Cherry Blossom Time in Japan

In this Traveltalk short, the symbolic role of cherry blossoms in Japanese culture is explored as well as the traditional Japanese religions of Shintoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.

なれのはて

This documentary follows the lives of four elderly Japanese men living in Manila's impoverished districts. Known as "distressed Japanese," they navigate their daily lives with minimal earnings and assistance from others. Despite once having jobs and families in Japan, they find themselves spending their final days in Manila for various reasons. The documentary offers a poignant portrayal of their struggles over seven years.

夢と狂気の王国

Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.

Chicano チカーノ

Chicano is an exploration between the similarities and differences between Chicano culture in America and Japan, and how the scene is not all about gang culture, but has a deep-seated root in family values.

High Performance Imports: Volume 6

Featuring exclusive footage from the makers of "High Performance Imports," Australia's top automotive publication covering the Japanese import scene, this video magazine takes you along for a pulse-pounding ride through furious drift and circuit battles, street drags and racing action. You'll tour the HKS factory and chat with their engineers; visit the leading vehicle workshops; track the development of the R34 Skyline project car; and much more.

되살아나는 목소리

Director Park Soo-nam, a second-generation Korean resident in Japan who is losing his eyesight, decides to digitally restore 16mm film she shot a long time ago, relying on her daughter Park Ma-eui's eyesight. The blood, tears, and numerous corpses of Koreans living in Japan are clearly engraved in the film filmed over 50 years.

プロフェッショナル 仕事の流儀 声優・神谷浩史の仕事 ～答えを求めて、声を探す～

An NHK documentary that introduces top professionals who are active in the line. In this work, it adheres to Hiroshi Kamiya, who has had an overwhelming presence in the voice actor industry, for five months. We approach his days of struggle in a harsh world.

Hidden Japan

The culture of Japan is incredible, from bloom festivals to ultra-modern cities. But there are also more than 130 mammals and 600 bird species dwelling in Japan’s 6,852 islands. This island chain is long enough to span climate zones, providing a huge range of habitat.

Being Japanese

A documentary exploring what it means to be Japanese.

Twinsters

Adopted from South Korea, raised on different continents & connected through social media, Samantha & Anaïs believe that they are twin sisters separated at birth.

김일성의 아이들

From 1950 to 1953, one hundred thousand children were orphaned by the Korean War. With no resources to mend the wounds, the two sides, North and South, took different paths to find homes and families for the war orphans. While the children of South Korea were sent to Europe and the United States through ‘International Adoption’, the children of North Korea were distributed across Eastern Europe through a method called ‘Commissioned Education’. As a result, more than five thousand children from the North had to spend nearly a decade living in foreign lands across Eastern Europe. This story is a record of their lives, which used to be kept hidden from the rest of the world. There is a key to understanding how North Korea's closed political structure began and how the ‘Juche ideology’ was formed in this documentary movie. Understanding North Korea in the 1950s is an important way to understand North Korea at present.

The Rise of Modern Japan (Great Courses)

In August 1945, Japan’s future looked bleak. Its navy had been destroyed, and its cities were being razed by US bombers, which had turned to launching atomic weapons. Meanwhile, a million-man Soviet army was crushing Japanese forces in China. Facing annihilation, the country’s leaders had little choice but to surrender, bringing World War II to a smoldering, near-apocalyptic end. How does a country go from the brink of collapse to a global economic powerhouse over the course of a few decades?

Dear Pyongyang

Dear Pyongyang is a documentary film by Zainichi Korean director Yang Yong-hi (Korean: 양영희, Hanja: 梁英姬) about her own family. It was shot in Osaka Japan (Yang's hometown) and Pyongyang, North Korea, In the 1970s, Yang's father, an ardent communist and leader of the pro-North movement in Japan, sent his three sons from Japan to North Korea under a repatriation campaign sponsored by ethnic activist organisation and de facto North Korean embassy Chongryon; as the only daughter, Yang herself remained in Japan. However, as the economic situation in the North deteriorated, the brothers became increasingly dependent for survival on the care packages sent by their parents. The film shows Yang's visits to her brothers in Pyongyang, as well as conversations with her father about his ideological faith and his regrets over breaking up his family.

폴란드로 간 아이들

Tracing the footsteps of North Korean orphans who went to Poland during the Korean War, two women, one from the North and the other from the South, bond through the solidarity of wound and forge together a path toward healing.

더 한복판으로

BABYMETAL LEGEND - 43 The Movie

In April 2023, SU-METAL (vocal, dance), MOAMETAL (scream, dance), and MOMOMETAL (scream, dance) entered a new stage as the new BABYMETAL, and since then, they have embarked on their largest-ever world tour, "BABYMETAL WORLD TOUR 2023-2024," visiting 25 countries including Japan. The 98 performances, excluding festivals and guest act appearances, recorded a total audience of over 280,000 people.

Untangling Your Name

Join me as I travel across Japan to every location which inspired Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name". A short documentary.

Takumi: A 60,000 Hour Story on the Survival of Human Craft

There is a popular theory that it takes at least 10,000 hours of focused practice for a human to become expert in any field. In Japan, there are craftspeople who go far beyond this to reach a special kind of mastery. These people are called Takumi and they devote 60,000 hours to their craft. That's 8 hours a day, 240 days a year, for over 30 years. It's an almost superhuman level of dedication to a life of repetition and no shortcuts. This film asks the question: Will human craft disappear as artificial intelligence reaches beyond our limits?

浅田真央 Smile Forever 美しき氷上の妖精

Features uncut version of figure skating performances by Mao Asada, which are selected by herself. Special Feature / Bonus Track: 10 performances at All Japan Medalist On Ice.

기억 샤워 바다

The late Kim Dong-il, a Jeju April 3 refugee in Japan, left behind over 2,000 crocheted items and pieces of clothing that preserved her memories, identity, and history. As the film traces the redistribution of her belongings, it illuminates the still-unhealed lives of various Zainichi Koreans who lived through the same era, sharing and connecting their intertwined memories.