A theory...

I am convinced that if you removed the following components from Japanese TV, there wouldn't be anything left:

- food
- a main character shouting with tears in their eyes
- old women in kimonos

Last night was a particularly mixed bag as far as the box goes. First there was an entertainment show with wacky host Takeshi Kitano (he of Battle Royale and Takeshi's Castle fame), which despite being quite funny in parts tends to be pretty shallow and inevitably devolved into a food tasting session (in which a single anpan bun and a square of tofu were revealed, costing 10,000 yen each - about 50 quid). After this, my fiance flicked over the channel to watch a little of an Edo period drama, which, as far as I could tell, was filmed in a car park somewhere in Tokyo on a tight budget whilst men and women shouted and cried whilst gripping eachother at arms length. Changing over again revealed the dreaded traditional music show, in which women ranging from 35-80 appear on stage in white kimonos and screech and wail an Enka tune. And they always cry at the end (and frankly who could blame them - I have trouble deciding the reason. Is it shame at having murdered the idea of musical entertainment on national TV or a side effect of griking like a dying cat?)

My Japanese friends scoff when I propose my theory, but I have a sneaking suspicion I'm right...