You wouldn't know it to look at our poker faces, but deep down every Japanese is a drama queen.

For more than a millennium, the Japanese have retained an incredible love — nay, obsession — for drama, and the more extravagantly cheesy the better.

Take the world of kabuki, which has its roots in gay beggars acting for food or pennies on the banks of the Kamo River in Kyoto. Pauper boys dressed themselves in women's rags, smeared crude makeup on their faces and let rip with emotive acting. It's said the people of Kyoto were moved to tears by their passion, their youth and hormonal histrionics.