Tarento – what is their talent anyway?
So, as I have stated in an earlier entry, in Japanese entertainment TV, you see the same famous people over and over again. It’s like an inner circle of celebrities who are on ALL the different shows.
And who are these people? Well, to the best of my knowledge, though I might be wrong (I haven’t investigated this thoroughly enough to claim absolute expertise), you can divide the Japanese TV-personalities into several distinct groups:
1) Idols (pop-stars, especially young female ones fall under this category)
2) Other music artists (rock bands, singers, etc.)
3) /TV-drama/ actors (non-TV actors are not as frequently on TV, naturally)
4) Sports celebrities
5) Ex-Idols (Most people on TV fall under this or the next two categories)
6) Tarento (i.e.’talents’ – people whose claim to fame are their multiple ‘talents’. It’s hard to say exactly what these talents are, but it involves being on TV a lot….)
7) Models (and some notorious ex-models)
8) Comedians
Well, I don’t think I’ve missed any categories. As stated above, the *main* types of people you see frequenting (and, running) the entertainment or variety shows, are categories 5, 6, and 7. I guess it’s because they simply have a lot of time to be on TV, and some of them really don’t have any other skills than simply being on TV, uttering witticism (or, not so witty things).
Well, I don’t know if this entry really does anyone any good or adds to anyone’s general, useful knowledge, but I still wanted to get it off my chest…:satisfied: