Kitaro: The Silk Road

The NHK Tokushu documentary series "The Silk Road: The Rise And Fall of Civilizations" debuted on April 7, 1980, and ran for ten years. What many see as a turning point in the history of broadcast television in Japan took 17 years to produce. The program's goal was to demonstrate how the Silk Road trade route affected ancient Japan. Koji Ishizaka narrated the documentary, and Kitaro wrote the soundtrack. Kitaro demanded that the program be aired in stereo. A Minimoog was mostly used to compose the music. Millions of copies of the soundtracks were sold, and Kitaro gained international recognition as a result of the program's popularity.