Japanese TV is famous (infamous?) for its weirdness. I’ve always been surprised by how inventive it is when compared to American TV – from the extreme game shows to the bizarre commercials.

This hits on a bigger topic that I’ve never really understood – the discrepancy between a culture that, on one hand, encourages conformity and contains a lot of guardrails for behavior, and on the other, allows people to express themselves in some of the weirdest ways I’ve ever seen.

Back to TV though. Today we ended up eating dinner at my host’s parents’ house, where the TV is always on in the background. Right at dinner time a variety show came on. The topic: bladder health and kegel exercises.

Take a look at the photos below for a taste. The show included inflation of a pig’s bladder, famous TV personalities doing kegel exercises in front of a large audience and a bunch of “man on the street” interviews about bladder issues.