Hometown Stories - Season 15 / Year 2025

Hometown Stories - Season 15 / Year 2025

Season 15 / Year 2025

Network
DatesJan 12, 2025 - Jul 7, 2025
Previous Season

Episodes

Searching for Closure: 10 Years Since a Deadly Eruption
Year 2025Episode 125 min

Searching for Closure: 10 Years Since a Deadly Eruption

Summer 2024 marked the 10th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. Ontake, Japan's worst volcanic disaster since the end of WWII. We follow bereaved family members who joined this year's memorial climb.

Jan 12, 2025
Framing Family Memories
Year 2025Episode 225 min

Framing Family Memories

Fuga is a professional frame maker who offers clients the chance to display treasured items in custom-made frames. Meet some of the families that are preserving their precious memories.

Jan 19, 2025
Bull Battles – A Community's Beloved Tradition
Year 2025Episode 330 min

Bull Battles – A Community's Beloved Tradition

In a remote Japanese village, people have long used bulls for farming and in a unique form of competition. But as the local population shrinks, the future of this beloved ritual seems uncertain.

Feb 2, 2025
Planting Seeds of Peace in Hiroshima
Year 2025Episode 425 min

Planting Seeds of Peace in Hiroshima

Mito Kosei, 78, was exposed to radiation in the womb when an atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. For 20 years or so, he's been a volunteer guide, telling foreign visitors the truth about the bombing.

Feb 9, 2025
An Island Stays Awake for Sumo
Year 2025Episode 525 min

An Island Stays Awake for Sumo

Oki Traditional Sumo has been practiced on an island in the Sea of Japan for over 200 years. In 2024, an all-night competition was held after a 12-year hiatus. We follow a summer of sumo excitement.

Feb 23, 2025
Chasing the Dream of Being a Jockey
Year 2025Episode 627 min

Chasing the Dream of Being a Jockey

North of Tokyo, young trainees are working hard to become jockeys. For 2 years, they will live away from their families with no mobile phones allowed. We follow their first steps toward their dream.

Mar 9, 2025
Unfolding a Life with Origami
Year 2025Episode 727 min

Unfolding a Life with Origami

Artist Fuse Tomoko discovered origami as a child. For over 60 years, she has created large-scale geometric works, earning global acclaim. We take a look into the art of creating worlds through paper.

Mar 23, 2025
Life in a Land of Grass
Year 2025Episode 825 min

Life in a Land of Grass

After a lifetime's work, dairy farmer Yoshikawa Yuji was diagnosed with cancer and had to retire. As his son takes over the farm, what joys and struggles does he encounter?

Apr 7, 2025
Calligraphy Creating Hope for Revival
Year 2025Episode 930 min

Calligraphy Creating Hope for Revival

A high school team from a city northeast of Tokyo took part in a nationwide calligraphy performance championship. They hope to send wishes for a revival to people affected by a massive earthquake.

Apr 14, 2025
Puppet Tale: Foxes, a Princess and a Sacred Lake
Year 2025Episode 1030 min

Puppet Tale: Foxes, a Princess and a Sacred Lake

An iconic story from bunraku puppet theatre features the legendary Princess Yaegaki. See how people living near the lake where the story is set work together to bring the tale back to its roots.

Apr 28, 2025
Becoming Gods for a Night
Year 2025Episode 1130 min

Becoming Gods for a Night

On New Year's Eve, families in northeast Japan are visited by monster-like figures called namahage. We follow a group of men trying to keep up their proud tradition as the local population dwindles.

May 5, 2025
An Ace Soccer Player Lights Up a Small Town
Year 2025Episode 1225 min

An Ace Soccer Player Lights Up a Small Town

A women's soccer team was created to energize an aging community. The team's top striker has built strong friendships with older neighbors. But now that player might have another goal in mind.

May 27, 2025
Loved Ones Reunited on Canvas
Year 2025Episode 1325 min

Loved Ones Reunited on Canvas

More than a decade after the Great East Japan Earthquake, two women who lost their daughters ask a painter to portray them as grownups. Will the portraits bring solace to the bereaved families?

Jun 2, 2025
Factory Groove: Wakayama's Textile Industry
Year 2025Episode 1422 min

Factory Groove: Wakayama's Textile Industry

With colorful pile fabric and comfortable knits, Wakayama prefecture is drawing global attention as a textile hub. We bring you striking images of its machines and the beat of its factories.

Jun 16, 2025
Reinventing a Small Town Supermarket
Year 2025Episode 1527 min

Reinventing a Small Town Supermarket

A local supermarket specializing in seafood closes after nearly 50 years. To keep its legacy alive, the founder teams up with a supermarket chain. Can it survive amidst fierce competition?

Jun 23, 2025
Lasting Memories of a Vanishing Town
Year 2025Episode 1630 min

Lasting Memories of a Vanishing Town

A former farming community east of Tokyo is soon to disappear due to an expansion project at Narita International Airport. Saito Koyata has been taking photos there to record local people's lives.

Jul 7, 2025

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Running

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert brings his signature satire and comedy to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the #1 show in late-night. Featuring bandleader Jon Batiste with his band Stay Human, the Emmy Award-nominated show broadcasts from the historic Ed Sullivan Theater. He talks with an eclectic mix of guests about what is new and relevant in the worlds of politics, entertainment, business, music, technology, and more. Stephen Colbert took over as host, executive producer, and writer of The Late Show on Sept. 8, 2015. 

Colbert is best known for his work as a television host, writer, actor, and producer, and lest known for his charity work teaching English as a second language on Tunisian date farms. Before joining the CBS family -- and being officially adopted by network president Les Moonves -- Colbert helmed The Colbert Report, which aired nearly 1,500 episodes and required Stephen to wear nearly 1,500 different neckties. The program received two Peabody Awards, two Grammy Awards, and several unwelcome shoulder massages. It won two Emmys for Outstanding Variety Series in 2013 and 2014, both of which appear to have been lost in the move. Colbert is pronounced koʊlˈbɛər, according to Wikipedia. His understudy is William Cavanaugh, who will be hosting The Late Show approximately one-third of the time. Good luck, Bill!

GenreComedy
Lost Treasures of Egypt
Running

Lost Treasures of Egypt

An immersive, action-packed series follows international teams of Egyptologists as they unearth the world's richest seam of ancient archaeology — Lost Treasures of Egypt. Through excavations and unprecedented access to the teams on the front line of archaeology, we follow these modern-day explorers as they battle searing heat and inhospitable terrain to make the discoveries of a lifetime.

GenreHistory
The Librarians: The Next Chapter
Running

The Librarians: The Next Chapter

The Librarians: The Next Chapter centers on Vikram Chamberlain, a "Librarian" from the past who time traveled from 1847 and now finds himself stuck in the present. When Vikram returns to his castle in Belgrade, Serbia and discovers that it is now a museum, he inadvertently releases magic across the continent. With the help of a new team of eclectic heroes, including a savant in world history, a scientific genius, and a highly skilled Guardian, Vikram has only six months to clean up the mess he made.

Saturday Night Live
Running

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is an Emmy Award-winning late-night comedy showcase.

Since its inception in 1975, "SNL" has launched the careers of many of the brightest comedy performers of their generation. As The New York Times noted on the occasion of the show's Emmy-winning 25th Anniversary special in 1999, "in defiance of both time and show business convention, 'SNL' is still the most pervasive influence on the art of comedy in contemporary culture." At the close of the century, "Saturday Night Live" placed seventh on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 100 Entertainers of the past fifty years.

Bering Sea Gold
Running

Bering Sea Gold

In the frontier town of Nome, Alaska, there's a gold rush on. But you've never seen gold mining like this before -- here, the precious metal isn't found in the ground. It's sitting in the most unlikely of places: the bottom of the frigid, unpredictable Bering Sea. And there are a handful of people willing to risk it all to bring it to the surface in Bering Sea Gold.