The shock of the old and abandoned is the theme of the late night "road movie" documentary series "Haikyo no Kyujitsu" ("Holiday in the Ruins"; TV Tokyo, Fri., 12:52 a.m.). Two teams of TV personalities — one in the United States and the other in Japan — explore man-made facilities that are no longer in use.
The team in the U.S. is designer Masanori Sumi and actor Seiichi Tanabe, who are in Buffalo in western New York State, where they come across the old city central train station. Though empty and in disrepair, the building strikes them as eerily beautiful, and using high-definition 4K cameras and a drone, they attempt to do it justice. In Japan, director Teruo Noguchi and actor Ken Yasuda seek out "beautiful ruins" in Hyogo and Nagasaki Prefectures.
This year's edition of Nihon TV's annual charity extravaganza, "24 Hour TV," is hosted by boy bands V6 and Hey! Say! Jump. In the middle of the marathon they present a two-hour stand-alone drama titled, "Kaasan, Ore wa Daijobu" ("Mother, I'm All Right"; Aug. 22, 9 p.m.), which the producers promise will bring everyone to tears.