Production in 2003

"Journey to My Soul" "South Korea - To Meet Another Myself That Has Gone Far Away" traveler : Motoko MICHIURA, Tanka Poet

Broadcast: 26 January, 2003 by NHK BS2 44min. Project initiated, directed, and produced by Hiroshi MASUDA Assistant Director : Seiko TAKENAKA

Ms. Motoko Michiura is a well known poet of Tanka, the traditional poetry of fixed form with 31 syllables. She also writes essays and biographies, and has been attracted by Fumiko KANEKO, an anarchist who died at mere 23 year-old age, in 1926, after uncompromising fight against the imperial system of Japan. Ms. Michiura visits places in South Korea, where Fumiko lived in her childhood and rests in peace now, and finds herself that once longed to live and die young for her own thoughts like Fumiko, but has lived much longer to be drifted far away from where she used to stand.

Human Documentary Series: Min TANAKA --- A Dance of the Earth   Broadcast WORLDWIDE IN ENGLISH on NHK World TV: October 15th, 7:10 - 7:53 (GMT) 14:00 - 14:43 (GMT):2nd sound ch. in English 18:00 - 18:43 (GMT) 18th, 13:00 - 13:43 (GMT): 2nd sound ch. in English 20th, 1:00 - 1:43 (GMT): 2nd sound ch. in English   Broadcast in Japan (in Japanese) on NHK General Channel: October 3rd, 23:00 - 23:43 (JST) 8th, 2:00 - 2:43 (JST) 11th, 10:05 - 10:48 (JST)   Project initiated and produced by Akihito NOMURA Directed by Hiroshi MASUDA Direction assisted by Hiroko MATSUNO  Min TANAKA, 58 years old, is a world renowned Butoh dancer, who was given the L'ordre des arts et des lettres (Chevalier) by the French government and give Butoh lessons at the Dramatic School of Art in Moscow. His uniqueness lies not only in his dance, but also in his lifestyle; self-sustaining farm life with young dancers at a remote village deep in the mountains in Japan. The program focuses on his life and art, both of which are firmly rooted on mother earth, covering the farming, exercises, and producing dance in their village. Uta-kiko (Journey with Tanka) Only Yesterday, Just Around Us --- Revisited

Broadcast: November 29, 2003   6:40 - 7:10 a.m. December 4, 2003 5:30 - 6:00 a.m. Channel: NHK Educational Research, direction, and editing by Hiroko MATSUNO Filming by Osame MARUIKE Project initiated, directed and produced by Hiroshi MASUDA

Steam locomotives, shoe polishers, watchmaker's shop, street peddlers of balloons and goldfish..... Those things surely existed just around us, only yesterday, and were quite often became charming motifs of Tanka, Japanese traditional poems. Where have all these common and familiar things gone? The program portrays nostalgic or heartwarming moments by visiting sites where they live in various forms; still in real life, in other styles or places, or in the days of fading away.