You may not get the cultural significance of the table flipping over outburst unless you've seen it enough before. If you don't, you'll just have to take my word for it that it happens somewhat frequently in Japanese television, anime, and manga. They call it chabudai gaeshi, or flipping the low table. It's something that the angry father figure would do. You usually see it as an outburst of anger or protest, though recent usage has leaned more toward the comedic side.
This table flipping is such a thing that Taito has even released an arcade game based on the concept. You'll see in the video that the player slams his hands down on the table in response to happenings on the screen. The conflict escalates towards a climax where you're expected to flip the table over in anger. Mari says that this was shown off at the Tokyo Toy show. I wished I could have been there for some table flipping action. I daydream of flipping a fully set dinner table.
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