The "You" in the title of the variety show "You wa nani shi Nihon e?" (What Are You Doing in Japan?; TV Tokyo, Mon, 6:57 p.m.) is fluid, since it can be used as both a second person and a third person pronoun. In both cases, "you" always refers to foreigners who are visiting Japan.
The premise is pretty simple: Japanese comedians go to the airport and waylay foreigners who have just arrived and then try to tag along on whatever endeavor they are here for. The foreigners who get ambushed this week include a German man who has always dreamed of being a samurai and has come to Japan to take sword-fighting lessons; a Danish couple who want to learn Japanese techniques for tying knots; and a 14-year-old Russian youth who is participating in a dance contest.
Historical revisionism in Japanese textbooks, with regard to World War II, continues to be a contentious issue, but Japanese history is so long that most junior high school students don't get past the Meiji Restoration of 1868. This week, "Za Sekai Gyoten News" (The World's Astonishing News; Nippon TV, Wed, 9 p.m.) profiles the Senshin Settlers — a group of people from Nasu in Tochigi Prefecture who relocated to Manchuria in 1933 in the hopes of making a new life of prosperity and comfort.
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