Early this year, on the evening of January 7, when people were still pretty tipsy from hangover of New Year's party. Fuji TV, one of the major TV networks in Japan, broadcast an ever popular "health information" show, Hakkutsu! Aru-aru Daijiten II ("Excavation! There, there, encyclopedia 2"), over its national network. Show's topic of the week: "Keep your body lean while eating much! A new fact about food X."

Food X was Natto, the Pan-East-Asian, favorite on the table. Fermented soy bean by culture of Bacillus subtilis that lives usually in dried rice straw. Natto is really a staple food in eastern Japan, especially for breakfast, but consumed somewhat with lesser enthusiasm in western Japan.

Natto on rice, some Japanese can't survive a day without it. This smelly food made havoc in Japan.

Anyway, the show loudly propagated that this smelly Natto had worked very well to control your unwanted weight. Hundreds of supporting data from medical institutions, colleges and research labs have been fed to the eager audience. It seemed the show was very persuasive and convincing.

So persuasive that after a few days of the broadcast, Natto slowly vanished from the shelves of local supermarkets. This Natto scarcity was a trickle initially, then secondary mouth-to-mouth communication seriously kicked off. Finally, a full-fledged Natto run took place in almost all the Kansai area. Amazingly, no run occured in eastern Japan, because people eat Natto everyday anyway there. No need for surplus intake, I guess.

Then, things started falling apart slowly. The supporting data used in the show turned out to have been cooked heavily. The words of researchers who had endorsed Natto's serendipitous virtue were quoted out of context, or outright misquoted, or even fabricated. All in all, the show was a good eye-catcher and entertainment, but absolutely nothing to do with your health or surplus flabby fat.

Web site of Kansai TV's Aru-aru show. Now vanished without a trace.

Imagine the outrage of audiences who had believed and trusted in the heavenly message of the show from the bottom of their heart, and rushed to the local grocer to hoard up all available packets of Natto. Their wounded dignity literally exploded. The paper and Internet media immediately poured oil and stirred the fire. Fellow TV networks followed suit, but obviously with some hesitaiton.

Kansai TV, a key station of Fuji TV network and the actual producer of the Aru-aru show, immediately admitted its fake botched work and apologized deeply, excusing itself for the tight schedule and small budget. Very lame, indeed. The weekly Aru-aru show was discontinued promptly. Heads started rolling from left to right, from top to bottom. Kansai TV's subcontractor outfits that had patched up the show went belly-up in droves.

It seems righteous Japanese audience of television believe those bogus health shows should be really informative and should give enough facts to entertain them. That'd be an outrageous fantasy valid only in Japan. Do you think the lowly(?) television, the fool's box, should broadcast the truth, and only the truth? Ah, c'mon!

A few days after the Aru-aru show. Natto vanished completely from the shelves of grocers. The ridiculous Natto run!

Your Mobile Ojisan firmly believes Japanese TV can scatter anything, any garbage and any junk. Anyway, it's just TV. Not an educational institution. Bogus information? An outright lie? Fantasy disguised as a true story? So, what? Again, it's just TV.

Therefore, your Mobile Ojisan has been laughing at that all-Japan outrage over fancy TV show which promoted Natto greatly. At least, Natto industry still loves villainous Fuji network and Kansai TV more than ever.

 

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kaisei1
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