2012 saw the latest installments of the ‘Unknown Borders’ series of DVD’s produced by HBC Flex. The fourth DVD, “Unknown Tales from Border Islands: Ogasawara”, was shot on location in February this year, taking advantage of the hosting of a retreat on Ogasawara by the Japan International Border Studies Network (JIBSN). The DVD brings to light the growing awareness of their border location held by the people of Ogasawara, up until now more familiar with attention garnered through the islands' world heritage status. The DVD premiered at another JIBSN event in Wakkanai during August, but on December 18 the DVD will be shown to the public on the island itself, signaling its general release.

The fifth DVD, on the Oki Islands, again grew out of a conference held there in September of this year, and is now available in Japanese. It is expected that the DVDs shall be mailed to research centers and libraries from the latter half of this month. The DVDs will be granted to public institutions so anyone with an interest in viewing them should get in touch with the Global COE office at the Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University.