Document 72 Hours: Season 4
Season 4 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Document 72 Hours Season 3.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 4 Progress Shield
Close contact: The Sleepless Flower Shop in Kabukicho
Apr 5, 2013
The setting is a 24-hour flower store in Shinjuku Kabukicho, Tokyo. Who comes to buy flowers late at night and under what circumstances? An unfulfilled wish for a one-sided love. A
Farewell Shibuya, Kamaboko Station Building
Apr 12, 2013
Shibuya Station in Tokyo is used by 3 million people every day. Overnight, the platform of the Toyoko Line, a private railway line, was moved from the second floor above ground to
Osaka Kushikatsu Elegy
Apr 19, 2013
A small, standing kushikatsu store that is attached to the wall of an underground passageway in Osaka's Umeda Station, it is always packed, sometimes with a long line of customers.
Yokosuka Air Base, Operation Matchmaking
Apr 26, 2013
We closely follow the special three days that Yokosuka, a Maritime Self-Defense Force base, welcomes. In spring, most of the naval vessels gathered at Yokosuka base for the annual
Points of Departure: New Chitose Airport
May 3, 2013
Every year, 16 million people pass through Sapporo's New Chitose Airport, on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido. In spring, many dramas of greeting and parting play out as peo
In the City of Closed Factories
May 10, 2013
The factory of a major manufacturer in Gifu Prefecture closed its 33-year history. At its peak, it had four thousand employees and had sent out products such as game consoles, but
Enthusiastic Singing! Hitori Karaoke
May 17, 2013
Hitorikara" is the art of singing karaoke alone. Recently, specialty stores have also appeared. At a 24-hour restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo, 48 private rooms are available, and on w
Kyoto Engiri Shrine
May 24, 2013
Near downtown Gion, Kyoto. There is a place visited by people from all over Japan who are troubled by their relationships. It is Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine, known as a "shrine for sev
Night Clinic: An ER of Last Resort
May 31, 2013
In Japan's Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo, a patient died after being turned away by a number of hospital Emergency Rooms. Other patients have similarly been put in jeopardy; and ev
The Live-Streamers: Interactive Webcasting
Jun 7, 2013
Got a PC or a smartphone? Media-sharing sites will let you stream live and interactively. It could be called "self-casting" and it's a whole world of its own. In a single day, via
Familyless Life Theater
Jun 14, 2013
Ageo City, Saitama Prefecture, is a bedroom community about an hour from central Tokyo by train. A 24-hour family restaurant in a corner of the city never ceases to attract custome
Underground Idols
Jun 21, 2013
The Akihabara district in Tokyo is known worldwide as a mecca for "otaku" or geeks. It's also where a number of girl groups dance and sing. The otherwise obscure "live theaters" wh
Dreams Bloom at Kochi Racecourse
Jun 28, 2013
Kochi Racecourse once produced the racehorse Harurara, whose dedication to his sport drew sympathy despite a losing streak of more than 100 races. It is still a “sanctuary for lose
In Front of a Giant Manbow
Jul 5, 2013
The round, dull eyes are disproportionate to the huge body. The way they drift humorously and leisurely in their tanks. The sunfish is a mysterious creature that gives one an unrea
From the Last Shelter
Jul 19, 2013
Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture. More than 100 victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake still live in an abandoned school in a corner of the city. They moved with the town office t
Climbing Mt. Fuji
Jul 26, 2013
When summer comes, people from all over Japan flock to Mt. Fuji. After the mountain was designated a World Heritage Site in 2013, the crowds swelled even more. The Yoshida Trailhea
The "Rain, then Fine" Coin Laundry
Aug 2, 2013
The Shonan coastal region in Japan conjures up images of summertime, youth culture, fashion. We cast an offbeat video eye on an obscure but revealing Shonan location: a 24-hour coi
The Happiness Theory of Healthland
Sep 6, 2013
For a low fee, you can enjoy to your heart's content a spacious bath and massage room, as well as a place to eat and take a nap at this health spa in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. D
Home Is Where the Locker Is—The Day Laborers of Osaka
Sep 13, 2013
The Airin District, Osaka. Here live thousands of male day laborers, many of whom spend their nights in rooms so small they have no storage space at all. So they rely greatly on ch
Yanaka Cemetery: Dialogs Between Death and Life
Sep 20, 2013
The Yanaka Cemetery is one of Tokyo's oldest cemeteries. The greatest number of visitors come during the Obon holiday in the summer, when Japanese traditionally pay their respects
Fly! Epsilon
Sep 27, 2013
In August, a small town on the outskirts of the peninsula of Kagoshima attracted the world's attention. The launch of the state-of-the-art rocket “Epsilon” carrying a planetary obs
Yoshimoto: Summer Training Camp at the critical moment
Oct 4, 2013
Yoshimoto Kogyo attracts aspiring young comedians from all over Japan. They believe that they are the funniest, and there is a place where they are first sifted through the ranks.
Personal Glimpses at a 24-Hour Gym
Oct 11, 2013
24-hour gyms are quickly gaining in popularity. Relatively inexpensive and open all hours, they're well-suited to busy modern life. A close look at patrons reveals many reasons why
The Game Center and the Prize Beyond the Prize
Oct 18, 2013
Outside Yokohama's main rail station is a 6-floor game center. New games come out all the time, but an old standby is a cash cow: crane games, accounting for 40% of revenue. From e
The Makeup Room
Oct 25, 2013
Osaka Station: a major transportation hub for Western Japan. One popular service catering to travelers there is a Ladies Powder Room. Women who have traveled long distances without
In Search of Hiroshima Taro
Nov 1, 2013
There is a street person who is said to have no one in the center of Hiroshima who is said to be unknown. His name was "Hiroshima Taro." God's demons are dead. He runs through the
Hitchhiking in the Seto Inland Sea
Nov 8, 2013
Hitchhiking on the sea" is a way of traveling through the Seto Inland Sea by boat only. The starting point is Shodoshima Island, and for 72 hours, the group will aim westward. That
The Call of the Dunes
Nov 15, 2013
Nothing but sand, as far as the eye can see. The Tottori Sand Dunes on the Sea of Japan are a vast world of nothingness. 2 million visitors a year are drawn by scenery that is utte
A Giant Travel Agency: Destinations and Detours
Nov 22, 2013
It occupies an entire floor of a large building in Shinjuku, a bustling district in Tokyo. An enormous travel agency, visited daily by a high volume of customers seeking discount a
The Post Office That Never Sleeps
Dec 6, 2013
More and more these days, people communicate via texting, social media and email. Yet there are some who rush into the Shinjuku Post Office, a giant establishment in Tokyo open 24/
Night Train to Izumo: Destination - Destiny
Dec 13, 2013
An unusually large number of passengers gather at a train station in Tokyo. They're taking a special night train to Izumo, a thousand kilometers to the southwest, on the Japan Sea
A Giant Bookstore: Wandering in a World of Words
Dec 20, 2013
Crammed together are magazines and novels, art books and technical treatises. In an era of increasing Internet book sales, streams of people are drawn to actual bookstores, in sear