The Simpsons - Homer calls Japan 

I love how the librarian immediately has the phone book for Hokkaido Japan ready for Homer

Had a similar experience when I called the Mitsubishi office in Japan after my local dealership in Greece screwed me over with a defective brand new car they refused to fix. "Mushi mushi" and me like "Hello, I am calling from Greece (I spoke English) they treated me like a customer this way and no joke, they brought a hell storm down. They got in touch with Holland who manufactured the car, then after 4 weeks in the shop with no response, got in touch with an inspector from England to go to Greece to see why the heads of Mitsubishi in Greece screwed us over. Hell of a scene when me and my dad walked in to the office and since we could speak perfect English to the UK inspector, the people in Greece could not keep up. In the end, it got fixed thanks to Japan. 20 years later, I still own that same car.

The way the librarian looks at Homer when he's dialing the number lol

I always love it when Homer puts on those crescent moon glasses. 😂

Hello chief. Let's talk, why not

"Is this a local call"? "Yeeee....yes" XD

Homer's smile after 'answer question 100% ' is absolute gold lmao.

I don't know why, but the Japanese guy's "Hey Chief, lets talk, why not?" has always made me laugh. It feels like something he was taught in his third level english class back in high school and he's just remembered it twenty years later.

I love how casually the Japanese guy just accepts that he is talking to Mr. Sparkle.

Homer’s little “hmmm :)” at the end gets me every time

whenever my dad calls me i answer the phone 1 of 2 ways: "moshi moshi" or "hello chief let's talk why not"

I love Homer's face and voice as he says "Why am I Mr. Sparkle?"

Corded phone. Phonebook. Library. This clip is like a time capsule.

I love it how library guy checks out Homer is phoning Japan and then walks off, so he can't be implicated.

I just realized that the number he dials has the same tune as a typical japanese school bell, its actually a great detail

And surprisingly that "premium" did answer his question.

The weirdest part is where the librarian just quickly walks off like that. LOL

I'm in the Navy and say "Hello Chief, let's talk why not" whenever my Chief needs to talk to me.

This entire scene is so meticulously funny, mastercrafted comedy.

"Why am I Mr. Sparkle?" lmao

"Come on kids, let's go home." "We are home" "That was fast."

The way Homer is so satisfied with his response is so funny to me 😂😂

i love how the librarian pulls out the phone book of a japanese region, like It was normal and he do that every day

The way homer dials the phone hilarious. 😁

CHAMPIONS OF WINNING. SUPERB!

"I send you premium; answer question, 100%!" Homer: Well, I'm satisfied.

I love how incredibly polite Homer is throughout this whole clip, so well mannered

I just noticed the librarian running away in the background, in the middle of Homer dialing the number. It seems he was about to let the manager know that they were going to get billed with a hefty phone charge.

Good old classic Simpsons, they were so dense with jokes. - Clerk immediately has the phonebook of Hokaido - Is it a local call? - Yes - Tedious typing the number with sounds of clerk's keyboard, funny look he gave to Homer, sounds of footsteps, all giving us a feeling that the number is far longer than it is - Production track with perfectly arranged powdered detergent and ton of people supervising it - This is Homer Simpson from America. Who may I say is speaking to me? - One guy that speaks English has red glasses and a t-shirt saying Champions of winning superb - Hello chief, let's talk why not - delivered in one straight line with some enthusiasm (I always die when I hear it) - Hello, why am I mr Sparkle? - You have many question Mr Sparkle, I send you premium, answer question 100% 9 jokes in 83 seconds. Most of them great. How I miss the Simpsons.

Everything about this is so good. The library having a phonebook for Hokkaido (of course it does), the librarian's reactions to Homer, the length of Homer's dialing... And then we finally get to Japan and the guy who doesn't speak English foists the call into the "nerd" at the factory with his red glasses and "English" T-shirt, who doesn't speak English so much as English "phrases"

I'm not sure why, but the way Homer holds down each digit for about a second or so always tickles me.

That Japanese quality control is epic! 6 people carrying out assessments for one pile of soap powder is just so... Japanese!

That librarian didn't even have to look for the phonebook

"-Why I am Mr Sparkle? -You like Mr Sparkle? -Well... I am Mr Sparkle" Best conversation ever.

After living one year abroad in Japan i can confirm that this call is more than accurate 😂👍🏻

The librarian always gets me laughing when Homer starts dialling. XD

That English Japanese person "Hello let's talk why not?" Lol!

This B story took over the episode

I love how old Simpsons is funny without trying

lol love when Homer puts on his reading glasses

Herro chief let's talk why not?😂

I love how the librarian just happens to have a Hokaido phone book behind the counter.

"Yes, this is Homer Simpsons from America. Who may I say is speaking to me?"

I've seen this episode many times and until now I never noticed the *Champions of Winning. Superb!* on his shirt rofl. You're just the show that keeps on giving, aren't ya?

0:22 It fully mirrors the grandmother trying to call someone 😂

I had a friend named Kazunori who came to the states for his senior year of high school . After he went back to Osaka I decided to call him up and see how he was doing. His mother answered the phone sounding tired and rather annoyed . She got Kazu and he explained that it was 3 o'clock in the morning there . It was early afternoon at my house and I didn't factor in the time difference . But he was glad to hear from me anyway . Although he wondered why I was drunk in the early afternoon. Fair question.

Homer dialing the phone is like my parents learning how to use a smartphone

Homer's reading glasses are probably my favorite visual gag. He only uses them for dumb stuff like reading the ingredients of honey roasted peanuts

"Yes, this Homer Simpson from America. Who may I say is speaking to me?" gets me EVERY time!!!! lol

Homer dialling the phone is one of the funniest moments in the simpsons 😂😂 Matt groening is a genius

Simpsons was pure gold during these years; now, not so much

Just for fun, I once called a Japanese phone number by random dial. Got a Japanese answering machine......the phone bill was $12 for the 4 minute call.

The dialing of the number is way funnier than any drawn out gag Family Guy has attempted

Everything about this is perfect. Right through to the very last face and happy "hmm!" sound Homer makes. This is proper entertainment.

Legend has it, Homer’s still dialing.

I think I will have to answer all my phone calls now with with Hello chief, lets talk, why not ?

The intriguing noise Homer makes at the last second >

- the librarian just has the phone book for Hokkaido right there - Homer can easily read it - Homer knows how to make an international call Three gags in one single action.

Reading through comments, the number dialed was apparently "9657153618965715361", and played together as a tune it apparently sounds to be a traditional Japanese school bell. Can't confirm any of this, but just thought I'd relay the information incase it happens to be true and useful.

"This is Homer from America".

I swear this episode has to be in at least the top 10 best Simpsons episodes of all time. It's so good from start to finish.

Old simpsons ruled

Anyone else notice that if you speed up the dial playback, you get the 'Close encounters of the Third kind' tune

The fact that this has a Gong Ho movie tie is awesome. The factory supervisor was voiced by Gedde Watanabe. He was also in Gong Ho who played a factory worker from Japan.

Is so weird that a small town library has the phone book for Hokkaido. If I try that in my local library they probably won’t have the one for this town.

Back when every episode of Simpsons was a genius artwork

I like the fact that homer can only process one number at a time in his memory. And a long button push at that.

Hokkaido is my home!! I love this episode

i love classic simpsons goofs because there's just so much going on in one scene to laugh about

It's 2021 and Homer is still dialing the number

"There's your answer, fishbulb!"

Typical Japanese reaction to hearing English. They instantly check out & try to find that one guy in the office who homestayed in Indiana for a month as a high school student.

Homer's "hmm!" at the end is hilarious

six dudes nodding their heads, guy answers phone hears english voice passes it onto guy that knows some english

Mr Sparkle has some great customer service. Later in the episode, the tape this guy sends does in fact answer Homer's question, and they even appear to send an NTSC coded video tape (as opposed to the PAL standard used in Japan) so that their American VHS player could read it.

Someone should run Homer's dialing through a DTMF decoder to see what numbers he dialed

Anyone figure out what the number he dialed was, based on the tone? Knowing the simpsons, there's probably a secret message in there.

-Is it a local call? -Uuuuummmm... Yes

In its heyday The Simpsons was relentless in the number of jokes written into every scene. From the librarian conveniently having the Hokkaido phone book at his fingertips, through the Japanese hipster who speaks English only in slang idioms, there’s at least a half dozen good gags fit into this minute and 23 seconds.

The Homer whose only Odyssey was stupidity...

This is 83 seconds of comedic genius. The exchange between Homer and the librarian; the timing of Homer dialing; the visual humor of quality control for the soap; Homer's stilted way of talking on the phone; the stereotypically bad English (that doesn't veer into racism or xenophobia). And it is made perfect by Homer's reaction to being promised the "premium answer question 100%". I feel like the lower quality of animation at the disposal of the show runners back in the 90s may actually be a reason for their better material. Whenever I see modern-day episodes o f the Simpsons, it seems like they are trying to be funny on a visual basis more than on a conceptual one. I'm kinda certain that they would have managed to come up with something much less impressive if they had tried the same joke now.

Homer goes to a library to ask for a phone book. That's already funny

So Homer didn't need glasses to find the number that he was looking for in the phone book, but he needed them to dial the number on the phone.

The way the librarian looks at Homer while he's dialing kills me everytime.

The Librarian running in panic XD

"Hello chief, let's talk why not." I'm gonna start picking up the phone like that.

I love the "who may I say is speaking to me?"

Librarian running to snitch

It’s funny how the librarian just takes Homer’s word that he’s not calling long distance even though homer just asked for the phone book for Japan and wants to use the phone right away AND after hearing Homer slowly dialing a 20 digit phone number.

Homer dials 19 digits, the correct number of digits required to call Hokaido from the US.

“Hello chief. Let’s talk why not?”

His Japanese pronunciation "Hokkaido" is pretty good

I love that little excited "hmmm!" right at the end.

Homer finally figured out how to use a touch tone phone.

"Hello, Chief. Let's talk, why not" has been my go to since I was a wee lad

"Why am I Mr. Sparkle?" Aww Homer is so cute lol

The 19 beeps has me dead lol 😂😂😂😂

I love how they had 6 people for quality control at the factory. So typical Japanese

0:24 such beautiful music 🥺

If the number is sped up it plays the theme tune