I Tried Watching Japan's WORST TV Show of All Time

what if i told you there's a way you can get fit learn a language and have fun all at the same time well check this out [Music] oh dear maybe not i think i'm gonna need some aspirin welcome to the world of eikaiwa tyson speaking english quite literally english conversation exercise through voluntary muscle english all right rolls right off the tongue doesn't it don't say a word speaking english has been something of an internet meme for many years now and let's face it it's not hard to see why i first came across this language learning miracle six years ago we're producing a series on this channel called losing weight in japan an unsurprisingly ill-fated series in which i tried to lose 10 kilograms in 10 weeks needless to say the only thing i lost at the time was my dignity now at the time i just assumed it was some weird one-off special tv show that was a parody or something you know who would make this but it turns out there's far more to it than a bad case of diarrhea because there are 24 episodes of speaking english each one introducing exciting and new english phrases from everyday life and situations in the english-speaking world i can't stand the sight of you i can't stand the sight of you i mean this was a real tv show that somebody had spent money on and broadcast on fuji television at five o'clock in the morning now imagine waking up 4 30 a.m you dive into the shower you grab your morning coffee and then when the clock strikes five psycho honestly the more you learn about speaking english the more absurd that it gets so today we'll discover why this is one of the most ridiculous tv shows you will ever see including the questionable english phrases they taught which came riddled with some pretty sinister undertakings at times hand me your bag and finally we'll test the show out on a real-life japanese man who to be fair took it incredibly seriously now morning exercise is pretty popular in japan as it is in asia in general with radio taiso literally radio calisthenics being barked out of a speaker for workers to perform in the morning before the work day begins but zeke in english was created against his backdrop the show was comprised of three stages it would start with a practical setting where top-rated actors both japanese and foreign acted out a dramatic scene with powerful raw emotions oh miss inayoshi i'm so glad you could make it top rate actors the best in the business then one of the characters would be utterly distraught their lack of english knowledge and finally enter our heroes the zuikin girls thank you for inviting me tonight i'll admit though my favorite scenes aren't the weekend girls they're the weekend boys who execute the dances with an unmatched level of enthusiasm it looks like the camera crew burst into a bar pointed at three drunk salarymen in the corner and went [ __ ] it yeah you'll do you've got to give them some credit at least for uh getting involved and delivering those those sick moves it all seems like harmless fun but at times it does have some pretty sinister undertones to it all in this episode a character goes on holiday and then she's jumped by two shady men with flawless disguises shut up don't say a word don't move if you do i'll kill you [Music] i mean it's it's five o'clock in the morning that's a little bit strong isn't it everything you want everything you want it's all right they're dancing take anything you want take anything you want yeah i rewind though wait a minute go back let's take a look at those uh those ferocious criminal masterminds hand me your bag oh i wonder who the robber could be it's a bit difficult to give a character description to the police but with the completely unobstructed view of his face and wait a minute isn't that jason alexander from seinfeld what's going on there then i was developed by me and if you're wondering what in the world of [ __ ] this guy is wearing a bit of cultural trivia for you while in the west our stereotype image of a burglar is this or this in japan they look more like this they wear a bandana called a hokamuri it's typically worn by farmers but in this case it's tied up into what can only be described as the world's worst disguise now credit where it's due to the show there's scarcely a real life situation that isn't covered in zika english's extensive list of vocabulary from being robbed by jason alexander to having highly specific medical emergencies brought on by a bad case of diarrhoea i am allergic to penicillin oh penicillin oh very specific okay please explain your symptoms in detail as much as possible i cannot treat you until i know more you know for somebody who delivered the phrase i am allergic to penny city with surprising ease and fluency she does she does give up very easily doesn't she essentially a japanese karen another eyebrow-raising expression involves two characters who've just watched a film and the girl has trouble choosing her words to describe how she felt at the ending of the movie the climax scene really got to me [Music] sorry what exactly were they watching so what are the two reasons that zouk in english is fatally flawed and let's face it i think i'm being a little bit generous with just two reasons floor number one is exaggerated knowledge imagine if you've watched a god forbid a full season of this show you know all the phrases you know all the dances and techniques you're gonna have some pretty gaping holes in your knowledge the day you inevitably get robbed by two men you okay sir yeah okay what happened i was loved by two men two men robbed you oh god what do they look like i was loved by two men yes what were their faces what do they look like huh i was loved by two yeah we've established there were two men sir yeah i was lovely by two we're not really getting anywhere are we sir that'll be my whole life yes spend my life spare me my life okay it's desperately my own life it's all rather strange was it by any chance this man yeah the mayor jason alexander i thought it might be yeah i have a backus of daily i have a bacchus of daddy i have a burgers up there here i have a vacuum okay so the whole premise of zika in english is that as you move your body as you move your muscles you're able to retain and memorize phrases a lot easier that's the whole sort of genius of this week in english concept but let's call it out what it is utter bollocks but surely for the viewers of the show who are learning these phrases these really important phrases they're probably going to need to reenact the dance or certainly reenact the pattern which the words are said to recollect the phrase and god forbid the day that you need to use any of these actual phrases the blood tests tell a rather worrying story and ask you have a severe allergic reaction to something we don't know what it is but we need to know or you will die in 24 hours now for the last time what drug are you allergic to i have an allergy to two to two allergy do you remember i remember oh good i am allergic to penicillin penicillin yeah i'm allergic to penicillin despite these flaws natsuki did actually get pretty worn out doing the fitness aspect of it but the memorization component definitely didn't work i am i've always been amazed at the lengths people in japan go to to learn the english language there's no country in the world i suspect that has as many resources about learning english as japan i mean take this book the old talashi fact one of my favorite books the correct way to use [ __ ] which teaches you sentences in context with various characters and figures throughout world history one of my favorite series of japanese english textbooks literally the words that don't appear in the english exams barbed wire you know sometimes i like to look up at the stars and picture an alternate universe where z week in english took off became popular dominated tvs and fitness regimes throughout the lab miss inayoshi i'm so glad you could make it although to be fair it's an alternate universe that i'm glad i'm not in this week in english ended after only one season an undeniable tragedy as to the people who watched zurich in english we'll never really know how many how many embraced its teaching methods what i want to see is a documentary about the zoikim boys where are they now what happened what happened to them after they did that in the meantime i encourage you to watch an entire episode as we kill english online on youtube and see the profound effect it has on your health you know both physical and mental uh as for me thus concludes one of the weirdest videos i've ever made as always some more behind the scenes stuff check out the abroad japan patreon but for now guys as always many thanks for watching i'll see you next time right here on the abroad japan channel and as for me well i've got a case to solve diarrhea yeah

Channel: Abroad in Japan

Views: 408,870

Rating: 4.9692974 out of 5

Keywords: japanese tv, japan tv, abroad in japan, trash taste

Id: m8G2skmYsAk

Length: 12min 13sec (733 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 27 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/JPSTheBigFella]

Very funny upload, personally loved the bozo reference.

[u/indeed_indeed_indeed]

The diarrhoea song is stuck in my head.

[u/DBCargo]

Adding Natsuki was a great choice! Very funny!

[u/rynnikelddi]

Easily the funniest video Chris has made to date.

Natsuki's inclusion makes it even better.