Japanese TV

Jenny Talks About Life in Japan

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

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

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

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

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

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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