Japan is the one nation amongst the world’s wealthiest democracies that has not legalized same-sex unions. Few celebrities are openly gay. Conservative teams oppose legislative efforts to guard the L.G.B.T.Q. group.
However now, Netflix is introducing the nation’s first same-sex relationship actuality collection.
Over 10 episodes of “The Boyfriend,” which can be out there in 190 international locations starting on July 9, a bunch of 9 males collect in a luxurious seashore home exterior Tokyo. The format evokes Japan’s hottest romantic actuality present, “Terrace House,” with its meeting of fresh reduce and exceedingly well mannered forged members, overseen by a panel of jovial commentators.
The vibe is healthful and principally chaste. The boys, who vary in age from 22 to 36, function a espresso truck in the course of the day and prepare dinner dinner at evening, with occasional forays exterior for dates. One of many greatest (amongst only a few) conflicts of the collection revolves round the price of shopping for uncooked rooster to make protein shakes for a membership dancer who’s attempting to take care of his physique. Intercourse hardly ever comes up, and friendship and self-improvement characteristic as prominently as romance.
In Japan, the handful of brazenly homosexual and transgender performers who commonly seem on tv are usually flamboyant, effeminate comedian foils who’re shoehorned into exaggerated stereotypes. With “The Boyfriend,” Dai Ota, the chief producer, mentioned he needed to “painting same-sex relationships as they are surely.”
Mr. Ota, who was additionally a producer of “Terrace Home,” which was made by Fuji TV and licensed and distributed globally by Netflix, mentioned he had prevented “the method of ‘let’s embody individuals who trigger issues.’”
“The Boyfriend,” he mentioned, represents range in one other means — with forged members of South Korean, Taiwanese and multiethnic heritages.
Regardless of how Japan lags in L.G.B.T.Q. rights, Mr. Ota mentioned the present just isn’t meant to supply overt political or social commentary. Solid members weren’t suggested towards talking in regards to the social challenges of being homosexual or bisexual in Japan, he mentioned, however in the course of the audition course of, he reminded potential individuals that “in the end it will likely be streamed, and a variety of viewers will be capable of hear these ideas.”
Soshi Matsuoka, the founding father of Truthful, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group in Tokyo who has watched the collection, mentioned its mere existence “reveals a change within the society.” However he mentioned he wished the forged talked extra brazenly about their sexuality and the social context of the L.G.B.T.Q. group in Japan.
Whereas “The Boyfriend” will be the first same-sex actuality relationship present set in Japan, there are a rising variety of queer relationship reveals, together with “The Ultimatum: Queer Love,” additionally for Netflix; “I Kissed a Boy” and “I Kissed a Girl” on the BBC; “For the Love of DILFS,” out there on Apple TV+, and “His Man” in South Korea.
Taiki Takahashi, a homosexual mannequin and social media influencer who served as casting director on “The Boyfriend,” mentioned he had “a variety of expectation and hope” for the present.
“I received’t say we are able to change society,” he mentioned in an interview at Netflix’s workplaces in Tokyo. “However I do need many individuals to really feel some form of impression.”
About 50 males auditioned after Mr. Takahashi put out casting calls on social media and recruited from his personal networks. He mentioned he intentionally selected “individuals who could be liked” and that he prevented males who “really feel the stress of ‘I’ve to turn out to be a sure character as a result of I’m going to be on TV,’ or ‘since I’m homosexual I’ve to behave homosexual.’”
The shadow of “Terrace House” inevitably hangs over “The Boyfriend.” They share the identical primary format and one of many commentators — Yoshimi Tokui — has returned to the studio the place he and a slate of tv personalities dissect the interactions between the boys on the present.
On the finish of the fifth season of “Terrace Home,” which turned a world hit, one of many forged members, Hana Kimura, knowledgeable wrestler in Japan, took her own life. She left a number of suicide notes and had posted ominous notes on Twitter and Instagram earlier than she died.
Her mom, Kyoko Kimura, has filed a lawsuit towards Fuji TV and two different manufacturing corporations, accusing them of failing to guard her daughter from slanderous feedback and forcing her to behave on the present in a means that attracted mass criticism on-line. Ms. Kimura is in search of near $1 million in damages.
Mr. Ota mentioned Netflix has enlisted psychological well being professionals to seek the advice of with the forged and “to create a manufacturing atmosphere the place nobody will get harm.” He mentioned Netflix had carried out background checks on every of the forged members and that after the present airs, “we are going to deal with them if they’ve even the slightest bit of tension.” Netflix didn’t make any of the forged members out there for an interview.
Though polls show that greater than 70 % of the Japanese public helps legalizing same-sex unions, homosexual and transgender individuals are nonetheless topic to discrimination and hate speech.
Ms. Kimura, 47, mentioned in a video interview that she knew from her daughter’s expertise that younger folks new to worldwide publicity “can’t think about what it will be like to really obtain a whole bunch or hundreds of slanderous feedback from everywhere in the world a day.”
“The fact TV format itself is harmful,” she mentioned. “And particularly in Japan, the place few folks have an in depth understanding of the existence of L.G.B.T.Q. folks.”
Durian Lollobrigida, a drag queen who is among the 5 commentators on “The Boyfriend,” mentioned he needed to affix the present to assist “shield” the forged members.
“I believed it wouldn’t be good if heterosexual people who find themselves within the majority had been simply watching homosexual males mingle,” Mr. Lollobrigida, 39, mentioned. “So I believed it was essential for somebody to be there to behave as a translator.”
As soon as filming began, he mentioned, he grew snug together with his fellow commentators and realized “I didn’t have to fret about these items.”
Even with out specific political advocacy, the present may have a refined impact on social attitudes, Mr. Lollobrigida mentioned. “As a way to get varied L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights, after all elevating our voices and protesting is necessary,” he mentioned. “However on the identical time, I feel it is very important normalize it by way of leisure.”
Whether or not the present lays the groundwork for eventual political change is questionable, mentioned Jennifer Robertson, a professor emerita of anthropology on the College of Michigan who has written frequently about L.G.B.T.Q. tradition in Japan.
She acknowledged that the candy, low-drama forged members may make for heartwarming viewing. In some ways, they provide an idealized distinction to “heteronormative {couples} who’re squabbling about kitchen cleanup and children,” Ms. Robertson mentioned. Certainly, a number of of them — not simply the skilled chef within the forged — look like gifted dwelling cooks, they usually all work to maintain the home clear, qualities not usually related to most males in Japan.
But when the aim was to encourage much less tolerant Japanese viewers to turn out to be extra accepting of homosexual and bisexual males, Ms. Robertson added, she questioned whether or not such folks had been more likely to watch a present like “The Boyfriend” anyway.
“Cutesification in a present to garner help amongst people who find themselves most likely already supporting L.G.B.T.Q. just isn’t going to be a push in any course towards political ratification of homosexual marriage,” she mentioned.