A Guide to Japanese TV

As a TV/movie fanatic, I jumped at the chance to familiarize myself with what’s popular in Japan. Luckily for me, my first apartment – a Leopalace – came equipped with a big flat screen TV (although this also got me into a contract with the dreaded NHK because of this – but that’s another story. Tip: unless you’re expecting someone or something, never, ever open your door in Japan. Even real Japanese people refrain from it for fear of the NHK). Not only is watching Japanese TV entertaining, it’s a great way to boost your Japanese learning! The great thing about Japanese TV for foreign learners is that there are subtitles of select speech that pop up on the bottom (I suppose if this was done in English it would be quite annoying, but it’s very helpful for those of us who could use the extra support). Also, in the top right and left hand corners is an overview of what's currently going on in the show and the topic of discussion, filling in any channel flipping viewers coming in halfway through the show. In the morning the time is also displayed, helping people getting ready for work keep track of the time.


Another characteristic unique to Japan is a small box in the corner of the screen showing the reactions of the show’s cast – Even if the show is nothing other than watching footage of something else, it always has to be under the format of a group of people watching it, usually discussing it or predicting what will come next during breaks. In this way it’s pretty easy being on a Japanese TV show – just watch and make a few comments! Another characteristic feature is how colorful Japanese sets are, such as the set of VS Arashi!

Japanese TV sets may be a bit cluttered, but certainly fun and interesting.

Another interesting feature is oddly specific times of shows – for example, 7:00-7:56. Why not till 8:00?! Some shows have minimal commercials and thus end around 7:50, giving time for extra commercials or a mini news flash.

Living in Japan for over two years has given me time to observe and become quite familiar with what’s out there for Japanese viewers during the Golden Hour, Japan’s prime time between 7 and 9 PM. Here’s a crash course in Japanese TV! I’ll fill you in on some of my favorite shows and a who’s-who of Japanese talento.

Starting off with one of Japan’s best-loved shows, Sunday night means Sekai no Hatte Made Itte Q!, abbreviated as Itte Q! It's a wildly popular travel and variety show in which comedians go places around the world and do funny things, so it’s pretty entertaining. It's been airing regularly since 2007, and given its popularity will continue being around for a lot longer. One of the stars is Degawa, whom students often give as their favorite talento. Also watch out for Johnny's star Tegoshi Yuya, a super cutie!

Monday brings another popular show hosted by the comedy duo Bananaman, You wa Nani Shi ni Nippon he (Why did you come to Japan?). This show sends cameramen to the arrival area of Narita international airport to look for foreigners fresh off the plane to interview in the hopes of tailing them for a longer story. It’s very entertaining and interesting to see how people from all around the world became interested in Japan and what brought them here.

Yes!! Now we have permission to follow this dude around for the next few days in a totally non-creepy way! Success!

Tuesday night is stuffed full of great shows! My personal favorite is Nippon no Deban, as Taguchi Junnosuke from my favorite band KAT-TUN was on it (although now he quit and seems to have been replaced by his ex-fellow member Nakamaru Yuichi! How did that happen?!). Hosted by George Tokoro, this is another international show, which is a very common theme among Japanese TV, as Japan is interested in seeing how the outside world differs from Japan, and more importantly how much the world loves Japan.

There’s a lot of different features on this show, from Made in Japan, featuring unique products made in Japan, Zokkon Japan, showing foreigners who have a unique obsession with some aspect of Japanese culture, and a girl named Sophie who goes around interviewing experts on interesting aspects of Japan that foreigners are interested in. Sometimes they also send a staff member abroad to find out what Japanese snacks or Daiso products are the most popular in that country.

It's eerie how much this girl looks like me! And I've had someone agree with me on that.

Right after this is Sekai no Nihonjin Tsuma wa Mita!, about Japanese women who have become wives of foreign men and live in another country.

The show interviews the Japanese wife, takes a tour of her house, sees everything in her refrigerator, meets her family, explores how life differs in a foreign country, and of course finds out how she fell in love and decided to become a Nihonjin tsuma. This is always my favorite part, reenacted by actors, that hits close to home, as I have a Japanese boyfriend. However, I wish there was a Nipponjin otto (Japanese husband) version – but of course this is extremely rare in couples, so it’s much harder to find.

Another popular show, competing at the same time as Nippon no Deban, is Kayoubi Surprise, or Tuesday Surprise.

It has a core cast including super-hottie Daigo (who somehow defies age despite being 38) and half-American half-Japanese cutie Wentz, plus a weekly guest. Basically a small group of them go around looking for interesting food at restaurants. Rounding out the list of Tuesday night is Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai, the unknown world of Matsuko. Matsuko Deluxe is a famous drag queen so popular he got his own show – just ask any Japanese kid if they like Matsuko and they’ll dissolve into giggles. It’s a one-on-one talk show with special guests every week introducing something interesting to Matsuko.

The Japanese are big lovers of trivia, and there's certainly no shortage of quiz programs. Wednesday brings an interesting one called Cream Quiz Miracle 9. It's a creative quiz show in which two teams compete against each other to win a cash prize (not that they need it, since they're all celebrities anyway). The teams are set up as a 3x3 bingo grid to answer questions in hopes of getting a bingo and scoring points.

There are tons of interesting categories, such as a very difficult kanji puzzle quiz in which individual kanji appear one by one to form a picture of a real thing. The answer is inferred through both the shape and the meanings of the individual kanji.

The most difficult kanji puzzle you'll ever face off against. Answer: waterfall.

This is about as easy as it gets. Answer: basketball.

The Statue of Liberty, as represented by kanji.

The style of competition also switches up regularly to keep things interesting. In one competition, the teammates must line up in a row and have everyone answer consecutively within the time limit to get a point. In another, they have to guess the ranking of the answers to a 100 person questionnaire from 1st to 9th place.

Also taking place on Wednesdays is the popular The Karaoke Battle. The Japanese love karaoke, so it's only natural they have a whole show devoted to it. Several amateur singers compete against each other to be crowned as the 'king' of karaoke, and the level of talent is neck and neck. In Japan someone's singing talent is not just decided by a panel of judges like American Idol or The X Factor, but by a machine that tracks your pitch, key, and several other very detailed aspects of your voice, which totals up your score at the end (you can also use it at regular karaoke places as well, but who wants to be judged so harshly? Strangely, karaoke machines also calculate how many calories you burned, but that's a bit more encouraging). People get scores in the 90s and champions are determined by mere decimal points! The most recent winner received a score of 99.530, and a perfect 100.000 score has been reached. Anyone can apply to be on the show, and even junior high students are allowed to compete.

The competition is fierce on The Karaoke Battle.

Thursday brings Japan’s most popular boy band Arashi to the screen in VS Arashi.

Japan is known for its crazy game shows, and this one is packed full of wacky games in which the cast of Arashi competes against a guest team, usually from a new movie, drama, or the like. Another show that must be quite popular, as it airs every single week, is a two hour enka performance, although I’ve never spent any time watching it.

Another interesting only-in-Japan show is Ningen Kansatsu Variety Monitoring, which observes people in different set-ups while the cast watches how they'll behave! Not creepy at all…But entertaining. Daigo reappears here, and there was a really funny part where he went to a bar to challenge a salary man to call his wife and get her to say “I love you” – which is extremely difficult in Japan. It’s pretty hilarious.

AKB again? Sigh. But hey, who's that in the back?! It's KAT-TUN!!

Friday culminates in another of Japan’s most popular shows – Music Station! (abbreviated as M-sute). Along with Nippon no Deban, this is my favorite show. It's been airing even longer than Itte Q!, since way back in 1986. It features popular artists who perform their recent hits and gives highlights and news of current music as well as singles and albums rankings. You’ll be hard-pressed not to see AKB48 or Arashi every single week. Sometimes they interview people on the streets to find out their favorite songs or artists in a particular topic. If you’re a teacher, I definitely recommend at least watching this show just to keep up with what’s popular among youth these days. If you sing a bit of a song or do part of a current dance craze the kids will eat it up – instant popularity!

For anime and manga fans, Jump Police is for you. Oriental Radio, of the popular band Radio Fish, features here. The cast acts as special police investigators to bring you the latest news about anime, games, and manga. They often feature cosplayers, meet with mangaka, or feature something anime related going on somewhere in Japan.

Other noteworthy shows include Sekai no Mura de Hakken! Konna Tokoro ni Nihonjin, similar to Nihonjin tsuma which searches for Japanese people living abroad in the most unexpected of places. One of the most popular weekday morning shows is Zip!, which features one of my favorite ikemen, Mokomichi. In Moko’s Kitchen he shows you how to prepare something scrumptious in only five minutes while looking oh so cute. There’s also a segment of a man traveling around to random places with his two fluffy dogs and interacting with the locals.

Moko's Kitchen, where good looks and good food combine into one tasty five minute show.

Another really interesting show is Bukkomi Japanese, where a Japanese expert pretends to be an amateur and learn a Japanese technique from a foreigner. Everyone watching will be amazed because the foreigner’s technique is so different from the “right” way, though they believe themselves to be doing it correctly. After receiving the foreigner's tutelage on the “right” way to do it, the expert disguises himself and holds a presentation on the authentic technique, such as making sushi or even being a ninja, at which point the foreigner and his colleagues are blown away at how different it is. The best part is when the expert finally reveals his identity as the “amateur.” You’d think some people might get pissed off at being duped like that but luckily people seem to be pretty cool about it.

This is my ninja way!

The most recent episode featured an American and his “fake”  ninja dojo, where they taught that things like eating fast, crushing aluminum cans on your head, and hopping over the fence in a cool way is part of being a real “ninja.” Luckily they were all pretty stoked to learn what a real ninja is like when the expert taught them at the end, for example sitting on only one foot rather than criss-cross-applesauce so you can get up at the drop of a dime. Now that's being a ninja.

Another unique-to-Japan show, that would definitely be outlawed in America for safety reasons, is Hajimete no Otsukai, which follows children as young as 3 years old on their very first errand out of the house on their own, hopefully to make sure they don't get kidnapped, which is the main excitement of the show.

I'll bet Mom never had you go out on your very first errand before you were at least 10.

But really, Japan is a pretty safe country. Still, the first time I watched the show the mother was worried sick the whole time, and for good reason I should say! I hope kids aren't normally sent out of the house that young just to learn some independence. I mean, if there wasn't a cameraman following them the whole time, I would never send my kid out alone at that age, no matter how safe the country is.  The show has been going since way back in 1991, but it only airs twice a year, once in January and once in summer. I hope it's because of a lack of parents willing to take such risks with their children just for television.

There are also annual TV events throughout the year, the most popular of which is Kohaku Uta Gassen, in which popular artists compete in teams, red and white, until the New Year arrives. There’s also a 24 hour live TV day, The Music Day, which features live performances of popular bands all day long, and an interesting annual competition called Sasuke in which Japan’s fittest men – and some foreigners too – compete in several of the toughest obstacle courses.

Just one of the ridiculously challenging obstacle courses in the Sasuke Competition.

There you have it! Plenty of entertaining shows to watch if you’re in Japan, or via Youtube.

Itte Q!: Sundays 7:58-8:51 PM

You wa Nani Shi ni Nippon he: 6:55-8:00 PM

Nippon no Deban: Tuesdays at 7:00 PM. Usually one hour, but sometimes two hour specials.

Sekai no Nipponjin Tsuma wa Mita: Tuesdays at 7:56 PM. Usually one hour, with occasional two hour specials.

Kayoubi Surprise: Tuesdays 7:00-7:56 PM
Bukkomi Japanese: Irregularly airing on Tuesdays at 7 PM

Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai: Tuesdays at 8:57 PM

Konnna Tokoro ni Nihonjin: Tuesdays at 9 PM
The Karaoke Battle: Wednesdays at 6:55 PM
Cream Quiz Miracle 9: Wednesdays at 7:56 PM

VS Arashi: Thursdays at 7:00 PM

Ningen Kansatsu Variety Monitoring: Thursdays at 7:56 PM

Music station: Fridays at 8:00 PM. Occasional two hour specials.

Jump Police: Fridays at 5:55-6:25 PM

Zip!: Monday-Friday 5:50-8:00 AM