<h2>Unexpected &#8220;betrayals&#8221; that happen one after another&#8230;</h2>
 Among various variety shows, the human commentary &#8220;Omo Umaeiten&#8221; (Chukyo TV, Nippon TV) is gaining popularity. The program, produced by Chukyo TV, has a normal structure: the staff travels around the country to find &#8220;too good to be true&#8221; restaurants and introduces them via VTR, and the hosts, Hiromi and Eiji Koge of Viking, visit them with the guests.
 However, what is unusual is the owners of the restaurants introduced in the VTR. Each of them has their own strong convictions and beliefs, and their words and deeds are interesting because they are not only oblique to our imagination but also completely unexpected. The word &#8220;betrayal&#8221; would be an appropriate word to describe the bizarre storyline.
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<figure id="attachment_202538" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1321px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-202538"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="124b8759"><img src="https://gsjebzejhjubm-res.cloudinary.com/image/private/s--tcLaUqse--/t_article_image/v1630396726/P-1_ibrutp.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-202538" class="wp-caption-text">From the official website of &#8220;Omo Umae Restaurant&#8221; (Chukyo TV, Nippon Television Network Corporation)</figcaption></figure>
<h2> The destructive power of &#8220;betrayal&#8221; as it functions in variety shows</h2>
By nature, &#8220;betrayal&#8221; is a bad word. If you look up synonyms, you will find words such as &#8220;betrayal, treason, turning, and informing. Of course, we don&#8217;t want to be betrayed in our daily lives, and we want to avoid unpleasant feelings and losses as much as possible.
However, this is not the case when it comes to variety shows. In recent years, there has been a tendency for all the actors to get along and have fun together. The sense of family that does not allow the viewer to feel the difference in age or position, and the consistent tone of the show, makes it easy to watch, but in some cases it can lead to a rut.
 This is where &#8220;Omo Umae Restaurant&#8221; comes in. This program has no theories as mentioned above. This is because the store owners, whose mission is to please their customers rather than make a profit, come up with unexpected &#8220;betrayals&#8221; one after another. At first, the program staff seems to have a hard time getting caught up in the pace of the shopkeepers, but eventually a sense of trust like a real family is born between them, and unexpected surprises are delivered.
This slow and steady betrayal of laughter and emotion shakes our emotions in various directions, and the hour is over in a flash, giving us a great sense of satisfaction. The episode aired on July 20 proved this in a simple way. The staff visited &#8220;Aji no Isamu&#8221; to see what happened to the restaurant they had once covered.
The welcoming mood soon took a turn. After the broadcast, the director of the program suddenly had to take a part-time job (five consecutive shifts without doing any research) because they became so busy that they needed more staff. Since he had already done an in-depth interview once, he was familiar with washing dishes and serving food. Gradually, I moved up to the next level of work, taking orders, assisting with cooking, and preparing vegetables. Then, with the words, &#8220;&#8230;&#8230;,&#8221; he was finally put in charge of making the &#8220;makanai.
 The unexpected rise of a staff member of a TV program brought laughter and surprise. But that&#8217;s not all. The program director walked the owner&#8217;s dog, the owner&#8217;s family presented the program director with a homemade cake, and other heartwarming interactions continued. Furthermore, when a gift was delivered from the program director&#8217;s parents&#8217; house, saying that they were indebted to the store, the owner himself offered to go to the parents&#8217; house with the store&#8217;s specialties.
Honestly, I don&#8217;t think anyone could have imagined this turn of events, and I don&#8217;t understand why it landed in this place. But it makes me laugh naturally, and it also makes me happy. For some people, their tear glands may even relax. This is the kind of unpredictable &#8220;betrayal&#8221; that is unique to &#8220;Omo Umae Restaurant.
From the studio, &#8220;They&#8217;re so close, they&#8217;re already employed! &#8220;They&#8217;re family! &#8220; It&#8217;s a show that can spread its wings to the world. It&#8217;s a show that can spread its wings around the world. If you watch it, I think you&#8217;ll find peace.
<h2> There was also a broadcast episode that brought tears to my eyes due to a series of good &#8220;betrayals&#8221;: &#8230;&#8230;</h2>
After stirring up the emotions of the viewers with an unfamiliar development, the August 17 episode took a turn for the worse and brought tears to my eyes.
On that day, we followed the story of &#8220;Shokuraku Tazawako,&#8221; where the owner himself earns money through Uber Eats in order to provide food at a low price. It is an unusual restaurant where a part-time worker runs the restaurant in place of the owner who works for Uber Eats. In addition, they offer free lunches on an irregular basis, saying, &#8220;We have our work cut out for us, but there are people who have even more work cut out for them.
While the shopkeepers were watching the broadcast of their first appearance, the store received calls of encouragement and thanks, and some even offered to take back the fish they caught. The owner&#8217;s family rejoiced, saying, &#8220;We can add fried fish to our free lunch! This drew laughter from the studio. However, the mood changed when the owner&#8217;s family said, &#8220;I&#8217;m glad you could see how hard (the owner) worked! The atmosphere changed dramatically. The laughter disappeared and the wipes showed the mysterious faces of the studio members.
 After the broadcast, the owner&#8217;s Uber Eats bag storage area was turned into a photo spot, and customers who came after watching the program took commemorative photos. In addition, the number of Uber Eats partners who came to eat at &#8220;Tazawako&#8221; with the money they earned from their deliveries increased rapidly. An ordinary customer&#8217;s wish to &#8220;come to eat and drop money so I don&#8217;t have to go to Uber&#8221; was also fulfilled, and the owner laughed, &#8220;I can&#8217;t go to Uber Eats anymore because I&#8217;m too busy (working at the restaurant).
 The owner laughed and said, &#8220;I can&#8217;t go to Uber Eats anymore because I&#8217;m too busy.
<h2> The law of &#8220;betrayal&#8221; applies to more than just &#8220;Omoamashii&#8221;.</h2>
If we consider &#8220;betrayal&#8221; to be the reason why &#8220;Omo Umae Restaurant&#8221; is so popular, we can also apply it to other variety shows that have recently become popular.
For example, in &#8221; Downtown no Gaki no Tsukasa ya Arahende! (Nippon Television Network Corporation), last year&#8217;s &#8220;8-year-old impersonator contest&#8221; and &#8220;Unprecedented! (Nippon Television Network Corporation), last year&#8217;s &#8220;8-year-old impersonation contest,&#8221; &#8220;Unprecedented! (Nippon Television Network Corporation), last year&#8217;s &#8220;8 years old impersonation contest,&#8221; &#8220;Unprecedented!
They are at the top of the Japanese comedy world, and I have confidence that they can sublimate any subject into laughter. However, in the episode broadcasted above, they made us laugh by showing a side of themselves that is a middle-aged man in his prime. This laughter was definitely something we did not expect, but it gave us more fun than we expected. Of course, the satisfaction is great.
It would also be the same with last year&#8217;s &#8220;M-1 Grand Prix. Magical Lovely&#8217;s victory may have caused the &#8220;manzai or not manzai&#8221; controversy that shook the world because their style betrayed the conventional image of manzai, for better or worse.
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 &#8220;Variety shows where everyone is having fun and enjoying themselves are great, but as I mentioned above, they sometimes leave something to be desired. The solution to this is &#8220;betrayal. In the future of variety shows, &#8220;betrayal&#8221; that ignores conventional theories may become an important element to spice up the confusion and excitement.

Works as a freelance writer mainly for the web. She is also involved in the production of books and corporate PR magazines. She does not have a specific field of expertise, but works on a wide range of topics that interest her, including history, comedy, health, beauty, travel, gourmet food, and nursing care. 
Although the color is different, I also like "Ota Ueda" produced by Chukyo TV. I'd like to hear the show's producers' side of the story once!

 Motoko Abekawa

 Among various variety shows, "Omo-Umai-Den" is gaining popularity. The show has the usual structure of a VTR showing restaurants that the staff has searched for all over the country, and the hosts, Hiromi and Eiji Koge of Viking, go over them with the guests...

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