Documentaries are like female literary youths. Before I got to know her better, I always thought that she was stern and unsmiling. Only when I really walked into it did I suddenly realize that her world was vast and boundless. Whether it is ancient folk customs, forgotten traditional culture, or ordinary daily life, they have all been sublimated through her careful tempering.

Compared with long-form series, single-episode documentaries need to show the core ideological themes within a limited time, which makes topic selection, editing and production more difficult. The concentrated ones are worth collecting. For viewers who don't have the patience to watch episode after episode, single episodes may not be a good option. Japan's NHK TV station, which is famous for documentaries, has released many single-episode masterpieces.

This is a special cooking program broadcast in Japan during the 2015 Spring Festival. It lasts for 88 minutes. The elegant and dignified Nao Matsushita serves as a guest, showing the wonderful culture of Kyoto's Japanese food throughout the program.

In recent years, Japanese food has become popular among diners around the world. It is characterized by natural color, delicious taste, diverse shapes, and excellent utensils. It attaches great importance to the sense of season in the selection of ingredients and cooking methods, which is what the Chinese often It’s said to “not eat from time to time”. Tracing back to the origin of traditional Japanese cuisine is undoubtedly Kyoto cuisine.

Complying with the laws of nature, selecting limited ingredients that can only be eaten once a year, and matching the style of Kyoto’s ancient city, Matsushita changed into different styles of four-season kimonos, where top Japanese cooks competed in their skills. . In the film, you can not only feel the elegance and natural elegance of Japanese food and utensils, but you will also be infected by the tranquil and harmonious scenery. In spring, summer, autumn and winter, wearing the most beautiful clothes, eating the best food, and admiring the best scenery are the correct ways for a foodie to start life.

Also on the stage of Japanese food, "Waishoku: A Thousand Years of Delicious Legend" narrated by goddess Matsu Takako, which lasts 49 minutes, reveals to diners the mysterious contributor to the taste of Japanese food - Aspergillus oryzae.

You may not believe that a popular science film can be more beautiful and fresh than an art film. Who says cooking is not a science? Which ancestral secret recipe is not blended with scientific proportions? Who says science must be cold and serious? It is rooted in life and serves life. After Washoku successfully applied for intangible cultural heritage, NHK recorded this documentary incorporating Japanese aesthetics in December 2013.

Revolving around the past and present life of Aspergillus oryzae, the Japanese interpretation of life is slowly unfolding in the picture. We should be grateful for the gifts of nature; we should keep studying the taste of food; we should welcome the opportunities in life happily. Aspergillus oryzae may be inconspicuous, and most people's lives may be unremarkable, but in the fermentation of time, happiness has already penetrated into the feast of taste.

In the history of Japanese literature, the birth of a classic masterpiece has made the Japanese proud for centuries. This is "The Tale of Genji", known as "the world's first novel", which tells the story of talent and appearance. The love relationship between the well-to-do prince Mitsugenji and many women.

Although it is an erotic court novel, it also contains mysteries. Behind the tens of millions of words, there is also a political overtone that cannot be ignored. "Porn, material sorrow, and soul", experts expressed their opinions and discussed enthusiastically in this program. There has never been a definite answer as to who the male protagonist Hikaru Genji is based on, and under what circumstances the author Murasaki Shikibu wrote the book.

In fact, no matter whether it is a masterpiece or an ordinary work, the creative background is inseparable from the social environment at that time. In "The Tale of Genji", the luxurious Heian style can be seen at a glance, and the secret history with different opinions reflects the fierce struggle of the aristocratic class. A thousand people have a thousand opinions. And masterpieces can arouse excitement in any era, which may be its charm.

There are many tourists traveling to Kyoto, Japan, but there is a historical site that only a handful of people can visit. This was the residence where emperors of all dynasties lived, and people called it the "Kyoto Imperial Palace". This time, NHK used ultra-clear 4K cameras to capture its thousands of years of beauty for viewers who were unable to enter the Imperial Palace.

Since it was a residential area used by the emperor and other nobles, from the courtyard design to the furnishings, it must have represented the highest design level in Japan at that time. The beauty of the architecture, the furniture, the craftsmanship, the clothing, and the meals paint this place into a pleasing picture. Just looking at the relics transports people back to a distant time.

Thousands of years of precipitation have faded away the glitz. As mentioned in the introduction, from the prosperity of the dynasty in the Heian period to the heroes' struggle for hegemony in the Warring States period, from the peaceful and prosperous days of the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration at the end of the shogunate, the Kyoto Imperial Palace has witnessed pages and pages of history, but it has also The beauty of perseverance is precipitated in the vicissitudes of life.

If you feel that there is still an insurmountable distance between the aristocratic life in the Kyoto Imperial Palace and ordinary people, let us start a journey of the sounds of Kyoto now. Although the film is divided into two episodes, each episode is only 30 minutes long, so let's count it as a split single-episode documentary.

The biggest highlight of this film is that there is no narration, only a collection of various voices.

There are the natural sounds of running water and insects, the weaving sounds of Nishijin weaving, the noisy sounds of the Zuion Festival, the chanting of monks, the drinking songs passed down by brewers from generation to generation, and the ancient sounds of the national treasure piano. The sounds of Noh performances and the burning sounds of fire festivals. When each frame is connected in series, it becomes a distant poem dedicated to the ancient city of Kyoto!

To appreciate the beauty of a city, sometimes in addition to relying on sight, you also need to feel it through hearing. Behind these stunning sights and sounds, there are often many overlooked stories hidden. Listen to the notes flowing in the fleeting years, as if you have gone through a thousand years of reincarnation.

Do you know Tang paper? Around the fourth to fifth centuries, Chinese paper was introduced to Japan. Japanese craftsmen in the Heian period created a new process based on this, using wooden printing plates to hand-print a highly decorative paper, which is kara paper. In ancient times, only the walls, doors and windows of the residences of the upper class were eligible to use Tang paper.

The Tang paper house "Tang Chang" featured in this film was founded in 1624 and is now the 11th generation descendant of Chida Kenkisho. In this increasingly impetuous society, fewer and fewer people use Tang paper, but Qianda's descendants are still trying to stick to the skills of their predecessors and successfully reproduce the Saga version of Tang paper books from four hundred years ago according to ancient methods. Thanks to the skillful hands of old artists, the colors of the seasons seem to be sealed in Tang paper and will never fade away.

As user demand declines, traditional artworks such as Tang paper will eventually be forgotten. But how can cold machines replace the warmth delivered to users by hand-made products? Whether the times we live in are good or bad is a difficult question to answer.

The world’s greatest animation grandfather, Hayao Miyazaki, is back again. In everyone's mind, he is an old artist with the spirit of craftsman, an old naughty boy with a stubborn personality, and a wise man who loves life. This time, the old man used the documentary to issue a challenge. He will return to full-length animation production again, with the goal of completing it in 2019.

Dream is a pretentious word when spoken. Some people choose to compromise and give up on the way to pursue their dreams, while others regard it as a lifelong practice. Every time Hayao Miyazaki talks about retiring, he always comes back, never for fame and fortune, but for a dream that is always burning. He said in the film, "It is better to die in production than to die doing nothing. It is better to die doing something than to die thinking about animation."

Because of this tireless spirit, countless classics be presented in the world. If there is something that never ends, it is Hayao Miyazaki's love for animation! The sword never grows old and the dream never dies. May the lovely old man take care of himself!

The 2020 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, Japan. NHK searched for all precious images of Japan from all over the world, and a video that had been dusty for many years emerged. Following the camera, Japan from the Meiji period to the Showa era is slowly presented.

According to the image commentary, Tokyo has been reduced to scorched earth twice in the past hundred years. Maybe you only remember its current prosperous scenery, but you don’t know that it has experienced disasters and was once a humble city with backward ideas. By processing the black-and-white images of the past into color, the people walking on the streets in the past and the buildings that seemed fashionable at the time seemed to have passed through the time tunnel and awakened from their dreams. The torrent of the times, the suffering of the common people, and the twists and turns of fate have all reproduced a century-old story that shocked the horizons.

Today’s people call the reborn Tokyo the Phoenix. Under today’s plump wings, new opportunities abound in front of us. Every city has its own charm. The charming thing about Tokyo is that it is all-encompassing and open to all rivers!

? ? Food, popular science, literature, architecture, folk customs, art, craftsmen, history... The cultural connotation of a country is reflected in all aspects. Travel may only allow us to see the most superficial things, but documentaries can It can dig deep into the details and restore the richest and most authentic style.

In places that cannot be reached by foot, documentaries have traveled across mountains and rivers for us to capture the essence.

What’s more important is that, whether it’s a full-length film or a single episode, every time we watch it, it not only broadens our horizons, but also brings us touch, joy and new thinking. This is the greatest spiritual wealth that documentaries give to the audience!

Click to read Let’s talk about my favorite series of Japanese documentaries