Hometown Stories (2011) Web Series — Cast, Story & Where to Watch | MovieLinkBD

Hometown Stories (2011) is a documentary web series in English. On MovieLinkBD: full story, cast, ratings, season & episode guide, official trailer and where to watch Hometown Stories online in HD.

Hometown Stories — Storyline

Stories about people, stories about life. Intimate portraits of people from around Japan, each leading diverse lives while enriching lives of others.

Cast & Crew

Hometown Stories — Series Details

Hometown Stories — Episode Guide

Season 1

• E1: Night of the Dancing Fire God (2011-02-06) — The "Matsuage" fire festival in Kyoto was admired by essayist Masako Shirasu. In her travelogue titled "Kakure-zato", she described it as "the most touching festival scene that I'v
• E2: The Mountain God Piggyback (2011-02-13) — This program describes a simple, rustic event called "The Mountain God Piggyback" that has been handed down since time immemorial in a snowy mountain village in Yamagata Prefecture
• E3: A Millennium of Prayers (2011-02-20) — This program shows how ancient religious practices survive on the Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita Prefecture, regarded as the home of the Buddha, and long known as a site for ascetic mo
• E4: Kagura: The Passion for Dance (2011-02-27) — In ancient times, "kagura" was a form of dance dedicated to the gods. But in modern times, as its original meaning weakened and it took on the color of a local performing art, youn
• E5: Eco-Paddy: Bio-Wonderland (2011-10-02) — The aim of the 'eco-paddy fields' project is to grow rice without using agrochemicals and chemical fertilizers in rice fields full of wildlife created by cutting open uncultivated
• E6: Granny Loves You: The Probation Officer's Tale (2011-10-09) — 77-year-old volunteer probation officer Chikako Nakamoto was affectionately known as 'The little old lady of Motomachi' by the juvenile delinquents she took care of for 30 years in
• E7: Honoring the Dead: The Bone Washing Ritual of Yoronjima (2011-10-16) — Yoronjima in Kagoshima Prefecture is a southern island with a population of 5,600 surrounded by beautiful coral reef and white sand beaches. In the island's unusual ritual called '
• E8: Mother, I Want To See You (2011-10-23) — This drama set in a remote elementary school centers around the efforts made by a young female teacher called Hikari to help Aya, an uncommunicative exchange student who has proble

Season 2

• E1: Questioning Nuclear Power (2012-06-29) — A picturesque town with a slumping economy was torn by the lure of nuclear energy. Should the people accept the construction of a nuclear power plant, in the hope it will help fund
• E2: The Luminous Forest (2012-09-17) — At the end of each summer, for a brief period, part of this mountain becomes a "forest of light" from mysterious lights emitted by mushrooms, fallen leaves, and tree trunks. Last s

Season 3

• E1: A Watchmaker's Tale (2013-01-06) — A veteran watchmaker on an island in Hiroshima Prefecture repairs virtually any old watch or clock, even those that no one else can fix. People take their treasured timepieces to t
• E2: Learning to Survive: Three Days in Kamaishi (2013-09-07) — What can junior high school students do in the face of a tsunami that destroys their home village? Seventeen junior high schoolers from Tanabe address this question by visiting Kam
• E3: Letter from Cherry Blossom Village (2013-09-14) — The tiny village of Kanedani lies in the mountains of Shimane Prefecture. With ongoing depopulation, the community has dwindled to just three women in their 70s and 80s. The villag

Season 4

• E1: School of Hope: Ogijima, Seto Inland Sea (2015-10-25) — Facing steady decline through aging and depopulation, one Japanese island community chose to tackle the risk of disappearance by reopening its only school. We follow the progress o
• E2: The Sky We Share – Friendship at the End of an Osaka Runway (2015-12-27) — Southeast of Osaka Airport runs a river embankment where airplanes swoop less than 100 meters overhead. Sleek, thundering jets that pass with a rush of wind make for a heart-poundi

Season 5

• E1: A Hiroshima Family's Prayer (2016-02-27) — In Hiroshima 70 years after the atomic bomb, many survivors' belongings have been inherited: items they wore the day of the bomb, diaries and more. Some families are coming to term
• E2: For the Sake of the Classmates We Lost (2016-03-26) — Hashikami Junior High School's class of 2011 graduated just after the devastating 3.11 earthquake and tsunami, in a school gym housing refugees. There should have been 57 students,
• E3: Young Thunder: School Taiko Team (2016-04-13) — The All Japan High School Cultural Festival is like a national arts championship. We follow the efforts of Osaka's Akutagawa High School taiko team, which includes every junior and
• E4: Pearl Wedding: 30 Years' Worth of Thanks (2016-05-29) — Nestled in Ise-Shima, a scenic coastal area of central Japan, is Toba, a city famous for its cultured pearls. Here on the 30th of each month a ceremony called a "pearl wedding" is
• E5: Back to Grandma's Land: Chiemi's Story (2016-06-26) — Recently in Japan, more and more young people who were raised in the city are choosing to go back to the land as they relocate to the rural areas their grandparents call home. In e
• E6: A Life of Service: The Station Barber of Obama (2016-07-31) — On the JR Obama Line, a local railway that links Fukui Prefecture with Kyoto, stands Kato Station. Although unstaffed since 1973, the sleepy station building still contains a small
• E7: One of Us (2016-08-28) — The idyllic landscape of Murayama in Yamagata Prefecture is home to a rather unique family-run farm that welcomes visitors from all over the world. It is operated by the Sakai fami
• E8: One Big Happy Family (2016-09-11) — Elderly people in need of care lost their homes in the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami. At a care facility called Sumi-chan's Home, they're part of a new family, wh
• E9: Uniting the People of the Sea: Kumejima, Okinawa (2016-10-30) — Uminchu, literally "people of the sea", is the name for the fishermen of beautiful Kumejima in Okinawa Prefecture. Filled with coral, tropical fish, and the tuna varieties that swi
• E10: Hang in There! (2016-11-27) — A community deep in the mountains of Gunma Prefecture is home to Japan's only circus school. The school's director is Nadezhda Tyshenko, a former acrobatic gymnast from Ukraine. In
• E11: Finding Yourself on the Open Road (2016-12-25) — In the city of Sapporo stands a barber shop where many young bicyclists pedaling their way across Japan's northern island of Hokkaido make a stop. Any rider who is making a complet

Season 6

• E1: Melody of Daisen (2017-01-29) — Mt. Daisen, a peak in central Japan, is celebrating its 80th anniversary as a national park. 5th and 6th graders at the Daisen Elementary School took recording devices and video ca
• E2: Bank of Glorious Blossoms (2017-02-19) — Every spring, large numbers of tourists come to the Gongendo Park in the city of Satte, Saitama Prefecture to view the 1,000 cherry blossoms, stretching to a length of 1 kilometer.
• E3: Our Waves, Our Dreams (2017-02-26) — At the southern end of the Kujukurihama coastline in Chiba Prefecture is Ichinomiya, one of Japan's top surfing spots, and home to many surf devotees. Here, local teenagers take to
• E4: Misako's All-Night Diner (2017-03-04) — In Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture is a little diner that opened shortly after World War II. 70 years on, it's still going strong, 24 hours a day. The owner, 91-year-old Misako Mi
• E5: Looking Back, Moving On (2017-03-26) — More than 5 years after the tsunami caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake swept away thousands of homes, physical evidence of the communities that existed before the disas
• E6: The Calligraphy Boys (2017-04-09) — In Japan, where calligraphy is mainly a girls' pastime, a group of students at an all-boys school belongs to a calligraphy club. Classmates call them nerds, and have labeled them "
• E7: Designs on Life (2017-04-16) — Takahiro Endo is a 28-year-old architect working in Ishinomaki in northeast Japan. As the city takes shape again following the 2011 tsunami and earthquake, Endo dismantles, designs
• E8: Another 'Home': A Boy Traces His Roots (2017-04-23) — In the years before and after World War II, some 400,000 people emigrated from Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan, including a man who moved to Bolivia. His descendants include a
• E9: Shoeshine Star (2017-05-07) — Gaku Sato opened his own shoeshine shop at age 22. With his sharp fashion sense and a chic shop decor, he is exploring a new, stylish image for the shoeshine trade. Sato believes t
• E10: The Three Grannies' Cookie Challenge (2017-05-14) — How do you revitalize a hamlet with only 3 grannies? By hand-made cookies! This is a story of how 3 hard working grannies all over 86 take on a challenge of coming up with a new pr
• E11: Pioneer Villages: Forgotten Postwar History (2017-05-21) — Before and during World War II, 270,000 Japanese relocated to Manchuria in China, which was controlled by Japan. After the war, the Japanese government created settlements, where r
• E12: Wrestling with a New Job (2017-06-04) — This time we meet a member of staff working behind the scenes for a women's pro-wrestling promotion in Sendai, northeast Japan. Sendai Girls' Pro-Wrestling or "Senjo", as it is kno
• E13: Sharing Life Together: An 81-Year-Old Caregiver (2017-06-11) — In graying Japan, a growing number of elderly people living alone require nursing care at home. Yukiko Senpuku, 81, is a sought-after homecare helper in Osaka who brightens the liv
• E14: Grandma's Picture Cards (2017-06-18) — They say giving opens doors. And one grandma knows that well. 80-year-old Hiroko Sogo makes picture cards with simple, warm illustrations and thoughtful messages. When people find
• E15: Kasuga Taisha: A Divine Shrine for Daily Life (2017-07-02) — From ancient times, Japan's imperial court and shogunate have supported and protected Kasuga Taisha in Nara Prefecture as a means of praying for national peace and security. Known
• E16: Island of Compassion (2017-07-16) — The remote island of Nasake is a sanctuary for children forced to live away from their parents because of poverty, abuse, and other problems. But this spring, their foster home was
• E17: A Hands-on Designer (2017-07-23) — Katsunobu Yoshida is a 28-year-old graphic designer who makes leaflets, posters and logos by hand, avoiding computers whenever he can. He draws inspiration from elderly locals who
• E18: What Brought You to Hiroshima? (2017-08-06) — In May 2016, Barack Obama made a memorable visit to Hiroshima — the first sitting US president to do so. That year, a record number of foreign tourists came to the city, the large
• E19: Carving out a New Path with Wood (2017-08-13) — Yuki Sakaguchi, 28 years old, once led a busy city life working for an international company, but this left him feeling exhausted and ill. He made up his mind to go back home to To
• E20: The High-Rises We Build (2017-08-20) — A construction boom in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is changing the face of Japan's capital. The unsung heroes of this transformation are the skyscraper construction worke
• E21: Countdown to Business Lift-off! (2017-09-10) — Takahiro Inagawa, 29 years old, heads a start-up company that is developing low-cost rockets. He and a staff of 13 are creating small rockets to carry miniaturized satellites into
• E22: Our Town's Bookstore (2017-09-17) — Rumoi in northern Japan was once a flourishing town, but economic stagnation and a shrinking population have taken their toll. 7 years ago, Rumoi even lost its last bookstore. But
• E23: One Heart, One Beat (2017-09-24) — For years, the Kodo Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble has been spreading the magic of Japanese "taiko" drumming to the world. It's a small group made up of 30 members. This spring, 9
• E24: Hooked on a New Fishing Career (2017-10-01) — Susumu Hidaka, 29 years old, is a fisherman in training. He is learning the trade from a well experienced master in a fishing port in Cape Sada on the western tip of Shikoku Island
• E25: Our Flower Field (2017-10-22) — Back when flower nurseries covered its slopes, Shishijima in western Japan was known as "flower island". Today it's home to only about 20 people, including 82-year-old Takako Takas
• E26: Cakes on Wheels (2017-10-29) — Takashi Aramoto has been selling his cakes by bicycle for 30 years in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. The 62-year-old has no problem riding well over 20 kilometers a day to bring the b
• E27: A Journey in Design (2017-11-05) — Tomohiko Yukihashi, 28 years old, is a clothing designer based in Beppu city in southwest Japan. For more than 3 years he'd been driving about the country, calling himself the "tra
• E28: Joining Hands with Newcomers (2017-11-12) — Recently, a growing number of foreign investors have been opening inns and hotels in a two-century old hot spring resort town in Japan. They've been successful largely due to the f
• E29: Like a Trusty Garden Hoe (2017-11-19) — Tetsuyo Ishii, 97, is the oldest person in Minogo, a mountain town in western Japan. Her secret to staying alert and active is to remain "rust-free", like her trusty garden hoe. Sh
• E30: A Passion for Fashion (2017-12-17) — Ayumu Shimokuni, better known as Muyua, is a shop assistant and a star in Tokyo's trendy Harajuku district. The 19-year-old works at a used-clothing store popular with teenage girl
• E31: Hitoshi's Bento Shop (2017-12-24) — On Japan's Amami-oshima island, 29-year-old Hitoshi Ijuin runs a small lunch box shop. Many of his customers are elderly and live alone. The village has no supermarket or convenien
• E32: Finding My Way on the Okugakemichi (2017-12-31) — This program follows people who, facing difficult times, have flocked to a World Heritage Site in Japan to try to turn their lives around. The setting is the Omine Okugakemichi, a

Frequently Asked Questions

How many seasons does Hometown Stories have? 15 season(s) with 312 episodes.

Where can I watch Hometown Stories? See the Where to Watch section above for current streaming options.