This week, Fuji TV will begin airing the entries in its Eleventh Annual FNS Documentary Grand Prix, a contest that honors video documentaries submitted by Fuji network affiliates. The winners are eventually selected by a panel of media experts.
This year's contest features 28 entries. Two documentaries will be aired each week for the next 14 weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday late at night (or early in the morning, depending on how you look at it).
The first entry (Tuesday, 3:05 a.m.) comes from Kansai Television and is titled "Kazoku Yakara . . .," which is Osaka dialect for "Because it's family . . ." The "family" member cited in the title is a dog, more specifically an aged dog. Right now, there is a great deal of public and private concern about the so-called graying of society, but discussions on the subject are invariably about people. This documentary focuses on dogs and how owners cope with the problems of an aging pet.