Recently, I’ve been exposed to Japanese children’s television subculture which up until a few months ago I paid no attention to. See, one of my best friends who lives 5 minutes from my house had a baby and I go visit them at least once a week to play with the kid and brainwash him to become a bad boy by whispering evil ideas into his ear when his mother is looking the other way. Well, it doesn’t seem to be working cause he’s absolutely a great kid. On the other hand, when I’m over there I’m constantly being bombarded with children’s tv shows for hours. As a result, I find myself humming some of these songs while I’m in the shower or on the train. I’ve even looked them up on youtube while at work!! Help me! One of them is Algorithm Taiso (Algorithm Exercise) which is a regular segment from NHK’s 15 minute children’s show Pitagora Switch (Pythagora Switch), a show mixing animation, contraptions and music to stimulate children’s minds. You might have seen this before doing the rounds on the Japan blogs. Two guys do the same exercise routine and every time they have different guests doing it with them. Policemen, firemen, construction workers, various people in society that are easily recognizable by children. The one above though is with the Sony QRIO robots. And they’re really good!!

Even better is with Tokyo Bus Guides. Can’t wait for the Akiba Maids one. I’m guessing there must be an adult version out there somewhere, you know, for the dads. ;-)

There’s also a different version which is the Algorithm March. Here they are doing it with a bunch of Ninjas. For some reason I can’t stop watching this video. Japanese people grow up watching these kinds of complex dance routines, that’s why they’re good at the Haruhi Dance.

Many more versions on youtube.