Japan is the one nation amongst the world’s wealthiest democracies that has not legalized same-sex unions. Few celebrities are overtly homosexual. 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 sequence.
Over 10 episodes of “The Boyfriend,” which might be accessible in 190 nations starting on July 9, a gaggle of 9 males collect in a luxurious seashore home outdoors Tokyo. The format evokes Japan’s hottest romantic actuality present, “Terrace Home,” with its meeting of fresh lower and exceedingly well mannered forged members, overseen by a panel of jovial commentators.
The vibe is healthful and largely chaste. The boys, who vary in age from 22 to 36, function a espresso truck through the day and cook dinner dinner at evening, with occasional forays outdoors for dates. One of many largest (amongst only a few) conflicts of the sequence revolves round the price of shopping for uncooked rooster to make protein shakes for a membership dancer who’s making an attempt to keep up his physique. Intercourse not often comes up, and friendship and self-improvement function as prominently as romance.
In Japan, the handful of overtly homosexual and transgender performers who commonly seem on tv are sometimes flamboyant, effeminate comedian foils who’re shoehorned into exaggerated stereotypes. With “The Boyfriend,” Dai Ota, the chief producer, stated he wished 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, stated he had prevented “the strategy of ‘let’s embody individuals who trigger issues.’”
“The Boyfriend,” he stated, represents variety in one other method — with forged members of South Korean, Taiwanese and multiethnic heritages.
Regardless of how Japan lags in L.G.B.T.Q. rights, Mr. Ota stated the present is just not meant to supply overt political or social commentary. Solid members weren’t suggested in opposition to talking in regards to the social challenges of being homosexual or bisexual in Japan, he stated, however through the audition course of, he reminded potential members that “finally it will likely be streamed, and a variety of viewers will have the ability to hear these ideas.”
Soshi Matsuoka, the founding father of Truthful, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group in Tokyo who has watched the sequence, stated its mere existence “reveals a change within the society.” However he stated he wished the forged talked extra overtly about their sexuality and the social context of the L.G.B.T.Q. group in Japan.
Whereas “The Boyfriend” often is 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 Lady” on the BBC; “For the Love of DILFS,” accessible 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,” stated he had “numerous expectation and hope” for the present.
“I received’t say we are able to change society,” he stated in an interview at Netflix’s places of work 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 stated he intentionally selected “individuals who can be beloved” and that he prevented males who “really feel the stress of ‘I’ve to turn into 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 Home” 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 worldwide hit, one of many forged members, Hana Kimura, an expert wrestler in Japan, took her personal 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 in opposition to 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 method that attracted mass criticism on-line. Ms. Kimura is searching for near $1 million in damages.
Mr. Ota stated Netflix has enlisted psychological well being professionals to seek the advice of with the forged and “to create a manufacturing setting the place nobody will get harm.” He stated 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 accessible for an interview.
Though polls present that greater than 70 p.c of the Japanese public helps legalizing same-sex unions, homosexual and transgender individuals are nonetheless topic to discrimination and hate speech.
Ms. Kimura, 47, stated in a video interview that she knew from her daughter’s expertise that younger individuals new to worldwide publicity “can’t think about what it will be like to truly obtain lots of or hundreds of slanderous feedback from everywhere in the world a day.”
“The truth TV format itself is harmful,” she stated. “And particularly in Japan, the place few individuals have an in depth understanding of the existence of L.G.B.T.Q. individuals.”
Durian Lollobrigida, a drag queen who is among the 5 commentators on “The Boyfriend,” stated he wished to affix the present to assist “shield” the forged members.
“I assumed it wouldn’t be good if heterosexual people who find themselves within the majority have been simply watching homosexual males mingle,” Mr. Lollobrigida, 39, stated. “So I assumed it was vital for somebody to be there to behave as a translator.”
As soon as filming began, he stated, he grew comfy along with his fellow commentators and realized “I didn’t have to fret about this stuff.”
Even with out express political advocacy, the present might have a refined impact on social attitudes, Mr. Lollobrigida stated. “As a way to get varied L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights, after all elevating our voices and protesting is vital,” he stated. “However on the similar time, I feel you will need to normalize it by leisure.”
Whether or not the present lays the groundwork for eventual political change is questionable, stated Jennifer Robertson, a professor emerita of anthropology on the College of Michigan who has written ceaselessly about L.G.B.T.Q. tradition in Japan.
She acknowledged that the candy, low-drama forged members might make for heartwarming viewing. In some ways, they provide an idealized distinction to “heteronormative {couples} who’re squabbling about kitchen cleanup and youngsters,” Ms. Robertson stated. Certainly, a number of of them — not simply the skilled chef within the forged — seem like gifted house cooks, they usually all work to maintain the home clear, qualities not sometimes related to most males in Japan.
But when the aim was to encourage much less tolerant Japanese viewers to turn into extra accepting of homosexual and bisexual males, Ms. Robertson added, she questioned whether or not such individuals have 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. is just not going to be a push in any path towards political ratification of homosexual marriage,” she stated.
