My introduction to the joys of Japanese television was via Clive James on Television, a clip show hosted by the Antipodean writer and broadcaster Clive James and screened on British TV way back when in the 1980s. James was always good at presenting a rich platter of choice cuts of the weird and wonderful, surreal and amusing television culled from around the world, which he jovially introduced with his trademark caustic quips. The highlight of most episodes was the startling extracts from Endurance, (ザ・ガマン) the bizarre game show from Japan that involved varying degrees of nudity, torture and national humiliation.
Oh, how we Brits all lapped these moments up, laughing at the strange practices of other cultures, which in hindsight was deeply ironic considering how our TV broadcasters (in particular the BBC) were promoting gross sex offenders like Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter—all of whom, at one time or another, had family entertainment shows on primetime Saturday night. (You may not be too familiar with the name Rolf Harris but Alice Cooper once covered his hit song “Sun Arise,” as did Led Zeppelin’s Page and Plant.) Looking back on these shows now, it seems that perhaps the Japanese may have had the best idea of externalizing any repressed or unhealthy desires through national humiliation on TV game shows rather than allowing such feelings to fester under the guise of “Reithian values.”
Yet, where to begin with the following clip? It is like some skit from Jackass—though perhaps nearer Peter Griffin’s cartoon take—and really should be called perhaps something like Balls of Steel? Anyway, from what I can glean, this is one of the games played on the exceedingly popular entertainment show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで!!) which means something like “Downtown’s ‘This is no task for kids!!’” (Well, hell, that’s certainly true.) According to Wikipedia, the best known part of these shows is the “batsu games” or punishment games where contestants undertake physical challenges. One of the most famous batsu game is “No Laughing” where an individual will have to endure humiliating and physical suffering (e.g. a slap or a blow dart to the buttocks) at which his team mates cannot laugh—once they do, the game is lost.
The start of this batsu has a muscleman putting a seven stone weakling into a backbreaker, from whereupon he is enthusiastically whipped in the nuts by a over-zealous sadist. This ball-whipping may perhaps be something a few readers might like to try out on enemies, though others (I’m sure) may find it to a leg-crossing and eye-watering moment.