This is awesome! Just the kind of thing I’d love to stumbled onto while my wife was off soaking in an onsen. Instead, the best TV I found was watching the US Vice Presidential debate on BBC World News with a live Japanese dubbing.
Part of the ‘myth of Japan’ is the awesome TV. It’s supposed to be Super Happy Fun Time 24×7 right? Instead it’s just weird, as in boring, dramas, and live ‘variety’ shows, the kind the above clip was cribbed from, where most of the humor is derived from pulling funny faces. Srsly.
And the anime is only on pay-tv, and screens after 11pm. ‘Cause that is when everyone gets home.
Made.In.DNA tells me this was far less the case in the 1980s and 1990s. That Galaxy show screened at 7:30. The game shows were awesome.
That’s when the myth was created I think. WTF happened since?!
Well, I am back from Japan. It’s taken me a few days just to get my head together again after such an epic trip. So much to process!
What did I do in Japan? What didn’t I do! OMG, we squeezed so much in, particularly in Tokyo. I think I managed to see Japan from nearly every angle too.
Example day: Tokyo Disney Sea (my first theme park experience ever), then seeing Tokyo Gore Police that night. From J-Cute to J-Gore!
I’ll slowly be dumping out my thoughts from the trip; I’m going to slice it a few different ways I think. Some will go on Grinding, and some on a new site, TBA.
Now, some thank-yous. Firstly, to my wonderful wife for pretty much organising the whole trip! Secondly to Bron and Parkes for letting us crash in Tokyo. And last, but not ‘least to my main man Made in DNA who came down from Niigatta for the weekend, and gave me a guided tour of Tokyo, translated my stupid question, and his buddy Kevin from Rockin’ Japan
In a few hours I’m finally be making my pilgrimage to Future Land, ie Japan. (Wait, it *is* still the Future there, yeah?). Anyway.. *long overdue* trip.
Of course, since I’m on hols, I’ll be holiday blogging like a crazy person. So stay tuned for cool happy snaps and mental dumps on the rad stuff I’m sure to see/experience..
Also, I hate flying.. not fear, just extremely dis-like, so I trick myself by prepping lots of cool distractions. My PSP, which I haven’t touched in nearly a year – (yes, since last holiday) – is more loaded up than ever, thanks to crashing memory-stick prices; 4Gb for ~$70.. awesome. Also, seen in this horribly blurry photo – the new Charles Stross novel, Saturn’s Children.. which I have seriously had year for months.. because I have been *saving* it.. oh yes, saving. Soon as I sit down on the plane, page1 will be opened.. And why? ‘Cause it’s a novel about robots!!! Exactly what to read when in Japan.
Not so much affecting here, but where content from here flows.
My Tumblr’s been an attempt at a Lifestream, but now that proper one’s are emerging (ie Swurl, FriendFeed, SocialThing!), I’m dialing that back, and it’ll be more a digital scrapbook, peppered with comments from Whitechapel and such.
