Japan is the only country among the world’s richest democracies that has not legalized same-sex marriage. Very few celebrities are openly gay. Conservative groups oppose legislative efforts to protect the LGBTQ community.
But now, Netflix is launching the country’s first same-sex dating reality show.
The 10-plus episodes of “Boyfriends,” which will be released in 190 countries starting on July 9, follow nine men gathered in a luxurious beach house outside Tokyo. The format is reminiscent of Terrace House, Japan’s most popular romantic reality show, with its spare, polite cast overseen by a merry band of commentators.
The atmosphere is healthy and mostly chaste. The men, ranging in age from 22 to 36, drive coffee trucks during the day, cook at night and occasionally go out on dates. One of the biggest (and very few) conflicts in the series revolves around the cost of buying raw chicken to make a protein shake for a club dancer trying to stay in shape. Sex rarely comes up, and friendship and self-improvement are as important as romance.
In Japan, the few openly gay and transgender performers who regularly appear on television are often flamboyant, effeminate comic foils who are thrust into exaggerated stereotypes. In “Boyfriends,” executive producer Dai Tai said he wanted to “portray same-sex relationships realistically.”
Mr. Ohta is also the producer of “Terrace House,” which is produced by Fuji Television and licensed and distributed worldwide by Netflix. practice.
He said “Boyfriend” represents diversity in another way – the cast is Korean, Taiwanese and multi-ethnic.
Although Japan lags behind on LGBTQ rights, Mr. Ohta said the show was not intended to provide overt political or social commentary. He said the actors were not advised not to talk about the social challenges faced by gay or bisexuals in Japan, but during the audition process he reminded potential participants that “eventually it will be broadcast live and a wide audience will be able to hear these thoughts.” “
Soshi Matsuoka, founder of the Tokyo LGBTQ advocacy organization Fair, has watched the show and said its existence “shows the changes in society.” But he said he wished actors could speak more openly about their sexual orientation and the social context of Japan’s LGBTQ community.
While “Boyfriends” may be Japan’s first same-sex reality dating show, the number of queer dating shows is growing, including Netflix’s “Ultimatum: Queer Love”; the BBC’s “I Kissed” a Boy” and “I Kissed a Girl”; “For the Love of DILFS” on Apple TV+; “His Man” in South Korea.
Daiki Takahashi, a gay model and social media influencer who served as the casting director for “Boyfriends,” said he has “great expectations and hopes” for the show.
“I wouldn’t say we can change society,” he said in an interview at Netflix’s Tokyo offices. “But I do hope that a lot of people feel some kind of impact.”
After Takahashi put out a casting call on social media and recruited talent from his own network, about 50 men auditioned. He says he deliberately chooses “people who will be loved” and avoids people who “feel like ‘I have to be a certain character because I’m going to be on TV’ or ‘I have to be a certain character because I’m gay’ Stressed man.
The shadow of “Townhouse” inevitably hangs over “The Boyfriend.” They share the same basic format, and one of the commentators — Yoshimi Tokui — has returned to the studio, where he and a group of TV personalities dissect the interactions between the men on the show.
At the end of the fifth season of the globally popular Terrace House, one of the cast members, Japanese professional wrestler Hana Kimura, took her own life. Before her death, she left multiple suicide notes and posted ominous messages on Twitter and Instagram.
Her mother, Kyoko Kimura, filed a lawsuit against Fuji TV and two other production companies, accusing them of failing to protect her daughter from defamatory comments and forcing her to behave on the show in a way that sparked online outrage Mass criticism. Ms. Kimura is seeking nearly $1 million in damages.
Mr Ohta said Netflix had hired mental health experts to consult with the cast and “create a production environment where no one would be harmed”. He said that Netflix has conducted background checks on each actor and that after the show airs, “if they have even a little bit of anxiety, we will take care of them.” Netflix did not schedule any actors for interviews.
Although polls show that more than 70% of the Japanese public supports the legalization of same-sex marriage, gay and transgender people are still subject to discrimination and hate speech.
Ms. Kimura, 47, said in a video interview that she knew from her daughter’s experience that young people new to the world “can’t imagine what it would be like to actually receive hundreds or thousands of defamatory comments from around the world.” look.
“Reality TV is inherently dangerous,” she said. “Especially in Japan, very few people know in detail the existence of LGBTQ people.”
Durian Lollobrigida, a drag queen and one of the five reviewers of “Boyfriends,” said he wanted to join the show to help “protect” the cast.
“I think it would be bad if most straight people just watched gay men having sex,” said Mr. Lollobrigida, 39. “So I felt the need to have someone there to act as a translator.”
Once filming began, he said, he got along well with the other commentators and realized “I didn’t have to worry about these things.”
Even without explicit political propaganda, Lollobrigida said the show could have a subtle impact on social attitudes. “It’s certainly important to raise your voice and protest in order to gain LGBTQ+ rights,” he said. “But at the same time, I think it’s important to normalize it through entertainment.”
Jennifer Robertson, an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan who frequently writes about Japanese LGBTQ culture, said it’s questionable whether the show laid the foundation for eventual political change.
She admits that the sweet, low-drama cast can keep audiences warm. In many ways, Ms. Robertson said, they formed an idealized contrast to “straight couples fighting over kitchen cleaning and children.” In fact, several of them – not just the professional chefs in the cast – appear to be talented home cooks who strive to keep the house clean, qualities not typically associated with most Japanese men.
But Ms. Robertson added that if the goal was to encourage less tolerant Japanese audiences to be more accepting of gay and bisexual men, she wondered whether those people would be likely to watch a show like “Boyfriends.”
She said: “Cuteness on a show to win over people who may already support LGBTQ will not do anything to advance the political approval of same-sex marriage.”
