"Ariyoshi Hiroiki's Imitation THE World," a show in which foreigners compete in imitating the hit songs of Japanese artists, will be broadcast on Fuji TV's "Saturday Premium" slot (Saturday 9:00 p.m.) on March 1st. It was broadcast in the late-night time slot in September 2023 and appeared in the Saturday Premium slot in July last year. This will be the second time it has been broadcast in the same slot.
This time, more than 160 people from 37 countries and regions around the world were nominated, exceeding the previous year, and 12 people were selected after the screening. They will be dressed in fashion unique to singing artists and show off their brilliant singing voices. In addition, there will be a corner where impersonators of foreigners will appear, saying, "I'm sure I look like you if it's just your face" or "I'm sure I look like you if it's just one word."
The host will be Hiroyuki Ariyoshi. The judges will be O-rin, Haruna Kondo and Michiko Shimizu from the comedy duo "Harisenbon," Seiya, Mao Daichi, Akimasa Haraguchi, and Matt from the comedy duo "Shimofuri Myojo."
This time, foreigners who came to Japan from the United States, Germany, Brazil, and Malaysia just for the show appeared one after another, imitating the songs of Japanese artists even though they could not speak Japanese at all. They showed amazing performances of famous songs by "ZARD", Toshinobu Kubota, "Superfly", Noriyuki Makihara, "Mrs. Green Apple" and "TULIP".
In addition, foreigners who unfortunately missed out on the championship in the first competition will also be taking part in the rematch. Their polished performances bring O-rin and Matt's excitement to a climax. The competition is so heated that Haraguchi worries, "We don't need to be scored on an impersonation show." They will perform songs by artists who are difficult even for Japanese people to impersonate, such as Ado, Hikaru Utada, YUKI, and Sayuri Ishikawa.
After the recording, Ariyoshi commented, "I was worried whether we would be able to maintain the same quality as the first time, but I was relieved that everyone worked so hard that it even surpassed my expectations. It made us happy to hear about the feelings of the people who will be appearing this time about Japan, and it was heartwarming to see the effort that must have gone into their performance - they must have practiced a lot."
He continued, "Some of the performers couldn't speak Japanese, but when I saw them memorizing the songs (lyrics) perfectly and singing them in Japanese very well, I realized that they had to really love the show to get that far. Some imitated just the faces, and others just one line...all the performers and I couldn't help but laugh, wondering if they really auditioned. Seiya, who was in charge of the segment, had lost about 2 kilos (laughs)."
