Arguably the best interview show on terrestrial TV at present stars a bunch of puppets exploring the often unexamined corners of Japanese society.

Nehorin Pahorin” airs every Wednesday at 11 p.m. on NHK’s educational channel, wedged between English and Korean language shows. The 30-minute broadcast, which has aired since 2016, has become required viewing for many in Japan, who discuss its contents on Twitter while it airs using a hashtag of the program’s title in Japanese — an activity encouraged by “Nehorin Pahorin” itself.

Get past a cast that consists entirely of felt creatures and the concept behind the show resembles that of many domestic interview programs. Two hosts — Ryota Yamasato and You, represented as moles — sit on one side of a couch and grill a special guest, represented as a pig (as are most of the nonstaff people on the show).