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Documentary : People and History

Documentary

A Passionate Challenger | Masters of Their Profession |

The Swimming Wheelchair ~Ten Years with the Ocean“Fun-ologist”~

DC281762Documentary

泳げないイルカ~海洋“楽”者10年の軌跡~ [THK]

|Length : 47 |Year : 2017

Ocean “fun-ologist” Masamichi Hayashi has for the last ten years been making life like robots of aquatic creatures to teach children about the wonders of the ocean. As a child,Hayashi always played in the ocean, and as a young man, he studied oceanology; the ocean was his everything. However, Hayashi was diagnosed with lung cancer about a decade ago. Although his cancer robbed him of his ability to swim with the dolphins,Hayashi discovered a new passion to create robots of aquatic creatures with trash.
Despite his own deteriorating health, Hayashi traveled from city to city, cheering up sick children with his robots, even developing a wheelchair that can move about freely in the ocean for wheelchair-bound kids. Finally, Hayashi successfully took such kids for a swim in the seas of Okinawa. However, after a decade of such work, Hayashi abruptly announced his retirement. Watch to find out why.

We Are the Iron Masters

DC281761Documentary

俺は工場の鉄学者 [BSN]

|Length : 47 |Year : 2017

Tsubame-Sanjo in Niigata Prefecture, Japan is a metalworking region that is making a name for itself internationally. "Made in Tsubame-Sanjo" has come to stand for new and innovative products manufactured using traditional Japanese handmade metalworking techniques.
Master knife-maker Tsukasa Hinoura of Sanjo City is a veteran 60-year-old craftsman whose exquisite knives have been called works of art. He is one of Tsubame-Sanjo's community leaders. Recognized internationally for his skills, Hinoura was invited to Austria to demonstrate the masterful techniques of a Tsubame-Sanjo knifesmith.
Another Sanjo City metalsmith, Teruyoshi Uchiyama, the 59-year-old president of a metal-casting firm, is reshaping his company's future by setting a new standard for thin and light enamel-coated cast-iron pots. His company's ultra-thin cast-iron pot garnered a "Best of the Best" Red Dot Award, a prestigious award from Germany for excellence in product design.
These metalsmiths who compete in the world market based on the superior quality of their products provide an insightful look into the spirit of "expertise in manufacturing" passed down through generations of craftsmen in the Tsubame-Sanjo region.

High School Girls and Firebombs  ~An Appeal for Peace through Drama~

DC281760Documentary

女子高生と焼夷弾 あの日の記憶が消えないうちに [RAB]

|Length : 49 |Year : 2017

In April 2015, a high school drama club advisor asks the club members, “Do you know what happened on July 28?” It is the day of the bombing of Aomori 70 years ago. And he suggests they write a drama about it.
Shino, who raised her hand and volunteered to write the screenplay, decides to visit the home of a club member’s grandmother who survived the air raids. She is overwhelmed by the tragedy and horror. She had once thought she had no connection with the war, but she decides to learn more.
Then in 2016, the students get the opportunity to appear in a national competition with a play based on the Aomori air raids. The competition is held in Hiroshima, the site of an atomic bombing in World War II. Visiting Hiroshima for the first time, the club members consider the similarities between the indiscriminate horror that occurred there and the Aomori air raids.

SERIES A Passionate Challenger | Weaving the Tradition in a Tropical Forest

DC281759Documentary

情熱大陸 | テキスタイル・デザイナー・森本喜久男 [MBS]

|Length : 25 |Year : 2017

Near Siem Reap in Cambodia, known for the famous ruins of Angkor, is “a weaving village” uncommon even in this world. Using the abundant natural resources available in the area, and traditional Cambodian weaving techniques, textiles of high artistic quality are produced here that have garnered worldwide acclaim. Fourteen years ago, this area was a wasteland. Today, the villagers create handwoven silk fabric from start to finish - from raising silkworms, to creating dyes to weaving. And the man who made this possible is a former Yuzen silk artisan, Kikuo Morimoto, from Kyoto. When he was in his thirties, Morimoto volunteered at a refugee camp in Cambodia and came upon a single piece of traditional Cambodian textile. Due to years of internal conflicts, the Khmer silk culture was fading into oblivion. Inspired by its beauty, this man from Japan set down his roots in a country foreign to him, and dedicated half his adult life to restoring the ancient technique, and almost single-handedly, pulled off a miracle. However, he was diagnosed with cancer and given five years to live. This is the fifth year, and it is also the season for the “silkworm festival” which is held annually in the village. It was begun by Morimoto in reverence of the silkworms who, in death, leave behind their beautiful threads. The festival is a venue to introduce newly woven textiles as well as to put the village on the map and help it prosper. Realizing that this could very well be his last festival, Morimoto reflects on the legacy he hopes to leave behind -- his fervent wish that the village will continue to thrive, and pass down the beautiful traditional silk-weaving culture to future generations. How will the festival turn out? Our cameras follow Morimoto and the villagers through this important and hectic period.

Internment in Siberia~A Former Internee’s Legacy for High School Students~

DC281660Documentary

シベリア凍土の記憶~91歳の抑留体験者と女子高校生~

|Length : 46min |Year : 2016

After World War II ended in 1945, more than 570,000 Japanese were detained by the Soviet Union for internment in Siberia, where at least 55,000 perished under the severe conditions. The Port of Maizuru in Kyoto Prefecture continued to receive repatriating soldiers and internees up to 1958.Jiro Harada, a former soldier who repatriated after surviving 4 years of internment and forced labor in Khabarovsk, now voluntarily speaks about his experience at community gatherings, hoping to convey the monstrosity of war to the younger generations. High school students in Maizuru who are studying the wartime history of their home town become acquainted with Harada, and his intriguing stories motivate them to inherit his experience as a historical legacy.

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