April 27, 2000
Japanese TV

I guess I should preface this by saying that I really don't understand much of what I watch on TV here in Japan.  Even after being here for 8 months (has it really been that long?), my Japanese language skills are not too good.  So it will probably come as no surprise that my favorite TV shows are the ones that rely more on visual effects instead of dialogue.

Japanese people seem to like personal challenges.  (Someday I'll have to write about my mountain climbing experience.)  This is reflected in a lot of the TV programming, which includes lots of game shows or other orchestrated scenarios in which individuals or groups have to perform some very difficult task.  If you saw a short-lived show in the U.S. about a year ago (I think it was called "The Big Moment," but don't hold me to that) in which participants were given several days to master a task, such as playing the Moonlight Sonata, that was a Japanese import.  After the camera crew follows the participants through their practice sessions at home, the scene switches to the studio where the participant has to perform the task perfectly in front of the studio audience.  Here in Japan, the prize is 1 million yen (about $10,000).  The program always shows the family working together to help whoever has to perform the task.  In some cases it seems even the entire community is supporting them.  For example, a man who was supposed to stack about a dozen champagne glasses and pour a bottle of champagne from the top to fill all the glasses eventually practiced in a large room with bright lights and an audience.  You know, I can't remember if he was successful or not.

My favorite stunt on that program was a family that had to train four dogs to each perform several tricks:  stay, shake hands, come when called, and go into their cage.  It was fun to watch the bonds develop between the dogs and particular family members.  But the trick was that the family didn't know which person would have to give commands to which dogs.  So they all had to work together.  The family was successful, but the program took the dogs back (merely a clever ploy to play at our emotions because family and dogs were reunited the next week).

Other similar programs have crazier stunts for money.  One program has people bungee jumping and trying to drop something on a target when they reach the bottom.  It's actually kind of funny.

Another popular type of show follows children on their first solo adventure, maybe going shopping or running an errand for mom.  They'll send little kids (I'm talking 3 or 4 years old) off to a department store, to an older sibling's school, to their father's office, or who knows where.  It may be a long walk or they may have to take a bus.  All along the way they are followed very closely by disguised TV crew people who make sure they get across roads safely and keep going in the right direction.  The children never seem to catch on to who the helpful strangers are.  Of course, this kind of program couldn't work in the U.S.  The idea of sending little kids out alone or letting them talk to strangers would be unthinkable.

(Continued)