While I was in Ottawa (specifically at the Hammerheads concert) I verified something that I had suspected for years. The Japanese culture is insane. Before anyone of Japanese descent takes offence to this let me explain. At the bar where the Hammerheads were playing they had a huge screen which they projected a TV onto during the intermissions when the band wasn’t playing. One of the many things they showed throughout the night was a video tape of a Japanese game show. This is where my hypothesis is proven. On this game show they showed three or four of the challenges that the contestants had to go through. In the first one a contestant was choosen from the audience then put behind this curtain that surrounded their body. They were given 30 seconds to strip down and change into a bathing suit or bikini (depending on the sex). At 30 seconds the curtain fell down and if they were in the midst of changing they would be exposed to the world. This was only the first part of the challenge. The next part is where the insanity begins. Each contestant had to see how long they could stay in a near-boiling tub of water. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? Most contestants staying in about 5 seconds before they couldn’t stand it anymore and upon exiting covered themselves with snow to cool down.
The second contest, which is even more insane, started with two guys dressed in speedos. The sat across from each other on tiny stools. Each one had a flimsy umbrella plus a bucket of hot wax (fun fun). They then played paper, rock, sisscors. The loser had the bucket of hot wax dumped on them, though they were allowed to try to defend themselves with the flimsy umbrella. At the end of the game one or both of the contestants were covered in solidifying wax.
Thus I propose that the Japanese culture is insane. 🙂