Best and Worst of the 2006

craftsman · 7 Jan 2007

Excuse the title. 'the' seems to have jumped. Here is a summary of an article in the Japan Times about the Best and Worst of 2006 in Japan:

* Media persons of the year: Children (Lots of killing here)

children killing parents
parents killing children
bullying i.e. children and teachers leading to the death of children
birth of Prince Hisahito ( and then killing off the idea of changing the succession sex)

* Best TV commercial: Suntory's Black Oolong Tea Click on the second one down.

A group of middle-aged men, all dressed in somber suits with bright red napkins tucked under their chins, sit at a round table set with rich food and PET bottles of oolong tea, singing lustily while a young woman in white accompanies them on piano. The song has an effortless melody, and the rhythm is jaunty, almost martial. The men beam as they sing the Chinese lyrics, which are translated into Japanese subtitles at the bottom of the screen: "A life without love or oily food is not a life for me."

Click to expand...

* Worst TV commercial: Daihatsu's Mira Click on the 4th picture down.

A 16-year-old boy carries his giggling 40-year-old mother on his shoulders. She climbs down and gets behind the wheel of Daihatsu's Mira minicar, telling her son before she drives off alone, "I'm just going to have some fun." The mother is played by the actress called You and the son by Yuya Yagira. They played out the same relationship in the award-winning film "Nobody Knows," in which a single mother instructs her 11-year-old son to take care of his three younger siblings when she goes off to have some fun. She never returns.

* Media nonperson of the year: Shinzo Abe

A man so enthralling that...

...the political satire troupe The Newspaper, who impersonates Abe, has said it's the hardest role he's ever played because the prime minister essentially has no qualities.

* Winner of the year: Tsuyoshi Shinjo and his 5 million yen teeth.

* Loser of the year: The Democratic Party of Japan

Before earnest, naive DPJ lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata started waving an e-mail in the halls of the Diet that he claimed implicated the son of Liberal Democratic Party honcho Tsutomu Ta-kebe in an alleged money-for-favors deal, the ruling party was in serious trouble because of its mishandling of a series of scandals.

After it was shown that the e-mail was fake, the tables were turned and the DPJ lost all credibility. The party has yet to regain any of it, probably because Ichiro Ozawa, once an LDP honcho himself, took over the reins as a result of the fiasco.

I recently shot Ichiro Ozawa.....well his big cheesy face on a poster...with an air pistol - not that I have anything against him personally - but it was perfect size for target practice.

* Most effective coverage: Drunk driving

* Most pointless coverage: Takafumi Horie's release from jail

Who cares indeed.

* Most problematic coverage: Youth suicides

Surely this list can be improved upon. Any ideas for the best and worst of 2006?

yukio_michael · 7 Jan 2007

That Daihatsu Mira commericial actually made me sad... Okay... see you soon mom? Mom.....??

And what, no mention of Daisuke Matsuzaka?? That man's pitch is FIERCE... I can't wait to actually watch American baseball again... Kei Igawa goes to the Mets for 20 mil, in a five year deal too...

nice gaijin · 7 Jan 2007

What about the handkerchief prince? or the figure skaters?

I'd have to say the worst ads are the softbank(?) ones with Cameron Diaz. Time has not been kind to her, and at least they could have fixed her crooked nose on those HUGE billboards. The Daihatsu commercials just suck in general, but I'm not sure if they deserve an award for it

Definitely agree on the mention of drunk driving coverage; it was intense for a month or two, then tapered off. I'm not sure whether this means that shining the public spotlight on the situation (and getting more strict) has proven effective, or that the public has simply lost interest.

craftsman · 7 Jan 2007

nice gaijin said:
I'd have to say the worst ads are the softbank(?) ones with Cameron Diaz. Time has not been kind to her, and at least they could have fixed her crooked nose on those HUGE billboards

I've only seen the TV ad. I didn't think she looked too bad, but I'm not a fan anyway. For anyone who hasn't seen the Cameron Diaz commercial click here. Warning: it contains a Barry Manilow song that some viewers may find offensive to the ears.

nice gaijin · 7 Jan 2007

There are several TV spots, at least three with Diaz jabbering her bobble-head off in various situations (all are on youtube), and at least two of Brad Pitt doing the same but looking a little less ridiculous.

The most prevalant print ad I've seen is a HUGE headshot of Diaz, where her nose looks like she just stepped out of the ring with (for the sake of current sports references) the Kameda brothers. Surprisingly, I can't find an image of the ad in question. I did, however, find a lot of articles about how Diaz has broken her nose four times, and recently underwent rhinoplasty (supposedly to help her breathe easier). here is a photo of her, post-op. I still think she's hideous.

Nevertheless, the ads have been a huge success here. So much so, that Softbank's systems were so inundated with new customers that they crashed. It's a mystery to me.

craftsman · 7 Jan 2007

yukio_michael said:
That Daihatsu Mira commericial actually made me sad... Okay... see you soon mom? Mom.....??
And what, no mention of Daisuke Matsuzaka?? That man's pitch is FIERCE... I can't wait to actually watch American baseball again... Kei Igawa goes to the Mets for 20 mil, in a five year deal too...

Kei Igawa is definitely one of the year's winners with his $4 million contract.

I couldn't work out whether this was one of the worst or best music performances on TV but it certainly offended enough people to warrant international media attention. And before anyone thinks I'm posting soft porn - the ladies are not bare chested - they're wearing breast T-shirts.

I'm talking about DJ Ozuma's New Year NHK nudey special which you can see here.

nice gaijin, that link isn't letting me through to the site. Is it me or is the link OK?

Iron Chef · 7 Jan 2007

Shizuka Arakawa bringing home the gold was pretty newsworthy in a field of male-dominated sports coverage.

craftsman · 7 Jan 2007

For the winners and losers in the sporting world, here's the top 10 of the Daily Yomiuri's top 20 sports stories of 2006:

1. The Japan baseball team – after winning the World Baseball Classic.

2 . Daisuke Matsuzaka – who the Red Sox invested $103 million in.

3. Shizuka Arakawa – who won Gold at the Olympics and famous for her bend.

4. Nippon Ham Fighters – who brought the first ever Japan Series title to Hokkaido.

5. Koki Kameda – who won the WBC light flyweight title.

6. Hidetoshi Nakata – who retired as a football player (and vilified in my household for his awful world cup displays).

7. Urawa Reds - who won the J League title on the last day of the season.

8. Japan soccer team – Zico's team of underperformers wimped out of the World cup.

9. 'Handkerchief Prince' – Waseda Jitsugyo pitcher Yuki Saito kept a handkerchief in his back pocket to wipe away sweat while winning the national high school baseball championship.

10. Deep Impact – the famous racing horse earned itself a doping disqualification in Paris.

misa.j · 9 Jan 2007

craftsman said:
I'm talking about DJ Ozuma's New Year NHK nudey special which you can see here.

Wow, that video was pretty absurd. The girls did look like they were bare chested, though. I don't understand how that could be aired on NHK.

Davey · 9 Jan 2007

craftsman said:
I couldn't work out whether this was one of the worst or best music performances on TV but it certainly offended enough people to warrant international media attention. And before anyone thinks I'm posting soft porn - the ladies are not bare chested - they're wearing breast T-shirts.

I'm talking about DJ Ozuma's New Year NHK nudey special which you can see here.

I think it was pretty funny actually .

Bad thing about 2006
The sexual misconduct with a minor by the comedian Keiichi Yamamoto's. from Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!

Best and Worst of the 2006

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