Japanese TV

Japanese Man Impersonates Beyoncé

Japanese comedian Yoshio Kojima performs Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love”:

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Amazing Glass Balancing – Richardo From Sweden

Glass balancing expert Richardo performs on Japanese TV:

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Sexy Mexican Weather Girls on Japanese TV

A Japanese TV show visits Mexico to report about provocatively-dressed TV weather girls:

To Japanese viewers, the usual attire of Mexican weather girls seems too sexy for a TV weather report. The reporter tries to see if he can get them to dress in an even sexier manner. He asks three different weather girls (Angie Gonzalez, Priscila Sanchez, and Debora Estrella) to wear sexy clothing during their TV appearances on the following day.

Unfortunately, their idea of sexiness does not match the Japanese reporter’s expectations. Instead of even skimpier outfits, they seem to be showing less skin. Sorry!

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Bizarre Bold Commercials in Japan: TOUCH DE PON!

Procter & Gamble’s Japanese commercials for Bold use a foreign woman who speaks atrociously bad Japanese:

Her accent is so terrible that it barely even sounds like Japanese. Either she has no understanding of the Japanese language, or she is intentionally trying to butcher her pronunciation. I think this is supposed to be cute…or funny?

In one of the older commercials in the series, she plays the role of Mrs. Yamada, introducing herself to her new neighbors. When she hugs them, they comment on how nice she smells. It’s apparently because Bold makes clothing smell really great. If you tap your clothing (“pon!”), the fragrance is noticeable.

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Shinsuke Shimada Yakuza Scandal Leaves Gaping Holes in Prime Time TV Schedules

Shinsuke Shimada, one of Japan’s top TV personalities, was forced into retirement this week because somebody discovered that he was associating with gangers:

According to an informed source, Shimada, 55, mentioned a senior member of an organized crime group in cell phone text messages he sent to Jiro Watanabe, 56, a former boxing world super flyweight champion.

Watanabe is now in the process of making a final appeal against a prison sentence handed to him by the Osaka High Court for attempted extortion related to prefloatation shares.

In the messages, sent between June 2005 and June 2007, Shimada expressed his concern for the gang member, who had been arrested by Osaka police on suspicion of obstructing a public tender process and obstructing law enforcement authorities’ attempts to execute their duties.

Shimada also wrote about his gratitude to the gang member for having placed expensive orders at a bar run by Shimada, the source said.

A lot of comments on YouTube video and 2-channel threads express a complete lack of surprise about his ties to the yakuza. The cynical point out that other Japanese celebrities are also associating with mobsters, while some popular comments on YouTube claim that the whole scandal has been manufactured to distract viewers from the DPJ leadership race.

Shinsuke hosted/produced quite a few popular prime time television programs. Here is a chart that shows how he was a major presence on several TV channels:

The scandal has forced the cancellation of all of his programs, leaving holes in the prime time schedules of each of the television networks. It seems other regular programs will be extended into 2-hour specials next week. Future schedules remain uncertain.

Meanwhile, an editorial in the Mainichi is calling on the showbiz world to stop associating with yakuza:

It has been pointed out for some time now that show business has cozy relations with crime syndicates. There is no denying that society had previously tended to overlook such ties. However, relations between entertainers and yakuza are no longer socially permissible. A growing number of talent agencies have worked out rules banning their roster of entertainers from having any contact with yakuza.

Now is the time for show business as a whole to consider measures to ensure that it cuts off any ties with crime syndicates. The whole entertainment world’s ability to clean itself up is being tested.

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Japanese Comedians Beat Up Korean Woman?

Some Korean netizens are angry about a Japanese TV show that had famous female athletes compete against Japanese male comedians and entertainers. For the martial arts portion of the program, a South Korean fighter agreed to face off against 3 comedians, and was apparently surprised to find out that the comedians had enough skills to defeat her:

Lim Su-jeong, 27, a Korean female mixed martial artist nicknamed “beautiful fighter” in Korea, was set to face in a match three Japanese comedians: Toshiaki Kasuga, 31, Hiroshi Shinagawa, 39, and Koji Imada, 45.

In the three-minute, three-round match, the three comedians fought Lim one by one in turn. Because Lim is a professional fighter despite being female, she was asked to wear just gloves in the match without other protective gear. The comedians wore head gear and knee protectors when fighting Lim, however.

The situation took an unexpected turn from the very beginning, however. Though they were supposedly comedians, they performed kicks as skillfully as pros. Lim was pushed up by a single kick by Kasuga, who was the first to face her, and fell to the ring’s floor.

Another description of the events, from the Odd Balls sports blog:

Toshiaki Kasuga, Hiroshi Shinagawa and Koji Imada are said to have backgrounds in martial arts as they kicked Lim down “as skillfully as pros.”

Lim and her management team are reported to have demanded an apology from the show’s producers while some have speculated that the comedians failed to hold back due to ongoing tension between Korea and Japan.

All three of the men who were “supposedly comedians” were actually comedians. Although they had trained in some fighting techniques, they are not skilled enough to seriously compete as professional fighters (although Kasuga did make a real effort to become a K-1 fighter in 2007).

Although the article state that she lost to the Japanese comedians, some comments from users on the MixedMartialArts.com forums watched the videos and thought otherwise:

“I didn’t think it was that bad. The chick did just fine. Yeah it was a cheap set up but I think she’s the one who embarrassed them. It took 3 of them, all of whom had fighting experience and training, and she still held her own.” – angryinch

“She held her own and was tough, against fresh, bigger, and headgearing wearing opponents.” -DanTheWolfman

“That was pretty weak to go all out on her. But to be fair, i saw another episode where they fight a jap female kickboxer “Rena” and they go just as hard but she KO’s all of them.” – Family Jules

“second guy (yellow) throw almost nothing and just moves around. third guy is a bit of a spaz and obviously the least skilled of all three, and lands almost nothing. only the first guy went hard. and I bet most women kickboxers get hit harder in training all the time.” -Jambo888

“The announcers were saying stuff like “she’s not used to this kind of power” and stuff like that. At the end, they are impressed, saying “it was just like a real fight”. I have to admit, at first I was shocked by this but in retrospect she is a professional Muay Thai fighter, and those guys are middle-aged “comedians” (the term is broader in Japan) with some training. So, visually it is a little repugnant but there’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to beat those guys….” – mestregruber

“ok lets get some facts straight. This was not some set up propanda problem out to embarrass South Korea. It was just a regular bunch of comedians doing what they always do; set up a bunch of challenges in which they generally get beaten and embarrassed badly in….The 3 comedians are not trained fighters. They are 3 men in their 30′s and 40′s who are well known for portraying sissies on TV…The idea of the show was probably just to have the 3 comedians get beaten down just like they always do. The problem being that the professional fighter turned out not to be as good as they hoped and was unable to make up for the size/strength deficit.” – Dogmeat 1

Via Google, I found a clip of the match between Japanese comedians and a Japanese female fighter. Here are Hidetsugu Shibata, Yu Shinagawa, and Koji Imada fighting against kickboxer Rena Kubota:

Were they holding back in the fight against Rena, and letting her beat them because she was Japanese? Were they deliberately putting more effort into the fight against the Korean woman, because of her nationality? Was Lim Su-jeong mislead about the the opponents she would be facing?

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