Awesome Homework

In this series prominent people set homework that stirs children’s curiosity. The show began in May 2020 during the first lockdown in Japan. Schools were closed for three months, children were trapped indoors, robbed of opportunities to learn and play. In this episode, picture book artist Yoshitake Shinsuke encourages kids to create their own private places and secrets. In the homework he asks youngsters to draw portraits of themselves creating these secrets. After multiple broadcasts, highly imaginative work from kids arrived. We aired a series of Yoshitake’s sincere responses, creating two-way communication. With the future unclear, our aim was to give kids the joy of engrossing activities and unexpected experiences. We wanted to deliver the intentions of the questioners as intact as possible and asked them to freely conceive the content of their homework. Unable to film on location, we had the questioners send videos of themselves, which we aired with almost no edits. The show was designed to stimulate children’s powers of imagination, free them from the stress of confinement, to help them be kind to themselves, and to give them the freedom to express their interests. TV is an one way street, but the questioner solicits answers, and we broadcast feedback, thereby sending the message that, even during a crisis, there are adults who care about the children’s thoughts and feelings.