NHK Documentaries

Michael and his family are feeling proud of themselves after eating their way across Japan over 100 days. However, when a culinary expert asks his views of "osechi", Michael is taken aback. So, he sets out to learn about this New Year's food, starting with the harvesting of rice. He and the family later revisit Japan during the holiday to get a taste of "osechi" for themselves.

Deep Inside is an educational entertainment program where our hosts gain entrance into otherwise restricted areas to take a deep look inside. As the hosts make you laugh, they'll unravel the mysteries of Japan.

Droves of refugees have descended on the Turkish port city of Izmir since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. Compounded by the emergence of Islamic State militants, this unending flood of refugees risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea. They seek peace and a new life in Europe as terrorist attacks have fanned the flames of anti-refugee sentiment. This documentary offers an unflinching look at the harsh realities faced by Syrian refugees.

We take you into the living rooms of people settling in Japan from around the world. From traditional wooden "minka" houses and average apartments to high-end residences, we discover this country's unique housing situation. How to go about renting or purchasing? Is Japan really an expensive place to live?

5 years have passed since the 3.11 disaster. Have people in the stricken areas in Iwate Prefecture managed to regain their lives? How is the recovery progressing in the communities?

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN has received more than 5,000 expressions of encouragement from across the globe since the Great East Japan Earthquake. A number of notes came from listeners who themselves were living amidst calamity and strife. NHK WORLD has delivered the messages to people affected by the disaster. Some felt inspired to move forward with restoration of their communities. Others decided to take action in other countries to show their gratitude. 5 years after the quake, interaction between the Tohoku region and the rest of the world is lifting the spirits of senders of the messages and their recipients.

Fukushima Reborn recounts Yauemon's passionate campaign to save the region he loves so much. The documentary looks at life in present-day Fukushima, a beautiful part of Japan struggling to get out from under a dark cloud.

5 years ago, the fishing industry in the prefecture that proudly calls itself Fishery Miyagi was devastated by the tsunami. How is the recovery of the marine resources progressing?

Global hitmaker Sérgio Mendes heads Part 1 in collaboration with Aki Yashiro, a singer renowned throughout Japan. Young people from Fukushima also add excitement with a taiko drum performance. Uplifting music envelops the people of Fukushima, who have taken a new step toward the future..

The 5th International Image Festival held in the small island kingdom of Brunei, and the theme is 'Happiness'. Competing are young creators from 8 different Asian nations. We introduce the steps they took on the road to creating their pieces up to the day of the festival.

Kjetil Jikiun, Norwegian sake brewer, was the first to make sake commercially in Europe. He started out as a pilot. One night in Japan, he tasted high-quality sake. Blown away by its wonderful flavors, he returned to Japan to learn at top breweries. In 2010, he added a sake department to his brewery in Grimstad, Norway. Though the Norwegian sake market is small, it's growing. Kjetil has bought land in Greece, to make craft beer. But his plan is to make sake with Greek rice, an all-European sake.

Fukushima Prefecture has become a familiar name worldwide as a result of the nuclear accidents in 2011. Ever since then, the world has been concerned about what's happening regarding radioactive contamination in the prefecture.

There is a hugely popular Hawaiian-themed amusement center in Fukushima. After the disaster, it became the base for recovery support provided by Hawaiian artists. See performances by popular Hawaiian group ManoaDNA, Japanese jazz pianist Senri Oe and singer Junko Yagami, residents of the US who have been supporting recovery efforts. New ties are created between Hawaii and Fukushima!

Paul Duffield is an acclaimed British manga artist and animator. His comics are the perfect synthesis of Japan's iconic comic culture with his own deep worldview. Although manga (Japanese comics) is often recognized for its distinctive aesthetics, Paul knew there was more to manga than just its looks. By searching for manga's deeper soul, he identified what gives manga the unique spirit and strength to make it the largest comic industry in the world.

Masahiro Kikuno is a master craftsman who belongs to an exclusive international group of independent watchmakers. These consummate artists create timepieces that reflect their deepest ideals, with no connection to commercial watch manufacturers. Kikuno's creations are deeply influenced by traditional Japanese culture. He's fascinated by a masterpiece called the Myriad Year Clock, which was built by a 19th-century Japanese mechanical genius. Containing over a thousand hand-made parts, the clock is a marvel of complex and precise engineering.

The final part of Music for Tomorrow features a fabulous collaboration between Bob James and friends. His performance with leading Japanese singer-songwriter Kazumasa Oda is not one to miss. Bob James has written a new song of support for Fukushima's high school students who were forced to live in evacuation shelters following the accident at the nuclear power plant. High school students who are the future of Fukushima premiere the song.

Tawaraya is the oldest inn in a city that knows something about longevity, Kyoto. Many prominent personages have stayed beneath its roof within the past 300 years, including John-Paul Sartre and Alfred Hitchcock. Tawaraya has only 18 guest quarters, but it's filled with fascinating details, among them: rooms joined with the garden, unconventional layouts, and impeccable timing in the serving of meals. Mystery writer Frédéric Lepage helps reveal the inside story of the inn, which usually does not allow filming. Tune in and immerse yourself in hospitality.

When the massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan's Tohoku region 5 years ago, life as people knew it was instantly gone. What remained were feelings of loss, devastation and pain. Among the survivors were children, who experienced the disaster and its aftermath at an impressionable time in their lives. NHK NEWSLINE FOCUS shares 5 stories of those children.

With her Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up series stirring up phenomenal sensations all over the world, KonMari visits New York to help people distressed about tidying. Gina Kruger, who lives with her husband and 2 sons, is helpless as things pile up uncontrollably in her house. KonMari comes to rescue.

Her Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up series has stirred up phenomenal sensations all over the world. Emily Newhouse, who lives alone in New York, needs to tidy up her place so that her boyfriend can move in.

Indonesian actor Hamish Daud reveals the appeal of Ise-Shima to Muslim visitors. Although the area is not so well known overseas, Ise-Shima offers much to see: Ise Jingu, one of Japan's largest shrines; Iga, an original ninja site; and Ago Bay, a place where pearls are plentiful.

Ise Katagami has been practiced for a thousand years in the Ise region. This use of stencils for dyeing kimono contributed to the "Japonism" influence on European arts around the start of the 20th century. These days, it takes on new shapes as dyed pictures, interior decorations and accessories.

On a hill overlooking the ocean in Otsuchi Town in northeastern Japan is a phone booth known as the "Telephone of the Wind". It is connected to nowhere, but people come to "call" family members lost during the tsunami of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Many visit the phone booth including a mother and 3 children who have lost their father. This documentary looks at the unique role that this phone is playing in helping the grieving process of many.

The huge earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan 5 years ago swept vast amounts of debris across the Pacific. Many objects reached the U.S. State of Oregon, including the crossbeams from the gates of a Shinto shrine dedicated to the safety of local villagers who depend on the sea. Thanks to the all-out efforts of people in America, those precious artifacts made the long journey home. NHK NEWSLINE FOCUS tells the story of how this incredible homecoming formed bonds of friendship between people living an ocean apart.

Masaaki Hatsumi, 84 years old, is a living ninja in modern times. As the grandmaster of Togakure-ryu, an amazing legacy of ninja's martial arts, left and remained throughout the history of 900 years, has drawn attention from FBI and other government agencies as ultimate survival skills of dodging enemy attacks and saving one's life.

A young wrestler from Egypt has taken the world of sumo by storm under the apt name of Osunaarashi - or "Great Sandstorm" in Japanese. It took him only 18 months to reach the top makunouchi division, where only 42 of all 600 wrestlers are admitted. That's the fastest rise ever among foreign-born wrestlers. But fighting his way up through the ranks was no easy task.

The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 turned the surrounding towns into a desolate land, making the area into a "radioactive forest". Without human presence, the land is roamed by wildlife like civets, macaques and wild boars. A project is underway to study the deserted areas by attaching a camera to wild boars to record the conditions of the former farmlands. 5 years after the disaster, we take a close look at how radiation has affected the wildlife, and what it entails for us humans.

For millions of years, insects have come out ahead in the struggle for survival. From painless mosquito stings to high-performance dragonfly wings, advanced 4K high-speed cameras and digital microscopes can now provide extraordinary new views of the world of bugs. Join us as we take a look at the amazing mechanisms hidden inside their bodies and the new man-made technologies they have inspired.

Designing shoes for Lady Gaga garnered a lot of attention for contemporary artist Noritaka Tatehana. Now he's turning his talents to staging Japan's traditional puppet theater in Paris. Collaborating with bunraku master Kanjuro Kiritake, Tatehana serves as an art director for a story steeped in Japanese aesthetics. The master himself is giving the grand role of the courtesan Akoya its premiere outside of Japan, bringing the soul of the character to the present. The program documents the 2 men's efforts to discover new dimensions of bunraku.

Charles Chibana, a 26-year-old judoka, is a 3rd-generation Japanese-Brazilian seeking Olympic glory. His family has practiced judo for generations, and his father still teaches it to the children in their 40-person household. Charles' grandparents left Okinawa for South America after World War II, leaving a home that had become a war zone and raising their children while maintaining their Japanese heritage. This program focuses on the achievements, hopes and dreams of this remarkable family.

Kaoru Ogura dedicated his life to telling the world about the Japanese city where the first atomic bomb was dropped. He brought public figures from other countries together with survivors in postwar Hiroshima, even though he himself was born and raised in the U.S. The devastation shocked the visitors, causing them to spread the word internationally. They eventually began supporting the victims and joining in the anti-nuclear movement. The program recounts the life and work of those activists and the experiences of Kaoru Ogura.

This special edition of NHK NEWSLINE covers the peace memorial ceremony to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima.

This program is based on that original movie and Tanabe's body of work as well as NHK's Hiroshima Broadcasting Center records and testimonials to create an updated and reworked version of the original movie. In the hope of reinforcing the uselessness of war and the desire among people for peace, NHK WORLD presents a new take on the events of August 6, 1945 in the actual words and drawings of the few people left that survived to tell their story.

Commemorating the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki, the program looks at the current status of the world's nuclear weapons and the global movements toward abolishing them.

This time, we'll travel on trains through Shimane Prefecture, a spiritual part of Japan where Japanese gods and humans have a strong bond.

Actor Ken Watanabe has continued to support the Tohoku region since just after the Great East Japan Earthquake. 5 years have now passed since the disaster and again he returns to the area to revisit acquaintances, to get a sense of the positive developments there and learn what is now giving people cause for concern.

Having lived for 88 years, Minatoya Koryu has plenty of tales to tell. She has performed as a Rokyoku storyteller for 70 years, 50 of those on the road. The art of Rokyoku storytelling - performing stories sung along with the melody of a shamisen - was the most popular performing art in Japan from the end of the 19th century to 1960's. It was all but forgotten during Japan's high economic growth era. Now, it's being rediscovered by a younger audience. The program shows the relationship between Koryu and her young disciple Koyuki, introducing the appeal of the tradition to a modern generation.

Held every 5 years, the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition attracts the world's top young pianists vying fiercely for a chance at stardom. But for the 4 piano manufacturers who supply instruments for the contest, the event also provides a supreme opportunity for public exposure. How many pianists will select their piano to play? What instrument will the winner use? In the latest competition held in the autumn of 2015, the fates of the instrument makers rested with company piano tuners who were nearly all Japanese.

A Burmese couple who escaped persecution by the military government finally returned to their own country in May. They had taken part in the 1988 pro-democracy movement before fleeing to Japan. After quarter of a century, they were prompted to return home to help their country following the historic birth of a democratic government in the spring. They travelled extensively, seeking ways to educate young people. We look at what the democracy movement meant to them and how they rekindled their resolve to work for their country's future, despite the many difficulties.

The thalidomide poisoning incident of the early 1960's was the first of a series of drug poisoning cases in Japan. In 2014, the Japanese government released results of a survey of the present condition of the thalidomide victims. Physical examinations using cutting-edge medical technology and interviews with victims revealed a wide array of disabilities that had previously been undetected. The never-ending consequences of their poisoning have forced the victims to reexamine their lives. Following individual victims as they once again confront the nature of their exposure, a portrait of a half-century of "the poison of thalidomide" emerges.

The long-awaited completion of the Sagrada Família in Spain, Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece, is scheduled for 2026. Meanwhile, the symbolic Nativity façade was finished in December 2015. A Japanese sculptor, Etsuro Sotoo, created the 8 gates in the Nativity façade. Without any blueprints left by Gaudí, how did he create them? Unveiling Gaudí's message, this documentary captures the moment of the façade's completion and stunning images of Sagrada Família never before seen.

The Onda Festival is held at the Aso Shrine in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan every summer on July 28. A tradition going back more than 800 years, it's the shrine's largest festival and features a procession of 200 people who pray for a good harvest. In 2016, a huge earthquake destroyed much of the shrine, but parishioners resolved to hold the festival anyway. This program features a festival veteran of more than 40 years and a young man who plays a leading role for the first time, channeling prayers for a stricken community.

Badly affected by the Kumamoto earthquakes of April 2016, the town of Yufuin, Oita Prefecture, one of Japan's top hot spring resorts, experienced a dramatic drop in visitor numbers. Desperate to revitalize the area, local inns and other businesses banded together with residents to rebuild. Last time Yufuin was hit by a major quake, 41 years ago, some residents established a traditional Japanese taiko drumming group to boost people's spirit in the midst of hardship. Those performers' activities once more took on renewed significance this August, at a summer festival held to bring energy and excitement back to the town.

Robocon 2016 was held in Bangkok, Thailand. In this edition, the young engineers gathered from 16 countries and regions had to go up against the clock with 2 robots: the Eco Robot and the Hybrid Robot. The Hybrid Robot must use forces such as magnetic power and wind power to move the Eco Robot to the finish line without directly touching it.

"Go, Kitchen, Go!" visits Okinawa Prefecture, a small island in the south of Japan with Taiyo Sugiura, an actor and Ema Koeda, a fusion cuisine specialist. Let's find out its local ingredients, such as Abasa or porcupinefish, or Kandabaa or sweet potato leaves, and Irabuu or sea snakes. The mission of chef Koeda is to create her original and tasty dishes using such ingredients found in Okinawa.

91-year-old Sunao Tsuboi is a hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivor, from Hiroshima Prefecture. His postwar journey has taken him from all-consuming anger and an attempted suicide to reconciliation and activism in the name of peace. On this program, we trace Tsuboi's transformation and explore the latest chapter in his remarkable life - a meeting with the president of the United States, the country that dropped the bomb, and the launch of a grass-roots campaign aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

The Paralympic Games are now one of the world's biggest sporting events, and they also impact society by transforming people's attitudes toward disabilities. Tokyo's vision for the 2020 Games is to raise awareness of unity through diversity among people around the world. How can we create a truly inclusive society? What role can sports play in achieving this goal? On this program, we discuss these issues with top athletes and global leaders in the field of social inclusion through sports.

In 1945, the United States dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan. Then President Harry Truman explained the decision was made to save thousands of American lives. People have accepted this explanation without question for decades. But recently, materials have surfaced that paint a more nuanced picture of what actually occurred. This program reexamines events in the months leading up to the bombings, and tries to determine how one of the most important events in history was rewritten after the war.

In August 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on humans for the first time in history. That year alone, more than 210,000 people lost their lives in the A-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. US President Harry Truman later explained that he had made the decision to drop the bombs in order to save thousands of American lives. But declassified military and government documents have now revealed that the decision may not have been made by Truman. How were the bombings ordered, and by whom? Seventy-one years after the bombings, this documentary examines the evidence, including audio recordings of the director of A-bomb development, in pursuit of the truth.

Once a dream car, today the autonomous vehicle is becoming a reality. The global competition to develop such vehicles is heating up, and the first company to have the upper hand will win. The autonomous driving revolution will have a major impact on vehicle manufacturing, and will likely change society forever. But creating an autonomous vehicle means understanding computers. This means automakers have to compete with IT firms including Google. Come explore the frontlines of this revolution.

Asia's biggest trail running race taking racers across the mountains around the circumference of Mt. Fuji - a designated World Heritage Site. This year was the 5th edition and over 2,300 racers from 39 different countries and regions gathered to take on the challenge of participating in one of two races going all the way around or half way around Mt. Fuji. However, on the day of the race, the weather was bad and heavy rain warnings were issued. The water levels along the race course rose and the risk of landslides also developed. Race headquarters were faced with a difficult decision. Would they actually be able to start the race?

It was the biggest data leak in history. Or more like a dam burst. Suddenly, 11.5 million documents came pouring out of a Panamanian law firm. These so-called Panama Papers provided shocking details of how the superrich use tax havens to hide their wealth. They were leaked to the media by an anonymous source, then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or ICIJ. 400 journalists from 80 countries analyzed the data. The unprecedented collaboration led to some of the most powerful leaders in the world. In June, NHK joined the ICIJ project and delved into a huge number of documents linked to Japan. In this program, we’ll look into each case and expose some previously unknown ties between the Panama Papers and Japan.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, from Japan, and Ailee, one of the bright lights of South Korea's K-Pop, joined performers from 11 other nations and regions in this year's "ABU Song Festival" held in Bali. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu performed a medley of "Fashion Monster" and "Sai & Co" for the occasion. It was her first time to sing in Bali, and she took the opportunity to try out some of the island's dance traditions.

The Hisatsu Orange Railway runs across the west coast of the island of Kyushu, connecting Kagoshima and Kumamoto Prefectures. Television personality Thane Camus takes a ride from Yatsushiro to Sendai Station. Along the way, he catches views of the blue sea, mingles with commuters and students, and stops off at places they recommend. From Kagoshima's samurai traditions to Kumamoto's hot springs, the trip is filled with experiences to remember.

In 2016, NHK WORLD started GRAND SUMO Highlights, a program that delivers the thrills and excitement of sumo to a global audience. In this review show, our commentators are back to recount the highlights of the year, including the rise of a new hopeful for Yokozuna. We also reveal the winning secrets of the most powerful wrestlers, many of whom weigh over 150kg, and explain some of the sport’s mysterious traditions.