BE KIND TO THE EARTH: I WANT TO SEE A BLUE SKY (TV)
Summary
This children's documentary from Japan examines the causes and effects of pollution around the Tokyo area in an entertaining and informative way, focusing on a mysterious line of clouds above Loop Line No. 7, a highway that encircles the city. As the program begins, the voices of a young girl, Ami, and an older man, Mr. Nishimura, express their concern over pollution in Kuwait due to the burning oil fields leftover from the Persian Gulf War. They begin to discuss another area with a serious pollution problem: Tokyo, Japan. Curious to learn the causes and the effects of these clouds, Ami and Mr. Nishimura take a clockwise bike ride around Loop Line No. 7. An infrared camera captures the natural shape of exhaust as it forms around passing automobiles, and the duo stop to examine the effects of exhaust on plants along the road. Highlights include a look around the Loop's Yamato-cho intersection, where pollution exceeds the national environmental standards; a tour of a nearby hospital to examine precautions that the hospital staff take to protect patients from outside exhaust; a look at the efforts of a local group of mothers who are testing the level of nitrate oxides in the air around the intersection in an effort to make people aware of the dangerous pollution levels; a visit with a scientist at the Tokyo Agricultural Experiment Station, who demonstrates the effect of photochemical smog on trees and plants; a talk with a man who has observed the clouds that the Loop's pollution has produced over the past 20 years; and a visit with an 84-year-old man who has sketched Tokyo's skyline for the past 20 years, providing a clear record of the growing pollution over the years. Other visual aids during the program include time-lapse photography, which shows the smog's destruction of leaves, and computer-generated images of the Loop area, which illustrate its pollution levels, the development of pollution clouds, and a far-reaching photochemical smog formed from nitric oxides, which spreads to the outlying suburbs. The program concludes with an upbeat look at one response to the pollution: Kasai Seaside Park, one of the increasing number of parks that are appearing in Japan. This program is dubbed in English. No commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: NHK (Japan)
- DATE: August 5, 1991
- RUNNING TIME: 0:20:17
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:29217
- GENRE: Children's; Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Air - Pollution; Children's programs; Environment and children; Environmental health; Environmental protection; International Collection - Japan; Nitrates - Physiological effects; Oil fields; Persian Gulf War, 1991; Pollution; Roads - Japan; Transportation, Automotive
- SERIES RUN: NHK (Japan) - TV, 1991
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Tetsuya Imanishi … Producer
- Tetsuo Fukuda … Director, Writer
- Gerri Sorrells … Cast, Ami, Voice
- Mike Worman … Cast, Nishimura, Voice, with others