Nasubi - The Ultimate Survivor 139
Skip writes: "Although it was broadcast in 1998, I don't think many people outside of Japan have heard of Nasubi. In this reality program a young comedian was locked naked and alone in a tiny apartment with a stack of magazines ,postcards and pens. He then had to survive solely living off prizes he won in competitions (hence the magazines and postcards). It took him over a year to reach his goal of a million Yen worth of prizes. He received no help from the producers and went long stretches (sometimes 2 weeks!) without eating. Compared to this Survivor is like Club Med."
Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)
They actually made a video game out of this (Score:1)
Re:Come on, it's a hoax. (Score:1)
I suppose it's a comfortable illusion to think so. Do you honestly believe that TV-producers (or indeed any other lot) would not do something like this for money?
On a more serious note, don't forget that a show like this does have the functionality of a soap in many respects: It shows another human being with whom you can identify yourself (by the grace of the reality level of the show), who has a lot more to worry about than you!
People like these kinds of things, because they let them live in their self-inflicted illusion that they are just like everybody else, only just a little bit better. This function -- social comparison -- is the most important function of a soap. I'd say that this show fits the description
You might argue that this show does not fit the description because the hardships of the poor guy a was over the top compared to your own hardship (thus making comparison difficult), but don't forget that live generally it a tad more stressful in Japan than it is in Europe (and certainly compared to the US).
Don't forget: the Romans used gladiator fights to entertain the people for exactly the same reasons: social comparison. Which was fitting at the time given the bad circumstances under which people lived. Now that's a harsh reality-show for you! :)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)
Or white people for that matter?
Re:I have now... (Score:2)
no you haven't - there were however, 50 staff members which had to censor various bits. eech. every day for a year...
Nasubi, Denpa Shonen and Japanese Shows (Score:2)
All the time people are trying to get onto Denpa Shonen so they can do weird things. Some of the segments on now are:
1) Two women travelling around the world while only relying on the advice of fortune tellers.
2) A wannabe Japanese comedian is locked in a room and has to learn Swahili so he can give a stand-up performance in Kenya. He only gets food when he can answer a question given by one of the two Kenyan people that come in three times a day.
3) A girl wants to be a gymnast and has to exercise and practice on a high-bar to get food (although I don't think they're making the food part so strict now).
Japanese shows are famous for making people do weird and sometimes horrible ordeals. But, the people on these shows know about it almost all of the time. You can compare this with talk shows in the US where there are surprise paternity tests, shows where someone expresses love for someone else, etc.
Anywhere in the world people do dumb and outrageous things to get on television and sometimes they harm themselves. But, that's their own fault not anyone else's.
One sad thing that did happen (and not mentioned in the article) is about 4 months ago some comedian on a show in Osaka was trying to carry a wet fish across some REALLY cold place in Hokkaidou and ended up getting frostbite on his fingers. They had to be cut off. But, that is one of the only bad examples I've ever seen of something going wrong on a television show.
nasubi (Score:3)
For finishing he got.... (Score:4)
Some of the funny things about that show I remember was the time he finally won some clothes. He won a pair of shorts and he was so happy at first but then he realized that he just liked dancing around naked too much to wear them, so they ended up on the wall. Speaking of dancing, the producers always added a huge eggplant (which is ``Nasubi'' in Japanese) instead of the more western fig leaf, always cracked me up.
The ``exposure'' has done him good as he is now one of the official 12 famous TV people on Jp TV shows.
Re:Good enough for Japanese TV - good enough for / (Score:2)
Re:Social Engineering just like Tojo. (Score:1)
Excuse me, exactly who are we ?
Re:Social Engineering just like Tojo. (Score:1)
...(see hari-kari, the ritual
>>>
You mean that old baseball announcer with the big glasses?
Re:Reality shows aren't (Score:1)
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exchange rates (Score:4)
$10K for over a year's work doesn't seem like such a good trade to me.
Re:Good enough for Japanese TV - good enough for / (Score:1)
Interesting definition of pornography, by the way. Get bitten by a goatse.cx troll again?
Re:nasubi (Score:1)
Or do you mean the genre of 'hentai', pornographic anime?
Re:nasubi (Score:1)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)
Your Working Boy,
- Otis (GAIM: OtisWild)
Big deal! (Score:2)
"Look at me, guys, I can like for a whole year just from Stop & Shop and Sears! Wheeeee!"
Re:Reality shows aren't (Score:1)
/Janne
Reality shows aren't (Score:3)
/Janne
Re:that is funny yet sad.... (Score:1)
Re:I would've died.... (Score:1)
As for the photo shoot thing, generally he only won small things - food, clothes, a vacuum cleaner IIRC, etc.
Re:Let me get this stright.... (Score:1)
It was a train simulator, similar to Microsoft's Train Simulator.. weak.
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Re:Magazine competitions. (Score:2)
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Re:I would've died.... (Score:1)
Not so far as I am aware
And besides that, isn't it originally a Baudelaire quote, from Les Fleurs Du Mal...?
You may be right, but it's not where I heard it (IIRC, Verbal Kint says it in The Usual Suspects)
Besides I still like it as my sig line
I would've died.... (Score:2)
I never win prizes when I enter competitions. Anyway, did they let him out to claim his prizes, and if he was naked, how did that go down with the competition organisers. A lot of them want a photo shoot with the winner of the competition....!!
Re:Better alone... (Score:2)
--Mr Garrison
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Re:Swordfish (Score:1)
We used to have regular movie-nights, watching a movie from a huge pile of movies we'd gotten, in a forced sequence, never skipping any movies, regardless of how bad it was.
One night we watched Orca, and one of my friends didn't show up. We thought it would be a good punishment to strap him into a chair and use the loop-forever feature on my vcr
But since it would most likely kill him, we didn't do it
Jesus Christ (Score:1)
______________________________
I heard about this, but I didn't believe it (Score:1)
My (former) Japanese gf told me about this show one day, and YES even though I've seen the Japanese gameshow where people have to crawl through octopus tanks, and the one where they race babies, and even the one that involved several rounds of (get ready) plastic miniature building, I can't believe that she was essentially accurate on the details.
The one comforting thing about this, if there is one, is that the US hasn't quite reached this point yet; all of the so-called reality shows here are utter trash, completely pre-fab outdoors versions of the Price is Right. When we start taking it as seriously as poor Mr. Eggplant, well, then I really will move to Canada.
On an aside, the only reality show I ever watched and enjoyed wasn't a gameshow at all - it was Lionheart Television's "Castaway", supposedly the inspiration for "Survivor" (though if there's a connection other than the island I can't see it). No game show, no winners, no losers, just a big bunch of people trying to forge a community of some sort on a remote island. Good stuff, and yes, no tribal councils.
horribly depressing (Score:3)
[Saint Stephen]
Re:Magazine competitions. (Score:2)
(Post truncated due to an attack mof hysteria....)
Re:Could this be replicated somewhere else? (Score:2)
I can see the headline from the american version right now..... "Chuck Smith, the American who decided to live off magazine contests, died of starvation today. His body was discovered in front of the 45" home theatre he won last week. He is survived by his wife and two children, now on their third cruise to the Bahamas. Alan Smithee, producer of the show remarked, "It's really amazing, here's this guy who has won over $200,000 in magazine contests over the last 9 months, but he can't order a pizza." The show plans to auction off the 7 cars, 2 motorcycles, and the 274 Brittany Spears cd's won while Mr. Smith was still alive. "We would have auctioned off the kitchen appliances he won too, but he tried to eat those." said Smithee.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)
Please define us.
Re:Good enough for Japanese TV - good enough for / (Score:1)
In fact, slashdot as a whole seems to have entered a death spiral down the toilet over the last few months. As you can tell from my slashdot ID #, I've been here quite a while, but I'm seriously considering abandoning it altogether as it's not the site it used to be.
Re:Good enough for Japanese TV - good enough for / (Score:1)
Re:Come on, it's a hoax. (Score:1)
Come on, it's a hoax. (Score:1)
This is nothing but a self promoting hoax. What shocks me are the posts really believing that this occurred. Japan is not a 3rd world country run by some wack dictator.
Re:Magazine competitions. (Score:1)
TRUMAN SHOW! (Score:1)
Let me get this stright.... (Score:2)
He lives in an empty room with no human contact.
He has millons of people watching but doesn't know it.
He has to write around 6000 postcards a month just to TRY to stay alive.
He has a Playstation with ONE really BAD game.
He has a TV but cannot get a signal.
He has a VCR and two videos, An Aerobics video and a cycling video.
Sorry but this is about as close to hell on earth as you could come, coupled with the fact that he had to eat dog food at one point then at another they moved him but forgot to move his rice, I'm surprised this guy is still alive.
I wouldn't be surpised if the next we hear about him will be a news article about a deranged gunman killing thousends of people on a subway yelling out "I FEAR NO HELL NOW!"
Re:Forefront (Score:1)
This is not a new phenomenon - look at the Godzilla movies! More recently, several fads such as Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and Pokemon were exported from Japan.
Books Already Written (Score:1)
Fox News.
p.s. I went to their website to researd this post, and their disclaimer says "This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed."
Abuse of copyright much?
What I wanna know... (Score:1)
I got stripped naked, locked in a room for a year with no toilet paper, nothing but rice and dogfood to eat, with millions of people watching me and all I got was this stupid comedy video.
I'm surprised... (Score:3)
Re:And this is different... (Score:1)
Re:And to think... (Score:1)
Re:Something like this was done already... (Score:1)
"Awooooo... scary huh kids?" Said Count Floyd.
$10k/y? (Score:2)
Or would anyone like to willingly try to survive such a way without a fat reward afterwards? 'Publicity' does not count -- being seen naked and hungry amongst piles of papers on TV is a doubtful addition to a resume, imho.
The really sad part of the whole story is that the show had enough audience to last for a year.
Re:I would've died.... (Score:1)
After all, how long has it been since Hollywood has had an original idea?
So who sees the profits.. (Score:1)
I would love to see that contract that he signed that they could do all that stuff to him and get away with just flying him to Korea for some BBQ as his reward.
Had it happened in the U.S. of A.... (Score:1)
PETA? ACLU? (Yes I meant PETA first).. and who else wants to get the big settlemen? Of course Johnie Cochran...
There are two sides to every story... (Score:2)
It would be nice for this story to be backed up by facts. I was under the impression that nasubi was aware of what was going to happen to him (or at least aware that he was going be "up-shit-creek-without-a-paddle" for a very long time), and he voulunteered. So do not take this seriously. As much as the writer of the article wants you to believe, NTV (and Japan as a whole) is not *that* cruel.
Nasubi enjoyed what he did. He enjoyed the attention he got after it as well. He could of chosen to back out at any time, and he didn't.
Japan has some bad tv shows. It has shows that people risk injury to win prizes. But, it is all closely monitored. The producers know what's going on. They know they'll be screwed if something bad happens to anyone. People like the attention. They are getting what they want. That is the real problem here, people doing stupid things to be famous for a day.
The limit is right after BigBrother (Score:1)
Norway actually had the highest amount of people watching BigBrother relative to the nations population anythime. (some speculated this was due to strong restictions of porn...dunno about that...)
I do not know how the
Naturally, there where bad sides to it as well, but BigBrother.no was a fully aceptable TV show, that didn't hurt anybody, nor destroyes the moral of the viewers. The people claiming this are either very old-fashion, or religious, and have no contact with the larger young masses. The behaviour of the people in the house was much as that of a normal norwegian at that age. They where also smart, and had many interesting discussions.
Now, as BB may have been acceptable, there is a limit. I think this limit comes right after BB. How much further can you have it go? Temtations Island? A show where people have to commit crimes to survive? Any show that goes TOWARDS the accepted behaviour of a society, and encurrages those, should not be shown. THAT is where the limit goes if you ask me. BB did not do this, and if "Temtations Island" does, we'll see (the show is comming here right over summer).
Also, many of those who complain may forget that the average working citizen wants to be entertained. They just want structure in their lives, and thus is happy whit his work, TV show, and beer. Every thing on TV cannot be intellectually stimulating...
Mvh
- Knut S.
Re:The limit is right after BigBrother (Score:1)
Re:And to think... (Score:2)
Not far at all. The arenas are covered in ice and the gladiators are called "hockey players", but it is still entirely a blood sport.
Re:And to think... (Score:2)
Have you ever seen a professional game of hockey? Most of the spectators are entirely uninterested by the game until fights start breaking out.
Could this be replicated somewhere else? (Score:2)
Nasubi was obviously fairly suited for such an ordeal, but how about someone from a western country? Someone overweight? Would our western psyche be able to handle the stress? Because one thing that I am certain of, is that people will watch it, many people even. It's more extreme than "Operation Robinson" even though it lacks the "I don't have a life or interesting friends so I will watch morons on TV instead" genre headed by shows like Big Brother.
The second question, would the amount of competitions in the wester hemisphere be enough? Would it even be easier? Would they do a complete internet based version? Only prizes won online would be ok? When I think of it, maybe they should choose a girl for the next show ^_^
Re:Other show (Score:2)
I also have a clip called "Guess Whats In Your Hat?" Two Japanese men would wear a wicket basket on their heads. The bottom of the basket was cut out. The game show host would put various living thing in their hat, and the contestants would have to guess what they were.
Of course it was impossible to guess. The winner was the one who didn't freak out on hearing he had several very large black scorpions crawling around his scalp.
In the words of Fark.com [fark.com] "What the hell is wrong with the Japanese?"
To Quote the Simpsons (Score:2)
Re:All this proves... (Score:1)
That is all.
Re:Jesus Christ (Score:1)
And anyway!! (Score:1)
Re:that is funny yet sad.... (Score:1)
I'm still certain that the whole thing was at least half fake.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)
And exactly what is bad about that?
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"I'm surfin the dead zone
Re:And to think... (Score:1)
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"I'm surfin the dead zone
Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
Re:McVeign execution (Score:2)
Larry Niven was right about the death penalty eventually being applied for traffic infractions... He just failed to see that the public's hunger for bloodier and bloodier entertainment would outpace research into safe universal transplants.
--Fesh
Where's the limit? (Score:1)
Maybe this categorizes as entertainment, but which statement are we giving toards our children. Which value is there in showing them total disrespect for the human individual? This Japanese Nasubi guy is a little extreme (It's even on /.), but even the "Big Brother" shows running everywhere around Europe are as bad as this Japanese show when small children laugh with other people's misery.
I'm sorry, but the society "out there" is as wicked as the one populated by Nerds.
Re:This is only part of it (Score:2)
That's coming to NBC this fall as "Lost".
Magazine competitions. (Score:5)
So where are these magazines that have the boring prizes...
Sureality Television (Score:2)
Why not animatronic RealDolls being tortured, raped, or murdered?
Hidden camera sex scavenger hunts?
Propaganda "news" programs whitewashing or glorifying hate crimes?
Plenty of other possibilities to make a buck pandering to those who can't get enough misery and degradation. The site mentioned that programs involving human suffering are extremely popular in Japan. I bet US producers are not far behind on this.
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Re:And anyway!! (Score:1)
And to think... (Score:3)
________
Re:And this is different... (Score:1)
Re:And this is different... (Score:1)
And this is different... (Score:5)
This is only part of it (Score:2)
Denpa Shonen is famous for sending of Hitchhikers on cross continent treks, forcing them to earn money for food on their own. They even sent two guys [ntv.co.jp] from the tip of South America to Alaska, which took well over a year.
The hitchhikers are always follwed by a cameraman and go through some amazingly harsh ordeals to get where they're going. Best of all, no tribal council.
Re:Something like this was done already... (Score:1)
Ian
I can top that (Score:1)
centuries of occupation of the peninsula?? (Score:1)
Re:Reality shows aren't (Score:1)
'Course, in the US, anyone who went through what he did would probably have sued the producers in the end...
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exercise video's and toilet paper (Score:3)
Anyone care to guess what use he put this toilet paper to?
Re:I would've died.... (Score:2)
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure most contest organizers were more than happy to pass on the photo opportunity in exchange for television coverage.
Better alone... (Score:2)
Uhm.... (Score:2)
I have now... (Score:4)
Re:All this proves... (Score:2)
Cartoons originated as an adult form of entertainment. By 'adult' I dont mean a pornographic form, I mean it in the true sense of the word that denotes maturity.
Looney Tunes used to be played before movies in theatres during WWII along with newsreels. After TV became more common, cartoons became the babysitter of countless children around the world. Why? The themes and subtle political messages are lost on youths and all that is gained is a collection of images that is mildly entertaining.
Cartoons then became more kid-oriented in the late 1960's and then exploded in the 70's. I.E. Scooby doo, smurfs, School House Rock!, etc.
Oh whatever.. I am sure this will be replied to by one of the many fine individuals that plague this site.(anti-semite trolls, anti-social trolls, anti-troll trolls
Have fun people, dont be so cynical- Tom Burnett has the monopoly on cynicism anyway!
-Mike
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Something like this was done already... (Score:5)
Unexpected irony there, ne?
That reminds me of.... (Score:2)
Will somebody think of the children!? (Score:2)
Good Point. (Score:2)
Oh crap. I was surfing the interenet, purely for research, and it looks like Mexico got there first. Appearently there's a bar in Tijauana....
Yes, I know Bad_CRC wan't the family values flamebaiter. But honestly, there is more than enough hyperbole to go around. When you see a woman forced to copulate with a bull (which probably killed her) as a public event, then, and only then, may one finally sound the alarm that the Canadians will soon be sacking our cities.
This IS different... (Score:2)
From my freshman semester at college HOW exactly?
I don't know about your freshman year, but I can tell you how it's different from mine: when the dirty, unshaven guy in women's underwear was rolling around the tires he won from a magazine contest, and singing songs to his rice in my freshman year dorm, none of us had a video camera around.
Re:What's your point? (Score:2)
I don't think I should have to point out that sexual themes in Japanese media are in high demand in the United States. Nor should I have to point out that violence, bigotry, and a lust for judgemental puritanism more than compensates for this nations so called moral stance on sexual issues.
In reguards to the Japanese conduct in the second world war I need only point out that the victors write the history books. While the Japanese did conduct horrible bio-warfare experiments in unit 731 the United States kept knowledge of unit 731 secret for more then 40 years after the war so it's research could be used in US biowarfare technology. The Japanese tortured and killed American POWs while we stuffed the nozels of our flamethrowers into their concrete bunkers and burned them out. And while Japanese troops burned tortured and raped the city of Nanking to the ground the United States skipped the "raped" step and simply burned and tortured the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagisaki with nuclear weapons and powerfull blasts of radiation that are still causing painfull deaths to rare cancers today.
Beware, the moral highground is a tretcherous slope and footing can be very unstable.
This has been another useless post from....
Re:$10k/y? (Score:3)
This has been another useless post from....
Re:Social Engineering just like Tojo. (Score:5)
Japanese conduct in WWII, while inexcuseable, is explainable. Bushido, or the warrior way, dictated that the greatest service a warrior could render his country was his death (kind of a loosing strategy there if you ask me). Surrender was unaccecptable, this is easily proven by looking at the surrender rates of Japanese vs American troops in the war. The Japanese surrendered something like 1 out of 20 casualties (killed or captured for this statistic). The US surrendered more like 12 in 20.
Here's where it gets weird. The Bushido considered the sword the soul of the samuri. Japanese troops c. 1940 had this weird idea that they were 14th century samuri. Thus, surrender (and the giving up of the sword/gun/whatever) was the loss of the soul. The POW was less then a person. Many in Japan would consider death, even an insanely painfull one preferable to capture (see hari-kari, the ritual suicide of the shamed samuri).
This goes a long way to explaining (not excusing) the conduct of the Japanese toward Allied POWs. Now we'll move on to Korea.
Don't tell the Japanese this, it still gets many of them rather pissed off, but the Koreans are ethnicly very close to the Japanese. This is because of Japanese interaction, possession of, occupation of the Korean peninsula over the centuries. Now, for some reason I've never quite understood, the Japanese have developed some great and personal hatred of the Koreans. Perhaps this has to do with the idea of the "Purity of the Japanese Race" (a popular notion c. 1931) or maybe it's just blind nationalism. Who knows? Point being that Korea is rarely a good example of Japanese war conduct. It's like saying that all US foreign policy during the Cold War was identical to US foreign policy toward communist nations.
Anyway, hope that helps. Just wanted to clear up a few points with the above post.
This has been another useless post from....
Hmmm... (Score:5)
Re:Swordfish (Score:2)
Other show (Score:2)
I wish I was making up this stuff but I'm not.
At the time I was a teenager, so I didn't see what all the fuss was about. Now I'm in my early 20's, and I can definitely feel the guys' pain. :)
Are we a society of hypocrites? (Score:2)