Aug 31 2008
24 Hour Terebi-Initial Reactions
Quick overview if you somehow don’t know. 24 hour Television is a huge telethon that runs for one full day every year in Japan. This year, Arashi were the main hosts of the show. I’ll do a proper post about the whole thingt later, but I’m all giddy right now.
So, this time it was Nino’s turn to write a sentiment-filled letter to Arashi and make everyone’s eyes all glisteny. I was surprised it was Nino who did it. Usually he’s least inclined to make himself vulnerable or even express non-sarcastic thoughts in public or in interviews, which I think makes this all the more special. SO CUTE! He ended the part to each member with a very sincere “So-and-so, I’m glad I met you”. Then they sang Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi (crappily because they were still all…glisteny. The Ohno/Nino lines sounded especially bad because they were both too choked up to sing properly. Jun was too, but odds are good his singing would be crappy no matter the situation). Oh-chan could barely even say his beginning lines.
There’s so much else I want to write about regarding 24 hour Television. I mean, even though everything isn’t about Arashi, that’s still a lot of Arashi. There was Jun playing with the little dying kids in Cambodia, Nino writing a song for a little boy to sing to his severely disabled little sister, more crazy Aiba experiments, and an awesome joint performance between Arashi and a team of disabled break-dancers. I’ve got to do something with this material, but I’ll need some time to figure out exactly what. It’s almost funny. You can watch them get more and more tired and scruffy-looking as the show progresses.They say it’s 24 hours, but since it starts in the evening, they’ve certainly been up and in the studio since yesterday morning, right? Ganbarimashita Arashi!
I don’t see how this could fail to make the population of Japan love these guys even more than they already do. It worked on me anyway. Since just about every Japanese celebrity participated in some capacity, and there was a huge and varied entertainment program, even people who aren’t Arashi’s fans may have gotten enough Arashi exposure through watching this program to fall victim to their considerable charm. Of course, that’s just a nice side effect to all of the money they raised for charity, their furthering of awareness of important issues like disabilities and HIV, and inspiring the people of Japan (and a few foreigners too).
Now please, please let those boys go home and get some sleep.
~Celestia~