Bura Tamori

Bura Tamori
Genregeography, geology, earth science
Directed byVaries
Presented byTamori
Aoi Noguchi
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi
Theme music composerYōsui Inoue
Production
Production locationVaries
Running time45 minutes
Original release
NetworkNHK General TV
Release2008 (2008) –
2024 (2024)

Bura Tamori (ブラタモリ, sometimes stylized as "BURATAMORI") is a Japanese weekly geographical TV series which was broadcast domestically on NHK General Television and internationally on NHK World Premium hosted by Tamori from 2008 to 2024.

In the program, Tamori, accompanied by NHK's female broadcaster,[1] strolled Japan's city or area with professional or amateur geologists, local historians or curators, and explored the place's terrain features and geological changes, as well as its history, culture and civil engineering. The title came from the Japanese word 'burabura' ブラブラ, meaning wandering about, rambling, or strolling around.

The first three series of the program were broadcast late at night. In those series, Tamori could visit only within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area or in its vicinity as he was extremely busy hosting the TV program Waratte Iitomo! every weekday. In Series 4, it became a regular program to be aired on Saturdays from 7:30–8:15 p.m., covering nationwide. Its viewership was consistently over 10% from 2015, contributing to the program being one of NHK's highest viewership programs.

The program also published books for some episodes that were available at major Japanese bookstores.[2][3][4]

History

The pilot version of the program was broadcast on December 14, 2008, from 0:20–1:03 a.m. JST,[5] and the regular series began airing from 10:00 –10:43 p.m. JST on October 1, 2009. The series had 15 episodes broadcast every Thursday until March 11, 2010.[6] Yuka Kubota became assistant.

The second series, with 48 minutes each, began on October 7, 2010, and ended on March 31, 2011. It had 22 episodes.

The third series was broadcast from November 10, 2011, to April 5, 2012, with 19 episodes.

The fourth series was planned after Tamori resigned from his daily Fuji TV variety show Waratte Iitomo! in March 2014. NHK spokesman announced on January 21, 2015, that the new series would start airing again and Tamori would visit places outside Tokyo.[7] The pilot episode was broadcast on January 6, 2015. Nachiko Shudo was the occasional Assistant of the episode. The regular series began airing on April 11, 2015. Each episode has 45 minutes, on Saturdays from 7:30–8:15 p.m. JST. Maho Kuwako served as next Assistant until she handed over to Yurie Omi in April 2016. In April 2018 Risa Hayashida took over the job of Assistant from Omi.[8]

In 2019, it was filmed in Rome, Italy, and Paris, France. This was the first time it had been filmed outside Japan.

In April 2020, Rika Asano became the 6th Assistant.[9]

In April 2022, Aoi Noguchi, working at Fukuoka Broadcasting Station, took over the job of Assistant from Asano.[10]

On February 14, 2024, NHK announced in a regular press conference that it would discontinue broadcasting that program regularly in March of that year. The last episode was broadcast on March 9, 2024. A total of 263 episodes were broadcast in the fourth series.

Personalities

  • Tamori — host
  • Yuka Kubota — the 1st assistant (2008—2012)
  • Nachiko Shudo — the 2nd assistant (2015)
  • Maho Kuwako — the 3rd assistant (2015—2016)
  • Yurie Omi — the 4th assistant (2016—2018)
  • Risa Hayashida — the 5th assistant (2018—2020)
  • Rika Asano — the 6th assistant (2020—2022)
  • Aoi Noguchi — the 7th assistant (2022—2024)
  • Tsuyoshi Kusanagi — narrator
  • Yōsui Inoue — theme music composer

Awards

  • May 11, 2011: The Association of Japanese Geographers Award[11]
  • September 29, 2015: Good Design Award 2015[12]
  • June 2, 2016: The 53rd Galaxy Award[13]
  • June 8, 2016: Hoso Bunka Foundation Award[14]
  • June 16, 2017: The Geological Society Award[15]
  • March 15, 2018: FY2017 Geotechnical Engineering Contribution Award[16]
  • 2020: the 28th Hashida Award

References

  1. ^ 「久保田アナは、なぜあんなにものを知らないのか?」『ブラタモリ』ができるまで - てれびのスキマ・2013年5月6日 (in Japanese)
  2. ^ "「ブラタモリ」書籍化!全6冊、オールカラーで2015年度放送分を網羅". お笑いナタリー. ナタリー. June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  3. ^ "「ブラタモリ」ついに書籍化! 番組制作班が監修、マニアックな視点で見た街の様子を紹介". Nlab. ITmedia, Inc. June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  4. ^ "「ブラタモリ」が待望の書籍化〜未公開エピソードや、撮影風景の特別写真なども収録". ネタとぴ. Impress Holding, Inc. June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  5. ^ The pilot version was broadcast also worldwide on NHK World Premium on December 30, 2015, from 0:15–0:58 p.m. JST.
  6. ^ "「ちい散歩」に負けないNHK「ブラタモリ」". Sports Nippon. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  7. ^ "The Miracle of Japanese Manufacturing; Wandering Tamori; CM of the week: GLS Japan". Japan Times. March 19, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  8. ^ "平成30年度番組 新キャスター発表!". Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  9. ^ "2020年度「主な番組キャスター」一覧" (PDF). Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  10. ^ "2022年度番組主な新キャスター" (PDF). Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  11. ^ "2010年度日本地理学会賞(団体貢献部門)受賞者決定のお知らせ". The Association of Japanese Geographers. March 9, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  12. ^ "TV show [BURATAMORI] (Good Design Award)". Japan Institute of Design Promotion. September 29, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  13. ^ "放送批評懇談会". June 2, 2016. Archived from the original on November 4, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  14. ^ "第42回「放送文化基金賞」表彰対象について" (PDF) (Press release). Hoso Bunka Foundation. June 8, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  15. ^ "2017年度各賞受賞者 受賞理由". The Association of Japanese Geographers. June 16, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  16. ^ "平成29年度 地盤工学貢献賞受賞者". Japan Geotechnical Society. Retrieved March 21, 2018.