＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Live television broadcasts are always accompanied by “happenings.” In the past, live broadcasts were the norm, but nowadays most are recorded and live broadcasts are rare.
In this article, we will introduce some of those “happenings and accidents that occurred during live television broadcasts,” from recent to nostalgic.
1. Happenings on “It’s 8 o’clock! All Together”
“It’s 8 o’clock! All Together” is a legendary ghost show that everyone knows, but it was broadcast live and in public for 16 years from its first broadcast in October 1969 until its last broadcast in September 1985, making it a rare show these days.
There were many mishaps, accidents, and problems that can only happen with a live broadcast.
① The “major blackout” at the beginning of the show
Just before the live broadcast started, the hall suddenly lost power. During the blackout, it was pitch black, so they introduced the guests by turning on a flashlight.
At the beginning of the show, the venue was shown in pitch black, and after the shout of “It’s 8 o’clock! Oh!”, the title logo was displayed as usual. The electricity was restored for a moment, and after Chosuke Ikariya shouted “It’s 8 o’clock! Are we a little late?”, the power went out again. At that moment, the fanfare of the backing band started, and the other members were finally able to come on stage.
During the power outage, they were forced to use spotlights to illuminate the stage, and after Chosuke Ikariya shouted “It’s 8:9!”, they started playing at a faster pace than usual.
②During the expedition skit (subtitled “The Worst Mountain on Earth by the Drifters”), sparks from a gun ignited a snake prop, causing it to burst into flames. The audience and viewers thought, “This must be staged,” but it was unplanned. The fire was quickly put out and no one was injured, but the emergency bell in the venue rang, and the skit was called off at that point.
③ In the “Bed and Breakfast Sketch,” the plan was that when Kato Cha, who played the role of an old man, slammed the sliding door of a poorly constructed closet, the impact caused the adjacent toilet set to tilt, and Ken Shimura, who played the role of an old woman inside, was pushed through the wall and thrown out. However, the toilet set, which should have stopped tilting, completely collapsed, and Ken Shimura, who fell face down, was crushed under it. Cha Kato and Boo Takagi lifted the toilet set, and Ken Shimura crawled out on his own, but was mostly unharmed.
<Added 4/1/2020> Ken Shimura passed away on March 29th from COVID-19 pneumonia. He was 70 years old and was a member of the baby boomer generation, just like me. I pray for his soul to rest in peace, and I would like to thank him for playing many comedic roles as a character beloved by the entire nation.
2. Former KARA member Hara’s costume mishap
On June 26, 2019, former KARA member Hara appeared live on TV Tokyo’s “TV Tokyo Music Festival” and returned to work. This was her first TV appearance since her attempted suicide at her home in Korea.
On the show, she sang KARA’s Japanese debut song “Mister” together with the Japanese girl group Chuning Candy.
However, there was an incident where part of her costume shifted during the performance.
After the performance, MC Kokubun Taichi said to her, “Hara-san, there were some moments that made you feel a bit nervous(hara-hara),” to which she bowed her head and said, “Yes, I was a bit nervous(hara-hara). I tried too hard… I’m sorry, everyone.”
<Added 11/25/2019>
Hara passed away at her home in South Korea on 11/24/2019. Her death is believed to be a suicide.
3. Happenings during the “Waratte Iitomo” telephone shocking segment
(1) Shimura Ken’s last-minute cancellation incident
Tamori: “It’s tomorrow, is that okay?”
Shimura: “No.” Audience laughs
Shimura: “I’m playing golf tomorrow.”
Tamori: “Golf tomorrow? No?”
Shimura: “Yes. Because I’m playing golf tomorrow.”
It feels like I’m listening to a comedy sketch comedy by Tamori and Shimura Ken.
(2) An ordinary person appeared on Telephone Shocking
On April 23, 1984, Tamori called a different ordinary person by mistake on Telephone Shocking. When Tamori jokingly asked, “Will you come tomorrow?”, the ordinary person answered, “Yes, please!”, so from the next day, for three days, “Telephone Shocking with an ordinary person as a guest” was held before the main corner. The fourth person introduced next refused to appear, so the ordinary people who appeared ended up with three people.
(3) Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s show-hijacking incident
In 1984, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi appeared on the show. She called her friends without any prior arrangements, and most of them were unable to attend. Just when she finally gave the OK, the show ended and the other guests had no chance to appear. By the way, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s appearance time was 43 minutes.
4. The World of Totto TV
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is a “legend in the TV world,” a “walking dictionary” who has been walking alongside the history of TV.
When Tetsuko Kuroyanagi first started working in the early days of TV, most shows were “live” rather than recorded. Naturally, there were a lot of “happenings.”
I will introduce some of the happenings that appeared in “Totto TV,” a TV dramatization of her essays “Totto Hitori” and “Totto Channel.”
(1) Let’s meet in our dreams
This was a “music variety show” that was broadcast live for 30 minutes every Saturday night from 10pm for five years starting in 1961. Atsumi Kiyoshi, E.H. Eric, Tani Kanichi, Miki Norihei, Sakamoto Kyu, Duke Aces, Sakamoto Sumiko, and others appeared on the show. It was a variety show with songs, skits, and gags.
In the skit “Adam and Eve,” when she playing Eve tried to pick up an apple, the prop apple was missing. Someone on the staff had eaten it without realizing it was a prop. So the staff hurriedly went to a fruit store near the broadcasting station and bought an apple, and somehow managed to make up for the mishap.
(2) Young Season
This was a television drama that was broadcast live for 45 minutes every Sunday from 8pm from 1961 to 1964. It featured Yoshie Mizutani, Hana Hajime and the Crazy Cats, Kyu Sakamoto, Keiko Awaji, and others.
Apparently, there were times when the set broke early on in “Young Season,” and because the script was only completed at the last minute, the cast members hadn’t memorized their lines, causing chaos.
So, just before the end of the show, she quickly held up a piece of cardboard with the word “End” written on it in front of the TV camera, and everything was resolved. Those were the good old days.
5. Nakamura Kanzaburo’s “Toris Boy” gaffe
This is a story I actually saw on TV.
It’s about Nakamura Kanzaburo (1955-2012) when he was a child and called himself Nakamura Kankuro. As a Suntory commercial talent, he was in charge of the commercial for the concentrated juice “Toris Concentrate Juice” under the name “Toris Boy.” This happened when his contract expired and it was his last appearance.
The female host said to him, “Today will be your last performance as Toris Boy. Today you can talk about anything you like,” to which he responded by pressing, “Can I talk about anything?” and then saying, “The truth is, this juice isn’t very tasty.”
I think I was in middle school at the time, and I intuitively thought, “Even if it meant terminating my contract, surely I said something bad? This has completely ruined my image as Toris Boy.”
The female presenter froze for a moment. Then, looking extremely flustered, she stammered out a follow-up of, “I-Is that so? I think it’s very delicious…” or something.
This is the scary thing about live broadcasting. Thinking about it now, it seems strange that the sponsors could not have predicted that if they told a child “You can talk about anything you want,” he would not say something to advertise a product like “Please continue to support Toris Conc Juice” out of curiosity for the sponsor, but would instead vent his frustrations and speak his true feelings honestly, even if he was not trying to get revenge.