＜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
In a commercial for Suntory’s canned coffee “BOSS,” American actor Tommy Lee Jones played an alien exploring Earth, working among Japanese people and occasionally blurting out his “impressions as an alien” in the “Alien Jones Series.” The catchphrase was “What a nasty, wonderful world.”
By the way, the program “New Galactic Journey: The Amazing Earth Civilization,” which aired on NHK General TV in August 2019, also took a unique approach, examining Earth’s civilization from an alien’s perspective, and felt unusually original for NHK.
1. About “New Galactic Journey: The Amazing Earth Civilization”
The first installment aired on August 19, 2019, and the second installment aired on December 19, 2019.
The premise is that two alien presenters from a faraway planet (played by former NHK announcers Norio Ishizawa and Mitsuyo Kusano) are introducing the civilization of an “alien public broadcaster” on “Earth, which has already been destroyed.”
This is a “popular program airing on public broadcaster on a planet in space,” which introduces Earth’s civilization from archived materials left behind after life on Earth has been wiped out. The guest for the first episode was “Katou (played by actor Ryo Kato), one of the few surviving humans on Earth.” Apparently, Japanese was chosen as the language used on the broadcast from among the approximately 6,000 languages that existed on Earth.
The themes covered in the first episode were: “Why are Earthlings so captivated by Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” even though it’s not a particularly good painting?”; “Why did people enjoy the “tea ceremony” by deliberately setting rules for hydration and catechin intake?”; and “Why is golf, which involves putting a ball through a hole, so popular on Earth?”
The themes of the second installment were “The Mystery of the Mysterious Sport of Rugby,” “Amazing Kabuki,” and “What’s So Good About Picasso’s Paintings?” from an alien’s perspective.
2. The Content is NHK’s “Educational Entertainment Program”
Although it has a unique concept, the content is an educational program that “reconsiders Earth’s civilization from a different perspective.” It’s a new type of educational entertainment program that “starts with simple questions and leads to understanding its essence.”
However, unlike traditional commentary programs by experts like NHK Educational TV’s “Sunday Art Museum,” this program considers themes from an “alien’s” or “amateur’s” perspective, asking “simple questions.” It interweaves each theme with “interviews with experts” and “reenactments,” presenting them with the premise that “such footage has been preserved in the archives and discovered.” This style is likely why it’s so popular.
I also like NHK General TV’s “History Secrets Historia” and BS Premium’s “Heroes’ Choices,” as they offer unconventional opinions and perspectives.
I have made it a habit to “question common sense” on a daily basis, so I hope that NHK will produce more educational programs like this.