It’s December and it’s two more weeks before Christmas. Just found and watched recently some weird reality show from Japan, the name of the show is Susunu! Denpa Shōnen — Nasubi, the variety was aired during winter 1998 to 1999, but somehow, it’s still related to what happened to us during this pandemic situation, lockdown and isolated.
The show is known for the extreme situations the contestants were placed in, and it would end up getting high rate viewers spawned with several spin offs. It was controversial due to the number of vicious challenges the producer, Toshio Tsuchiya would put in place.
Upon application, the contestants were chosen randomly, and were not told what the objective of their challenge was. In fact, if a contestant was doing too well, producers would frequently change the rules to make their lives indeed harder. The contestants were generally unknown jesters who were ready to do anything to get notorious. Some of the contenders ended up getting notorious, while numerous came fairly unknown.
The most popular contestant on the series was Tomoaki Hamatsu also known as Nasubi which means Eggplant in Japanese.
Nasubi is a Japanese newbie comedian who was challenged to stay alone undressed in a flat / apartment, the producer only said that contestant will play a game to aimed a winning lottery for some show business related job. Little that he know, the producer didn’t notified him much about the twisted script and scenario.
He started with nothing. That means no clothes, food, or any form of outside communication, and had nothing to keep him company except the magazines he went through for sweepstakes entry forms. He was challenged to wrote diaries and send postcards-in sweepstakes until he won 1 million Yen mission.
In addition, Nasubi had no idea he was being recorded and rebroadcasted on live TV. He lived in front of the camera, with the only possession he won from the sweepstakes, and the heaps of cards for entering the sweepstakes.
Because the producers not in any manners would gave him any clothes, the creative and editor edited an eggplant cartoon visual to covered his genitals when he was standing in front of the camera. He didn’t realized until later on that actuality he was on livestream with the highlights streaming and re-broadcasted every week. For many weeks or even months he had no food at all, he can only drink water from the tap. He gained the prize whenever producer — in the show the they edited it as Kamisama / God, the one who decided which prize that Nasubi can get.
He had lost several pounds. He gets every kind of unnecessary stuff but rarely food. One day, they even sent him Dog food for a week supplies and he managed to ate it cause there are no other options to get rid of his hunger. He was fully isolated, alone, naked and starved. They made him as a real life Truman Show.
