TV in Japan

Gavin pretty much had it right. This is from "Mecha Mecha Iketeiru" (Really Really Living). The caption in the corner says "Laugh and get slapped". The comedian walking down the center (Yamamoto is his name, I think), chose one of his fellow castmates (dressed as a geisha) chose a "joke", had the "slapper" say it, then he said it himself. English tends to be a good source of laughs when people are trying NOT to laugh. I think they are dressed as geishas to parody the recent popular drama "O-Oku" about the rough life of a geisha stable.
 

It reminds me of Buddhist monks that beat students who fall asleep during meditation.
 

I work in Japan and I can honestly tell you that people hit one another all the time.

I've seen kids hit their parents, parents smack their kids. Kids smack other kids. It happens on a daily basis. Doesn't matter why, really, it's just a terribly common reaction to lots of things.

They don't usually do it out of any real antagonism, it's just what people do. And they hit hard. But they just shrug it off in the end so no one takes it personally.