｜Length : 50min ｜Year : 2023 ｜

74-year-old Kazuo Funabashi, the proprietor of a print shop in Aichi Prefecture, has suffered from cerebral palsy since childhood. He manages stairs, dressing, and shaving with the help of a caregiver. He was not expected to live beyond 20 years, but he lives happily, surrounded by his wife, two daughters, and even a grandson. The computer helps Kazuo to eloquently convey his thoughts and feelings, but he is unable to clearly vocalize his thoughts. Mizue, his wife of 45 years, supports him as his hands and feet, and even as his voice.

50 years ago, a CBC-TV camera crew filmed Kazuo as he and three friends with disabilities journeyed on their own to a distant hot spring inn. Back then, the negativity shown by the public toward persons with disabilities was much more pronounced than it is today. Despite this, Kazuo’s mother Yukiko encouraged her son to face the world.

This program presents the thoughts and the everyday life of this intrepid man.

｜Length : 55min ｜Year : 2021 ｜

There are only 11 doctors in Japan with hearing disabilities.

Doctor Ryuji Imagawa (34), who works in Mie Prefecture, has not been able to hear most sounds ever since he was born.
He admired Doctor “Black Jack”, a protagonist in a manga series when he was young. However, Japan’s Medical Practitioners Act stated that “anyone who is blind, deaf, or mute will not be granted a license to practice medicine”.
Still, in 2001, the act was deemed discriminatory, and the words “deaf person” was omitted. This became his turning point, which allowed his dream of becoming a doctor come true. Today, he has been working diligently.

Through following the daily life of Dr. Imagawa, who reads lips when inspecting his patients, we hoped to ask what is important in the medical scene as well as our daily lives, during a time of worldwide discomfort in the wake of COVID-19.

｜Length : 23 ｜Year : 2017 ｜

Isaac Newton, the scientific genius who discovered the law of universal gravitation, said“My best friend is truth.”
Since then, a number of researchers have put their own “truth” on papers.
They are called theses.
In this program, of the countless theses published to the world, we will introduce unique and innovative theses that may have even surprised Newton himself.
This talk show, hosted by Ryota Yamasato (a member of comedy duo Nankai Candies), invites the author of a particular thesis to the studio to dig into and find out more about their research and background story.
In this episode, we focus on Japanese youth culture.
Our guest this time is a researcher at the University of Tokyo, who studied “mori in photo sticker booths” that are popular among young girls.
She has quantified this “mori” for the first time in the world.
In addition, she has collected portraits of beauties throughout history to quantify their facial characteristics and investigate ideal faces admired by Japanese people.
What is the true value of Japanese culture found through her research?

｜Length : 48min ｜Year : 2015 ｜

Midday September 27, 2014, some 250 people at the summit of Mt. Ontake were caught completely unaware by a sudden and violent explosive eruption that sent volcanic rocks and ash raining down on them. Sixty-three people died or went missing that day in the single greatest volcanic disaster in postwar Japanese history.
Living with the possibility of a volcanic eruption is a fact of life for many Japanese people. Is Japan doing enough in the way of volcanic disaster awareness and prevention to keep its people safe? This documentary examines what went wrong at Mt. Ontake and explores issues with Japan’s volcano disaster prevention warning system.

｜Length : 48min ｜Year : 2016 ｜

Chimpanzees and human beings are very similar…yet different. Chimpanzees can do things we humans cannot, and we can do things chimpanzees cannot. Finding these differences allows us to explore the wonders of being human and reminds us of what makes us special. Mother and son chimpanzees Ai and Ayumu have learned language and numbers. Ayumu is able to instantly memorize numbers randomly displayed on a touch screen and sequence them in ascending order even after the numbers have been masked. At the Japan Monkey Centre, a zoo next door to the Primate Research Institute, visitors can take their turn at the same test, but they are no match for Ayumu. Are chimpanzees smarter than us?