I briefly turned on the TV and saw the President of America standing beside a ‘Santa Claus’ singing something. I lost remaining faith (sorry to use that word), in him the day he used his Nobel Peace Prize speech to explain why war was necessary. Orwell would have grinned. Obama’s family were beside him on the stage, a million camera phones were lit up recording the moment the glorious leader of the free world took time out from illegal wars and genocide, to sing songs celebrating Christmas.
Outside it is a blur of consumerist bullshit, people buying things they don’t need, pretending a cheer they don’t feel, and celebrating the imagery created by the Cocoa Cola company. The only remedy is to leave the TV off, and repeat to oneself: ‘I am sane. I am sane.’ The situation is dire. Like those times you’ve taken too much of a psychedelic substance, to the point where its pushed you into that Confucian endless-hell loop of forgetting who you are, and then having to apply your mind and remind yourself every few seconds. Its one of those things Hunter Thompson, beloved of people who’ve rarely taken drugs, didn’t talk about much.
So its Christmas and the only thing I can find of note is that its nine days and counting to the next ‘punishment game’ (batsu game) on my favorite Japanese TV show ‘Gaki no Tsukai.’ They’re seeing in the New Year with a game set in an airport, by all accounts. I love batsu games. The object is simple: don’t laugh. If you laugh, you get whipped hard. The games themselves last at least 24 hours, and its nonstop and relentless. Sounds simple: don’t laugh. It isn’t easy. There’s the cream of the crop of Japan’s comedians lined up to try make the contestants laugh and get punished. Each batsu has a different ‘theme’ and setting. Some were hospitals, police, school, hotel, newspapers, spies. So the upcoming one is ‘airport’ – which should be interesting. The West has yet to steal the concept, but I think the flabby egoist souls that make up Western ‘reality TV’ contestants will balk at the idea of being beaten repeatedly over an entire day.
A fan forum page for Gaki No Tsukai (and episode downloads) can be found here: Scroll down to the Batsu games to discover the delights of all the Batsu games (with subtitles) that have come previously. You’ll probably have to register to see the content. If you like the idea of watching four or five people facing the sneaky might of an entire TV station trying to get them to laugh so that a whipping can occur (usually administered by faceless people in leather ‘gimp’ suits) then dip into the forum.
A number of US standard TV shows have been taken from Japanese TV, ranging from ‘Fear Factor’ (which emerged as a soft version of ‘Endurance,’) through to the traditional ‘Americas Funniest Home Video’ – each of these were developed by Japan and then appropriated. One can argue that ‘Survivor’ has its roots in the classic ‘Endurance’ show – which was about putting contestants under severe pressure, pain, and food deprivation, and then watching gleefully as the situation disintegrated. Now I think of it, ‘Silent Library’ is one of the things to have re-emerged in the West from Gaki no Tsukai, although its a very dumbed-down version. To their credit, the Japanese take their games deadly seriously. As you’ll see if you watch any of the batsu games. No laughing. Laughing causes an immediate beating. Therefore, the TV station moves heaven and earth to find ways to break the composure of the contestants (themselves part of the long running Gaki series).
From a Western perspective, its beyond surreal – and strangely addictive. One learns a great deal about Japanese culture and the nuances of casual and formal interaction. Conversation and trap-ridden situations abound, interspersed with a loud klaxon horn and the announcement of whoever has been caught smiling, as a rush of gimps enter the room to beat the guilty ones.
If only there was something similar in US politics.
If you read this blog, you might probably do something equally weird like, I don’t know, buy my fiction book. The Depths of Deception has fifteen 5 star reviews on Amazon.
