NHK's documentary program "Document 72 Hours" (NHK General) will air "Drive-in on the Prefectural Border: To Akita and Iwate" on April 3rd at 10 PM. The setting for this episode is a drive-in located on a mountain pass on the border between Akita and Iwate prefectures. Its specialty is piping hot, sweet oden. Where will the travelers who have taken a brief rest there go next...?
Near the border between Akita and Iwate prefectures, a 60-year-old drive-in restaurant stands alone on a mountain road. Travelers fill their stomachs with the restaurant's famous sweet oden, udon, soba, and set meals. A couple has received home appliances from an acquaintance for their daughter who is about to start living alone, students who have finished their national nursing exams are on a trip to create memories, and a man recounts memories of coming here with his late father. A variety of emotions intertwine here.
I spent three days observing the people passing by during this time of year when you can feel the arrival of spring.
The program is a documentary that places a camera in one location each time and observes the various human dramas that unfold there for 72 hours. It listens to the stories of people who meet by chance and captures a glimpse of "the present."
