Can someone please explain to me what in the fuck this is all about? Does the robo-aerobics squad and their 70s-synth soundtrack make for an especially effective mnemonic device when teaching young Japanese women what to do when being robbed by two men in the US? Is this for real? Do people watch these things before visiting California or something? Because, ladies, your mugging will not in any way resemble this video.
:eek:
I’ve never had the feeling that my HD display panel was three-dimensional before…
There was a thread about a month ago about the same aerobics video, so I’ll just repeat what I said then.
And no, Japan’s not different, it’s weird. And that’s exactly why I stay here.
Oh come on now. Everyone can see they’re fake. . . :dubious:
Tripler
The onion(s), that is.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
I love this series of videos, because they all crack me RIGHT UP. You can see many more here on YouTube. The show’s Japanese homepage is here; using Google’s translation service and some other pages, I can sort of figure out what’s going on. This series is based on the idea of using “muscle memory” and repetition to learn such useful phrases as “How dare you say such a thing to me” and “You must be tired from your long flight”.
Also, Google translate gave me this gem: “You quarrel with long palm muscle”.
Heh, my boyfriend’s Chinese, I’m the same way. I get more touchy abut chinese stereotypes than I ever would about American.
Corporate Hippie, thanks for the apology.
BrainWreck, this is MPSIMS. Keep your insults for the Pit.
Did you even notice what I was responding to?
He says dickhead, I say dickhead, I’m like playing off him, you see? If you’re going to play junior mod, you need to pay closer attention.
[QUOTE=Loopydude]
Can someone please explain to me what in the fuck this is all about? Does the robo-aerobics squad and their 70s-synth soundtrack make for an especially effective mnemonic device when teaching young Japanese women what to do when being robbed by two men in the US? Is this for real? Do people watch these things before visiting California or something? Because, ladies, your mugging will not in any way resemble this video.[/QUOT
In 1992 a Japanese student was shot in America going into the wrong house looking for a Halloween party because he didn’t understand the word “freeze” when he went to the wrong house aguy pulled a gun on him and told him to freeze. Many schools in Japan started teaching ‘survival English’.
This is a real example. Not a joke. I taught in Japan and they wanted me to teach ‘survival English’ I refused
That’s what’s so funny. They are taking a deadly serious English lesson and teaching it with Aerobics, using outdated expressions and poor pronounciation.
Why would you refuse an opportunity to teach something useful and important? Let me guess, were you a JET?
Wath the one titled Last Episdoe. The bald guy explains that the series is so popular he’s doing on for foreigners who wish to learn Japanese phrases. He also explains that the Japanese use different muscles because of the bowing and not sitting in chairs and, I think, the exercises are part of a nutty theory that to speak a language, you must use the same muscles as the natives. :dubious:
BTW, the dancers on this one are male. Check out the middle guy, I think he’s smuggling ume (Japanese plums)…
OK, so I was at a loss as to whether the title was “deltoid trouble” or “bandanna trouble” because sankakukin could be either one. I decided it was “bandanna trouble” because the lobbers were wearing bandannas. But now with this weird muscle theory, maybe it was deltoids after all?
Now I’ve got “I was robbed by twoooooo men” stuck in my head. And I feel bad for Harold Ramis - couldn’t they at least have let him play the boss mugger?
And this wasn’t the strangest thing I saw on the internet today.
It is not useful and important. It is reinforcing the stereotype in Japan that everwhere else is so incredibly dangerous that they have to learn ‘survival English’. Sure Japan is very safe. But because of the shite of ‘survival English’ and other shite taught in Japan, many if not most Japanese think iverseas trips are too dangerous to take.
I was not a Jet.
Overseas trips
Here is another gem of a Japanese instructional video. This one is animated!
Compared to Japan, the rest of the world is that dangerous. Anyway, most travel courses have at least a passing section on crime and emergencies, this is nothing unusual. Except for the aerobic chanting.
Most Japanese are averse to overseas trips not especially because of crime but because their xenophobic insular mentality has taught them that the world is divided into two parts, Japan and gaikoku, and gaikoku is a bizarre alien world devoid of the comforts of the Japanese mothership.
I was trying to talk a Japanese buddy into coming to visit me in the US. He muttered and sucked air through his teeth and said “I don’t know, where would I get Japanese food? I bet you can’t get good rice over here.” I shit you not.
Help me! Help me! I’ve been hypnotized!
:smack:
I can’t believe I just watched this one. :rolleyes:
It was complete with the Japanimation ‘parents’ singing ‘ooom pah pah’ with their kid, and at the tail end, a real live little boy taking a #2 on the toilet. Dear Lord, help us all.
Tripler
I mean, it could have been worse. It could have been “BANZAI!” ::plop::