A hit new Japanese TV program challenges the zeitgeist with humor and generational time travel <\/p>\n
A time-travelling TV comedy with a bawdy middle-aged hero has become a big hit in Japan, juxtaposing the countrys brash 1980s boom years with its more politically correct present day. <\/p>\n
In the series, titled Extremely Inappropriate, the past isnt rose-tinted: theres smoking on the bus, boobs on television and corporal punishment galore. <\/p>\n
But modern Japan doesnt get a free pass either. <\/p>\n
When schoolteacher and father Ichiro Ogawa is catapulted from 1986 to this year, he scandalizes millennials and Gen Z-ers with his disregard for their views on gender, family and labor rights. <\/p>\n
Implicit in his candid words is a question: is society today, with its good intentions around issues like diversity and work-life balance, really all its cracked up to be? <\/p>\n
The shows satire of how Japan has changed over the decades has struck a chord with viewers young and old. <\/p>\n
Last month, it became the first program made by major broadcaster TBS to top Netflixs most-watched list in Japan for three weeks running. <\/p>\n
Producer Aki Isoyama, who is 56, initially thought it would be very challenging to poke fun at todays progressive values without triggering a backlash from the public. <\/p>\n
The show isnt meant as a verdict on the superiority of one era over the other, she said. <\/p>\n
But one inspiration for her and screenwriter Kankuro Kudo, 53, was the idea that life has become more difficult in some aspects today. <\/p>\n
Our society has certainly gotten better, but in a way more restrictive, too, with everything dictated by compliance and protocols, Isoyama said. <\/p>\n
Today, when something is pronounced unacceptable, we often unquestioningly accept that explanation and refrain from saying or doing it, she added. <\/p>\n
The show will hopefully make viewers stop and ask themselves: Why was it banned in the first place? <\/p>\n
HARASSMENT AND SEXISM <\/p>\n
One 25-year-old fan, Mao Yamada, said the show is a reminder that our society has become more accepting of diversity, including LGBTQ rights. <\/p>\n
Its good were now more mindful of things like sexual harassment, she said, adding that she understands why some might feel too many things are perhaps restricted and kept unsaid. <\/p>\n
Workplace pep talks to Gen-Z hires are denounced as harassment in Extremely Inappropriate, and an exasperated TV producer tries to censor everything said on air. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, freewheeling Ogawa who in his own bygone world yells grow a pair! at male students and teases women about menopause is lambasted by todays generation, including a feminist sociologist. <\/p>\n
He is enlightened on the concepts of gender neutrality and sexual consent. Marriage, he learns, is no longer the definition of happiness. <\/p>\n
Viewer Kyo Maeda, 68, called the shows 1980s scenes an accurate portrayal of what our everyday life used to be like. <\/p>\n
Our life was full of what could easily be seen as harassment and sexism by todays morals, he said. <\/p>\n
In 1986, Japan was basking in the glow of its post-war evolution into an economic superpower, with many workers fixated on success, no matter the hours required. <\/p>\n
On Extremely Inappropriate young recruits a generation shaped by Japans lost decades of stagnation from the early 1990s matter-of-factly clock off on time. <\/p>\n
In the 80s, I loved going to work, you know, Maeda reminisced, chuckling. The economy was still picking up and we were all-out at work. <\/p>\n
I feel like there was more hope and excitement about the future in the 80s than there is now, he said. <\/p>\n
BOLDER THEMES <\/p>\n
Extremely Inappropriate, whose final episode aired yesterday, has received its share of criticism in the real world. <\/p>\n
Some say concepts like feminism or discrimination based on appearance are oversimplified, and that political correctness is treated as little more than a shackle on free speech. <\/p>\n
Interspersed throughout the show are musical performances and jokey disclaimers excusing Ogawas gaffes and insults. <\/p>\n
But beneath the levity is a serious message, said Takahiko Kageyama, a media studies professor at Doshisha Womens College of Liberal Arts. <\/p>\n
The creators obviously wanted us to reflect on the status quo of our society, he said. <\/p>\n
But if this intent had come off too straightforward or preachy, it wouldve just fallen flat. <\/p>\n
The shows themes are bold given the sensitive landscape of Japans entertainment industry today, he said. <\/p>\n
Boy-band empire Johnnys and Associates faced an existential crisis last year over a sexual abuse scandal involving its late founder. <\/p>\n
Allegations of workplace bullying have also disgraced the prestigious theatre troupe Takarazuka Revue. <\/p>\n
Producer Isoyama said that making the show in parallel with these events had sometimes felt uncanny. <\/p>\n
With Johnnys and Takarazuka, it was like facts far stranger than fiction were unfolding around us, she said. <\/p>\n
But this made us feel that the timing of the release would be fitting, considering how the industry is changing, the way it should. <\/p>\n
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Politically incorrect -<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A hit new Japanese TV program challenges the zeitgeist with humor and generational time travel A time-travelling TV comedy with a bawdy middle-aged hero has become a big hit in Japan, juxtaposing the countrys brash 1980s boom years with its more politically correct present day. Continue reading