Japan Probe » Japanese TV

Japanese Man Impersonates Beyoncé

James — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:50:22 +0000

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

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Amazing Glass Balancing – Richardo From Sweden

James — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:15:08 +0000

Glass balancing expert Richardo performs on Japanese TV:

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Sexy Mexican Weather Girls on Japanese TV

James — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:13:55 +0000

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!

James — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:37:25 +0000

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

James — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:57:49 +0000

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?

James — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:03:25 +0000

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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Jenny Talks About Life in Japan

James — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:35:55 +0000

A commercial for Seiyu (Walmart Japan) that has been airing a lot on Japanese TV recently:

Jenny, a resident of Japan, is visiting her family back in her unspecified country of origin. Dad asks her how she’s enjoying her life in Japan, and she breaks down, complaining about how she cannot shop at Japanese supermarkets whenever she likes. Meat, eggs, frozen food, and other items are cheap on separate days of the week! (But she’s wrong: it’s not like that at Seiyu, where prices are low all the time.)

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Japanese TV Show Asks Austrians If They Know About Hitler

James — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:57:25 +0000

A Japanese TV show travels to the Austrian town of Hallstatt to visit a salt mine that was used to hide famous paintings looted by the Nazis during World War II.

They go straight into a shop and ask a woman if she’s heard about how Hitler once hid paintings in the salt mine:

The woman seems uncomfortable when they bring up Hitler. She says that everyone knows about it, but people don’t talk about it much or learn about it in school. For some reason, Austrian people don’t seem to enjoy chatting about Hitler – who would have thought!

Earlier in the program, the host did the same thing at another Austrian gift shop. She was smiling as she brought up the topic of Hitler, and the shopkeeper was smiling too, until the interpreter translated what had been said in Japanese. Of course, that Austrian person had also heard of Mr. Hitler and the theft of paintings from occupied Europe.

When they visited the salt mines, their guide told them the story of the paintings. He said that Austrian people don’t like to talk about Hitler, but he considers it his duty to help educate people about what happened at the mine. (The embedded clip also includes some actors reenacting the Hitler story.)

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Japanese Schoolchildren: The World Doesn’t Need Wars, Nuclear Power, and Homework

James — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:49:06 +0000

Last night, a quiz show on Fuji TV asked panelists to guess the results of surveys conducted on a group of 1,000 Japanese elementary school children. Here are the top 10 results for a question that asked the kids to name the most unnecessary thing in the world:

1. War – 263 votes
2. Nuclear Power Plants – 192 votes
3. Studying / Homework – 140 votes
4. Politicians – 96 votes
5. Crime – 63 votes
6. Cigarettes / Tobacco – 32 votes
7. Garbage – 28 votes
8. Bullying – 17 votes
9. Money – 14 votes
10. Lies – 7 votes

The top result is a testament to the effectiveness of Japan’s pacifist education system. The #2 result shows that this survey was conducted after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The #3 result reminds us that these are kids.

Tobacco makes the list, but Japan’s other popular and unhealthy legal drug – alcohol – does not.

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Protesters March Against Fuji TV

James — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:36:04 +0000

Several of the most-viewed videos on YouTube Japan today show an August 7th protest march against the headquarters of Fuji TV:

The protesters were people who agreed with Sousuke Takaoka’s complaints about Fuji TV airing way too many Korean dramas. In addition to complaints about the “Korean Wave” being forced on Japanese views, recent grievances against Fuji TV include:

Under Japanese law, foreign ownership of broadcast television networks cannot exceed 20%. For years, foreign ownership of Fuji TV stock has been quite close to the limit. In recent weeks, articles have appeared on the internet pointing out that foreign ownership of Fuji Media Holdings now exceeds 28%.
One of Fuji TV’s regional networks accidentally aired a joke about radioactive rice.
Fuji TV did not air Asada Mao’s figure skating victory ceremony, which included the Japanese national anthem and flag. [The network did not air the victory ceremonies for Japanese wins in 2007(Miki Ando), 2008(Mao Asada), 2010(Mao Asada) and 2011(Miki Ando). When South Korean Kim Yu-na won in 2009, they aired the full ceremony.]
Japan’s victory in the Women’s World Cup was treated in the same way.
The South Korean government has been spending millions of dollars to help export its TV dramas and movies. The “Korean Wave” is seen as a way of expanding Korean soft power and gaining influence over other countries.
When viewers called up Fuji TV to express their opinions on Takaoka and the alleged foreign ownership of the network, staff were extremely rude and cut off their calls.

Some have claimed that 2,000 people participated in the protest. However, the video doesn’t seem to show more than about a couple hundred people.

Another demonstration is being scheduled for August 21st.

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Learning English From Japanese TV

James — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 04:40:05 +0000

Scott Bean of Kansai Gaidai University gave a special English lesson on last night’s episode of “Sekaiichi Uketai Jugyou.” It included this scene, where three Japanese celebrities assume that English-speakers would understand the katakana words for certain foreign foods:

Bean tells them that:

Ordering a “mikkusu sando” (ミックスサンド) sounds like you want a bowl of mixed sand. Instead, you should order a “mixed sandwich.”
Ordering “shu kurimu” (シュークリーム) sounds like you want shoe cream. The katakana term is actually based on French: Chou à la crème. In English it’s called a “cream puff.”
English speakers would supposedly understand that “aisu kohi” (アイスコーヒー) refers to iced coffee. [Fun fact: iced coffee has been common in Japan for over a hundred years, but didn't really catch on in America until the 1990's.]
If you ask for “gamu shiroppu” (ガムシロップ), English-speakers won’t understand that you’re asking for a syrup sweetener for your coffee. They might might think you’re talking about chewing gum or something to stick your dentures to your gums.

Viewers were also introduced to some of the following terms:

ham actor – an unskilled actor
top banana – a leading actor; an important person
second banana – an actor who plays a supporting role

Many native English speakers might not even be familiar with these terms, because none are really used in everyday speech. It’s probably unrealistic to expect entertainment programs to provide serious English lessons, but sometimes it feels like these kind of shows deliberately go out of their way to teach useless words and phrases.

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Japanese TV Channel Accidentally Airs Radioactive Rice Joke

James — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:27:24 +0000

Fuji TV is once again at the receiving end of netizen anger after one of its subsidiaries accidentally aired an image that joked about the radioactivity of rice from Iwate prefecture:

The image aired for about 5 seconds during a morning show on Tokai TV. The image is supposed to display viewers who have won a contest. The prize is packages of Hitomebore, a famous type of rice from Iwate prefecture. However, instead of the actual names of viewers, every name is displayed as “Cesium-san.” The prizes are listed as “suspicious rice” and “contaminated rice.”

Tokai TV quickly released that it had made a mistake, and its announcer apologized for the error. They also posted an apology on their website. Apparently the joke image was a temporary version that was created before they added in the real names and real prizes. When it came time to air the actual image, they used the wrong one.

The accident has revealed how some people at Tokai TV were secretly poking fun at a very unfortunate situation. As rice farmers in Iwate struggle, TV production staff have been joking around about the possible contamination of Iwate’s rice crop.

[hat tip to Toonfan]

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1-Year-Old Girl Goes Shopping in Japan

James — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:25:59 +0000

“Hajimete no Otsukai” (First Errand) is a Japanese TV show that follows small children as they carry out errands for their parents. Past specials have featured kids traveling across town to buy ingredients for their mom’s kitchen and a small boy riding a bullet train to visit his father’s workplace. Usually, the kids are about 4-years- old, and sometimes an older child will be accompanied by a younger sibling.

Last week, they aired a special that had their youngest-ever solo errand runner. Little Haru is one month shy of second birthday:

Haru’s task is very simple: go down the block and buy some tofu. She still isn’t old enough to talk in full sentences, but she does seem to understand the concept of money.

Japanese people do not regularly send such small children out on errands. This television show always has staff who dress-up like deliverymen or pedestrians. They pretend to not notice the children, but they’re actually there to protect them.

Haru also has the advantage of living in one of Japan’s safest places. She’s a resident of Toshijima, a small island with a population of about 3,000 people. Old fashioned small town life is preserved on the island, with the entire neighborhood knowing each other and collectively making sure children stay safe. It’s not at all unusual for small children to run errands for their parents (although Haru is exceptionally young).

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Original Ultra Seven Mask Stolen

James — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:23:53 +0000

The original Ultraman mask that actor Koji Moritsugu wore in the 1960′s “Ultra Seven” TV series has been stolen:

Some time during the afternoon of July 25th, the mask disappeared from its display case in a restaurant owned by Moritsugu. He has made a public appeal for its return.

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Japanese Actress Transformed Into Dark-Skinned Rapper

James — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:55:01 +0000

Would your dog still recognize you after professional make-up artists transform you into a totally different-looking person? Last week’s episode of “Shimura Zoo” tested that question by giving actress Mirai Yamamoto darker skin, dreadlocks, a beard, and some hip hop clothing:

Does the disguise fool the dog? Maybe. The dog approaches rapper Yamamoto several times and only seems to back off when its clear he’s being ignored.

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Matt Harding’s Japanese Visa Commercial (Summer 2011)

James — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:58:12 +0000

Matt Harding of “Where the Hell is Matt?” fame has a new Visa card commercial in Japan:

Much like his previous Japanese commercial, they seem to have edited the video to add random Japanese people to footage of Matt dancing by himself.

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Tiger Woods’ New Japanese Commercial

James — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 23:45:35 +0000

Tiger Woods’ first new commercial since his sex scandal:

The 35-year-old former world number one appeared in a 15-second commercial for a Japanese heat-rub which debuted on Japanese television on Friday.

A spokesman for Kowa Co. which makes the Vantelin Kowa rub, Katsuhiro Kaji, said the firm made the offer to Woods late last year. He refused to reveal details of the deal.

“We don’t think there is any,” he told AFP when asked if there was any risk in using the disgraced superstar, who is currently sidelined by injury.

It is Woods’ second endorsement contract with a Japanese firm. He signed a three-year deal with Asahi Soft Drinks in 1997 at an estimated 900 million yen (now $11 million) to promote a canned coffee brand.

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Sea Shepherd’s Paul Watson – Interview With an Eco-Terrorist

James — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 08:27:03 +0000

Photojournalist Yoichi Watanabe and a studio audience of Japanese school children interview Paul Watson, the leader of the radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd:

The video about 15 minutes long. Here is a summary of its contents, followed by a few comments of my own.

Summary

Watson is introduced as a man who the FBI has called an eco-terrorist. His organization of modern day pirates has carried out unforgivable acts of violence against Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean. Sea Shepherd has been obstructing the work of the whaling fleet, even though Japan’s actions are in compliance with international rules.

Before going into greater detail, Watanabe introduces some basic information about Japan’s history of eating whale meat:

Back in the old days, Japanese people didn’t eat beef or pork. Whale meat was seen as a valuable food source.

Japan’s culture of eating whale meat survived into the modern era. It is still served in some school lunches today.

Humans caused whale populations to decline, so international rules were created to protect whale stocks. Japan’s whaling program follows those rules.

However, some countries with no cultural tradition of eating whale meat think it is bad to kill whales. They want Japan to stop. Japan has been trying to defend a culinary tradition that has existed for hundreds of years.

The disagreements between Japan and other countries led to the emergence of Sea Shepherd, a violent extremist group.

The narrator describes the various vehicles that Sea Shepherd has at its disposal. This includes high tech speedboats, a helicopter, and a large boat, which is sometimes used to ram Japanese ships.

Paul Watson is the man in charge of it all. He thinks his organization has the authority to act as police on the high seas, and he thinks that the Japanese whalers are criminals.

Watson’s past actions includes sinking several whaling ships in the 1980′s. His actions have led the FBI to brand him an “eco-terrorist” and Japan has issued an international warrant for his arrest.

Yoichi Watanabe wants to know why Paul Watson thinks it is just to use violence. He wants to know why Sea Shepherd throws bottles of acid at Japanese whaling ships and injures Japanese whalers. He wants to know why Watson denies that Sea Shepherd is using violence.

The popularity of the “Whale Wars” TV series has helped make Watson a hero in some parts of the world. A lot of people don’t seem to care about the Japanese arrest warrant. They like Watson and they support Sea Shepherd.

On the TV show, Watson and his organization are shown as heroes fighting against the evil Japanese murderers. In one famous scene, Watson declares that he had been shot by the Japanese. His bulletproof vest and SS badge supposedly stopped the bullet and saved his life.

Thanks to the shocking claims made on it television program, Sea Shepherd’s income has skyrocketed. But was the assassination attempt real?

A Japanese whaler says it didn’t happen. There was no gunfire. The “muzzle flash” photo that Sea Shepherd had posted on its website was a clock. Watson’s was lying.

They set up an interview Watson. Because of the Japanese arrest warrant, he cannot come to Tokyo to speak to them in person. Instead, they use a live video link. Watanabe and the Japanese audience are joined by Masaaki Sasaki of the Sankei Shimbun, a reporter who is knowledgeable about Sea Shepherd.

Question 1: Is it justifiable to tell lies in the pursuit of your goal?

Watanabe mentions the questionable nature of Watson’s claim to have been shot by the Japanese. Watson claims he never made such a claim. That claim may have come from the show’s producers (Animal Planet). He doesn’t know who fired the shot.

[While Watson is answering, we are shown a clip from the show, in which Watson says that the Japanese ("they") shot him.]

Question 2: Ever since your TV program began to air in 2005, you’ve seen a huge increase in contributions. Do you think it is okay to use a dishonest TV program to raise money?

Watson acknowledges that the television program has been an success, but he resents being called a liar. He says that he has not lied.

Question 3: In your 2002 book Earthforce: An Earth Warrior’s Guide to Strategy, you write that activists should use dramatic tricks to confuse your enemies and use claims of victimization to increase public support for their causes. Isn’t that what you are doing now?

Watson says he wrote that activists should not cause harm to other people. He says it is a book of strategy. It’s kind of like Miyamoto Musahi, only Watson advocates non-violence.

A schoolgirl asks Question 4: We saw video footage of you throwing bottles of acid at Japanese whaling ships. Isn’t that an act of violence?

Watson says his group doesn’t use acid. They throw rotten butter at the whalers.

[As Watson says this, we are shown an image of one of the bottles that was thrown at the Japanese whalers. The word "ACID" is clearly visible on its label.]

He says that Coca-Cola is more acidic than the rotten butter used by Sea Shepherd. It smells really bad (the kids laugh at this line).

Question 5: In the video clips, we can see Sea Shepherd ships ramming Japanese whaling ships. We can also see Sea Shepherd members throwing bottles of chemicals at the Japanese whalers. How do you explain this?

Watson says that Sea Shepherd hasn’t rammed any whaling vessels. They were hit by the whalers. The whalers are trying to murder them, but Sea Shepherd isn’t trying to hurt anyone. Sea Shepherd wants to protect the whales.

Question 6: What about the Japanese crew members who were injured and hospitalized?

Watson says that it’s not true. Nobody was injured by Sea Shepherd. It’s a lie.

Question 7: And What about the Icelandic whaling ships you sank in 1986?

Watson says Sea Shepherd sunk those ships. He challenged Icelandic authorities to arrest him, but they never did.

He says that Sea Shepherd has never hurt anyone in its 35 years of activism. Watson is confident that they have done nothing wrong. He defiantly challenges those who seek to arrest Sea Shepherd members.

Question 8: So you have never used violence?

Watson defines violence as acts that hurt or kill. By this definition, Sea Shepherd does not use violence. The real violence is taking place when intelligent whales are being killed. Staining the seas with blood is violence.

A little boy asks Question 9: If you think it’s bad to kill whales, what do you think of killing cows? In Australia, lots of cows are being killed and eaten.

Watson says he doesn’t eat beef, and neither do his crew members.

Another boy follows up with Question 10: So you don’t eat beef. Is that enough? Why aren’t you trying to protect cows?

Watson says that they are the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Cows do not live in the sea.

Question 11: Why don’t you come to Japan and spread your message?

Watson responds by asking Watanabe to visit Sea Shepherd in the Southern Ocean. After being asked again, Watson says he’d come for a visit if Japan stops whaling.

After the interview, Watanabe makes some closing remarks to the audience. He says that every country has its own unique history and culture, but all agree that violence and dishonesty are wrong. He thinks that the world will judge Watson’s words and deeds.

Comments

Japanese-speakers will no doubt notice that Watson is continually referred to as “the accused” (容疑者). I suppose that it’s not improper to use that term, since Japan has issued a warrant for his arrest. However, I kind of got the impression that they were tying to say it as much as possible so they could emphasize the fact that Watson stands accused of a crime.

This is not an unedited interview. At the very least, cuts were made to speed up the Japanese-to-English and English-to-Japanese translations. Watson’s original English answers were dubbed over with a Japanese voice. Some questions and answers may have been cut, and it could have been put together in a way that deliberately made Watson look bad. His answers, however, were consistent the things he’s being saying for years. I doubt they would have needed to do much editing to make Watson look like a lying douche.

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Why Do People Join the U.S. Military?

James — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:12:52 +0000

Last night, Fuji TV aired a special hosted by Yoichi Watanabe, a photojournalist who has traveled through many of the world’s most dangerous war zones. During a segment on the war in Afghanistan, Watanabe noted that not all of the American military personnel had enlisted out of a desire to go to war. Many of them joined for economic reasons.

Four major incentives offered to military personnel were introduced:

The government helps pay their college tuition.
Immigrants are given an easier path to U.S. citizenship.
Military personnel and their families can travel on military aircraft when taking overseas vacations.
Free cosmetic surgery.

Everyone in the studio seems very surprised, especially by information about travel perks and cosmetic surgery.

The first three are true, but the surgery claim seems to be false or exaggerated. Although an 2004 article in the New Yorker mentioned that military personnel and their families were receiving free breast enhancements and liposuction, many posts by military personnel and their families on Yahoo Answers state that it is a myth. Some free cosmetic surgery procedures are available, but are apparently restricted to cases of medical necessity.

Yoshizumi Ishihara, son of Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, shares his opinion on this matter. He is not sure if offering these kinds of rewards is a good thing. He feels like the American government is exploiting the poor and the weak.

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Softbank White Family (Bizarro Version – Featuring Bobby Ologun)

James — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 02:00:16 +0000

The latest commercial in Softbank’s “White Family” story has the canine father accidentally entering the wrong house:

With everybody conserving electricity, it is too dark for him to realize that it isn’t his home. When somebody turns on the lights, he finds an weird alternative version of his family. Instead of Aya Ueto and Dante Carver as his children, there are Naomi Watanabe and Bobby Ologun! There’s also a dog, but he doesn’t talk!

At the end of the commercial, the daddy dog is back at his real house, recalling the embarrassing episode as he sits in front of a novelty fan.

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Indonesian People Don’t Get Angry

James — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:31:24 +0000

A Japanese TV show found an international survey that ranked countries where people were least likely to become angry. Indonesia was ranked #1. To test this claim, they sent comedian Udo Suzuki to Bali, where he acted like a jerk and tried to provoke the anger of Indonesian people:

Just to test his anger-inducing abilities, he first tried sneaking up behind a white woman and popping a balloon next to her head. Sure enough, she got visibly angry and left the area.

He then targeted Indonesians. First, he did a couple surprise balloon pops. Next, he randomly poured water on somebody. He cut in line at a grocery store. Then he put super spicy hot sauce into an ice desert.

One guy seemed very uncomfortable after eating the hot sauce, but nobody became visibly pissed off. Nobody yelled at him. Nobody stormed away in anger. Suzuki’s antics provoked no rage.

According to post-prank interviews, Indonesian parents teach their children not to get angry over small matters and not to fight with other people. A lot of Indonesian people don’t think it would be worth getting worked up over a little prank.

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Charlie Sheen’s Message to Japan

James — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 01:05:38 +0000

A Japanese TV crew travels to America to meet Charlie Sheen:

To attract Charlie’s attention, they do the following:

Have their reporter dress up in samurai attire.
Make a big sign stating that they’ve come from Japan to see Charlie. (They don’t seem to realize they misspelled his name.)
Hire a blonde bimbo to stand next to their sign.
Wait around for hours at the exit of one of his stand-up shows.

They succeed in meeting Charlie. Although he has a bad boy image, Charlie is quite friendly to them and offers a message of support to the survivors of the March 11th disaster.

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Hand Puppets Promote Digital Television

James — Wed, 25 May 2011 05:02:36 +0000

In a few months, Japan will halt analog TV broadcasts. Here’s a clip from ATV that shows an event that was held in Tokyo to spread awareness about the digital transition. About 23 seconds into the clip, we can see a man with a hand puppet approaches a woman to ask her if she’s switched over to digital TV:

The woman seems mildly freaked out. It could be the TV cameras, or maybe it’s the Chidejika hand puppet.

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Softbank English Class Commercial

James — Tue, 17 May 2011 06:18:07 +0000

For the past few weeks, Softbank has been running a semi-English commercial advertising its mobile phone plans for students:

They are not attempting to speak proper English. If they tried to speak in complete sentences, almost nobody would understand what was being said. Instead, they just shout some simple English words that most Japanese people would understand.

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European Canned Coffee Commercial

James — Mon, 09 May 2011 23:26:37 +0000

A commercial in which Japanese “European flavor” canned coffee is offered to Italians, who are amazed by its great taste:

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Video: Camera Zoom Performance

James — Sun, 08 May 2011 02:19:17 +0000

Last night, NTV aired the 86th All Japan Costume Grand Prix (Kasou Taisho). This impressive performance, which mimicks a camera zooming in and taking a photo of a woman, won the top prize:

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Century 21 Post-Earthquake Commercial

James — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:59:01 +0000

Century 21 has a new commercial airing on Japanese TV, in which real estate agents from around the world send messages of support to Japan:

It’s a very nice commercial. However, before people out there accuse me of providing Century 21 with free advertising, I feel I should bring up the fact that they don’t exactly have a great reputation for treating foreign customers with respect.

Here’s what one Japan Probe reader (sublight) had to say about them:

Century 21, however, gets special mention for their two-hour “we don’t want to help you, but we don’t want to say we don’t want to help you, so we’re going to be as unhelpful as possible until you leave” dance. They were friendly enough when my Japanese wife had called the day before to ask if an apartment was available to see, but the moment they saw me, the smiles dropped (this was at the Ikejiri-Ohashi branch in Tokyo). Suddenly, there was a ‘problem’ with the apartment and they couldn’t show it just yet. While we waited (for over an hour), they didn’t give us any other listings to look at, and instead spent all their time with other couples.

After realizing we weren’t leaving (it had taken us an hour to get there, and we had all day), one agent said, “well, we can show the place, but we can’t go inside.” I said “fine, we’ll look at the outside.” “But it’s raining and we can’t use the office car.” “That’s fine, I have an umbrella. You’ll walk there with us.” So we walked over and stood in the pouring rain staring at the outside wall for about 15 minutes before heading back. When we got back to the realtor’s office, he positioned himself in the doorway and quickly said “well, sorry we couldn’t help you thanks for coming goodbye.”

[this was in 2000 and I'd been living in Japan for 5 years by then, so my Japanese was fairly solid. Also, I wasn't going with a friend but the person who'd be living in the apartment with me and paying half the rent.

As for a guarantor, I was working full-time with NEC as a project coordinator then, and they were guaranteeing me.]

Another foreign resident of Japan (Eric) was treated a bit worse:

The only problem I ever had with renting an apartment was with Century 21. Went inside, and they immediately crossed their arms and gave me the “batsu”. Wow…. such friendly folks.

If anyone else out there has had a particularly positive or negative experience with Century 21 in Japan, please let us know in the comments thread of this post!

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Japanese TV Network Creates Scale Model of Bin Laden’s Hideout

James — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:11:52 +0000

The staff at Japan’s TBS network created scale model of Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan:

The clip is from a news broadcast that took place one day after Bin Laden’s death. Whoever makes their models is quite fast!

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Toxic Yakiniku Kills 2 Children

James — Mon, 02 May 2011 02:05:58 +0000

Two children have died and many people have suffered from food poisoning after eating at Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu, an ultra-cheap barbeque chain:

The Toyama Prefectural Government determined the same day that a raw beef dish served at one of the chain’s outlets in Tonami, where the first boy dined on April 21, was inedible. The dish is suspected as being the cause of the food-poisonings.

The boy in Fukui, meanwhile, was found to be infected with a highly toxic strain of E. coli bacteria known as O-111. This strain was also found in the boy in Toyama, who began vomiting April 24 and died Friday at a hospital, the officials said.

The tally of food-poisoning complaints tied to the chain is at 38, including people who ate at another of the chain’s outlets in the Toyama city of Takaoka, the prefectural government said late Saturday.

The kids had apparently eaten Yukhoe, a Korean dish made from raw beef.

One of the most-viewed videos on YouTube Japan today is a clip from an NTV program that praised and recommended Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu to viewers:

The restaurant chain is described as serving high quality meat for a very low price. After hearing the description of the restaurant chain, a panel of celebrities unanimously decided that it sounded good.

At the end of the clip, Shinsuke Shimada, the host of the program, makes a remark implying that the meat served at the restaurant is low quality. He quickly retracts his remark, telling viewers he didn’t really mean to say that.

A few user comments from YouTube, with some rough translations:

へ～、こんなに安いんだ。お店もスタイリッシュだし、
何より日テレがこれだけプッシュしてるんだからいい店なんだろうな！
日テレが嘘をつくわけないもんね！
今度子供を連れて行ってくるよ！

Wow, it’s so cheap. And the restaurant is stylish! If NTV is recommending it, it’s gotta be good! NTV wouldn’t lie! Let’s take the kids to that restaurant!

この放送見て食べに行ってたとしたら可哀想だなぁ

I feel sorry for those who saw this and then went out to eat there.

最近番組内で宣伝しすぎだろ、制作者いくらもらってんだよ。

TV shows these days are too much like advertisements. I wonder how much money the producers were paid to make this.

ペイドパブリシティーは規制しろ
日本のテレビはもう駄目だ

Let’s put some restrictions on this kind of paid publicity. Japanese TV is crap!

ふざけんなよ…ただの宣伝。
これは日テレの責任もあるよ。

What the hell is this! It’s just like an advertisement!
NTV is responsible for this.

4月18日にこの放送があって、食中毒の発生は21日～23日ですから、
当然この番組にも責任があるんじゃないですかね・・・
これは完全に番組を使った宣伝ですからね。

This aired on April 18th. The food poisoning incident took place between the 21st and 23rd. Because the show was nothing more than an advertisement for the restaurant, the TV program should be held responsible.

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Commercial: Bras + Hot Train

James — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 23:36:00 +0000

In this odd Japanese commercial, foreign women on a hot train discover the benefits of wearing a bra that makes them feel cooler ( warning- contains terrible accents):

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Japanese TV Reports on the Mass Exodus of Foreigners

James — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 02:03:37 +0000

Yesterday, Japan’s ATV aired a 15 minute special report about how how foreigners have been avoiding Japan because of fears about radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The report focuses on the economic impact that a drop in tourism and an exodus of foreign workers:

The drop in tourism can be felt in Akihabara. Large groups of big-spending Chinese tourists, once a regular sight in the area, are nowhere to be seen. Maids say that less foreigners are visiting their cafe.
The manager of the New Koyo Hotel says that there has been a huge drop in reservations by foreign tourists. His reservation record book is full of empty spaces, many of which used to have names of customers but were erased after they cancelled their trips to Tokyo. At the moment, about 80% of his rooms are empty. He says that most cancellations were made because of the Fukushima nuclear accident.
The number of foreign students in Japan has dropped. At one international dormitory in Tokyo, about two-thirds of the residents have left the country. They have “temporarily” fled due to fears about radiation.
A real estate agent who specializes in helping Chinese people buy apartments in Tokyo says his business is ruined for the time being. New customers have stopped coming to Japan. Chinese who recently purchased apartments through the agent are no afraid that radioactive contamination will make their investments worthless, so they are putting the apartments up for sale.
They visit a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo. It was popular up until the earthquake, but it is now closed. Fear and panic about radiation caused all of the restaurant’s owners and employees to flee the country in terror. It is not clear when, if ever, they plan to reopen the restaurant.
Many foreign “trainees” who perform manual labor at factories have fled Japan. At a clothing factory in Tokyo, they find that only one of its five Chinese workers has left the country. They interview her by phone, and she says that she returned to China because her family was worried about radiation from Fukushima. Some of the other workers at the factory had considered leaving Japan after the announcement that Tokyo’s water supply had been contaminated, but after radiation levels dropped, they decided to stay. They are concerned about food and water safety, but do not feel like abandoning their employer.
Farms are struggling after losing some of their “trainee” laborers. At once farm in Ibaraki, work has become very difficult after 3 of its 4 Chinese laborers left Japan.
However, not all hope is lost for Japan’s farmers. The previously-mentioned farmer was able to hire 2 new employees: a Japanese couple who from Minamisoma city. They’d been living in an evacuation shelter since the nuclear accident and needed new jobs. Although they have no experience with farming, they seem happy to be working.

The drop in tourism and exodus of foreigners could have a huge impact on the Japanese economy. One economist estimates that the damage to the Japanese economy could reach 1.5 trillion yen.

—

Related video: A few days earlier, a shorter report about the radiation fears of foreigners also aired on Asahi.

A few points covered in the second video:

An exhibition of paintings by French artist Maurice Denis has been cancelled in Yamanashi. The owners of many of the paintings are afraid to loan them to a Japanese museum. Denis’ granddaughter, who had been working to organize the loan, says that sensational French media coverage has convinced some people that all of Japan is now a flooded wasteland filled with burning buildings. Yamanashi, which is about 300 kilometers away from the disaster area, has suffered no damage and is not in danger of radioactive contamination.
At sushi restaurant in Thailand, customers have dropped off by 70%. The restaurant’s use of fish imported from Japan had once been a major attraction for customers, but now it is a source of fear. Despite radiation checks that show absolutely no contamination, some people are still afraid to eat there.
Chinese and Korean travel companies are no longer sending large tour groups to Japan. Few people are interested in traveling to Japan because they are afraid of radiation. There is also a feeling that it would be disrespectful to happily enjoy tourism in a country that is in a state of post-disaster mourning.
The report closes with a sound bite from Yukio Edano asking the media to accurately report the situation. We are also shown a map of the various countries that have placed bans or new checks on Japanese food imports.

Note: Mulboyne has pointed to a few factors that are not mentioned in the story about the art exhibition: curators won’t come, insurance premiums have skyrocketed, and power cuts could threaten galleries.

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Adidas Commercial: Athletes’ Messages to Japan

James — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:47:33 +0000

In the past couple days, I’ve noticed that two Adidas commercials are getting a lot of airtime on Japanese TV. Both commercials contain messages of post-earthquake encouragement from famous athletes:

Here is are the names of the athletes that appear in the commercials.

Rugby players: Richie McCaw and Ma’a Nonu.

Soccer players: Shinji Kagawa, Kaká, Xavi, and David Villa.

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Butt Music, Disgusting Juggling, and Fart Power

James — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 02:11:45 +0000

A group of Masked Performers pull off some really amazing feats (most of which are silly and/or gross):

Their performance aired on Sunday night’s “World’s #1 Showtime” special. The audience consisted of rich VIPs, who would watch each act and decide afterwards on how much they would pay to see it. The Masked Performers received a score/reward of 381,400 yen (about $4,500).

If you want to see more of them, here’s a clip of the act they performed for one of the previous specials:

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American Military and Japanese SDF at Sendai Airport

James — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 02:15:59 +0000

Here is a TV report about the joint Japanese-American military effort to repair Sendai Airport and use it as a base for relief supplies. It aired a few days ago on Japan’s FTV network:

Scenes of Sendai Airport during and immediately after the tsunami are contrasted with its current cleaned-up state.
Every morning there are meetings between the airport staff, Japanese Self-Defense Forces, and United States military. They work together to plan the day’s work.
Members of the American military are shown living and sleeping in the terminal building with no electricity or running water. When an aftershock occurs, the reporter is impressed that the Americans do not even flinch.
They interview one of the airport’s civilian employees, who is working long hours alongside the American and Japanese military forces. His house was near the airport. The man’s wife and disabled daughter temporarily evacuated when the tsunami hit, but they are now back home.
The report was filmed on the day that the airport’s runways were finally deemed clear and a temporary control tower was put into service. Without the hard work of the SDF and the Americans, the clean-up probably would have taken a lot longer than two weeks.
As in the case of the previous report, it closes with news anchors Yuko Ando and Taro Kimura praising the help that the Americans have been providing. Kimura says that up until now, many Japanese had wondered about the value of the U.S.-Japan alliance, with some doubting that Americans would even help Japan in a time of need. He thinks that Operation Tomodachi will raise public awareness about the value of a good relationship with America.

Stars and Stripes has a good article up about the lifestyle of the Americans who are deployed at Sendai Airport. Here’s an little excerpt:

Staff Sgt. Alejandro Anglada, 24, of Puerto Rico, said the camp at the airport has fewer amenities than the forward operating base he lived at in Baghdad, Iraq, during a 15-month deployment from 2006 to 2008.

“In Iraq, we had a PX (Post Exchange) and all the amenities,” he said. “Here we just have the tents.”

However there are some similarities, Anglada said.

“I went on a mission yesterday and saw all the debris on the side of the road,” he said. “For an instant, I thought I was back in Baghdad rolling around.”

Whether on the road or at the airport, the troops subsist on Meals, Ready to Eat, supplemented with fresh fruit and vegetables and items from care packages such as chocolate bars, cookies and sodas sent by family members back on Okinawa.

And despite the lack of facilities at the airport, the troops at the airport have one thing they all look forward to.

“Every three days we go to Camp Sendai for a shower,” Clark said.

The soldiers also like visiting Camp Sendai — a clean, modern Japan Self-Defense facility where white-washed barracks stand between tree-lined grassy avenues — because they can shop for items such as underwear, socks, gloves and flashlights at a Japanese store. Or they can dine at a small restaurant.

The Marine Corps has also created a short news video about their work at Sendai Airport:

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Japanese Media Coverage of American Military Relief Efforts (Operation Tomodachi)

James — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 03:13:25 +0000

The Japanese media has not been ignoring the relief work that thousands of American military personnel have been performing since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. I’ve seen reports about it on every major Japanese TV network.

Here is a summary of the most positive TV report I’ve seen so far. It features FTV journalist Yuko Ando reporting directly from the scene of the action:

At Misawa Air Base, she sees boxes of food and supplies that will be sent to disaster victims. There is also a large crate that contains radiation detection equipment. Americans who are preparing the supplies and performing maintenance on aircraft say they are very happy to be participating in the relief operation.

Ando visits the USS Tortuga via helicopter. Upon arrival, she is checked for radiation – they find no significant levels of it. The Tortuga is a dock landing ship, assisting in the delivery of American and Japanese military vehicles and supplies to the disaster zone.

Her next stop is the USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship. Its helicopters and landing craft are constantly making relief trips. Its landing craft have helped transport Japanese workers and their maintenance trucks to Kesennuma Oshima Island, where they are helping to restore electricity.

About 8 and a half minutes into the clip, we can see Americans delivering supplies to people in Miyagi prefecture. They’ve also brought toys for children. The kids seem really happy.

Back in the news studio, Ando stresses the enormous scale of the American military effort. Over 18,000 personnel, 19 ships, and 140 aircraft! Her experience has left her very impressed.

There have been a lot of reports about medical facilities in the disaster zone being overwhelmed. Having seen the hospital facilities on the Essex, she thinks it would be a good idea to utilize them. The Americans told her that they are ready to offer such assistance, should the Japanese government request it. Her general impression is that the Americans have the means to provide additional help and are eager to do so.

Ando says that she believes the generous American aid is not being given only because Japan and the United States have a treaty of alliance. Co-anchor Taro Kimura agrees, but he sees Operation Tomodachi as the biggest-ever joint operation by the American and Japanese armed forces. Its success is a major step towards improving U.S.-Japan relations.

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The AC Robo Meme: Cute Characters Become Badass Battle Robots

James — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:03:04 +0000

A few days ago a couple Japanese netizens posted transforming robot parodies of AC Japan’s happy greeting PSAs. Since then, the “AC Robo” meme has taken off, spawning awesome fighting robot versions of almost every mascot character that appears in the commercial.

Here are a few that I’ve found on YouTube.

Great Arigato-usagi:

Great Konban-wani:

Konban-wani alternative version:

The boy and girl combine their powers to form a super robot:

A combination of several robos, plus an epic animated showdown between Arigato-usagi and Itadaki-mouse:

Konnichi-wan Dynamic version:

Super Sayona-lion:

Alternative versions of Sayona-lion:

Eternal Sayona-lion:

Ultimate Oyasumina-sai

Hyper Ohayo-unagi:

Sonic Tadai-manbou:

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Japanese PSA Parodies

James — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:28:20 +0000

A viral video transforms the “Arigato-usagi” from those annoying AC PSAs into “Great Arigato-usagi”:

Here’s “Ohayo-unagi” transforming into “Hyper Ohayo-unagi”

There is also an Obama-themed AC commercial:

Another person has placed AC characters at the scene of the Fukushima nuclear accident (one character is named “hibakuma” = hibaku + bear):

[hat tip to Lost in Ube]

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Post-Earthquake Japanese TV: PSAs Instead of Commercials

James — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:04:00 +0000

Japanese TV channels have had a bit of a problem. For the first few days after the March 11th Tohoku earthquake, most television programming consisted of live news updates about the disaster. When the channels started airing normal programs again, they found themselves without advertisers. It seems that few companies want to air cheery commercials during what is essentially a period of mourning for the Japanese nation.

Since TV programs have been created with the assumption that a certain number of minutes per hour will be taken up by commercials, the TV networks have been airing public service announcements during commercial breaks.

This PSA from AC Japan has been shown so many times that people are beginning to go crazy when they hear it:

There’s also this PSA, asking women to get breast cancer and cervical cancer checks:

A few days ago, AC apologized for the annoyance and started to remove the “eeyyy-seeee” jingle from the end of some of these PSAs, since they are apparently getting a lot of complaints about it.

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Malawi: The Land of Slow Walking

James — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 04:37:25 +0000

A recent international survey of walking speeds in major cities found that people in Malawi are quite slow walkers. Whereas a Tokyoite takes an average of 12.83 seconds to walk 60 feet, residents of the Malawian city of Blantyre take 31.60 seconds!

Here’s the ranking:

Average walking times over 18 metres (60 feet) in seconds

1) Singapore (Singapore); 10.55
2) Copenhagen (Denmark); 10.82
3) Madrid (Spain); 10.89
4) Guangzhou (China): 10.94
5) Dublin (Ireland); 11.03
6) Curitiba (Brazil); 11.13
7) Berlin (Germany); 11.16
8 ) New York (United States of America); 12.00
9) Utrecht (Netherlands); 12.04
10) Vienna (Austria); 12.06
11) Warsaw (Poland); 12.07
12) London (United Kingdom); 12.17
13) Zagreb (Croatia); 12.20
14) Prague (Czech Republic); 12.35
15) Wellington (New Zealand); 12.62
16) Paris (France); 12.65
17) Stockholm (Sweden); 12.75
18) Ljubljana (Slovenia); 12.76
19) Tokyo (Japan); 12.83
20) Ottawa (Canada); 13.72
21) Harare (Zimbabwe); 13.92
22) Sofia (Bulgaria); 13.96
23) Taipei (Taiwan): 14.00
24) Cairo (Egypt); 14.18
25) Sana’a (Yemen); 14.29
26) Bucharest (Romania); 14.36
27) Dubai (United Arab Emirates); 14.64
28) Damascus (Syria); 14.94
29) Amman (Jordan); 15.95
30) Bern (Switzerland); 17.37
31) Manama (Bahrain); 17.69
32) Blantyre (Malawi); 31.60

Can it be true? Do people in Japan really walk three times faster than Malawians? To find out, a Japanese TV show dispatched a comedian to Malawi:

Everything he observes seems to prove that the survey was correct:

When crossing the street, everyone is quite slow. One can really see the difference when you compare it with footage of a Japanese crosswalk.
Malawians have great difficulty walking on a treadmill set to the average Japanese walking speed.
They set up an experiment. Three friends of their guide are told to meet them at a location approximately 800 meters from each of the friends’ houses. The friends are told to leave their houses at 10:00. Japanese real estate agents advertise 800 meters at a 10 minute walk, but that’s not how things are in Malawi. The earliest friend takes 26 minutes to arrive, the second friend takes 29 minutes, and the third takes 48 minutes. The friends say that it’s no big deal, since people in Malawi don’t stress over hurrying up or waiting for things.
At a “fast food” restaurant, they order 9 burgers. There are a lot of staff in the kitchen, but none of them seem to be in a hurry to make anything. It takes 30 minutes to make eight burgers. They forget to make one of the burgers.
They visit a school. It’s 10:10 and no teacher is in the classroom, even though class should have started at 10:00. They find the teacher, who says the students will just have to wait until he’s finished getting ready.

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Naoto Kan the Clown

James — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:44:21 +0000

Hats off to the graphics team at FTV news for this gem. When the cabinet approval ratings drop below 20%, it’s open season on depicting the Prime Minister as a clown:

In the top corner of the screen floats the head of opposition lawmaker Shinjiro Koizumi, son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. In the report, FTV includes a sound bite of Shinjiro blasting the DPJ’s flipflopping over its child allowance policy.

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Project X Documentaries

James — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:00:00 +0000

If you want to learn more about the birth of Japan’s high tech industries, head on over to YouTube and check out some of the English language versions of N-H-K Project X documentaries that are available for viewing.

As an example, here’s their documentary about Toyota:

See more videos here.

[via Reddit]

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Tiger Woods Blackface Act on Japanese TV – ಠ_ಠ

James — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:13:24 +0000

On Monday night’s episode of “Sekai Maru Mie TV,” somebody thought it would be hilarious to put black paint on the face of a Japanese guy so he could apparently look like Tiger Woods:

The character called himself Taraiga Woods, a pun on the golfer’s name and the Japanese word for tub (tarai). Celebrity guests would be asked to predict what would happen next in funny home videos. If someone answered incorrectly, the blackface Taraiga would drop a tub on his/her head.

At other times when face paint is used for Japanese impersonations of Black celebrities, they actually make a serious effort to match the appearance of the celebrity. A lot of people don’t think it’s proper to categorize those acts as blackface acts.

However, this case, like the case of the Obama Onsen blackface, is so crude that I think it is totally appropriate to call it a blackface act.

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Japanese Transformer Costumes

James — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:03:09 +0000

These two guys have made themselves some pretty cool Transformer costumes:

Unfortunately, their act wasn’t complete enough for the Kasou Taishou competition, so they failed to get a passing score. They started out strong, but the whole thing seemed to end way to quickly and didn’t have the kind of clever twists that judges tend to enjoy.

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Bizarre Cereal Bar Commercial

James — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:34:12 +0000

This Ippon Manzoku Bar commercial is kind of weird:

But some remixing from a Japanese netizen has transformed it into something gloriously weird:

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Blindfolded Samurai Swordsman

James — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:05:22 +0000

Wannabe samurai Ryan Lam (“Hayashi”) appears on the Japanese TV show “Itte Q” and scares the bejesus out of Becky with his blindfolded swordsmanship:

You can view more of his videos on his official YouTube Channel.

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Japanese Celebrity Transformed into Black Man

James — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 03:36:29 +0000

“Shimura Zoo” turns former pro boxer Yoko Gushiken into a “black rapper” to see if his dog will still recognize him:

After some yo yo yo‘s, he goes back to his dog. It’s not clear if the dog recognizes him, or is just friendly to everybody.

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Tsuyoshi Kusanagi Praised for Role in “Japanese Americans” Miniseries

James — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:24:26 +0000

SMAP’s Tsuyoshi Kusanagi played one of the leading roles in the “Japanese Americans” miniseries that aired on TBS last week, and it seems that his acting was well-accepted by the media. Both the Wall Street Journal and Yomiuri have praised him in English language articles, noting that how he has climbed back to the top since his drunk public nudity scandal:

Shot on location in Washington State — a fairly unsubtle choice of location given the success of Japanese baseball star Ichiro Suzuki in that part of the world — the story is told in flashback by later generations of the (by now wealthy and successful) Hiramatsu family. Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of evergreen boy-band SMAP plays the lead role, confirming his return from the wilderness after being arrested in 2009 for stripping naked in a public park.

The Yomiuri even thought his English was praise-worthy:

Still, overall, 99-nen no Ai provided viewers with a rare week of compelling drama and Kusanagi really was outstanding. He even recited his few English lines quite succinctly. Combine that with his proficiency in Korean, and perhaps we should hand him the SMAP foreign language ability crown, too. (For Kimura, we have birthday cake. He turns 38 on Nov. 13.)

It’s nice to see how well Kusanagi has bounced back from his April 2009 drunken, late-night nude-romp-in-the-park debacle. With his career definitely back on track, he has earned a nomination for a 2010 Tellie, the Televiews year-end awards for TV Excellence.

While I enjoyed the miniseries, it would be hard for me to agree with the article’s assessment of Kusanagi’s English. Kusanagi’s character was supposed to be born and raised in the United States, but his delivery and pronunciation of English lines was so stilted and unnatural that just listening to him speak made me cringe.

Here’s an example, so you can judge for yourselves:

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Japanese TV Report About Prop 19

James — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:14:36 +0000

Here’s a short news report from today’s Sukkiri Morning show about California’s Prop marijuana legalization ballot measure (Prop 19). :

The arguments for and against legalization are summed up by bullet points.

Arguments against legalization:

Using marijuana can lead to the use of other drugs, such as stimulants.
The legal marijuana could be shipped to other countries.
The crime rate will increase.

Arguments in favor of legalization:

The state can raise a lot of money by taxing legal marijuana.
Law enforcement will no longer need to waste money and resources going after marijuana dealers and users.
Marijuana has been used for medical purposes, and it is safe.

As the only American in the studio, Professor Robert Campbell of Tokyo University is asked to comment on the story. Despite the fact that he’s spent the last 25 years in Japan, he seems to know a bit about the issue. He correctly points out that “medical” Marijuana has very easy to obtain in California for some time now, noting that there is no evidence supporting the gateway drug theory. Despite having pretty much admitted that the arguments in favor of keeping marijuana illegal are groundless, Campbell says he is opposed to legalization because there’s no need to increase upon the social problems that legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco already cause. He also fears that foreign students in California could end up bringing pot back to their home countries.

Japanese host Terry Ito says he is also against legalization. He wonders how parents would feel if they went home and discovered that their children were smoking legal marijuana. If Prop 19 passed, he predicts that Japanese parents would never allow their kids to study abroad in California. (He makes no mention of how millions of Japanese fathers get drunk on alcohol in front of their children on a regular basis.) He also considers the tax revenue argument to irrelevant, since the California state government shouldn’t have been spending beyond its means in the first place.

The arguments against legalization are presented at face value without acknowledgement that they are bullshit. Even somewhat reasonable commentators like Professor Campbell fail to explain why the criminalization of marijuana makes sense when far more dangerous drugs like alcohol remain legal. I wish I could say that this kind of poor news reporting about the marijuana issue is limited to morning entertainment/news shows, but almost every Japanese TV news report I’ve seen about Prop 19 has gone with a similar style of reporting.

Note: This report aired before it was announced that Prop 19 failed to pass.

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Las Vegas Drive Thru Wedding on Japanese TV

James — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:29:14 +0000

Imoto Ayako visits a Little White Chapel in Las Vegas to show Japanese TV viewers what it is like to have a drive thru wedding:

Unfortunately, the American dude who is pretending to be the groom is not very cooperative…

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Dancing Pandas in North Korea

James — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:24:26 +0000

Japanese DPRK Experts seem to agree that the presence of dancing pandas at North Korea’s 2010 Arirang Mass Games is an indication that the Kim dynasty wants to emphasize the importance of its friendly relations with the People’s Republic of China:

Also noticeable was a huge slogan in Chinese that celebrated DPRK-PRC friendship, and a couple giant flags.

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Japanese TV Show Looks at Arizona Illegal Immigration / ID Check Controversy

James — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:35:27 +0000

A couple nights ago, ATV’s “Manaberu News Show” took a look at legal and illegal immigration in the United States. Host Akira Ikegami provided a brief introduction to the history of immigration in America, which was said to be relevant to Japan because this country’s declining population could be remedied if more immigrants were allowed to come to Japan.

At one point, Ikegami was explaining how illegal immigration has become a big political issue in America, he introduced the recent Arizona law that would have obligated police to check the immigration status of people during a lawful stop or arrest. The TV show says that this basically meant that foreigners in Arizona would have to carry identification with them at all times. This would even include Japanese tourists!

Unfortunately, the program fails to inform viewers that Japan has similar laws in place. As the friendly-sounding Tokyo International Communication Commitee reminds us on their homepage:

It is required by law that foreign residents and visitors must carry their passport or alien registration card in Japan at all times. You may be detained if you cannot present the card when you are asked to do so by the police.

Judging by the way the celebrity panelists reacted with apparent surprise about how “strict” [厳しい] the Arizona law sounded, they probably weren’t aware of the situation in their own country. It was a real shame that nobody brought up the situation in Japan…

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Japanese Avatar Prank

James — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:50:33 +0000

A prank show uses a gang of real life Avatar Nav’i to scare Japanese comedians (warning: filmed with a camcorder, so the quality is pretty bad):

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Crazy Catwalk of Doom

James — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 21:46:55 +0000

Comedy show “Haneru no Tobira” parodies the famous Tokyo Girls’ Collection fashion show by having guys put on expensive clothing and walk down a very unstable catwalk:

Falling off the catwalk puts them into a pool of muck. Hopefully those poorly-paid comedians didn’t actually have to buy all that clothing they are wrecking…

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Behind the Scenes Look at North Korea’s 65th Anniversary Celebration

James — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:53:29 +0000

On Wednesday, ATV news aired this segment that gave a sort of behind-the-scenes look at the 65th anniversary celebrations that took place in North Korea a few days ago. It gives a rare and interesting look the semi-private lives of normal Pyongyang residents:

Some of the things shown in the video:

North Koreans performing an ostrich dance – Ostrich farming and other forms of poultry farming are celebrated as a sign of the DPRK’s grand economic progress.
A human sea throwing fish into the air – Three women who were part of the sea are interviewed. They are normal citizens, not professional performers, and they seem very happy about what they are doing. A university student says he is proud to perform in tribute of the Dear Leader.
In the crowd watching the rehearsals a young couple’s public display of affection.
The interior of a factory that is said to produce CNC (Computer Numerical Controller) technology. Kim Jong-un is credited with promoting the use of computers in North Korean industry.
Street stalls throughout Pyongyang held special sales. (thanks to Kim Jong-un, of course)
Soldiers in the military parade wave at the people watching. A young woman in the crowd enthusiastically tells the news camera that she would like to marry a soldier.
At a soccer game held in Pyongyang, one can see a spectator filming the game with a digital camcorder.

By inviting foreign reporters to film its 65th anniversary celebration, the North Korean government was aiming to show the world that it is making economic and technological progress. This report gives us a view of how things are in Pyongyang when the government has time to prepare things for the cameras, but it obviously does not show the full picture of a country where many people live in poverty and have to deal with harsh political repression.

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Singing Ventriloquist

James — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 00:18:17 +0000

A Japanese ventriloquist pulls off a pretty impressive performance of “sen no kaze ni natte“:

You can view the original song here.

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