Balloon boy on Japanese TV
When something ridiculous happens in the States, Japanese TV calls in Dave Spector to give some comentary on the state of America (because he used to live in America before 1982):
Spector describes how there are an increasing number of reality TV shows in America that reward people with money for doing stupid things.
This particular FTV report leaves out one detail that might be interesting for viewers in Japan: Mayumi Heene, the mother of the balloon boy, is Japanese. ABC News is now reporting that she might be a victim in this case because Japanese woman are, you know, meek and subservient (emphasis added is my own):
Like any good supporting actress, Mayumi Heene seems to be doing everything to back up her husband, even to her own detriment.
Slusser, who worked with Richard Heene on his “Psyience Detectives” Web show and said she became good friends with the Fort Collins, Colo., family until his temper finally drove her away last year, said his wife’s Japanese background has kept her in a subservient relationship with her husband and three boys. “She’s a highly intelligent woman, a lovely soul. Man, she’s gotten herself into a situation with Richard and the kids,” Slusser said. “Whatever he says goes. She’s basically his slave.”
“She’s from Japan. She told me stories about her life in Japan with her father. He was very overbearing and abusive. She came over here to be an actress,” Slusser said. “Who does she meet? Richard Heene. They met in acting school when she could barely speak English. He wowed her. She kind of went from the frying pan to the fire.”
[...]
Another former family friend and business partner, Scott Stevens, echoed Slusser’s assessment of the dynamics in the Heene household.
“It’s a cultural thing, and he leveraged that knowledge,” Stevens said. “He believed that Asian women can be subservient, and that’s what he wanted. But it takes two to tango, and she was with him for more than a decade. Every day that was the dynamic in play.”
In some posts over at the the FG forums, it has been claimed that the Heene’s did not have a legitimate source of income and that they apparently lived off huge money transfers from Japan.
[hat tip to Steve]
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
