Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hakubun Shimomura takes time away from dealing with the new national stadium to make a guest appearance on the travel program "So da, Dokka ni Ikko?" ("Well, Where Shall We Go?"; TV Tokyo, Tues., 6:57 p.m.). Shimomura is there to introduce 18 of the UNESCO World Heritage sites that happen to be in Japan.
He won't be doing the traveling, though. Among the celebrities making the journeys is American model Dakota Rose, with her famous manga character appearance and blunt Japanese. In addition, some guests will go to Hitoyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, the hometown of host Teruyoshi Uchimura, to look at the beautiful Kuma River, which the country has designated a protected natural asset.
One of the terrible mysteries of the 20th century was what happened to the people who succumbed to the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. NHK attempts to recreate the horror with new technology on "Kinoko-guma Shita de Nani ga Okite Ita no ka?" ("What Happened Under the Mushroom Cloud?"; NHK-G, Thurs., 7:30 p.m.)