Man, I’ve got to stop reading the internets. There’s no way in hell I’ve got enough time to make it through TV In Japan. It’s like being on a commuter train and the passenger before you left a box full of candy and Star Wars toys under the seat and you don’t find it until five minutes before your stop so there’s no time to play with it all but still you can’t just leave it and come back to it later.
All I’ve had time for so far is Bob Sapp is Fire, which is “Hey Hey Hey Music Champ” Variety Show-style wacky with a big black guy rapping. I don’t know who the dude is (I guess he’s featured in other videos), but he seems jolly enough.
It all got me wondering what life is like for advertising people in Japan. There’s a stereotype about Japanese companies being stressful anyway, and at least if you believe “Bewitched,” working for an advertising company in the US is stressful enough. Are the guys who work on Tokyo’s equivalent of Madison Avenue just killing themselves every day to find a way to top the last ad? Do they have gruff, fat-cat bosses who threaten to fire them if they don’t come up with something by tomorrow that’ll top the three guys dressed as canteloupes jumping on trampolines with singing raccoons? Or do they all have magic wives who come up with genius pitches at the last minute to cover up some wacky family hijinx?
Inscrutable.
Oh yeah, and I’ve seen this commercial a while ago, so it’s probably old news. But it does have a tanuki in it, which means I’m a fan.