#15「アナログな世の中を斬る」
What starts as a child's obsession with climbing the national karaoke rankings for "Hakata no Shio" snowballs into nostalgic talk about VHS timer recording, color video printers, and other Showa-to-Heisei gadgets. The second half turns into a sharp takedown of today's half-digitized world—no smartphone manuals, Las Vegas concert tickets that don't arrive until three days before the show, cash-only parking lots, and paper boarding passes that somehow coexist with fully digital alternatives.
Listen to this episode Go to the show page
What this episode answers
Why is it so hard to rank highly in the national karaoke rankings for "Hakata no Shio"?
"Hakata no Shio" is a short song with few scoring opportunities, and anyone whose voice doesn't naturally suit it will struggle to gain points even with a pitch-perfect performance. The hosts tried for nearly 30 minutes and still failed, noting that the national average sits in the 80s—making the upper ranks a genuinely difficult target.
Why did VHS timer recording feel like a "revolution" when it first appeared?
Being able to automatically record late-night programs that no one could stay awake for was a massive shock. The contrast with an era full of missed recordings—baseball overruns cutting off the intended show, BS channel settings that refused to cooperate—made "revolution" the only fitting word.
What was the "color video printer" and how was it used?
It was a device that printed any freeze-framed moment from a playing VHS tape as a full-color photograph. The hosts' father bought one and used it to print the moment the DeLorean disappears in Back to the Future; an in-show search confirmed the device was a "color video printer" (カラービデオプリンター) manufactured by Hitachi and Sony.
Why, even as digitization advances, do frustrations and anxieties about smartphones and various services persist?
With call centers unreachable, restaurant reservations existing only online with no way to confirm them, and concert tickets at the Sphere in Las Vegas not arriving until three days before the show, going fully digital has eliminated the safety nets people once relied on.
What specific examples of "unreasonable analog" remaining in modern life were mentioned in the episode?
Card payments that still produce multiple paper receipts, revenue stamps (収入印紙) handed across a desk two or three steps away, split hanko impressions (割り印), cash-only parking lots accepting only ¥1,000 bills, paper Shinkansen tickets, JAL going fully smartphone-based while ANA still prints a boarding pass at the gate, and battered plastic trays at airport security were all cited.
Making a Child Sing "Hakata no Shio" Over and Over
The episode opens at the karaoke box, where one host's child is dead-set on cracking the national rankings for "Hakata no Shio." The problem: the song is short, which means fewer scoring opportunities, and if your voice isn't naturally suited to it, points simply refuse to climb—even when you nail every note. "We were dead-on pitch and still got nothing," one host recalled after nearly 30 minutes of attempts. The national average hovers in the 80s, making the upper ranks a genuinely punishing target. A YouTube challenge concept—"we're not leaving until someone hits No. 1"—was briefly floated. The child apparently discovered the song through videos by Rabbit (ラビット).
VHS Tapes and the "Revolution" of Timer Recording
The karaoke talk leads naturally into nostalgia for gadgets from the Showa and Heisei eras. VHS memories come flooding back: snapping the write-protect tab to guard a precious recording, then covering the slot with cellophane tape when you needed to record over it again. When timer recording arrived, it felt genuinely transformative. "You could record programs that aired while you were asleep—that was a real revolution," one host said. They also recalled the frustration of trying to get BS channels working on a VCR whose channel settings refused to cooperate, and the particular sting of a baseball overrun eating into the start of the program they actually wanted to record. The short-lived G-Code system—a numeric code printed in TV listings that configured your recorder automatically—got a mention as one of the era's ambitious but ultimately brief innovations.
Dad's Surprise Purchase: The Color Video Printer
Every family seemed to have one member who could never resist a new gadget, and in one host's household that person was his father. One day Dad arrived home with a device that could print any frozen frame from a playing VHS tape as a full-color photograph. A vivid memory: printing the moment the DeLorean vanishes in *Back to the Future*. A quick in-show search confirmed the device was marketed as a "color video printer" (カラービデオプリンター), with models from Hitachi and Sony, and the distinctive ink cartridge design triggered immediate recognition from the hosts. The conversation then shifted to MDs and mini-component stereos: Kenwood's 32-disc changer was the prestige option, Sony sat in the mid-range, and Aiwa served the budget end. They also reminisced about typing track titles into an MD one painstaking character at a time.
The Frustration of a World Without Instruction Manuals
A segment on a Nagoya TV program—featuring an older man furious that he cannot figure out his smartphone—prompted genuine agreement rather than laughs. "It's not about telling people to just Google it," one host observed. "The problem is that nobody teaches people who don't already know how to search." New features multiply every year while printed manuals disappear, and call centers either ring out or leave callers on hold indefinitely. The same anxiety extends to restaurant reservations that exist only online: "I want to call and confirm it's actually booked." A personal anecdote drove the point home: buying tickets to see the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere in Las Vegas through the venue's dedicated site, only to discover that "tickets will be delivered three days before the event." The idea of flying to the United States with no ticket in hand was, understandably, terrifying.
The Absurdity of a Half-Digitized World
The final stretch is a rapid-fire list of situations where analog persists for no clear reason. Paying by card and still receiving multiple paper receipts. Revenue stamps (収入印紙) physically handed across a desk two or three steps away. A split hanko impression (割り印) whose legal rationale nobody can convincingly explain. Parking lots that accept cash only—specifically ¥1,000 bills. Paper Shinkansen tickets. JAL, which is fully paperless on the phone, versus ANA, which still prints a boarding pass at the gate. The battered plastic trays at airport security checkpoints that look like props from a public bathhouse. The hosts converged on a shared aspiration: driver's licenses, credit cards, and every other wallet item loaded into a smartphone, with no physical wallet required—a goal that today's half-measures make frustratingly out of reach.
Takeaways
- "Hakata no Shio" is short and voice-dependent, making the national karaoke top ranks genuinely hard to crack even for determined competitors.
- Showa-to-Heisei gadgets—VHS timer recording, G-Code, color video printers—each represented a real revolution alongside their own era of trial and error.
- Even in an age of rapid digitization, half-analog absurdities—vanishing instruction manuals, paper receipts after card payments, cash-only parking lots—remain stubbornly embedded in everyday life.
This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.