2) Summary
Ms. Veronica Mannix (Canada) was awarded the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Prize in the 2000 Japan Prize contest for Through a Blue Lens. This documentary follows, for more than a year, the interaction between a team of Vancouver police officers trying to stem the drug trade and a group of drug-addicted youths, conveying the message that the drug-addicts are normal people with personalities predisposed to drug-addiction.
Ms. Anita Varma (India) received the Maeda Prize in the 1999 Japan Prize contest for her program The Changing Moon. The film's young protagonist draws pictures of the changes in the moon's shape each day. At the end of the month, he has 30 pictures that he turns into an animation of the moon waxing and waning by flipping through the pages. While simple, the young boy's performance is emotionally evocative, and the documentary warmly portrays his great discovery.
Mr. Kwang-Bum Kim (Republic of Korea) is the producer of ONLY ONE EARTH: Lost School, Lost Home, Lost Hopes, which won the UNICEF Prize in the 1998 Japan Prize contest. In Korea's Ulsan City, economic development brought with it water, soil, and atmospheric pollution, so that today the city is dying. The film's documentation of the fate of a group of elementary school children whose school is closed because of the pollution sounds alarm bells about spreading environmental pollution in industrialized countries.
The panel included two Japanese members. The first of these was Mr. Hideyuki Hosoda, whose documentary, Suteki na Uchusen Chikyugo: Yakushima - Kyodaisugi/Inochi no Himitsu (The Wonderful Spaceship Earth: From Yakushima - Kyodaisugi/Secrets of Life), was highly praised by the panel of international judges of the 2000 Japan Prize contest, although it narrowly missed out on a prize. A freelance documentary producer unaffiliated with any large organization, Mr. Hosoda's pioneering spirit has opened up new possibilities for television journalism.
The second Japanese panelist was Mr. Katsuhiko Hayashi, who has produced numerous documentaries, including the series of three NHK Special: The Universe Within /Human Body documentaries.
Session 2 began with each of the five panelists screening an example of his/her work, then giving a detailed explanation of such issues as the intended message of the program, particular techniques used in program production, and viewer response to the program. This was followed by a discussion of common issues, of which the three points detailed below left a particularly strong impression.
The first point was that images are eloquent. Beginning with the idea-filled imagery of Ms. Anita Varma's educational program The Changing Moon, the footage presented by each of the panelists possessed a universal persuasiveness that dispelled national boundaries.
Secondly, media in different countries operate under different circumstances. Some countries are particularly sensitive to audience responses, while others are sensitive to the wishes of program sponsors. In some countries, television plays a central role in education and learning, whereas in others, the diffusion of television itself is the current issue. Although a large quantity of information is not the same thing as affluence, the gap between countries with extensive information resources and those without appears to be widening.
Thirdly, the panelists lamented the tendency for documentary content to weaken as film imagery became more striking. Due to advances in virtual reality and similar innovations, film production technology can create riveting footage, but the disadvantage here is that the producer gives viewers little time to think. This actually makes it more difficult to convey the documentary's intended message. The intense panel discussion provided Japanese documentary producers with an opportunity to review our profession.

2) Kwang-Bum Kim
The title of my program is of ONLY ONE EARTH: Lost School, Lost Home, Lost Hopes.
(Screen image: All of these children were forced to leave their homes and change to a new school in a different area by pollution caused by the oil industry.)
The theme I am endeavoring to convey through television is "sustainable development." Some people think that we have to go revert to ancient living standards if humanity is to avoid the negative consequences of science and technology. However, it would be impossible for us to return completely to the past because science and technology have clearly changed our world for the better.
Images convey information, but in order to capture audience attention, it is necessary to show images that will visually stimulate and touch the heartstrings of the audience members. A story line that ties the scientific information to appropriate images is also necessary. In this program, I first of all got the audience to share in the children's sadness. To this I added scientific facts and information in the form of micro-camera shots of the pollution.

3) Hideyuki Hosoda
(The Jyomon sugi: a giant, grotesquely shaped sugi -Japanese cedar tree- located on Yakushima Island. The demand for timber grew during the post World War Two reconstruction, and logging of Yakushima sugi increased. The Jyomon sugi escaped this fate because of its unusual shape.)
The purpose of the science programs I produce is to convey the essence of an issue through "emotional response" and "beauty."
This program's overall theme is the global environment. However, I do not like the concept of "environmental preservation" as the expression has overtones of human domination. In contrast, African and Native American peoples have the wisdom to live in harmony with nature. Giving light to the concept of "the wisdom of man living in harmony with nature" is my theme.
I have moved to the island of Kyushu and now I am also a farmer. I have chosen this lifestyle because I believe that the extent to which the theme of harmony with nature has been integrated into everyday living is very important.

4) Anita Varma
The film I produced was an educational program that examined the waxing and waning of the moon. (A young boy and girl are playing underneath a street lamp at night. As the boy takes the girl's hands and swings her around in circles, he notices changes in the shadow cast on the girl's face by the lamplight and suddenly realizes why the moon appears to change shape.)
Science evolved through the generalization of the diverse experiences of individuals. Science education is the reverse process: in other words, it requires the individualization of general information. As this film illustrates, linking science information with personal experience is what creates thorough understanding.
I have also incorporated the "legend of the moon" into this film for the purpose of showing that scientific ideas are not absolute: there are many different truths. The world today is polarizing into two extremes, fundamentalism and modernism, both of which assert that their beliefs are the only "truth." Not only is this attitude intolerant, but it also leads to violence.

5) Katsuhiko Hayashi
Congenital Minamata Disease: a condition caused by a mother unwittingly eating fish containing high levels of organic mercury, which damages the brain of the developing fetus and preventing the sufferer from ever being able to speak. Witnessing the reality of this influence on unborn life prompted me to pursue this theme deeply.
This is how my eyes were opened to environmental issues in general. Since realizing that the underlying root to these issues was "life," I have spent 30 years producing documentaries based on the theme of "life." My documentary series, NHK Special: The Universe Within, is one such project.
Is it not possible to say that, during the 20th Century, we used science and technology to satisfy the desires of our own generation only? It is my sincere hope that science and technology in the 21st Century will be supported by a philosophy of "science and technology that considers the next generation." I intend to continue making programs that include this message.

6) Discussion
Koide: The influence of "science and technology" has become so large that it even has the power to decide the future of the human race. In particular, I would like to discuss the role required of television.
First of all, what is the message that you want most to convey through television?
Koide: When I'm working in the fields, local people will come up to me and pass on their knowledge about growing vegetables or myth-like information about rice plants. There are so many people who are filled with information that cannot be found in books. I would like to consider the relationship among humans, nature, and the universe within the context of this lifestyle.
Mannix: I am currently in the process of creating a documentary about "whistleblowers." "Whistle blowing" is one way for individuals to stand up against governments and large corporations. Society needs to create mechanisms to protect whistleblowers.
Koide: I think that a message will not be persuasive unless it is linked to some familiar topic encountered in everyday life. How do we link these two together on film? Mr. Hayashi, what do you think? Hayashi: I decided long ago to never drive a vehicle until electric cars and other ecologically friendly vehicles were invented. Unless the producer's ideas are rooted in everyday experiences, the image tends to take on a life of its own. This is a dangerous thing to happen, wouldn't you agree?
Koide: There are many restrictions on program production, aren't there? Social requirements and the problem of cost are two examples. How do each of you resolve these issues?
Hosoda: I think that conveying your message is one "battle." In order to win this battle, the producer must be convinced of his/her message, and in order for this to happen, the producer must gather material as thoroughly and for as long as possible.
Mannix: The biggest problem is, of course, funding. To save costs, I am filming most of my latest documentary, Whistleblowers, myself.
When dealing with themes of "accountability," it is insufficient to just tell the "story" straight: other, intricately interwoven factors must also be explained in the film.
Varma: In my country, India, the are many families without a television set. Even when there are educational programs, the schools themselves often do not have television sets.
Furthermore, there are 13 languages and more than 100 regional dialects spoken in India. There are also striking cultural differences among people and regions within the country itself. Under these circumstances, providing uniform, generalized information through television is a problem.
Koide: What are your future intentions as a science journalist?
Kim: Internet users choose for themselves the information they want to see and can check the accuracy of information presented on television. Through the Internet, audience members no longer accept the views of the producer without question, but are able to formulate their own opinions.
Varma: The most important task for us as film producers is to comprehensively report and critique both the positive and the negative aspects of science and technology.
Hosoda: On the morning after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, a NHK radio program broadcast the Koran and then explained its meaning. Programs like this are good. The ideal is to have multi-channeled media space when many different views can be aired.
Mannix: I think it is extremely important for journalists to get together, like we have today, to consider ways of ensuring our message is properly conveyed. I would definitely like to see more conferences like this held in the future.
Hayashi: The basis of science and technology in the 21st Century must be the philosophy of "life," a philosophy that values the next generation. I intend to continue making programs based on this philosophy. Watching my budget closely, though. (Laughter)
Koide: T.S. Elliot has written that "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" The situation faced by science and technology today is exactly the same as the situation described in Elliot's poetry. From a diverse range of fields, such as international relations, politics, and economics, we must make a multi-dimensional selection of science and technology "information," preserve this information as "knowledge," and sublimate this "knowledge into "wisdom." This is the impression I have after participating in this discussion.