While I don’t think it has acquired the viral oomph of “Dick in a Box,” the following outtakes from the “original” Japanese version of “The Office” are essential viewing for printculture types always on the look-out for high-carb fusions of popular culture and East-West discourse.

The most extraordinary thing about this four minutes in heaven is the artistic commitment demonstrated by the producers having actually shot the entire thing in Japanese (yes, it’s real Japanese), and then running it without subtitles. I hope that some day I can teach a Japanese language course just so I can use this.

Unlike the unusual thin gruel on SNL these days, what we have here is not a parody of celebrities, character types, or even exactly of the characters on “The Office,” but rather --with wasabi cruelty and gari affection-- a parody of the show’s actors, a reduction of their celebrated acting down to a few mannerisms. Kristen Wiig is predictably sublime as Pamu-san. And since Steve Carell plays himself as the actor playing Michael Scott, we get to see Carell imitate (?) his own acting, as if to say: “when I play this character, all I do is the following shtick.”

The spot-on citations are violated just enough to make the characters “Japanese,” which is as painful to watch as, well, “The Office.” Be sure to watch through to the end, because the last few seconds are the best part.