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Do the Japanese watch the Superbowl

sabro

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23 Apr 2004
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It seems like everyone here watches the Superbowl... even if we don't care who wins, we watch the commercials.

Who in Japan watches the Superbowl and what do you think of it?
 
It seems like everyone here watches the Superbowl... even if we don't care who wins, we watch the commercials.

Who in Japan watches the Superbowl and what do you think of it?

Sabro - you're presuming we all know what it is! I've never seen it. I've heard references to it in movies and kind of know roughly what it is. Rugby with the benefit of extra soft padding and a helmet. You know, I don't think I know anyone who has any idea of American Football in Japan. When is it?
 
Combination of the time of day that its on (early morning I think, like 8am) and the fact that very, very, very, very few people follow American football, I doubt it even gets on the evening news here - the results were never on Australian TV.
 
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Interesting fact... This time last year I was in Japan, in immigration detention during which, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team of the city where I live at the moment, and where in fact I was born won the super bowl... I remember the man telling me as he escorted me to the plane...
 
To tell the truth, I don't think much people besides americans actually follow the superbowl. :)
 
To tell the truth, I don't think much people besides americans actually follow the superbowl. :)

Well, many Mexicans do. It might be the fact that we're so influenced by American culture just by being their southern neighbors.

I always hear little kids getting all excited because they want to see Beyonce or The Rolling Stones or whatever on the halftime show. The highest-attendance game in NFL history wasn't in Mexico city for nothing. In fact it is so big a business in Mexico, that it was broadcasted by the two national TV chains Televisa and TV Azteca. But I must say I enjoyed best watching it on American television.

Mauricio Mejia
 
The most I know about the superbowl came from that episode of the Simpson when Homer had to do the half-time show.

Along with other odd references in American TV or movies.


The world cup, now THATS a global sporting event.

I hate football but even I can get behind a team for that.
 
I would have thought such a question is really like, How many watch the Six nations in Japan? (Poor Nuri😊(In joke)) or How many Americans watch Sumo?I would think it is very much a marginal sport outside North America, so only ex-pats or thoses that like odd foreign sports would watch it.
 
Combination of the time of day that its on (early morning I think, like 8am) and the fact that very, very, very, very few people follow American football, I doubt it even gets on the evening news here - the results were never on Australian TV.
I haven't listened to any of the full radio news broadcasts yet today but NHK did have a fairly detailed article on their site so I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least a final score. Here in the US we also get way more interest in and reporting from Japan than Australia....:p
 
The fact of the matter is, that the United States has certain established sports that probably are marginalized outside of the country, things like Hockey, (asides from Canada), American Football, Basketball & Baseball... Baseball is a notable exception because as we all know, the Japanese share a love for Baseball.

We don't share the same love for soccer, or football, as its called everywhere else but here, but we are gaining some moderate interest... It's just as I said, we already have a fully developed set of sports that the American public is interested in, and soccer seems to take second or third tier to them.
 
hm I think it's a bit strange question :D cause at least as I know American football is like an American sport I mean it's not that popular outside of U.S. so why should Japanese wathc Super Bowl :) I think it's only natural that you watch the commercials of it because I mean you're an american :D yeah it would be the same question as "does american watch sumo" or something like that damn this topic just cranks me up :D
 
I really doubt the Japanese follow the Superbowl. But, I read an article tonight that they seem to love SpongeBob Squarepants! Here it is:

Japan absorbed by a sponge
Young women are the biggest fans of Nickelodeon's cartoon character SpongeBob in the animation-loving land.
By Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press
February 5, 2007


TOKYO — Square and loud, SpongeBob wasn't supposed to have much chance for success in Japan, a nation known for its love of more cuddly characters such as Hello Kitty and Pikachu.

But the perky, bucktoothed American cartoon character is proving the skeptics wrong. SpongeBob SquarePants attracts nearly 1.9 million Japanese households to his TV show daily and is raking in a growing share of the $5 billion in annual retail sales for Nickelodeon, the Viacom Inc. unit behind the show.

And he's doing it by capturing the hearts of Japan's young women — not children, his most loyal fans in the U.S.

"I started collecting Bob because I think he's cute and he stands out," said Mayu Takahashi, a 21-year-old student who was shopping in Tokyo's fashionable Harajuku district holding a SpongeBob tote bag. "Some of my friends say he's a creepy kind of cute."

SpongeBob's popularity here is unusual. His show — the No. 1 children's program in the U.S. — runs as specials on Japanese broadcast channels and airs regularly only on satellite and some cable systems.

Even in the U.S., no one expected a story about a sponge that lives in a pineapple-shaped home to catch on when it started airing in 1999. SpongeBob, created by Stephen Hillenburg, a former marine biology teacher, was a surprise hit.

New York-based Viacom carefully orchestrated SpongeBob's introduction to Japan in 2000. It targeted young women, viewed as trendsetters, through licensed products and sought to create underground appeal through word of mouth.

Showings of "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" were restricted to art-house theaters.

A hip-hop designer created SpongeBob jewelry. A pop star was signed to praise the cartoon character in the local media. Glossy magazines for teenagers ran stories on him.

Viacom believed that this strategy would overcome the risk that SpongeBob might end up a short-lived fad in Japan, where consumers tend to get bored quickly with characters.

Hardly visible at first in items such as handbag charms for high school girls, SpongeBob is now popping up in knickknack stores, mobile phone sites and blog chatter. More than 30 Japanese companies are churning out goods plastered with SpongeBob's likeness, from a $1.70 eraser to a $300 stuffed doll the size of a giant cushion.

Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, said her company had set a target of $25 million in annual sales of SpongeBob merchandise in Japan.

The Asian nation is potentially a larger licensing market than the U.S., partly because Japanese, especially young women, tend to love knickknacks, figures and other character products.

"We were told for a long time that SpongeBob just was a character that wouldn't work in Japan," said Ed Wells, vice president at Viacom International Japan.

"But if you look everywhere around the world, SpongeBob has really become a huge phenomenon."

Masanori Yamamoto, manager at the Kiddy Land toy store in Tokyo, said SpongeBob appealed to young people who want to be ahead of the crowd.

"Disney characters have been around for so long, they feel Japanese," he said.

SpongeBob also appeals to go-getter parents as a fun way to teach English to children.

Emi Aida has her daughters, Sara, 3, and Mika, 5, watch the show in English.

"It's a cute character and so she likes it," she said, eyeing Mika clutching a SpongeBob doll at a recent children's event that featured games, treats and an actor in a SpongeBob outfit.
 
Ah but David Beckham hasn't in Los Angeles arrived yet.
I wonder if I asked 10 people if they knew who David Beckham was, if they would know the answer, and he's arguably the most public face in football today.

While working/living in England for brief stints, I watched a lot more football there, I mean, it's simply available in ways that it isn't here... You're not going to turn on the television and catch Bundesliga in the States at any given time unless you pay some extra cash for (if it eaven exists) something like a Sky-Sports, or football package...

In England its ubiquitous, so it's really actually pretty hard to avoid thumbing through the channels and sometimes seeing two different games going on at once...

We all pay attention during the World Cup, not because we have a team that could even make it in the finals, but because we've become endeared to the fact that we actually do have a team that competes, and I think, people in the United States do love a good competition, the grandness of a game that comes every 4 years.

It's hard to turn away from that sort of thing, everyone seems to be able to root for someone.
 
I wonder if I asked 10 people if they knew who David Beckham was, if they would know the answer, and he's arguably the most public face in football today.

While working/living in England for brief stints, I watched a lot more football there, I mean, it's simply available in ways that it isn't here... You're not going to turn on the television and catch Bundesliga in the States at any given time unless you pay some extra cash for (if it eaven exists) something like a Sky-Sports, or football package...

In England its ubiquitous, so it's really actually pretty hard to avoid thumbing through the channels and sometimes seeing two different games going on at once...

We all pay attention during the World Cup, not because we have a team that could even make it in the finals, but because we've become endeared to the fact that we actually do have a team that competes, and I think, people in the United States do love a good competition, the grandness of a game that comes every 4 years.

It's hard to turn away from that sort of thing, everyone seems to be able to root for someone.


Yeah, football is hard to find in the States. There's already a channel in the U.S. called Fox Soccer Channel, so yeah, there is soccer on all the time. Of course, it only comes in select cable providers.

And nothing like the World Cup, I know it might sound geeky, but I have the Panini album from the 2002 and 2006 finals. Nothing like browsing it 4 years later and getting wonderful nostalgia. Is this too corny?

Mauricio
 
I'd have to go along with those above who said that it is very un-watched here in Japan. While, on the other hand, American Football is slowly catching on as another sport.

The other two local institutions of higher education in the nearby area both have American Football teams as well as the usual soccer, rugby, baseball, and so on. In Gusto, a branch of the Sky Lark family restaurant chain, they aways air a report on American Football on the TVs that they have going during business hours.

Who knows...it may catch on more and more. I doubt it would ever overtake baseball, however. (On second thought, get Janet Jackson to do some more and even spicier half-time shows, and I wouldn't be surprized if it over ran prime late time TV here...and be shown in most bars with TVs. hee, hee, hee..)
 
superbowel

Sabro - you're presuming we all know what it is! I've never seen it. I've heard references to it in movies and kind of know roughly what it is. Rugby with the benefit of extra soft padding and a helmet. You know, I don't think I know anyone who has any idea of American Football in Japan. When is it?
it was a few days ago. i watched it. the colts did a good job. it was also for the first time 2 black coaches had teams . number one the bear coach used to work with coach dungy for about 3 years. coach dungy got the players together and was fired and then grulen took over and the bucs won to the superbowel. remember dungy put the team together. ok then he got a job with the colts and worked with them and now they won. god bless him florida did wrong to coach dungy and should have apolized to him. he is a gentleman never raise his voice and does not swear. that is unusal of a football coach. budwiser and coca cola topped on the commercials. i always enjoy the superbowel only i do not watch every day football. thank you kimiko kusumoto-francescaholloway lakeland florida
 
to mars man

I'd have to go along with those above who said that it is very un-watched here in Japan. While, on the other hand, American Football is slowly catching on as another sport.
The other two local institutions of higher education in the nearby area both have American Football teams as well as the usual soccer, rugby, baseball, and so on. In Gusto, a branch of the Sky Lark family restaurant chain, they aways air a report on American Football on the TVs that they have going during business hours.
Who knows...it may catch on more and more. I doubt it would ever overtake baseball, however. (On second thought, get Janet Jackson to do some more and even spicier half-time shows, and I wouldn't be surprized if it over ran prime late time TV here...and be shown in most bars with TVs. hee, hee, hee..)
you are ok in my book i like your outfit and your running feet you remind me of the the rabbit for a battery commercial keeps going on and on and on and etc. mars man its unique he he he its cute francescaholloway-kimiko kusumoto hiroshima lakeland florida
 
baseball swallows team

I'd have to go along with those above who said that it is very un-watched here in Japan. While, on the other hand, American Football is slowly catching on as another sport.
The other two local institutions of higher education in the nearby area both have American Football teams as well as the usual soccer, rugby, baseball, and so on. In Gusto, a branch of the Sky Lark family restaurant chain, they aways air a report on American Football on the TVs that they have going during business hours.
Who knows...it may catch on more and more. I doubt it would ever overtake baseball, however. (On second thought, get Janet Jackson to do some more and even spicier half-time shows, and I wouldn't be surprized if it over ran prime late time TV here...and be shown in most bars with TVs. hee, hee, hee..)
aleX # 3 yakult swallows is a good baseball player from south america. alex ramirez also years ago played for Bisons and when i knew his family just before he went to japan he was with the cleveland indains. i know his wife Besty they have a condo in orlando or daytona florida. he has family here in polk county i have met some of his brothers and sisters. his wife brother is married to my ex daughter in law diane married to jose dejesus. do you know alex email? kimiko kusumoto hiroshima francesca holloway lakeland florida
 
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