Controversial Netflix dating show sparks backlash in Japan

Japan\u0027s justice ministry said Friday it will cancel a collaboration with a controversial Netflix dating show featuring ex-juvenile delinquents, following backlash against what some called the glorification of crimes. Earlier this month, the ministry launched an unusual partnership with the streaming giant\u0027s "Badly in Love," releasing a poster starring its Season 2 cast members, including heavily tattooed men and women. "Badly in Love" spotlights Japan\u0027s so-called "yankii" (delinquent) subculture by lodging together young men and women with wild and often criminal pasts, including former yakuza gangsters and motorcycle gang members."In Japan\u0027s first dating show for rebellious yankiis, 11 singles butt heads, forge bonds and live together for 14 days as they go all out to find the one," the show\u0027s description reads on its website.Since its release in December, the show has proven an unexpected global hit, with Netflix saying its Season 1 maintained a weeks-long top-10 presence in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The show\u0027s Season 2 is currently the top-ranked program in Japan,\u00a0Netflix said. \u00a0"At times, it feels like Japan\u0027s answer to MTV\u0027s \u0027Jersey Shore,\u0027 another series that centered a maligned subculture and dared viewers to look closer," according to a 2025 review of the series in the Japan Times.The ministry\u0027s rehabilitation bureau had justified the campaign on grounds that the show\u0027s depictions of participants\u0027 harsh upbringing, atonement and personal growth jibe with its belief that "a person can change." The ministry promoted the program \u2013 which says it aims to showcase "people who are unapologetically themselves" -- as part of the campaign, and the show will continue to air without the government\u0027s support. "It was never the intention of this collaboration to endorse crime or delinquency, nor to glorify or trivialize these acts from someone\u0027s past," the ministry said in a statement on Friday. "But we have received a lot of concerns and criticism that it can cause discomfort among people victimized by crimes," it said, adding that the partnership will be terminated. "Badly in Love" Season 2 came under fire after an episode aired in which one cast member confessed that, as a teen, he had been arrested for setting someone on fire to prove he was "not chickening out." The cancellation of the campaign, however, "isn\u0027t meant to deny efforts to help rehabilitate people who committed crimes in the past," the ministry said."Badly in Love" executive producer Dai Ota told AFP in April that prior to running Season 1, the production team had "extensive internal discussions" to ensure the show would not be perceived as "condoning the violence." "Our hope was to show that these young people \u2014 who have often been marginalized or labeled as \u0027social outcasts\u0027 \u2014 are simply youths who worry, struggle and genuinely grow," he said.