Hexagon Family

Do you like so-called “Hexagon Family”, regular members in the famous quiz show “Quiz Hexagon” in Japan? To be honest with you, I confess that I’m gradually becoming one of anti-Hexagon people. Most of my senses of detestation are to some extent attributed to that established identity of theirs as a “complete idiot” which some of Hexagon Family members elatedly and willingly exhibit to us in a totally vulgar manner. Irritatingly enough, it seems to me that each of them is just playing a role as a stupid, fool, and non-educated person; I mean, there is no denying the possibility that once the call of a director announcing the show’s ending echoes throughout the studio room, those pseudo-idiots suddenly give themselves away and reveal their true character, enthusiastically devoting themselves to reading an apparently pedantic book, or debating someone on a serious current issue. . . . . Anyway what I want to say is that to all appearance the extent of their manner of displaying themselves as idiots sometimes extremely goes too far, and crosses the line so outrageously that we, or at least I cannot help feeling a sense of unnaturalness. Extremely sceptical as it may sound, a nasty imagination invariably occurs to me that such superficial simpletons are just marionettes obedient to Shinsuke Shimada, who is a MC of the show and obviously seems to call the shots at the TV industry; actually he is the very one who exhilaratingly puts spurs to the establishment and dissemination of that “idiotic character”. Although I cannot blame these seeming simpletons of being slavery to Shinsuke given the fact that some of them owe their getting popularity entirely to him, a sense of hatred still remains obsessing me. Moreover, the second reason I hate such pseudo-idiots comes from the concern over the possible bad influence of them on TV viewers. I mean, such exaggerated compliments to being “idiots” as frequently seen in Hexagon show, may give a myriad of pure children the false impression that shamelessly disclosing our own flaws is the very “norm” in getting through our society, at the same time indicating that concealing them is a sort of discreditable and despicable behaviour. Is that really so? I think otherwise; in this cruel society, carelessly revealing our “weak points” to others must be a fatal cause of being excluded ― namely “defeated”. I personally think if you really want to survive, you must be always careful not to betray your vulnerability to anyone in your society, however intimate and friendly relationship you have with him/her. Thus, I sincerely hope such Shinsuke-produced so-called “obaka boom” will pass away as soon as possible. Last, let me finish today’s column by showing you one example of this extreme raise of “obaka boom” in Japan ― a comment uttered by a fourteen-year-or-so girl, who was asked why she was so fascinated with Yusuke Kamiji, one of the famous idiot characters in Hexagon show. She says ―　“Oh, because thanks to him I noticed there is a person in the world who is much more brainless than me. Yes, he gives me a sense of superiority.”