Back to All News
True Love and Belly Laughs: A Preview of Japan's 2022 Unscripted Slate
Mitsuko Koyabashi
Manager, Live Action Creative, Japan
Taro Goto
Manager, Live Action Creative, Japan
Entertainment
24 March 2022
GlobalJapan
Japan's love affair with unscripted content goes back to the 1950s and remains one of the country's most dominant forms of entertainment. From comedy shows to competition shows, Japan's lean-back variety programs offer the sort of comforting entertainment people have come to expect from television, while reality shows tap into a great enthusiasm for living vicariously through the real-world adventures of on-screen personalities.
Reality shows such as Ainori and Terrace House were in fact some of the first to truly resonate with our Japanese audiences, and our recent success with unscripted shows proves that this appetite is still growing, with our latest unscripted comedy series Last One Standing quickly rising to No. 1 in the Overall Top 10 (Japan) after its premiere.
We're currently developing 15 unscripted projects, seven of which are either already available or launching this year. The new slate includes a rich variety of unscripted genres, from comedy, reality television to documentaries.
Fans of dating shows can look forward to Love Village as well as a new season of The Future Diary, while Love is Blind: Japan is now casting for its second season, which is set to launch next year. We are also rolling out a wide selection of documentaries ranging from LiSA Another Great Day, which celebrates the titular artist's career as one of the top singers of wildly popular anime theme songs, and Sing, Dance, Act: Kabuki, featuring former-idol-turned-actor Toma Ikuta's immersion in the world of New Kabuki, to Tokyo Crime Squad: The Lucie Blackman Case (Working Title).
Stories that travel
As a global studio, we try to entertain both local and global audiences. Unscripted shows allow us to accomplish both in interesting ways. Our priority for each local language show is to make sure it resonates with the respective local audiences, and when we stay true to each culture and make them as authentic as possible, the shows tend to tap into something universal.
When we brought Love is Blind to Japan, we focused on not forcing the participants to do anything that felt culturally uncomfortable. If they wanted to bow instead of kissing when they first met, or if they weren't ready to discuss intimate topics, that's fine. If they wanted to break up before the big day, that's fine. As a result, you see the participants being themselves, which ends up making them both relatable and fascinating for their cultural differences.
It's the simple yet provocative concept of the format that lends itself to such adaptations, and whereas Love is Blind originated in the US, these formats can come from anywhere in the world. For example, Iron Chef was a groundbreaking show in Japan before being adapted internationally and now being rebooted as a Netflix series.
But being on an unscripted show can be stressful, and in particular, participation in dating shows requires those on-screen to be vulnerable, which takes a lot of mental fortitude, especially in the age of social media.
To make sure the cast and crew are prepared for the experience, we take meaningful steps to create a respectful environment throughout the production process, and put support systems in place for them.
We will continue to hold ourselves to a high standard when producing unscripted content in Japan. We believe that it is possible to create enjoyable and authentic programming while putting the well-being of our cast first.
Please click here for more details on the upcoming unscripted titles.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
Back to All News
