As one who has lived a long time in Japan some of the countries habits and customs still confound me. As shown in my mysteries about Japan some have been cracked but others elude me. Take for example the sheer insanity of ATM machines that follow bank worker hours, shutting down at night, on holidays and on the weekends. I’m assuming this is prevent bank fraud. I imagine when ATMs first emerged in Japan con artists had a field day calling the elderly and getting them to go to their ATMs and sign over a bunch of money at night for an imagined “emergency.” But I don’t really know and sometimes I’ll playfully tell someone who asks that Japan bank workers unionized their ATMs out of misguided attempt to save jobs and THAT’s why ATMs aren’t open 24/7.
It’s the same for Japan’s infamous “Picture in a Picture” or PiP. You know that floating head of some celebrity that appears in a tiny box in the corner, like this:
I always joke around that the Japanese people like the floating heads because it tells them how to feel when they are watching TV. That they are relieved when someone tells them what to do like worker bees they are. Not only is this a little racist but it as I just found out, correct … kinda.
In this article, Annoying TV pop-ups, the people of Japan Times go to great lengths to explain Japan’s love affair for the PiP or as the Japanese call them waipu. As you can read in the article I was almost correct when rationalizing the reason behind the waipu:
Later someone figured out the reaction could be shown in a frame superimposed on the main screen. This proved very popular with viewers, who liked knowing that their favorite TV personalities laughed at the same things they laughed at and cried at the same things they cried at.
“Until then, television stars existed on a higher plane than their audience, seen and admired at a distance,” Okada explained. “Viewers expected stars to sing or perform for them, or have a beautiful appearance.” But when programs began to show the performers’ reactions more clearly, viewers’ expectations changed. “Now what viewers want is interesting talk from their favorite stars,” Okada told me, “and to share emotions with them.” To meet those demands, the number and duration of waipu have steadily increased.
So with this accidental victory I think its time I started researching how Japanese ATMs have become unionized…
If you like this try these:
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| Japanese Donut Heads | Cute vs Sexy | The new Internet business model | Making Friends in Japan | The architectural greatness of Watanabe-San |
Gaijinass 
So they want to feel how their celebrities feel by watching their faces in levitating boxes… that’ll be funny when they rediscover this in 1,000 years. I would say that laugh tracks are kinda similar, don’t you think? Laughtracks are like the Japanese floating head box, except there’s 100 of them, they are invisible, and only we can hear them.
I’m wondering though, do celebrity dirt shows exist in Japan? Those shows that bring attention to any weird or silly thing celebrities do?
Yes. Those shows exist but not on the same level they do in the States. Oddly enough, a very famous FOREIGN celebrity gossip magazine, aptly named “Gossips” is immensely popular here…and I helped invent it. Seriously. The Japanese LOVE LOVE LOVE to read dirt about the foreign stars they ultra-super-worship.
This can make for an interesting experiment. Show the same clip with different reaction faces.
See this is what I’m talking about. However we would likely see a sharp spike in train platform suicides the following day.
Tiz a strange situation indeed when you can buy concert, plane & what-have-you tickets, collect your amazon purchases, send a fax, stand and read a manga by the window for 3 hours (is your apartment really that unpleasant to be in??), and consume 14 different types of fried chicken but woe betide you needing some cash to pay for all this if the clock reads 5.01pm on a weekend.
Damn Robot unions! Lazy robots that’s all they are!
I tell you what,
I usually clean toilet bow and toilet floor with Japanese people’s faces!
Since Japaneses are the cheapest slaves in the world I use their faces to clean toilet bowl and toilet floor. After that, I flush them in the toilet bowl.
This is how I use Japaneses!
Japaneses are really useful slaves if you clean toilet bowl and toilet floor with their faces.
Very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are the man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Japan is really a weird country!
Japan is totally not normal.
I sometimes clean toilet bowl and toilet floow with Japanese people’s faces when necessary.
For me, Japanese are really useful slaves!!!!!!!
Really?
That’s great!
Please keep cleaning your anus with Japanese people’s faces!
It is very wise thing that you utilize inferior races like Japanese people instead of purchasing toilet papers.
Japan is the weirdest country in the world.
Japan is not a nice country to live in.
Only animals should live there.
Anyways, I will never visit Japan because Japan is full of earthquakes, typhoons, and pollution from nuclear radiations.
Japan has become totally a shithole.