Tag: Japan
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Japanese TV News
Television news programs in Japan are famously entertaining. The sets are more interesting and the hosts are much more physically involved with the story-telling. Below are some screenshots of a lengthy and incredibly detailed explanation of the sport of speedskating. Here they are talking about the importance of drafting complete with a huge fan for…
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Kasou Taishou
We spent this morning looking at YouTube videos of Kasou Taishou. These are short skits that re-create special effects using charmingly amateur stage effects. Think of it as a mashup between traditional Japanese kabuki stage-craft and a high school play. Add a twist of self-depreciating humor and you’ve got a winner.
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All Blacks in Shibuya
Japan is rugby-crazy so what better way to promote insurance than to feature one of the most famous rugby teams as saviors running through the streets in the middle of Tokyo? h/t AdWeek And if you like that one, be sure to check out Toyota’s celebration of baseball from last year.
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Japan’s view of celebrity
With the Oscars coming up tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to share this performance by Japanese comedian Yuriyan Retriever where she nails (as in totally skewers) the genre of the overly emotional acceptance speech.
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Baseball Opening Day
It’s the first day of the Japanese baseball season today which gives me occasion to share this excellent commercial from last year.
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My Pushcart in Yokohama
When I was a sophomore in college, I took a year off to teach English in Japan to help pay for tuition. Having experienced taco truck street food while attending Occidental College in Los Angeles, I yearned for the late night snack and saw an opportunity to introduce a decent street taco to the Tokyo late-night…
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A tale of two incentives
Meanwhile, the bullet train has sucked the country’s workforce into Tokyo, rendering an increasingly huge part of the country little more than a bedroom community for the capital. One reason for this is a quirk of Japan’s famously paternalistic corporations: namely, employers pay their workers’ commuting costs. Tax authorities don’t consider it income if it’s…
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Radio Taiso
Radio Taiso (ラジオ体操) is as core to growing up in Japan as the Pledge of Allegiance is to an American. Before school, kids are lead through these exercises which have been a standard for years. Wikipedia says that Radio Calisthenics was something actually imported from the US where the MetLife was broadcasting a 15 minute…
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Japan as the great curator
The Smithsonian Magazine shares a trend that any American who has spent anytime poking around the back alleys of Tokyo knows in their bones. The Japanese have a loving appreciation of American culture that runs deeper that Americans. From burbon to jazz, denim to hamburgers, the attention to detail of the Japanese is flawless. If…