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Private Notes
At a little shop in Ibaraki Prefecture, there's a goofy but adorable cat with thick black "eyebrows". She's called Hachi for her distinctive marks that resemble the Chinese character "8". That's a lucky number, so customers always come to buy lottery tickets and make wishes for anything from big jackpots to good test scores. All the while Hachi pays them no mind, sleeping on a bookshelf or hiding behind the counter. We spent 3 days talking to the many visitors who make wishes on this lucky cat.
In Tokyo there's an audio and video transfer shop, where people bring old film reels, VHS tapes and cassettes they can no longer play and have them brought back to life as CDs and DVDs. In these 72 hours, we meet a young woman who wants to make a DVD of her high school play for a reunion, a father recalling when his children were young, a woman who discovered a video of her late brother, and more. These are the stories of people replaying old movies and revisiting treasured memories.
Kansai International Airport is a 24-hour gateway to western Japan. 16 low-cost carriers operate out of this airport in Osaka, making it Japan's largest hub for budget airlines. Cheap air tickets bring a wide spectrum of passengers traveling domestically and overseas to and from the airport, including a young woman on her first visit to Japan waiting alone to be picked up after midnight; a businessman returning on the day's last flight from a work trip that began early the same day; and a woman who had visited her elderly parents to take care of them. Passengers have their own unique reasons for traveling on low-cost carriers. For 3 days, we watched the diverse personal stories that unfold in the airport's terminals.
A mood-detecting dog collar? A wind instrument with a keyboard? You'll never believe the ideas blooming at this workshop in Akihabara. For around $120 a month, members get space to work and access to 3D printers and other cutting-edge tools. Among the users are ham radio enthusiasts and inventors hoping to become the next Steve Jobs. Some even get the chance to present their ideas to investors. We spent 3 days at this creative playground in the heart of Japan's otaku culture.
Kappabashi Street in Tokyo is a place like no other in the world, with 170 shops that stock everything from cooking utensils to tableware. Here professional chefs inspect knife blades with discriminating eyes, and a young man stocks up on supplies for the noodle restaurant he's about to open. Others shop for pots, bowls and knives as they mark life's turning points with new homes, new families and new lives. We spent 3 days watching shoppers come and go in Japan's kitchen equipment capital.
As Christmas approaches, people flock to Sapporo's terminal for expressway buses that connect this major city with destinations across the vast prefecture of Hokkaido. From early morning until late at night, passengers travel on buses that offer attractive fares for those on a budget. Among them, a young man who traveled for 5 hours to spend Christmas time with his girlfriend; a woman who regularly makes a journey of several hundred kilometers to go and take care of her elderly mother; and a time-strapped businessman using an overnight bus as he departs on a business trip. For 3 midwinter days, we listened to the tales of the people starting or finishing journeys at this bus terminal.
In Osaka you'll find Tenjinbashi-suji, one of the longest shopping arcades in Japan. At the end of the bustling, 2.6-kilometer arcade is a row of benches. We took our cameras there and spent 3 days talking to some of the folks taking a break there. Some use the benches to get work done. Some just watch people go by. And some share fascinating details of their personal lives. For 3 days, we meet people who have a seat, enjoy a talk or a laugh or a drink, and then get back up and keep going.
In Fukuoka Prefecture, there is a unique shrine dedicated to a deity of love. The approach to the shrine and its gate are adorned with hearts, and it has become a magnet for people in love, dreaming of getting married, or hoping for wedded bliss. But recently, a surprising number of visitors say they have never fallen in love with someone. People in love with the idea of falling in love come here to ask for divine help in finding their ideal partner. For 3 days around Valentine's Day, when the shrine is at its busiest with over 1,000 visitors from across Japan, we listened to the thoughts of people placing their hopes in the shrine's deity of love.
Auto race is a sport in Japan where motorcycles without brakes compete on asphalt tracks at speeds up to 150 km/h. In this episode we visit the Funabashi Auto, the sport's birthplace that closed in March 2016 after thrilling spectators for 65 years. See the last 3 days as fans go wild for their local racers. Some cheer with their parents or their children, while others feast on famous offal stew. In its last 72 hours, Funabashi Auto delivers drama and excitement beyond anyone's expectations!
The slogan of a 24-hour restaurant in Sendai, in northeastern Japan, is "born and raised on rice". For people fond of rice, this is a paradise. Serving rice in large bowls that hold 4 times the amount of a regular bowl, this restaurant has been filling the bellies of locals for years. Since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, many people who left their family behind to come and work in reconstruction projects have also become regular diners. 5 years on from the disaster, what do people still trying to rebuild their lives think about as they gobble up a bowl of hot rice? For 3 days, we listened to the customers at this restaurant serving up a taste of home.
In the countryside town of Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, among flat fields that go on for miles, there is a gigantic shopping mall. In this episode we visit the mall's most bustling area, the food court. With cheap eats and no rush to leave, it's a favorite for all sorts of patrons. Our conversations with the diners over these 72 hours reveal some insights into their lives, from young men who quit school, to elderly friends sneaking in some sake, to a mother recovering from cancer.
Route 439 is a national highway that cuts across the mountainous island of Shikoku, in southwestern Japan. In some spots, it is barely 2 meters wide and poorly maintained. People come from all over Japan to drive along the 340-kilometer-long rugged road connecting many small villages. Some people living along this route are self-sufficient and live on a diet mostly consisting of edible wild plants, freshwater fish and even Japanese pit vipers. Residents live a free life surrounded by lush nature. Over 3 days, we drive along Route 439 to meet people living amid Japan's traditional landscape.
In this episode we take a ride on a ferry to Sakurajima, an island with an active volcano just off the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture. It makes the 15-minute journey all day and night, carrying over 10,000 passengers a day for work, school, shopping and more. It's also a lifeline in case of disaster. Living alongside an active volcano presents a unique set of challenges. We spent 72 hours listening to the ordinary and extraordinary stories of the people who live and travel in this unique environment.
For 62 years, a rickety roller coaster that has a top speed of just 42 kilometers per hour has been a popular attraction at Hanayashiki, an amusement park steeped in history in Tokyo's Asakusa district. Many of the people riding this slow roller coaster are adults, screaming as the ride takes them back to their younger days. Why are people drawn to this aging roller coaster? For 3 days, we listened to the stories of people coming to this nostalgic ride.
When the locals in Kyoto want to relax, they stroll upstream along the Kamo River to a spot called the "Delta". This scenic area apart from Kyoto's tourist attractions has served as the setting for a number of novels and movies. There's something liberating about skipping across the stepping stones. From students relishing the springtime of their lives to adults reflecting on days past, the people we encounter over these 72 hours have lots of stories to tell among the gorgeous spring scenery.
From a second-hand ambulance to someone who will visit a grave for you, almost every imaginable item and service is sold and bought on online auctions. Since these sites were launched in Japan around 20 years ago, they have developed into a huge market, where more than 100 million transactions are made each year. Some people sell items to rustle up some extra money, while others earn enough to make a comfortable living. What kind of people use online auctions to sell things? For 3 days, we traveled around Japan to meet real-world people selling unusual things through the Internet.
For crimes ranging from drugs to murder, the number of women being sent to prison has multiplied in Japan over the last 20 years. How do they spend their days? What is on their minds? In this program, we take a close look inside Wakayama Women's Prison, one of Japan's largest. Inmates do menial labor in a workshop in the day and watch TV during evening recess. And what do model prisoners say when they learn they'll be released on parole? Witness 3 days of life behind the giant prison walls.
In mid-August, families across Japan get together to celebrate Obon, when it is believed the spirits of their ancestors return to visit. In Nagasaki Prefecture, this traditional event is marked in a remarkably boisterous way: people let off skyrockets at their ancestors' graves and light firecrackers. For 3 days, we film a long-established fireworks shop in Nagasaki. Among the customers, 2 brothers fondly remembering their mother who raised them singlehandedly; and a man spending 400,000 yen on firecrackers to send off the spirit of his father who died this year. As tears fall and fireworks explode, what were the customers feeling as they thought about their dearly departed?
There's a monster-catching smartphone game that took the world by storm in the summer of 2016. And a park in the Kinshicho area of Tokyo has become the go-to spot for players looking for rare monsters. It's packed all day and night with people staring at their phones. There's a culinary school dropout on a 10-hour streak, an elderly couple catching monsters on a date, and young guys looking to pick up dates as well. For 3 days we meet monster hunters at this mysterious park in Tokyo.
From the outside, this butcher shop in Hiratsuka, a city just southwest of Tokyo, looks like any other. But lining its shelves are many kinds of meat rarely seen for sale in Japan, such as cow kidney and even pig's blood. Among the shoppers drawn by this vast array of meat are Peruvians buying for their usual weekend barbecue with family and relatives, and a Filipino woman cooking for her large family. The large volumes of meat purchased at this shop are transformed into ethnic dishes in people's kitchens. We listened to the stories of those who eat hearty, meaty meals while living far from their country of birth.
