TV in Japan

Even More Zuiiken - This Time We Hear From the Incredible Host

More Zuiiken! This time it’s Zuiiken Japanese instead of Zuiiken English but we get our first look at the incredibly dynamic American host. And Westerners in tight shorts reciting Japanese phrases. On TV. In Japan.

Thanks again to Skillful Abbot for posting these.

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Posted in: Culture, Dance You Fool!, Truly Awesome, Weird, Zuiiken!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 29th, 2006 at 10:23 pm and is filed under Culture, Dance You Fool!, Truly Awesome, Weird, Zuiiken!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

21 Responses to “Even More Zuiiken - This Time We Hear From the Incredible Host”

Anonymous May 30th, 2006 at 2:06 am

American host? Surely he’s a German - he certainly isn’t a native English speaker. (There is somethign un-Amercian about the Zuiken boys as well - they all look European to me)

I like the slow pans over the semi-clad muscle boy with the re-assuring “the Japanese really are different from everyone else” rubbish over the top.

Josh McCormick May 30th, 2006 at 7:25 am

I kind of agree all over with anonymous above. Especially the “Japanese people are so different” part. WTF?

Anonymous May 30th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

Well, it’s just cultural. The Japanese have long been told that they are different from everyone else (even though there isn’t any evidence for it) and so like to have this emphasised. It’s like the bogus idea that Japanese is harder to learn than other languages.

Pacific Dreams May 30th, 2006 at 3:41 pm

You are going to have to qualify that statement, anon. In my experience, Japanese is harder for native English speakers to learn than, say, Italian or Spanish. native Korean speakers have an easier time, because the grammar is similar to Korean, but native Chinese speakers have a rough time because of grammar differences and multiple readings of kanji.

Skillful Abbot May 30th, 2006 at 5:07 pm

Yeah, most of the staff are European. I’d say British due to the amount of sarcasm in the show. At least I hope its sarcasm. I have one episode where LUAN burst into laughter reading “ASA no POEM” which aren’t really poems but old 90s era J-Pop songs she’s reading melodramatically.

The camera pans the Zuiikin boys the same way it does the Zuiikin girls. After watching this on a regular basis, its easily noticeable how the cam nicely has close up on all the usual Japanese Fetishes, ie armpits.

There is so much stereotypical rubbish in the show its fabulous and typical of the 90s bubble economy Japan I guess. They have stronger muscles from bowing, pssh, Japanese bow but its hardly deep enough to get any zuiikin action out of it. At most its just a nod of the head unless its a formal. The floor sitting stuff might be true. I still get fidgety after 20minutes on the floor. But these days not many Japanese people can now endure the pain of sitting in seiza. Especially the younger generations.

Well tomorrow will be the last broadcasting. Im sad. Unfortunately it didnt dawn on me to record the show until too late. It began airing in november. However from the episode Ive recorded There is still a lot Zuiikin to be gleaned. Its just capping and encoding takes so much time. But I will be sure to post more later.

Ive been writing to FUJITV asking them to rebroadcast and offer a DVD box set. But I am only one man. Its all in Japanese but if you guys want to chip in on the effort here is the address to their request form.

https://wwws.fujitv.co.jp/safe/cs/request/7395_014.html

Using all the Zuiikin in your body to learn we can get Fuji TV to extend this show, at least get it on DVD.

-P-Low

Skillful Abbot May 30th, 2006 at 5:09 pm

Oh yeah one more thing. This episode was really the last episode, but FUJITV 739 isnt broadcasting them in any special order. The highlight of the show is at the end when the host says, “I won’t be seeing you again, but if our cross paths flash me some Zuiikin and I’ll [ . . .]”

Great!

Anonymous May 30th, 2006 at 5:49 pm

My favorite ‘Japan and the Japanese’ are so unique moment is when a Japanese women remarked that non-japanese can’t enjoy massages like they can because we have fewer neck bones…yeah.

Oh, also the whole bit about Japan having four seasons and acting like that is unique. Ugh…

Anonymous May 31st, 2006 at 2:39 am

I’ll have to disagree with you Pacific Dreams. First, linguistically all languages are about equally hard to learn, there are no easy languages, and to be fluent in any language is always hard. The idea that some languages are harder than others is just a myth. As someone who is learning japanese, I can honestly say that I do not find it harder than any other language I have learned. SO its SOV rather than SVO - not really a problem. As with all languages the real issues are to do with vocabulary and colloquial speech which are just matters of experience in the end.

Pacific Dreams May 31st, 2006 at 8:44 am

anon,

I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. Indeed some people pick up languages fairly easily, as we have all heard of people who can speak seven or eight languages, but don’t assume your experience is the same as everyone else. As a student and teacher everyone’s experience is different.

And I understand your frustration with the Japanese taking pride in unique things which may not be real or necessarily unique, but I have seen this same narrow-mindedness in Koreans, Chinese, American, British, heck, in individuals from almost any country in the world.

Caren June 1st, 2006 at 12:18 pm

Abbot, thanks for putting this up. It’s so funny, so over the top. My kids (19, 14 & 7) are really into Japan culture & I watched it with them. And they loved it. Now the big kids are sharing it with their friends.

yuka June 2nd, 2006 at 11:05 pm

um…

please someone tell me they realize the “stronger muscles from bowing” thing is a satire, meant to be funny?

you’re not really taking this seriously, are you?

i’d hate to see a theory of nihonjinron based on zuiikin english. those 3 guys with their t-shirts tucked in doing aerobics and saying “domo domo” should be a big clue.

of course, japanese really are unique and special…

(i’m joking. see?)