[Festivals of Japan Season 2] The Takaoka Mikuruma-yama Festival in Toyama Prefecture was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Asset in December 2016. With the creaking sounds of the turning wheels, the seven lavish floats make their way along the same route they have gone since ancient times, pushed onwards...

[Craft Masters of Japan] Kunimasa Matsuba is a Japanese swordsmith who has received the prestigious excellence award ten times at the exhibition of newly made swords in Japan. His strong, muscular body has undergone years of training in the smothering heat which enables him to create beautiful swords that gleam...

This is a new program about the sacred island of Okinoshima, situated between the Japanese archipelago and the Korean peninsula. It has attracted the devotion of the local population in the Munakata region, who possessed advanced nautical skills. Large-scale rituals utilizing an enormous quantity of precious votive offerings were conducted...

[Festivals of Japan Season 1] The "Onyudo", the largest mechanical doll in Japan, is the symbol of Yokkaichi City in Mie Prefecture. Every year at the Yokkaichi Festival in August, the Onyudo entertains many people with its humorous and silly movements. Placed on a large float, its gigantic body sways...