To my great embarrassment I get a message like this every once in a while: This was a big mistake made on the second season of RLT, and ultimately my fault. I was up late writing the voiceover for our first Philippines episode, looking for a clever way to compare Manny Paquiao with other rags to riches boxers. Googling "Mexican boxers" I found a list which came from an obscure blog and I copied three of the names over. Unfortunately Roberto Duran, a famous Panamanian boxer, was on this list.
The mistake has been fixed for all deliveries of the show to new networks. But TLC and Discovery World HD, which airs the program from Mexico down to the Tierra Del Fuego, still run the old version with the error. I apologize to at least one Panamanian every month. In the same season I made another gaff. We were filming in a mall in Jakarta without official permission. Security was tight. I spoke to camera, distracted by approaching guards, and said "... just like Karnak in Luxor, Egypt or Machu Picchu in Brazil..." I'd spent 4 days hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru. I have a great memory from that time. A park ranger popped out of the dark as I was setting up a tent on Inti Punku. He told me it was forbidden to camp there. I tried to bribe him, but he refused. He told me to hike all the way down to the river. It was almost dark and the mosquitos were out in full force. I begged him to let me sleep closer. He generously offered the use of his guard shack while he worked. He woke me up in the morning, we had coffee together, and I was in Machu Picchu 2 hours before the tourists arrived. Yet, when we filmed in this mall my brain misfired and spit out the word "Brazil" in place of "Peru." No one from the cameraman to the editors caught my mistake. Luckily I saw this error month later and we fixed it. I have not yet apologized to a Peruvian. Either the network is running the corrected episode or they are super chill about it. There have been some mistakes in editing. I once introduced Tokyo's most urban neighborhood by saying, "This is Shinjuku!" in voiceover. Shinjuku is like Blade Runner. The editors put a shot of a rural village on the screen at that exact moment. Like two bamboo shacks in a field. To be fair they have never been to Japan and the video file was accidentally in the folder labeled "Shinjuku". This mistake was caught before the episode got on TV. However, if it did air, 99% of viewers would think I was an idiot. Only 1% would detect an editing error. This is why I went ballistic when I saw the mistake and wrote an email to the editors in all CAPS. I am keenly aware that these kinds of errors can erode the audience's confidence in me as a host. No one wants to be misled. I pride myself on presenting ideas that inform, inspire, and occasionally challenge stagnant opinions. My goal is to create material which is accessible to the person who has never left their hometown, but I am always conscious that all of you know something I don't. I'm aware some of you are seasoned travelers, expats, or locals who are familiar with our locations like the back of your hand. I strive for your respect, I appreciate your comments, and I am deeply grateful to those of you who follow my journeys. One day, if I meet Mr. Duran in Panama, Peru, or a rice paddy in Tokyo I'll hope to shake the hand of a boxing legend.
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The Japan episodes turned 5% of my hair white. I used to “act” in Japan. Tokyo was familiar turf. But, this time things were different. We were on a time crunch to wrap up the season, the production house was experiencing sticker shock with our bills, and the collision between Japanese mentality (super formal) and Road Less Traveled style (very loose) had my teeth grinding like a wheat mill.
There were no formalities as I approached a seedy host club in Kabukicho and asked to film on the spot. I shadowed a male gigolo. His main customers: ladies from the adjacent hostess club. These women spend all night lighting cigarettes, pouring drinks, and laughing at terrible jokes; then they blow all their earnings conversing with a handsome young host who can relate. I was amazed at how fast my mentor could put his audience into a spell. I could have transformed into a werewolf and she’d have payed me no attention. Unfortunately the footage came out too dark (they wouldn’t allow lights) so we had to scrap it. There is a lot of pressure to conform in all societies, but in Japan the level is high. This must have something to do with how peaceable the country is. One can walk across the mega-city of Tokyo in the middle of the night, or get off on any subway stop, and be fine*. But there is a dark side to this conformity. A look across the long aisle of grey suits and dour faces as "salarymen" come home on the subway will make it obvious that some of these guys could be happier in another life. In fact, an alarming number end up jumping in front of the same trains that carried them to work everyday**. I wanted to showcase Japanese who were brave enough to changed their lives and embrace their true selves. You'll see that I found perhaps the bravest in a neighborhood that confirms the expression "your vibe attracts your tribe." If we vibrate on an inauthentic frequency (in an effort to conform), we’ll never meet the friends and lovers who would truly understand us. There’s a palpable optimism around people who are resonating honesty because they’ve found their clan. I'm excited to share this inside look into Tokyo with you, full of phantom samurais, extreme nerd culture, spooky robots, and compelling ideas taking power in real lives. Recommendations:
* Not only are you physically unthreatened, but your possessions are safe as well. I've seen plenty of Japanese set their cell phones or purses on a table to save it, and then walk around a corner to order. Japanese are known to bring cash found on the sidewalk to the police station. The one exception is the neighborhood of Roppongi where foreigners go to drink. Don't leave your purse on a table in Roppongi. ** There have been some clever measures taken to prevent people from jumping, some of which you'll see in the episode. Watch this episode on the Travel Channel this Saturday at 9PM |
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