Broadcasters' Eye - Season 8 / Year 2021

This program documents 5 years at a bathhouse in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, that has long provided emotional comfort for local residents. In a time when bathhouses are quickly vanishing from Japan, this program shows the important role the public bathhouse serves as a place where the people of a community can gather, communicate, care for each other, and share laughter.

Professor Jeffrey S. Irish of the International University of Kagoshima is the protagonist of this documentary. He's an American man who lives in a rural town in Japan. And in an effort to save the town he lives in from the looming threat of total depopulation, Jeffrey sets out on a difficult challenge to secure vacant houses so that people from other areas can move into the town he loves so dearly.

Kokkodesho is a performance that has long been featured at the Nagasaki Kunchi Festival. 40 men run through town over the span of 3 days, carrying and tossing a wooden float that weighs over a ton. As the dynamic performance demands perfect coordination, explosive physical power, and impregnable mental strength, the carriers just could not do it without the passionate support of the whole town.

Blown away by the deliciousness of the fish caught in the Sanriku region of Japan, Yagi Kenichiro started up a business there, processing and selling local fish. When preparing the fish, Yagi adopts the use of medical and lab equipment, and wears scrubs. And the fish he sells are winning international acclaim as being "better than raw." This program follows Yagi as he relentlessly works with the local community to revive the Sanriku area, devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Through the special adoption system, the Higuchis welcomed 2 children into their family. Ikki, the elder child, is slowly understanding that he is different from the children around him as he has 2 mothers. His little sister Miina is a baby with Down syndrome. This is a story of how this family, unrelated by blood, becomes a real family with the progression of time. By telling the stories of the people involved in special adoptions, this program explores the idea of what makes a family.

This program focuses on a small fishing town called Izari in Tokushima Prefecture, southern Japan that has for the past 20 years actively brought in young families with children to live in their community as a means to keep the town alive. The people of Izari enjoy raising the children together as a community, and the children get to grow up in an environment rich with nature and social interaction.

Terabayashi Shuma is a 6th grader who loves to play softball and dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. But in 4th grade he was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a serious disease from an unknown cause. The more he exercises, the lower his blood sugar level goes, making sports a life-threatening activity. Shuma's mother urges him to quit softball, but he doesn't understand why being sick should prevent him from playing. With full support from his family and friends, Shuma continues to work toward his dream.