Stranded in Japan
June 26, 2008
Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” was the likely sentiment of 10 Americans who were whisked away and delivered to the glittering city of Shibuya Square, Tokyo, totally unaware of what was to come next and in what form. The shape spearheading the adventure was Romu Kandu, the highly caffeinated host with the most, who conducts the topsy-turvy game show called Majide, which he graciously translated as “you’ve got to be crazy” and then spastically crooned to the bug-eyed Americans, “Crazy is good, crazy is beautiful, crazy is goooooolden!”
As these Americans competed for $250,000 on Majide, they were concurrently filmed for the American reality show called I Survived a Japanese Game Show. The premise is simple: Contestants undergo a surreal challenge to establish a winning and losing team. In the premiere episode, they battled it out in the “Conveyer Restaurant” where contestants carried mochi balls on their heads, ran down a larger-than-life conveyer belt and then fell flat on their face. The winning team is bestowed a prize that pampers (e.g. a tour of Japan via helicopter), and the losing team must take up culturally edifying labor (e.g. driving rickshaws) and then participate in an elimination round. The point is to delight the viewers with ridiculous scenarios and slapstick humor, and to inform of Japanese culture such as toilets that come complete with remote controls. A technicolored maze within a maze, the show promises a loopy ride.
The wackiness of Japanese game shows has been a mainstay for Asia, and only now is American TV considering this as a form of entertainment, as channel G4’s Ninja Warrior and Unbeatable Banzuke are proving to be popular. ABC seems to be taking the lead among the major networks in culturally diversifying its portfolio by showcasing a watered-down version called Wipeout as well as I Survived a Japanese Game Show. Will they translate to the American audience? Let’s hope so.
The votes were in for the season premiere of America’s Best Dance Crew, and every corner of the United States had a top five crew representing. Starting gate favorites were the South’s SoReal Cru, West Coast’s Supreme Soul, East Coast’s Boogie Bots, and the Midwest’s A.S.I.I.D. and Xtreme Dance Force. Crews Fanny Pak and Distorted X were in the bottom two, and while X was x-tremely gorgeous and x-tra sexy, or so the judges said, it was Fanny Pak’s artistic temperament and originality that zipped it up and saved them from elimination.
In So You Think You Can Dance, Mark sleazed his way into the judges’ hearts with the Argentine tango, eliciting comments like “You just look like a movie star!” though the movie star in question must be gummy-faced comedian Jim Carrey. On the flipside, Katee and her partner did a Broadway number that required miming of mixing the bowl, playing the trombone, raising the roof, etcetera, in spirited tandem.
*****Related articles:*****
Cool Japan: Why Japanese remakes are so popular on American TV, and where we’re getting it wrong
Cultural Pawns
I’m a Survivor : Japanese American Tony Sano talks about hosting ‘I Survived a Japanese Game Show’
Comments
Got something to say?