Me on Asian Week talking about the importance of toilet jokes in Japan

I was quoted in an article in AsianWeek titled Cool Japan: Why Japanese remakes are so popular on American TV, and where we're getting it wrong.

Basically I just spouted off my opinion about I Survived a Japanese Game Show and other silly things to the reporter. Of course, my kicker quote had to do with toilet jokes:

“To make a really successful Japanese variety show, you have to have really crass humor and there’s a lot of slapping involved and there are a lot of violations of basic rights to privacy,” Katayama said, referring to shows where people are pulled from toilets or shot into the sky from porta-potties. “That would never fly in the U.S.”

Link

Comments

[Jeff]

I pretty much agree with your other quote there about "I Survived a Japanese Game Show", although I noticed in the second episode, the producers did seem to start making fun of the stupidity of the American contestants more than the Japanese quirkiness. (I only watched up to episode 2, which tells you something.) I wondered if that would end up being the real point.

Generally I feel like American TV execs are afraid to put on Japanese TV shows as they really are. They need to Americanize it, they still think we're not quite ready. Ironically I think MXC was closer in spirit to its original than most straight remakes!

On the other hand, all that stuff in the article about Japanese TV shows being of such "quality" is a bunch of crap - Japanese TV shows are generally awful, and we like the ones we like *because* they are so awful. They're stupid, mindless entertainment, often the equivalent of "Jackass" with contestants. I think you're right that our versions are not as good because they're not filled with bathroom humor. They're too staid and dry compared with the originals. We take them too seriously.

I've been watching "Hole in the Wall" lately, though, and it's not too bad except in its case, it's the contestants that are the problem. We Americans are too fat and stiff to play that game! I watched an episode the other night where both teams managed to score a single point between them through the entire episode. That's just boring.

[vagrant]

The world needs more Pan-kun and James! Still, I got some great laughs remembering those toilets that raised up into the air, or the massage chair that shot people down the ski slope. Good times.

Yeah, you could never do that in the U.S., but that's OK. An incredible amount of U.S. shows have been copied from other countries, when the originals were fine. I say leave well enough alone. Just add sub-titles if needed.

[Nobita]

Thanks for the link to the article! It's interesting... I never thought in a million years, that I will hear Japanese announcers on US TV. Now, I've watched more episodes of Sasuke and every time I talk about it to my Japanese business partners, they all get a kick out of it and a bit proud too.

I posted a comment over at the AsianWeek article though (I'm the second one). I think the one big thing they are missing is the fact that Japanese game shows feature TV celebrities (owarai geinin) so it's more fun...I guess...for the viewers since they know the contestants.