You’ve probably heard about “Japanese game shows”, right? Sorry, but after my trip to Japan and seeing their television shows up close and personal, I’m telling you they aren’t what you think. Sure, there’s all types of nonsense that go on mostly during variety shows and season-ending specials, but those aren’t the true Japanese game shows. The true Japanese game shows are, well, a lot like ours.  Hell, some of them even were ours. (They were even on the Millionaire bandwagon). Japan has a quiz history that dates back quite far, and some of their offerings have been around longer than I have: Panel Quiz Attack 25 has been running continuously since 1975; Quiz Time Shock has been off and on since 1969 (originally for civilians, now just for celebs); and arguably the longest-running music competition on Earth, NHK Nodo Jiman, started on radio in 1946!

Obviously those aren’t the only games and quizzes to grace Japanese TV screens, which means there’s plenty for MelloPanther Productions to adapt for convention play. After all, what would be cooler than competing on an actual Japanese quiz for actual cash and prizes? There are already a few in the works, so if you want some authentic Japanese flavor to a convention near you, tell me where to go, or better yet, tell the convention.

It’s been a surprisingly productive month here at the secret underwater base and I can’t keep the results just to myself.  After all, MP is all about you, the audience, so sharing is almost mandatory.  Here is the first thing I will present to you: a picture of all the swag I got on my trip to Japan!  It was a heckuva week, and I totally recommend it to anyone who wants to go. (Two caveats: don’t know by yourself, and plan ahead of time.)  What’s not in this picture is all the swag I got for myself.  That’s right, all this is up for grabs in future MelloPanther events!

I know there will be at least one more convention in 2013 that I plan on going to, and my hope is that I go to three, maybe four if I’m lucky, but 2014 is still wide open.  If you know of any convention in either Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, or even New Jersey or Delaware, that you would be 20% cooler with MelloPanther programming, shoot me a line (there’s an e-mail link in the corner now) or better yet, tell that convention!

Now that’s a lot of stuff to offer, but I’m not through yet.  There may be a couple other things worth talking about…but not today.  Watch this space, though, you never know what news might drop.