Eric Takabayashi and fj.life.in-japan is a baaaaaaaaaaad combination:

>Well, back when there was Koko ga Hen Da Yo Nihonjin on, Zomahoun Rufin,
>the excitable stuttering man from Benin who somehow got himself to China
>for a master's degree, then worked most of the day in a small factory in
>Japan to put himself through a master's program here (losing part of one
>finger in the process when he operated a machine asleep) while living in
>what I believe was a cheap old one room apartment, he wrote a book in
>Japanese called Zomahoun no hon, donating all proceeds to building
>elementary schools in rural areas in his home country of Benin, in areas
>where there were no schools and no teachers, and the alternative for
>children was field labor. Finding willing teachers who could speak the
>local language was a problem (eventually he had to recruit people from
>teacher's college), and it was difficult to convince parents and elders
>that children should be schooled instead of helping with farm work, but a
>nice little concrete school could be built from scratch, for 6 million
>yen. At last count (the show was canceled soon after) 

...probably because there was nothing really left to cover...

>I believe there
>were three schools, all bearing Beat Takeshi's name for popularizing
>Zomahoun, his country, and his cause.

I bought a copy. Rather inspiring immigrant story. Your average JET should have
to go through all that as a requirement.

[...]

>Yeah, I don't get why these Japanese celebrities, some of whom make
>millions of dollars a year, are the ones playing for what amounts to
>pocket money (and bitching when they don't win or make a mistake) or tiny
>trinkets such as inch tall crystal figurines, instead of allowing common
>people to play and win more than postcard drawings during the closing
>credits.

Simple economics, probably. There are no doubt various involved parties who
stand to make more money off celebrity appearances on any show than your plain
Taro Yamadas pulled off the street. Ratings would be a big reason. Product
endorsement would probably be another. 

[NOTE: TALK-OUT-ASS ATTEMPT AT ANALYSIS FOLLOWS] I suspect that unlike the US --
where people get a real kick out of seeing their own kind win bazillions of
dollars on game shows because they like to imagine it's them doing it -- the
average Japanese viewer prefers to watch more high-profile guests on such
programs, possibly because the concept of watching Joe Bloznolis win 10 million
yen is, I dunno, boring?

>Recently I've decided my "interesting car" will be a Japanese made
>vintage car such as a Nissan from the early 80s or older, or maybe one of
>those black and white type AE 86 Toyota Corolla turbo coupes.

Ooh yeah. Friend of mine used to have one of those, with a big fat turbo that
went WHISSSSSSSSSH during each upshift and had to be cooled down with a timer
before shutting the car off. Felt like a JATO unit after second gear. It's too
bad he sold it off before I had the money to buy it off him myself.

But, then again, I'm 33, and am supposed to be too old for such things now.
That's why I drive a Vista Ardeo and keep my mouth shut. *g*



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The 2-Belo
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