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Propaganda

Japanese propaganda is pleasingly straightforward. It is also comedic.

We were watching an ecology show, featuring a close look at the slime from the bottom of Lake Biwa. A biologist brought up a lump of brown slime from a depth of ten meters and invited the spokesmodel to touch it. The model said, "O-oh. Is it okay to touch it?" She was a good sport about the slime-touching and observed how the stringy slime looked just like natto. (Also, making natto is easy and fun. Or it could poison you.)

After covering the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria in Lake Biwa, they cut back to our studio panelists: two young beautiful people, an elderly scientist, and a demon. (I wonder about the increasing frequency of appearance of popular, but edgy—in a mild, Japanese way—entertainers on NHK specials. Is this a has-been thing? The slow slide down towards hosting the regional family entertainment variety shows?)

The scientist talks about global warming, we see various visual aids. "Worldwide ocean currents will fail and it will be very, very bad!" Then they give us a news broadcast from the future. The anchor has plasticized hair and a silver lame blazer, because he's from the future. He talks with a reporter in the Amazonian desert and another reporter roasting in Paris. "My, you look very sweaty. Make sure you get enough water." Each reporter says, "Well, look at the devastation. You know, this all started a hundred years ago. It used to be nice, but those people who lived a hundred years ago, they really suck! They better take some responsibility and stop pumping out all that stupid carbon dioxide!"

Then the screen went all wavy and returned us to the present, where the studio panelists said, "Oh my! What can we do to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions?"

I don't know. The sight of a fake Japanese reporter in a fake pith helmet standing in a fake, computer-generated desert didn't quite have that effect on us.