Japanese comedian Meshida talks what it's like to be a Japanese resident of Tokyo during the ramp up to the Olympics, and how yeah, we're "witnessing history," but so were Black Death survivors.
Ollie recommends a cruise that accidentally discovers what's more popular than "canal."
Bobby gets into the rainy season cruise spirit.
Topics discussed on this episode range from:
- What Anti-Japanese Groups actually think about the Olympics
- How Brian's Eikaiwa work is going
- Bach-kaicho calling the Japanese, "Chinese"
- What Meshida thinks is the MOST racist thing you can say to a Japanese person
- Why Bach has China on the brain
- The super gracious performance by Bach's Japanese translator
- Which one is Ollie, and which one is Bobby
- A VERY REAL thought experiment
- Meshida's AIRBNB experience, hosting a comedy show for tourists, and what jokes they enjoy the most
- A full rundown of Olympic developments over the last two weeks
- Ollie's successful petition for a spectatorless olympics
- The personal opportunity loss we've suffered by how these Olympics have played out
- What Meshida thinks of the Japanese Honne and Tatemae in terms of why people care about the Olympics
- The Japanese fixation on being emotionally moved by sports
- How maybe most Japanese people just don't care either way at this point
- How Meshida feels about seeing news around new Olympic related corona infections
- Why Meshida hates BACH (the IOC chief, not the pianist)
- Whether or not this will be a HISTORIC Olympics, and the way Meshida draws a parallel to other Japanese history
- How the increase in "support" for the Olympics is actually "resignation to the Olympics."
- The change Meshida thinks we'll see in the media once the games start
- The elevator thing. YES, THE ELEVATOR THING
- Why we've seen an increase in foreign discrimination during pandemic/ahead of the Olympics
- Why we kind of feel bad for the hotel
- Why it is and isn't a big deal
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Matt's New Yorker Article "Japan's Olympic Sized Problem"
Social Media Links:
Meshida: Twitter | Youtube
Ollie Horn: Twitter | Instagram
Bobby Judo: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
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