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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Makoto Nagano on TV Asahi Show - Densetsu

Clip from the show "Densetsu" ©TVAsahi

Earlier in the week I found tweets from Takasui, Corp. (the company that employs Nagano) that their fleet was going to be featured in a TV show. At first I wasn't sure what it meant (since the translation didn't work out so great) but later in the week I found out that All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 was going to actually be in the show as well. Takasui is made up of a fleet of ships of with Nagano is only one Captain of one of their smaller transport vessels so although their fleet was going to be shown it wasn't known if he was actually going to be featured or not. It wasn't until I read the last message did I realize he was going to be at least briefly featured did I want to see what the whole show was about. Given that I can't understand Japanese and it's not like an obstacle show where not knowing the language doesn't matter.. this was going to prove very interesting. And because the confirmation on his appearance was so late in the game I figured he would be briefly shown and that's it since the show was not about him directly.

The show opens up with a group of comedians.. of which I recognize two immediately. Back row pink shirt far right is Toshiaki Kasuga 春日 俊彰 from the Comedy duo Audrey オードリー and back row next to him is Masayasu Wakabayashi 若林 正恭 from Audrey オードリー as well. Both have participated in Sasuke in the past.

Thanks to Jason I was able to watch again (thanks Jason!!) using WIST. It's a much clearer picture than watching KeyHole and I could record it so I was very happy to get a chance to see it! The show was on the channel TV Asahi and the show is called Densetsu 伝説 (which is short for Ogon Densetsu 黄金伝説 which means Golden Legend). It's a comedy show where the comedians apparently compete with each other in various competitions and/or bets. This time it had to do with fishing. At first I wasn't sure what the whole thing was about but after seeing it I can say that the bets were to catch fish with their respective fishermen and pick a fish to make a meal. Whoever makes the best meal of the fish they caught themselves wins the challenge. The judges were the comedians you see in the first screencap (i.e the group with the Audrey guys).

The first team was Fruit Punch フルーツポンチ (Thanks to Ube for the names/kanji of the comedy duos) comprised of Kentaro Watari 亘 健太郎 and Kenji Murakami 村上 健志

The second team was Knights ナイツ comprised of Nobuyuki Hanawa 塙 宣之 and Nobuyuki Tsuchiya 土屋 伸之. This comedy duo was with the Takasui Fleet.

Third team was Lotti ロッチ comprised of Soichi Nakaoka 中岡 創一 and Kentaro Kokado コカドケンタロウ.

The 3 teams would go head to head to see which can make a better meal with the fish they caught in one day/night of fishing.

We start off with the Knights - they are highlighted in red (it blinked on screen) and their location is in Kagoshima 鹿児島県. If ya'll remember your geography lesson during Sasuke 25 Navi.. this is in the Kyūshū 九州 region of Japan.

Hmm.. are they hoping they catch a sunfish? I have no idea what this says... LOL

There he is! All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 on his boat. Btw I get this question a LOT.. Nagano's ship the 28th Konpira Maru 第二十八 金比羅丸. What that means is this. The "28" refers to the age in which he became captain of this ship.. not the number in the fleet of ships that Takasui has.

LOL he looks all embarrassed! Anyway.. hmm.. seems he has a new charm on his necklace now. Sorry.. stopping for greatness.. I don't expect to see him much on the show so I'm milking this for all it's worth.

The Knights guys are asking if he's Nagano.. LOL

Why.. yes indeed I am.. (chuckles.. OF COURSE HE IS!!!) lol.. sorry.. digressing and I haven't even started yet..

LOL TV Asahi giving some rep time to TBS showing Nagano's Sasuke 17 footage (ya'll who frequent Youtube know this video by heart by now).

Everyone knows he's 38 years old now and he won Sasuke in 2006. He's been fishing for 23 years btw.. more than half his life.. so you know.. and I'm serious about this.. He's been fishing since he graduated from Junior High at the age of 15.

LOL so they meet Nagano and what do they want to see? Him doing a Human Flag! LMFAO (Ube calls it the ningen no bori (sideways hang)) I guess they saw the video and wondered if he could still do it? I don't know.. but this is funny.

Awww.. he's cheesing.. he's embarrassed again!

Anyway.. just so you know I loved this show simply because it shows EXACTLY what Nagano does for a living in exact detail. Pay attention to the times. When they met Nagano it was 15:00 or 3 pm. Now it has been 2 hours and they are going out to sea after filling the boats (yes plural) with the requisite gear. They leave the port at 17:00 or 5 pm.

Today they are showing 6 boats going out. Remember they are shooting from one (most likely the Konpira maru - the ship that Nagano captains) and they are showing the fleet as they leave the harbor. This is one of the other ships.

There's another of the 6 ships leaving at once

And another one.

There's the list of ships. One main boat bottom left (no I don't know what it says but I know the set up) that stays out at sea the longest and does most of the fishing. The 3 on the right side are the transport vessels (I think the Konpira maru is the little on on the bottom right of the picture.. I think.. don't quote me on that) and the 2 lead ships running around looking for fish are the top left ones on the screen. I'll explain what they do shortly.

Nagano goes out to show the 2 fish out of water.. er... uhm.. the guys from Knights what they will be doing.. in suits.. LOL

The poor guys are already having balance issues? oh boy.. this is going to be a long night..

The guy in the gray suit is already having hysterics and can barely keep upright as he walks through the ship filled with netting.

I think it's 1 kilometer (3280 feet or .62 of a mile) of rope and 300 meters (984 feet) of netting? If I get a translation I'll change this.

Okay.. see the middle? that's 2 ships who found the fish they want underneath them. One of those 2 other ships I was telling you has the main band of netting.. the other has to go around in a big loop to enclose the area and trap the fish within.

See? 2nd boat meets up with first boat to complete the loop.

Once the center is secured the other boats get out of the way (one is going to the right of the screen) and the first boat now leaves to the left leaving the middle one to hang on the the netting.

Now the 2nd boat pulls the netting tight in and gets directly across from the first boat to tighten the netting and create a pool of which to fish from directly.

It's been 2 hours since this happened so it's now time to fish. It's now 19:00 or 7 pm and as you can see from the sonar they got the fish in one section already ready to get pulled on board.

This is what it looks like as the 2nd boat pulls away from the first boat making that huge loop.. maybe that's what the 300 meters was? the size of the circle?

Fishing time! It's now 20:00 or 8 pm

Now comes the painstaking part of pulling up the netting and bringing the fish on board.

See how close the 2 boats are? Notice something. The BIG boat (the one that is on the right) always stays there. The one on the left is a transport boat. Today.. it's the Konpira maru. Nagano is entrusted with taking the fish he gets from this netting and taking it to shore where it can be packed and sent out to customers. Most of the time they transport live fish btw. This allows the main boat (the one on the right) to stay out at sea and keep fishing while the other transport ships just take their cargo and go back to port.

This is the hard part.. they have to haul the netting on both sides to tighten the circle .. by hand.. and you wonder where Nagano gets his grip from? Well.. now you know. :p He don't need no stinkin' obstacles!

Reverse angle (as you see Kasuga from Audrey watching in studio) of the operation with the netting.

Hmm.. it seems they caught more than what they were aiming for! They got a 1.8 meter (or 6 foot) Hammerhead Shark シュモクザメ!

..and BINGO the comedy team Knights were going for Sunfish マンボウ! They caught 2 of them! These are pretty big. They are about 1.5 meters or about 5 feet long.

All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 talking to the Knights team...

LOL he said to see them on the other side!!

The guys are now going to the other side to help on the other boat!!

LOL they are nuts.... Notice the comedian chick gasping from the studio-cam™

More guys going over from the main ship to the transport ship!

And a bunch of kanji I can't understand.. LOL

The poor comedians are getting migraines... the night just started.. they are already tired! LOL

The distance between the transport boat and the main fishing boat is about 10 meters or 33 feet.

We leave Knights to deal with their migraine and go North and East to the Shikoku 四国 region of Japan and meet up with Lotti (again highlighted in red in the picture) and if I'm not mistaken they are off the coast of Kōchi 高知県.

One of the guys from Lotti apparently loses his balance when fishing with a long net. Ya'll gonna have to forgive me.. Going to be concentrating on the Takasui fleet and obviously Knights for the blog. I know you guys don't exactly care :)

Going north Fruit Punch is in the Chūgoku 中国地方 region of Japan and if I'm not mistaken they are off the coast of Shimane 島根県 (btw where Koji Hashimoto 橋本亘司 is from). And yes I'm skipping them too to go back to Nagano. :p

Speaking of Nagano.. before they went to the other comedy teams you hear Nagano tell them he's going to the other side.

LOL and nudges one of them to go too!

And off he goes! (with like 3-4 other guys LOL)

Safe arrival!

Oh btw.. did I need to remind you that they just jumped 33 feet across a pool that has a FRIGGIN' 6-FOOT SHARK???

Oh and a pair of 5 foot Sunfish?? Just thought I'd remind ya..

First guy pulls a wtf....

Okay one of the Knights guys makes it over okay.

Btw.. I swear they all take cues from the same directors.. TV Asahi does like 13 replays of this thing.. Do I take a drink every time I see a replay? LOL

LOL he lands right on his keister!

I'm sure it hurts but he's milking it for what it's worth.. he's a comedian after all!

Okay.. time for the other guy to get across the pool of fish that has a SHARK IN IT...

Oh crap he's already loosing his grip!

LOL Nagano's reaction is priceless! (he's on the right.. wearing a purple overall and a blue hat)

LOL is he squatting? (could be doubled over in laughter.. I know I was) Either way they all panic because the idiot fell off into the pool with the SHARK!

LOL the reaction from the studio comedians is just as funny. There's chaos in the air now.

And because I swear I'm watching TBS.. we get multiple angles and replays of the disaster unfolding!

So what.. I don't need to know Japanese.. this is just like Sasuke.. he's out!

LMFAO.. more replays... this time in slow motion!

... nooooooooo... LOL

He barely has his eyes open and the lifesaver is thrown to him on a rope

TV Asahi being bastards and reminding you what is in the water with him...

Nagano hauling this poor guy out of the water.. (you know he has the strength.. LOL)

Meanwhile he's getting stuck on the netting as they try to haul his butt out of the water.

They are being bastards again.. they are reminding you there's a 6 foot shark in here!

LOL more people involved getting him back on the boat as he keeps getting stuck on the netting.

Doh! He fell back in the water!

Now he is panicking.. he SEES THE SHARK and starts to point at it as he's yelling at the top of his lungs.

LOL after what sounded like WTF HOLY CRAP GET ME OUT OF HERE.. he is finally hauled into the other boat as there is hysterical laughter from everyone watching.

And just for good measure Nagano gives the guy a wedgie...

Okay.. they get the shark out of the water...

And the sunfish.. btw.. I think they did win the battle for this.. they got what they aimed for... they got 2 sunfish!

Toshiaki Kasuga 春日 俊彰 from the Comedy duo Audrey オードリー

.. pardon me as I throw up.. anyway.. he said he bets that he can eat 1000 squid sashimi (i.e. raw squid..) in 15 minutes.

Strange seeing him with hair that reminds me of Wakky.. I see his partner Masayasu Wakabayashi 若林 正恭 is around to give him grief. :p

Timer stops and he collapses... obviously he literally bit off more than he can chew.. LOL he so didn't meet this challenge...

Looks like he's going to throw up too.. he ate 65 raw squid in 15 minutes well short of the 1000 he said he can do.

Okay this is where it started to make sense. Fruit Punch made a dish with the squid they fished. Lottie did a dish with.. not sure what the big fish with ridiculously sharp teeth was... and what will Knights make?

We are back in Kagoshima so we are back with Knights and Takasui.

That's.. a big sunfish.. LOL

Okay.. this is what pays the bills.. they are now offloading their main stock of fish they are known for and the reason for the all the nets.

I've seen in Takasui's promotional video and it still scares me that they put this amount of water onto a boat.. LOL

Nagano is now explaining the fish that they concentrate on.

Do I need a reason to put a picture of Nagano?

I have no idea what he's saying but it's Nagano so I don't care! LOL

This is actually a horse mackerel or what they call Aji アジ. (I checked wiki on this and there are 150 species of this fish.. so I decided against linking it lol.. besides.. most people don't care!)

Every Kilogram (or over 2 pounds) of this fish is worth 4,000 円 (Yen) (or about $43 US).

This is Takasui's main money fish and what they are known for fishing.

Btw.. it's now 4:00 in the morning.. yeah.. they've been at it for about 5 hours give or take..

Needless to say the comedians are exhausted...

They don't need to fake it.. they are legitimately wasted..

Okay so Knights is going to make a dish that has to do with horse mackerel.

Just like the other 2 teams.. they are making it on the spot on the docks of whatever fishing fleet they were a part of. Since the big boat is back and it's daylight.. I am assuming they are in Kagoshima .. though it doesn't have to be (they have ports all over the Island).

Btw.. cough.. Nagano sighting.. (to the right of the screen)...

Okie dokie.. some raw squid thing.. something with that eel looking thing and seems like mackerel over rice.

I'm sure Kasuga is not happy to eat squid again after his adventure...

This is fried.. so that's the only thing that looks appetizing to me! LOL

Apparently Wakabayashi from Audrey is having a religious experience with his mackerel dish.. he's even making moaning sounds he loves it so much.. (trust me I'm trying to keep this PG-rated..).

So.. who's cuisine will reign supreme? Sorry.. wrong show.. LOL

The votes are being tallied..

4 for the squid dish, nada for the meal I'd actually eat.. and 5 for the mackerel dish!

Knights win!
Knights ナイツ comprised of Nobuyuki Hanawa 塙 宣之 and Nobuyuki Tsuchiya 土屋 伸之 (This comedy duo was with the Takasui Fleet)

Overall it was a cute show. Knowing Japanese would have been helpful since all the jokes were in that language and I missed everything that would have been verbally funny. Nagano's part was larger than I actually thought and I found it very interesting to see in exact detail what he does for a living. I've known it for a while but it's nice to show it in extreme detail for people who just can't imagine it. Also.. for those who think he trains 300 days a year out on his boat.. THIS is how he trains.. by hauling nets and stuff for hours on end. Also to clarify.. he works 25 days straight out of the month and has 5 days off. That is how the 300 days is calculated. That's.. a rough life.. he's been doing this for most of his life now. (23 years) Explains how sculpted his body is.. that's a very difficult life. Hope this show at least was interesting for you guys. It was for me!