Added to inquiry!
DOCUMENTARY

New Life Blossoms in an Old Village:
Seven Years of Struggle and Hope

DOCUMENTARY 2013 48 mins Episode(s): 1 English English
The aging of Japan's population is steadily hollowing out the country's agriculture.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, a struggling farming community in Ishikawa Prefecture called Sugaike began trying to attract young residents. Hiroyuki Yago is one of the people who came. He moved from Osaka to Sugaike in order to grow organic vegetables, but there wasn't enough farmland available to rent and he has trouble making a living. Nevertheless, the locals have accepted Yago as one of their own, and he intends to stay. By 2012, there were three new families in Sugaike; abandoned land began to spring back to life, and a local dance festival that had not been held for 10 years was revived. Yago was there at the center of the dancing, cheered on by joyful longtime residents.

This program chronicles seven years in the life of a young man, who wanted to start a new life in the countryside by joining a community that is trying to adapt to the consequences of Japan's aging, shrinking population.

  •  

    Coming Home
    2004

    Best Drama Award at The National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan. Yoko escaped her small port town in Japan where she was raised by her mother, to pursue her dream of becoming an actress in Tokyo. Finally about to make her big break, her mother’s sudden illness brings Yoko...
    more details
  •  

    Oni-kenbai: Prayer in Motion
    2012 30 mins

    The Oni-kenbai demon sword dance has been passed down from fathers to sons to grandchildren, with no additions or amendments for generations. Not simply a dance to pray for happiness, it's to ensure the spirits of ancestors of both dancers and viewers are kept alive, while driving away evil. This...
    more details
  •  

    On Stage
    2022

    2024 World Media Festivals Gold  The public theater dance company “Noism Company Niigata,” the only of its kind in Japan, calls the city of Niigata home. The director of “Noism,” Jo Kanamori, is a performer and choreographer with global acclaim. With a career spanning 16 years, for the first time,...
    more details
  •  

    Shiretoko Peninsula
    2002

    2002 New York Festival Awards. Nature and Wildlife Documentary: Silver Medal Into the Sea of Okhotsk, off the northern Japan’s island of Hokkaido, protrudes the Shiretoko Peninsula. The severe nature of the peninsula deters human intrusion and development. With no roads reaching the edge of the peninsula, it seems more...
    more details