VOL.4NO.6 1989 FS at breakfast the next morning, these “instructions” told you how much it costs to watch the terebi for each minute. Because the regular channels seemed rather uninteresting, I was motivated to push but- tons in various forms and different combinations until I succeeded in tuning in a Japanese couple engaged in the most rambunctious coupling I’ve seen in prime time. There is a distinct lack of courtship, romance and convincing acting in sukebe terebi, (roughly, ‘perverted freak television’) Basically, the male has to be merely in the same room as the female before she is overcome by wave after wave of orgasms, and you can hear the directors voice whisper- ing instructions from just off camera. Japan has strange and almost Victorian pornography legislation. The depiction of adult genitalia, especially pubic hair, is verboten. There are acouple of techniques for circumventing this limited definition of obscene, the most distasteful being the use of girls too young to have pubic hair. Evenon the porno channels, copulating adults had their extremely naughty bits computer-dissolved, like they do on Geraldo to “protect” the identities of the innocent. The best television show I have ever seen is She-no Takeshi Jo, or as itis called in English, “Takeshi Devil 666”. Basically, the Japanese have taken all the elements of competition and entertainment from Ameri- can game shows, and drafted a liability waiver for contestants to sign that holds up in court. An example of the challenge: a 10 metre tower with a rope swing across a waist deep pool of mud. Contestants don a flightsuit of sorts with velcro strips on it, swing across the mud bath, let go of the rope, and fly into a solid wall with velcro on it. The object is to stick yourself to the wall. Some contestants just bounce off, some don’t swing far enough. The most brutal challenge on the show is “The Suspension Bridge Across Hell”. Picture a bridge, two feet wide and without a railing, thirty feet above a canyon and some safety netting. The object is for contestants to walk out part way to amark, and catcha gold volleyball gently fired from a modified baseball pitching machine. The object is to make it the 30 = metres across the bridge with the gold ss volleyball. The problem is that the ae second you catch the gold volley- 7 ball, the pitching machine turns into a cannon, firing hard, black plastic balls at you in an attempt to knock you off the bridge. Of the episodes I saw, there were a few cracked ribs and one bro- ken nose. 3 Tokyois exactly like Ridley Scott’s Blade Run w c 3) rr] > z x ner. It is crowded, ditty, loud, (espe- cially during the Festival of Voice Amplifica- tion) and has big tall buildings with blink- strange antennae tisements, which suddenly b walk signals for the vision impaired. sentially, because one doesn’t see the become marching music for commuters. are jammed with people. Younger people are a and a designer Elvis look-alike hanging out together. Powered by small generators, young musicians representing become a uniquely Japanese interpretation. The lead singer of one band “Sumimasen, Gomeni Mesai!” Some quick observations: the first white people I saw in Japan were an hour, and $7.00 for each ten minutes after that. I did not go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Roppo: The very last thing I did in Japan, besides beg for my Swiss Army Knife back at customs, was them $20.00 to leave the country. ing red lights and and chimneys. Entire high-rises are covered with neon adver- link out of existence to reappear in different colours and forms. The crosswalk lights have speakers which blare out pop music, but also chime the Es- dis- abled in public too often, the tunes have At street level, the sidewalks and sidestreets fas- cinating amalgam of western trends. They employ the look and fashions of certain sub-cultures without understanding the implications, in western terms, of the social or political statements inherent in certain styles of dress. It is not uncommon to see a punk rocker, a skinhead, Ih _ Harajuku there is a park, across from the old Olympic site, where bands and clubs meet to revel in the wonders of amplified sound. the entire spectrum of popular and not-so-popular music blast their music from P.A. systems not more than 10 metres apart. Most of the bands are what you might call punk rock bands. But because it is punk fashion, it has had “David Roth Eat Cat” scrawled on the back of his leather jacket, and one of his pogoing fans “slammed” into me, immediately apologizing profusely: the Mormons, all the other white people were either young models, American servicemen, or very strange people who have taken their act about as far west as you can get. They stood on street comers selling framed photographs of Mickey Rourke, they were on Japanese baseball teams, or they were teaching English on T.V. I saw honeydews that cost $60.00, a bundle of purple grapes that were $38.00, and I was taken to a club that cost $88.00 mgi. pay ar breakfast the next moming, these “instructions” told you how much iteosts o watch the trebi for ‘eachminute, Because the regular channels secmedrather uninteresting, Iwas motivated to push but tons in various forms and different combinations until Isuoceeded in tining in Japanese couple engaged in the mostrambunctious coupling I've seen in prime ime. There isa distinct lack of courtship, romance and convincing acting in sukebe terebi, (roughly, ‘perverted freak television’) Basically, the male has to be merely inthe same room asthe female before she {sovercome by wave after wave of orgasms, and you cen hea the directors voice whisper. ing instructions from jut off camera Tapan has strange and almost Victorian pomography legislation. The depiction ofl genitalia, especially pubichair, is verboten. There ae acouple of techniques for circumventing this limited definition of obscene, the most distasteful being the ‘uso girls too young to have pubichar. Evenonthe porno channels copulating adults had their extremely naughty bits computer-