Japanese TV

Japanese TV is world famous, famous for being crazy. There are parts of Japanese programmes that are shown and talked about around the world that are really strange. So, I was very curious about watching TV when I came to Japan.

Takeshi’s castle (痛快なりゆき番組風雲!たけし城) is probably the most famous Japanese TV programme overseas. It was shown around the world and became super popular. Have you ever seen it?? Apart from anime which is very popular, I can't think of any other Japanese TV programme that has become famous in the UK.

With Japanese TV, there are some differences to other countries but many similarites. The first thing I noticed about Japanese TV is that there are so many programmes about food. Chat shows with food. Travel shows with food. Variety shows with food. Food is everywhere and everybody is eating on Japanese TV. It makes me feel uncomfortable because I don't really like to watch people eat. And everybody is eating on Japanese TV. All the time.

Next, there are so many advertisements on Japanese TV. Not only the advertisements between the programmes, but also IN the programmes. Often a presenter makes a sudden decision and says, "Let's try this restaurant.". When they enter the restaurant there are no customers and a staff member is waiting for them. It is obvious that the visit was already decided. It feels very unnatural and strange to watch.

The big similarity is that Japanese TV is just as boring as other countries. I have to be honest, I don't really watch much TV. I try to watch Japanese TV sometimes, but it is often very uninteresting and difficult to watch. Almost every country I have lived in has boring TV though, in my opinion, not only Japan.

I really think that Japanese TV would benefit from more overseas programmes (not only movies). Especially if they were subtitled rather than dubbed. In the UK we are really lucky to get programmes from all over the world (especially the USA, Australia and Europe) and they are usually shown in their original language. Dubbing means you can't hear the original actors speak and you don't get the chance to hear foreign languages.

I really wish that they would show more TV programmes (not only movies) from overseas on Japanese TV and in their original languages. It would be great to open Japan to more overseas culture.

Just for fun, I ranked the TV by countries I have visited: