Foreigners in Japanese variety shows

[sarasi]

That's Bobby Ologun. I imagine he is smarter than the persona he puts on for Japanese TV, and as for eating the poisonous plant, I think any of us could do that, particularly in a foreign country.

There are quite a few other non-Japanese on TV here who are not treated like novelties or idiots- there is an Egyptian woman called Fifi who speaks fluent Japanese and was on a morning news show for a while, an American professor of Japanese at Tokyo University who was beating the Japanese people at advanced kanji problems in a quiz show and a number of others.

[SSJup81]

I thought Bobby was just "acting", meaning that he isn't that uninformed and has near native-level Japanese.

[MMM]

I get the impression that Bobby is a character, something that many of the talents that appear on variety shows do. He is more intelligent than he lets on because he acts like his Japanese isn't so good, but the mistakes he makes are not mistakes poor speakers would make, but are actually funny.

This is common among Japanese natives, too. "Characters" from HG and IKKO to Kanno sisters are not completely honest, but are entertaining. (Kanno sisters...not actually sisters).

[bELyVIS]

Originally Posted by sarasi

That's Bobby Ologun. I imagine he is smarter than the persona he puts on for Japanese TV, and as for eating the poisonous plant, I think any of us could do that, particularly in a foreign country.

There are quite a few other non-Japanese on TV here who are not treated like novelties or idiots- there is an Egyptian woman called Fifi who speaks fluent Japanese and was on a morning news show for a while, an American professor of Japanese at Tokyo University who was beating the Japanese people at advanced kanji problems in a quiz show and a number of others.

A smart person would not eat a plant that he didn't know what it was. He probably does put on an act. Anyway he sure speaks Japanese a lot better than I ever could.

[Guigoo]

Emily/Applemilk1988 is also a western who made it @ jp's TV. She appeared on some NHK shows

[wolf_requiem]

I remember when I was in Japan, Bob Sapp was EVERYWHERE! One of my friends had his picture in her keitai, lol! But he was sooo funny.

[blimp]

to say a couple of words about ここは変だよ、日本人。 when the show started it contained a lot less discussion and more questions or statements made by well-behaved foreigners. rather interesting to be honest.

after a couple of shows, however, the show turned into what it became famous for, foreigners arguing among themselves. the show came to be more on the US, the middle east and africa than on japan. the prime example of this was the show on homosexuality when a gay man from the japanese side told a pakistani man "レベルが低い”, as a response to the man saying that he would rather his children die than see them become gay. the pakistani man then threaten the japanese man and konishikin who often took part in the show had to stop the pakistani man. i believe ramos, the football player, followed konishikin to do the same. in the same show an african man, i believe nigerian, said that his country had absolutely no gay ppl.　(the mentioning of nationality has nothing to do with pointing out particular nations or nationalities as homophobic, but only to make it easier to see who did who during the "argument".)

all in all, a show with good potential, but unfortunately it took a rather nasty turn.

the american professor in the quiz show is called ロバート キャンベル　　Robert CAMPBELL　btw, the quiz show is called Qさま
other foreigners who often participate in more serious venues are
peter frankl
robert feldman
peter barakan

[Seanus]

It's a good idea. In Poland, there is a programme called Europa da się lubić. Foreigners who are fluent in Polish discuss topical issues in Poland. They bring sth from their countries to the table. It's interesting to hear their pronunciation and perspectives.