Where We Call Home

Join us as we visit Naganuma in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido where Australian Karl Diercke runs a pie shop. Among his crusty creations are meat pies, which offer a taste of Karl's homeland but with beef produced locally. We follow h…

On July 3rd 2021, massive mudslides caused by heavy rainfall swept through the town of Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture, leaving devastation in their wake. A day before, Chinese-born Xu Haoyu had just moved into a house he'd bought there. Like…

This episode takes us to Shiga Prefecture, home of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. It's there that a few years ago Italian-born Enrico Cupri began working at a sake brewery. Fueled by his love of sake and his determination to master …

On this episode, we visit Kamata in Tokyo, which is home to many small factories expert in machining parts for a variety of industries. In recent years, however, the lack of successors has been forcing many manufacturers to close down. But…

This time, we follow Dharma Lama, a mandala artist born and raised at a temple in his home country of Nepal who now runs a vegetable farm in Toyama Prefecture. Concerned over the future of agriculture in the region, Dharma works hard to co…

In Osaka City is a kitchen knife shop run by Canadian Bjorn Heiberg. Promoting the quality of Japanese knives and working with local craftspeople, he's helped reinvigorate the market, which had been dominated by cheaper all-purpose imports…

On this episode, we meet 2 gray-bearded North Americans passionate about Japanese traditional arts. First, we head to Tokushima Prefecture, where US-born Martin Holman leads a troupe that performs a local centuries-old form of puppet theat…

This time, we visit Okinawa Prefecture to meet Ukraine-born Katarin Honma, whose soul was shaken by Russia's invasion of her homeland. An engineer who's recently begun baking bread with carrots that are broken or too misshapen to be sold a…

On this episode, we visit Nakanoshima Island off the coast of Shimane Prefecture to meet Myanmar-born Aung Moe Oo, who leads a fishing enterprise. As young people leave the island to live in urban areas, he worries about the lack of succes…

We visit Ibaraki Prefecture where 2 Sri Lankan businessmen work to support their compatriots in need. At his welding factory, Chamila trains his all-Sri-Lankan staff in valuable skills that will help them through the difficulties brought o…

On this episode, we meet two Ukrainians supporting their compatriots in Japan, from before and after Russia began to invade their homeland. The archpriest of Japan's first Ukrainian Orthodox Mission, Paul Koroluk, and Oksana Piskunova, a t…

On this episode, we discover a lesser-known side of Tokyo with US-born magazine Editor Lucas Badtke-Berkow. After introducing the cool and youthful culture of the capital with the hit magazine "TOKION," he now focuses on the "good old Japa…

On this episode, we meet Canadian Josh Grisdale. A wheelchair user due to cerebral palsy, Josh works for a social welfare group in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward, and runs a website for foreigners with disabilities that introduces a broad range of l…

In 2020, Yamashita Alan, a Brazilian of Japanese descent and former Japanese champion of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, founded a cultural center in Imizu, his town of adoption in Toyama Prefecture. It's a place where the foreign community loves to …

This time, we meet Ukrainian Anna Kreshchenko, an entrepreneur in Kyoto who creates apps that provide support for health issues unique to women. She's backed by her scientist business partner and a team of IT specialists, many of whom are …

For women, giving birth abroad can be a daunting prospect. Luckily, the Brazilian expectant mothers of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture have an invaluable partner - fellow Brazilian Ludmilla Hirata. She's a doula, a profession still relati…

On this episode, we visit Myanmar refugee Aung Myat Win who runs a restaurant in Osaka Prefecture that serves the authentic taste of his home country. Win also manages a business that provides care to people with disabilities. And with the…

On this episode, we meet Yevhenii Petrenko and his wife Nagasawa Mie – two professional dancers for a famous ballet company in Ukraine. This February, as the couple and their baby boy were visiting Mie's mother in Japan, Russia began its i…

This time we head to mountainous Nagano Prefecture where 13-year-old Artem Tsymbaliuk fled from the war in his homeland of Ukraine with his mother. Practicing Zendokai Karate since childhood, Artem was invited to Japan by the founder of th…

On this episode, we revisit Ghana-native Tony Justice, who runs a canteen for children from families in financial difficulties and single-parent households in Kanagawa Prefecture. Looking to keep his project going amidst the pandemic, he d…

On this episode, we head to the forested mountains surrounding the village of Totsukawa in Nara Prefecture to meet French-born Jolan Ferreri. A lover of the woodlands, Jolan works to invigorate the region with his creation, an exciting aer…

This time, we visit Toyama Prefecture to meet US-born Jack Lee Randall, a weaver of tales for children using shadow puppets. With an overhead projector, paper cutouts, his creativity and his audience's imagination, he adds his own twist to…

On this episode, we meet US-born Shelby Brown in the city of Nagai in Yamagata Prefecture. Shelby is passionate about kendama, a traditional Japanese toy with which one can do many spectacular tricks, and that's now popular worldwide. Shel…

The biwa is a Japanese string instrument with a long history, and the 130-year-old chikuzen biwa is a relatively more modern type originated in the city of Fukuoka, which is where we meet Italian Doriano Sulis, a specialist in the crafting…

On this episode, we go to Kitanakagusuku Village in Okinawa Prefecture to meet US-born Alex Hopson, who works at a restaurant that serves a kind of soup with an unusual main ingredient - venomous sea snake! It's a dish that dates back to w…

We visit Kochi City in Kochi Prefecture to meet US-native Owen Wade, a member of a local business owners' association. With the declining population, the opening of supermarket franchises and the pandemic, small shops have been struggling.…

This time, we visit Hiroshima Prefecture to meet Ukrainian-born Hiraishi Olena and her son, budding violinist Eishin. Since Russia began invading Olena's home country, she and Eishin have been organizing charity concerts to provide support…

On this episode, we meet US-born Tim Jones in the town of Kuromatsunai in Hokkaido Prefecture. A veteran cattle farmer from Texas, Tim was 68 when two years ago, he and his Japanese wife decided to move to her home country to raise cows. I…

This time, we meet American Thomas Kloepfer, a farmer living in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, where he revived abandoned farmland to grow all sorts of vegetables. His new project is a café that will feature his produce and bring the loca…

On this episode, we head to Mitoyo in Kagawa Prefecture to meet French-native Jerome Rupp who grows Shine Muscats, a variety of high-end grapes born in Japan. Cultivating the luxury fruit is painstaking work that requires meticulous care. …

The aging of the population and labor shortages are some of the biggest issues Japanese agriculture is currently facing. On this episode, we meet Tamir Blum, a young Israeli man who's working to lighten the workload of Japanese farmers ...…

This time, we head to Wakayama Prefecture to take in the beauty of Japanese nature captured by German-born Dominik Schmitz, a professional gardener who introduces esthetic elements from his homeland into traditional Japanese landscaping. W…

On this episode, we venture into the woods of Seto in Aichi Prefecture to do some tree climbing with Canadian John Gathright. A professor at a local university, John has long studied the benefits of tree climbing as a fun activity that hel…

We revisit the Ukrainian families who came to Nagano Prefecture in April 2022 to flee the war in their country. The kids are students of Zendokai Karate, the founder of which invited them to Japan. The oldest of the boys is 14-year-old Art…