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What are you doing here?

30 Comments

A poster at Gaienmae subway station advertises TV Tokyo's variety program "Why Did You Come to Japan?" Reporters for the program ask random foreigners arriving at Narita airport why they came to Japan. The program, which is emceed by comedy duo Bananaman, is broadcast every Monday at 6:30 p.m.

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30 Comments
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to ask the question , why Japanese people like America??

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Oh dear... another "aren't foreigners funny?" programme. Glad (in a way) that I can't go to Japan this year... I'd have to watch out for roaming comedians with camera crews at the airport... lucky escape lol.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

OMG, imagine how I look and act after an 11 hours flight it would make my day to be on TV.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

There's so many of these shows on TV now.

Lol the comments on that poster are either incredibly accurate or incredibly inaccurate, but the comments are a look into what Japanese expect foreigners to come to Japan for.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

to ask the question , why Japanese people like America??

Because its one of the best countries.

What gets me is, why is it that when the Japanese make animated caricatures of foreigners why do they always make Whites with blonde hair gorgeous and beautiful and blacks with awful made up faces whacked hairdoos with pink lips?

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Why.... Because I live, work and have a family here...

(oh sorry we can't use your comment we are looking for people to say.. Manga, Anime and sushi)

8 ( +10 / -2 )

I'm here to fight for Truth, Justice and the American way.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Programs about Foreigners are so old now. Is there nothing original?? So boring.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

But to answer the question. Foreigners come to Japan to take up their mighty 200,000 yen a month english teaching jobs or are just tourists coming to take advantage of the super cheap yen.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Why? Because the Marine Corps said "CPL Dave, you are going to Japan." That was 20 years ago.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

CPL Dave - I hope your orders reflected your Dream Sheet. I got my No.2 choice, Japan, that was nearly 29 years ago.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

A question that reflects the complete lack of internationalisation in Japan. Can't they grasp the idea that some of us live and work globally? We go where the jobs and money are. If I got a better offer in Europe or America I'd be there right now. At the moment I'm here, tomorrow I might be somewhere else.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I just go to Japan because I love the place and have friends and loved ones there. I don't care about manga, maids (heh), sushi (well, I do like sushi) or otaku culture. I have deep interest in 1950s and 60s Japan, Godzilla and other FX films and series... and it's a model maker's paradise!

2 ( +4 / -2 )

yawn... or will they actually televise intelligent responses? Hearing a million foreigners saying "I came here for the Anime!!! will get old and stale quite quickly... or will it serve for japanese to pat themselves on the back

I'm waiting for the response "I came to Japan to get my children back"

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Do Japanese people expect to be asked that question when they travel or live abroad? What an ignorant mind set.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Do Japanese people expect to be asked that question when they travel or live abroad?

I should have asked my friends that last week when they were here... damn. Missed opporchancity for some useless information.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Because I fell in love with the culture. While Im still and American at heart I feel that Japan has also become my home. Though with me having the typical American look i get strange looks.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Sometimes I wonder, do foreigner people get tired of a same question every time? "Why did you come?" it souds quite negative, I think. Maybe it's better to ask, "What do you like and dislike here?"

Or, as better, have some show with a real talent, not just fatty guy with bad teeth and hair. Why people want see such a stupid thing? Bad haircut and overweit is not so interesting, I think.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Why not interview people on the street rather than hit them up after a flight? Oh right, tourist answers are much more interesting than those who speak Japanese, pay taxes and don't gasp and ah over the "polite" locals.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

As expat kids, my buddies and I would always get asked these kinds of questions when we went out and around Tokyo; a gang of foreign kids was always a draw - especially when they found out we could all speak Japanese.

Very quickly we learned to provide goofy answers, e.g., to the common question: kimitachi nanijin? We'd respond: Ninjin. What we found funny is most Japanese querents didn't expect foreigners to have a sense of humor, much less be able to pun in Japanese.

One such encounter with a roving TV crew led some of us to become regulars on an NHK kids' show for learning English. We worked in the TV studio and got paid; very cool for 10 year olds.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Because of the cordial relations between Japan and my home country, particularly with respect to extradition treaties.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@xeno - that is amusing. Glad you're doing well. Cool memories.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'm going soon to tell everyone to keep back from Kim-bo's bomb:

"I wouldn't want to be within 400 - 500 yards of one of them nuclear bombs when it goes off!" A WW1 mentor, really.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I saw this show a couple of times earlier this year, was on Wed nights at 11.58pm but has obviously been bumped up to prime time and for good reason - it's quite interesting/funny. They speak to all kinds of people at the airport and follow up on those who are happy/keen to.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Why not interview people on the street rather than hit them up after a flight? Oh right, tourist answers are much more interesting than those who speak Japanese, pay taxes and don't gasp and ah over the "polite" locals.

I saw a number of people interviewed/followed up on that were already in Japan (and smiling) and at the airport to pick up family/friends.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

i explained to a few of my high school students the other day, part of the reason I am moving back to my home country after many years in Japan is the culture difference, I fit in in my home country... ie.

in my home country i am:

A father A husband A teacher.

in Japan i am:

A gaijin. A gaijin. A gaijin.
0 ( +5 / -5 )

C'mon guys ! You jumped with both feet! Give people some right to have fun. When Japanese lack a sense of humor - "why they are so boring". When they find funny things about foreigners coming here - "why we don't ask them same thing when they go abroad"... Touchy ah!

I watched it just once and laughed quite a bit - both on the dumb questions from the comedian duo and to the foreigners - some really weired birds! Those Latino Americans that came for the robot-sumo contest were great! The first guy made mistake and came a day earlier. Then after he reunited with his comrades many funny things happened. For example all four of them ordered exactly the same meal at a restaurant. Everybody was shocked - owner, TV staff. When competition came it turned out the main hero (who came early) can not go on-stage to compete as only 2 members can participate. And finally they lost in 4 seconds but went back to airport happy. It was interesting for me but I guess twice as much for Japanese to see how different culture and attitudes can be.

Well just my 2 c.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The trouble is, the vast majority of foreigners coming to/already in Japan will be ignored by this kind of shallow programme. Guaranteed not too many Chinese or Korean or other Asians will be on, only "interesting" gaijin allowed.

It WOULD be refreshing if a programme tried more to find long-term residents rather than hunting for tourists. All too often, the implication of "why are you here" is actually "when are you leaving". Very few Japanese can grasp the idea that foreigners may actually live here long term, raise families here, want to stay, and perhaps (gasp) retire here.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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