♪ (ragtime music) ♪
♪ ('80s game show music) ♪
- Okay, "my face will get squashed by the butt" game.
Uh-oh, this doesn't sound good.
- The Japanese love these crazy game shows.
- This is a game show?
- (host speaks Japanese)
- Oh, a cute penalty? Mm-hm.
- "Make a face when the bird is waiting for its food."
- (in video: audience laughs)
- (wheezy laughter)
- I can make a better face than that.
♪ (campy music) ♪
- Ha ha!
- (laughing) Oh no-ho! Aaaaaah!
- Oh my god. You're kidding me! (laughing)
- Oh! Oh, boy!
- I hope he washed. (laughs)
- (in video: audience squeals) - Oh dear god.
OH DEAR GOD!
- Gonna replay a shot from between his crotch?
- (snickers) What the hell?
- That's the biggest bazooka I've ever seen coming at a face.
♪ (trumpet fanfare) ♪ - (host speaks Japanese)
- "Do an imitation of Tamura Masakuzu-san." Who's that?
- (contestant speaks incoherently) - (in game: buzzer)
- I got a feeling you're gonna meet Mr. Sumo too.
- (contestant screams)
- Here he goes again!
- No, not again! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
- (laughing) That's disgusting!
- (host speaking in Japanese) - (audience laughs)
- I want to know what they win for putting up with this.
- (contestant speaks Japanese) - (audience laughs uproariously)
- (in game: buzzer) - Oh no! Yeah, yeah, you're getting it buddy.
- Oh no. No, no--
Oh, what's he gonna do now? Whipped cream? Ew!
- (audience squeals) - Oh! (snickers)
Whisked whipped cream.
- Whoa! That is a little too much booty action.
- You'll never eat whipped cream again! (wheezy laugh)
Oh, that was funny.
- You know, I've heard of sexy things like that,
but I never heard of a butt-full of cream. (laughter)
This is worse than 50 Shades of Grey.
- (blowing whistle) - (host speaks in Japanese)
- Oh, that looks like he's a little frog. I love frogs.
- (host speaks Japanese) - Oh no!
- Oh, you're not gonna eat that frog, are you?
- I'd be careful about-- that's a frog!
He put a frog in his mouth!
- (queasily) Oh! Oh, that's worse than the butt.
- (in video: muffled screams)
- (snickers) I can't look! Gross.
- Poor little frog. Oh, I really disapprove.
- They're passing frog from one mouth to another.
(cracking up)
- OOOOH!
The frog says, "No, I liked the other guy!" (laughs)
- I don't know if it's animal cruelty or people cruelty.
- That's not only torture for the humans; it's torture for the frog.
- (hearty laughter)
Oh! You dropped Mr. Froggie.
- I hope they win a big prize for that.
- Oh my god!
- Now that's gross.
- "Get it out of my mouth!"
- Successful. (chuckles)
Mouthwash, quick! Mouthwash.
- That's the craziest program I've ever seen.
- I'm supposed to go out to lunch with someone after this.
(whimpers) Oh god!
Okay. Whew.
(movie reel clicks)
- (Finebros) Okay, so what did we just show you?
- Crazy Japanese videos.
- Game shows from another country.
- Game shows in Japan, like, really weird ones.
- Two Japanese games.
Neither one of which I would care to be on, thank you.
- Why anybody would subject themselves to that,
I can't even imagine.
What's the point of it?
- (Finebros) Have you ever seen anything like this before?
- Thank god, no.
- No.
- No, and I hope I never see that again.
- Not in the United States!
- We've had game shows similar to this. How about Fear Factor?
- They do their Jackass movies and stuff like that.
- The Gong Show, back in the '60s.
But I've never seen anything like that.
- (Finebros) So those were clips from actual Japanese game shows.
What did you think? - They must have
a difference sense of humor than I do.
- I don't think it's the kind of humor that children should be exposed to.
- I think that they are crazy.
A little too much overboard.
- If that's what entertains you, fine.
I'd like to know what the ratings were.
- It's clean, you know, and it's absolutely silly.
I think it's wonderful.
It just makes you wanna throw up with laughter.
- (Finebros) Why do you think Japan allows game shows like this?
- I don't know.
- Traditionally, they were a very reserved, quiet people.
Maybe, to them, to see someone go completely opposite of that,
it's kind of freeing for them also.
- It's a different culture, a total different culture.
What they see as funny, we may not.
- What we may think as funny may not be funny to another country,
or the same thing, that their humor may be different than our humor.
- It's Eastern world, Western world, mentalities that definitely
are at two different ends of the spectrum.
- (Finebros) A common misconception is that game shows
as crazy as these still exist in Japan today,
but most of these are from the recent past,
when game shows like these would happen all the time,
but now there's more regulation and it's not the same as it used to be.
What do you think about that? - Well, I'm glad that somebody
took a step to give the public back a little bit of dignity.
- They wanna make sure it's clean and not dangerous.
- I think it's a very good idea. Very constructive.
- Maybe people died, maybe people got hurt,
maybe people just had had enough of it.
Maybe they didn't want to debase people any more.
- (Finebros) Do you think any game shows like this could ever work here
in the U.S.? - No.
It's unsanitary. Really, it is.
- I'm sure that variations of it have been probably incorporated
in game shows in the past.
- I could see something like that in Hollywood.
People want a good laugh, and they want to see something new.
- I don't think this country's that different, you know?
It's like-- figure out what makes people laugh,
and what entertains people, and what people are willing to
put up with to go on a game show, and there you have it.
- (Finebros) Well, for some people here,
the idea that this was normal in Japan is hard to believe.
In your travels, have you ever seen something
you totally didn't understand from another country?
- I can't recall. I've travelled to so many countries.
I can't recall something like that.
- Cuisine.
That's mainly what sticks out in my travels,
is I found the food very different in places.
Australia, for instance, I found it very bland.
- In Vietnam, their rats are huge
and people eat them.
- The only thing I did once see in China
was people lived in caves.
They had lived in caves for many years,
and the old women also had the bound feet,
you know, which is outlawed in China now,
but at one point that was very big cultural thing.
- It's their country. It's their customs.
You need to get out and explore the local neighborhood,
and talk to the local people, and go to the local restaurants.
If you go to McDonald's, what's the point?
- (Finebros) Okay, finally, back to these game shows:
if you had to be a contestant on one of the game shows we showed you,
which one would you choose and why? - I would take the frog.
- Putting a frog in your mouth.
- I'm going for the frog in my mouth.
- I guess the frog.
Anything but the butt in my face!
- I would choose the first one with the sumo wrestler.
- The sumo, I guess.
To eat something live, I couldn't do that.
- The butt thing. (laughs)
His butt looks soft,
so it's like a pillow going to my face. (laughs)
- Thanks for watching this episode of Elders React.
- Hey, subscribe.
You'll be the first to know when a new video comes out.
- Thanks for watching. Sayonara!
♪ (ragtime music) ♪