Comedian Pikotaro astonished by viral success of 'PPAP' song

How is this a hit???

Apart from anything else he is perpetuating the myth that very approximate use of katakana is in any way an effective means of rendering pronunciation of English words.

shit ... even my 3 years old son came back from nursery school with that song is his head !

This guy spent 100000 yen to shoot for this crap??!!!.....and it took him 6 hours???!!!!

Asked whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called him since his success, he responded that he doesn’t answer numbers he does not recognize on his phone, but would check his messages later to see.

I was on the fence, but now I love this guy!

Am I the only one seeing some sexual meaning to this song !

And the dumbing down of society is alive and well!

One man stupidity is another mans feat.

The song is a bit weird. isn't it? Now everyone was signing PPAP Pen Pineapple Apple Pen. They can't throw out from their head once they watched and listened to this Video. I can tell this video will pass over billions watch in next month.

“There’s actually a theme when I’m singing,” he said, ticking off world peace and love of family and friends. “And then, to prove the existence of dark matter,” he added, to laughs. “I feel all these themes are well understood by the people who imitate me.”

lol though

Ha ha ha! It's nonsensical but catchy. Not only has this song viral, there are now parodies of pen-pineapple-apple-pen. Let him enjoy his success a la Psy, one pound fish man, et al. ''She has a Norma'' ''She has a stitz'' ''ugh....Enormous t....''

This song might be the new ええじゃないか.

Favorite singer. Shooby Taylor. Oops.

Tom Waits said his favorite Niger was Shooby Taylor. Now this guy truly deserves a look. Shooby passed way, but his stuff is truly hilarious, and all for the wrong reasons.

Better than Pamyu-pamyu, or whatever her name is, but that's not saying much. I wonder what qualifies the guy as "comedian", but I have to give him credit where it's due -- his little gimmick here has indeed gone viral and made him a success story, and while the 'song' isn't for me and I think the guy's creepy, I'm going to have those 45 seconds stuck in my head for decades if Morning Musume, the Kawasaki Clinic ad, and others are anything to go on. Sigh.

I can see how it's fun, though, and if people think that, great on them. I just think the guy kind of lucked out and the right people spread it, and I'm afraid he'll never repeat it.

When my father in law gets lit up on Shochu, which is every night, he'll spy me through the haze across the table and launch into his schooldays English lessons:

This is a pen!

I am a boy!

And is howled down by his wife and daughters, who all have a good command of the language. Good times.

Interesting that the youtube channel this song got the 100M hits is from some Malaysian guy in Singapore.

stranger - good question. Not sure how many of those 65 million hits were in japan - but i guess the majority were probably outside.

But why popular here? Well 2 things come to mind -

The Cheesy Irony - all those 1,000s of school english lessons "This is a pen" ad nauseum.

Daft is popular in Japan - escape from the rigidity of daily comings & goings.

And possibly others.

Before I totally dismiss Comedian Pikotaro astonishing viral success of 'PPAP' song as embarrassing pandemic musical pulp......

Best take a glance closer to home ......

Black Lace - Agadoo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGS-U3d0Hjo

Don't get me wrong, everybody should enjoy what they like best as long as nobody's harmed.

After listening to it the first time I couldn't help feeling some kind of embarrassment. What does Pikataro have that PYG and Godiego hadn't? Is this 'song' gaga or Dada? Brilliant satire or plain stupid? When I ask my friends what they like best about Japanese entertainment, "Takeshi's Castle" always comes first. But that doesn't explain "PPAP"'s success in Japan... I'm still confused but I don't want to watch that vid again. I'm afraid the floor would be littered with burnt out brain cells if I did.

why the success? Other than the daftness - hee, hee - one reason I'd suggest it works, is because it fills the stereo-typed "Crazy Japanese" niche.

How would that explain the popularity amongst the Japanese?

Pencils and crayons feel betrayed too. One of Abe san expert panels is urgently needed to prepare a report.

I hope his next song is goes, i have a fork - i have a power socket.........

Tamarama - I'm not sure it's genius - but I agree it's just absurdist fun.

Nothing to get hung up about - just a "Jeeez and a wry smile".

And it's success is not a call to knock Pikotaro - he and his mates obviously did it for a lark and a song.

The fact that it's gone viral over the net, inadvertently is making a statement about the viewers, rather than him.

And why the success? Other than the daftness - hee, hee - one reason I'd suggest it works, is because it fills the stereo-typed "Crazy Japanese" niche. I'm not sure if an Australian, German, Indonesian, Nigerian etc did exactly the same, word by word, look by look, that the internet enthusiasm would be similar.

May be!

Banana, Strawberry, watermelon, and pear, are lobbying law makers for a follow up.

Society is blissfully unaware that Fruit prejudice and discrimination is a act of unfair treatment, a denial of opportunity. Outrageous inequality. Needs to be banned from kindergartens and playgroups immediately. Irritating comedians seem prominent, perpetrators of fruit n veg intolerance.

Let's be thankful it's only 45 seconds long!

Though it could be used as a kind of torture if played over and over for hours and hours. You'd confess to anything pretty quickly!

The world is a better place for Apple Pen.

Thank you. Nice to finally see a positive comment.

It's genius, pure and simple. This guy has created a piece of absurdist fun that people worldwide absolutely love. School kids are singing and dancing to it, grownups are imitating it, and that is fantastic in my opinion.

The world is a better place for Apple Pen.

This is a pen. This is an apple. I have a pen. I have an apple.

Those used to be very first english sentences all school kids start learning english as a compulsory subject. (Dunno now though). The song would help them make it better start

Just seen it and him for the first time on YouTube.

Astonished is not the word.

My family, my school, and myself all love this song, I just wish I could stop singing it LOL

Gotta love JT. Take a story that has zero negativity about it, from a song just having fun by being silly, that has caused entertainment to people world wide, and JT posters will still find a way to be negative about it.

Interestingly use of the word "comedian". "tarento" would be better.

Oldish, flamboyant men dancing and singing catchy, silly tunes sell. Remember macarena blokes in the 1990s, psy more recently.

'The flight of the conchords' nailed it with their 'crazy dogs' episodes. The sillier the better.

This novelty act must have had the kind of global success that wannabes from Kubota to Utada Hikaru yearned for. I dunno what that says though.

Well, I watched it. To paraphrase the late, great Roger Ebert:

"That was 50 seconds of my life gone that I'll never get back."

Saw it on youtube just to see what all the fuss was about. I'm sure glad this didn't come from my country. Psy, where are you? All is forgiven.

Comedian Pikotaro astonished by viral success of 'PPAP' song

Me too.