Today’s Perfect Moment is a moment of taking in some Japanese TV programs. When a lot of people think about Japanese TV, they have the image of whacky game shows where people slip and slide all over.  They think of weird stunts and lots of screaming.  While these shows certainly do exist, they do not do credit to the other, brilliant shows on Japanese TV.

On Friday, one of my students asked me how well I speak Japanese. I am certainly not fluent, but I have a comfort level with the language.  I even have a Kansai accent ,which in true Kansai spirit I take great pride in, when I speak.  The student asked me how I practiced.

These days, I really don’t study enough, but thanks to technology, I have lots of Japanese programs at my disposal on the internet. This is a far cry from when I came back to Canada in the mid 90s.  In those days, individual TV programs had to be rented from Asian stores.  The price wasn’t so bad, but the hassle of taking them back on time….. well, it was a hassle.

Tonight, rather than do my typical time wasting, I came across one of my favourite Japanese TV programs. It wasn’t titled correctly in the credits or title, but I knew it instantly.  I considered it a good omen and decided to watch a few.  It is called Tantei Knight Scoop.  While I cannot explain the name, I can give you an idea of what the program is about.

They start with someone writing a letter to the show. They could be writing about a general question, like why do birds fly in the V formation.  They could be writing about their wish to eat a watermelon like it was an apple (true story) or they could be asking for some personal life help, like finding a lost love, or helping to find the owner of a piece of jewellery they found.  Whatever the situation, they dispatch a reporter/detective to go and solve the case.  In true Japanese style, these reporter/detectives are rather funny.

These cases are funny and interesting and even quite heart-breaking at times. Tonight, I enjoyed a few of these.  It was a great break from the bleak and dreary news filling up my TV.

By the way, these ones have English subtitles and I suggest you click on the person who put them up to see the whole playlist.