As one of the longest-running variety shows, "Downtown DX" (Nippon TV, Thursday, 10 p.m.) is the progenitor for almost every other one. Hosted by the comedy duo Downtown -- Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masanori Hamada -- the shows's format centers on celebrity guests relating anecdotes about themselves.
This week, on the regular "Star's Youth White Paper" segment, in which a celebrity makes a show-and-tell presentation, veteran actor Shinji Fujimura explains a portrait of himself that was painted by the late film director Akira Kurosawa. Many years ago, Fujimura wrote a book of essays and asked Kurosawa, somewhat offhandedly, if he would provide the illustration for the cover. Kurosawa complied with a portrait of Fujimura as a clown. On the program, Downtown has the painting assessed by an expert, who says that it is worth about 10 million yen. Fujimura is dumbfounded.
In another regular segment, celebrities respond to postcards sent in by viewers who describe seeing those celebrities in candid situations on the street. This week, one viewer describes seeing the veteran enka singer Aki Yashiro in a 100 yen shop where she purchased eight baskets of merchandise. According to the "witness," her receipt was "3 meters long." Matsumoto asks her how much she spent and she blithely replies "70,000 yen." The audience is dumbfounded.