It’s been over a month since pro wrestler and Terrace House participant Kimura Hana died after a tsunami of cyberbullying. Those involved in the show have yet to provide a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding her suicide. But with a new set of revelations from Hana’s mother and friends, it helps to understand a little about Fuji TV, the network that aired Terrace House – and how their decline over the past 10 years might have played a factor in what happened to Hana.
How “Real” Was Terrace House?
As we detailed in our last article, Kimura Hana had been the victim of cyberbullying for some time since joining Terrace House, a reality TV series co-produced by Netflix and Fuji TV in which three men and three women share a residence together.
But a scene in TH in which she goes off on another cast member who shrank one of her wrestling costumes in the wash resulted in a new wave of harassment and death threats. Isolated from the rest of the cast due to the coronavirus state of emergency, Hana ended up taking her own life in her apartment.
Cyberbullying has long been a problem in Japan, where anonymous – and thus unaccountable – Twitter accounts make up over 70% of the country’s user base. hana’s death quickly became a tipping point for people’s pent-up anger. Several prominent women who have also suffered cyberbullying, such as Ito Shiori and Ishikawa Yumi, vowed to do more to combat the crisis. Other celebrities called for the Japanese government to tighten laws around slander and make it easier for victims to sue their attackers.
But amidst the outcry, there was also controversy: How “real” was Terrace House? There had been accusations floating around for years that the show wasn’t as natural as it pretended and that key scenes were staged – or, at least, “influenced” – by the show’s producers.
Hana’s Mother and Friends: The “Costume Scene” Was Staged
Shortly after Hana’s death, the site News Post-Seven published a piece in which former and current staff members of the TH production team alleged that key scenes were staged. One staff member said the show even had a “kissing bonus” of 50,000 yen (appr. USD $500) at one point. Such accusations were disputed by former TH cast members, including Chanmomo, now a member of the idol pop group Bando Ja Nai Mon!, who said such direction “never happened.”
However, an explosive new article from Bunshun Online backs up the Post Seven article’s claims. Bunshun interviewed Hana’s mother, former pro wrestler Kimura Kyoko, and several of Hana’s friends, who all say that Hana told them how she was directed to make the costume scene confrontation more physical. Hana, said her mom, was playing the part of the “heel” (bad guy) in the scene, just as she did in her wrestling career – because that’s what she had been told to do.
Fuji TV: “Like a Realtor Running a TV Station”
Fuji TV is still denying any and all such claims against Terrace House. However, what can’t be denied is Fuji’s culpability in even airing the episode in the first place. New episodes of TH go live on Netflix Japan several weeks before they air on Fuji TV. The costume scene had already caused a wave of hate against Hana when it aired on Netflix. Despite this, Fuji decided to greenlight the episode for broadcast.
Why would Fuji make such a monumentally stupid decision that, ultimately, cost a cast member her life? And what could explain some of the accusations of staged scenes on TH?
An answer to this question can be found, perhaps, in Fuji’s falling ratings.
Fuji’s ill fortunes have been a topic of discussion in Japan for years. A 2017 article by Kakoi Shinsuke detailed how the station, which ruled Japan’s “Golden Time” TV viewing hours (7PM – 10PM) between 2005 and 2010, is now in next to last place. As of 2016, it had fallen well below its competitors NTV, NHK, TBS, and TV Asahi.
What explains Fuji’s downward drift? During the late 2000s, the station was the king of variety TV, the staple format of Japanese television. Then the housing crisis hit, impacting revenues across the board. By 2011, the economy began to recover, and so did the profits of most TV stations…except for Fuji TV.
The reasons for this decline are varied. A former Fuji TV producer, Yoshino Yoshitaka, alleges that a key reason no one is watching Fuji TV is that its shows are dated. Fuji programming, says Yoshino, is more reminiscent of Japan’s Bubble Economy era, and that many of the company’s employees are stuck in a bubble-era mentality.
But Fuji’s business model may also be to blame. Fuji’s fortunes, says Kakoi, have only worsened as Japan’s viewer demographic shifts. In Japan, as in everywhere else in the world, viewership is shifting quickly from traditional TV to online. As of 2018, the number of Households Using Televisions (HUT) during Golden Time had fallen from 71.2% to 61.5%. Needless to say, this trend shows no sign of reversing.
As a result, Japanese TV stations are investing heavily in online programming and content sites. TV Asahi runs its own service, AmebaTV. And NTV owns Hulu Japan.
Fuji has been no exception to this trend. It runs its own online offering, FOD, that’s been quite successful for a number of years. The service has even seen subscriptions to its FOD Premium service double during the coronavirus state of emergency.
But FOD is only a part of Fuji’s total revenue. Its largest source of revenue appears to be…real estate. By 2017, its subsidiary Fuji Media Holdings was accounting for almost half of the company’s income. This led one frustrated shareholder to declare at a shareholder’s meeting that Fuji was “like a realtor running a TV station.” Kakoi agrees, writing: “You could say that, precisely because they’re making so much from real estate, they’re not putting effort into their core business.”
A Mad Dash for Ratings?
Despite some successes in recent years, as of March 2020, Fuji still trails all of its competitors (with the exception of perennial non-starter TV Tokyo). In other words, Fuji TV, qua TV station (as opposed to real estate firm) remains desperate for some good news.
Terrace House was one of Fuji’s bright lights. In an era where almost no one outside of Japan watches Japanese drama (well, outside of Japanese diaspora, myself, and a few other diehards), it was one of the rare Japanese shows to become an international hit. With Hana’s death, that light has surely been extinguished. Even if TH came back, it’s doubtful its fan base would.
How much did Fuji’s desparate competitive condition influence what happened on TH? Unfortunately, all we can do is speculate. Fuji shows no willingness to offer a full accounting of the circumstances leading up to Hana’s death. Its only interest seems to be in protecting what little reputation it has left.
Unless the station bows to public pressure and performs a full, unbiased accounting of what happened, such questions will continue to linger, unanswered – leaving Hana’s family, friends, and fans bereft of closure.
