『The Spirits of Discover Japan』
Time travel to Japan’s “Now” from over 60 years ago.
Discover its original landscape on this journey…
From June 1961 to 1962, NET (now TV Asahi) aired a travel documentary series titled
“NIPPON HAKKEN” around 50 episodes.
This series was created to capture the “now” of all 47 prefectures of Japan back then.
With the Tokyo Olympics just 3 years away and Japan entering its period of rapid economic growth, the “now” from this era shows remnants of the Meiji period, the flow of time from pre- to post-war, and many landscapes and events that serve as starting points for the present day.
To pass on these precious 25 hours of footage to the present and the future, it has been reconstructed and condensed into a 99-minute film titled “The Spirits of Discover Japan.” This will be a journey through time with the camera traveling freely across the nation, providing discoveries for both those who did not experience that era and those who did.
★ Directors of the TV Version of “Discover Japan” ★
[Director] (Prefectures in random order):
*Iwao Ando (Shizuoka)
*Hitoshi Oguma (Gifu)
*Kimio Matsumoto (Kumamoto)
*Shizuo Komura (Kanagawa)
*Susumu Hani (Gunma )
*Kazuo Kuroki (Gunma )
*Jun-ichi Segawa (Fukushima, Aichi Prefecture)
*Masao Kido (Yamagata, Ibaraki, Hyogo)
*Isao Jinba (Kyoto, Wakayama, Shimane)
*Youichi Kagami (Tokyo, Chiba, Kochi, Nagasaki)
*Kin-ichi Akiyama
(Aomori, Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Nagano, Kagawa)
*Masahiko Fujihisa
(Tochigi, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Okinawa)
*Norifumi Tsuchimoto
(Yamanashi, Mie, Saga, Oita, Kagoshima, Tokyo)
*Masaura Hanamatsu
(Iwate, Saitama, Shiga, Tottori, Yamaguchi, Ehime, Miyazaki)
*Takashi Fujie
(Hokkaido, Miyagi, Akita, Fukui, Okayama, Tokushima, Seto Inland Sea)
[Writer] Jumpei Yoshihara
[Producer] Takeji Takamura
[Sponsored by] Fuji Iron & Steel
[Produced by] Iwanami Productions
★ Staff of “The Spirits of Discover Japan” ★
Sponsored by General Incorporated Association: Documentary Film Preservation Center
Produced by Heather Co., Ltd.
Cooperated by
Ryuji Yamauchi (University of Tokyo Academic Specialist)
Hideaki Matsunobu (Tokyo Kouon Co., Ltd.)
Director
Toshikazu Ochiai
2024 / Black and White / 99 minutes
Distributor: Heather Co., Ltd. (info@heather.co.jp)
© 2024 Documentary Film Preservation Center
★Concept Creator,
Story Editor, Film Editor,
Director
*Toshikazu Ochiai
Since 1991, Ochiai has directed various news programs produced by TBS
(Tokyo Broadcasting Service),
including the ‘Newscall’ international broadcast segment,
‘New Document USA,’ and ‘CBS 60 Minutes II,’
for about 10 years.
In addition to this, he has also worked as a subtitler.
