TV program about Japan

Recently some documentary programs focusing on Japan have been broadcast on BBC4. One of them is named “Fish! A Japanese Obsession” in which Charles Rangeley-Wilson, a British author known for his books on travel and fishing, travelled in Japan and reported about the Japanese obsession for fish from his point of view. The TV program was 90 minutes-long and started with him finding his guide in Japan. He wanted to recruit a Japanese resident who would be able to introduce him to Japanese fishing. Some candidates gathered and he interviewed them; one of the candidates just wanted to be famous, his dream was becoming a rock star, another one spoke English very well but didn’t know about fishing at all. It seemed difficult to find a satisfactory guide for him and when I heard one of candidates say “I like eat fishing” in English with English subtitles on TV, I changed the channel and stopped watching it.

The next day, my English teacher told me, “I watched an interesting TV program about Japan.” and asked some questions about fish and birds, however, I couldn’t answer them because I didn’t watch it. The other day I joined choir practice and my friend also said, “I watched a TV program about Japan reported by Charles Rangeley Wilson.” I felt ashamed because they watched the program with interest because of me and they prepared topics to talk with me.

Thanks to the wonderful internet I can watch some TV programs on the BBC iPlayer up to one week after broadcasting. I watched the program from the beginning to the end and found it was interesting. Somehow, Charles Wilson chose a good guide from the candidates and they visited some interesting places. The first place they went was a restaurant which serves fresh fish; actually the fish is still alive. I could never imagine eating beef or chicken from an animal whose head was still alive and moving however in the case of fish, I say it’s definitely fresh and looks tasty. Charles asked, “Isn’t it cruel?”, but the Japanese guide, Aki said, “Just eat it. It’s tasty”, he didn’t hesitate to tell his honest opinion. Sometimes we Japanese try to hide our feelings from others, especially when a person has a strong opinion. When Charles pointed out about eating whale, Aki answered “We eat it because it tastes good” Charles said “Aki would never get my point” his purpose is to observe and learn not to change Aki’s opinions on whale protection, Japan's opinions on whale preservation may be changed by a documentary but not by one comment. The British and the Japanese probably have many areas where we don’t understand each other, that’s why it’s interesting to know both points of view through this TV program.