Monday, August 26, 2013

The one in which I am not a Japanese television sensation

Almost two years ago, I posted a video on YouTube of me telling my parents and my brother that I was pregnant. As of today, it has over 300,000 views, which sounds impressive unless you've ever spent four hours on YouTube because you were looking for a specific video of a comedian you liked but then somehow spent the next three hours and forty-five minutes watching a few dozen first dance videos from the weddings of people you don't know. People kill a lot of time watching random videos on YouTube.

In order to post the video, I had to create a gmail account. Then a few months ago, I forgot the password (and email address - which turned out to be just my first and last name, making me feel extra stupid for having forgotten it), so later I created yet another gmail account to create this blog and pretended I had never created the other one. So when I wanted to see my own video, I had to search for it using the search feature like everybody else because I couldn't log in to my account. Well I searched for it today, and discovered that somebody else had copied my YouTube video and then reposted it as their own... which is weird and vaguely disconcerting, although I can't really say why. I wanted to contact them to ask them to remove it and also report it to YouTube, but that involved actually being able to log into the account. (Insert long, boring story of how I spent 45 minutes trying to figure out how to log into an account for which I remembered neither the email address nor the password.)

Anyway, the point of this story (and I swear it has one) is that when I finally figured out how to log in, I realized that I had unread messages in the account. And one of them was asking if they could put my video on a Japanese television show called "Tokudane Toukou Doga." No joke. (I mean, I'm not joking, I have no idea if they were.) According to the email, they wanted to interview me on Skype. I wouldn't be paid, but they would send me a copy of the program (which would include the video that I already own and can watch anytime I want anyway. So, yay?)

I googled the show, and apparently it's real, as evidenced by a lot of people blogging about having their video featured on it. But the email was from May 2012, so there goes my big chance for super-stardom. (And by super-stardom, I obviously mean "having my video on a Japanese television show that may or may not actually be watched by anyone.") I can't promise that I won't let my status as an only-one-year-and-a missed-email-away-from-being-a-minor-celebrity-in-Japan go to my head, but I can promise that I will try.


To be fair, I should probably note that 99% of the comments on the video were girls saying that my brother is hot. So technically, he was the one who was almost a minor celebrity. Way to steal the 
almost-spotlight.

Edited: Ok, since some of my friends asked, here's the video. If you want to see it on YouTube, the link is here. If you want to see a smaller, blurrier version, the person who re-uploaded it still hasn't removed it, so that's nice.




If you click this, I will autograph something for you. In Japanese.
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8 comments:

  1. Jeremy is not wearing a shirt.

    Also your mom screams like my mom. Lol.

    The video is hilarious, the blog is more so :)

    And you always said you were the star of your own reality show.... in your head. Now you can be the star of an episode in a Japanese show... last year. Maybe. :P

    --Autumn

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  2. Lol! Thanks! I guess I've figured out the secret to good TV - a shirtless guy and a screaming mom. I should really charge money for my tips on how to make it big in Japanese television.

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  3. So I'm pretty sure that as the videographer of this stellar video, I should be compensated somehow when you become a Japanese celebrity. I will take no less than 1,000 yen for my services. Oh, wait, that's about ten bucks. Just buy me Panera next time I visit and we'll call it even.

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  4. Gin, you should really hire yourself out as a professional videographer... in Japan.

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  5. "Okashai Gaijin" {oh.kah.she guy.jean} (funny non-Japanese person)

    There is your Japanese lesson for the day. I don't remember much, but next time I'll teach you 'where is the bathroom?' (very important to know in any language!)

    This is an awesome blog, your Mom's reaction was great!

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    1. Hahaha!! Thanks!! Now I know some Japanese so I can talk to my fans!

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  6. this is so awesome! also, your mom is adorable. and major kudos to you for keeping a straight face and acting normal. i would definitely not be able to do it. such a cute idea, though.

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    1. After dinner, my dad suggested that we all go to Dairy Queen for dessert, and I was like, "NOOOO!!! I brought dessert!!!" They probably thought I was a little crazy about my own dessert for a few minutes.

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