PTA says 'London Hearts' is worst TV program

Sunday 18th May, 05:00 AM JST

TOKYO —

TV Asahi’s “London Hearts” is the worst TV program, according to an annual report by the All Japan PTA. The program has been ranked the worst for five years. According to the report, which is based on a survey of parents, 11% of respondents chose “London Hearts” as the worst program, followed by Fuji TV’s “Mecha Mecha Iketeru” (8%) and TV Asahi’s “Cleon Shin-chan” (8%).

Reasons given by respondents for choosing those three programs were: “They use vulgar language,” “The stars often beat each other” and “There is too much sexually suggestive talk.”

On the other hand, TV programs that the respondents recommended were “educational, informative and heart-warming,” such as animal documentaries and school dramas.

Latest 15 of 29 Total Comments Show All

nandakandamanda at 03:17 PM JST - 18th May

Well, I think London Hearts is good stuff. Pity it's on at the same time as that other educational program/programme, yes? You got it!

On the other hand I absolutely forbade either of my children ever to watch Crayon Shin Chan. Some of the kids in my classes who grew up on a diet of that... yuck, say no more.
DenshaDeGO at 03:41 PM JST - 18th May

Heres a suggestion. If they dont like what the kids are watching..wait for it...turn it off!

Ordinarily that would be the responsible thing to do. We talking about Japanese parents here, who will walk up Mount Kilimanjaro and back 10 times before taking any responsibility in their own kids. Once the kids pops out it's up to the rest of the world to take of it for them.
rjdsr at 09:20 PM JST - 18th May

Once again we see a civic group pointing fingers in the wrong direction. "London Hearts" might be bad for kids, but it is on late at night, and parents should have some control over what their young kids are watching to begin with.
blvtzpk at 10:10 PM JST - 18th May

TV Asahi’s “Cleon Shin-chan” The work-experience crew are on duty on Sundays at JT it seems.
Simon_Foston at 10:35 PM JST - 18th May

Once again we see a civic group pointing fingers in the wrong direction. "London Hearts" might be bad for kids, but it is on late at night, and parents should have some control over what their young kids are watching to begin with.

You're absolutely right that kids shouldn't be watching those kinds of programmes at that time of night. I'm not aware of any content advisory system, e.g. warnings about violence, sexual content or language in TV schedules, in Japan either, unless you count Shinzo Abe telling NHK what they can't put in their documentaries.
realist at 12:11 AM JST - 19th May

Japanese TV sucks, period. It is generally peurile and is obsessed with programmes about Japanese people becoming "metabolik" while at the same time spewing out mindless, unending programmes about cookery. Personally I am thankful for SkyPerfect TV. One of the few contacts with the real world.
Altria at 09:17 AM JST - 19th May

I wouldn't call it the worst, but it has got pretty bad since they dropped the Black Mail section and replaced it with a bunch of talento talking.
Simon_Foston at 10:48 AM JST - 19th May

Japanese TV sucks, period. It is generally peurile and is obsessed with programmes about Japanese people becoming "metabolik" while at the same time spewing out mindless, unending programmes about cookery. Personally I am thankful for SkyPerfect TV. One of the few contacts with the real world.

Agreed, but personally I cancelled my SkyPerfect subscription because the shows I liked were all moved to 3am to make way for crap like American Idol and Temptation Island. If that's the real world, show me a fantasy land I can escape to quick.

Moderator: Back on topic please.
Ah_so at 07:38 PM JST - 19th May

I learnt to read with Crayon Shin-chan. The manga were superb (and the earlier books are the better IMO). The humour is grown up and sometimes "adult" and all kanji have furigana to help a struggling gaijin.
papasmurfinjapan at 08:56 AM JST - 20th May

Actually London Hearts is one of the few shows on Japanese tv I can watch. Some of the stuff they do is pretty original, and at least they don't try and pass it off as a show having some sort of educational merit by turning it into a "zatsugaku" quiz show.

I wouldn't let my kids watch it though, and if, as NeoJamal says, Asahi is deliberately promoting it to teens and pre-teens (I presume they are trying to grab the kids who have just finished watching gakko e ikou on another channel), then that is definitely something to be worried about. That's not the fault of London Hearts though, that's the fault of the Asahi marketing department.
ren_doi at 09:01 AM JST - 21st May

What does the PTA have against the most popular and most common TV shows in Japan? We absolutely LOVE watching dumb people eat food and exclaim "OIIISHIIIIII" with their mouths stuffed.
netrek at 05:19 PM JST - 22nd May

realist: What do you mean by "metabolik"? Ah_so: What is furigana?
Hughgarse at 04:32 PM JST - 23rd May

“They use vulgar language,” “The stars often beat each other” and “There is too much sexually suggestive talk.”

Here`s a piece of genius Sherlock... Switch it over!

How many daft Japanese programs do we see with people hitting each other and doing some pretty stupid stuff?? And "sexually suggestive talk"???? This from a country that still won`t pass a law outlawing child pornography..
KyouNoNippon at 04:38 PM JST - 23rd May

netrek

Metabolic　refers to Metabolic syndrome (メタボリックシンドローム), which is just being to fat, especially around the internal organ areas. A Big problem in Japan right now.

Furigana is kana script appended to kanji in order to allow reading of the kanji. Often put on manga for younger children since they cannot kanji so well.
Nessie at 05:24 PM JST - 23rd May

Metabolic　refers to Metabolic syndrome (メタボリックシンドローム), which is just being to fat, especially around the internal organ areas.

Actually, it also includes inactivity and other things. It's more than just being fat.