Matt has a good link to an article which talks about the increasing criticism of Project X as it only glorifies Japan's past history and does not feature any women. I've seen the show once or twice and I can see why it is popular, but the criticisms are very on-target. Japan needs to spend less time reminiscing about the past, less time watching TV, and more time thinking about and building a future that will sustain it beyond manufacturing.
I like TV program called "GAIA no Yoake(Tue. 22:00 TV Tokyo)" much better than project X. Beside project X only give me the feeling of "old good days (also they are not attractive to me...)", "Gaia no yoake" focus on the people who are grappling now and present issue in Japan. I am quite impressed by the heavy research of producers and reporters of the program. I can feel the producer's strong will to step foward from Japanese past and lost 10 years. Check It !
http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/gaia/
I have watched half a dozen of the Project X episodes and they are very "formulaic", ALWAYS
having one or two of the original guys come into
the studio and shed a tear about the good old days.
Still, some of the actual documentary information
is interesting: Tokyo Tower, Shinkansen etc.
Also: The phrase is "Hear, hear!" as in "Listen, listen!" NOT "Here, here!"
Ole
I don't think solving today's problem necessarily means we have to break away from our past. Without sacrifice and dedication of millions of "forgotten stars" depicted in the Project X, Japan would not have become what it is today - still a world economic power second only to the US.
Japan is not a country that glorifies one single "hero" who steps on others to make his name known. We are a society of everyday heros who, regardless of the humble and mundane environments they are subject to, make a difference in a small yet profound way. One great leap is simply an accumulation of many tiny steps.
Knowing who we are and where we come from is exactly the way to work on what we will become.
i agree about breaking away from our past... but i think that the japanese have forgotten what they can do and who they are, and i feel that project X has emboldened a lot of middle aged men to step again and give them a dream. that's why even if project X only focuses on a few things, i think that somehow it's a good thing overall.