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The Best Episodes of NHK WORLD PRIME

Every episode of NHK WORLD PRIME ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of NHK WORLD PRIME!

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NHK WORLD PRIME brings you a world of mainly documentaries, and more. Tune in to see special select programs on all sorts of topics and genres.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    NHK WORLD PRIME Season 5 Episode 1 - 3/11 - The Tsunami: The First 3 Days
    8.7/10(11 votes)

    #1 - 3/11 - The Tsunami: The First 3 Days

    S5:E1

    Using footage shot at the center of the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, we bring you a story of horror and heroism during one of history's worst catastrophes. Vast areas along Japan's Pacific coast were devastated. Entire communities were washed away and residents were forced to evacuate. An accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant created a radioactive no-man's-land. But in the days that followed, amid the chaos and confusion, countless people sprang into action to assist victims and search for survivors.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 5 Episode 2 - 3/11 - The Tsunami: The First Year
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #2 - 3/11 - The Tsunami: The First Year

    S5:E2

    After the mega-tsunami hit Japan in 2011, survivors who'd lost everything struggled to recover. Many people lost not only their homes, but loved ones and livelihoods as well. Beloved traditions were in danger of disappearing. Rumors of radioactive crops devastated farms and fisheries. And many residents feared that those who'd been forced to evacuate would never return. Follow their year-long effort to rebuild their communities with exclusive footage filmed at the center of the disaster.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 1 - Painting with Soul
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Painting with Soul

    S1:E1

    The "To-Kon Painters" add color to the lives of people who are short on cash. They're volunteers who will travel anywhere for a good cause, painting buildings and playground equipment free of charge. Most are former social dropouts who once belonged to biker gangs or quit school. We follow them to Lithuania, where they repaint a memorial honoring Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who helped 6,000 Jews flee the Holocaust during World War II. The painters must overcome cultural and linguistic challenges to get the job done.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 2 - Detroit Revealed: My Grandfather John Hersey and America
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - Detroit Revealed: My Grandfather John Hersey and America

    S1:E2

    American journalist John Hersey (1914-1993) opened the eyes of much of the world to the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. In this program, Cannon Hersey retraces his grandfather's footsteps and considers the domestic climate in the United States since the start of the Trump presidency. In 1967, amidst racial strife, John Hersey wrote that every white person bore some degree of responsibility for violence against African-Americans. Half a century later, racial and religious prejudices are again spawning attacks. The program explores the seeds of hate and what they might grow into.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 3 - A Single Pen: The World of Artist Manabu Ikeda
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - A Single Pen: The World of Artist Manabu Ikeda

    S1:E3

    Japanese artist Manabu Ikeda makes ultra-detailed drawings with the fine tip of a single pen. As a resident artist at a museum in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, he toiled for 3 years on one large drawing, painstakingly completing a small area measuring only several centimeters square each day. NHK documented his slow, daily progress in the final weeks leading up to the drawing's completion. Ikeda was spurred to make his drawing by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Starting in a state of psychic pain, he drew nothing but debris at first, but eventually went on to depict a great tree with branches in full bloom. The finished work has elicited a deep emotional response in large numbers of viewers.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 4 - Miatari Finders
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Miatari Finders

    S1:E4

    In search of wanted criminals, the Japanese police have a secret weapon they use when all other investigative methods fail: miatari finders. In this day and age, when forensic science has become the norm, miatari finders comb the streets relying only on their memory and intuition. Hitoshi Morimoto of the Osaka Prefectural Police is known as the "god of miatari". He has arrested the most number of wanted criminals in Japan. Morimoto uses a unique technique of drawing the suspects into his mind. He talks to photos of the suspects and burns the images into his memory. This program follows Morimoto on his last days before his retirement.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of NHK WORLD PRIME

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  7. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 5 - Legendary Giant Tree of Yakushima
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Legendary Giant Tree of Yakushima

    S1:E5

    In ancient times, Japan was once covered with trees. Traces of this primordial forest still remain in the deep, untouched woods of Yakushima Island, Japan's first World Heritage Site. A prime example is the Jomon Sugi, a large Japanese cedar that is more than 2,000 years old. However, according to legend, an undiscovered "giant cedar tree" exists on the island. Using cutting-edge technology, NHK began the search for this legendary tree. See what they discover on their quest to find and understand these spectacular cedars.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 6 - Boxing Woman
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Boxing Woman

    S1:E6

    Fiona is a senior account manager for a company in Shanghai that promotes overseas luxury brands. Her days are occupied with international client meetings. She entertains herself by spending her money on nail decorations, expensive clothes, fancy dining and overseas vacations; however, these never brought her satisfaction. Sneaking away from her busy schedule, she trains herself in a boxing gym until her physical limit. Parents didn't expect much of her, as men are more valued under the one-child policy. She also failed exams to get in university under excessive academic pressure. We depict her struggle to survive through Chinese competitive society.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 7 - An Honest Death: A Palliative Care Doctor's Final Days
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - An Honest Death: A Palliative Care Doctor's Final Days

    S1:E7

    It all began with an unusual request: "Could you film everything about me until I die?" Masahiro Tanaka was a palliative care doctor and Buddhist priest who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was an end-of-life specialist who helped thousands of patients die peacefully. Now he had to face his own impending death. The film crew set out to document an "ideal death", but what they witnessed was quite different. This program offers an unflinchingly honest look at human nature at its most vulnerable.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 1 Episode 8 - Fukushima Mothers
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Fukushima Mothers

    S1:E8

    Three Japanese mothers who lived through the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture make a special trip to the eastern European country of Belarus. Waiting for them are mothers who lived through the 1986 nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl. By sharing their experiences, their pain, and making new friends, the Fukushima mothers not only come face-to-face with scars left by the disaster, but also discover hints for overcoming the past and for moving forward.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 1 - One Last Vision: A Photographer's Final Journey
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - One Last Vision: A Photographer's Final Journey

    S2:E1

    Photographer Yoshikazu Shirakawa traveled the untouched corners of the world as part of a lifelong quest to rediscover the planet. At 82 his final global trip has the theme of Creation. He hopes the vast, untouched landscapes seen by the first humans will restore our humanity and teach us humility at a time when we are bloated with greed. He begins in the Colorado plains, shooting in extreme conditions. Photographer Yoshikazu Shirakawa puts his life on the line in pursuit of Creation.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 2 - Between Two Homes: A 102-Year Old Japanese Woman in South Korea
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Between Two Homes: A 102-Year Old Japanese Woman in South Korea

    S2:E2

    Fusako Kunita is a 102-year-old Japanese woman who has lived on the Korean Peninsula for more than 70 years. Like many other Japanese women who followed their Korean-born husbands back to their homeland after the World War II, Fusako had no idea what awaited her. She faced discrimination, cultural differences, and sudden changes in diplomatic policy between Japan and South Korea. Fusako also dealt with sorrow and loneliness. But she endured, and worked to create a support group for other Japanese women. As she looks back on her remarkable and inspiring life, we'll learn more about the lives of the women obscured in the shadows of history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 3 - Strategy Gone Awry: Revisiting the US Air Raids on Japan
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Strategy Gone Awry: Revisiting the US Air Raids on Japan

    S2:E3

    The United States dominates the world in airpower. Behind the birth of the US Air Force is a little-known story about the deadly firebombing campaign against Japan at the end of World War II. NHK combed through audiotaped interviews with 246 senior Air Force officials, including the leader of the air assault on Japan, Gen.Curtis LeMay. The interviews reveal how an "ideal" strategy designed to cause minimal civilian casualties ultimately went awry, and gave way to attacks with incendiary bombs that claimed some 400,000 Japanese lives.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 4 - Valens's Return Home: A Rwandan Genocide Offender 22 Years On
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Valens's Return Home: A Rwandan Genocide Offender 22 Years On

    S2:E4

    During the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, an overwhelming number of people were slaughtered in ethnic conflicts between the Tutsi and Hutu. Rwanda has abolished the death penalty and scores of offenders who have completed their sentences are now being released from prison. Can they coexist with society? Many of the offenders live close to their victims' families, often in the same village. This program follows one offender's return home. Valens Habakurama was charged with the killings of two Tutsi brothers. After completing his sentence, he returns home to his wife and children. We documented his first seven days out of prison—from his apology to the victims' family to acceptance and reconciliation.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 5 - Chasing the Father's Shadow: Vietnamese Children of Japanese Soldiers
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Chasing the Father's Shadow: Vietnamese Children of Japanese Soldiers

    S2:E5

    72 years after the end of World War II, a group of about a dozen people visited Japan. They were born and raised in Vietnam yet consider Japan their homeland in some sense. Their fathers were Japanese soldiers who remained in Vietnam after the war, to fight for the country's independence from France. About 70 of these soldiers had families in Vietnam but suddenly went back to Japan without saying a word. The group from Vietnam arrived in Japan in October of 2017, chasing their fathers' shadows.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 6 - The Fisherman and the Forest
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - The Fisherman and the Forest

    S2:E6

    On March 11, 2011, a huge tsunami generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake struck Japan's northeastern coast, including Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture. All life vanished from the sea. In despair, an oyster farmer named Shigeatsu Hatakeyama decided to rebuild his life. Though a fisherman, he also spent decades reforesting the surrounding hills and was sure the sea would recover. This program starts following Hatakeyama just after the disaster, showing how the sea and the forest are cleansed through mutual interaction. Featuring his moving monologue, it celebrates the miracle of resurrected life in a seaside village.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 7 - Setsuko Thurlow's Quest: A World Without Nuclear Weapons
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Setsuko Thurlow's Quest: A World Without Nuclear Weapons

    S2:E7

    Setsuko Thurlow was 13 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Horrific scenes of pain and destruction were burned into her memory. She moved to the US and Canada and began to tell the world what had happened in Hiroshima. Her work with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) overcame resistance from nuclear powers and resulted in the adoption of a UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons. Their efforts earned the group the Nobel Peace Prize. This gripping documentary follows Setsuko's journey from a childhood wracked by war to international recognition.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 8 - Tsuruko's Tea Journey
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Tsuruko's Tea Journey

    S2:E8

    In one form of the Japanese tea ceremony, the host serves traditional kaiseki cuisine, sake and finally tea to the guests. The ritual, established as an art form more than 4 centuries ago, is believed to be the foundation of Japan's omotenashi hospitality. One woman has decided to embark on a unique nationwide pilgrimage to immerse herself in the art. Tsuruko Hanzawa is a rare "catering chef" of tea ceremonies. At 70, she loaded her pots, pans and tools for making tea onto a van and set off in her kimono, serving food using local ingredients and tea to the people she met along the way. Exploring a life devoted to tea, this documentary follows Tsuruko for 2 years as she battles illness to continue her pilgrimage.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 9 - The Changing Face of Greed: A Power of Darkness Awakens - Part 1
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - The Changing Face of Greed: A Power of Darkness Awakens - Part 1

    S2:E9

    Going quicker, farther, and striving for more. Since when have we been living in this kind of world? We can't do without it. We can't stop it. The more we have, the more we desire. This is the "capitalism of desire". Here is the first part of the 2018 continuation of our unconventional look at capitalism. How do frontrunners in the world economy think that capitalism should be controlled in the midst of these uncertain times? Young Japanese economist Yosuke Yasuda (Osaka University associate professor) travels to Paris to speak with French economist Daniel Cohen about the future of capitalism. Additionally, genius Czech economist Tomas Sedlacek has a spirited discussion with philosopher Markus Gabriel (University of Bonn professor) in Bonn, Germany. How effective are the visions left behind by leading economists such as Keynes, Marx and Schumpeter today? We'll try and come to terms with the recurring cycle of creation and destruction that forms the basis of capitalism.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 10 - The Changing Face of Greed: A Power of Darkness Awakens - Part 2
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Changing Face of Greed: A Power of Darkness Awakens - Part 2

    S2:E10

    In the second half of our 2018 special look at capitalism, we delve into the source of humans' greed, the driving force behind capitalism. What exactly is money in the first place? Kabir Sehgal (America) and Tomas Sedlacek (Czech Republic) discuss currency theory, while Ulrike Herrmann (Germany) and Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University professor) analyze the harmful effects capitalism has on the state of big industries. What is the Marxist "power of darkness" that Schumpeter discovered? Take a look at the frontline of economics alongside these leading global minds and contemplate the methods used to survive in these constantly changing times.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 11 - Lives Overshadowed by Crime: The Underground Website Murder
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - Lives Overshadowed by Crime: The Underground Website Murder

    S2:E11

    In August 2007, 31-year-old Rie Isogai was brutally killed by 3 men who met online, in a case called the Underground Website Murder. After Rie's death, her mother, Fumiko, met and befriended her daughter's boyfriend. He shared stories about Rie and stayed by Fumiko's side, helping her find the strength to go on. We look at how Fumiko has lived with the unrelenting pain of losing her beloved daughter.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 12 - Lives Overshadowed by Crime: The Wakayama Curry Poisoning Incident
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Lives Overshadowed by Crime: The Wakayama Curry Poisoning Incident

    S2:E12

    In 1998, four innocent people lost their lives when arsenic was mixed into curry served at a summer festival, in what is known as the Wakayama Curry Poisoning Incident. Masumi Hayashi, a housewife, was arrested and sentenced to death for the crime, but she still claims her innocence. Her son, who's now 30, was bullied and taunted after his mother's arrest. He has remained in contact with her during her detention, but he feels torn. Should he cut ties with his mother and start a new life? Or should he continue to shoulder the burdens of the past? We follow his struggle to decide.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 13 - Survivor Trees: Hiroshima Revealed
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Survivor Trees: Hiroshima Revealed

    S2:E13

    August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was devastated by an atomic bombing. Yet some trees survived, brought back life and gave people hope. NY Artist, Cannon Hersey has visited Hiroshima many times, where he has been creating art about survivor tree, called Hibaku Jumoku. Cannon takes a journey from Hiroshima to New York, from Ground Zero to Ground Zero, to reveal the untold stories of the trees. What are they telling us? This is a story of the people and the trees that survived.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 14 - I Was a Caged Bird: Psychiatric Hospitalization in Japan
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - I Was a Caged Bird: Psychiatric Hospitalization in Japan

    S2:E14

    Japan is a psychiatric hospital superpower. About 20% of all the psychiatric hospital beds in the world are concentrated in Japan, where many patients are confined for long periods of time. The United Nations and the World Health Organization have criticized this situation as a serious violation of human rights, but the actual conditions have been largely hidden from sight in Japan. However, after the 2011 nuclear power accident, the problem has begun to come into view. There are people who have spent more than half of their lives in the hospital. Others never required hospitalized care in the first place. The program follows the lives of a number of these patients and examines the reasons behind this problem.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. NHK WORLD PRIME Season 2 Episode 15 - Nike's Backstory: Unknown Bonds with Japan
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Nike's Backstory: Unknown Bonds with Japan

    S2:E15

    "Shoe Dog", the memoir by Nike founder Phil Knight, has been an unexpected hit in Japan. It candidly talks about how more than 40 years ago, Knight's fledgling running shoe business was in danger of going under – until a Japanese company came to the rescue. Just how did this happen? Interviews with people involved at the time reveal a group of businessmen taking on continuous risk during Japan's era of high economic growth. In this program, we chase after the hidden story behind a global company's beginnings and the spirit of the Japanese trading company employees who supported him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"3/11 - The Tsunami: The First 3 Days" is the best rated episode of "NHK WORLD PRIME". It scored 8.7/10 based on 11 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/9/2021. This episode scored 0.7 points higher than the second highest rated, "3/11 - The Tsunami: The First Year".