"The re-enactment brought nothing to the story apart from a little titillation from imagining the murder scene"

J@pan Inc Blog.

The new blog on the J@pan Inc website takes a look at media in Japan.

Minomonta on AsazubaAlways interesting is 「朝ズバッ！」(Asa Zuba!), on TSB in the mornings with well-renowned TV host みのもんた(Minomonta).They portray the show as a news program but whether it really is ‘news’ is highly doubtable. This morning, they focused on two recent murders. The first one was the couple that were allegedly killed her by son. In the studio, they did a lay out of the room and enacted how the tatami mat was taken off, leaving a bare wooden floor. Was it really necessary for Minomonta to show the audience what a bare wooden floor with a missing tatami looks like? Being Japan, it would be surprising if any of the audience didn’t know what a tatami mat and a wooden floor is. The re-enactment brought nothing to the story apart from a little titillation from imagining the murder scene as if this real tragic story were a TV thriller.

The other focus this morning was the incident of the grandmother and the two children killed in Sakaide, Shikoku. The tone of the whole episode was dramatic and sensationalist. They managed to CG Minomonta with a blue screen of the flowers and offerings laid out where the children and grandmother were buried. “Why did the lives of such innocent children have to be taken? It is so sad. At least, they were resting in peace by their grandmother in the cold earth” and so it went on. First of all, having Minomonta computerized in front of the “graves” was a ridiculous touch to the program. But secondly, Minomonta just rambled on about his views on what a sad story it was and what a tragic end the finale ended up being. The story had been followed closely by most of Japan’s media and programs like this followed it as if guiding us through a mystery murder story.

Being unused to programs like this, I find this hard to swallow. But like all the other punters, I end up taking a gulp with eyes glued to the TV.