Netflix Announces Five Japanese Reality Series

Netflix is investing heavily in reality TV as it seeks to increase its reach in Japan, a major overseas growth market, despite stagnant subscriber numbers for streaming services throughout most of the Western world.

The American streaming giant, during an event promoting unscripted content from throughout Asia, the firm revealed a slate of five reality series at its offices in Seoul, South Korea.

The schedule demonstrates Netflix’s preference for dating and variety show formats in Japan, two of the country’s most popular TV genres.

Netflix’s Japan content manager, Dai Ota, said,

“We’re excited to move into a new phase of our content strategy, ramping up our investments in unscripted and bringing new concepts to the screen. We want to elevate the unscripted category with great production values and storytelling from Japan’s most innovative creative voices.”

The upcoming line-up by Netflix includes ‘Lighthouse,’ which is slated to premiere on August 22, 2023. The dating show ‘Is She the Wolf?’ will be released on September 3, 2023, while the Japanese romance series ‘Love Like a K-Drama’ will air on November 28, 2023.

The two others in the line-up are the second season of ‘Last One Standing,’ which is set for October 10, 2023, and the next set of episodes of ‘Love Village’, whose release date is yet to be announced.