Conan and his team packed in as much of Tokyo as possible during the final days of their Japanese trip.
American late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien took Japan by storm last week, dressing up on the streets of Harajuku and dining on exquisite Japanese fare before flying down to rural Tottori Prefecture for the highlight of the trip – a meeting with the mayor of Hokuei, aka Conan Town.
After collecting three trillion yen from the mayor, Conan and his team flew back to Tokyo, but they weren’t done with exploring the capital, as they were clearly determined to see and do as much as possible during their last few days in the city.
▼ After all, Conan was now fluent in Japanese after five days in the country.
One of the people they couldn’t leave without seeing was Metal Gear video game franchise creator, Hideo Kojima, who shared these photos of his time with Conan on Twitter.
▼ “Reunited with Conan O’Brien. He came to visit Kojima Productions. He also signed our customary message board. Conan and I are the same age.”
A closer look at the message Conan left shows his skill at drawing, as he expertly sketched a cartoon image of himself, with a message that read, “Can I have a job here?”
As well as being the same age, Conan and Kojima also have something else in common – they both know what it’s like to lose their jobs while under the glare of the public eye. Kojima had an acrimonious split with publisher Konami in 2015, ending a thirty-year long relationship that caused headlines around the world.
Similarly, Conan was dumped as host of CBS’ Tonight Show in 2010, but like Kojima, he forged ahead with his own project, hosting a new late-night show on TBS called Conan. Kojima himself has now founded a new company called Kojima Productions, and this is where the two met to film something “super secret” for Conan’s upcoming episode.
While it’s unlikely that Kojima will be hiring Conan anytime in the near future, they were happy to share photos of themselves alongside Ludens, an incredibly lifelike figure by Prime 1 who’s also “the icon of Kojima Productions”.
Joining them for the meeting was Aaron Bleyaert, who appears with Conan on his “Clueless Gamer” segments, leading some fans to wonder whether the two might have been testing out Kojima’s upcoming game Death Stranding before its official release.
▼ The hashtags #DeathStranding #Videogames #EPIC #OMG all point to a major exclusive.
After spending some time with the legendary video game creator, Conan and his crew set out to explore the nightlife around Tokyo, spending their last full night in the city with some drinks at a live band karaoke joint.
Conan, who’s been known to sing and play guitar with famous musicians on his show, was excited to have the opportunity to sing with a live band on stage in Tokyo, and his performances were shared online with the world via Facebook Live.
▼ Conan sings “Great Balls of Fire” and “Creep” from the 34-minute mark and then duets “We Will Rock You” with a Japanese local at 1:03.
Towards the very end of the clip, Conan comments on how much he loves Japan, saying they could spend another two weeks in the country, and that they’ll have to come back to do a Tokyo Part II on the show.
For Conan’s crew members, one karaoke joint for the night wasn’t enough so they headed out after filming in the early hours of the morning.
▼ Bleyaert with colleagues Ruthie Wyatt and Jordan Schlansky in Shinjuku at 2:15 a.m.
▼ The next day, the crew’s bags were packed, as Conan and his team headed back to Los Angeles.
▼ And that’s a wrap on Conan in Japan!
After returning home, Conan’s production staff went straight to the 2018 Creative Arts Emmy Awards, where they picked up the Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within an Unscripted Program for their work on Conan Without Borders. No doubt it was the icing on the cake after their memorable stay in Japan.
Source: Facebook/teamcoco
Featured image: Twitter/ConanOBrien