Ninja Warrior is a Japanese game show that my sons got me hooked on. I found it absorbing and creative (who says Asians are not creative?), so I vegged out for a weekend watching a Ninja Warrior marathon on the G4 channel. Called Sasuke in Japan after a ninja in stories called Saratobi Sasuke, the game is a brutal obstacle course in four stages. Contestants win four million yen if they complete all four stages. Here is some examples of the first stage, and if you can believe it, not the hardest!
The show is fascinating for a number of reasons. First, it’s incredibly difficult — out of 22 contests in the past 12 years, the entire four stage course has only been completed twice. The contestants seem to have a lot of camaraderie as they are competing against the course far more than against each other. Second, there is a mix of serious and non-serious contestants (including actors, comedians, and just plain eccentric folks), which leads to those painful and humiliating collisions and falls that Japanese game shows seem to love. To complete the courses, a combination of balance, agility, and above all, a fantastic strength weight ratio is required. As a result, some of the best contestants, which are have been from all over the world, are Olympic level athletes like gymnasts Paul and Morgan Hamm, and decathlete Paul Terek. Third, G4 thankfully doesn’t dub the show, which preserves the tone set by the Japanese play by play announcers. I dislike the dubbed versions of Iron Chef, and while some may like it, to me, the dubbing really detracts from the original show.
Ninja Warrior surprised me in a number of ways; despite having Olympic level athletes from around the world, the only two men who have completed all four stages have backgrounds as Japanese fishermen. In a way, that’s not surprising, as fisherman do a lot of pulling – pulling in nets, pulling down ropes, pulling up anchors – which builds the biceps, lats, and hand strength critical for finishing the third stage. I was also surprised at the number of professional and high level Asian athletes; who says Asians aren’t athletic? A final surprise was how long the show has lasted — it’s gone on for 12 years, with contests done twice a year.
While Ninja Warrior doesn’t exclude women, there is a women-only version called Kunoichi, named for female Ninjas. G4 TV also runs a contest called American Ninja Challege, where the finalists go onto compete on Sasuke in Japan. You can see all of three competitions on G4 TV.
