Akihabara Interview

Hi everyone!

Late last year (November 2014) myself, my brother and a friend traveled to Japan for a 3 week holiday.

While we were in Akihabara we were approached by 2 people and asked if we would like to be interviewed for Japanese TV.

I said that none of us speak Japanese besides the basics and they said that was ok.

They asked us questions in English such as,
'What are your names and where are you from'

Then it got much harder and asked us
'What is 'Tofu on Fire'?' (i think its a name badge from what we later found out)

'Do you know what this hand sign means?' and did this weird hand sign that has something to do with car mechanics.

and then finally he asked us
'Tell us what Japanese you know'

I replied with a few basic phrases and my friend said 'Toire wa doko desuka' in a very bad accent after which they laughed.

The camera operator behind the interviewer did have quite a large shoulder mounted tv camera, so i assumed it was for Japanese TV and not Youtube, but i could be wrong.

I was just wondering if anybody might know where i could find this TV show.

I know they will probably edit it to make foreigners look uncomfortable and silly in Japan, but i know its just part of the fun.

Im trying to find the tv show/video so i can identify the interviewer.

Anyway, thanks everyone!

If it was for a television show, it most likely may have been as "filler" for one of the many morning shows that are on all Japanese channels and, while it may be edited in some way, it was broadcast and that's that. I doubt there will be a record of it anywhere you'll be able to search. And not even knowing which television network or company it was, it's almost an exercise in futility to attempt to look for something that may not have been saved in the first place.

I've been interviewed once by Australian television in Ishinomaki, but I didn't even ask which channel it was, since those "interviews" are from remote locations and I'm sure they don't even bother to save them in their files.

On the regular basis TV program, it's either " You wa nani wo shini Nippon e "(What purpose you visited Japan) produced by TV Tokyo, or, foreigners interview of " Zoom in Saturday " produced by Nippon TV.

"You" is normally interviewed in Narita airport and "Zoom in" is often interviewed in Akihabara and the other places in Tokyo.
But not sure you were interviewed by "Zoom in" TV crew while you were in AKihabara.

You is something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgiBKlfv3LQ

Zoom in is something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDza2FgBzEs

As for me, I was interviewed by Music station a few weeks ago, but since i've come back to my home country, i can't watch it when it airs ...
(although i have no idea where they would stick an interview with a gaijin, knowing the format of the program)

Any suggestions as to where i could watch replays and / or live on the web ?

Nobody is keen to watch the interview part of Music Station, so it's unable to find video online.

Literally tons of TV filming is done every day in places like Akihabara and Shibuya that it's difficult to pinpoint the program. If you live in Tokyo area long enough, you'd be interviewed or even broadcasted at least once, be it foreigner or not.

And now that the government is trying so hard to invite foreign tourists to Japan, most if not all the footages aired are positive toward them, and they don't really make them look silly unless the interviewee was deliberately being silly.

I don't know how many times I've witnessed foreign people being interviewed on the streets and I can't recall seeing any of them on TV. Akihabara is considered as one of the most typical spots for foreign tourists to visit, so you're probably one of the hundered or so foreigners who were interviewed by several camera crews that day.

By the way, if it were the "You wa nani wo shini Nippon e" show, you'd be asked in English, "Why did you come to Japan?" because that's the fixed English line they use as the theme of their show.

Oh well, so much for my rise to stardom.
I'll have to think of a plan B :'(