I couldn't understand what they were saying, but a guy who lives here and speak Japanese told me that this is a show that bilingual foreigners come on to bitch about Japan. But don't be fooled into thinking that this is some show of sympathy to the foreigner, it's quite the opposite, in fact.
Here's a shot of the panel of foreigners waiting to speak their mind. There are people from all over the world here: China, the US, Spain, Afghanistan, Korea, Italy, the list goes on. Being that the enthic break down of Japan looks something like this:
Japanese 99% Other 1%
you have to wonder whether they have all gathered at this specific taping.
The nationality of each guest is displayed on the screen, and they are required to dress in their traditional garb. Sounds all nice and PC, but what usually ends up happening is they get harrassed by the Japanese hosts about what they're wearing.
Here's one of the hosts. Some guy dressed up in a kimono and ladies' make up. It just shows how seriously the Japanese take the show here.
Anyway, take away the Japanese writing and this could easily be a screen shot from the latest Jerry, or Oprah, before she started that sentimental Book Club crap.
Tempers flare here. I guess people just aren't happy. Can't imagine why.
Oh look, who's this? It's our friend Takeshi "Beat" Kitano. When he's not making super-violent gangster movies, he's a deranged talk show host and comedian, who frequently dresses up in women's clothing and wears make up. Someone who packs that much testosterone into his movies has to have a repressed feminine side.
In the spirit of the show, I have a complaint to make. The lemons here suck ass. They aren't sour. What's up with that? I bought this lemon extract in hopes of making some decent lemon-honey tea, but this stuff was sweet! Really. You can drink this as is. I don't know how they managed it, but the Japanese have butchered fruit.
Let that be an argument against genetic engineering.