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The Best Episodes of Document 72 Hours Season 16

Every episode of Document 72 Hours Season 16 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Document 72 Hours Season 16!

An unusual documentary series that delves into human dramas through chance encounters with ordinary people at selected spots. Filmed over 72 hours in a single location, the show captures glimpses into people's lives as they

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 1 - Multinational food store Living in Japan
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    #1 - Multinational food store Living in Japan

    S16:E1

    Bananas called mackerel, tilapia, mutton, frogs and hot spices. The stage is a multinational food shop in Kinshicho, Tokyo. It is lined with ingredients from more than twenty countries, mainly in Asia, and people from various countries living in Japan visit. A man from Bangladesh who has been in Japan for forty years, but sometimes wants to eat his native food. A Vietnamese woman in her 20s who started working at a Japanese hotel last year. What do you eat in a foreign country in Japan and how do you live?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 2 - A Niigata Drive-Through Restaurant in Winter
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    #2 - A Niigata Drive-Through Restaurant in Winter

    S16:E2

    Many customers at a drive-through restaurant in Niigata Prefecture order "Italian" - fried noodles topped with meat sauce. For three days, we asked them why this comfort food always hits the spot.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 3 - Seiya Nagasaki Daihodojo Hospital cake shop
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    #3 - Seiya Nagasaki Daihodojo Hospital cake shop

    S16:E3

    The first series of hospitals!　A cake shop in a hospital that is rare in Japan. Nagasaki University Hospital has more than 870 beds. The shop is lined with strawberry and peach cakes, and visitors visit the clinic, including outpatients and hospitalized patients, accompanying families, and working doctors and nurses. A woman who has been in the hospital for many years and returns home every time she buys a cake for her family. After the surgery, parents and children buy to celebrate. A doctor who buys for his colleagues. Christmas at the hospital. What is everyone looking for for a cake?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 4 - Close! Moving a huge hospital.
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    #4 - Close! Moving a huge hospital.

    S16:E4

    2nd series of hospitals! Moving to a huge hospital. In January 2025, the University of the Ryukyus Hospital in Okinawa was fully relocated. Eighty-five patients, from critically ill patients in the intensive care unit to children in pediatrics, are transported to a new building nearly ten kilometers away in a single day. The end of the hospital, which has seen life for a long time, and the beginning of a new hospital where more advanced treatment can be done. What are the thoughts of working health workers and patients who continue to treat patients? From the move to the start of the new hospital, I looked behind the scenes.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 5 - A Supermarket in Snowy Iwate
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    #5 - A Supermarket in Snowy Iwate

    S16:E5

    The only supermarket in Nishiwaga, Iwate Prefecture is stocked with a dazzling array of products. We spend three days meeting customers as they trek through heavy snowfall to visit this food hub.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 6 - Oku-Noto-Suzu Seaside public bath
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    #6 - Oku-Noto-Suzu Seaside public bath

    S16:E6

    Oku-Noto-Suzu. There are sento that continue to be crowded even though it is in the midst of repeated disasters. In the midst of the widespread water outage immediately after the earthquake, groundwater was pumped up, wood from collapsed houses was burned, and business resumed early. Some people provided a valuable bath, and there were people who met again and confirmed their safety. A year since that. A lot of people come here. Locals, volunteers, and people working in demolition work. The sento became the source of the people, and the danran was born. Listen to people’s voices and minds here.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 7 - Winter Sendai at midnight Nikuman Stand
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    #7 - Winter Sendai at midnight Nikuman Stand

    S16:E7

    Hot meat buns full of toro toro-toned pork, bamboo shoots, and chrysanthemums. Set in a stand-style Nikumanten on the street corner of Kokubun-cho, an entertainment district in Sendai. It is open until five o'clock in the morning, and various people visit throughout the night. A fellow colleague at work who stopped by after drinking, a person who bought it for the second store to enter the second store, a man in black clothes at a club who finished work, and a mother of a snack shop. The steam that stands up in Sendai in winter. Under the cold sky, I looked at each situation of smiling meat buns.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 8 - Tokyo Botanical Garden My only winter
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    #8 - Tokyo Botanical Garden My only winter

    S16:E8

    The stage is a botanical garden in the middle of Tokyo. Some people visit for something, even though they think that there are few highlights during the winter. Some people say that they came to see plums at the turning point of their lives, and people who say that there is a taste when they see the appearance of standing withering. Some people sit on benches and look at the trees. People who dare to face the plants in the winter. What’s ahead of that look? We spent three days together.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 9 - Kawasaki Taishu Shokudo Diary
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    #9 - Kawasaki Taishu Shokudo Diary

    S16:E9

    Omelet rice, grilled fish, potesara, ramen, beer and shochu. The stage is a long-established popular restaurant near Kawasaki Station. Many people say that they work late at night or on work holidays, and the appearance of drinking alcohol from noon is conspicuous. A group called a childhood friend who grew up in Kawasaki. A senior junior at a company called the launch of work. Even if you come alone, it is not uncommon for people who happened to be sitting at the table and have a flower in a conversation. A popular dining room on a street corner crowded from morning to night. If you put your camera here for three days, you’ll see what it is now.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 10 - The Lure of Token Games at an Amusement Arcade
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    #10 - The Lure of Token Games at an Amusement Arcade

    S16:E10

    An amusement arcade near Tokyo has row after row of token-operated games. For three days, we asked people about the appeal of games that offer no cash or prizes, no matter how many tokens are won.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 11 - Gifu-Nishiyanagigase “Shutter Town” Blues
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    #11 - Gifu-Nishiyanagigase “Shutter Town” Blues

    S16:E11

    In Nishiyanagigase, Gifu City, there is a shopping street where nearly ninety percent of shops have shuttered. The bustling days of the night's prosperity as a city are gone, but people's activities still remain. A snack mom who has been working for nearly 50 years. An elderly man cleaning the shopping street with a part-time job. Young people planning events using empty buildings. After the war, it flourished in the textile industry, and was known throughout the country with its hit song "Yanagigase Blues". What would you see if you installed a camera here in the shutter city now?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 12 - Toast at “Japanese Izakaya” in Seoul, Korea
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    #12 - Toast at “Japanese Izakaya” in Seoul, Korea

    S16:E12

    Draft beer, edamame, fried horse mackerel, yakisoba. The stage is a Japanese-style izakaya in Seoul, Korea. The owner was a Japanese and opened in 2004. Every day, it is crowded with Korean customers. A fellow colleague at work who usually eats Japanese food. A family that has been going for more than ten years and is good friends with the owner. There are many couples and couples who visit. The real thing is to spill out with a drink in one hand. What are you all talking about here? 45min Expanding SP!　There is also a mini-corner of various Japanese food in Seoul.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 13 - At a 24-Hour Ramen Restaurant in Fukuoka
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    #13 - At a 24-Hour Ramen Restaurant in Fukuoka

    S16:E13

    Locals have slurped down bowls of noodles at a 24-hour ramen restaurant in Fukuoka for five decades. For three days, we asked customers why this simple ramen is more than just a cheap meal.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 14 - Spring running bread moving sales car
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    #14 - Spring running bread moving sales car

    S16:E14

    Colorful breads lined up on the bed of light trucks, such as red bean bread, bread, tuna dogs and donuts. This time, it is three days to closely follow the moving car of the bread movement. Sales cars go around various places in Yokohama, such as condominiums in the suburbs where there are no convenience stores nearby, facilities where elderly people can not go out for shopping, companies and schools where people are busy working. For the sake of someone, from children to the elderly, for each person waiting for the bread. What will we meet in the spring?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 15 - Journeys Up and Down a Steep Road in Tokyo
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    #15 - Journeys Up and Down a Steep Road in Tokyo

    S16:E15

    Nozokizaka, a steep hill in Tokyo's Toshima Ward, takes people's breath away in more ways than one. For three days, we asked people why they go up and down this road that's also a test of stamina.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 16 - Student Life in a Multicultural Dorm
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    #16 - Student Life in a Multicultural Dorm

    S16:E16

    Half of the residents of a university dorm in Oita Prefecture are from outside Japan. Students cook food, bathe communally and stay up chatting. We learn about their friendships and frustrations.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 17 - At a Prefab Soba Restaurant in Aomori
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    #17 - At a Prefab Soba Restaurant in Aomori

    S16:E17

    A small prefab restaurant in Aomori Prefecture sells only noodles and oden hotpot. For three days, we asked local customers why this no-frills business holds such a special place in their hearts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 18 - Bonsai Village: Growing a Small Universe in a Pot
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    #18 - Bonsai Village: Growing a Small Universe in a Pot

    S16:E18

    Bonsai is a living art form that requires attention to detail and patience. For three days, we asked visitors to a hub of bonsai nurseries near Tokyo about the appeal of bonsai in a fast-paced world.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 19 - Yamagata At a small zoo
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    #19 - Yamagata At a small zoo

    S16:E19

    The venue is set at a small zoo for free. This zoo in Yamagata Prefecture is popular for its elderly deer and peacocks, and has been popular for more than seventy years. Some animals have been protected from injury or illness, such as birds that are injured and unable to fly, and foxes that have been in traffic accidents. Various people visit here, think about something, and leave, such as people who come every day and talk to animals, and people who repeat themselves to the injured and protected animals.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 20 - Lion Statue Donations at Shinjuku Station
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    #20 - Lion Statue Donations at Shinjuku Station

    S16:E20

    A roaring golden lion statue outside Shinjuku Station is a donation box for disaster relief and youth support. Many walk past while others offer small kindnesses. Who donates over 72 hours, and why?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 21 - Chiba 100 Years hardware store
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    #21 - Chiba 100 Years hardware store

    S16:E21

    One hundred years since its founding, it is set in a hardware store in Chiba Prefecture. From pots and knives to carpentry tools and farm equipment, there are twenty thousand kinds of items to be handled. A carpenter who comes to buy indispensable business tools such as nails and scoops. Farmers seeking barbed wire to deal with wild animals that ravage the fields. In addition, there is also a request to repair the mulberry that parents love for a long time ... What kind of life do you see if you put your camera on the “town yorozuya” that is close to the problems of the local people?　Three days of "preparation" before the summer.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 22 - Nagoya Shinkansen platform Kishimen store
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    #22 - Nagoya Shinkansen platform Kishimen store

    S16:E22

    There are places where many travelers come to the Nagoya specialty Kishimen. A stand-up restaurant on the platform of Nagoya Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen. There are only eight seats at the counter, and it is large enough for people to pass each other. However, there are still few customers who can stop. People who always eat kishimen before a business trip, people who go all the way to buy admission tickets, and people who come to check the taste of memories before visiting their mother. Why can’t we stop by each of these things?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 23 - The "Last" Newsstand Near Shibuya Station
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    #23 - The "Last" Newsstand Near Shibuya Station

    S16:E23

    Newsstands have all but disappeared from the area around Shibuya Station in Tokyo. Yet, one still operates, even as sales keep falling. For three days, we asked customers what they bought, and why.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 24 - Staring at Shohei Ohtani Los Angeles and Iwate
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    #24 - Staring at Shohei Ohtani Los Angeles and Iwate

    S16:E24

    What are all the people looking for in Shohei Ohtani and what kind of days are they spending? The stage is a park near Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, USA, and a park in Otsugi, Iwate, the hometown of Otani. We will shoot at two places at the same time and look at the feelings of the people of Japan and the United States for heroes. A person who repeats Otani in his own situation, a person who gets courage to continue to challenge. Protests against immigration in Los Angeles. What will come of the life of those who look at Otani? An expanded 72-minute version.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Document 72 Hours Season 16 Episode 25 - A 10-yen Pool in Midsummer Ehime
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    #25 - A 10-yen Pool in Midsummer Ehime

    S16:E25

    An outdoor community pool in Ehime is super cheap even with a competition pool and water slides. It's been a local hotspot for 50 years. Meet the visitors making midsummer memories over three days.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 16 Ratings Summary

"Multinational food store Living in Japan" is the best rated episode of "Document 72 Hours" season 16. It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/10/2025. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "A Niigata Drive-Through Restaurant in Winter".