Japan on American TV Watch List ​

​Alisa Freedman (alisaf@uoregon.edu)
Professor of Japanese Literature, Cultural Studies, and Gender
Japanese Studies Association Webinar
February 25, 2021

​Below are some television programs analyzed in my forthcoming book, Japan on American TV: Screaming Samurai Form Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost. I have not suggested ways to access these shows because the platforms through which television circulates change constantly. For example, streaming sites like Netflix make old programs available to new audiences; university libraries archive DVDs of classic television. The endurance of American parodies of Japan is further proof of how influential these programs have been in television history and the role they have played in both perpetuating and dispelling national stereotypes.

• “Judo Jack,” Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, The Huckleberry Hound Show, October 9, 1958
• “The Prowler,” The Flintstones, December 30, 1960
• “Pearl Thief Grief,” and “Jewel Fool,” The Dick Tracy Show, January 1960
• “So Sorry, My Island Now,” Gilligan’s Island, January 9, 1965
• “Diogenes, Won’t You Please Go Home,” Gilligan’s Island, May 1, 1965
• “Samurai Futaba” Skits, including “Samurai Hotel” Samurai Hotel” (December 13, 1975, the first of the series), “Samurai Delicatessen” (January 17, 1976), “Samurai Divorce Court” (February 14, 1976), Samurai General Practitioner, July 31, 1976), “Samurai Stockbroker” (October 30, 1976), (Samurai Hit Man, March 19, 1977), “Samurai B.M.O.C” (“Big Man on Campus,” May 21, 1977), “Samurai Psychiatrist” (November 19, 1977), “Samurai Night Fever” (February 25, 1978), Samurai TV Repairman” (May 20, 1978), “Samurai Optometrist” (November 11, 1978)
• “Swedish Chef versus the Japanese Cake,” The Muppet Show, November 22, 1976
• Shōgun, September 15-19, 1980
• Big Bird in Japan, 1988
• “Thirty Minutes over Tokyo,” The Simpsons, May 16, 1999
• “In Marge We Trust,” The Simpsons, April 27, 1997
• “Returning Japanese,” King of the Hill, May 5 and 12, 2002
• “Death Picks Cotton,” King of the Hill, November 12, 2007
• “American History” (short film by Trey Parker and Chris Graves), 1992
• “Chinpokomon,” South Park, November 3, 1999
• “Whale Whores,” South Park, October 28, 2009
• “Tweek x Craig,” South Park, October 28, 2015
• “Coffee Land,” Portlandia, February 4, 2011
• “J-Pop America Fun Time Now,” Saturday Night Live, 4-part sketch series, 2011-2012
• Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, 2019
• Queer Eye: We’re in Japan!, 2019