The 'Hometown Stories' series produced by local broadcasting stations around Japan presents many regional attractions and current features.
NHK WORLD TV has presented programs of various genres featuring today's Japan, including news, economic information, music, and the latest trends in fashion and pop culture. In the series titled 'Hometown Stories', we would like to introduce to the world programs featuring various places around Japan that convey an intimate feeling of the local ambience and people's day-to-day lives—in other words, they present true-to-life portraits of Japanese life just as it is. The themes cover a wide range, such as the richness of nature, local traditions and customs, the issues faced by rural areas, and so on.

This time, we're introducing four excellent local programs that have won awards in domestic program contests during the past two years (2010-2011): three human documentaries and a drama. 'Eco-paddy fields' which optimize the support of wildlife, a probation officer enlisting support from the whole community for the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents... Themes like this can only be covered effectively by broadcast stations closely connected with their local areas.
We hope that through the 'Hometown Stories' series viewers around the world will come to feel much closer to Japan by appreciating the attractions of many different areas and better understanding the issues faced by the Japanese today.

• Program Line Up