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What do you think of the TV coverage of the Olympics so far?

29 Comments

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29 Comments
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Same as usual i.e. few live coverage events and several dead replays.

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I could do without that SMAP song every single time they cut to commercial. The commercials are good though.

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"I could do without that SMAP song"

Me too.

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And I could do without the tarentos, period.

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Horrid. So far nothing on this hot story:

"Georgia may recall its 35 Olympic team members from the Beijing Games because they can't afford to have half the country's military forces abroad at a time of war"

-and-

"China up on medals already, USA down one tourist"

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The NHK satellite coverage is not bad. I suspect they are getting the same feed as all nations' broadcasters. The problem is the Japanese commentating. They never shut up. I also get tired of hearing them constantly using the title "senshu" (athlete, player) after every Japanese athlete's name (and seldom in the case of a non-Japanese). Yes, we know they are "senshu." Just their name will do, thanks.

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The tarentos can bugger right off. They just want to stand in the shadow of success (or not) though they have NOTHING to do with it. Please disappear to another programme and utter the only three words you know, oishii, kawaii and sugoi.

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Yes who needs those worse than useless "talents". How about some real experts giving their views. And watching coverage on japanese TV, you might think japan is the only team at the olympics..... Anyway, I'm mostly watching the olympics on the internet. Every country competes on the internet coverage you know!

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Who today watches tv? It is just a means of getting more adverts to more people.

usversusthem

When in Rome you will only get to see the Romans. That's how the game is played everywhere. I am in Spain at the moment & guess what is on the tv? THE Spanish olympics, sorry, but you get not what you would like but "where" you are. The Japanese are no different to any other country in this.

And when you think about it, it is only sport, it's not important.

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as usual, it's the beijing olympics where the only participant is Nippon.

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I'm in the states, the coverage is pretty good. As far as the Olympic pool, if Phelps, the one man swimming team, gets the medal count, the US will go nutz: the guy is a monster. If Kitajima takes gold, the Japanese will go nutz. This plays out thruout the world, someone takes gold, they go nutz. Gooooooo Olympics.

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The coverage was plain awful today. There were 4 finals in swimming today and they (NHK?) did a good job of showing the first 3 live. Now, bearing in mind that the 4th one followed Kitajima's semifinal, one would have thought they would have shown that too. I was even gullible enough to stay at home to wait for that (women's team freestyle).

Yes, you guessed it. As soon as Kitajima finished, they switched to news .... starting with a report on Kitajima's semifinal. eyes rolling. Why give a news report straight after. Ah, that's right, Japan didn't make the women's team freestyle final. On other channels, repeats of Jp-USA volleyball (as if no-one in Japan has VHS/DVD recorders), and a real exciting hockey match. Or was that the Jp badminton doubles team (who I predict will be wiped off the court tomorrow).

I keep saying that TV coverage will improve, but who am I kidding? NHK does occasionally have good coverage, only to revert back to their old ways.

When in Rome you will only get to see the Romans. That's how the game is played everywhere. I am in Spain at the moment and guess what is on the tv?

Well then that's tough if you live in Rome or Spain. But where I come from, you get a variety of sports. And the TV doesn't automatically switch off if no local teams are involved. And we don't make a big deal of every local sportsman passing preliminary stages. We wait till they get to the final stage.

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nisegaijin at 05:00 PM JST - 10th August: as usual, it's the beijing olympics where the only participant is Nippon.

EXACTLY! Where's Japanese sporting spirit? They just won't broadcast any other countries events, only those vs Japan; that is DISAPPOINTING, to say the least. At the FIFA World Cup we didn't have this problem, and I could watch on TV most of the games, regardless Japan was a competitor or not. One of my friends has suggested, the ONLY JAPAN MATTERS broadcast style is a Japanese nationalistic reaction to China hosting the games. I guess she may be right.

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One of my friends has suggested, the ONLY JAPAN MATTERS broadcast style is a Japanese nationalistic reaction to China hosting the games. I guess she may be right.

I guess you weren't here when they broadcast the Athens Olympic games then?

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boring,i just checked the online results for the winning results.

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If you like seeing very few events about 20 times, then good.

Jav

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The Kitajima gold is going to make for excruciating TV tonight. Fully deserved by him by the media is going to go into 'Ganbare Nippon' meltdown...

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It's bloody awful. Showing the same winning moments again and again and again...almost amounts to a human rights violation. Is this country that desperate for sporting success? Look at Fukuda's comments today, you'd think Japan was a lesser developed country.

Or is it look we're the best in the world at something? Not that we're interested in the rest of the world and how they're competing, but let's give our collective selves 127 million pats on the back. What a bizarre self-obsessed island Japan is.

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There's about 30 different sports in the olympics. Watching Japanese TV you'd think it was only 3: judo, swimming, badminton. No mention of any other sports at all.

If I paid for it, I'd be even more disappointed.

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Let's get to the bottom line, shall we?

The only people that are complaining about the coverage of Olympics in Japan are foreigners in Japan.

True or False? Let the debate begin.

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I heard this guy complain about baseball coverage. After Matsui bats, he says, they replay every pitch. Then, there was the female teacher who was waiting for a bus. She says, oh, why do they have to write it in kanji? Yes, we're in Japan and they are going to show Japanese athletes as much as possible in the Olympics. I never complain when I see Kimura Saori on the volleyball team. Wow, what a woman!

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The only people that are complaining about the coverage of Olympics in Japan are foreigners in Japan. True or False? Let the debate begin.

I'll go with true, just to placate you.

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The only people that are complaining about the coverage of Olympics in Japan are foreigners in Japan.

Well, this is a news service provided in English.... I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere on the internet there is a Japanese based forum of cyclists, archers, sailors etc. that are equally as disappointed with the Japanese TV coverage as the gaijin.

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Well, this is a news service provided in English.... I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere on the internet there is a Japanese based forum of cyclists, archers, sailors etc. that are equally as disappointed with the Japanese TV coverage as the gaijin.

You're right. All minority sports enthusiasts probably are frustrated with the coverage in their home country.

But seriously. Why would a TV station go out of their way to cover such a minority sport where ratings would surely be a disaster?

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But seriously. Why would a TV station go out of their way to cover such a minority sport where ratings would surely be a disaster?

There is such a thing as a programme that provides "highlights". In one of these programmes a condensed version of events over a certain number of hours are presented. For instance, you can grasp in say 15 minutes what happened over, say, a 5 hour match or game.

It's a quite unique format that is totally lost on the Japanese television programmers.

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Today in woem's volleyball, China plays Cuba, and Japan plays Poland. I really want to see the China-Cuba match, but being in Japan, I guess I'll have to settle for seeing only the Japan-Poland match. Grrrrr!

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Today in women's volleyball, China plays Cuba, and Japan plays Poland. I really want to see the China-Cuba match, but being in Japan, I guess I'll have to settle for seeing only the Japan-Poland match. Grrrr!

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I used to think, well, this IS Japan and they should feel free to show Japanese events only to maximize their viewership, but now I think this is the OLYMPICS so they should be exposing their provincial people the world. It might make them more "international".

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