Wacky Japanese

So, I watched Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show the other night.  We really enjoy MXC when we manage to catch it, so I was curious how these American shows would play out.  Wipeout kind of resembles MXC with the crazy obstacle courses, but it lacks the totally odd hosts and crazy Japanese people.  Plus, somehow tv is just funnier when it’s dubbed over.  However, there were enough people bouncing off large red balls and flailing into the water to make me giggle, so I’ll probably keep watching.  MSN commented that they thought it was unfair to make women and men compete against each other.  Well, some women are more agile than men, giving them an advantage on some stability-type courses.  On the other hand, some of the courses are so ridiculous I don’t think it matters what gender you are.  Plus, on MXC you see everyone compete against everyone in waves, so I think it’s just a moot point.

ISAJGS, on the other hand, I’m not too sure of.  Sure, the contestants are playing on a real Japanese game show, complete with crazy audience members and host, but it’s like ABC picked the most uncultured people to be on this show.  There are so many points in the first episode that I’ll just have to list them for you:

• When the contestants find out they’re going to Japan, what’s the first thing they yell out?  “SUSHI!”  Yeah, that’s pretty much all Japan is known for, the raw fish on rice.
• They get to the house and the one diva chick is all, “No way am I sleeping on the floor.”  Let me tell you, honey, you’re lucky they gave you an actual mattress and not some roll-up pad.  Then again, you later see people sleeping in bunk beds, so maybe the floor mattresses were a hoax.
• Someone discovers the remote for the toilet and they all gather around to watch it flush.  The black guy is in awe. “The Japanese are so far advanced from the US!”  Yeah, it’s like the Japanese are really aliens with the fancy foreign technology.
• Then, of course, they bring in the ultra-Japanese-sterotypical “Mama-san” who immediately yells at them to take off their shoes.  They find this funny, being yelled at and then sent to bed.
• Nobody knows what mochi is.  And then it’s described as being akin to molding clay. 
• When the game show host tells them that they have to be crazy to be on the show, what happens?  You get 10 people looking like really stupid Americans. 
• When the winning team gets to go on a tour of Japan, what does the tall blonde wear?  A shirt with a V-neck down to her bellybutton (seriously) so her boobs are peeking out in the middle.  Nice.

It just goes on and on.  It’s a reality show that’s less about crazy Japanese game shows and more about what happens when you put ignorant Americans in a foreign country.  As a fan of MXC, I think I’ll be watching Wipeout this summer.