Clive James on TV became a hit in no large part because of Clive's caustic wit on extreme Japanese game shows such as Endurance.

They were something else, even rather sadistic. Viewers tuned in each week just to see how bad or comical things get.

So it was only a matter of time Clive James would go to Japan and on to the set of Takeshi's Castle. One of the game shows he mocked.

This was more than just Clive poking fun at Japanese television. I knew from interviews he gave that he genuinely liked Japan and even spent years trying to learn the language. He said when you are in Tokyo, you sense that you really are somewhere alien where you cannot easily get by with just knowing English.

You get a sense of that as Clive tries to navigate the Japanese subway or just trying to find his hotel. You do sense with a film crew accompanying, a lot of this was set up.

The first of a two part look of Japan. It badly tailed off. The geiko scenes were as boring as Clive felt while he was watching the so called.entertainment.