Foreign celebrities don't mind coming to Japan to do PR because they know reporters won't ask them embarrassing questions about their DUI arrests or religious beliefs.
The long-running school-oriented variety show "Gakko e Iko (Let's Go to School)" (TBS, Tuesday, 7:56 p.m.) takes advantage of this situation. In the past, the show has used elementary and junior high school students as showbiz journalists. Several years ago, one bespectacled kid charmed Tom Cruise so thoroughly during a red carpet event that he chatted with the boy for a full 20 minutes.
On this week's show, Johnny Depp, here to plug the latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel, is interviewed by a girl who also happens to be some kind of "genius" on the electric organ. She performs for Depp, who is quite impressed.