The Japanese government recently dropped the subsidies for a program for the hearing impaired. It seems that if you are hearing impaired there, you will also have to be humor impaired.
The program in question is a Japanese version of the Canadian show "Naked News" and it has evidently angered the Japanese communications ministry. Part of the ministry's budget supports programming for the hearing impaired and they felt that a program such as this wasn't what they wanted to fund.
The Japanese version was to feature a Japanese anchorwoman stripping off her clothing while reading tabloid news in sign language. Shinichino Fukuyama, a spokesman for the show's producer, Paradise Television Inc, stated that they won't give up. They may now just air it live with some improvisations by the anchorwoman and a have a higher level of sign language. Fukuyamam stated that the principle of their company was to entertain their audience, regardless of whether they are hearing impaired.
I do wonder what in particular is the problem for the ministry, especially in a country that has brought us some very bizarre programming, strange game shows and seems to offer someplace for every weird interest in their residents. It could be rather interesting watching an anchorwoman try to strip, read the news and sign, all at the same time.
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