The Best Episodes of Hometown Stories

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   #1 - Night of the Dancing Fire God

   S1:E12/6/2011

   The "Matsuage" fire festival in Kyoto was admired by essayist Masako Shirasu. In her travelogue titled "Kakure-zato", she described it as "the most touching festival scene that I've ever observed". In this program, actress Mayu Tsuruta visits the festival and reports very expressively on "the dance of flames" that moved Masako Shirasu so deeply.

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   #2 - The Mountain God Piggyback

   S1:E22/13/2011

   This program describes a simple, rustic event called "The Mountain God Piggyback" that has been handed down since time immemorial in a snowy mountain village in Yamagata Prefecture. Carrying the local shrine's object of worship on their shoulders, children make house-to-house visits in the area, so that the local people can offer up their prayers to the deity.

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   #3 - A Millennium of Prayers

   S1:E32/20/2011

   This program shows how ancient religious practices survive on the Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita Prefecture, regarded as the home of the Buddha, and long known as a site for ascetic mountain training. Last year, during a "Mineiri" religious austerity being practiced for the first time in a decade, around 20 ascetics dressed in white made a pilgrimage that included crossing ten mountain ridges.

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   #4 - Kagura: The Passion for Dance

   S1:E42/27/2011

   In ancient times, "kagura" was a form of dance dedicated to the gods. But in modern times, as its original meaning weakened and it took on the color of a local performing art, young people found it rustic and lost interest in it. Today, however, many kagura groups are attracting them and seeking to create original dances while preserving traditions. This program investigates the reasons for kagura's current popularity with the young.

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   #5 - Eco-Paddy: Bio-Wonderland

   S1:E510/2/2011

   The aim of the 'eco-paddy fields' project is to grow rice without using agrochemicals and chemical fertilizers in rice fields full of wildlife created by cutting open uncultivated cedar forests and restoring terraced paddy fields. 30 parents and children from 9 families, chosen from viewer applications, participated in the project for a whole year. At last, the rice that has grown all through the summer with the support of various creatures has fully matured. The harvesting and threshing is carried out manually in the traditional way. How do the participants feel when they taste the rice and who do they want to convey their feelings to? The program presents the thoughts of each family to show what the participants gained from the project.

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   #6 - Granny Loves You: The Probation Officer's Tale

   S1:E610/9/2011

   77-year-old volunteer probation officer Chikako Nakamoto was affectionately known as 'The little old lady of Motomachi' by the juvenile delinquents she took care of for 30 years in the Motomachi district of Hiroshima. She opened up her home to them, served her hand-made cooking, listened to their stories, and helped many of them to reform their ways. Last November, however, Nakamoto reached the year of retirement for volunteer probation officers. She often says, "Support from the local community is essential for the rehabilitation of offenders". The program closely describes her daily life as she strives to entrust her role to the community.

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   #7 - Honoring the Dead: The Bone Washing Ritual of Yoronjima

   S1:E710/16/2011

   Yoronjima in Kagoshima Prefecture is a southern island with a population of 5,600 surrounded by beautiful coral reef and white sand beaches. In the island's unusual ritual called 'Senkotsu', the skeletal remains of family members are dug up from three to five years after burial, cleaned and then returned to their graves. The program introduces the small island's traditional form of family bonding by following members of the Takecrapa family as they carry out the ritual and also includes the history of the island's funerary practices.

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   #8 - Mother, I Want To See You

   S1:E810/23/2011

   This drama set in a remote elementary school centers around the efforts made by a young female teacher called Hikari to help Aya, an uncommunicative exchange student who has problems with her mother.

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   #9 - Questioning Nuclear Power

   S2:E16/29/2012

   A picturesque town with a slumping economy was torn by the lure of nuclear energy. Should the people accept the construction of a nuclear power plant, in the hope it will help fund their future? Or continue to struggle in bountiful nature, free of the risks of radiation? We get a close look at their 40-year dilemma.

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    #10 - The Luminous Forest

    S2:E29/17/2012

    At the end of each summer, for a brief period, part of this mountain becomes a "forest of light" from mysterious lights emitted by mushrooms, fallen leaves, and tree trunks. Last summer, a team of scientists stepped into the forest to uncover its luminous mysteries.

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    #11 - A Watchmaker's Tale

    S3:E11/6/2013

    A veteran watchmaker on an island in Hiroshima Prefecture repairs virtually any old watch or clock, even those that no one else can fix. People take their treasured timepieces to the mechanical magician - whether they're anniversary gifts, keepsakes from father, or antiques from ancestors. He resurrects not only clocks, but priceless memories as well.

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    #12 - Learning to Survive: Three Days in Kamaishi

    S3:E29/7/2013

    What can junior high school students do in the face of a tsunami that destroys their home village? Seventeen junior high schoolers from Tanabe address this question by visiting Kamaishi, which was decimated by a tsunami in March 2011. They find that their peers in Kamaishi saved lives by helping elderly people and small children get to high ground. During their 3-day study tour, they wrestle with questions such as how to help the elderly evacuate, and how to rescue people without self-endangerment.

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    #13 - Letter from Cherry Blossom Village

    S3:E39/14/2013

    The tiny village of Kanedani lies in the mountains of Shimane Prefecture. With ongoing depopulation, the community has dwindled to just three women in their 70s and 80s. The village boasts 400 cherry trees that were planted 25 years ago in hopes of attracting tourists. People come from all around to view the flowers every spring at the day-long Cherry Blossom Festival. This year, the three remaining residents invite ex-villagers to gather one more time, while they still can. Many memories of village life are depicted beneath blossoming cherry trees.

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    #14 - School of Hope: Ogijima, Seto Inland Sea

    S4:E110/25/2015

    Facing steady decline through aging and depopulation, one Japanese island community chose to tackle the risk of disappearance by reopening its only school. We follow the progress over the project's first year, and see children return fun and purpose to the lives of the island's elderly residents. Changes in the community as a whole are mirrored by the fortunes of one young family striving to make a success of their move from the mainland and embrace the charms of island living.

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    #15 - The Sky We Share - Friendship at the End of an Osaka Runway

    S4:E212/27/2015

    Southeast of Osaka Airport runs a river embankment where airplanes swoop less than 100 meters overhead. Sleek, thundering jets that pass with a rush of wind make for a heart-pounding sight. Regulars come every day to this spot: a man fighting cancer; a woman who lost custody of her children as she suffered depression; people with complex troubles. As they look up at the sky together watching the planes, they form a community that gives them the courage to move forward in their lives.

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    #16 - A Hiroshima Family's Prayer

    S5:E12/27/2016

    In Hiroshima 70 years after the atomic bomb, many survivors' belongings have been inherited: items they wore the day of the bomb, diaries and more. Some families are coming to terms with this legacy for the first time, and want to pass it on. This year Arei Shirakami, age 41, read the diary of her grandfather, who died 17 years ago, for the first time. It shows a side of him she never knew. Feeling regret that she long ignored his story, she makes an emotional journey into her family's past.

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    #17 - For the Sake of the Classmates We Lost

    S5:E23/26/2016

    Hashikami Junior High School's class of 2011 graduated just after the devastating 3.11 earthquake and tsunami, in a school gym housing refugees. There should have been 57 students, but 3 fell victim to the disaster. The survivors are now 20 years old, right on the cusp of adulthood. How have they come to terms with the loss of friends and family at the age of just 15? And how has this changed their plans for adulthood? This program reviews 5 years lived in the shadow of the tsunami.

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    #18 - Young Thunder: School Taiko Team

    S5:E34/13/2016

    The All Japan High School Cultural Festival is like a national arts championship. We follow the efforts of Osaka's Akutagawa High School taiko team, which includes every junior and senior, to win the top prize in taiko drumming. More drummers add impact, but it's hard to keep everyone in sync. The program spends 2 months with typical Japanese teenagers who sometimes struggle to speak up and address problems openly. We'll watch their personal growth as the competition looms.

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    #19 - Pearl Wedding: 30 Years' Worth of Thanks

    S5:E45/29/2016

    Nestled in Ise-Shima, a scenic coastal area of central Japan, is Toba, a city famous for its cultured pearls. Here on the 30th of each month a ceremony called a "pearl wedding" is held. Inspired by the parallel between a marriage and a pearl - an object of beauty built up painstakingly, layer by layer, over many years - the pearl wedding ceremony draws husbands and wives from all around Japan to mark their 30th wedding anniversaries. As locals help them celebrate the special day, participating couples walk up the aisle of a wedding chapel to renew their vows of lifelong partnership. This is the story of 2 couples looking to open a new chapter in their marriages by taking part in Ise-Shima's pearl wedding.

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    #20 - Back to Grandma's Land: Chiemi's Story

    S5:E56/26/2016

    Recently in Japan, more and more young people who were raised in the city are choosing to go back to the land as they relocate to the rural areas their grandparents call home. In early 2015, Chiemi, a nurse from Osaka, moved to Tokushima Prefecture, where her grandmother was living alone. With the guidance of her elderly relative, she gradually absorbs the rural wisdom of farming and cooking, and, due to the family connection to the area, is warmly accepted by locals. But there are struggles too: the generation gap means Chiemi and her grandmother see things differently; and old age also brings its challenges. What does the future hold? Follow Chiemi's return to her roots.

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    #21 - A Life of Service: The Station Barber of Obama

    S5:E67/31/2016

    On the JR Obama Line, a local railway that links Fukui Prefecture with Kyoto, stands Kato Station. Although unstaffed since 1973, the sleepy station building still contains a small barber's shop. The owners are Hisao Tsukamoto (72) and his wife Asako (68). Seeing the station as an important spot for local people to get together, in between haircuts this industrious couple not only sells tickets, but also makes the time to clean the building and its surroundings. We follow this duo as they come to grips with old age and illness while striving to maintain their barber's shop in an empty station.

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    #22 - One of Us

    S5:E78/28/2016

    The idyllic landscape of Murayama in Yamagata Prefecture is home to a rather unique family-run farm that welcomes visitors from all over the world. It is operated by the Sakai family, whose 9 members exist by the motto: "live life to the full every day". For many of the guests who lend a hand with the heavy farm duties, and share conversation over simple meals around the family table, sampling this lifestyle is a chance to rediscover the joy of human relationships. Follow everyday life on this farm, and be reminded of how to live each day to the full.

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    #23 - One Big Happy Family

    S5:E89/11/2016

    Elderly people in need of care lost their homes in the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami. At a care facility called Sumi-chan's Home, they're part of a new family, which includes staff members who have suffered similar losses. Located in Higashi-Matsushima, a city in Miyagi Prefecture, the home's slogan is: "Relax and have fun together!" Each resident is respected as an individual within the facility's domestic atmosphere. Although the home was badly damaged in the tsunami 5 years ago, it quickly reopened, accepting elderly residents who had nowhere to go. The disaster has scarred local families and the local landscape, but the people of Sumi-chan's Home are forging new relationships while also protecting older ones. Discover the everyday moments of this found family.

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    #24 - Uniting the People of the Sea: Kumejima, Okinawa

    S5:E910/30/2016

    Uminchu, literally "people of the sea", is the name for the fishermen of beautiful Kumejima in Okinawa Prefecture. Filled with coral, tropical fish, and the tuna varieties that swim the Kuroshio Current, the sea around Kumejima has a rich diversity of life. Many locals make their living fishing, and use traditional skin-diving skills and pole-fishing techniques that have been passed down for generations. Get to know the young people training to become uminchu, and the older fishermen who are mentoring them, eager to share advice. This is an island journey to meet people who have truly embraced the sea.

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    #25 - Hang in There!

    S5:E1011/27/2016

    A community deep in the mountains of Gunma Prefecture is home to Japan's only circus school. The school's director is Nadezhda Tyshenko, a former acrobatic gymnast from Ukraine. In the circus, as in life, her motto is: "Hang in there", born from a teaching philosophy is based on a saying from her homeland: "Work hard and hang in there, and things will work out". In the spring of 2016 she welcomes a new student. In an era when many young people eschew hard work in favor of escapism, this is the story of a young woman who comes to understand the value of perseverance.

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