novelraw Chapter 277: The "A Bite Craze" Sweeping All of Japan and Soaring Viewership Ratings!
Chapter 277: The "A Bite Craze" Sweeping All of Japan and Soaring Viewership Ratings!
Tokyo in October, with the autumn wind growing cool, yet unable to stop the continuously fermenting heat of "A Bite of Neon."
The new episodes broadcasting simultaneously on TV Tokyo and Kanto TV at 8:00 PM every Friday became the "regular program" of families across all of Japan.
The TV screens in convenience stores played clips of the episodes on a loop. The topics in the streets and alleys could not depart from the "patterns of Ibaraki lacquerware," the "saury of Chiba Fishing Port," and the "sakuramochi of Mie Prefecture." Even on the school bags of elementary school students hung cartoonized shokunin badges that appeared in the documentaries—these were merchandise launched by Kanto TV to attract young viewers, and they were snapped up empty within three days of going on the market.
When the latest viewership ratings report was delivered into Nohara Hiroshi's hands, long-lost cheers rang out in the meeting room of Kanto TV.
The viewership rating for Episode 7 of "A Bite of Neon," "Changes of Chiba Fishing Port," broke through 22.3%. It not only set the highest record for Kanto TV in the past five years but also surpassed the popular variety show "Idol Challenge" airing simultaneously on Tokyo City TV, becoming the viewership champion of the Friday night slot.
Even more surprisingly, the viewership proportion of teenage viewers aged 12-18 reached 38%, a number almost impossible to appear in past science, education, and humanities documentaries.
"Hiroshi-san! Look at this data!"
Matsui Yuichi held the report, his finger excitedly pointing at the "Audience Feedback" column. "72% of families stated 'the whole family watched together.' There are also many messages from parents saying that after watching, their children took the initiative to ask 'what is plant dyeing' and 'why must lacquerware be painted with many layers,' and even clamored to travel to the places in the documentary!"
Nohara Hiroshi took the report, his gaze stopping on a parent's feedback: "'My daughter used to dislike eating vegetables. After watching the making of matcha wagashi in Episode 8, 'Mie Prefecture Wagashi,' she actually took the initiative to say she wanted to try 'matcha-flavored vegetable salad'—this is more effective than us saying 'eat more vegetables' a hundred times.'" The corners of his mouth turned up unconsciously. "Our original intention in making documentaries was to make culture and knowledge 'touchable.' Now it seems this goal has been achieved."
The response on the streets was even more enthusiastic.In a stationery shop in the Yanesen old district, the owner, Kobayashi Masako, specifically opened a "Bite Merchandise Corner," displaying the traditional handcrafts that appeared in the documentary.
Dyed cloth notebooks from Saitama Prefecture, green tea-flavored bookmarks from Kanagawa Prefecture, fishing port-themed postcards from Chiba Prefecture.
"Every day parents bring their children to buy," Kobayashi Masako said with a smile. "Last week a little boy bought a dyed cloth notebook, saying he was going to use it to 'record the traditional culture around him that he discovered.' These are all things that have never happened before."
Even schools began to proactively connect with Kanto TV.
An elementary school in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo Metropolis, incorporated "A Bite of Neon" into their "Extracurricular Practice Course," organizing students to experience hand-making at nearby wagashi shops, and also inviting the pottery shokunin from the documentary to hold lectures across the school.
"In the past, students were not interested in 'traditions'," said homeroom teacher Sato Miho. "Now they will take screenshots of the documentary and ask the shokunin 'how was this pattern drawn?' The light in their eyes makes us exceptionally moved."
The hit broadcast of "A Bite of Neon" completely reversed the declining trend of Kanto TV.
A year ago, this local TV station was still facing the risk of "merger and reorganization" due to aging equipment and sluggish viewership ratings, and even advertisers were unwilling to invest resources;
today, not only did time-honored enterprises like "Matsuya" and "Asakusaya" proactively come to sponsor new plannings, but several overseas TV stations also contacted them to purchase the broadcasting rights of "A Bite." Among them, a Thai TV station even proposed a cooperation plan of "simultaneous translation + cultural commentary," hoping to let Southeast Asian viewers also understand the traditional food and culture of Japan.
"In the past, when we went to discuss cooperation, the other party would use physical 'no time' as an excuse as soon as they heard it was Kanto TV," Yamada Takashi thought about the previous predicament, his tone full of emotion. "It's different now. Last week I went to discuss sponsorship for 'Kanto Traditional Crafts,' and three enterprises signed contracts on the spot, even saying 'following Nohara Hiroshi's documentaries will definitely make our brand famous'."
More importantly, talent began to flow back.
Nakamura Keisuke, a senior editor who had job-hopped before due to Kanto TV's sluggishness, proactively contacted Matsui Yuichi, hoping to "return to the team and participate in the production of 'Artisan's Heart'."
"I've cut many commercial films at other TV stations, but always felt something was missing," Nakamura Keisuke said on the phone. "Only after seeing the camera language and narrative methods of 'A Bite' did I understand that this is the documentary I want to cut—one with warmth, with depth, and capable of being liked by more people."
The industry was full of curiosity regarding Kanto TV's "turnaround battle," and many media outlets began analyzing the core logic of "Nohara Hiroshi's transformation of Kanto TV."
A special report in the "Tokyo Film and Television Weekly" wrote: "The rebirth of Kanto TV is, in essence, the rebirth of documentaries.
Nohara Hiroshi did not choose to follow the trend and film popular entertainment variety shows. Instead, he cultivated deeply in the field of science, education, and humanities, using innovative methods to make the 'traditional' become 'youthful,' and the 'knowledge' become 'interesting.' This not only saved a local TV station but also provided a new line of thought for the entire industry."
At an industry forum, Sakata Nobuhiko of TV Tokyo made no secret of his appreciation for Nohara Hiroshi: "Many people ask me why I am willing to support Kanto TV's equipment and funds. It's because I saw Nohara Hiroshi's ambition. He is not just filming a hit documentary;
he is building an 'ecosystem for traditional culture communication.' From 'A Bite' to 'Artisan's Heart,' and then to 'Ecological Corners in the City,' every planning echoes with each other, being capable of both standing alone and forming a combined force. This is something many senior producers cannot do."
The craze triggered by "A Bite of Neon" also attracted the attention of Japan's top film critics.
Multiple mainstream media and professional journals published reviews one after another, analyzing the "industry revolution" brought by this documentary from multiple dimensions such as narrative techniques, camera language, and audience positioning. Among them was no shortage of high praise for Nohara Hiroshi's "subversion of traditional documentary cognition."
The culture section of the "Asahi Shimbun" published a lengthy article by senior film critic Fujiwara Masako, titled "'A Bite of Neon': Letting Documentaries Enter a New Era of 'Whole-Family Enjoyment'."
The article wrote: "For a long time, Japan's science, education, and humanities documentaries have fallen into a dilemma—either they are too professional and obscure, reducing them to a 'niche product for a minority of enthusiasts';
or they sacrifice depth for entertainment, becoming a 'variety show wearing the cloak of a documentary.'
And 'A Bite of Neon' broke this dilemma. It uses a combination of 'macro narrative + micro camera lens,' making professional content like 'lacquerware production' and 'green tea cultivation' visual;
by interspersing 'shokunin stories + family scenes,' it makes 'traditional culture' no longer a distant history, but 'things right beside you that can integrate into daily life'."
Fujiwara Masako specifically mentioned the segment of Episode 8, "Mie Prefecture Wagashi": "When the camera cut from the rough hands of the old shokunin kneading dough to the tender movements of a little girl imitating making wagashi, and accompanied it with the narration 'Tradition is not sticking to old ways, but passing the old crafts to the people who like it,' I saw the most precious 'warmth' of documentaries. This narrative of 'intergenerational dialogue' not only lets children understand the meaning of 'inheritance,' but also lets adults re-examine their relationship with tradition—this is exactly the power an excellent documentary should possess."
The film and television review column of the "Yomiuri Shimbun" published an article by film critic Tanaka Takashi, titled "From 'Knowledge Instillation' to 'Interest Guidance': Nohara Hiroshi's Documentary Innovation."
The article pointed out: "Traditional documentaries are used to taking an 'authoritative perspective,' like having experts explain the 'history of lacquerware' to the camera, and the audience can only passively accept it. 'A Bite of Neon,' however, adopts a 'guiding perspective,' such as following the journey of a small beetle to showcase forest ecology, or following the fishermen's fishing boats to record the changes of the fishing port, turning the audience into 'explorers' who proactively discover knowledge.
This 'sinking' of the narrative perspective fundamentally changes the relationship between documentaries and the audience—it is no longer 'I teach, you learn,' but 'we explore together'."
Tanaka Takashi also specifically analyzed Nohara Hiroshi's handling of "science and education content": "In Episode 7, 'Chiba Fishing Port,' when explaining the 'saury migration routes,' it didn't use boring maps and data, but instead used animation to demonstrate the 'saury's travel route,' and then interspersed it with the experience-based talk of fishermen 'judging migration time based on water temperature.' This combination of 'scientific knowledge + life wisdom' not only guarantees professionality but is also full of the breath of life. Children can understand the animation, and adults can understand the scientific logic behind the experience. This is the highest realm of 'combining education with entertainment'."
The professional film and television journal "Image Review" even published joint reviews by multiple film critics under the theme "Paradigm Shift of Documentaries."
Among them, film critic Suzuki Kenta, who focuses on science and education documentary research, wrote: "What is most amazing about Nohara Hiroshi is his breakthrough of 'audience boundaries.'
Past science and education documentaries implicitly assumed the audience were 'adults with a certain knowledge reserve,' thus ignoring children's receptive abilities in content design. 'A Bite of Neon' proactively broke this 'implicit assumption,' for example, by using 'anthropomorphic narration' to describe the life of small insects and using 'cartoonized icons' to explain craft steps. These designs seemingly 'simple,' but are actually a precise grasp of 'children's cognitive patterns'."
Suzuki Kenta gave a specific example: "In Episode 9, 'Yanesen Old Street,' when introducing the 'fifty-year-old stationery store,' the camera specifically filmed the 'mini stamps' in the stationery store—this is the element children are most interested in. Then, through the owner's words, 'These stamps have witnessed the childhoods of three generations,' it naturally drew out the 'memories of the old street.'
This technique of starting from 'children's points of interest' and then extending to 'deep cultural connotations' allows the documentary to attract children without making adults feel it's 'childish,' achieving 'resonance across all age groups'."
There were also film critics who paid attention to the innovation of "sound design" in "A Bite." A review in the "Weekly TV and Video Technique" mentioned: "Nohara Hiroshi makes 'ambient sound' the 'second narrator' of documentaries: the 'rustle' of kneading dough, the 'subtle cracking sound' of lacquerware drying, the 'snapping sound' of green tea leaves being picked. These sounds not only make the audience feel 'immersed' but also convey details of the crafts: for example, through the 'crack' sound of the wood-fired kiln, the audience can feel changes in the heat;
through the 'friction sound of ropes' when fishermen haul in their nets, they can experience the hard work.
This 'narrative power of sound' was rarely valued in past documentaries, but 'A Bite' played it to the extreme."
The lavish praise from film critics triggered reflection across the entire documentary industry.
Multiple TV stations held "Documentary Innovation Seminars," inviting producers and directors to discuss "how to make science, education, and humanities documentaries more popular," and "A Bite of Neon" became a "benchmark case" that had to be mentioned.
At one seminar, NHK's senior documentary director Miyazawa Kenji sighed with emotion: "In the past, we always felt that 'professionality' and 'interest' were contradictory. Only after watching 'A Bite' did I understand that the two can be combined very well. Nohara Hiroshi's brilliance lies in the fact that he does not treat 'tradition,' 'culture,' and 'knowledge' as lofty 'symbols,' but rather as 'living fragments of life'—this is the core of how documentaries can move audiences of different ages and different backgrounds."
Faced with the attention and praise from the industry, Nohara Hiroshi always maintained a clear head.
At a team meeting of Kanto TV, looking at the excited faces of the crowd, he said calmly: "The success of 'A Bite' is not because of how amazing I am, but because we found what the audience truly needs—what they need is not 'to be educated,' but 'to be moved';
not to 'know what tradition is,' but to 'feel the connection between tradition and themselves.' Going forward, we cannot slack off just because of the hit broadcast. We must continue to polish 'Artisan's Heart' and 'Ecological Corners in the City,' and make 'documentaries with warmth' even better."
Matsui Yuichi looked at Nohara Hiroshi, his heart full of admiration: "Hiroshi-san, you can always stay calm at the liveliest times. We have all remembered: the core of documentaries is 'reality' and 'sincerity,' not pursuing viewership ratings, but conveying value."
Nohara Hiroshi nodded, casting his gaze out the window.
On the roof of Kanto TV, the newly hung signboard "Kanto Culture Communication Base" was exceptionally striking in the sunlight.
He thought of those "niche" traditional cultures he had seen before transmigrating, thought of those handcrafts that vanished due to lack of attention, and his heart became even firmer.
He was not just filming documentaries;
he was "leaving traces for tradition" and "building bridges for culture."
Letting more people see the beauty of traditions and making more people willing to protect traditions—this was his true success.
"Besides, to become a star of Japanese film and television, I also have to represent Japan." Nohara Hiroshi carried a faint smile on his face, growing increasingly confident.