NHK announcer Mana Sato currently serves as Tamori's travel partner on the popular NHK program "Bura Tamori" (NHK General TV), in which Tamori visits various towns. She first appeared as a partner in the November 2024 special edition and has continued to appear in the regular broadcast since April 2025. This spring marks her second year on the show. We spoke with announcer Sato, who revealed her "principle" during filming: "Never pretend to know something or pretend not to know something."
◇Did he watch "Bura Tamori" in high school? His impression of Tamori hasn't changed.
Sato joined NHK in 2020 and currently serves as a Caster for the 5 AM segment of the news program "NHK NEWS Ohayo Nippon".
She is from Yokohama City. Her "first encounter" with "Bura Tamori" was during her high school days.
"I once came across a filming of ' Bura Tamori' in Kamakura on my way home from school (high school) at the time, so I felt a sense of familiarity with the program."
Afterwards, Sato became an announcer for NHK, and in a special edition in November 2024, she "reunited" with Tamori.
"For me, it felt like, 'It's been a long time since I've seen Tamori-san in person.' I even got to tell him about the time I encountered him during filming in Kamakura when I was in high school. So I wasn't nervous at all from the first episode, and I was able to get into the show right away."
Since becoming Tamori's travel partner on the show, the regular broadcast entered its second year this spring, but announcer Sato reveals that her impression of Tamori "hasn't changed at all, even before we started working together on the show."
"I feel like there's absolutely no difference between when Tamori-san is filming and when he's not. He says funny things whether the cameras are rolling or not, and although it sounds cliché, he's a very approachable person. He's very knowledgeable and teaches me all sorts of things, regardless of the cameras, and because of that, I feel like I can be myself around him."
◇How to find out where the filming location is... "I just have to go there as my true self."
When announcer Sato goes on location shoots for the program, she makes a firm decision to "neither pretend to know nor pretend not to know."
"I try to share my honest feelings and questions with Tamori-san and the experts who guide us at the filming locations. Neither Tamori-san nor I are told in advance where the filming will take place; we only find out on the morning of the shoot when we arrive at the location. Naturally, we can't do any research beforehand, so I just have to be myself. The experts and Tamori-san have far more accumulated knowledge and life experience than I do. If I try to pretend to know something I don't, the viewers will see right through it. So, I try to be myself and speak from a position that is closer to the viewers, and share my feelings with them as I film."
Incidentally, announcer Sato revealed that because she wasn't told in advance where the filming locations would be, there had been times when her personal travel plans overlapped with the show's filming locations, including the timing. We also asked her to tell us what she finds to be the essence of "Bura Tamori."
"I think what makes ' Bura Tamori' unique is how it focuses on and explores places you wouldn't normally notice while walking around, and what I appreciate most during filming is the ample time given to think. If an expert asks you, 'What do you think this is?', in a live broadcast, you might have to answer in about five seconds. But in ' Bura Tamori,' they give you time to think, so you really feel like you're solving the mystery together with Tamori-san. I hope viewers can enjoy watching it with the same feeling." (Fumio Kishitani/MANTANWEB)
