Post Olympics Domo-kun

So while everyone in the US of A was enjoying rather poor Olympics coverage, those of us in Japan were enjoying the Olympics as done by Japan. Which means cute and weird. Mostly weird.

Those of you who have watched Japanese TV in the past know exactly what I’m talking about, and the Olympics coverage happened exactly as you’d expect. First you have some very energetic newscasters. Possibly strung out on green tea. Then you have an overly elaborate set, which while interesting, also looks very tacky. Then you also have to have a mascot, so why not throw in some Domo-kun love. Plus my favorite part of the Japanese Olympic coverage were the faxes. Oh yes. People all over Japan faxed in their words of encouragement as well as drawings. Heck, one day they even received a fax from some of the Japanese Olympic athletes!

In case you were wondering, yes, Japan as a country still heavily relies on the Fax Machine to send information. Not email.

I also want to bring up the topic of Ice Dancing. Something I had somehow never noticed throughout my 27 years on this planet. While I’ll leave the topic of “is it really a sport?” for another day, I would like to point out two Japanese Olympic Ice Dancers. The brother and sister duo of Chris and Cathy Reed. Born and raised in Michigan, but with dual citizenship with Japan, these two were very fun to watch on Japanese TV. Not their dancing, but their interviews. Their spoken Japanese makes me look fluent.

But I will have to hand it to Japanese TV. Unlike the US they managed to air LIVE coverage of the sports all day long, and have highlights coverage in the evening. Suck it NBC.