Famous English Teacher/Gaijin Celebrity Thane Camus Teaches English To Morning Musume

Thane Camus, who not only represents Westerners on TV in Japan but also happens to be the Great-Nephew of Albert Camus (The Stranger, anyone?), is also a heck of an English Teacher. Or more properly, a heck of an entertainer when it comes to exploiting other people’s lack of English Skills.

Here, specifically, he exploits that lack of skills in the most famous of cute girls, the ladies of Morning Musume.

Part One:

Part Two:

On a side note, Thane is probably really mostly Japanese. Also, NeoMarxisme continues to be the thinking man’s TV in Japan or, more properly, where TV in Japan goes when he actually wants to think about TV in Japan.

Thanks to these videos go to TV in Japan reader Calvin!

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Posted in: Comedy, Culture, Kawaii!, Morning Musume, Strange Hobbies, Translation, Truly Awesome, Weird

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Comedy, Culture, Kawaii!, Morning Musume, Strange Hobbies, Translation, Truly Awesome, Weird. 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.

14 Responses to “Famous English Teacher/Gaijin Celebrity Thane Camus Teaches English To Morning Musume”

wintersweet May 5th, 2007 at 5:40 pm

Oooh, I can’t stand this guy. He’s a terrible actor, and just generally rubs me the wrong way. Every time he pops up in a dorama I want to throw something at my TV.

I’m a little curious–do Japanese people know he’s only famous in Japan?

Liam May 5th, 2007 at 8:12 pm

Most “gaijin talent” in Japan are famous only in Japan.

calvin May 5th, 2007 at 9:18 pm

hahah, thanks man. i was reading on sites (not sure if they’re credible) but thane came to japan at either age 3 or age 6. his past is i guess, really unknown. this video made me crack up.

OkajoSaikou May 5th, 2007 at 11:08 pm

This was one of my favorites.
You guys should watch the full episode.

Thane isn’t that bad, but then again he hasn’t popped in any of my doramas.
One foreigner I can’t stand is Madonna.

Grrrr!!!

Radicalpatriot May 6th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

It takes a truly gifted teacher to know another language and culture so well.

Colin May 6th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

LOL I loved this. It was so funny! “Reina, elevator, people people people people. Wow!”

michael May 9th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

Cringe-inducing. Thane is truly the Stepin Fetchit of Japan. He is clearly intelligent so it is befuddling why he consistently takes on this grating role as a caricature of a foreigner.

michael May 9th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

Cringe-inducing. Thane is truly the Stepin Fetchit of Japan. He is clearly intelligent so it is befuddling why he consistently takes on this grating role as a caricature of a foreigner.

Jake Was Here May 11th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

He doesn’t come off as grating if you watch the entire episode… it becomes more obvious that he’s just playing to the MM girls’ strengths and weaknesses (and he’s not above teasing them for their mistakes).

Dusty May 21st, 2007 at 2:12 am

There wasn’t hardly any teaching done at all. On top of that, he used broken English. A professional teacher doesn’t mock their student’s lack of ability though it was entertaining.

Anonymous January 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 pm

Anyone managed to save these clips? Seems they’ve been taken down since a while back.

Anonymous January 23rd, 2008 at 9:06 pm

After a little bit of digging I found the whole clip at stage6.
http://www.stage6.com/Hello-Morning-Subtitle/video/1956229/H!M-#265-[2005-06-26]-Haromoni-Academy—English-Lesson

Karsten Hubar January 27th, 2008 at 6:30 am

Dear Applicant,

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I’m Very Nice Switzerland is looking for a private English male/female tutor (qualified, experienced & English speaker) to come and teach my wife and my two Kids Cajetan and Pancracius how to speak and write English, you should teach us 12 months of upper intermediate & advanced levels, We need a flexible, friendly, open and responsible person who is able to motivate my Wife and two Kids make the lessons interesting and enjoyable. The position is on Monday to Friday 8:00am to 3:00pm. The usual workload will be 26 hours a week and the lessons could be in the morning, in the afternoon (Monday to Friday).

Benefits:
1) Free accommodations, equipped with telephone, TV, computer, and internet connection Fridge. Heating machine, and kitchen utilities.
2) where a nice monthly salary $5500.Us dollars and medical allowances
3) We will pick you up at Murtala Mohamed. Airport and drop you off there where will leave. At Hotels Quarters Housing Estate.
You will be staying with us in our Hotel housing Estate Staff Quarters.

Requirements:
Male/Female between the ages of 18 and 70
English speaker from Anywhere
Teaching experience from 1year up
Knowledge and the ability to teach writing skills, presentation skills, negotiation skills, grammar and vocabulary development and, communicative activities.

Note that I am currently working with Hotel-de-plaza & Suites Nigeria Inc; their Address is Phase II Garki, Opposite Federal Estate Abuja Nigeria

Kindly send in your CV for my perusal stating,
Your Full name, country of residence now,
E-mail: karsthubar_family@hotel-de-plaza.com
Web site: http://www.hotel-de-plaza.com
Phone: +234 703-696-4723
Karsten Hubar

Thanks for your time.

Raven September 19th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

“Thane Camus (born November 27, 1970 -) is an American-born TV personality and actor in Japan. Camus arrived in Japan in 1980 and graduated from a board school in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. He was the first male graduate of St. Maur International School (est.1872 in Yokohama as a girls’ school) once it became coeducational. He entered Hofstra University, Long Island, but dropped out because of homesickness. Camus was a regular on the Sanma Akashiya show, Karakuri TV, in which he quizzed Japanese passers-by in English and foreigners in Japanese on the streets of Tokyo, and has appeared as a special guest on multiple variety shows. Camus is of French descent, born to an American father and a British mother. He is the grand-nephew of Nobel Prize laureate novelist/philosopher Albert Camus.

In 2005, Camus left his talent agency due to financial disputes. He also engaged in a court battle over the breaking of his contract.[1] He has since started his own talent agency, “Eclipse Productions”, for foreign professionals looking for work in the broadcasting business.”

“Since he spent his formative years in Japan, Thane Camus is about as close to Japanese as white guys get. His Japanese is top notch(some say it is even native level)and his mannerisms are somewhat Japanese. If he were asian, some Japanese would probably mistake him for one of their own. Internet rumors have speculated that Thane’s English is nowhere near as good as his Japanese, some citing an e-mail he apparently wrote in broken English(it was a complaint to a webmaster who was hosting some anti-Thane pages/forum posts).
Thane rose to fame as an English conversation guy on NHK. He also wrote several popular books in Japanese about how to speak English. His English learning CDs are available at stores. His break into mainstream talento status came after he started appearing on Sanma’s comedy show, Karakuri TV.

Some say that it was Thane who introduced the Japanese to Bobby, a Nigerian whose comedy acts featuring stupid behavior and incomprehensible Japanese helped reinforce the image of blacks as moronic clowns. Thane may not have created Bobby’s act, but he did host many of Bobby’s ‘LOL stupid monkey clown’ comedy segments. Thane would have to be stupid not to see the racism in such segments, but that didn’t stop him. He was just another gaijin talento doing what the Japanese audiences wanted to see.

Last year Thane went on TV frequently to talk about how great it was to have a baby with his Japanese wife. With his friendly smile and his shiny earring, he was the image of the ideal foreign husband/father.”

Anyway this morning musume “english lesson” thing was about having fun. Those girls seemed to enjoy it and also Thane himself. Everyone was laughing and having fun.

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