J-Mascots on John Oliver

Hat tip to Gobbler. Excellent!

Forest Sprite David the Gnome

I'll admit, I tend to be a bit critical of TV programming these days. Sure, there are some great shows, but there's also a lot of crap. Thanks, reality TV. I also don't think very highly of kids' shows, and that's an opinion I've heard echoed by my peers. "They just don't make shows like they used to."

People my age reminisce about cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe, He-Man, Doug, and Rugrats, to name a few. Just between us, I've done back and rewatched parts of some of those shows...and a big part of our feeling have to do with nostalgia. And when we were younger, we watched those shows through our children-eyes. If I were a kid growing up today, maybe I'd love SpongeBob.

Anyway, regardless of objective quality, one of the shows I remember most fondly from my early childhood is David the Gnome. From what I recall, it was a cartoon about this gnome who lived in the forest and would ride around on his pet fox, helping out gnomes, animals, and other creatures. There were trolls, talking beasts, and magic; pretty cool for a show aimed at little kids. A quick YouTube search shows that all of the episodes are actually available to watch there. If that's still the case when I have a family, my brood will without a doubt be getting a taste of my childhood.

Apparently the show was adapted from a book, and was originally created in Spain. The English version starred Tom Bosley, who some of you might remember as the dad from Happy Days.

According to Wikipedia, there was also a Japanese dub that ran on NHK briefly in 1991 and then on Sun Television in 2003. Unfortunately I can't find any clips of the Japanese version online, but that's still pretty cool.

FYI, the Japanese title is 「森の妖精ノーム」, which means something like "The Gnome-Sprite of the Forest."


Image Source

Hook Book Row

Some days I watch a little TV Japan in the afternoon, and often there is a children's show or two running (because little children and me are the only people at home during the day). I'm not above watching them to improve my Japanese, and there's one in particular that I like. It's called フックブックロー in Japanese (the guide calls it Hook Book Row), and I really like the opening theme song.

My Favorite J-TV Show: Game Center CX

I've been intending to write about Game Center CX for quite some time now, but I guess I was a little daunted. I wanted to make a really good post and get everyone to watch this show. But I just kept kicking the can down the road, so I'm just going to do it already.

One thing you'll hear about studying Japanese is that watching TV or movies is a great way to gain exposure to the language, and study (often in a more passive sense). This is true, but here's the thing about Japanese TV - it tends to be a lot lower budget than American TV and at least in my opinion a lot more boring. These days I find myself biting the bullet more often, but it seems like a majority of Japanese TV shows follow the same format: plunk half a dozen members of the Japanese celebrity pantheon onto a set and watch them watching something (be it a fluff piece or something educational) or watch them eating. Often you get to watch them watch someone else cooking, and then they eat said food. Bleh.

But what if you could watch a show about a middle aged guy who plays video games? And he's a comedian. Man, I'd watch that in any language. Ok, maybe a little nichey, but in my experience the two realms of "interested in Japan" and "interested in nerdy stuff like video games" tend to overlap quite frequently. For those of you who are fully in tune with your unabashed nerdiness, there is Game Center CX.

The show is hosted by comedian Shinya Arino, who takes the role of the 課長 (section chief) of this company that, I dunno...makes him play video games? Arino's Challenge is a segment of the show in which he must beat a game or complete some other task (like get a certain score). These games tend to be older, like from NES or Sega. In earlier episodes, this part was kind of equal among other segments (like looking at old consoles, visiting arcades, and interviewing game developers), but as the show picked up steam, this challenge became the main feature of the show.

For me, it's not just the games but the dynamic of the show that makes it so much fun to watch. Arino is by no means a game wiz, and he often needs help from his crew. His interaction with his staff is entertaining, and although he sometimes gets stuck playing the same part of a game for hours, he never seems to get angry and tries to stay positive.

Here is a random clip if you want a sample (sorry, this one has no subs):



It can be difficult to watch this show, unfortunately. The DVD sets sold in Japan only contain a few episodes each (not entire seasons) and are very expensive...they can be upwards of 8,000 yen for one set. Episodes on You Tube are hard to come by, as they are on Nico Nico Douga. The VG Masters Club does have a number of episodes with fan subs, but after the first few seasons they seem to be missing a lot.

I recently got in touch with Ray of Crunk Games, who has set up an awesome informational page about Game Center CX, and he directed me to a Facebook group. If you're interested, the Facebook group and VG Masters are good places to start. Other sources do exist, but that's not something I can condone in this medium...
*Edit: You should also check out a link in the comments below.

Anyway, if this sounds to you like a fun show, I can assure you it is and you should check it out. If you're already a fan, are there any other websites or sources you'd like to add? If you're not interested at all, well, you'd best get out of here.

3D TV

I was just at Joshin (Japanese electronics store of sorts) and saw some 3D TVs for sale. I checked out one display and used the 3D glasses...it looked crisp, but I actually couldn't tell that it was 3D.

Are these things for sale already in the US, too?

This guy is awesome

Exciting as watching a...hole in the wall?

I just read a Japan Times article about how a certain show has taken off and caught the interest of foreign TV execs. You know, I've seen the show before, and I did find it pretty amusing. But you gotta ask yourself if this is a good idea. Compared to other Japanese TV shows, yeah, maybe this thing is gold. But compared to British or American programming? I'm not so sure.

The idea is novel, but I'm not sure - how long could a show like this really go on? Could something like this really run for more than a season? A show about guys in spandex trying to fit themselves into holes in a wall? But then maybe I'm giving the average TV junkie too much credit.

Is Japan really that weird?

As I layed out when I started this operation, a lot of people have some crazy images of Japan. And yeah, there is some crazy $#*@ here. But is Japan really all that weird? Ok, it is - but just hear me out here.

A while ago I was helping run a summer international seminar at another high school, and durning our lunch break some students came in to talk to me and the other teachers. One of them had some kind of Anpanman paraphernalia (in retrospect I can't remember if it was a pencil case or doll or what), and somehow we drifted onto the topic. For those unfamiliar with him, Anpanman is the titular protagonist of a children's TV show here in Japan (incidentally, the show recently achieved a Guinness World Record). So we began to talk to the students about Anpanman, who explained to us the details of his existence. Here's what you need to know:

"Anpan" is a kind of pastry here. It's a sweetish bun filled with red bean paste. It's meant to be kind of desserty, I believe, but I'm not a fan - Japanese desserts aren't sweet enough for my Western tastebuds.

So Anpanman in English is roughly "Red Bean Paste Pastry Man." Apparently he was created by a kindly old baker to fight evil, or hunger - I'm not quite sure. As far as I can tell, he and his friends fight against the forces of Germ Man, and Anpanman frequently lets people eat his head, which is then replaced by the Baker. Weird, huh?

Then we started thinking of TV shows from our childhood, and Smurfs came up. The students looked at us in bewilderment and we tried to explain about the little blue people who lived in mushrooms, perpetually tormented by a wizard who wanted to capture them and either eat them or turn them into a potion of some kind. Oh, and there was only one girl smurf.

Suddenly, Anpanman didn't seem so ridiculous anymore.