Saturday, 2 June 2007

Three Ways NOT to Watch TV in Japan

After the novelty of crazy Japanese game shows, 10 year old girls being portrayed as sex symbols and mindless shows about tv personalities telling you how "oishi" or "sugoi" everything is, most people come to the realisation that there really is nothing interesting on Japanese tv and that they want to get back into watching the shows they miss from back home.

Luckily, being stuck in a country which seems to be in "Hey Hey it's Saturday" mode 24/7 the internet offers several ways to save your sanity.

The first place to check out would be TV Links. There you can watch shows from all around the world. Some old, some online to view 24 hours after they air. Want to get the latest LOST or 24 episode? TV Links is the place to go.

Sick of the Japanese gyms that sound more like a fish market at 7am? Do what I did. Quit your membership, save yourself about 100 bucks and try a free daily exercise video podcast! I found Yoga Today in December 2006 and it's changed my life. Adi, Neesha and Sarah are three professional Yoga instructors based in Wyoming, each with a unique style who offer daily 1 hour Yoga lessons which you can download of the site directly or subscribe via iTunes (which is what I do). The quality is amazing and is great for beginners and experienced Yogis. Give it a try!

The third favourite option of mine is via a new service from the makers of Skype (if you're living overseas and aren't using Skype I can't recommend it enough!) called Joost which claims, and I think it is, the very first online television service which broadcasts shows in TV quality almost instantly! It's like have Pay TV (Cable) on your computer and it's absolutely FREE! Currently it has a handful of channels, my faves being MTV, Lime, IMF Asia and IMF Australia. Warner Bros just signed a deal with them the other day and the thing's still in Beta! Unfortunately because it's in Beta it's open via invite only. Lucky for you I have plenty of invites to give away, so if you're a friend of mine feel free to reply to this post with a comment and I'll email you your Joost invite asap.

Hope people find this post useful. Just because you don't watch tv, doesn't mean you have to be bored!

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Labels: fitness, japan, Joost, tv, Yoga Today

3 Comments:

chirp said...: I would love a Joost invite but I don't know if you'll send me one as we have never met. You only know me as chirp from ESL cafe. Contact me there if you are feeling generous and I'll send my details!; Sunday, 03 June, 2007
Christine said...: Love the Yoga Today idea - just the settings are mindblowing, and the practice is always well designed. Not sure 'bout the TV stuff, but I do hear it's sparse over there. Lovely blog design! - yogaguide (christine); Wednesday, 06 June, 2007
Brad said...: Thanks! Though I'm so sick of this brown. Have a nice fresh design in my head, just have to get off my arse and do it. ;); Thursday, 07 June, 2007