Can Japan’s First Identical-Intercourse Relationship Actuality Present Change Hearts and Minds?

Japan is the one nation amongst the world’s wealthiest democracies that has not legalized same-sex unions. Few celebrities are brazenly homosexual. Conservative teams oppose legislative efforts to guard the L.G.B.T.Q. neighborhood.

However now, Netflix is introducing the nation’s first same-sex courting actuality sequence.

Over 10 episodes of “The Boyfriend,” which might be obtainable in 190 international locations starting on July 9, a bunch of 9 males collect in a luxurious seaside home exterior Tokyo. The format evokes Japan’s hottest romantic actuality present, “Terrace Home,” with its meeting of fresh reduce and exceedingly well mannered solid members, overseen by a panel of jovial commentators.

The vibe is healthful and largely chaste. The lads, who vary in age from 22 to 36, function a espresso truck through the day and cook dinner dinner at evening, with occasional forays exterior for dates. One of many largest (amongst only a few) conflicts of the sequence revolves round the price of shopping for uncooked hen to make protein shakes for a membership dancer who’s making an attempt to take care of his physique. Intercourse hardly ever comes up, and friendship and self-improvement function as prominently as romance.

In Japan, the handful of brazenly homosexual and transgender performers who frequently seem on tv are usually flamboyant, effeminate comedian foils who’re shoehorned into exaggerated stereotypes. With “The Boyfriend,” Dai Ota, the manager producer, mentioned he needed 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, mentioned he had averted “the strategy of ‘let’s embrace individuals who trigger issues.’”

“The Boyfriend,” he mentioned, represents range in one other manner — with solid members of South Korean, Taiwanese and multiethnic heritages.

Regardless of how Japan lags in L.G.B.T.Q. rights, Mr. Ota mentioned the present isn’t meant to supply overt political or social commentary. Forged members weren’t suggested in opposition to talking concerning the social challenges of being homosexual or bisexual in Japan, he mentioned, however through the audition course of, he reminded potential contributors that “in the end it is going to be streamed, and a variety of viewers will be capable to hear these ideas.”

Soshi Matsuoka, the founding father of Honest, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group in Tokyo who has watched the sequence, mentioned its mere existence “exhibits a change within the society.” However he mentioned he wished the solid talked extra brazenly about their sexuality and the social context of the L.G.B.T.Q. neighborhood in Japan.

Whereas “The Boyfriend” will be the first same-sex actuality courting present set in Japan, there are a rising variety of queer courting exhibits, 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,” obtainable 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,” mentioned he had “quite a lot of expectation and hope” for the present.

“I gained’t say we will change society,” he mentioned in an interview at Netflix’s workplaces in Tokyo. “However I do need many individuals to really feel some type of impression.”

About 50 males auditioned after Mr. Takahashi put out casting calls on social media and recruited from his personal networks. He mentioned he intentionally selected “individuals who can be beloved” and that he averted males who “really feel the stress of ‘I’ve to change 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 fundamental 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 world hit, one of many solid 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 manner that attracted mass criticism on-line. Ms. Kimura is looking for near $1 million in damages.

Mr. Ota mentioned Netflix has enlisted psychological well being professionals to seek the advice of with the solid and “to create a manufacturing atmosphere the place nobody will get harm.” He mentioned Netflix had carried out background checks on every of the solid members and that after the present airs, “we are going to handle them if they’ve even the slightest bit of tension.” Netflix didn’t make any of the solid members obtainable for an interview.

Though polls present that greater than 70 % of the Japanese public helps legalizing same-sex unions, homosexual and transgender individuals are nonetheless topic to discrimination and hate speech.

Ms. Kimura, 47, mentioned in a video interview that she knew from her daughter’s expertise that younger folks new to worldwide publicity “can’t think about what it could be like to truly obtain tons of or hundreds of slanderous feedback from all around the world a day.”

“The fact TV format itself is harmful,” she mentioned. “And particularly in Japan, the place few folks have an in depth understanding of the existence of L.G.B.T.Q. folks.”

Durian Lollobrigida, a drag queen who is without doubt one of the 5 commentators on “The Boyfriend,” mentioned he needed to affix the present to assist “shield” the solid members.

“I believed it wouldn’t be good if heterosexual people who find themselves within the majority have been simply watching homosexual males mingle,” Mr. Lollobrigida, 39, mentioned. “So I believed it was crucial for somebody to be there to behave as a translator.”

As soon as filming began, he mentioned, he grew comfy together with his fellow commentators and realized “I didn’t have to fret about this stuff.”

Even with out specific political advocacy, the present may have a delicate impact on social attitudes, Mr. Lollobrigida mentioned. “With a purpose to get numerous L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights, in fact elevating our voices and protesting is necessary,” he mentioned. “However on the similar time, I believe it is very important normalize it via leisure.”

Whether or not the present lays the groundwork for eventual political change is questionable, mentioned Jennifer Robertson, a professor emerita of anthropology on the College of Michigan who has written often about L.G.B.T.Q. tradition in Japan.

She acknowledged that the candy, low-drama solid members may 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 mentioned. Certainly, a number of of them — not simply the skilled chef within the solid — look like proficient house cooks, they usually all work to maintain the home clear, qualities not usually related to most males in Japan.

But when the purpose was to encourage much less tolerant Japanese viewers to change into extra accepting of homosexual and bisexual males, Ms. Robertson added, she questioned whether or not such folks 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. isn’t going to be a push in any course towards political ratification of homosexual marriage,” she mentioned.