On a Saturday night, I learned that the world was filled with 'wonders'

"Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" (Discovery of the World's Mysteries!) is said to be ending next March. When I heard that news, I was struck by a profound sense of loss.

The loneliness of something that had always been there suddenly disappearing. For me, Saturday night meant "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!".

When I lived in the countryside, the broadcast of "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" made me realize that "today is Saturday," and it always made me feel a little excited.

That hasn't changed even now that I'm an adult living in Tokyo, working a job that isn't tied to the days of the week.

Back then, my family ran a self-employed business, and we had almost no holidays throughout the year. It was a daily life that truly embodied the phrase "the poor have no leisure." Moreover, because my father was a severe homebody and shy, we never once went on a proper trip.

However, ironically, because I took after my father in many ways, I never felt dissatisfied about not being able to travel, and since I was not good at staying in hotels or other people's homes due to my personality, I didn't mind staying home all the time.

For someone like me, "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" was a special program that allowed me to experience the feeling of traveling while staying at home, and to come into contact with foreign cultures and landscapes.

The various "wonders" of the world were, for me, a gateway to "another world".

Furthermore, the exhilaration of knowing that "tomorrow is a day off from school" was added to that, so there was no way I wouldn't be excited.

Of course, it lacked the atmosphere, the air, and the human interaction that you can only experience by actually traveling, but that didn't matter much to me at the time.

People have imagination.
Armed with that, I enjoyed my weekly "Saturday night journey" to the fullest.

But just once, when I saw the Egyptian pyramids for the first time on "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!," I felt a strange sense of nostalgia. And for the first time, I thought, "I want to go there." Unfortunately, that wish has yet to be fulfilled.


It has been 37 years since the program started. Next spring, the regular broadcast will end, and "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" will bring its history to a close.

Times have changed, and now anyone can travel abroad with a certain level of health and a moderate amount of money. The things that made my heart flutter when I watched "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" back in the countryside can now be found in an instant with a web search.

Various travel programs are broadcast almost every day, and if you open YouTube, you can even take a virtual tour of various places around the world.

Perhaps what was once a "wonder" is no longer a "wonder". In fact, the fact that the program has lasted this long might be a small miracle in itself.

However, I think of it this way.
"Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" introduced the wonders of various countries in an entertaining way, but perhaps what it really wanted to convey was the meaning of people and countries being different, and to help us understand the values such as the common sense, customs, and lifestyle habits of those countries.

If countries are different, common sense is different, and if people are different, various values exist there.

If we dismiss the fact that common sense and values are different from our own as "incompatible" and harbor resentment over those differences, only hatred and conflict will be born.

However, if we can acknowledge those differences, a completely new set of values that we can understand and share with each other might be born.

Differences in values are not a "trigger for rupture" but a "bridge for connection", I believe.

"Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" always showed me, in a subtle way, the infinite possibilities of human beings while introducing the fact that various people and ethnic groups in various countries and regions of the world form their own unique cultures, as well as the preciousness and fragility of that. Kindness, compassion, and human beauty were always reflected there.

Such a warm world was my "Saturday night" and my "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!".


The world is changing significantly due to various technological innovations, including the Internet. And there has never been an era where the world is as close as it is now.

That is precisely why we must work together to figure out how to protect the Earth we live on, using technology and knowledge, while respecting the various common senses and values of the world without being bound or trapped by them.

For example, the world is currently facing major disasters in various countries and regions due to environmental changes caused by global warming.

Despite such an urgent situation, there are not a few people and countries that are engaged in endless strife and war with the values of "as long as I'm okay" or "as long as my country is saved."

The opponent we should be fighting is not "people."
It should be the "threats of nature" and a "dialogue with nature."

"Why do people fight?"
"Why does war never disappear?"

I find that truly mysterious.

On Saturday nights, I will no longer be solving the riddles of "wonders", but I sincerely hope that those "mysterious" riddles will one day be solved in this world.

I am also one person in this world.
I hope that one day I can find the answer to that "mystery."

*The regular broadcast of "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" will end next March, but according to TBS, it will continue as an irregular special program in the future.