NHK's documentary program "Document 72 Hours" (General) will air its "Year-End Special 2025" on December 30th from 12:15pm to 8:42pm (with news interruptions). This is the program's annual end-of-year project, and this year, in its 12th year, it will be broadcast in an expanded time slot, moving into prime time. In addition to announcing the top 10 of the year as chosen by viewer votes, the program will also look back on the past year with a variety of other projects.
The show's MCs are Goro Yamada, Osamu Suzuki, and Kazue Fukiishi. The show will feature live coverage from the locations of the episodes that made it into the rankings, as well as a "trial project" to turn viewers' submissions of "places they'd like to see 72 Hours in" into programs. Fans of the show, Akira Kawashima of Kirin, Utadamaru of RHYMESTER, and Haruka Minowa of Harisenbon, will announce their favorite episodes in a video clip, and Chan Kawai, who is a big fan of the show, will also report from the filming location.
Furthermore, passionate fans of "Document 72 Hours" from all over the country will gather in the studio to show their own ways of enjoying the show. At the end, Nao Matsuzaki will perform "The House by the River."
Fukiishi revealed, "The recording of the year-end special is a relaxing day for me, like a regular family reunion, where I get to meet Yamada Goro and Suzuki Osamu once a year. I've been involved with the show for nearly 20 years, so it's become a part of my life, and I just enjoy it as a fan."
"I think that watching this program conveys the idea that drama is a part of everyday life, and even during the regular broadcasts there are moving, surprising, and new discoveries every week, and I feel that it is a program that also teaches us how to think as people. The year-end special is the culmination of all of this, and I think many people are on winter break, so I hope that people will be able to watch it at their leisure while going about their daily lives," he said.
This documentary program focuses on a single location each time, observing the various human dramas that occur there over a period of 72 hours. It listens to the stories of people who meet by chance, capturing the current era.
