(Continued)

Early prime time is also loaded with cartoons.  Maybe because kids are in school on Saturday mornings.  Pikachu and his Pokemon friends are still very popular, as is Doraemon, the space cat.  By the way, there's a new Pokemon character--Pichu.  It's a less evolved form of Pikachu.  Also cute, and if it hasn't made its way to the U.S. yet, no doubt it will before long.

A few things about Japanese TV have struck me as odd, especially compared with U.S. TV.  Although there are some TV personalities who seem to stand out, it's very rare to see a show that relies solely on an individual talent.  Most shows have a group of "celebrities" sitting around nodding agreement with whatever the discussion topic is.  It seems like some of them are just window dressing.  Maybe it has something to do with the Japanese emphasis on social conformity.

Another odd thing is the emphasis on food.  Until you see it, you wouldn't believe the amount of programming time spent showing cooking and eating in a studio or touring different types of restaurants.  There's a real preoccupation with food here.  You would think there would be more fat people!  And it's hard to believe that there's really so much new under the sun.  I mean, what don't Japanese people already know about ramen and tofu?

A surprising aspect of Japanese TV is the excessive use of cardboard graphics.  Whether it's the news, a game show, or general discussion program, you can count on seeing lots of charts and graphs neatly illustrated on little cardboard squares.  Someone has to hold the squares while another person points with fingers or a stick to whatever the important information is.  I don't get it.  I know they have the technology to easily generate the same graphics on the screen, but they don't do it.  Maybe this keeps more graphic artists employed.  It looks very low-tech to me.  Too many fingers showing in closeups of the charts.  They should at least use a laser pointer.  Yuki suggests that maybe this format is easier for seniors to follow, and they do make up large portion of the viewing audience.

Commercials here are like commercials anywhere--generally an annoyance.  As I said before, between programs they'll run quite a few.  During a program, however, the commercial breaks are shorter than in the U.S., not leaving enough time to take care of the usual business for which commercials were surely invented.  And although my Japanese language ability is still poor, the commercial jingles are catchy enough that I often find myself singing along.  What really stands out about Japanese commercials are the various Hollywood and other American celebrities that are often featured--for the most part, people that you would never see doing commercials in the U.S.  Here's a partial list:

• Meg Ryan (for a brand of green tea and a car commercial)


• Leonardo Dicaprio (credit card commercial)


• Brad Pitt (playing the guitar and singing for Edward jeans)


• Tiger Woods (for Wonda canned coffee--OK, he's a walking billboard anyway)


• Kevin Kostner (Subaru)


• Mariah Carey (Nescafe canned coffee)

(Continued on page 36)