Documentary : People and History
A Passionate Challenger | Masters of Their Profession |
Rumbling – at a railroad workplace –
DC280022
轟音 ある鉄道員たちの現場 [KTV]
|Length : 47min. |Year : 2000 |
Steam locomotives disappeared from the public stages of the Japanese railroad in 1975. Currently, in the forefront are sophisticated trains such as the bullet trains "shinkansen" controlled by high-grade computers. Even in such a modern Japan, steam locomotives are still being preserved and operated on a few routes. This documentary portrays the crew and the trainee who struggle in conditions including oxygen scarcity and heat that reaches 70 degrees Celsius.
Letters from Klaudiya
DC289919
クラウディアからの手紙 [NKT]
|Length : 50min. |Year : 1999 |
This program follows the painful separation between Klaudiya and Yasaburo Hachiya, who lived together for 37 years in the Russian Far East after being falsely imprisoned and exiled to Siberia. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Hachiya discovered that his wife and daughter in Japan were still alive and he has since gone to live with them. Klaudiya, now 77, writes to him, "I have now fully come to terms with us being apart. There was no way I could think only of what I wanted if that meant you would be sad. I wish all of you in Japan every happiness ..."
The Tran Family : A Home Visit in Vietnam
DC289820
家族 トランさん一家のベトナム帰郷 [TVI]
|Length : 24min. |Year : 1998 |
Tran Tho Hi came to Japan to study in 1972, three years before the end of the Vietnam War. Having been born in the Mekong Delta, when the South Vietnamese government fell, his passport became invalid, making his return home impossible. He subsequently opened a restaurant in Morioka City in northeastern Japan and obtained Japanese citizenship. This show follows Tran's journey home after 23 years, accompanied by his Japanese wife and daughter, and father who currently resides in Australia, and depicts how the war affected the lives of the people in Vietnam.
Alone to the North Pole
DC289817
たったひとりの北極圏 冒険家・河野兵一さんの60日 [NHK]
|Length : 39min. |Year : 1998 |
A journey to the top of the world
While most people only dream of traveling to the North Pole, Hyoichi Kono puts these dreams into action. After circling the globe on a bicycle, walking across the United States and Africa, and scaling mountains, Kono decided to become serious and tackle the 750 kilometer walk from Resolute in the Canadian Arctic to Wardhunt Island. Five hundred kilometers into his journey - fighting whiteouts, drifting ice, blizzards and fissures along the way - Kono is about to give up. However, Kono bounces back and accomplishes his goal, reaching the North Pole in 60 days.
Dream Beetles
DC289816
夢色の虫 不思議の森 “昆虫少年”44歳の夏 [NHK]
|Length : 44min. |Year : 1998 |
Exploring the secrets of the insect world
Mt. Otowayama outside of Kyoto is home to the green gold beetle, which lays its eggs in the excrement of other animals. Akio Hoga has been studying this insect off-and-on for 30 years on his own, in an attempt to document its life cycle over one season. Pressed by family and work obligations, he has had to put his interest aside several times. However, encouraged by his two daughters, he sets off for Mt. Otowayama to see if he can replicate the results of his artificial breeding experiments and solve the mysteries of this beetle's cycle.