LIFE FORCE Series II
48 minutes
48 minutes
(c)NHK / NHNZ / CCTV9 in association with Science Channel, Discovery Int'l, ARTE and SVT
Description
LIFE FORCE 2 is a six-part series that follows the daily lives of a cast of surprising animals found in six global evolutionary "hot spots." Each episode unravels the compelling scientific mysteries behind how these animals have overcome the barriers to their survival and focuses on each animal's specific adaptations that helps them thrive in their own unique world. The series sets itself apart from traditional natural history shows by carefully crafting a blend of genres, combining exceptional wildlife photography with CGI, and employing cinematic-style narratives to explore cutting-edge science. Lightweight cameras capturing microscopic creatures and insects, mini sky-copters attaining perspectives unachievable from traditional helicopters and planes, and the latest cinematic 4K and high-speed cameras show in glorious detail the strange ties and curious connections that bind our world together.
Production Year
"Deep Ocean" Revealing its Secrets -- The Coastal Waters off Okinawa
The "deep sea" is the final largely unexplored part of the planet. A high-definition camera on a Japanese unmanned deep-sea probe vessel introduces the rare creatures that inhabit this amazing world.
200-year Old Tortoise -- Giant Tortoise, Galapagos
Think of the Galapagos Islands and the giant elephant tortoises come to mind. Weighing up to 200 kilograms and living up to an estimated 200 years of age, they have managed to evolve in different ways to adapt to their environment. However, of the 11 species of elephant tortoises, one species is nea...
7 Million Flock to the Desert's End -- Seabirds, The Sahara
Africa's Sahara Desert is the biggest desert in the world. At the edge of this desert there is an unusual island to which great flocks of birds from all over the world migrate. Seven million birds of 100 species, including exotic birds like flamingos, gather there. In the harsh desert, where neither...
[TREASURE BOX JAPAN｜mipformats 2016]
NHK's long-running popular series since 2006. Ranked No. 1 for viewer satisfaction.
‘72 hours’ is an extremely unique format of human-interest documentary. For the duration of 72 hours, cameras target and record a single location. There are no preconceived sc...
A Bird That Flies through Water -- Atlantic Puffin, Iceland
The Atlantic puffin, often called "clown of the ocean". Their comical appearance is heightened by their orange and yellow bill and triangular markings around the eye. Despite being birds, they are hopeless at landing. In fact, they are often seen carelessly landing on top of each other. However, onc...
A Bird That's Crazy About Wasps -- Honey Buzzard, Japan
During summer, the migrant honey buzzards raise their young in the forests of Japan. This predatory bird of the hawk family has been said to feed mainly on nests of wasps which they dig out from the ground. Unfortunately, very little footage existed of them actually in action. However, for the first...
A Fish That Looks Like a Rock -- Fourspine Sculpin, Japan
The fourspine sculpin live in the Koza river, one of the clearest rivers in Japan. Master of disguise, these fish camouflage as rocks to capture prey by ambush. There is also an interesting saying about this species: "they catch sweetfish with the spines on their gill cover." This episode features t...
A Fish That Shoots -- Archerfish, Palau
Discover the world of the ultimate underwater archer, the archerfish.Squirting water with their mouths, the archerfish shoot down grasshoppers and mantises resting on branches. With lightning speed, they never miss their target. They can shoot more than 10 times in a row, and even leap out of the wa...
A Living Dinosaur -- Komodo Dragon, Indonesia
Growing to three meters in length and 100 kilograms in weight, the Komodo dragon, which inhabits the island of Komodo and other islands of sub-equatorial Indonesia, is the world's largest lizard. With their thick protective skin, Komodo dragons are just like dinosaurs, and they hunt wildlife such as...
A Portrait of the Wild: The North Woods of Canada
The North Woods region in Canada's interior occupies one-third of the country's land area. It is also a treasure trove of flora and fauna. Roaming its reaches are bison, which can reach a weight of one ton; reindeer, with their magnificent antlers; and other indigenous creatures like wildcats and cr...
During summer, the Atlantic coast between northeastern United States and southeastern Canada attracts large sea creatures such as whales, sharks that feed on the dense aggregations of plankton. To help reveal the secrets of these creatures' underwater hunting and behavior, the documentary film crew ...
Acrobat of the Hokkaido Forest: Eurasian Red Squirrel
The Eurasian red squirrel lives in Hokkaido in northern Japan. Some can be found in the virgin forest inching up to Sapporo, which is the fifth largest city in Japan. They use the hollows in the trunks of big trees to bear and raise their young. They depend for food on nuts and berries in the forest...
The Albertine Rift covers just one percent of the Africa's area, but contains more species of vertebrate animal than anywhere else on the continent. Powerful forces below the Earth transformed the landscape and changed the climate. These radical changes forced animals and plants to mutate and evolve...
A tale of three African lakes set in an aquatic world of vibrant color, shape and movement. In these waters live over 1,000 fish species, all evolved from one family. These fish are evolving faster than any other vertebrate on the planet. It is a story that would have wowed Darwin.
Ama-chan is a light-hearted drama about a young city girl's transformation when she moves to the Japanese countryside. Aki, the heroine, falls for country life and ends up helping revitalize her village. Ama-chan was written by popular Japanese playwright, Kankuro Kudo, in hopes of cheering up Japan...
Amazing Hunters of the Aegean: Eleonora's Falcon
Various species of birds flock to the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea in the autumn. These migratory birds use the islands as stopping points on their journey from Europe to the African continent. During this season Eleonora's Falcons come to these islands to hunt for these birds. For efficiency's s...
Amazon Alliance: New World Monkeys
The Peruvian jungle in the upper reaches of the Amazon is home to two different species of monkeys, the Andean titi and the brown-mantled tamarin. What's interesting is that these two species live side by side as if they were members of a single troop. When titis feed on insects, they rely on tamari...
An Amazing Evolutionary Path: Penguin
The South Island of New Zealand, known as a penguin paradise, is home to the largest number of penguin species. In fact, the island is believed to be where the very first penguins appeared. Little penguins, which at night slightly lean forward when walking back and forth between their nest and the s...
An Artist of the Floating World
浮世の画家
Who can tell where the lines are drawn?
Japan, a few years after the end of the Second World War -- Masuji Ono is an ageing painter of considerable renown, and retired life in his lavish mansion unfolds peacefully -- on the surface. But this seeming tranquility is broken when he is told that his ...
An Ear for Danger: Bat Eared Fox
The Serengeti plain in East Africa is one of the world's most diverse and spectacular wildlife kingdoms. It's home to the bat-eared fox. They feed mainly on insects. With their long, big ears, they can detect the ultrasonic waves that insects emit. Ultrasonic waves usually travel in a straight line ...
Australia is a floating laboratory whose ancient origins, continental drift and changing climate forced its inhabitants to evolve and adapt, culminating in over 200 species of pouched marsupials. The story of Australia's iconic red kangaroo and how it evolved to survive and thrive in the desert, rep...
麒麟がくる
The Beast of Peace shall reign
In the 16th century, Japan was still fragmented and at war, with famed warlords wrestling for land and power. Akechi Mitsuhide is born into this world as heir to a minor lord. But as he is groomed to become a military commander, Mitsuhide yearns for nothing but peac...
Aye-aye, It's a Monkey! -- Aye-aye, Madagascar
The Aye-ayes live deep in the forests of Madagascar, and until now, the activities and daily life of these nocturnal primates have been wrapped in mystery. Using ultra-sensitive high-definition cameras, NHK's cameramen provide a rare glimpse of these intriguing animals. It's truly amazing to see the...
Back from the Brink: Okinawa Spiny Rat
The forests of Yanbaru on the main Okinawa Island have been called "a time capsule of evolution." The forests' primal environment hosts no native carnivores. Although the environment has undergone changes in recent years, the Okinawa spiny rat, which was believed to be extinct, was rediscovered in 2...
Back from the Deep: Giant Sea Bass
The waters surrounding the Channel Islands of California not only teem with life but they also hide a mysterious surprise. For every year these shoals are visited by an endangered species that is just coming back from the brink of extinction: the giant sea bass. The giant sea bass can grow up to two...
Battle in the North -- Fox vs. Geese, Canada
In April, Canadian geese migrate to the estuary of the Churchill River where it flows into the Hudson Bay in the northern part of Canada. During the short summer season, they lay their eggs and raise their chicks, but these eggs and chicks are the targets of red foxes. Also on Russia's Wrangel Islan...
Battles of the Mothers: Ring-tailed Lemurs
Ring-tailed lemurs are easily recognized by their black and white long tails. They inhabit forests in the dry regions of southern Madagascar. They live in female dominated groups. When territorial disputes break out, females engage in fierce fights. They pounce and kick at each other, all the while ...
Big Bird in an Old Forest: Southern Cassowary
Australia's northeastern tropical rain forest, among the oldest forests in the world, is home to a unique, flightless bird. The huge southern cassowary stands 1.8 meters tall and weighs up to 60 kilograms. It maintains an interesting relationship with the surrounding plant life. It can swallow fruit...
Biggest and Wildest Cacti -- North America, The Sonoran Desert
The red-hot vastness of the Sonoran Desert of North America is the habitat of a surprising number of lifeforms. A high-definition camera travels deep into the "cactus desert" in search of them.
Borneo is one of the great biodiverse eco-systems on earth. Here, the tallest rainforests on earth have thrived almost untouched for over a hundred million years, harboring an extraordinary group of creatures, including 30 species of gliding animals that have evolved to live in these forests. The lu...
The Cerrado in Brazil is a vast grassland where life is defined by close relationships and synchronized life cycles. An extreme climate has transformed the Cerrado into a theatre of evolution where the inhabitants have acquired remarkable skills, unique shapes and unusual habits -- the predator eats...
Bringing Life to the Desert: Giant Cactus
In the Sonoran Desert that stretches across part of North America, giant cacti are an important part of the lives of various wild birds. The Greater Roadrunner, an eccentric ground bird that dashes across the land, nests in the space of a spine-covered cactus. Meanwhile, small owls with a dynamic hu...
Forests cover nearly 70% of the Japanese archipelago. They provide rare landscapes of mixtures of wide varieties of broadleaf and coniferous trees, and the coloring of the leaves in autumn provides spectacularly beautiful scenes -- some say the most beautiful in the world. And deep inside these fore...
Builders of Large Communal Nests: Sociable Weaver
In the arid region of Namibia in southern Africa stand bizarre-looking trees covered by huge lumps of dried grass. Weighing one ton, they are in fact the nests of the sociable weaver -- one of the world's largest bird nests. Each nest is like a big apartment, with over 100 holes that house some 300 ...
Canopy Gliders of the Borneo Rainforest
On equatorial Borneo Island, it's not only birds and insects that can fly. Using special methods, even reptiles, amphibians, and mammals can soar through the air! Photographer Tadashi Shimada takes up the challenge of capturing them in flight.
Challenge of the Chalk Lands: Kazakhstan (Japanese Title : 白亜の絶景 秘められた謎に迫る～カザフスタン～)
Kazakhstan is a vast nation with dramatic and unexpected landscapes. One of them is the chalk lands—snow-white mountains with towering cliffs made of pure chalk. This spectacular landscape is little known outside Kazakhstan, but that's going to change; a film crew from Japan is about to reveal this ...
Chicks' Free-fall Adventure -- Crested Murrelet, Japan
Looking a little like small penguins, crested murrelets are sea birds. The day after they are hatched, murrelet chicks already begin the process of leaving their nests. Indeed they face a great challenge: in the middle of the night, they are forced to fling themselves, rolling and falling, off a 50-...
Co-viewing comedy show which challenges celebrities with child-like innocent questions which are often surprisingly difficult to answer. The quizmaster is an “eternal 5 year old” character named Chiko. She is half CGI, half costume voiced by a famous male comedian. Full of curiosity and hard to plea...
Chile's Island of Extremes: Madre de Dios (Japanese Title : 南米 最果て 謎の無人島へ～チリ・多島海～)
Madre de Dios Island is one of six thousand islands comprising an archipelago southwest of Chile, South America. Access to this uninhabited island near the center of the archipelago is extremely difficult as the island is located in one of the world's most famous rainstorm regions known as the "Furi...
A titanic collision between India and Asia created the tallest mountain range on earth and forced up the vast Tibetan plateau -- often described as "The Roof of the World."
Only those creatures that could adapt to hostile alpine conditions survived in the highest ecosystems on Earth.
Mutation and ...
Clever Gourmet -- Crab-eating Macaque, Thailand
On a small deserted island in Thailand, Southeast Asia, there are monkeys called crab-eating macaques that use rocks as tools. Not only do they use large rocks to crack open shellfish and hard nuts, but also they carefully use the edges of small rocks to shuck oysters. No other monkey in the world c...
Climbing Giants: The Mighty Redwoods
Redwoods are among the world's largest living organisms. Some grow higher than 100 meters and live to be more than 3,000 years old. A belt of redwood forest stretches along the west coast of California in the United States. By using the latest advances in tree climbing, this program reveals an entir...
Costa Rica is one of 7 countries that make up the great isthmus that connects North and South America. This biodiverse hotspot, flanked by seas and divided by mountains, has 12 major ecosystems. From the annual turtle invasion on the beaches, to the dazzling birds in the clouded forests, to big cat ...
Crossing the Cliffs: Nubian Ibex
In Israel, a range of 400-meter towering cliffs forms a spectacular backdrop to the briny waters of the Dead Sea. This is home to some of the hardiest animals on earth -- the Nubian Ibex. Ibexes make a death-defying journey down to the valley floor every morning in search of food and water. They lat...
Curious Jumpers of Madagascar: Sifakas
Many primates are found only on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Among them are sifakas, which move vertically, leaping on their hind legs when they are on the ground. This program searches for the roots of the sifaka to find how this creature evolved to have this unique movement.
Due to Japan's immensely varied landscape and climate, this island nation developed unique cultural traditions. Many of these are world renowned, but many more remain hidden away deep in the countryside. The best way to discover these secret places—the real Japan—is to go exploring by bicycle.
Th...
Dancers on Fire: Flame Bowerbirds
The island of New Guinea is a paradise for "dancing" birds. They enjoy abundant food and face no natural enemies. In this environment they have developed various displays of courtship. The dance of a flame bowerbird, which has golden plumes and a fiery red face, was considered a legend known only to...
Began in 2006, Darwin's Amazing Animals explores fresh, engaging stories from the animal kingdom. Using the latest filming technology, each episode captures rare moments, and sometimes even world-first footage of animal behavior. The series is also characterized by Charlie, its mascot. Charlie jumps...
Dazzling and Deadly: The Blue Ringed Octopus
The waters of Australia are home to a variety of intriguing octopus and cuttlefish species. One is armed with a special weapon. It's an octopus measuring only 8 cm in length called the blue-ringed octopus. With venom powerful enough to kill humans, this octopus bites and kills prey several times its...
The megamouth shark is a recently discovered species of deep-sea shark. Only 50 specimens have ever been sighted. Many of these sightings took place in Suruga Bay and Sagami Bay, beneath the shadows of Mt. Fuji. These waters have long been known to hold a treasure trove of deepwater sharks. Prehisto...
Desert Survivors: Honey Badger and Namaqua Chameleon
The honey badger of Africa's Kalahari Desert is officially listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most fearless animal on earth. True to its reputation, this little beast coolly devours venomous snakes and even confronts lions head-on. It's staved off hunger and thirst by making a meal ...
Designed to Dance: Birds of Paradise
New Guinea is a true garden of Eden for birds. Some of the most unique are birds of paradise. With plenty of food such as nuts and fruits and very few natural predators, they've been able to leisurely hone their courting skills. The ribbon-tailed astrapia flaps its long white tail feathers, while th...
Do Animals Talk? -- African Elephants, Africa
African elephants inhabit the vast African savanna. According to recent research, elephants converse much like humans. They put several "words" together and convey nuanced messages by using infrasound that is too low to be heard by the human ear. During the dry season, when food and water become sca...
Dragons of the Galapagos: Marine Iguanas
The Galapagos Islands, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, were never connected to the mainland. Here, wildlife evolved on its own distinct path. One of the most unique creatures is the marine iguana. A cold current that runs by the islands creates ideal growth conditions for the algae that flouris...
Echoes of the Forest: Taiwanese Squirrels
The forest in Kenting, which extends across southern Taiwan, is a reservoir of tropical biodiversity. The Taiwanese squirrel has a unique behavior where it uses a specific call for each purpose. For example, if a monkey, eagle or snake approaches, they make different sounds to warn other members of ...
Eco-life in the Trees -- Russian Flying Squirrel, Japan
The Russian Flying Squirrel is about 15 centimeters long, weighs around 100 grams. It glides from tree to tree using a membrane that stretches between the front and back legs. For this ability to glide, the Russian Flying Squirrel has developed an "energy-saving method of movement" that does not req...
Elephants and Humans: Eternal Fellowship -- Elephant, Myanmar
The first reporting by television cameras in the inner reaches of Myanmar captures the lives of elephants working with humans to clear forests. Covering a very wide area, the elephants with their trainers traverse the steep hills of the dense forests. When their work is finished, the elephants retur...
Elusive Feline: Tsushima Leopard Cat
The Tsushima leopard cat is one of the most endangered animals in Japan. Only 60 centimeters long and weighing about four kilograms, it lives exclusively on Tsushima Island in southern Japan. Automatic HD cameras were set up at locations where these cats were known to show up. Running 24 hours a day...
Emperors of the North -- Polar bears, Arctic Ocean
Polar bears live their entire lives in the bitter cold -- temperatures sometimes dropping to 40 degrees Celsius below freezing -- of the Arctic Ocean without ever hibernating. Roaming across the ice fields, they catch seals and other animals for food. Their most special skill is swimming. The sight ...
Evolution in Paradise: Ogasawara Islands
Over millions of years, a unique ecosystem has been created on the Ogasawara Islands of Japan. Many of the animals and plants on the islands cannot be found elsewhere, and one island in particular, Hahajima, has remained untouched. Here, you can find birds such as the Bonin white-eye, which is known...
Explorers of the Deep: Bahamas Blue Holes
Nearly a thousand caves dot the ocean floor near the Bahamas, southeast of the Florida peninsula. These "blue holes" are limestone caves that have formed over the course of 350,000 years. There's little oxygen in the water in these caves, making it incredibly transparent with an over 100-meter visib...
Family Ties: Western Lowland Gorilla
Giant gorillas are remarkable primates. Males routinely weigh more than 200 kilograms. It was once believed that these mighty apes lived only on the ground. But it was discovered that gorillas living in the tropical rainforests of the African nation of Gabon can climb trees as tall as 30 meters in s...
Fateful Journey of the Golden Butterfly -- Monarch Butterflies, Middle-Mexico
Once a year, hundreds of millions of Monarch butterflies gather en masse in forests in central Mexico. They form these huge groups to pass the winter in the warmth of Mexico. When spring comes, they begin their migration to northeastern Canada, 3,500 kilometers away. On their way, they lay their egg...
Fire Bird -- Southern Carmine Bee-eater, Namibia
There is a bird species that amazingly loves dangerous bees and fire. Southern carmine bee-eaters, which are found in Africa, have a particular liking for bees with venomous stingers. They use their beak to catch flying bees midair and they carefully remove the stingers before eating. They are true ...
Fish Springing from Sand Dunes -- Lencois, Brazil
Lencois, located in northeastern Brazil, is known as the whitest dunes on earth. However, when the rain comes every half year, this scenery of pure white sand stretching over 150 thousand hectares completely changes. Countless lagoons are formed, creating a startling contrast between the white sand ...
Fish's Aerial War -- Mudskipper, Japan
Related to gobies, mudskippers inhabit the largest tidelands in Japan and grow to a length of 20 centimeters. Although they are fish, they hardly ever swim, instead preferring to spend their time out of the water and crawling around on land. When two rival mudskippers meet close up, they will sudden...
Let's soak into the fascinating world of fishing while enjoying the rich and diverse natural environments in Japan!
This program takes the viewers on a fun journey through various types of fishing in Japan. Some of the featured fishing techniques are lure fishing in a stream, surf fishing from a ro...
Flash Dance by the Mystery Fish -- Blue-lined Sea Bream, Palau
Off the coast of the tropical Pacific Ocean island of Palau, 100,000 fish suddenly appear out of nowhere and go through a wild, flash dance. The fish are blue-lined sea bream. This fish is brightly colored, with stripes of shimmering blue and yellow. As suddenly as they came, the huge swarm of wildl...
Flash Dance! -- Banded Blue Sprat, Japan
Found in western Japan, the banded blue sprat is a small fish, only about ten centimeters in length. At the beginning of summer every year, millions of these fish are said to appear and spawn in great numbers. Yet exactly when, where, and how does this mass spawning occur? NHK's cameras followed the...
Follow the Footsteps: Blue Wildebeest
In May, when the dry season comes to East Africa's Serengeti plain, vast herds of a particular grazing animal set out to make a thousand-kilometer march north in search of fresh grass. These are blue wildebeests. They travel in herds of over a million head that include many newborns. As they migrate...
Giant Plant Blooming Once a Century -- Puya Raimondii, Peru
Living at 4,000 meters above sea level in the desolate reaches of the Peruvian Andes, the Puya raimondii is the world's largest alpine plant, growing to a height of ten meters. Its leaves grow in the form of a dense, rounded rosette with a diameter of four meters. But in the summer, they show a tota...
Giant Whales Roaming the Seas -- Sperm Whales, Japan
Sperm whales are the only whale species that chooses to live in the deep sea. Descending to depths of 3,000 meters, sperm whales spend two-thirds of their lives deep in the dark abyss of the sea. Their objective is to catch giant squid for food. Because the structure of their bodies is adapted to li...
The Katmai National Park on the Alaska Peninsula is the unprecedented kingdom of brown bears with a population of over 2,000. At the beginning of summer, the brown bears, which usually live independently, gather at rivers looking for sockeye salmon. Watching these huge bears weighing over 400 kilogr...
A midnight program that puts the nation to sleep!
This is an unconventional, counter-intuitive television program, which aims to make viewers sleepy. It's a live talk show, where viewers write and telephone in about what they have on their minds and celebrities discuss these things in the studio....
Grand Journey Across North America: Sandhill Cranes
Every spring, 500,000 sandhill cranes flock along a large river in the midwestern United States. After having wintered in the American South, they stop to build up their strength in preparation for their long journey to Alaska, where they will spend the summer. They also look for mates. Once they re...
Experience the wonders of our incredible planet.
Great Nature is an entirely new kind of natural history series. It introduces some of Earth's most stunning vistas, shows how they were created, and reveals nature's marvels in a style that's bursting with rich detail.
At last, a second series of Gr...
Guardians of the Kelp Forest: Sea Otters
In the state of California, south of San Francisco is Monterey Bay. In this bay is a dense underwater forest of giant kelp -- the largest on Earth. This forest of 60-meter long kelp provides an ideal habitat for sea otters. This program follows a family of sea otters living in close harmony with thi...
Measuring up to 1.3 meters in length and weighing close to 60 kilograms, capybaras are the world's largest living rodents. They live in herds of around 20 individuals in the vast wetland region of Pantanal in Brazil. Known for being laid-back animals, they are most often seen grazing, sleeping, or c...
Photographer Mitsuhiko Imamori has been traveling across Japan to visit and record the splendor of satoyama, an area where nature and human co-exist peacefully. Dedicated to portraying the people' s traditional lifestyles in satoyama, he feels that he must record them now, or they will be lost forev...
Hidden Gems: Brazils Land of Diamonds (Japanese Title : 封印されたダイヤモンドの大地～ブラジル)
Brazil, South America, is home to a region veiled in secrecy where until recently few were allowed to enter. The region's towering cliffs and tumbling waterfalls offer clues to a rich geological past, but the most sparkling secrets are hidden within the sand -- for this is a land of diamonds; a worl...
Home to Richly-Colored Birds: Terraced Rice Paddies of Bali
Thousands of beautiful terraced rice paddies line the base of Mount Agung, the highest mountain in Bali, Indonesia. It's a truly breathtaking scene. Because of the abundance of water, rice can be harvested three times a year here. These rice paddies are also an oasis for a wide variety of living cre...
Hoppers in the Savanna -- Jackson's Widowbird, Kenya
n the African Savanna, there are birds that display a strange courtship behavior. They are the Jackson's widowbird. The males gather in the grassland and continuously jump up and down, using their splendid tail feathers to impress the females. While in the air, their long tail feathers catch the bre...
Hunter in Rural Japan: Grey-faced Buzzard
The grey-faced buzzard is found in the rural area of Tochigi Prefecture in central Japan. Compared with other birds of prey, the buzzard is not a very skillful hunter. It survives by taking full advantage of its habitat, the "satoyama," forest and land which are blessed with a biodiversity only mode...
Hunting Art of the Marsh Harrier
Rice paddies and water that supports the landscape constitute typical rural scenes in Japan. A variety of small animals live here as well as many birds of prey. Among these birds is the marsh harrier, a member of the hawk family. Skillfully using its habitat, the marsh harrier displays its artistic ...
I'll Still Love You Ten Years from Now
Have you ever wished you could change your past? Rika has no luck with men. She even has a suspicious man lurking around. The man suddenly claims that he is her future husband Hiroshi, who has time-slipped back from 10 years in the future to prevent their marriage! But the future Hiroshi bumbles his...
The Western Ghats are a 1000-mile mountain range that runs down the West Coast of India. They have been a haven for ancient creatures like the giant purple frogs, which have lived here since the time of the dinosaurs. When India joined onto Asia around 40 million years ago, the Ghats served as a for...
Ingenious Aerial Hunters: Birds of Borneo
In the tropical rainforests Southeast Asian island of Borneo, April is the season when the birds raise their young. They utilize many different techniques when hunting. The greater racket-tailed drongo, known for its long tail, takes aim at the insects in low-lying bushes. The dollarbird skillfully ...
Into the Unknown: Mysterious Underground Caves -- Bahamas "Blue Holes"
Following a survey team, we explore the mysterious wonders of the underwater caves called "blue holes" that are scattered throughout the Bahamas, including their beautiful transparent stalactites.
Japan is a chain of islands born of violent tectonic forces and buffeted by the most extreme climate. This is the story of how ancient animals and new arrivals evolved strategies to overcome extremes of land and climate to survive on the world's most dramatic and breathtakingly beautiful island arcs...
Journey into Danger: Buffalo vs. Lion
Along the Chobe River in Botswana, Africa, fierce battles are waged between lions and buffaloes. During the dry season, the Chobe River attracts huge herds of buffaloes with enormous horns that come in search of water and grass. However the mighty lions are already at the scene waiting patiently for...
クイズ!丸をつけるだけ
All you have to do is simply circle the answer in the picture! (Don’t worry, the answer is ALWAYS there!) This is a new type of quiz show that anyone can enjoy. Participate from your smartphones and computers! Invite family and friends to join in! Have fun together while watching TV!
Kilimanjaro's Superherd: African Elephants
アフリカ キリマンジャロ山麓 楽園のゾウ 大集結の謎を追う
At the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles is about to begin. Around three hundred African elephants are coming together to form a superherd and in a matter of days, they'll fill these fertile lands. As far as the eye can see a never-ending herd of elephants em...
King of the Northern Skies: Steller's Sea Eagle
With a wingspan of 2.5 meters and weighing an incredible 8 kilograms, the Steller's sea eagle is the world's largest eagle. They're found in the Sakhalin region of eastern Russia. There are only 6,000 of these majestic birds remaining. Rare footage of Steller's sea eagles rearing their chicks was ca...
In the middle of the North American continent, across a prairie stretching 3,000 kilometers from north to south, live the awesome American bison. Also known as the buffalo, these impressive animals are familiar to many from old western movies.
Although some 60 million bison once dominated the prair...
Out of a shop window display come two yarn fairies, Knit and Wool! With a flick of a crochet hook, magical things start to happen. In the stop-motion animated world made entirely of knitted yarn, things are created then unraveled, then re-knitted into new things to everyone’s enjoyment!
Land of Extremes: Ethiopia (Japanese Title : エチオピア大横断～地球３０００万年の鼓動に迫る～)
Ethiopia -- the scorched earth of Africa. This is a place where temperatures soar to more than 55 degrees Celsius while at the same time cooler high-altitude lakes feed some of Africa's most spectacular waterfalls. For the past 30 million years, volcanic activity has created a uniquely diverse terra...
Land of Fire Mountains: Java, Indonesia (Japanese Title : 火山密集 ジャワ島1000キロを行く～インドネシア～)
The island of Java in Indonesia lies above four tectonic plates: the Eurasian, Pacific, Australian, and Philippine Sea plates. This mighty convergence gives rise to one of the most volcanically active places on earth. When the volcanic island of Krakatau last erupted in the late 19th century, it sen...
Late Night Show with Nitty & Gritty
People have their obsessions. Some have pasts. Many may not be "worthy" of mainstream television coverage, but we often read about them buzzing on social media. This show encourages and celebrates these weird, dark, niche, and definitely underground ways of life through a candid talk show using pupp...
Life at Desert's Edge: Ghost Crabs
The desert comes right up against the sea along the coast in the Middle Eastern country of Oman. Small mounds in the sand about 30 centimeters high can be seen for 25 kilometers all down the coastline. These mounds are made by male ghost crabs to attract females. The males are engaged in a tough com...
LIFE FORCE is a celebration of the power of evolution. An exploration of the forces that shape life in all its unexpected glory.
This breath-taking series is a groundbreaking cross-genre fusion of blue-chip natural history and cutting edge science documentary. Viewers are transported to six stran...
Imagine a place where centuries of human activity have shaped the land, yet where people and nature exist in harmony. People in such places have transformed the land to fit their needs but have also carefully maintained nature. This human-shaped environment offers a unique habitat that supports a mu...
Life in Harmony with Nature: Bamboo Forest -- Yunnan Province, China
Imagine a place where centuries of human activity have shaped the land, yet where people and nature exist in harmony. People in such places have transformed the land to fit their needs but have also carefully maintained nature. This human-shaped environment offers a unique habitat that supports a mu...
Life in Harmony with Nature: Secrets of the Forest -- Finland
Imagine a place where centuries of human activity have shaped the land, yet where people and nature exist in harmony. People in such places have transformed the land to fit their needs but have also carefully maintained nature. This human-shaped environment offers a unique habitat that supports a mu...
Life in Harmony with Nature: Wetland Meadows -- Poland
Imagine a place where centuries of human activity have shaped the land, yet where people and nature exist in harmony. People in such places have transformed the land to fit their needs but have also carefully maintained nature. This human-shaped environment offers a unique habitat that supports a mu...
Life in Kalinzu Forest: Uganda's Chimpanzees
Uganda, a richly forested country with year-round precipitation due to the presence of Lake Victoria, lies just below the equator on a plateau about 1,100 meters above sea level. Wild chimpanzees that are threatened with extinction live in its forests. These chimpanzees have the rare characteristics...
Life in the Jungle Canopy: Kinkajou
A vast untouched jungle extends out just from the edge of the Panama Canal in Central America. With its big eyes, the sweet-looking kinkajou, which is related to the raccoon, lives in the canopy of trees at 30 meters above the ground. In the middle of the night, the kinkajou moves nimbly from branch...
Life of the Inuit -- A Year in the Arctic
Siorapaluk is the world's northernmost village. It lies in the great ice-covered land known as Greenland. It's home to 51 Inuits who hunt the Arctic waters for seal and walrus for their food, clothing, and fuel. Their hunting techniques have been passed down from generation to generation. In autumn ...
Life on the Savannah: Big Cats
The vast east African savannah is the only place in the world where "big cats" -- lions, leopards and cheetahs -- can be seen in a single location.
The abundant source of food is the reason why these cats, which reign at the top of the food chain, can survive. The endless grassland gives them life....
Life Under Giant Whirlpools: Saltstraumen
The west coast of Norway is made up of fjords, which are known for their unique configurations and terrain. In the northern fjords, swirling currents reach speeds of 50 kilometers per hour - some of the fastest and strongest in the world. In these violent waters, a variety of creatures live. Jellyfi...
いいね！光源氏くん
My roommate is a handsome aristocrat from another era!
One day, ordinary office worker Saori is dozing off in her room when a stranger in period costume steps in! What the...? But the good-looking intruder reminds Saori of Hikaru Genji, the playboy protagonist of a novel from Japan's Heian period...
Living on the Edge: Tara Canyon
Over the centuries, the emerald green Tara River in Montenegro on the Balkan Peninsula has etched a canyon 1,300 meters deep. The views throughout the Tara Canyon are spectacular. Up to 700 varieties of plants blanket its undulating hills. Herds of chamois live on the steep slopes where no human can...
Lizard Dashing on Water -- Basilisk, Costa Rica
Living in the jungles of Costa Rica, the basilisk lizards, which reach around 80 centimeters in length, have the amazing ability to run on the surface of water with their two hind feet. To capture this feat, NHK used an ultra-high-speed camera that can take pictures at one-millionth of a second. You...
Love Ballet on Water -- Grebe, United States
When the season of love arrives, male and female western grebes and Clark's grebes dash together across the water. To win a female's approval, the male must move in unison with her. As soon as she starts to move away, he follows trying to stay right next to her and not fall behind. The female will c...
Love-warrior of the Rocky Mountains: Greater Sage-grouse
The greater sage-grouse inhabit the 'high desert' regions of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. Their behavior becomes quite unique during the breeding season. Males advertise themselves by inflating and deflating the air sacs on their chests, creating popping sounds. Only the strongest male ...
Based on a best seller picture book the bears' school, which sold over 2 million copies, the all new TV animation called LULU & LOLO -- TINY TWIN BEARS will soon be released!
Twin bear sisters Lulu and Lolo are hard workers but are also quick to cry. Lulu is an orange bear. Lolo is yellow. They lov...
[TREASURE BOX JAPAN｜miptv2015 Format]
You are what you eat!
By late morning, the sound of growling tummies can distract even the hardest workers. But take a look around, and you’ll find that everyone has a unique lunch routine. In NHK’s "Lunch On!", you‘ll get to see the what, how, and where of ...
Macro-evolution of Small Birds -- Darwin's Finches, Galapagos
Darwin's finches, the small birds that live on the Galapagos Islands, are remarkable for the many changes that the size and shape of their beaks have undergone. Seeing these birds in the middle of the 19th century helped Darwin develop his theory of evolution, which maintained that the "sizes and sh...
Madagascar became the land of lemurs through the accidental arrival of one small group of primates 60 million years ago. Cycles of tumultuous geological and climatic events caused the foundation family to mutate into over 100 species of lemurs through a series of evolutionary processes.
Magnificent Wings in the Sky -- Golden Eagle, Japan
With only 400 of the species remaining, Japan's most powerful bird of prey, the Golden Eagle, is threatened with extinction. Over a one-year period, NHK's cameramen succeeded in photographing a pair of Golden Eagle raising their young, which is difficult to observe, even from afar. The young eagle, ...
Major 17-year Outbreak -- Cicadas, The USA
In May 2007, some widely reported news had all of America talking when huge swarms of cicadas suddenly blanketed the sky over a residential area of Chicago. A reported seven billion cicadas had appeared. Cicadas have the unusual habit of showing themselves in great numbers like this only once every ...
A fun, fact-filled guide to the world of mammals for kids!
There are about 5,000 species of mammals worldwide, including us humans. All have developed unique bodies and skills to survive in the wild -- a result of adapting to the natural environment and climate. A CG-generated Granddad character tr...
March of the Masses: Great Spider Crabs
In June, an intriguing phenomenon occurs in the waters off Melbourne, Australia. A swarm, some 100,000 strong, of great spider crabs covers a stretch of seafloor. They each measure about 20 centimeters wide. Their legs can extend up to 40 centimeters. When faced by predators many of this sprawling p...
Marimo: Mysterious Living Spheres
Mysteriously spherical in shape, Marimo, or "moss balls," are freshwater algae found in just a few locations around the world. One of these places is the bottom of Lake Akan in Hokkaido, Japan, where the marimo colony has been designated a special natural treasure. Scientists from around the world a...
Master Hunter of the North: Crested Kingfishers
Much of the Chitose River in Hokkaido consists of spring water. This water rarely freezes, even in the middle of winter. Crested kingfishers make this river their permanent home. These kingfishers are about the size of pigeons. A high-speed camera was used to document how they hunt, capturing their ...
Masters of Mimicry: The Insects of Costa Rica
The Central American tropical forests of Costa Rica have rich biodiversity. For small insects, it's also a place filled with predators like reptiles and birds. Some insects have evolved in unique ways to protect themselves. They have become mimics. They mimic other animals and natural things to dece...
Surrounded by 2,000 meter-high mountains, the "miraculous wetlands" of Oze lie just 150 kilometers away from Tokyo. But this Shangri-la of green fields, dotted with crystal-clear ponds, seems a world away. Mist and sunshine create "white" rainbows on summer mornings and at night the Milky Way is mir...
Modern Day Eden: A Japanese Temple Garden
Japanese gardens are internationally famed for their beauty and core ideas. Recently they are noted for another function - an ecosystem for living nature. The garden at Honen-in Temple in Kyoto embraces many animals and plants living together in harmony, creating "a mandala of life in a limited spac...
Monster Black Holes -- The Invisible Hands of the Universe
Monster black holes contain several million to ten billion times the mass of our Sun. They've been discovered in the center of many galaxies, each with their own hundreds of billions of stars. Observations have shown that the mass of monster black holes stands in proportion to the mass of their gala...
Mt. Fuji: A World Heritage Site Blessed with Water
Mount Fuji has recently been included as a site on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Water is the key to understanding why the mountain is worshipped and why it continues to be an artistic inspiration. Standing alone in solitary grandeur, Mount Fuji receives a lot of rainfall throughout the year and a...
At 3,776 m high, Mt. Fuji is Japan's highest mountain. With nothing comparable surrounding it, the beautifully shaped Mount Fuji towers in splendid isolation and has become the symbol of Japan. But do you know the real beauty of Mount Fuji? NHK knows Mt. Fuji as well as anyone. Masterfully capturing...
Mystical Lands of Stone: China (Japanese Title : 奇跡の絶景“石の海”“石の森”～中国 奇岩地帯を飛ぶ～)
Southern China -- home to some of nature's greatest landscapes. In one part of China, a sea of strange stones washes over the undulating landscape, and in another, an alien forest of precipitous rocks towers 400 meters above the ground. To unravel the mysteries of these geological wonders, a team of...
Whales that can dive 3,000 meters down to the depths of the sea. The world's smallest monkeys using wits to survive in the Amazon, which no other monkeys have. Polar bears that run wild in the world's most frigid regions. There are many such surprising stories of these "legends" found in nature. Eac...
The second series of Nature Wonder Land is released with a new line-up of programs on wildlife the entire family can enjoy. From the Sahara Desert, the Baja California Peninsula, Madagascar, the Galapagos Islands, and elsewhere, the series captures the unique habitats of animals around the world. Fe...
Hidden in nature lie many astonishing tales one is tempted to call myths.
The Nature Wonder Land series has revealed many such truths. In this third collection, new characters take the stage: the Hippopotamuses of Tanzania, as many as 1,200 gathering in one place at one time; the innocent-looking,...
Many amazing stories about nature await telling. With the popularity of the past three series, series 4 is now available. The new series has again uncovered many of the nature's legends. Entering the worlds of creatures that no one has even seen before, Nature Wonder Land shows viewers their power a...
NHK proudly presents its 5th Nature Wonder Land series. This unique nature series uncovers the fascinating stories of a wide range of animals from Africa, Asia, Europe, America, and elsewhere. Viewers will enter the worlds of creatures rarely seen before and marvel at their power and beauty.
Epis...
NHK proudly presents its 6th Nature Wonder Land series. This unique nature series uncovers the fascinating stories of a wide range of animals from Africa, Asia, Oceania, America, and elsewhere. Viewers will enter the worlds of creatures rarely seen before and marvel at their power and beauty.
Epi...
NHK proudly presents its 7th Nature Wonder Land series. This unique nature series uncovers the fascinating stories of a wide range of animals from Africa, Asia, Oceania, Americas and Europe. Viewers will enter the worlds of creatures rarely seen before and marvel at their power and beauty.
Episod...
NHK proudly presents its 8th Nature Wonder Land series. This unique nature series uncovers the fascinating stories of a wide range of animals from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. Viewers will enter the worlds of creatures rarely seen before and marvel at their power and beauty.
Episode list:
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Nature's Evolving Wonders -- The Great Canyons of America
Exploring the deep gorge in North America that is famous for its Grand Canyon, this program features the "vibrant ground" that cannot be experienced on regular sightseeing tours.
New Zealand -- a fairytale archipelago with a turbulent geological past. A land with astonishing creatures; flightless birds and creatures of the night; living fossils and dinosaurs... Evolution has run wild on this land of isolation and today some of the world's most unusual animals can be found on...
Original story by Sobei Amako’s long selling comics “Rakudai Ninja Rantaro”. This long TV animation series has been aired on NHK since 1993 and is always highly viewed children’s animations on NHK ever since.
This is the story of the Ninja-boy-and-girl-to-be, but is not too serious and rather ve...
On the Edge of Survival: Brazil's Wild Dogs
The cerrado is a tropical savanna region stretching from the eastern side of the Andes Mountains. It is called a treasure trove of life because of the diverse animal life found there. Among this fauna are wild dogs that are rarely seen. They include the maned wolf, characterized by its long legs and...
On the Edge! Spectacular Oceanic Volcano -- New Zealand
Landing by helicopter on White Island, one of the world's largest marine volcanoes, the camera goes right to the crater's edge to provide a thrilling you-are-there experience with roaring sound.
Our Street Smart Neighbors: Sparrows
Sparrows are among Japan's most common wild birds. Only 15 centimeters in length, they demonstrate tremendous vitality and ingenuity. During breeding season, they might build their nests under the eaves of houses or even in on a traffic signal. But their toughest season is the winter, when they face...
The Falkland Islands, in the south Atlantic, are a haven for penguins. Five unique species of penguin breed in this area. Among them are rockhopper penguins, which can scale steep cliffs; gentoo penguins that run across the grassland; and large, 95-centimeter tall king penguins. During the summer wh...
Precious Blue: The Caribbean Sea -- Bonding with the Sperm Whale
Underwater videographer Ai Futaki films the world's oceans by freediving. She insists on working without air tanks so that the natural behavior of ocean creatures can be captured without being disturbed by the bubbles and sounds of her breathing. Futaki's close-up footage revealing the amazing expre...
Prey vs. Predators: Survival on the Serengeti
In the vast plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania, the dramatic struggle between prey and predator is played out every day. With the start of the rainy season in November, herds of wildebeests, zebras, and Thomson's gazelles gather here seeking fresh pastures. Waiting for them are the predators, inclu...
The coastlines of the Japanese archipelago stretch for a total of 34,000 kilometers. From icy waters to coral reefs and 10,000-meter deep waters, the diverse marine environment can be seen along these coasts. This episode captures the various animals, fish, and birds living along the coasts of the J...
Rabbits vs. Stoats: War in the British Countryside
Seventy percent of the English landscape is countryside. Built by human hands over a thousand years, this is a place where the drama of life unfolds. The battles between stoats and rabbits are particularly fierce. Stoats belong to the weasel family, and despite their cute appearance are vicious hunt...
Raging "Black Storm" -- The Gobi Desert, Mongolia
The program documents an attempt to record the "black storms," the huge sandstorms that appear every spring in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, and reveal the truth behind them.
Rainforest Warriors: Army Ants
Hordes of tiny terrors march through the rainforest: they are army ants. Known as the most feared animals in the equatorial forests of Ecuador, they hack and dice any unfortunate prey that gets in their path and bring the remains back to their nest.
When they wipe out all food sources around the ne...
Realm of the Rat Catchers: Ethiopian Wolves
エチオピアの高地 幻のジャッカル 驚異の狩りを見た
The windswept plains of the Ethiopian highlands may look deserted, but they are in fact crowded with life. The plains are home to one of the world's rarest animals: the Ethiopian wolf. Less than 500 Ethiopian wolves are thought to exist, but here on the plains they have mastered the art of survival ...
REGENERATION: From Bullets to Brotherhood
Cape Town is caught in the grip of endless turf wars between dozens of gangs. The police and government have been unable to break the cycle of murder, robbery, gun-running, and drug trafficking. One man making a difference is Andie Steele-Smith, a businessman and pastor who braves the dangers of the...
Reigning the Amazon River: Giant Otters
南米アマゾン オオカワウソ 家族の団結で子どもを守れ
The Amazon River Basin is crowded with rare and extraordinary wildlife. One unique animal has mastered the art of survival -- giant otters. Follow a family of otters, discover their secrets, and see how life changes when new faces arrive. The whole family teach the pups to swim and no one can fall b...
Return of the Giants: The Indian Rhinoceros
The Chitwan National Park stretches along the base of the Himalayas. This vast expanse of wetland is home to the endangered Indian rhinoceros. Weighing up to three tons, these massive beasts look like they're wearing body armors. Because they spend most of their time hiding deep in the wetlands, sig...
Return to Shark Island: Elephant Seals
The small Pacific island of Guadalupe off the coast of Mexico isn't normally the site of life-or-death drama. But in winter huge elephant seals arrive here to breed. The dominant male, a big bull is nearly five meters long and weighs over two tons. In order to leave as many offspring as possible, th...
Riches of the Reef: Indonesia's Raja Ampat (Japanese Title : “奇跡の海”謎に迫る～インドネシア ラジャ・アンパット～)
Indonesia's Raja Ampat is home to some of the most spectacular marine life in the world. It is known as "the Miracle Sea," and a team of filmmakers from Japan will find out why as they dive into this secret world for the first time. They'll reveal the riches of the glowing coral reefs that light up ...
Running Along an Icy Cliff: Mountain Goat
In the Rocky Mountains of North America, steep cliffs were carved by glaciers. A snow-white mountain goat skips confidently along these rocks. Mountain goats' physical features help them survive in this rocky alpine environment. They have special hoofs that prevent them from slipping and long hair t...
Russia's Heart of Fire: The Kamchatka Peninsula
Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire where most of the world's volcanoes can be found. It's a land densely clustered with volcanoes -- many still active. While making this program, the camera crew was able to capture footage from the sky and on the ground. They even go...
The mighty Iguazu Falls form the border between Argentina and Brazil. Battling storm-like winds and sprays of water, thousands of Great Dusky Swifts rush towards the falls. These swallow-like birds can fly up to 170 kilometers an hour, making them the fastest birds in the world. Even at that speed, ...
Nature is rich in blessings but can also be harmful to human life. People across Japan have been resilient, learning their lessons and passing them on for generations. Their countless efforts to cope with the harsh environment eventually created a world of bounty -- a world that's sustained by a del...
Satoyama: Japan's Secret Forest
In Japan, there are still many places where people quietly live with nature, making the most of the country's unique natural environments. At the heart of such places are Satoyama, small forested mountains blessed with rich nature moderately modified by human hand.
Praised as being a traditional ru...
Search for the Big-city Raccoon Dogs -- Raccoon Dogs, Japan
Spottings of raccoon dogs occur fairly regularly in Tokyo. Moreover, it turns out that railroad tracks are actually indispensable for these urban raccoon dogs' daily life. A parent raccoon dog skillfully uses the tracks to collect food to feed its lovely baby raccoon dogs, which are finally able to ...
Secrets of the Stag: Hokkaido Sika Deer
In Hokkaido, Japan lies Shiretoko. It's a natural World Heritage site where the Hokkaido sika deer thrives. In the fall, 150-kilogram stags engage in fierce battles. They clash with each other using their enormous, 70-centimeter long antlers. Only the victors get to mate. Every spring males lose the...
Secrets of the Waterside: The Canals of England
The canals that crisscross England have long supported rich natural habitats. Along the Macclesfield Canal, in Central England, diving rodents called water voles hunt for prey below the water's surface. Kingfishers alight on the trees that line the banks, intently eying the flowing water, then swoop...
Seeking the Source: The Mighty Amazon (Japanese Title : 神秘の大河 アマゾン ３つの不思議に迫る)
Set off on an adventure to explore deep inside Peru, South America. Travel along the Amazon, the largest river in the world, and take a closer look at its relatively unknown mid-to upstream regions. The journey begins upstream from Iquitos at an elevation of only 100 meters and then continues for a ...
Siamese Fighting Fish -- Betta, Thailand
Bettas grow to about 6 cm in length and are beautifully colored. They live in ponds and wetland areas of Southeast Asia. These fish are also known as "fighting fish" because the males will aggressively fight over territory; however, they are also surprisingly doting fathers. Air is a key element not...
Were "little green men" trying to contact us? Over 40 years ago, extremely constant pulses were detected reaching the Earth from outer space. It caused a great sensation. Speculation was that the signals were coming from intelligent life somewhere in outer space. Scientists conducted careful investi...
Singing Apes -- Agile Gibbon, Indonesia
The thick tropical forest on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia is home to the agile gibbon, a species of primates with a beautiful singing voice. With a flowing melody and powerful voice that can be heard within an area of several kilometers square, singing bouts can last for more than thirty minut...
Sophisticated Farmers: Leafcutter Ants
パナマ熱帯雨林 森の賢者ハキリアリ 巨大農場を作る
Deep in the tropical forests of Central America lives an extraordinary creature -- the leafcutter ant. For over 50 million years, it has been part and parcel of this jungle terrain, cultivating the land and creating a labyrinth of underground farms. Unlike other species of ant, leafcutter ants produ...
Spectacular Leap of an Ancient Fish -- Arowana, Amazon
Growing to one meter in length, Arowana have lived in the Amazon for over 100 million years with hardly any changes in their anatomy. Amazingly, they can explode out of the water and leap high in the air with tremendous energy. This episode thoroughly analyzes the surprising mechanism propelling the...
Splendor in the Dark -- Flashlight Fish, The Philippines
On a dark, moonless night, off the coast of Mactan Island, Philippines, one can witness an intriguing sight. Countless scintillating lights shine through the water's surface, creating a mystical display of flickering light -- it's a school of flashlight fish. Because these fish normally hide in deep...
Staggering Rifts in the Ground -- Iceland, Island of Volcanoes
Featuring spectacular images that have never been shown before, this program visits Iceland and presents volcanoes that are the major natural force creating new land.
Stalking the Savannah: Birds That Choose Not To Fly
The endless savannah stretching to the horizon in southwestern Kenya is home to several bird species that can fly but mostly don't. With their long legs, secretary birds find insects and reptiles hiding in the grass. They even hunt for venomous snakes. Ground hornbills use their strong bills to dig ...
Startling Underground Life -- Moles, Japan
Moles make pitch-black underground tunnels and crevices their homes. Although everyone knows what a mole is, almost no one knows anything about how they live. Using special cameras, NHK's cameramen capture the astonishing behavior of moles -- from their fierce battles among themselves to their escap...
Strong Brotherly Bonds: Cheetahs
A cheetah running all-out can reach speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour. Female cheetahs mainly rely on this speed when persuing prey. Male cheetahs, on the other hand, use their muscular strength and power when hunting. This program closely follows a pair of male cheetahs in the day and at ...
Strong Family Ties -- Acorn Woodpecker, United States
Acorn woodpeckers in the United States have the unique behavior of drilling holes into trees and stuffing them with acorns. These holes become giant granaries in which a woodpecker family will store a few thousand acorns. The acorns serve as survival food during winter, and as a convenient food supp...
Success from Scratch -- Black-backed Jackal, Tanzania
Living in the Serengeti Plain of Tanzania, the black-backed jackal has a unique way of raising its young. One of the offspring born the previous year will remain in the lair and help to raise the pups of their parents. This helper will sweat blood -- sometimes literally -- to help raise the pups, ca...
Super Small Clever Monkeys -- Pygmy Marmosets, Amazon
Living along the upper reaches of the Amazon River, pygmy marmosets are the smallest monkey species, weighing only about 120 grams and measuring around 14 centimeters in length. But they possess a cleverness -- and a patience -- that no other monkeys can imitate. Their food of choice is tree sap. Af...
Survival in the Ice Kingdom: Polar Bears
Polar bears are the largest land carnivores in the world. In the fall, 900 individuals gather along the Canadian coast, waiting for the annual sea ice to form so they can hunt. The polar bears may seem active, but their bodies are in a state of hibernation so they must call upon their unique ability...
Survival Strategy: Humpback Whale
Recently the unique behavior of humpback whales has been frequently spotted near the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada. With its head down, this huge whale lifts its tail fin out of the water and slaps it down with an enormous splash. The whales even coordinate their movements lik...
The "Rainscaped" Island of Rainbows -- The Hawaiian Island of Kauai
The Hawaiian island of Kauai boasts the rainiest spot on Earth. The program introduces its stunning scenery created by the rainfall and attempts to capture a mysterious phenomenon, a rainbow at night.
鎌倉殿の13人
12th century, Japan. Charismatic leader Minamoto no Yoritomo founds the Kamakura Shogunate, shifting the political powerbase from Kyoto to the east. Behind this military feat are thirteen vassals. But after the superstar shogun's death, a fierce power struggle erupts. The one out of the Thirteen who...
The Namib Desert of southwestern Africa is one of the harshest and driest places on Earth. Despite this, it is home to numerous creatures large and small and over a thousand different plant species. This unique coastal desert was formed by a cold ocean current that prevent rainfall. But the same oce...
The Bee Bird -- Hummingbird, Costa Rica
"Jewel of the Jungle" -- the hummingbird has earned this name due to its shimmering feathers. Called the "bee bird" in Japanese, these living jewels share many characteristics with the bee. They feed on the nectar of flowers and generate a bee-like hum when hovering around a flower.With the latest s...
Journey to Australia's southern ocean and uncover one of its best-kept secrets -- a natural phenomenon called the "Bonney Upwelling" that sparks a feeding frenzy all the way up the food chain to the planet's largest living creature, the Blue Whale. With a heart the size of a Volkswagen, a tongue tha...
The Breathing Pulse of the Earth -- Ethiopia
This program focuses on the boiling lava lake of an Ethiopian volcano, a place where you can feel the power of the Earth breathing. We also climb a steep cliff to find traces of crustal movement.
The Chameleon Desert: Namibia (Japanese Title : ナミブ 七色に輝く不思議な砂漠)
The Namib Desert stretches far along the Atlantic coast of southern Africa. One area in particular, the Namib Sand Sea in Namibia, a recent addition to the World Heritage list, is a gigantic store of one trillion cubic meters of sand that produces the world's most beautiful sand dunes. These sand du...
The Chameleon of the Sea -- Mimic Octopus, Indonesia
The mimic octopus is a remarkable octopus that can transform itself to impersonate over ten other types of creatures, including flounder, sea snake, lionfish, and sea anemone. Why does it change itself so often? What happens when it meets a creature it is imitating? This program closely follows the ...
The Easy Life at the Equator -- Chameleon, Kenya
The central highlands of Kenya right on the equator. In the cool forests of 2000-meter high mountains, Jackson chameleons with three enormous horns make it their habitat. With lightning speed, they shoot out their 30-centimeter tongue to catch a prey. However, every other move they make is extremely...
The Fateful Journey: Hokkaido Brown Bear
A thriving population of approximately 200 Hokkaido brown bear reside on the Shiretoko Peninsula, a World Heritage Site in Hokkaido. It was here that NHK spent four years filming the lives of young male brown bear siblings. From the bears' moment of independence from their mother to food scarcity ca...
The Fisher-monster -- Alligator Snapping Turtle, U.S.A.
Okefenokee Swamp straddles the Georgia-Florida border in the United States. Here lives the alligator snapping turtle. Their carapace can grow up to 80 centimeters long and they can weigh up to 100 kilograms. They're one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world. Also known as adept fishers, the...
The Flying Fisherman -- Osprey, Japan
The osprey is the only hawk in the world that actually dives into the water to catch fish. The osprey hovers fairly high above the water, and when it spots its prey, it swoops down, reaching speeds of 60 kilometers per hour, and dives into the water, grabbing large fish with its sharp talons. The se...
The Flying Super Cat -- Caracal, Namibia
The caracal is a wild cat living in arid zones mainly in Africa. Although only slightly larger than domesticated cats, the caracal boasts amazing hunting skills. It can even catch prey the same size as it is with a cheetah-like spurt of speed. It can also leap up to three meters in the air to snag a...
The giant squid is a perfect example of what is still a deep-sea mystery in the 21st century. Reaching amazing lengths of up to 18 meters, they are the largest squid in the world, yet they have never been seen alive in the deep sea. One of best chances in the world of encountering a giant squid is i...
Far beneath Tokyo Bay lies a giant ravine: the Tokyo Submarine Canyon, 1,000 meters deep and 40 kilometers long. In these isolated depths, underwater life-forms have maintained their ancient shapes and characteristics.
Scientists have been pursuing one such creature in particular, known in the West...
The Great Thaw: Siberia (Japanese Title : 極寒シベリア～一瞬の夏のスペクタクル)
Siberia is one of the coldest regions in the world, and the effect this has on the land is dramatic. Every winter, the mighty Lena River freezes, but as spring arrives, the rising temperatures cause an incredible change to take place in what is known locally as Redahoto -- the Great Thaw. What begin...
The Great Wallower -- Hippopotamus, Tanzania
At the Katavi National Park in Tanzania, the river dries up during dry season, and pods of hippos jostle for wallowing space in the shrinking pools. Up to 1,200 individuals gather at the largest pool. This is in fact the greatest concentration of hippos assembled in a single location. And for the fi...
The Home of the Largest Trees in the World -- California, USA
Many of California's giant trees are recognized as being No. 1 in the world for some special feature. Tree-climbing techniques were used to capture images of the trees all the way up to 100 meters.
The House of Glass (Japanese Title : ガラスの家)
Despite her undeniable beauty and powerful presence, Rei is lonely all her life. One day, she meets Kazunari, a high-level bureaucrat and widower. They marry and she moves into his house, where he lives with his two grown-up sons. Rei's presence is about to wreak havoc on her new family.
NHK's ne...
The Kazinga Channel: Hippo Paradise
In the savannah of western Uganda, Africa, there's a place known as "Hippo Paradise." There are more than 5,000 hippos living there. Females spend seven years caring for their calves. They not only carry their young piggyback-style through the water they live in, but they suckle their young beneath ...
The Largest Cavern in the World -- Vietnam's Hang Son Doong Cave
The Son Doong Cave in Vietnam was recognized as the world's largest cave in 2010. The program presents amazing images from deep inside the cave filmed for the first time using high-definition cameras.
The Lure Fishing Fish -- Frogfish, Japan
Even though they themselves are fish, frogfish catch other fish. Growing up to only around 10 centimeters in length, frogfish are a type of anglerfish. Difficult to detect, we took up the challenge of filming them in the waters off the coast of Japan. Their chief characteristic is the rods, which lo...
The Matchless Marsupial: Koala
A representative animal in the Otway Forest, south of Melbourne, Australia, is the koala. Here, their population density is extremely high, with up to six individuals living in a single tree. In this koala paradise, males are amazingly active as they grunt, chase each other on the ground, and engage...
The Nebra Sky Disc -- Mysterious Astronomical Device
About a decade ago, a mysterious bronze disk with astronomical markings was discovered in Germany. It's 30 centimeters in diameter and 5 centimeter thick and is inlaid with gold decorations of the sun, the moon and stars. Named the Nebra Sky Disc after the place where it was found, this disk is surp...
The Ninja Birds of Kakadu: Comb-crested Jacanas
Kakadu National Park is located in the northernmost part of Australia. During the rainy season, when vast expanses of wetland appear and many aquatic insects and fish emerge, aquatic birds arrive to feed on them and breed. Among them is the Comb-crested Jacana. These unique birds use their long toes...
The Ocean's Gentle Giant: Whale Shark
Large numbers of giant whale sharks, which can grow to a length of 13 meters, converge in Donsol Bay at Luzon Island in the Philippines. These fish are thought to live independently in the open sea, but there are still many unanswered questions about their way of life - such as why they congregate i...
The Peace Lover -- Giant Anteater, Brazil
With its long face and 60-centimeter-long tongue, the giant anteater of South America cuts a rare figure that is unlike any other creature. As its name suggests, it eats only termites and ants. After closely following this animal over a long period in the great savanna of Brazil, we found two key wo...
The Phantom of the Savanna -- Giant Armadillo, Brazil
Covered by its massive armor, the giant armadillo, up to 1.5 meters long, lives in the Brazilian savanna and can burrow furiously in the ground to make its home and find food. Because of their small numbers and timid natures, they seem to be phantomlike animal that people almost never see. For over ...
The Playful King of Parrots -- Scarlet Macaw, Peru
The striking scarlet macaw inhabits the Amazon jungle of South America. One meter in length from head to tail, it is sometimes called the "king of parrots" because of its richly colored plumage. Researchers say that the scarlet macaw greatly enjoys "play." Hanging upside down from branches, the scar...
The Power of Honey -- Japanese Honeybees, Japan
Building their hives in the hollows of tree in forests and groves, Japanese honeybees live in huge colonies of 20,000 bees. During one year, one colony stores up to five kilograms of honey in its hive. Why do they produce so much honey? The answer lies in an astonishing survival strategy that allows...
The Scorpion Hunter -- Meerkat, South Africa
Meerkats live in large families in the deserts of Africa. These innocent-looking animals actually mainly feed on scorpions. Recent studies have shown that the adults "educate" their young on how to hunt. The pups are given a series of assignments with gradually increasing levels of difficulty. This ...
The Seafarer -- Kerama Deer, Japan
The Kerama Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean in the southwest of Japan are home to a natural monument, the Kerama deer. Surprisingly, these deer are excellent swimmers and swim between islands. Unfortunately, due to fast currents, some drown before making it to dry land. Why do they risk their l...
The Secret Mountain: Papua New Guinea
On New Britain Island in Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, is one of the most unique, unspoiled jungles in the world. Although it's been extremely difficult for research teams to go into this jungle until now, new explorations have begun to paint an overall picture of the jungle floor. Viewed f...
The Snowbird -- Rock Ptarmigan, Japan
Designated as a special natural treasure, the rock ptarmigan lives in the snowy expanse of Mount Tateyama in the Northern Japan Alps. Wrapping itself with its pure white feathers, the rock ptarmigan can easily live at temperatures of up to 20 degrees Celsius below zero and bury itself in the snow to...
The Sure Shot of the Savannah -- Serval, Tanzania
With their characteristic large ears, the servals are a species of the wild cat family found in the African savannah. Using their ears, they detect the ultrasound their prey emits. Once they lock on the target, they leap into the air and pounce on their prey. They can jump up to 2 meters in the air ...
Bejeweled green leaves glitter in the sunlight. Horsetails appear to be small dancing dolls. Beautiful, fantastic mushroom spores fly through the air. Such captivating visions of ordinary plants are captured by 82 year-old Hany Ciabou, a nature photographer. Even the simplest tableaus turn into amaz...
The White Black Bear -- American Black Bear, Canada
The American black bear is characterized by its black coat.But in Gribble Island in Canada, rare white black bears have been sighted.Normally, white animals are vulnerable in the forest because they are more visible to their predators. However, these white black bears are an exception. Not only are ...
The Wild Bunch: Hamadryas Baboons
The floor of Ethiopia's Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia is intensely hot and extremely dry. Defying these conditions is a herd of 1,000 hamadryas baboons. The male baboon is the absolute ruler of the family: he searches for food and raises the family's young. These baboons form large groups to protect...
Thronged with Visitors: The Prairie Dog Town -- Prairie Dog, United States
Prairie dogs, a relative of the squirrel, live in the vast grassland "prairie" of the United States. Nearly 150 prairie dog families have made what is in essence their own "town." A number of other animals visit this town and create all sorts of happenings. A cunning coyote comes to search for prey,...
Tiny Tales: Stop Motion Shorts
A collection of 5-minute stop motion animation shorts starring an array of characters! Enjoy the wonderful world of imagination and adventure that includes multiple international award winners! A must-see for children and adults alike.
[Titles]
Konigiri-kun
Knyacki! The Little Green Caterpillar...
Tokyo Bay: A Secret World Unfolding
30 million people live in greater Tokyo, and nestled within this vast megalopolis is Tokyo Bay. Factories, buildings, expressways, and other human artifacts crowd the edge of the bay. It was once called a Sea of Death because of the pollution runoff from the factories. However due to heightened envi...
Tool-using Monkeys -- Tufted Capuchin, Brazil
"One of the greatest discoveries of the century" that overturned the common wisdom about monkeys up to then was made in a dry zone of Brazil. Tufted capuchin monkeys were discovered using stones as tools to break open coconuts. They evolved this behavior in order to survive in the dry zone, where fo...
Tough Customer -- Common Warthog, Africa
Common warthogs are herbivores found in the African Savanna. When they dash, they're as fast as a racehorse, and they have excellent stamina. They can outrun fearful predators such as lions and cheetahs and will sometimes even charge at them. Common warthogs will also do whatever it takes to protect...
グレースの履歴
Who was my wife, really?
Kikuo suddenly loses his wife to an accident. The only thing that remains is Grace, her car. Noticing that the navigation system has a history of her having visited places that has nothing to do with their life, Kikuo is worried. Was she seeing someone? He embarks on a ro...
A giant whale speeds beneath the waters off the Bay of California in Mexico. This underwater bullet is a Sei whale. It measures 15 meters in length and weighs 20 tons. The habits of Sei whales are relatively unknown. Since they swim at speeds in excess of 60 kilometers per hour, it's been difficult ...
Unlikely Eden: Ngorongoro Crater
During the dry season, the grasses in the savanna region in northwestern Tanzania wither, forcing animals to look elsewhere for food. But a green paradise exists in the middle of the region surrounded by a huge outer rim of a volcanic crater 20 kilometers in diameter. This is the Ngorongoro Crater. ...
Unveiled! "Auroral Breakup" -- Dancing Lights in Canada's Extreme North
Please check the official site.
Walking Pine Cone -- Chinese Pangolin, Taiwan
The Chinese pangolin is the world's only mammal that has scales. They have rarely been filmed in the wild, but after 40 days of searching in the forests of Taiwan, and after trying different ways to find them such as placing an endoscopic camera inside one of their burrows, this scaly beast was fina...
War of the Whales -- Orcas Attack!
Included among whales, the largest living creatures on Earth, is the orca. Recently orcas confronted other whales in a five-kilometer square area in a life-and-death battle costing many lives. Over a thousand whales were involved. For the first time ever, this spectacle was entirely caught on film. ...
Welcome to Giraffe Paradise -- Giraffe, Niger
Niger in western Africa is a paradise for giraffes. There they fill their mouths with wild watermelons, their favorite food, and lay their long necks down to nap. Just after they are born, baby giraffes, their umbilical cord still attached, run around gaily -- truly a paradise for them. Since giraff...
Whales in Shallow Waters -- Gray Whale, Mexico
Every winter, hundreds of gray whales, which grow to a length of 15 meters and a weight of 35 tons, visit the waters off the Baja California peninsula, where they engage in some odd behavior. When the tide goes out, they congregate en masse in shallow waters only two meters deep, digging their heads...
彼女が成仏できない理由
A bittersweet romantic comedy of two "outsiders"
Aye Min is elated when he arrives in Japan from Myanmar to pursue his dream of becoming a manga artist. Then reality strikes -- finding an apartment he can afford! Aye Min finally stumbles onto an incredibly cheap flat, but its inhabitants prove to...
The Japanese archipelago occupies only 1/400th of the Earth's land mass. Yet, it has been attracting the keen attention of researchers around the world for its diverse nature remaining on the islands despite the population of over 100 million. It is said that 80% of all types of environments that ex...
Join the Wild Secrets team equipped with high-definition cameras on a global expedition featuring fascinating creatures and the hidden beauty of nature. From grassy plains and remote jungles to the bottom of the sea, this highly acclaimed wildlife documentary series reveals the struggle to survive n...
NHK's best-selling nature series Wild Secrets is now available from series I to VI.
Join the Wild Secrets team equipped with high-definition cameras on a global expedition featuring fascinating creatures and the hidden beauty of nature. From grassy plains and remote jungles to the bottom of the sea...
Wilderness in Japan: Hokkaido Red Fox
A surprising and heartwarming tale of survival. The story takes place in the vast northern land near the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Hokkaido. Taking center stage are two mother Hokkaido red foxes caring for 10 pups. The mothers, who are in fact mother and daughter, each use their strengt...
The nature series, WILDLIFE has been acclaimed by TV broadcasters around the world. The latest episodes are now available. Never-before-seen aspects of the world's wildlife have been captured as a result of tenacious long-term investigation using the most advanced video equipment. Viewers will be en...
Winning by Losing -- Proboscis Monkey, Borneo Island
Its long nose and big belly immediately catch the eye. The proboscis monkey is a rare monkey that lives only in the tropical rainforests of Borneo Island in Southeast Asia. Like their physical appearance, their behavior is also unique. Although they appear powerful, they dread fighting, and they run...
World Heritage Falcon -- Lesser Kestrel, Italy
Matera is a World Heritage site in southern Italy that is home to about three thousand households that still live in ancient cave dwellings carved into the rocky mountainside. In spring, around two thousand lesser kestrels, which are members of the falcon family, descend on the town to raise their y...
World's Most Beautiful Coral in the "Miracle Sea" -- Indonesia, Right Below the Equator
This edition introduces the sea around Raja Ampat in Indonesia, home to the world's greatest variety of corals. The multitude of fish visiting the colorful coral beds includes huge mantas.
Yae's Sakura (Japanese Title : 大河ドラマ「八重の桜」)
Sometimes following her dreams means breaking the rules.
NHK's famed Taiga drama series continues with the historical tale of Japanese heroine, Yae Niijima (1845-1932). Since Yae was from the Aizu Domain, which included the present-day Fukushima Prefecture, it is hoped that this tale of triumph o...
Yasu - A Single Father's Story
When a man raises a son on his own, it naturally produces a strong relationship between them. This heartwarming story speaks to the unbreakable bond between fathers and sons, even when separated by time, distance-or a lie.
Yasu is a Hiroshima truck driver, living a happy life with his family in t...