In my October 18 column in The Japan Times, I wrote about those boxes that pop up so frequently on Japanese television to show a celebrity’s reaction. As I explained in the paper, these screens-within-a-screen are called waipu ワイプ.
To help you put names to the faces you’re seeing more often than you’d like, I asked an industry insider for the three geinōjin (TV personalities) most likely to appear in waipu right now. They are Yaguchi Mari 矢口真里 Katsumata Kunikazu 勝俣州和
And Becky ベッキー
Two shows with high waipu-density are Bakusho! Dainippon Akan Keisatsu,” 爆笑！大日本アカン警察 broadcast Sundays at 8 pm on Fuji Television. It features a comedy duo as a police chief and commissioner who investigate absurd cases. Another is Sekai no Hate Made ItteQ!, 世界の果てまでイッテQ on Nippon Television Network, also on Sundays at 8. (Clicking on the English for the show takes you to a sample on YouTube — sorry, no subtitles; clicking on the Japanese takes you to the show’s Japanese-language website.)
Speaking of screen pollution, aren’t you sick of having every exclamation appear on-screen as soon as it’s out of someone’s mouth? In the business, that’s called a “comment follow” コメント フォロー.
