“Do You Want to Go to New York?” Is Back—and I Want to Know Who Can Afford It in 2026

“Do you want to go to New York?”

Anyone in Japan who recognizes the television show from that one line has probably reached a certain age.

I recently saw the news that Nihon Television is bringing back Trans-America Ultra Quiz.

Younger people and readers outside Japan may need an explanation. Originally broadcast from the late 1970s through the 1990s, it was a legendary Japanese quiz show produced on an enormous scale.

It began with a huge crowd of ordinary people answering true-or-false questions. The 100 contestants who survived were actually taken to the United States. They then traveled across the country, facing more quizzes at each stop, until only two remained to compete for the chance to reach New York.

Knowledge alone was not enough. The show’s famous motto was “intelligence, physical strength, and luck.”

It resembled what we would now call a reality show, except that its scale was absurd.

It was not just the number of contestants. The hosts, camera crews, equipment, and everyone else genuinely traveled across the American continent while producing the program.

And once you lost, your journey ended right there.

As a child, I simply enjoyed the quizzes.

Now that I am an adult, however, the first thought I had when I heard about the revival was different:

How much is this going to cost?

I have become a disappointingly practical adult.

Ultra Quiz Was Also a Product of Its Time

When I revisit old television programs, I am sometimes amazed by the way they spent their production budgets.

They rented entire stadiums. They chartered planes. They filmed overseas. They flew helicopters. They moved huge numbers of performers and crew members from place to place.

Today, many of those ideas would probably be stopped very early in a planning meeting with one question:

“And what is the budget?”

Back then, they actually did them.

The peak years of Ultra Quiz also coincided with Japan’s advance toward the bubble economy, when enormous amounts of advertising money were flowing into television.

Television was overwhelmingly powerful as an advertising medium.

Japan’s largest automakers, electronics manufacturers, food companies, cosmetics brands, and other corporations poured money into television commercials.

That was what made a program like this possible.

It was a quiz show. They could have asked all the questions in a studio and called it a day. Instead, they crossed the Pacific to do it.

As a use of money, it made absolutely no sense. That was why it was so entertaining.

And Now It Is Returning in 2026

The new edition is even more ambitious.

Rather than simply crossing the United States, the planned route will take contestants through Europe, Africa, and America.

It sounds fantastic.

But this is 2026.

Overseas filming is obviously expensive. Labor, hotels, and transportation do not cost what they once did. The weak yen adds another problem.

Most importantly, the economics surrounding television are completely different from those of the show’s original era.

And so another terribly unromantic question comes to mind:

Who is paying for all this?

I may now be more curious about that than about the quiz questions.

Watching the Sponsors May Be Half the Fun

In the old days, no one would have been surprised to see Japan’s most prominent corporations lined up as sponsors.

What will that lineup look like this time?

At the time of writing, the program has not aired, so we do not yet know.

Japanese companies may simply provide the enormous sponsorship fees as they once did.

On the other hand, when we think about today’s corporate giants, it would hardly be surprising to see international technology companies or global platform businesses involved.

Chinese or South Korean companies could appear as well.

If the host shouts, “Do you want to go to New York?” and the screen immediately fills with a giant Netflix or Samsung logo, that would feel perfectly appropriate for 2026.

The show itself may be a revival from late twentieth-century Japan, but the money behind it will be unmistakably 2026.

Thirty Years of Change May Be Visible in the Commercials

I am genuinely excited about the return of Ultra Quiz.

There is no need to reproduce the old program exactly. I hope they use today’s technology and production techniques to create a spectacular show that is different from the original.

Still, this time I may find myself watching the commercials as closely as the main event.

More than 30 years after this gigantic television show emerged from an era of confident Japanese corporations, who will support it in 2026?

The answer may reflect changes not only in television, but also in Japan’s economy, the advertising market, and the balance of power among global companies.

As a child, I was thrilled by the shout:

“Do you want to go to New York?”

Now I am equally curious about another question:

“Can anyone afford the sponsorship bill?”