Thirty Minutes over Tokyo
Encyclopedia
"Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" is the twenty-third episode and season finale of The Simpsons
' tenth season
. It first aired on the Fox network
in the United States
on May 16, 1999. In the episode, after being robbed by Snake Jailbird, the Simpsons visit a money-saving seminar, where they learn ways to limit their expenses. Soon, the family can afford a cheap last-minute flight to another country, the only disadvantage being that they do not know which country they will land in until they are on the plane, in which they find out that they are going to spend their vacation in Japan
.
The episode was written by Donick Cary
and Dan Greaney
, while Jim Reardon
served as director. It was one of the last episodes written in its production line, and its title is a reference to the war film 30 Seconds Over Tokyo. Several guest-stars appeared in the episode, including George Takei
as the host for The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show. The episode mocks several aspects of the Japanese culture, including the perceived cruelty of Japanese game shows.
The episode was seen by approximately 8 million viewers in its original broadcast. In 2005, the episode was first released on home video, and in 2007, it was released as part of the tenth season DVD box set. Following the tenth season's home video release, "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" received mixed reviews from critics. Because of a scene in which the emperor of Japan is thrown into a trunk filled with sumo thongs, the episode has never aired in Japan, as the scene was considered disrespectful.
's suggestion, visits a cyber café
named The Java Server. However, when Homer
looks at his bank account online, he is cyber-robbed by Snake, which saddens Marge
because they were saving the money for their family vacation. When Ned Flanders
catches Homer burgling his house to recover the lost money, he says that he got more for less by attending the Chuck Garabedian Mega-Savings Seminar. After considering Ned's advice, Homer steals Ned's tickets (and his Jesus fish
fridge magnet), and the Simpsons attend the seminar, in which Chuck explains many money-saving strategies. Later, in order to save money, the family goes to a 33¢ store where Homer eats a can of plankton
which had expired two years before and contains red tide poisoning
, as warned by “the Mexican Council of Food.” Then, when they snag mega-saver tickets from the Flanders family at the airport, they decide to go to Tokyo
.
The Simpsons arrive in Japan and, although Lisa wants to explore Japanese culture, Homer prompts the family to eat at an American-themed restaurant named Americatown. Later on, Homer and Bart
attend a sumo
match. While there, Homer asks a sumo wrestler who is throwing salt for some for his pretzel
, only for the wrestler to steal it. He and Bart knock him out, and the Emperor of Japan
Akihito
, comes to congratulate Homer. However, Homer thinks he is another wrestler and throws him into a dumpster of worn mawashi
. As a result, he and Bart are put in jail, where they learn Japanese and explore its culture until Marge pays the bail. Consequently, the only money the family has left is a one-million yen
bill, which Lisa loses in the wind after Homer makes an origami
crane
from it (prompting him to say "D'oh!
" in Japanese
).
Now broke, the family goes to the US Embassy
, where the Ambassador suggests that they get jobs. They eventually find work in a fish-gutting factory in Osaka
, but are dissatisfied, except for Bart, who believes he has found his purpose in life. Then, they notice a TV game show called The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show. They decide to appear on the show, telling the game's Japanese host Wink that what they wish for is plane tickets back to Springfield
, but to get them they have to go through physical torture
(particularly Homer). Eventually, the tickets are theirs, but they have to pick them up from a rickety bridge over an active volcano. Bart is able to get the tickets, but the bridge breaks and the whole family falls into the volcano, which is actually only orangeade
with lots of wasabi
added. Homer scolds the Japanese for their lack of ethics, making them feel ashamed of themselves. The program's sadistic policy does not change however, as they then show an arachnophobic
Canadian couple being showered with scorpions. As the Simpsons leave Japan, their plane is confronted by Godzilla
, Mothra
, Gamera
and Rodan
, but Lisa goes to sleep and the monsters let the plane fly off on the journey back to Springfield.
A scene from Battling Seizure Robots is played throughout the end credits.
"Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" was directed by Jim Reardon
and written by Donick Cary
and Dan Greaney
. It was first broadcast on the Fox network
in the United States
on May 16, 1999. "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" was one of the last episodes produced for the series' tenth season. Staff writers Cary and Greaney wrote the draft in a couple of days, and it was then rewritten "extensively" with The Simpsons' writing staff. Originally, there would be a long scene about how Homer had bought a "pre-Colombian vase" on the internet, however the scene was ultimately cut from the episode. The episode's title is a reference to the 1944 war film 30 Seconds Over Tokyo. Originally, the staff wanted the title to be "Twenty-two Minutes Over Tokyo," since an episode of The Simpsons is approximately twenty-two minutes long, but they eventually changed it to its current rendition because it “sounds closer to” the title of the film it references. According to Cary, the writers did a lot of research in order to accurately depict the Japanese language for the episode. For example, the three categories in The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show are written in Japanese.
In the scene at the seminar, a character closely resembling the mascot
of Hasbro
's Monopoly
can be seen sitting next to Mr. Burns. Because the design is slightly different from the real-life mascot, the Simpsons staff did not have to pay Hasbro for using their character in the episode. The design of Homer in a Jamaican attire was very popular among the staff, and Mike Scully
, the showrunner for the episode, called the design "great." A scene in the episode shows Homer buying a square watermelon
, which turns out to be round and slips out of his hands. In the background, cars are driving on the left side of the street. Originally, the animators had drawn the cars driving on the right side. However, Tomi Yamaguchi, a Simpsons layout artist at the time, pointed out that cars in fact drive on the left side of the street in Japan. Because of this, the animators had to redraw the whole scene, and Yamaguchi received a technical advisor credit for the episode. The speech that Homer gives to the audience in The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show was originally much longer, and would partially involve kitchenette
s from Broyhill
. The design of the male Canadian in the game show was based on Canadian Simpsons director Neil Affleck
.
The cartoon version of The Simpsons' theme song that plays at the end of the episode was conceived by composer Alf Clausen
. Chuck Garabedian, the speaker at the seminar, was portrayed by series regular voice actor Hank Azaria
, who plays Moe Szyslak
among other characters. The Japanese waiter in Americatown was played by American actor Gedde Watanabe
. Wink, the host for the The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show, was portrayed by George Takei
. Takei has appeared on The Simpsons several times before, and he is, according to Scully, one of the staff's favorite guest-stars. The episode also features the voices of Tress MacNeille
, Denice Kumagai as Japanese mother, Karen Maruyama
as Japanese stewardess, Keone Young
as the sumo wrestler, Karl Wiedergott
as Mr. Monopoly and Woody Allen.
described how "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" references and mocks several aspects of Japanese and American culture, as well as differences between the two. At a sumo wrestling match, Bart and Homer encounter the Japanese emperor, Akihito
. After Homer throws him into a trunk of sumo thongs, Bart and Homer are put in jail, where they have to re-enact a kabuki play about the forty-seven Ronin
, do origami
, flower arranging and meditation. After Marge bails them out, Bart and Homer can speak fluent Japanese, and have fully absorbed, as Cantor writes, the "exclusionary" character of the Japanese culture, as Homer asks Bart (in Japanese, with English subtitles): "Should we tell them [Marge and Lisa] the secret to inner peace?", to which Bart replies (still in Japanese), "No, they are foreign devils." The episode also references the Japanese's adaption to American culture, and is, according to Cantor, "filled" with signs of how eagerly Japanese have taken to American culture. In one scene, the Simpsons eat at a restaurant called Americatown, filled with US memorabilia and having only American items on the menu. Another scene shows director Woody Allen
filming a commercial for Japanese television.
In order to get back to the United States, the Simpsons have to enter a humiliating game show called The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show. According to Cantor, this is where the family find a difference between Japanese and American culture, as Wink, the game-show host, explains to them: "Our game shows are a little different from yours. Your shows reward knowledge. We punish ignorance." The game show is partly based on the Japanese show Za Gaman
, as well as the British show Family Fortunes
. As with many other episodes in the series, "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" suggests that, in the end, the Simpsons are more attached to the local than to the global, and, as Cantor writes: "indeed the global is ultimately important in the series only insofar as it can be made local, that is, part of Springfield. For all its cosmopolitanism, the show keeps returning to the American theme of 'there's no place like home'".
The computers seen in the internet cafe that the Simpsons visit in the beginning of the episode are based on the Apple iMac computers. In a scene inside Flanders' kitchen, a note which reads "I COR 6:911" can be seen. It is an abbreviation of the First Corinthian, the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible. The cups in the 33 cent store read That 70's Show, a reference which Danny Masterson
, one of the lead actors in That 70's Show, was entertained by, according to Scully. Battling Seizure Robots, the seizure-inducing television show that the Simpsons watch in their hotel room, is based on an episode of Pokémon
, called "Dennō Senshi Porygon", which caused several hundred children to develop epileptic seizures. According to Scully, the staff received "several angry letters" from people for the scene. After the cartoon, an advertisement for Mr Sparkle, a character that first appeared in the season 8
episode "In Marge We Trust
", can be seen on the television screen. Barney, while impersonating Homer, says "That boy ain't right," a line frequently used by Hank Hill
, the main character of the animated television series King of the Hill
. The giant monsters attacking at the end of the episode are Godzilla
, Gamera
, Rodan
and Mothra
, all of which are famous from Japanese monster movies. The scene was included as a reference to the 1998 action science fiction film Godzilla
, in which three of the main The Simpsons cast members had a live-action role.
, translating to approximately 8 million viewers. On May 23, 2005, the episode was released along with the season 12 episode "Simpson Safari
", the season 13 episode "Blame it on Lisa
" and the season 15 episode "The Regina Monologues
", as part of a DVD set called The Simpsons - Around The World In 80 D'Oh's. On August 7, 2007, the episode was again released as part of The Simpsons - The Complete Tenth Season DVD box set. Matt Groening, Mike Scully, Donick Cary, George Meyer, Ron Hauge, Matt Selman and Jim Reardon participated in the DVD's audio commentary of the episode.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, gave the episode a positive review, and wrote that it was "A magnificent end to the season." They wrote that the episode was "Thoroughly racist," but "completely inoffensive because it's simply very funny." Jake MacNeill of Digital Entertainment News was also favourable, considering it to be one of the better episodes of the season. James Plath of DVD Town wrote that the episode has "some funny moments." Aaron Roxby of Collider was more critical, denouncing the episode's dated references. He wrote: "I am going to go ahead and give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume that making fun of Japanese junk culture and game shows felt fresher in 1999 it does do now." [sic] Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide called the episode "mediocre." He wrote that, though the episode's concept should "open up lots of interesting possibilities," it "doesn’t explore them particularly well." While he didn't consider it to be a bad episode, he thought it "fail[ed] to live up to its potential."
Although all other episodes of The Simpsons have been dubbed and broadcast on Japanese television, "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" has never aired in Japan. The reasoning behind this was that a scene in the episode, which shows Homer throwing Akihito, the current emperor of Japan, into a box filled with sumo thongs, was considered disrespectful. The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies". Some questions asked in the courses include:
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 10)
The tenth season of the animated television series The Simpsons was originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States between August 23, 1998 and May 16, 1999. It contains twenty-three episodes, starting with "Lard of the Dance". The Simpsons revolves around a working class family that...
. It first aired on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on May 16, 1999. In the episode, after being robbed by Snake Jailbird, the Simpsons visit a money-saving seminar, where they learn ways to limit their expenses. Soon, the family can afford a cheap last-minute flight to another country, the only disadvantage being that they do not know which country they will land in until they are on the plane, in which they find out that they are going to spend their vacation in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
The episode was written by Donick Cary
Donick Cary
Donick Cary is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons, Just Shoot Me!, Complete Savages, Late Night with David Letterman and served as head writer on The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show....
and Dan Greaney
Dan Greaney
Daniel "Dan" Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons. He was hired during the show's seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode "King-Size Homer", but left after season eleven...
, while Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
served as director. It was one of the last episodes written in its production line, and its title is a reference to the war film 30 Seconds Over Tokyo. Several guest-stars appeared in the episode, including George Takei
George Takei
George Hosato Takei Altman is an American actor, author, social activist and former civil politician. He is best known for his role in the television series Star Trek and its film spinoffs, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the...
as the host for The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show. The episode mocks several aspects of the Japanese culture, including the perceived cruelty of Japanese game shows.
The episode was seen by approximately 8 million viewers in its original broadcast. In 2005, the episode was first released on home video, and in 2007, it was released as part of the tenth season DVD box set. Following the tenth season's home video release, "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" received mixed reviews from critics. Because of a scene in which the emperor of Japan is thrown into a trunk filled with sumo thongs, the episode has never aired in Japan, as the scene was considered disrespectful.
Plot
The family, on LisaLisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
's suggestion, visits a cyber café
Internet cafe
An Internet café or cybercafé is a place which provides internet access to the public, usually for a fee. These businesses usually provide snacks and drinks, hence the café in the name...
named The Java Server. However, when Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
looks at his bank account online, he is cyber-robbed by Snake, which saddens Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
because they were saving the money for their family vacation. When Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
catches Homer burgling his house to recover the lost money, he says that he got more for less by attending the Chuck Garabedian Mega-Savings Seminar. After considering Ned's advice, Homer steals Ned's tickets (and his Jesus fish
Ichthys
Ichthys, from Koine Greek: , is the Greek word for "fish"....
fridge magnet), and the Simpsons attend the seminar, in which Chuck explains many money-saving strategies. Later, in order to save money, the family goes to a 33¢ store where Homer eats a can of plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
which had expired two years before and contains red tide poisoning
Red tide
Red tide is a common name for a phenomenon also known as an algal bloom , an event in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column and results in discoloration of the surface water. It is usually found in coastal areas...
, as warned by “the Mexican Council of Food.” Then, when they snag mega-saver tickets from the Flanders family at the airport, they decide to go to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
The Simpsons arrive in Japan and, although Lisa wants to explore Japanese culture, Homer prompts the family to eat at an American-themed restaurant named Americatown. Later on, Homer and Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
attend a sumo
Sumo
is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...
match. While there, Homer asks a sumo wrestler who is throwing salt for some for his pretzel
Pretzel
A pretzel is a type of baked food made from dough in soft and hard varieties and savory or sweet flavors in a unique knot-like shape, originating in Europe...
, only for the wrestler to steal it. He and Bart knock him out, and the Emperor of Japan
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
Akihito
Akihito
is the current , the 125th emperor of his line according to Japan's traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989.-Name:In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his given name, but rather is referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" which may be shortened to . In...
, comes to congratulate Homer. However, Homer thinks he is another wrestler and throws him into a dumpster of worn mawashi
Mawashi
In sumo, a mawashi is the belt that the rikishi wears during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a keshō-mawashi as part of the ring entry ceremony or dohyo-iri.-Mawashi:...
. As a result, he and Bart are put in jail, where they learn Japanese and explore its culture until Marge pays the bail. Consequently, the only money the family has left is a one-million yen
Japanese yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...
bill, which Lisa loses in the wind after Homer makes an origami
Origami
is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...
crane
Crane (bird)
Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
from it (prompting him to say "D'oh!
D'oh!
"D'oh!" is a catchphrase used by the fictional character Homer Simpson, from the long-running American animated sitcom The Simpsons . It is typically used when Homer injures himself, realizes that he has done something stupid, or when something bad has happened or is about to happen to him...
" in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
).
Now broke, the family goes to the US Embassy
Embassy of the United States in Tokyo
The Embassy of the United States in Tokyo represents the United States to Japan. Along with consulates general in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, and Naha, the embassy provides assistance to American citizens and issues visas to foreign nationals who wish to visit or immigrate to the United...
, where the Ambassador suggests that they get jobs. They eventually find work in a fish-gutting factory in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, but are dissatisfied, except for Bart, who believes he has found his purpose in life. Then, they notice a TV game show called The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show. They decide to appear on the show, telling the game's Japanese host Wink that what they wish for is plane tickets back to Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
, but to get them they have to go through physical torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
(particularly Homer). Eventually, the tickets are theirs, but they have to pick them up from a rickety bridge over an active volcano. Bart is able to get the tickets, but the bridge breaks and the whole family falls into the volcano, which is actually only orangeade
Orange soft drink
Orange soft drinks are carbonated orange drinks....
with lots of wasabi
Wasabi
, also known as Japanese horseradish, is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish, and mustard. Its root is used as a condiment and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard rather than the capsaicin in a chili pepper,...
added. Homer scolds the Japanese for their lack of ethics, making them feel ashamed of themselves. The program's sadistic policy does not change however, as they then show an arachnophobic
Arachnophobia
Arachnophobia or arachnephobia is a specific phobia, the fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions. It is a manifestation of zoophobia, among the most common of all phobias. The reactions of arachnophobics often seem irrational to others...
Canadian couple being showered with scorpions. As the Simpsons leave Japan, their plane is confronted by Godzilla
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
, Mothra
Mothra
is a kaiju, a type of fictional monster who first appeared in the serialized novel The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Takehiko Fukunaga, Shinichiro Nakamura, and Yoshie Hotta...
, Gamera
Gamera
is a giant, flying turtle from a popular series of kaiju films produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho Studios' Godzilla during the daikaiju boom of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own...
and Rodan
Rodan
is a fictional Japanese mutated pterosaur introduced in Rodan, a 1956 release from Toho Studios, the company responsible for the Godzilla series. Like Godzilla and Anguirus, he is designed after a type of prehistoric reptile...
, but Lisa goes to sleep and the monsters let the plane fly off on the journey back to Springfield.
A scene from Battling Seizure Robots is played throughout the end credits.
Production
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
and written by Donick Cary
Donick Cary
Donick Cary is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons, Just Shoot Me!, Complete Savages, Late Night with David Letterman and served as head writer on The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show....
and Dan Greaney
Dan Greaney
Daniel "Dan" Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons. He was hired during the show's seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode "King-Size Homer", but left after season eleven...
. It was first broadcast on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on May 16, 1999. "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" was one of the last episodes produced for the series' tenth season. Staff writers Cary and Greaney wrote the draft in a couple of days, and it was then rewritten "extensively" with The Simpsons
In the scene at the seminar, a character closely resembling the mascot
Rich Uncle Pennybags
Rich "Uncle" Pennybags aka Frank Moneybags, is the round old man in a top hat who serves as the mascot of the game Monopoly. Rich "Uncle" Pennybags was rechristened Mr. Monopoly in a Hasbro marketing effort in 1999. He also is known as Whiff from all the casino slot machines...
of Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
's Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
can be seen sitting next to Mr. Burns. Because the design is slightly different from the real-life mascot, the Simpsons staff did not have to pay Hasbro for using their character in the episode. The design of Homer in a Jamaican attire was very popular among the staff, and Mike Scully
Mike Scully
Mike Scully is an American television writer and producer. He is known for his work as executive producer and showrunner of the animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1997 to 2001. Scully grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts and long had an interest in writing. He was an underachiever at school...
, the showrunner for the episode, called the design "great." A scene in the episode shows Homer buying a square watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
, which turns out to be round and slips out of his hands. In the background, cars are driving on the left side of the street. Originally, the animators had drawn the cars driving on the right side. However, Tomi Yamaguchi, a Simpsons layout artist at the time, pointed out that cars in fact drive on the left side of the street in Japan. Because of this, the animators had to redraw the whole scene, and Yamaguchi received a technical advisor credit for the episode. The speech that Homer gives to the audience in The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show was originally much longer, and would partially involve kitchenette
Kitchenette
A kitchenette is a small cooking area.In motel and hotel rooms, small apartments, college dormitories, or office buildings a kitchenette usually consists of a small refrigerator, a microwave oven or hotplate, and, less frequently, a sink...
s from Broyhill
Furniture Brands International
Furniture Brands International, Inc. is a holding company in the home furnishing industry. Some of the brands it owns in the furniture industry include Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Hickory Chair, Pearson, Laneventure, and Maitland-Smith....
. The design of the male Canadian in the game show was based on Canadian Simpsons director Neil Affleck
Neil Affleck
Neil Affleck is an actor, animator and director. Currently directing the children's cartoon, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends on Nick Jr., he has worked on The Simpsons and Family Guy in the past....
.
The cartoon version of The Simpsons
Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, of which he has been the sole composer since 1990...
. Chuck Garabedian, the speaker at the seminar, was portrayed by series regular voice actor Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
, who plays Moe Szyslak
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
among other characters. The Japanese waiter in Americatown was played by American actor Gedde Watanabe
Gedde Watanabe
Gedde Watanabe is an American theatre, film, and television actor.He was in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing...
. Wink, the host for the The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show, was portrayed by George Takei
George Takei
George Hosato Takei Altman is an American actor, author, social activist and former civil politician. He is best known for his role in the television series Star Trek and its film spinoffs, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the...
. Takei has appeared on The Simpsons several times before, and he is, according to Scully, one of the staff's favorite guest-stars. The episode also features the voices of Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...
, Denice Kumagai as Japanese mother, Karen Maruyama
Karen Maruyama
Karen Maruyama is a Japanese-American actress and comedienne. She has appeared on television in supporting roles in a number of sitcoms, including recurring characters on The Jamie Foxx Show, Strip Mall, and Suddenly Susan...
as Japanese stewardess, Keone Young
Keone Young
Keone J. Young is an American character actor. His father is Chinese and his mother is Japanese.He has been prolific in his character work and has made numerous guest appearances on such varied television series as Diff'rent Strokes, The Golden Girls, Murphy Brown, Mad About You, Family Matters,...
as the sumo wrestler, Karl Wiedergott
Karl Wiedergott
Karl Wiedergott, born Karl Aloysious Treaton is a German actor. He is noted for his voice work on the long-running Fox sitcom The Simpsons since 1998, voicing background characters and some celebrities such as John Travolta and Bill Clinton...
as Mr. Monopoly and Woody Allen.
Themes and cultural references
In his book Gilligan Unbound, American literary critic Paul CantorPaul Cantor
Paul A. Cantor is a wide-ranging American literary critic inspired by the Austrian School of economic thought.As a young man Cantor attended Ludwig von Mises' seminars. He went on to study English literature at Harvard...
described how "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" references and mocks several aspects of Japanese and American culture, as well as differences between the two. At a sumo wrestling match, Bart and Homer encounter the Japanese emperor, Akihito
Akihito
is the current , the 125th emperor of his line according to Japan's traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989.-Name:In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his given name, but rather is referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" which may be shortened to . In...
. After Homer throws him into a trunk of sumo thongs, Bart and Homer are put in jail, where they have to re-enact a kabuki play about the forty-seven Ronin
Forty-seven Ronin
The revenge of the , also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century...
, do origami
Origami
is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...
, flower arranging and meditation. After Marge bails them out, Bart and Homer can speak fluent Japanese, and have fully absorbed, as Cantor writes, the "exclusionary" character of the Japanese culture, as Homer asks Bart (in Japanese, with English subtitles): "Should we tell them [Marge and Lisa] the secret to inner peace?", to which Bart replies (still in Japanese), "No, they are foreign devils." The episode also references the Japanese's adaption to American culture, and is, according to Cantor, "filled" with signs of how eagerly Japanese have taken to American culture. In one scene, the Simpsons eat at a restaurant called Americatown, filled with US memorabilia and having only American items on the menu. Another scene shows director Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
filming a commercial for Japanese television.
Za Gaman
was a Japanese television show from the 1980s. It is not particularly well known or remembered in Japan, but it became famous in other countries, particularly Britain, due to its appearance on the British television programmes Clive James on Television, and subsequently Tarrant on TV under the name...
, as well as the British show Family Fortunes
Family Fortunes
Family Fortunes is a British game show, based on the American game show Family Feud. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 6 December 2002 before being revived by the same channel in 2006 under the title of All Star Family Fortunes...
. As with many other episodes in the series, "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" suggests that, in the end, the Simpsons are more attached to the local than to the global, and, as Cantor writes: "indeed the global is ultimately important in the series only insofar as it can be made local, that is, part of Springfield. For all its cosmopolitanism, the show keeps returning to the American theme of 'there's no place like home'".
The computers seen in the internet cafe that the Simpsons visit in the beginning of the episode are based on the Apple iMac computers. In a scene inside Flanders' kitchen, a note which reads "I COR 6:911" can be seen. It is an abbreviation of the First Corinthian, the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible. The cups in the 33 cent store read That 70's Show, a reference which Danny Masterson
Danny Masterson
Daniel Peter "Danny" Masterson is an American actor and DJ best known for his role as Steven Hyde in That '70s Show.-Early life:...
, one of the lead actors in That 70's Show, was entertained by, according to Scully. Battling Seizure Robots, the seizure-inducing television show that the Simpsons watch in their hotel room, is based on an episode of Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
, called "Dennō Senshi Porygon", which caused several hundred children to develop epileptic seizures. According to Scully, the staff received "several angry letters" from people for the scene. After the cartoon, an advertisement for Mr Sparkle, a character that first appeared in the season 8
The Simpsons (season 8)
The Simpsons eighth season originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The show runners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
episode "In Marge We Trust
In Marge We Trust
"In Marge We Trust" is the twenty-second episode of The Simpsons eighth season, which originally aired April 27, 1997. It was written by Donick Cary and directed by Steven Dean Moore. The episode guest stars Sab Shimono as Mr. Sparkle, Gedde Watanabe as the factory worker, Denice Kumagai and Karen...
", can be seen on the television screen. Barney, while impersonating Homer, says "That boy ain't right," a line frequently used by Hank Hill
Hank Hill
Henry Rutherford "Hank" Hill Age 50 animated series King of the Hill. Hank lives in Arlen, Texas and works at the fictional Strickland Propane selling propane and propane accessories. Hank's voice is provided by series creator Mike Judge. The Economist named Hank Hill as one of the wisest people...
, the main character of the animated television series King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
. The giant monsters attacking at the end of the episode are Godzilla
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
, Gamera
Gamera
is a giant, flying turtle from a popular series of kaiju films produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho Studios' Godzilla during the daikaiju boom of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own...
, Rodan
Rodan
is a fictional Japanese mutated pterosaur introduced in Rodan, a 1956 release from Toho Studios, the company responsible for the Godzilla series. Like Godzilla and Anguirus, he is designed after a type of prehistoric reptile...
and Mothra
Mothra
is a kaiju, a type of fictional monster who first appeared in the serialized novel The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Takehiko Fukunaga, Shinichiro Nakamura, and Yoshie Hotta...
, all of which are famous from Japanese monster movies. The scene was included as a reference to the 1998 action science fiction film Godzilla
Godzilla (1998 film)
Godzilla is a 1998 science fiction monster disaster film film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is a loose remake of the 1954 giant monster classic Godzilla. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film relates a tale of a nuclear incident...
, in which three of the main The Simpsons cast members had a live-action role.
Release and reception
In its original American broadcast on May 16, 1999, "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" received an 8.0 rating, according to Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, translating to approximately 8 million viewers. On May 23, 2005, the episode was released along with the season 12 episode "Simpson Safari
Simpson Safari
"Simpson Safari" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons twelfth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 1, 2001. When the Simpsons run out of food thanks to a bag boy strike, the family finds an old box of Animal Crackers in their attic. In the box is a...
", the season 13 episode "Blame it on Lisa
Blame It on Lisa
"Blame It on Lisa" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons thirteenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 31, 2002. In the episode, the family goes to Brazil in search of a Brazilian orphan named Ronaldo whom Lisa has been sponsoring...
" and the season 15 episode "The Regina Monologues
The Regina Monologues
"The Regina Monologues" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season, and originally aired November 23, 2003 in the United States. It was written by John Swartzwelder, and directed by Mark Kirkland. The episode sees the Simpson family travel to the United Kingdom on holiday. There, they...
", as part of a DVD set called The Simpsons - Around The World In 80 D'Oh's. On August 7, 2007, the episode was again released as part of The Simpsons - The Complete Tenth Season DVD box set. Matt Groening, Mike Scully, Donick Cary, George Meyer, Ron Hauge, Matt Selman and Jim Reardon participated in the DVD's audio commentary of the episode.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, gave the episode a positive review, and wrote that it was "A magnificent end to the season." They wrote that the episode was "Thoroughly racist," but "completely inoffensive because it's simply very funny." Jake MacNeill of Digital Entertainment News was also favourable, considering it to be one of the better episodes of the season. James Plath of DVD Town wrote that the episode has "some funny moments." Aaron Roxby of Collider was more critical, denouncing the episode's dated references. He wrote: "I am going to go ahead and give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume that making fun of Japanese junk culture and game shows felt fresher in 1999 it does do now." [sic] Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide called the episode "mediocre." He wrote that, though the episode's concept should "open up lots of interesting possibilities," it "doesn’t explore them particularly well." While he didn't consider it to be a bad episode, he thought it "fail[ed] to live up to its potential."
Although all other episodes of The Simpsons have been dubbed and broadcast on Japanese television, "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" has never aired in Japan. The reasoning behind this was that a scene in the episode, which shows Homer throwing Akihito, the current emperor of Japan, into a box filled with sumo thongs, was considered disrespectful. The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies". Some questions asked in the courses include:
External links
- "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" The Simpsons.com