Fuji TV runs a half-hour reality program called the "The One Million Man." In this program, a man must spend 1 million yen ($8,000; £6,000 or R65,000) within five hours, and he must spend it all on himself. A television crew follows him around to make the program for telecasting.
It turns out that spending 1 million yen in five hours on oneself is not as simple as it sounds, especially for a man. If the contestant does not spend all 1 million yen in five hours, he must return the full amount.
The show always opens with Mr. Tsutsui, dressed in a tuxedo, approaching a man in a street at random, offering him 1 million yen to spend on himself. If the man answers affirmatively, Mr. Tsutsui takes the cash out of his pocket and puts it in the man's hands, explaining the rules (no gifts, no gambling, no paying off debts, no sex-related services). A TV crew quickly wires the man for sound, the clock starts ticking, and someone with a camera follows him for the next five hours.
“I couldn't understand why the men needed so much time to spend the money,” a young man said. He was soon to find out for himself.
The young man first bought a computer, even though he admitted he knows nothing about computers and doesn't really need one. He then bought a set of DVDs! By that time, more than an hour had passed and he still had more than half of the money left to unload. In a mild panic, he wasted 45 minutes in a cab changing his mind repeatedly, as to where he wanted to go and spend the rest of his money. He ended up in a shop where he bought a Rolex, he did not need, and then wasted some more time in a bookstore looking through guidebooks.
Then he jumped into another cab to take him to the waterfront where he took a suite in an expensive hotel and had 11 minutes to wolf down a room-service meal.
He barely made it. He said he felt guilty and that he didn't enjoy spending the money at all. For the show's reality-TV aim, it was easy to prove that money makes "fools" out of human beings.
The disillusionment that overcomes these men as they try to spend their windfall meaningfully is heartbreaking. It shows directly and without any editorializing, that money doesn't buy happiness.
It turns out that spending 1 million yen in five hours on oneself is not as simple as it sounds, especially for a man. If the contestant does not spend all 1 million yen in five hours, he must return the full amount.
The show always opens with Mr. Tsutsui, dressed in a tuxedo, approaching a man in a street at random, offering him 1 million yen to spend on himself. If the man answers affirmatively, Mr. Tsutsui takes the cash out of his pocket and puts it in the man's hands, explaining the rules (no gifts, no gambling, no paying off debts, no sex-related services). A TV crew quickly wires the man for sound, the clock starts ticking, and someone with a camera follows him for the next five hours.
“I couldn't understand why the men needed so much time to spend the money,” a young man said. He was soon to find out for himself.
The young man first bought a computer, even though he admitted he knows nothing about computers and doesn't really need one. He then bought a set of DVDs! By that time, more than an hour had passed and he still had more than half of the money left to unload. In a mild panic, he wasted 45 minutes in a cab changing his mind repeatedly, as to where he wanted to go and spend the rest of his money. He ended up in a shop where he bought a Rolex, he did not need, and then wasted some more time in a bookstore looking through guidebooks.
Then he jumped into another cab to take him to the waterfront where he took a suite in an expensive hotel and had 11 minutes to wolf down a room-service meal.
He barely made it. He said he felt guilty and that he didn't enjoy spending the money at all. For the show's reality-TV aim, it was easy to prove that money makes "fools" out of human beings.
The disillusionment that overcomes these men as they try to spend their windfall meaningfully is heartbreaking. It shows directly and without any editorializing, that money doesn't buy happiness.
Source: The Japan Times, 2001-07-08
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