More on Japanese TV

I know I should be working on my report, but I may have just watched the best Japanese television drama I have ever seen!!!

Its a story about a traditional Japanese family who takes in a foreign exchange student from Hungary, and the problems that arise form cultural misunderstanding.

I have never seen many television dramas that employ foreign actors, for understandable reasons, but in this show the exchange student was one of the main protagonists. He spoke Japanese in this weird nasally voice but I couldn't help but become enthralled in the story (or it may be because I haven't watched American television in over two years!)

Anyway, I thought the show was actually funny but I don't think they intended it to be. Point in case: the grandfather has a heart attack or something and needs to be taken to the hospital and the entire family rushes in trying to help and the exchange student says ”じゃあ、学校へ行く”because he had to take a test for a scholarship.

It was hilarious! That's another thing that's different about American and Japanese television, sarcasm. The majority of American television is filled with sarcasm and black humor but in Japan they don't even know what sarcasm is and the literal Japanese translation for sarcasm means something different - it has a negative connotation. So if you try to be sarcastic to a Japanese, they end up thinking your just being mean.

Anyway the show ends with two of the daughters saying they want to get married: One wants to marry a white guy and the other wants to marry an African guy. At this the grandfather nearly has another heart attack and says, the black man's name is Uco, he doesn't want his grand daughter to marry someone whose name so closely sounds like "Unko," the Japanese word for poop.

What an Amazing show!