Every once in a while I will catch one of these on the International channel. Man what a hoot. Most memorable ‘games’ were 5 guys in speedos were sitting in this huge tub of ice. The object was to drink lots of beer and be the last one to use the outhouse which was some ungodly distance away. All 5 of the men were trying equally hard to resist the urge to use the outhouse, but it all hit them simultaneously and they all jumped out of the tub and bolted for the outhouse in a panic. Suddenly even winning wasn’t important. The poor sap that made it to the outhouse had all the other contestants angrily pounding on the walls until they actually knocked the whole thing over.
Another game kinda reminded me of American Gladiators where hte contestants were running through this maze. There would be certain points where there would be paper covering 4 doors. 1 was a real door behind the paper, the other 3 was solid wood. The contestants would get a running start and try to charge through the right door but 75% they just slammed into the wall (one knocked himself out!) they also had sumo wrestlers hidden in the maze that would jump on contestants that passed by. Crazy.
I once watched a Japanese game show that was nothing but a giant domino-toppling competition. At least half an hour of nothing but rows and rows of what must have been millions of dominos knocking each other over. There were split rows, rows going up stairs, down stairs, dominos that spelled out words and made pictures when knocked over, dominos that knocked a ball bearing down a long track that would eventually hit a domino that would start a whole other line. I have no idea what the point of the show was or who set up all the dominos, but it was sure fun to watch!
Japanese game shows don’t seem to be nearly as violent or sexual as they used to be. Personally, I’m disappointed. I want to see a repeat of “Onsen Olympics”: 20 nude models standing waist-deep in a onsen (hot-spring bath) playing volleyball while wearing only losely-tied towels. And it was on at 3 in the afternoon!
The domino events are a hoot, though. Last year there was a contest betewen two towns to see who could produce the best display. Instead of dominoes, they used video boxes so that they could set up outdoors and make a line that ran through the entire town. All the local shops, schools and clubs got involved: when the trail went through a shoe store, they used shoes as dominoes, the toy store used Barbie dolls and action figures, the supermarket knocked over a huge row of bicycles and the red-light district used bricks (“because this is a tough neighborhood” according to the announcer, as the bar hostesses and bouncers were all waving for the cameras). The most impressive stunt, though, was the train. The domino trail entered the station (up three flights of stairs, btw), went through the ticket gate and into the train. The engineer then had to drive to the next station (about 1 km away) before the domino trail in the train ran out, but gently enough so as not to knock them over out of sequence. He then had to stop the train within a 4-inch space so that the last domino in the train would be lined up with the next domino waiting on the platform so the trail could continue. He did it perfectly.
I’ve also seen other unusual things such as a sadistic variant of pacheko in which a shot put ball (or something similar) is dropped down and hits a fork in its path; each path slopes down 45 degrees onto a contestant’s head at the bottom. It doesn’t go fast enough to do severe damage, but rest assured each contestant has a 50-50 chance of getting a nasty bump on the head.
But when a year’s supply of Ramen noodles is at stake I guess some things are just too good to pass up
Japanese gameshows are truly messed up. They make the current wave of reality shows in the States look like boy scout camp. As an example here is a link to Nasubi, a game show that makes Survivor look like Club Med.
I remember watching the show when I was over in Japan for vacation…it really freaked me out…I was wondering if you could find a link to another TV show…I think it was done by the same TV show…it was this two guys hitchhiking from China to England… now THAT is just crazy…but I remember seeing something like that…thanx for the link…I couldn’t believe what I was reading… and yes, Japanese TV is the sickest in the world…
‘endurance’ is just the tip of the iceberg. i’ve recently been lucky enought to catch ‘BOINGO’ in which two teams are each given a bingo card with letters A to F in place of numbers. their mission, which they eagerly accept, is to fill their card by finding girls with the appropriate breast size. but to go up to a young lady on the streets of tokyo and simply ask her what size bra she takes would be, well, too easy. instead they pin their arms behind their backs and ask them to breath deeply. or take their arms and flap them up and down like a chickenhawk. ‘BOINGO’… the video on everyone’s wish-list. man, but i’ll be glued to the box now that i know ‘onsen olympics’ is out there somewhere!
