｜Length : 25min ｜Year : 2023 ｜

The Aomori Nebuta Festival is one of the three major festivals of the Tohoku region and is also designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the government. It features a majestic spectacle of large “Nebuta” floats that are paraded through the city along with people chanting "Rassera, Rassera." Reaching a size of nine meters wide, seven meters long, and five meters tall, Nebutas are considered to be the world’s largest paper crafts.
Asako Kitamura is the first female artisan to create these giant works. It was long thought that the creation process was too much for a female to handle; the physically demanding and at times dangerous work involves drawing sketches with a paintbrush, creating massive parts with numerous wires, building the framework with hammers and saws, and climbing up high.
The Nebuta Festival is no mere show for the giant floats; it is a competition. Every year, the floats are evaluated and ranked by judges. Asako started her training at the age of 25 under her father Takashi, who is the sixth-generation Nebuta Master. In 2012, she surpassed her father and placed third with her debut work. In her fifth year, her Nebuta won the grand prize. The program follows Asako as she prepares for the festival, returning after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

｜Length : 45min ｜Year : 2023 ｜

In March 2023, 78-year-old Hidekatsu Furihata arrived at Narita International Airport in Japan. Despite being Japanese, he converses with his family in Russian, as a consequence of a unique life journey. During World War II, Furihata resided with his family in Karafuto, now Sakhalin. The Soviet invasion and post-war chaos prevented his return to Japan, compelling him to stay in Karafuto. After marrying, he moved to Ukraine, only to face the Russian invasion last year. With Russian bombings threatening his home, Furihata evacuated with his grandchildren and great-grandchild to Hokkaido, Japan, where his sisters and brother reside. Despite facing numerous hardships, Furihata maintains a constant smile and a witty sense of humor. Living alongside his siblings in Japan, he eventually makes a life-changing decision. As we delve into the history of Japanese individuals who endured life in Sakhalin through rare footage spanning half a century, this program explores the wars in Ukraine and Sakhalin, shedding light on the profound impact these events have had on ordinary lives.

｜Length : 59min ｜Year : 2022 ｜

The prestigious entertainment quarter of Gion in Kyoto is the largest in Japan. As an area priding itself on traditional hospitality, Gion was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several geiko and maiko lost their places of work, and without any opportunity to pass down traditional ways to the new generation, the art itself seemed in danger.
The revival of the Miyako Odori, a large-scale dance performance to be performed for the first time in three years, is their only hope. We join some young maiko who fell in love with this wondrous district and life in Gion as they attempt to overcome adversity. We bring you rare footage from inside the okiya where they live and train; a side of life normally unseen by outsiders. Young maiko work hard to realize their dreams in the sometimes strict, sometimes kind world of Gion.

｜Length : 49min ｜Year : 2022 ｜

"What should be cherished? What should be passed on?" After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Matsumura Naoto stayed put in his hometown of Tomioka to look after abandoned animals. A decade later, Matsumura is now battling to revive a rice field in a decontaminated wasteland. As once-treasured farmland is lost to various new forms of development, Matsumura's solitary struggle to carve out a different path to the community's future casts the theme of post-disaster reconstruction in a new light.

｜Length : 54min ｜Year : 2022 ｜

This stage is set on an island called Shikoku. There was once a municipal aquarium in a small town on this island. It was built 87 years ago, and it was the very first aquarium in Shikoku. After that municipal aquarium closed, the townspeople wished to revive it once more and that’s how the Naga High Aquarium was born. It’s an aquarium inside a school. Ehime Prefecture Nagahama High School. They have the nation’s only Aquarium club, and there are 2,000 sea creatures of 150 kinds inside the school building.

The club members feed the fish every day, cleans the tanks, and give their all to care for them. Those sea creatures can be seen at the public viewing every third Saturday of the month, and many people visit the school on that day. A popular event during the public viewing is “Tommy’s Yellowtail Show”. High school students became yellowtail trainers, and they trained yellowtails to create what may be the world’s first yellowtail show. The show puts a smile on everyone’s faces. It creates a moment of happiness.

We began recording footage at Naga High Aquarium ever since the public viewing started in 1999. Among them is a segment covering six years of the yellowtail show, starting when the founder “Tommy” first entered the school. In 2018, western Japan suffered from a disaster caused by torrential rainfall. The school closed, and many fish died. In addition to that, Nagahama High School is not a preparatory school, and it’s not very easy to access, so they have to deal with declining student admissions. The school may have to close for good if there are not enough new students coming in. The club members shoulder the dreams of the townspeople and older students who left the club in their care, as they overcome crises and work hard every day. Together with all the sea creatures.