Yup. Pam Anderson as well, and Jordan, both pretty much did body modification to fuel their celebrity.

The guy had pretty much memorized dozens and dozens of Japanese kotowaza. Japanese proverbs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I mean, it was very impressive, don't get me wrong, but his Japanese was waaaaaaaay above the level of almost everyone else on the exchange and they chose to film him IN my painting class, which he had never before attended. It aired on Japanese TV in 2008 on some show hosted by Jicho Kacho (comedy duo), which might explain why it wasn't really srrss bssnss.


There are some excellent documentaries about Japan, there are also some really bogus ones. There are some with elements of excellence and hype. The thing you have to bear in mind when watching is that they will always pick up on things that are not necessarily wide-spread. The panty vending machine was a good example; news of it got spread as if you could find them on every street corner, which isn't true. They were exceedingly rare and most people wouldn't have dreamed of using one. There was a good BBC doc about fish; BBC - BBC Four Programmes - Fish! A Japanese Obsession which did look at a lot of extreme practices that the average japanese probably doesn't partake in, but it was more about exploring where these came from than being all 'omg! Japan is weirrrd!"
There was one about some girl who went to kyoto to learn how to be a geisha that was pretty rubbish. She spent the whole time banging on about how she thought they were selling sex and they don't and it's kind of silly and yadda yadda, and nothing came out that was terrifically useful. The Japanorama series was technically good, and mostly true information, but the view of Japan was skewed into certain areas of pop culture which gives a misleading representation.

I saw a few documentaries last year-- but of course they mostly were biased towards the shock reaction.

Kelly Osbourne--- did you see that? she visited the Love hotels, and a place where they can inhale oxygen as a treat-- she did go to a school-- where the pupils were wonderful--I thought how well behaved they were-- she also I believe was taken to a shrine-- etc.


There was a film about the fishing with cormorants-- extremely skilful.

I would love to see more genuine documentaries.

One was where a young couple were featured-- and how hard it was to get work-- living in a very tiny room----------- they followed the young man to the company he wished to join-- and showed the morning exercises they had to do.

All documentaries can be very biased and extraordinary things selected-- but not really a true picture at all.

um I guess this is not about cosmetic surgery now.

Yes, they should, and that's why in most countries, they need to be 18 before they can have platic surgery performed on them.

I think it's ok to have it if a certain aspect of your body makes you feel really miserable, but you have to know what you're about to put yourself through. You need to know the risks and whatnot. It's sad that people go to cheap clinics to get it done cause they can't afford better medical conditions. This puts their life at risk for the sake of saving a few bucks. I say, if you really want this surgery, make sure you put yourself in good hands and be ready to spend however much it costs.

The oxygen thing I never saw once in my time in Japan.

And I saw a lot... I even saw a few hashish cafes where you can smoke hashish arabian style.

Not saying that it exists but in a global city like Osaka with a global market you're going to see a lot of wierd and wacky and often tacky things no matter where you are so to attribute the oxygen thing to Japan is not accurate.

Anyway...I believe that was actually started in California.

Japanese oxygen bar sets up regional base in Hong Kong

here is an article about Hong Kong having oxygen bars.


I wonder if one would become addicted-- and how safe it is.

Hashish is very illegal in Japan. Are you sure they weren't hookah bars where flavored tobacco is smoked?


Aren't we all addicted to oxygen already?

Not sure to be honest. I don't know much about this sort of thing. I don't even know if hashish is the right word for the stuff that is smoked normally.

You're welcome :) glad I could help someone with the right idea lol ^^;

Ha ha I like that MM.

It was hookah. Sometimes they're described as hashish bars because that's what's smoked at home, but I've seen them in Japan and the UK and it's just flavored tobacco. It's not bad and pretty easy smoking, but it's actually less healthy for you than conventional cigarettes.