There are two reasons why I keep watching this show. First, it’s entertaining. Participants in the show are around my age with quite strong personality. Some people are very funny. Some are quite inspiring. Some are cute. Some are incredibly weird. And some are just crazy!! Also there are three famous Japanese comedians (Masami Hisamoto, Eiji Wentz, Kosuke Imada) as commentators. They’re all so fun to watch. I get easily attached to those people, and it keeps me coming back next week and watch to see them. Also, I can see the mentality of Japanese people in my age of these days. (I’ve been away from Japan for a while. I should be able to fit in the culture in Japan in case of going back to Japan someday.)

Second, it’s educational. Not only you can see foreign countries’ sceneries, but also you can learn their history, culture, traditions, current holding issues and etc. For example, in Mongol, Cashmere goats, which are known for source of Cashmere materials, are popular livestock because of their value and quality. However, the growing number of Cashmere goats has become a serious problem in Mongol. Because of their huge appetite, Cashmere goats root up and eat grass on the large scale of ground. And also under an inland dry climate, big plants are hard to grow. Therefore, size of the desert in Mongol has been rapidly increasing, which also affect neighborhood countries including Japan as yellow dust by wind. As a conclusion, our luxurious lifestyles are causing serious problems in other countries. I could notice these kinds of issues by watching Ainori, and I get a chance to rethink about my lifestyle.

I think Ainori is a good TV show, and it’s actually popular in China and Taiwan as well. Also there are some non-Japanese viewers who watch Ainori like these people: Giro’s Shack (http://rolandcarlos.net/words/?p=70), Sylvain Bouchard (http://www.sylvainbouchard.com/wpblog/?cat=10). I would recommend Ainori to any people studying Japanese to see how real casual conversations in Japanese are and to be more interested in Japanese culture.

If you’re interested –> Veoh.com