No aspect of Japanese pop culture titillates the world more than the country¡¯s game shows. From references on ¡±¡± to inspiring Western riffs on subjects such as ¡±¡± and ¡±,¡± the idea of wacky creations bordering on torture have played a central place in foreign perceptions of Japan. One of my first exposures to Japanese TV came from a clip of .

A reminder of this fascination popped up in November. The uploaded a clip titled ¡±,¡± featuring footage from the 2016 edition of TBS¡¯ ¡°All-Star Kanshasai¡± variety show, wherein six celebrities try to climb up a staircase covered in lubricant. Two days later, tech writer , spreading across the platform and then being aggregated by web sites across the internet.

However people shared the segment online, the language used to describe the clip had a familiar ring to it, with adjectives such as ¡±¡± and ¡±¡± being applied liberally. In the tradition of and used underwear vending machines, the segment allowed folks online to indulge in ¡°weird¡± Japan. And yet, it was the first time ¡°wacky Japanese game show¡± footage (alongside about a ¡°game show¡± in which participants in an apartment ) went viral in the context-allergic atmosphere of the internet in 2017, showing just how much misinformation can spread.