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the japanese obama

When watching Japanese TV, there's one question that you should never ask:
"Why are they doing that?"

"Why is that old man jumping around on a pogo stick while singing the national anthem in a leotard?"

"Why is that woman dressed in only a small vest and thigh-length boots and throwing cream pies at those cute little dogs dressed in Sherlock Holmes outfits?"

And now: "Why is that man always saying 'Yes we can' and going all the way to the United States in order to meet Barack Obama?"

No one can ever understand "why". Not even Japanese people.

Recently a man called Nocchi was told by his wife, over breakfast, that he resembled Barack Obama....



One thing led to another and it culminated in a peak-time TV show sending him to the States on a mission.

The mission was to be acknowledged by Obama.

"Why?"

Because they can?



First he went to Obama's house thinking he could knock on his door and say hello. Not surprisingly, he was met by the police who told him to turn the camera off.



After visiting several other places in the hope of meeting Obama, he took a break and got his hair cut:
- at the same barbers as Obama
- by the same barber as Obama
- in the same seat as Obama

"Why?"

Because they can?



Nocchi got a tip off that Obama was going to see a show in New York, so he rushed along hoping to meet him there, only to be met by more police...



"No you can't."


Then Obama's motorcade left and Nocchi caught a glimpse of someone familiar....



....but he needed closer contact.

His last chance was a pre-election rally...



He got pretty close to the podium for Obama's speech....



And then after the speech, Obama shook some hands. He came close to Nocchi....very close....



But did they make contact? Did Obama shake hands with Obama? Did it all end happily? Do you care?

Why?

Watch the video to find out. The original programme was an hour long but here all the guff has been taken out, leaving just six minutes of the purest entertainment you are ever unlikely to see.



Running time: 6 minutes
More information here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 09, 2008 at 12:07 am. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

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On Sunday, 09 November, 2008, Blogger PkerUNO said:

This is precisely why I left Japan.  



On Monday, 10 November, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said:

Ahh! So this is why while I was watching election night coverage on MBS they kept running a few seconds of some guy shouting "Yatta! Yatta!" before every commercial. Thank you for helping me and everyone else to understand Japanese television a tiny bit more. ^_^  



On Monday, 10 November, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said:

My brother came to visit me a couple of years back making it too Englishmen in the arse end of Chiba. I rather foolishly left him infront of the TV while I took a shower before we hit the towns one and only bar. When I came back he was traumatized. He'd made it through the chimpanzee with the bull dog buying train tickets
and getting on the train but after he saw them racing a rabbit, a poodle, a pig and a cat in a swimming pool topped off with 5 minutes of commercials it was too much for him to handle. Now he just rocks back and forth jibbering pocky...poodle....swimming rabbit.

Beware  



On Tuesday, 11 November, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said:

I remember watching only the second half of the show on TV. Miss out on the first part, thanks for sharing it. It is really funny showing him going all the way to the US juz to catch Obama in action. Had a very good laugh all the way. Japanese tv programmes are really insanely fascinating.  



On Tuesday, 11 November, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said:

That was absolutely AWESOME, God I miss this sort of thing. Btw EnglishmanInOsaka - any chance you could post the odd commercial on YouTube? I'm particularly after Famiri Maato. Cheers!  



On Thursday, 13 November, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said:

Funny, I like it when they finally connect and Nocchi says "I am Obama" and Obama says "Oh is that right?" with a big smile on his face. Go Obama! Both of you!  



On Friday, 21 November, 2008, Blogger Maureen said:

I loved watching that - it was very amusing. Thanks for sharing!

I have to add that I think I would have been nearly as excited as he was if I met Obama and shook his hand.  



On Saturday, 22 November, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said:

The Japanese sometimes reminds me of the British when it comes to TV game shows. They simply tried too hard and it stops being funny.  



On Saturday, 27 February, 2010, Blogger Ryan said:

Hi, I know this is a fairly old post but I just stumbled upon it. I actually live in Hyde Park and remember this guy walking about around the election. It's good to see the result, I guess. Thanks for posting.  



On Thursday, 15 April, 2010, Anonymous AdelaideBen said:

Just looking through your back-catalog... that's pretty funny shit. I love the Obama-meets-obama moment at the end of the video. That's some typical only-in-Japan that I love.

Well done.  



On Sunday, 04 December, 2011, Anonymous Nikki @ EuphoriaLuv said:

to funny.  



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