A Japanese TV show interviewed Leonardo DiCaprio. What I got from it was that Leo looks really quite uncomfortable with the whole thing… which I can understand. He doesn’t speak Japanese, so the whole process has to be filtered through interpreters. Additionally, the Japanese do seem to love throwing extraneous graphics on screen. I’ve seen quite a number of clips for Japanese shows that have a small inset showing some seemingly random schmoe watching… well, the same interview *you* are watching. What this is supposed to add to the process, I’ve no idea. And while all the extra stuff is distracting, bear in mind that American TV ain’t no better… there’s usually a blizzard of extra garbage on screen, from the network logo “bug” to streams of info at top and/or bottom of the screen.
[youtube AIZcD_Jk0nc]
I’m left to wonder what Japanese TV would be like had Japan somehow developed the technology on their own *without* US cultural influences.