One of the better Japanese reality shows in the first decade of the new millennium was TV Tokyo's "Inaka ni Tomaro" ("Let's Visit the Countryside"), which premiered in 2003. Ostensibly a travelogue, it featured second-tier celebrities who were dispatched to rural areas where they had to secure a night's lodging in private homes. Supposedly, there were no setups. The celebrity had to approach strangers on the street and ask if they could stay the night. Normally, the people they met recognized the celebrity, but, depending on when that person's heyday was and the age of the interlocutor, sometimes they didn't. And even if they did know the celebrity, it didn't always mean they wanted them in their house, so the negotiations were always awkward. I remember one show where it took the guest 10 tries before he secured a bed.