Last week I went to see my sister in-law who had just given birth to a beautiful daughter. My wife and I went to see her at a private hospital. I find seeing new born babies incredibly healing. I always feel a sense of peace and love when holding a new born. When we entered the room I was surprised to find the television on. Her daughter, yet to be named, was less than two days old but was already being exposed to television. No peaceful music, but rather the screeching laughs of comedians filled the air. Even when it was quite clear that we were staying for a chat the TV was still left on. So we had to compete with the noise as we talked about her beautiful baby. I found it quite difficult to concentrate on the conversation. No one was watching the TV, but it was left on. This did take me by surprise, but when I think about it now as I write this I know I shouldn’t be because this phenomenon is all to common in Japan.
A lot of small pubs in Japan have TVs sets constantly switch on during work hours so salary men can catch the news or sport each night after a hard days work . This can be a little annoying because if you are wanting to chat with friends it is hard to hear each other with the competing noise and it is a little unusual or off putting as you are compelled to look in the same direction as everyone else. On several occasions I have been invited to the homes of Japanese friends for dinner and been amazed to find the TV was left on the whole time we were there. These were fairly formal dinner. Not watching the baseball while having a BBQ kinda thing . A long dinner with wine and conversation…….and the TV in the background
My own father in-law cannot sleep without the television on. My brother in-law locks himself in his room and basically spends all his free time watching TV or playing computer games. When they eat the TV must be on. They can’t seem to eat in silence or participate in a conversation. Even on special family occasions, New Year’s Day or children’s birthdays the TV is on. My protests are considered comical and I am often laughed at when I express my frustration or concern about having the TV on all the time.
I talked about to my students about it and found most of them watch three to six hours of television a day. I asked them why they spend so much time watching TV and all I got was a shrug of the shoulders. Obviously watching hours and hours of TV everyday isn’t healthy and a huge waste of free time, but what concerns me or frustrates me more is the quality of television programs in Japan. In general television in Japan is very poor. There are very few educational or documentary type programs It is just variety show after variety show, drama after drama and baseball. The presentation of the news is very formalized – dry and boring, No smiles of laughs. Just a robot-like presenter reading off the news. And then there are the comedy shows. I will admit I have seen a lot of funny stuff on some comedy programs, but most of it is childish antics that you generally would never conceive Japanese capable of doing or enjoying.
So here it comes. The television set in Japan is a family member, just like a pet. The thing is always on even when people aren’t watching it. It is indispensable. People cannot eat, sleep, function or live without it. As fate would have it my father in-law’s TV broke last week. Over dinner we talked about what a good thing it was not watching TV. He was amazed at the amount of free time he had to do other things. The only problem was he was having trouble getting to sleep. He brought a TV a few days ago. It keeps him company while he sleeps.
