Hikers to be in Japanese Television Documentary

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's Patriot-News of 29 June 2007 has an article by Andrea Ciccocioppo titled "Along the Appalachian Trail; A Healing Trek; Boys' rehabilitation catches TV crew's eye." The article tells about a film crew from 'Documentary Japan' (described as Japan's version of our PBS) having come upon a group of 11 boys in "the 30-day Diakon Lutheran Social Services Wilderness Challenge Course for boys who've been in trouble with the law."

The boys were in the middle of their 2 week hike on the Trail when the film crew followed them for a while. The Japanese crew

"is filming 'Long Trail of Life: People Who Challenge the Appalachian Trail.' The crew is spending several weeks in Pennsylvania following a variety of hikers.

"Director Shiroki Yoshihiro said he set out to make a documentary of Appalachian Trail through-hikers -- those who walk the entire 2,175 miles from Maine to Georgia -- and discovered the youth program on the Internet."

The documentary is said to be slated for a September airing on Documentary Japan. Just one more difficult thing for American librarians to track down and catalog.

The boys quoted in the article, by the way, seem to think the experience is a good one overall, even if it can be physically challenging.