2014

As the recession continues to hit Hokkaido, Japan, a small pro wrestling group fights an uphill battle to energize the prefecture. The group was started about 10 years ago by a pro wrestling-loving salesman who became saddened at the plight of his home prefecture. Since then, the wrestlers have toured Hokkaido to conduct morale-boosting events, even as they have struggled to make a profit. It is now December, and the group is preparing for its 3-day winter event. They will tour Yubari where the local government has gone bankrupt and 2 other cities. This program captures the wrestling group as it travels from town to town, raising the spirits of a local population that actively supports each other so that they can all get by.

In 2013, one of Japan's largest "sharehouse" or shared-living apartment houses, opened in Tokyo. It can accommodate 260 people. Open to men, women and couples, it instantly reached full occupancy. There are aspiring artists, foreigners on short-term stays for work or study...people with all sorts of ambitions. In the evenings, in the common spaces, strangers lend each other a sympathetic ear. Parallel lives, intersecting lives: we encounter a variety in the course of 3 days spent getting to know the denizens of this remarkable establishment.

An “Entrepreneur Contest” was held last year under the auspices of a global IT company to discover talents who can give shape to innovative ideas more quickly. The duration of the contest was three days and two nights. Participants were divided into teams and worked frantically to come up with new ideas, and then worked tirelessly to brush up their ideas for a presentation on the final day of the contest. The contest not only tests the participants' ability to come up with ideas, but also their ability to coordinate and execute their teams. If they win the competition, they will advance to the world competition and can expect to receive funding from sponsors. This is a coming-of-age story of young people struggling to achieve success.

The far north of Hokkaido, with a view of Sakhalin in the distance. At Cape Soya, where a severe snowstorm blows, there is "Japan's northernmost bus stop. In winter, there are few visitors to the bus stop, and the only view is of the Sea of Okhotsk, but for a few days during the year-end and New Year's holidays, many people gather there. Company employees rethinking their lives, cab drivers returning from migrant work, motorcyclists who have traveled hundreds of kilometers in the snow...these are just a few of the people who gather at the bus stop. For three days, they put aside their usual titles and huddle together as "travelers. What are they seeking in their journey to the north?

In downtown Naha City, there is a barbershop that is open 24 hours a day, a rarity in Japan. Customers include children with shaved heads, employees of nearby restaurants, and office workers who can only get their hair cut at night due to their busy work schedule. The three days leading up to the coming-of-age ceremony in particular draw crowds of newcomers who want to enjoy a one-day hair style. Some have returned to Okinawa after having broken their dreams of working outside the prefecture, and others are bidding farewell to their teenage years of wild fun... What are the true feelings of Okinawan men that cannot be experienced on a sightseeing trip?

Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. Along the road to the nuclear power plant, there is a supermarket that has seen a significant increase in sales since “that day”. The main products are boxed lunches and side dishes. In the evenings, many workers at the nuclear power plant and decontamination workers come to the supermarket on their way home from work. The city is said to be conversely bustling with people who have come to the area since the accident to help with reconstruction. The program looks at Fukushima today at a supermarket where “local housewives buying ingredients for dinner,” “people who evacuated from villages near the nuclear power plant,” and “workers helping with the recovery” pass by.

With the ubiquity of digital cameras and smart phones, we live in an age of easy photographs. It's easy to print them out, too, using machines at a home electronics store. One patron prints daily photos of meals he's made; another prints a picture of his deceased father; and a long-distance couple exchange photos of each other to mark their love. This is the story of people who treasure time they've spent with special people and capture irreplaceable memories in the form of printed photographs.

For people with time, car ferries are an inexpensive mode of travel in Japan, which is surrounded by water. Each year, about 200,000 passengers ride one ferry line that connects Nagoya, Sendai and Hokkaido. All kinds of people board the ship, such as laborers going to booming Nagoya to find work; college students taking economical and easy graduation trips; and temp employees seeking relaxation. What will we learn about present-day Japan through the people we meet onboard over a 3-day period?

A giant discount store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, has 40,000 items for sale. It pulls in customers around the clock. This episode shoots during the 3 days just prior to a near-doubling of Japan's consumption tax, so the store is inundated with "rush-demand" shoppers. People loading up with daily necessities. Others losing perspective and buying items they don't really need. The guy who rushes in on the final night, and... We are prompted to consider the meaning of "shopping" and of "consumption".

The Tokyo SKYTREE opened in 2012 as Japan's tallest structure. Each day 100,000 people flock here to try to take photos of the giant radio tower. They come from all walks of life, including a poor student hoping to save enough to go up to the observation deck someday, and an Indonesian couple marking their golden wedding anniversary. At night, the tower is also a favorite destination for young people. This program documents 3 days at the foot of the SKYTREE, Tokyo's new tourist attraction.

Over 80% of Japanese college grads landed jobs last spring, the main hiring season. However, in Shibuya, an area of Tokyo known for its youth culture, more than 200 young jobseekers a day paid a call on Youth "HelloWork", a special division of the government's job-matching program. Some say they want satisfying regular employment, not temporary work. Some, entering their 30's, hope the favorable economic climate can help them transition into a different job. But 30% of newly employed college grads quit within 3 years. What, then, do young people want? We listen in and find out.

Ueno Park is a huge park representing Tokyo. Surrounded by offices, downtown, and residential areas, people spend their time in this vast park. During the cherry blossom season, the park is said to attract 2 million visitors from all over the country. This program closely observes the three days of the weekend when the park is at its busiest. Some locals do exercises while watching the cherry blossoms every morning, some businessmen put all their energy into their company's cherry blossom viewing event, and some people look back over the flowers and think about their farewells in the old days.... Various lives intersect amidst the dancing snowstorm of cherry blossoms.

Uguisudani is one of the least-frequented stops on Tokyo's Yamanote mass-transit loop line. But it's well known for its nightlife. The transition is a stark one, from sparsely traveled daytime sidewalks to a garish neon nighttime of "love hotels" and other establishments of the adult services industry. This episode focuses on an all-night eatery that for 3 decades has provided a welcome sanctuary for the weary, the hungry, the thirsty and the lovelorn. An intermission from the dramas of their lives.

Recently, all across Japan, there has been a sharp rise in the number of people turning to self-service storage to keep things they have no room for at home, or to keep "treasures" away from other family members. This episode interviews clients of a huge self-storage facility in Osaka, over the course of 3 days. The facility contains over a thousand units, large and small. In these rentable units, accessible 24/7, clients keep everything from treasured family mementos to secret collections. Getting people to display such private possessions on camera was far from easy, but what they showed us was...

When people die, they go "to the mountain". So holds the folklore in the Tohoku (northeastern) region of Japan, referring to Mt.Osore, in Aomori Prefecture. During the national holidays in May, pilgrims travel to this holy place from all over the country. Some, like a couple who lost a child, go there ritually. Others try to communicate with deceased loved ones via a necromancer. Still others are tourists, there to collect a certificate. The bleak landscape matches the emotional desolation of many of the visitors. We spend 3 days with folks on the borderline between life and death.

Yokosuka - Machida - Hachioji - Kasugabe and "National Route16" connects the Kanto suburbs. The townscape where there are only large shopping malls and chain stores is attracting attention as "a landscape that symbolizes modern Japan". It took three days to run on the 250km ring road. Listen carefully to what people you meet on the road are happy. A young man who does not want to leave his comfortable hometown, and a homeless man walks silently on the way late at night. What is the happiness of Nippon seen from the 16th Line?

Akune city is located in rural Kagoshima Prefecture. More than 40% of its population is over 65 years old. Its famous 24/7 supermarket is stocked with 390,000 items, from groceries, cars, tombstones to hoof trimming tools. 80% of the locals visit the supermarket each day including the elderly who come to socialize and young people who hang out there at night, lamenting the lack of job opportunities. While big cities thrive, people living in the countryside get a lot from simple pleasures.

In June, the Shonan coast overlooking Enoshima Island. On a clear day, people who cannot wait for summer to arrive come to see the sea. Families frolic in the water by the waves, couples huddle together. Among the happy people, there is one figure that stands out: a solitary person staring at the sea. Tired office workers, women in love. Even at night, people with various circumstances appear one by one on the quiet beach.... What do people think about on a beach where there is nothing but the sea and the sky? A story of three days waiting for summer. 　

It's a June weekend, and the rainy season in Japan's central Kanto region is being inaugurated with an apparently endless deluge. But in spite of the drenching, people must travel. Where are they all going in the pelting rain? At a 24-hour gas station, we meet a soaked construction worker obliged to cease work because of the rain, a traveler going to meet a child living elsewhere, a man working a night job to support his family...As they pause at the gas station to fill their tanks, they tell us their stories. Then, hoping for the rain to cease, they resume their journeys.

Along a national highway in the suburbs of Saitama. There is an indoor fishing pond where men dangle their fishing lines until late at night. Twenty species of fish, including carp and Hakurei, swim in the 20-meter-long pool. You can rent a Saomote, but it is not easy to catch the fish, as they are used to being caught. Visitors include businessmen looking for new jobs, young people discussing their future, and mysterious men in sunglasses who appear late at night. What are the thoughts floating in the minds of these men as they wait patiently for the float to sink? Three days in which life can be seen beyond the fishing line.

In Shibuya, Tokyo, there's an animal hospital taking emergency cases 24/7. It was founded 46 years ago. Doting pet owners from all over Tokyo take their beloved charges here when sudden need arises: the dog mauled by a feral cat; the hamster with a broken leg; the cat injured in a traffic accident; some 100 cases daily. We meet a couple caring for a dog with dementia, an elderly woman whose cat has lived with her for 23 years.... Pets and owners can forge bonds that transcend even family ties.

The glamorous world of women spreads out in a room of a building in Kabukicho. It is a nail salon that stays open all night until 8 am. Some are cabaret girls who go there to “please customers,” while others draw pictures of the sea or sunflowers to "give their nails a summery look. Their goal is to enjoy “girl talk that you can only talk about here” in addition to having their nails done. During the three hours it takes to get their nails done, they enjoy chatting about everything from work complaints to relationship advice, which they would not be able to talk about in front of a man. The true faces of the women are revealed through their beautiful nails during these three days.

Within 20km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant - site of the 2011 nuclear disaster - is the town of Naraha. The train line that passes through the town was closed after the disaster, but was reopened in June. Although residents are not legally allowed to stay in Naraha, a variety of people come and go from the town's Tatsuta Station. The program captures these visitors - who include residents making short visits, staff at the nearby Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant, and travelers coming for their own reasons - over 3 days.

It was August 6 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. While the familiar annual solemn peace ceremony is broadcast live on TV, people from all over the world flock to the area around the event site, making their own arguments and performances. Young people singing songs about the atomic bombing, religious groups offering prayers, foreign tourists in a tourist mood, people shouting radical ideas.... Sixty-nine years have passed since the end of the war. In a corner of the park overlooking the A-bomb Dome across the river, three days were spent looking at different forms of peace.

In southern Chiba Prefecture, a 24-hour convenience store opened 3 years ago in a huge general hospital. It offers everything from reduced-sugar snacks to loose clothing, and it's busy all the time. One young customer narrowly escaped death. Another patient comes first thing in the morning to buy a newspaper. Doctors working late at night slip in between surgeries to buy instant noodles. Get a unique look at the human condition in this "oasis" at a hospital isolated from our everyday lives.

On the last weekend of summer vacation, Haneda Airport is crowded with travelers and people returning home. I spent three days in front of the departure and arrival counters, holding my camera. A girl is excited to travel alone for the first time during her summer vacation. An elderly couple reuniting with their son who has left their hometown for the first time in a long time. And there are those who are flying off to faraway places to start their new lives in September. People who are taking a new step forward and those who are seeing their departures off. This is a story of encounters and partings captured at one of the world's largest airports, used by 68 million passengers annually.

Asakusa is a world-renowned tourist attraction. North of Sensoji Temple, in the deep “back Asakusa” area that does not appear in guidebooks, there is a coffee shop that has been in business for over 40 years. Its specialty is Neapolitan. The store opens at 9:00 a.m. and stays open until 5:00 a.m. The store is full of locals, including Asakusa entertainers who live nearby, former innkeepers, and rickshaw drivers. At midnight, the store is rented out to cab drivers who take a break.... This is a story of Edo nikko (people of Edo) whose true feelings are exchanged without any pretense of decoration.

Underneath the lively Ameyoko Market in Tokyo's central district of Ueno is a far less well known below-ground market for foreign foodstuffs. Follow the scent of exotic spices down to that basement floor, and you'll hear a rich mixture of Japanese, Chinese, Tagalog, English.... Then you'll see Shanghai Crab, frogs, mysterious fish and unusual vegetables. It all started 3 decades ago with a single vendor of Chinese foodstuffs; now it's greatly expanded. The customers are 90% foreigners. We get a glimpse into the expatriate life of foreigners in Japan, longing for a taste of home.

In front of JR Gotanda Station, where offices and bars line the streets. From a room in a small building, you can hear the sound of a boxer hitting a sandbag. It is a long-established boxing gym, open from 6:30 a.m. to midnight. The gym is famous for having produced a number of world champions, but people come to the gym for a variety of reasons. Some are company employees who come to relieve stress from work. A junior high school student who comes to the gym because he admires his father, a former professional boxer. A former delinquent boy who is determined to make a fortune.... What are these people fighting against in this corner of the city?

Koenji, Tokyo. An old-fashioned wooden building stands in an alley past a pure shopping street. It is a long-established public bathhouse that is open until 2 am. The baths are filled with workers returning from construction sites, young people living in cheap apartments and pursuing their dreams, parents and children who have been going there for 60 years, even a mysterious long-haired man... Men and women of all ages who happen to be there sweat in the same bath, talk about trivial matters, and drink coffee milk in one gulp. Once they hit it off, they went to an izakaya across the street for a quick drink. This is a story of an old-fashioned public bathhouse that is disappearing from the city.

The Yamanote Line is Japan's most famous loop line. In the blink of an eye, you are whisked to the next station, where yet another distinct side of Tokyo is unveiled. In recent times, an increasing number of people have walked or cycled along the Yamanote Line tracks to experience the diversity of the city. In this program, we spend 3 days walking along the entire 35-kilometer line. What dreams do people have as they live their everyday lives? We met various people - including aspiring singers, foreign students and a plumber - along the line and recorded the "real" Tokyo of today.

Hey," he said! Hey!“ ”Is this bento ready yet?“ ”A big bowl of rice!" The men shout with authority at a 24-hour bento shop in the port of Kisarazu, Chiba. The store is crowded from early morning to late at night with workers from ports and steel mills. An elderly man who comes to the restaurant every day and spends all his time there receives a special soft rice ball.... Three days in a corner of Tokyo Bay, a bento shop fills people's hearts.

Shibetsu Town, Hokkaido, Japan, is a place where the wind blows with a steady breeze. Every autumn, during the salmon fishing season, a group of young people gather from nowhere. They have dreadlocks and large earrings. They are known as “Shakebai,” an unusual-looking group. They work part-time at a salmon processing plant in response to a call from the fishery cooperative, which is short on staff. Backpackers travel the world with the money they earn as “shakelabai,” and seasonal workers travel all over Japan, from Okinawa to Hokkaido. What is their new way of life as they wander and work?

There is a leisure building in Osaka's Minami district that is familiar to anyone in the Kansai region. The Ajien Building was once home to a huge cabaret that was said to be the best in Japan and a dance hall where Pink Lady used to take the stage every night before her breakthrough. The cabaret was closed due to the prolonged recession, but young people opened small izakaya (Japanese-style pubs) one after another in its place. It has become a center of Osaka's underground culture, including comedy and cosplay. Three days in the old and new “mecca of nightlife”.

Shinjuku Ni-Chome is one of the deepest spots in Japan. In a corner of the area, there is an unusual teishoku-ya (set meal restaurant) that opens only late at night. The popular menu consists of hamburgers and grilled fish. The menu includes hamburgers and grilled fish, which are popular with gay and lesbian customers, who enjoy a bowl of white rice with these dishes as a side dish.