Next Sunday, Nippon TV's irreverent variety show "Denpa Shonen," the prototype of bizarre Japanese reality-TV programs, will once again end its long successful run with a pledge to be reincarnated in the near future. On Saturday at 9 p.m., however, there will be a special two-hour installment summing up the show's main features over the past nine months.
Recently, a number of variety shows have incorporated segments that convey a more responsible social conscience. On the Friday night TBS series, "KinSma," for example, young female "brand addicts" donate their Prada and Louis Vuitton fashion accessories to raise money to buy shoes for poor people in Cambodia. Late last summer, "Denpa Shonen" deposited 12 Japanese men on the Thailand-Cambodia border for the purpose of constructing 89 km of paved road all the way to Angkor Wat.
For every kilometer the team completes, each member receives 10,000 yen. This is all the money they have to live off of. Consequently, it has been a very rough nine months. Almost every week, at least one participant quits, though he is immediately replaced by a new volunteer. In addition, the group has a designated leader who also seems to change on a weekly basis.