The Disturbing Case Of Nasubi In The Most Strange Reality TV Livestream!

Nasubi from the Livestream

You know when you are going about doing your day to day things like managing your job, handling your business, spending time with your family, watching the news,etc and then you come across some rather weird information or fact that is so bizarre that you cannot get it out of your head?You question that information and you question that fact because it feels completely unrealistic and does not seem like something that can be a real possibility and almost always feel that it is staged.But then the curiosity to know more comes in and you decide to dig a little deeper into it and then you realize that the thing you questioned was actually real.
We all know about reality TV shows and the thought process behind them.We know that they are made in a way so that it can manipulate the audience and gain those extra viewers.Audience are always also willing to excuse all the wrong doings that happen in a reality show and all ways give them a very high status.And that is completely fine if you want to waste time watching reality TV but the thing is, even reality TV must have some boundaries that cannot be crossed.Now these boundaries are not necessarily stated in a disclaimer or anything but they are more a representation of our own morality and our feeling of empathy.So when I came across the Japanese reality TV show 'Susunu! Denpa Shonen'(January 1998 to March 2002) and how it tortured its participants, I was surprised and shocked to see that such a thing could actually exist on TV and it was even more insane to learn that audience did not show any form of empathy to the participants.The most popular participant of the show was a guy named Tomoaki Hamatsu, also known as Nasubi(meaning:egg plant).

Susunu Denpa Shonen was a strange reality show that used to put its participants in strange and extreme situations and the participants had to follow very tight and restrictive rules and had to face some very unrealistic challenges.Most of its participants were struggling comedian who were desperate to get popular and were ready to do anything for the fame but they probably did not realize the torturous and sadistic nature of the show.Some comedians did get popular but a lot of them remained pretty unknown.The show was very controversial for its torturous and sadistic challenges and rules and the producers received criticism for changing the rules on the go if a participant performed too well.They did anything to extend the show's runtime without really caring about the participants suffering.The show was cancelled after the government went against torture themed shows(thank god).Nasubi is the most well known participant of the show and the suffering he went through is difficult to think about.

Nasubi was also a Japanese Comedian who was struggling to get popular and decided to sign the application for this reality show.He was randomly selected to take part in this reality show but he probably did not realize that he was in for the worse nightmare that he would not be able to escape for months.Nasubi was given the challenge to stay alone in an apartment completely unclothed after winning a lottery for the show's 'business related job'.He was given the challenge to enter mail-in Sweepstakes until he won 1 million Yen(Japanese currency) which is almost $10,000.The start of his challenge was very rough has he had nothing.He had no clothes,was completely cut-off from outside world,communication and broadcasting and had nothing to keep him company except the magazines that he collected for the sweepstakes entry forms.He also received a Guinness World Record for 'longest time survived on competition winnings' after spending 335 days to achieve his goal(Was it worth it?).
Nasubi's entire life throughout this challenge was in front of a camera and the only possessions he had were the things he had won via the sweepstakes,and the stags of postcards for entering the sweepstakes.Due to his nudity,an eggplant graphics cartoon covered his genitals when he stood in front of the camera.Nasubi means 'eggplant' in Japanese and he got this nickname because his 30 cm long face shaped like the Japanese eggplant and hence the use of the eggplant cartoon graphics.A very sad part of this story is that Nasubi thought that was just being recorded and the footage would be edited and the show would re-broadcast later but actually his entire life was on a livestream video for millions to watch live and the highlights were re-broadcast each week in which, cartoon sound effects were edited in to make fun of everything he did,especially his sadness and frustration.During the beginning of his challenge,he received no food at all(WOT?) and only drank water causing him to lose weight.Eventually, he won some sugary drinks from the Sweepstakes entries and later he also won a bag of rice but it was useless as he had no way to cook the rice.Eventually, there was a time in which he survived for weeks on just Dog Food he had won(WOT?).Since he had no one to talk to,he used to have conversations with a stuff toy animal which he called his Sensei. He never won clothing that he could actually wear except ladies underwear that were to small nor did he ever win anything to trim his growing facial hair.He also won prizes that he was very excited for like movie tickets and a bicycle but they were ultimately of no use to him as they required him to leave his apartment to utilize them but that was impossible.When he won a television set,it was initially useless as he had no cable or antenna connection in the apartment and this was done intentionally by the producers because they were afraid that he would discover that he was on TV Live(these producers are the worse!)!But the TV eventually became useful as he won a VCR for two videotapes that he had won previously and a Sony PlayStation for the games and controllers he had won previously.He spent weeks on the PlayStation.
After he reached his goal the first time around,Nasubi was clothed,blindfolded and taken to a surprise location.Nasubi went along with all of it very happily as he believed that he would receive a special prize for his year of hard work and survival.After his blindfold was removed, he found himself in South Korea where he was shown around town and taken to another apartment.He was once again asked to take of his clothes and challenged to enter Sweepstakes,this time to win enough money so that he could go back home(Stop torturing the man already and stop changing the rules!).After some weeks, he completed this task as well but the evil producers would do anything the extend the show and squeeze out as much content as possible and so they revised the challenge and this time he got a challenge to afford a ticket to a first class flight.When he completed this task as well and finally had enough to go back to his home in Japan,he was blindfolded,clothed and taken for the last time to another apartment in Japan.When his blindfold was removed, he looked around the apartment,sighed and took all of his clothes off and just moments later,the walls of the apartment fell away to reveal that he was actually in a TV Studio stage with a live audience surrounding him and laughing at him.He was very confused with this encounter as he thought that the show had not been broadcast yet.This was the last thing.This was the end of this entire cycle of torturous hell.
This entire thing lasted for 15 months(that is just unbelievable) and his diaries on his experience throughout this whole thing became a best seller in Japan and the TV show broke all records with 17 million viewers each Sunday Night(Game Of Thrones viewership has left the chat)!It is quite shocking how 17 million people were willingly ready to excuse all the degradation that Nasubi experienced throughout his ordeal.

Impact on Mental Health and behaviour
After all of this was over and he finally went back home,he struggled to get back to a normal lifestyle.He was unable to wear clothes because they made his body very hot,sweaty and itchy and he preferred living without clothes.His social skills took a massive hit as he lost his ability to have a conversation with other people and lost the ability to interact for a few months.Despite all the struggles,he failed to become popular on TV as a comedian.Instead,he bacame a local talent in Fukushima as well as a dramatic stage actor,founding the stage troupe 'eggplant way' performing throughout Japan.He later went on to star in Japanese dramas.
Nasubi has stated that he was grateful for the experience that the producers apologized to him.The producer, Toshio Tsuchiya says that he has no regrets and did apologize and that his goal was to create miracles on TV and with Nasubi it became possible.

It is still kind of crazy to believe this reality and it shows how messed up humans can be how the audience can be manipulated to enjoy something that is clearly a form of torture and abuse and even harder to believe that no harder actions were taken against the shows producers.We are living in weird era that is for sure.