Earlier than the West’s fascination—obsession, actually—with actuality TV, there was Denpa Shonen, the place a Japanese man was left alone, bare in a room, for a complete yr within the hopes of profitable a big money prize. Unbeknown to him, his expertise was being broadcast to thousands and thousands of viewers. So the place is Nasubi now and what occurred to him after this unimaginable, if not ethically questionable, social experiment?
His story is the topic of The Contestant, a documentary by British filmmaker Clair Titley, out there to stream on Hulu as of Might 2, 2024. Nasubi is the pseudonym of a Japanese comic, whose actual title is Tomoaki Hamatsu.
In 1998, Nasubi thought he was auditioning for a TV present when producer Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to participate in a problem. Remoted in an condo devoid of furnishings and meals, Nasubi was ordered to strip bare. He was required to win all the pieces he wanted for each day dwelling by coming into contests from a pile of magazines supplied to him, with the aim of profitable 1 million yen value of prizes (round $8,000) to finish the experiment.
Though Nasubi might have left at any time, his sheer willpower stored him within the room for 15 months, minimize off from all household contact. What Nasubi didn’t know was the viewers of 15 million watching his entire expertise. With out his information or consent, he grew to become essentially the most well-known man in Japan in a demented sort of Truman Present. So the place is Nasubi now? Learn on to search out out.
The place is Nasubi now?
Hamatsu nonetheless often works as a comic and actor however spends most of his time as an activist and advocate, working to boost funds for his hometown of Fukushima which was devasted by an earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear catastrophe in 2011.
“I would like everybody to know the individuals of Fukushima are working onerous,” he advised the Related Press in April 2024. “Life is step by step returning to what was within the exclusion zones. After all, I understand the highway to decommissioning the nuclear vegetation continues to be an extended battle. However I would really like individuals to know the Fukushima of immediately, really feel hope by visiting Fukushima and watch Fukushima rebuild.”
The documentary marks 25 years since he discovered himself an unwitting participant in a actuality TV present. “My intuition for survival kicked in, so I simply needed to survive and do no matter to get out of this. So I’ve to attain this sweepstake aim to get out,” he advised TVInsider, reflecting on his time on the present in an interview translated from Japanese.
“So every time I bought the little product within the contest, I bought a pleasure—that was a extremely real pleasure that I felt, however it was on the similar time it was a struggle with solitude, loneliness, and all different issues. So I spotted that my coronary heart was breaking little by little, and so I couldn’t actually afford to consider making individuals chortle on the finish. It was my intuition for survival to kick in.”
He continued, explaining how he’s leveraged his fame as a platform from which to do good. “It’s an extended journey for me to make my coronary heart right into a optimistic motion, geared to the optimistic issues however when in 2011 went big East Japan earthquake hit. I’m from Fukushima, so I went to the affected space, and other people there have been glad, inspired by me. As a result of on this location, individuals had been complaining about, “There’s no privateness, there’s not sufficient meals,” after which they keep in mind me. I had nothing, so I might inform them, ‘No less than you’ve gotten a human contact. It is rather wholesome for you that you’re surrounded by these fellow individuals who take care of one another.’”
He concluded: “In order that sort of factor grew to become larger due to my expertise of this actuality present. I might assist individuals in that approach and provides new hope. And say they mentioned they understand, ‘Oh, you had been consuming pet food. We’re consuming human meals,’ that sort of factor. … Typically I felt like I shouldn’t have completed the fact present, however now I really feel like I needed to reside with it and make a use of it.”
The Contestant is out there to stream on hulu now.
