● Man’yoshu for Today

Broadcast: Monday through Friday for the whole year of 2008 (240 episodes total) On air: 6:55-7:00, a.m. at NHK BS hi 　 Project initiated by Tetsuya ICHINOSE Producers: Masami OGAHARA, Kazuo MATSUI Assistant Producer: Hatsuyo KATO Directors: Hiroshi MASUDA, Mitabi KOBAYASHI, Hiroko MATSUNO, Keiko MATSUDA Line Producer: Hideaki ISHIKAWA Assistant Directors: Tomoko MATSUO, Tami HATANO

Man’yoshu, the oldest Japanese anthology of poems containing more than 4500 pieces, was born about 1300 years ago. We still can find the original Japanese sentiment and minds expressed with delicacy and without hesitation. The program shows one piece an episode, selected by outstanding figures in various walks of life, as it was done so in Man’yoshu. Why did she/he select it? Now, let’s listen to their stories and cherish each piece reviving with contemporary connotations.

● SPACE ELEVATOR; The Future as Foreseen by Scientists

Now showing on giant screens or in planetariums at museums and youths facilities throughout Japan. For details, please check its own website.                       Script: Masanori IUCHI Producer: Hiroshi KOIKE Executive Producer: Toshiro SOGA Produced and Distributed by WALK co., ltd.   Co-production by the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, WALK, Eggbox, Shibuya Television     "Space Elevator" is a dream transportation system that can take you to the outer space easier and cheaper than rockets. This animation film for giant screens shows a schoolgirl venturing on an exciting ride to a space station, and her life with home robots in an automated city.

● America ― Heartland and Soul (Formerly called: “Six Thousand Miles around U.S.A.”)

Now it is on NHK TV on irregular schedule. To get the latest on-air schedule, please go to their website http://www.nhk.or.jp/ in Japanese and search with Japanese program title, because unfortunately there seems to be no search function in English.     Project Design and Chief Director: Hiroshi MASUDA Chief Producer: Yoshio UCHIDA General Producer: Toshiro SOGA Executive Producer: Shigeru MURAI, Hironao IMAZU (Evergreen Digital Contents, Inc.) Assistant Producer: Yoko SORATA, Hisahiro KAWANO   Coordination and facilitation: Noriko TAKAMATSU, Jordan KRAFT Copyright Arrangement: Elke TITUS, Shizuko AMANO Director: Hiroshi MASUDA, Yuri OSUGI, Koji HAYASAKI, Mitsuhiro HARAGUCHI

An unprecedented travelogue project to portray this big nation is under way taking two years, and to complete soon. The program consists of fifty episodes with each destination around the States, starting from Plymouth, MA, where the first steps were made by the Pilgrim fathers, and reaching Fairbanks, AK, as the last frontier. Format: 50 episodes, 10 min. each episode, Japanese version, HDTV NTSC (Please inquire for other formats and languages).   The Volume titles, fifty destinations, states, and contents: Where it All Started             -New England-   Plymouth MA Arrival of the Mayflower   Boston MA Midnight Ride for Independence   Concord MA Lights Reflecting on the Walden Pond   Newport RI America's First Resort   New Haven CT A Birthplace of the Hamburger Fields of Dreams                 -New York-   Ellis Island NY The Tiny Island that Saw Millions of Hopes   Manhattan NY Driving through Broadway   Wall Street NY The Capital of Money   Cooperstown NY The First "Play ball!"   Niagara NY Waterfall for Two How to Build a Great Nation  -Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.-   Philadelphia/   Gettysburg PA For Whom the Liberty Bell Tolled?   Pittsburg PA Carnegie and the Steel City   Washington D.C./   Arlington DC/VA They Are Silent but Eloquent   Smithsonian DC The Largest Collection in the World   Mount Vernon/   Monticello VA The Hometown of Founding Fathers Deep into the Soul of America  -The South-   Charleston SC Where the Old South Still Lives   Atlanta GA Gone with the Wind, Came with Coke   Montgomery AL A Small Bus that Changed America   Tuscumbia AL Hometown of Helen Keller   Charlotte NC A Center for Born Again Christians High Beyond the Sky        -Florida and Caribbean sea-   Kill Devil Hills NC Wright Brothers' Dream   Cape Canaveral FL Gateway to the Universe   Everglades FL The Great Wetland   Key West FL The Old Writer and the Sea   Puerto Rico   America in the Caribbean Sea Down by the Riverside-The Mississippi-   New Orleans LA Back O'Town, Small Pieces for Jazz   Memphis TN Birthplace of Rock'n Roll   Nashville TN Capital of Country Music   Hannibal MO Remember when you were a Tom Sawyer?   Chicago IL Roaring 20's and Chicago Blues Over the Horizon -Great Lakes and Plains-   Detroit MI The Invention that Changed the World   Milwaukee WI Harley-Davidson was Born   DeSmet SD Only Yesterday with the Ingalls Family   Black Hills SD/WY What America is to the Native Americans   Yellowstone WY/ID/MT The First National Park in the World Frontier Spirit Forever     -Texas-   The Alamo TX Prototype of "Remember and ..."   Dallas TX City of Cowboys   Houston TX Oil Capital of America   King Ranch TX Big Family on a Big Ranch   El Paso TX Hispanic Power Wild, Wild West        -Arizona and New Mexico-   Monument Valley UT/AZ The Scenery of America   Grand Canyon AZ Wonder of the Earth   Las Vegas NV The City of Desire   Trinity Site NM The Explosion that Changed the World Forever   Santa Fe NM Still Life in Adobe New Wave, Big Wave  -West Coast and Alaska-   Hollywood CA Dreams for a Nickel   San Francisco CA Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?   Napa/Sonoma CA Valleys of Vine and Wine   Seattle WA The Entrepreneurs: Boeing and Microsoft   Fairbanks AK The Last Frontier under Northern Lights