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TV for the most part is even worse than American television and usually consists of three types of show; quiz shows, news, and anime. The quiz shows are mostly nothing but people sitting around making stupid jokes or pranks or making fun of each other. It seems as if all of these types of programs have a main male announcer and a female co-host whose primary objective is to laugh at the male's jokes. Is this a reflection of Japanese women's place in society? .
Japanese humor also takes some getting used too. At first I though it was just me, but I've asked some of my friends here and they don't seem to find it all that much amusing either. Considering that we don't understand the language half the time, this could possibly detract a lot from the show and cause us to miss key lines that complete the joke. However, I do not think this is true as I have read other cases where even those who understand it entirely agree that eastern humor is far too immature and almost childish for their tastes. .
Compared to TV in America, they can get away with showing a lot more risqué stuff in Japan. Sex is actually fairly common and at times crosses the border into near pornographic. In America, if something like this were to be broadcast, the public would be in an outrage and it would be all over the newspapers. But Japanese people don't seem to mind the least, which says a lot about the culture's view on nudity. .
Violence too can be shown in a lot more detail than American shows. Blood flows freely, and I was awed by some of the yakuza shows that my friend's fourteen year old sister watches! Although the crime and violence rate is still very low in Japan, especially compared to almost all other countries, one has to wonder how much of an impact these types of shows have on young people.
MANGA.
Japanese people have an entirely different perception than westerners on comics, known in Japan as manga.