Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo/References

References/Trivia

Cultural References

The episode title is a intended or unintended spoof of the Pere Ubu song title "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo."
Whilst in the hotel, Bart watches an anime cartoon called Battling Seizure Robots, which features a robot with its eyes flashing so quickly that it triggers seizures in Bart, and subsequently the rest of the family (except initially Homer). This is based on a Pokémon episode, "Electric Soldier Porygon," in which a scene with rapid lighting sent nearly 700 children into seizures. The shot of the robot with its flashing eyes is reused throughout the entire closing credit sequence.
While Japanese game shows are nowhere as sadistic as portrayed in this episode, they have been known for contestants participating in off-the-wall events, such as men testing their strength by squeezing oranges with their bare hands and seeing how much juice could be squeezed into a cup.
When Barney was caught impersonating Homer, he was saying "That boy ain't right", a common saying of Hank Hill on King of the Hill.

An item named "Skittlebrau" can been seen in the 33¢ store. The item was made up by Homer in "Bart Star", however Apu claimed there was no such thing.
When Marge says to Homer on the plane that he liked Rashomon, Homer claims he doesn't remember it that way.
The soundbyte of Homer's shock at investing in Fox's News Corp (*Screams* UNDO!! UNDO!! Ohh...) is replayed over the 20th Century Fox Television logo in place of the usual fanfare.

When Database is at The Java Server, he is using a gray computer but in the next scene he is using a orange computer, then he is using a gray computer again.
Marge drops one of her shoes into the volcano but in the next scene when the entire family plummets down, her shoe is back on.