How the Japanese reality TV show, “Terrace House”, reflects Japanese society and culture.
Terrace House: Opening New Doors, is one of the Netflix originals. It’s a Japanese reality TV show. It was originally run by the Japanese Fuji television station in 2015, and now it thrives again on Netflix.
On the biggest movie review site, IMDb, Terrace House was rated 8.3 /10, which speaks highly of the show. Also, it was acclaimed by articles in the New Yorker, the Guardian, and Time. Judy Berman of Time ranked Terrace House at number six on a list of the best TV shows in 2018. All of them, interestingly, described this TV show as a low-drama. Unlike typical American reality TV shows, there aren’t scandalous affairs, provocative fights, or verbal abuse. There are only little arguments about trivialities. So what makes it so popular?
The show follows six young complete strangers, comprising three women and three men. They live together in a house. The TV show always starts from the following narrative: no screenplay; we only provide a fabulous house and two cars.
A prominent aspect of the show is its subtleness and casualness. Wires, cameras and microphones are hidden completely from the viewer. As such the show appears as natural and unscripted. Even so, the cinematography is well thought out and there is a lot of preparation that goes into making an episode.
The show offers each individual a lot of freedom and control of his or her life. Each individual continues his or her work or study, pursues his or her goals and enjoys his or her weekend. Also, anycast member can leave whenever he or she wants, after which a new cast member arrives. So, the show technically just depicts people’s daily lives. Almost all the scenes are filmed inside the house. The cast members have breakfast, wash dishes, and watch movies. In effect, uniqueness and chillness are the reasons for the popularity of Terrace House. Also, Terrace House would be worth watching from the perspective of examining subtly Japanese society and culture.
Terrace House reflects Japanese comedic style
At first glance, Terrace House appears to be about romance because cast members hope to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s a main part of the show. But, at the same time, it reflects a Japanese stand-up comedic style.
Japanese stand-up comedy is different from that of Western countries. In western countries, stand-up comedy is performed by an individual. In Japanese stand-up comedy, however, there is a pair of comedians. One of the two is referred to as, “Boke,” meaning “funny person.” He plays the role of one, who makes jokes and acts dump. He’s the fool. Usually, he is unaware of his jokes. The another one of the pair is referred to as “Tsukkomi.” He is a straight and narrow person. He plays the part of reacting to and being critical of the Boke’s jokes. While American stand-up comedians move on to the next joke after the audience’s reaction, Japanese stand-up comedians move on to the next joke after the reaction by the Tsukkomi. Also, if there isn’t a Tsukkomi, it is common to do “self- tsukkomi,” which is referred to as “tsukkomi by Boke.” This “Tsukomi” part makes Japan’s comedic unique.
Let’s return to the TV show, Terrance House. It consists of two parts: one part shows a cast member’s life in the house and another part provides commentaries from a panel in a studio.
In this show, cast members’ lives are referred to as “Boke” because their actions or words are sometimes weird or strange even if they remain unaware of this fact. On the other hand, commentaries from the panel react to and explain the cast members’ lives. This part is referred to as “Tsukomi.” In fact, almost every comedic commentator from the panel plays the role of “Tsukomi” in their own stand-up comedy shows.
So Terrace House’s audience watches cast members’ lives as “Boke,” then they laugh as “Tsukomi” after the panel’s commentaries.
Terrace House captures Japanese unawareness of social problems and cultural identity
Since Terrace House captures the intricacies of the Japanese condition, it reflects Japanese unawareness of social problems and cultural identity. We’re going to see one of these.
First of all, Terrace House indicates an unawareness of gender issues. Japan has a serious gender problem. Japanese gender equality ranks 110th out of 149 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report in 2019. This is despite the fact that Japanese women are considered among the best educated in the world.
Gender problems in Japan are not only related to the wage gap but also have to do with male chauvinism. As long as romance remains a big part of the show, you can see how Japanese men and women treat gender.
For example, in Episode 1 of Terrace House: Opening New Doors, the man who works as a tap dancer says that he would expect women to cook for everyone. On the other hand, in countless episodes, both men and women often say, “It’s not manly” when men are indecisive and flee from problems.
As well as the feminist issues, you can watch commentaries from the panel that demonstrate an ignorance for LGBT. When one of the cast members, Shunsuke Ikezoe, confess his bisexuality, one of the commentators says a bisexual is always good-looking. No one notices or questions this comment.
Secondly, Terrace House reflects the Japanese obsession with food. If you came to Japan, you would be surprised how often Japanese TV show are about food. In the morning, at noon, and at night, there are always TV programs about food. And almost of them are depicting people eating food and saying it is delicious. This is also the case in Terrace House.
In Terrace House, you can see a lot of eating scenes: eating lunch, going out to eat on a date, or preparing dinner. Even if it’s an usual meal, the camera captures how the cast members eat the dish.
You can see this phenomenon in Ghibli films and other Japanese animations. Each Ghibli film represents food as an important aspect of the film. There even was an official exhibition in the Ghibli museum in 2018. It features food recreations and shows how the meals were designed as well as how characters ate the food.
