When I was working in Toyko in 1994, not unsurprisingly, I had a really hard time adjusting to the change in time zones. I’d wake up like a pinball machine at 3AM and stay up. There wasn’t much on TV at night in Japan then, but each morning at 7:30AM an absolutely amazing kids show came on that blew my doors off each time I watched it. Not that I had even the slightest idea of what was going on, of course, but it looked incredible.

Ugo Ugo Lhuga was a big-budget childrens program that adults liked too, similar to things like Do Not Adjust Your Set, Pee-wee’s Playhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba. Sometimes pop acts like Pizzicato 5 appeared on the show. It was a mix of live action and frenetic computer animation, most of it done on a Commodore Amiga. The show was a victim of the economy and Japan’s “lost decade” recession, but the show lives on on YouTube and DVD.

Ugo Ugo Lhuga by Hiroshi Masuyama

Here’s another great clip of Ugo Ugo Lhuga