46min. ｜Year : 2002 ｜

Into the Sea of Okhotsk, off northern Japan's island of Hokkaido, protrudes the Shiretoko Peninsula. The severe nature of the peninsula deters human intrusion and development. The peninsula, small though in size, has preserved a rich and bountiful ecosystem. Reigning atop this ecosystem is the brown bear. Can the fierce, wild animals successfully coexist with humans? We spotlight the brown bear. The camera captures the rare scenes of a bear family emerging from hibernation, fishing for Sakhalin trout, and a mother affectionately playing with her cubs.