10 years with Hayao Miyazaki [video]
www3.nhk.or.jp
www3.nhk.or.jp
[0] https://www.youtube.com/@NHKWORLDJAPAN
[1] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEzXnIQVwV86hG7tkoVn...
It's fun to watch, but you should always take it with a grain of salt. I imagine the "budget" to produce English-language NHK content must be coming from the state's tourism board or something, so in the five years I watched the channel, there was nary a negative fact about Japan ever mentioned. There are no problems, no conflicts...only beautiful country where old women still gather acorns by hand, and 80 year-old men who are free to hone their lifelong craft of making tofu.
Every 80 year old guy is "the last X artist of the prefecture" and grandma is crawling around picking acorns or wrapping pears by hand as "my children moved to the city". Every rural train and road are empty. I'm sure the Japanese have an appropriate word for melancholy.
Document 72 Hours can be soul crushing. One minute school kids buying paper products at a HW store, the next an older guy looking at kitchen tiles and talking about how his wife always wanted a new kitchen and he never had time for it. And now she's dead.
This is absolutely the atmosphere of My Neighbor Totoro.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/somewhere/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PythagoraSwitch
And in general, watching NHK you get a perspective on things that are entirely missing or lacking in the US (e.g. things that inspire confidence and trust in public institutions, what the government is doing to prepare for natural disasters).
This documentary is really eye-opening about Miyazaki, his creative process, mental state, and the relationship with Studio Ghibli. Depressing, but I thought it was worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEzXnIQVwV_8qZZBa_0o...
The channel itself is available on most TV plans and also broadcast over the air in many locations.