A time-traveling TV comedy with a bawdy middle-aged hero has become a big hit in Japan, juxtaposing the country's brash 1980s boom years with its more politically correct present day.

In the series, titled "Extremely Inappropriate," the past isn't seen through rose-tinted glasses: There's smoking on the bus, boobs on television and corporal punishment galore.

But modern Japan doesn't get a free pass either.