For some reason, Japan has an absurdly high number of TV programs where the premise is watching foreigners do random things. Why? I have no idea. There is this huge market in Japan for following foreigners around all day, and then broadcasting the footage on TV. They go with foreigners inside restaurants and watch them eat (and comment) on the food. They record foreigners awkwardly strolling through the streets of Tokyo. They have entire videos of foreigners “reacting” to things – and learning how to do stuff like make sushi or learn the delicate art of flower arranging. I have no idea why this is such a huge market. Also, I hate to admit it, but most of the foreigners on these shows are awkward, unsure, or misguided about Japan (sometimes all three). And, I’m proud to admit that I am officially a member of the “I was the random foreigner on a Japanese TV show.” I was on Tokyo Eye (on NHK World). The show is broadcasted all over the world (in English), highlighting the “best” parts of Tokyo. It’s not one of those “high budget” operations, but it was still lots of fun. They contacted me back in June after reading some [...]
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