Tokyo – The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) is an association of broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region. Every year, it conducts an international co-production project called ABU Children’s Drama Co-production Series. In this project, participants from the members of the ABU each produce a 15-minute drama episode starring children between the ages of seven to nine. Dramas are exchanged between participants and are broadcast on each of their channels. So far, 90 works in 18 different countries and regions have been made and broadcast.

The dramas offer children across Asia a glimpse inside the lives of their own generation in neighbouring countries. This project also serves as a training programme for young people in the field of broadcasting. Producers from NHK’s drama programmes division provide guidance on all aspects from story proposal, script writing, filming, editing, to post-production. NHK’s technical staffs also visit production sites as instructors. In regions preparing for digitised TV production, they teach various skills and know-how like the operation of High-Vision cameras. Year 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of this project. Participating broadcasters are from 10 countries, such as South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka, and all works will be aired in each country this summer.

ABU Asia Children’s Drama Series 2014

Broadcasting Schedule on NHK: NHK Educational TV (Terrestrial Channel in Japan)

July 28 – August 1, 9am – 9.35am JST (35 minutes)

Two dramas from two different countries will be aired in one 35-minute show (dubbed in Japanese), along with commentaries on cultural and social backgrounds.

July 28: NHK (Japan) Little Samurai and BBS (Bhutan) Willow tree

July 29: MNB (Mongolia) Vacation and TVRI (Indonesia) Stick Math

July 30: RTM (Malaysia) Dhia The Puppet Master and PBS (Thailand) Our School

July 3: RTB (Brunei) Intan and BTV (Bangladesh) Two Brothers

August 1: EBS (South Korea) Three Friends and SLRC (Sri Lanka) Water Turbine