Mother to sue 'Terrace House' TV network, producer over daughter's suicide

Choosing to expose your personal life to millions of strangers comes with consequences.

So, shouldn't being a complete dick online also come with consequences? The kind of person who would write something like that in a public forum seems unlikely to be valuable to society at large.

I watched all the Terrace House shows. They're good to practice Japanese listening. Anyway, I really liked Hana. She reminded me a little of an ex-girlfriend. Bubbly, physically strong and bashful at times. When she kicked up a storm it was very out of character and unexpected. They definitely asked her to put on a show. It makes me sad even today that she turned to suicide.

Ban reality shows - they suck.

Ban social media - it adds nothing to society

Problem solved

Television shows of this type are happy to exploit the personnel they engage cast. At the very least, all candidates should receive a thorough education as to the reality of online remarks and how to deal with them in the form of counselling and filtering of the content coming their way. All actors who work to entertain others ought to have teams to support and manage their social media presence as well as filter out the haters. Networks' first responsibility should be to their employees and the protection of those employees.

Saying that they should have to suck it up and put up with it as it's the price of fame is the same as saying people who work in customer complaint departments should expect abuse and accept it. More and more service providers now have signage indicating that abusive language and behavior will not be tolerated. Nor should it be.

Hana was a lovely girl with a zest for life, an endearing fierceness and shattering naivety. A tragic loss. God rest her tortured soul.

Yet again, suicide is blamed on external sources in Japan. Yes, bullying is wrong and should be controlled, but it is never the 'cause' of suicide. Suicide is caused by a lack of support and training in self-care (i.e. healthy mental attitudes).

Were you intending to prove you don't know how cause and effect work? Because the effect you claim cannot logically be concluded from the cause you provided.

Mother to sue 'Terrace House' TV network, producer over daughter's suicide

Good

Why not, and I hope that if the producing company was found to be guilty of negligence will be fined, she was a rising star , many kids loved her, only the Jealous and the depressed looser attacked her.

It's sad what happened to the daughter but the mother is just looking for someone to scapegoat for her daughter's death.

Kyoko Kimura has reportedly claimed that staff on the show encouraged her daughter to heighten the drama.

Part of the show, part of the work she was hired for. I don't see how this could be reason to drive her to the decision she took.

This year, the Tokyo District Court ordered Fuji TV and the production company to submit scripts, pre-edited footage and other materials after a request from Kyoko's lawyers, according to Japanese media reports.

But they refused, citing "professional secrecy", the Asahi Shimbun daily said.

This appears to be obstruction of justice. They're hiding something. I don't blame the mother for being so pissed off.

philly1Today 09:01 am JST

Hana was a lovely girl with a zest for life, an endearing fierceness and shattering naivety. A tragic loss. God rest her tortured soul.

What a fantastic eulogy, strikes just the right tone and is not at all creepy.

Punitive justice, especially when dealing with online behaviour will hardly prevent the next tragedy. Education and society as a whole still has a lot of catching up to do with how the internet has changed (or distorted) human interaction, with the huge risks that come with it

And Fuji Television are a business? They'll do everything to protect their profits by avoiding responsibility. Not defending them, it's the just the way neoliberalism works.

Ban social media - it adds nothing to society

I get your point, but you realise you're posting this in a type of social media? The fact that JT, a news outlet, has a comment section shows how blurry the line between social and other media is.

I, for one, hope the show comes back. It's a breath of fresh air.

And yes, social media is crap. Instagram = Instabraincellsdisappearing

The most unliked character in a tv or movie that springs to my mind is Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars, but presumably the actor playing him/it did not get massive personal abuse and nonstop death threats. That's because people were able to separate the character and the person.

Shows like Terrace House ham up the characters who appear on screen, but openly encourage viewers to think they are real people. It's not called "reality TV" for nothing. This results in participants getting personally attacked for events that are fictional. When widespread abuse of Kimura began, the show denied her actions had been scripted.

"I want them to sincerely tackle the issue, not just think about defending themselves, and find out what the problem was," she told reporters."

by paying you financial compensation?!?!

What is the difference? The difference is the true cause. The difference is the skillset to deal with external factors.

Were you also intending to show that you don't understand cause and effect? Because you did it the same as the original poster.

No, the difference isn't the cause

Hana was already in the public image as a Wrestler, she usually played the villain character. You would expect she could handle this type of negative attention much better. I liked her and was sad to hear she did something like this to herself.

To the mother I would say: why was she living alone. Did you not keep in touch. This did not happen in one single day. Also the Pandemic and lockdown happen. Don't you think being with your daughter was important if you hear she had any type of negative experice??

You're literally putting 100% the blame on someone else, you as a mother should have known Hana best. Should have kept an eye on her, in real life and online life as well.

Sorry, but have to say the mother does not have much of a case here. Hana, when she agreed to be on the show, likely signed her rights to be filmed to the production company and the company likely retains sole ownership of what whatever was filmed. They don’t have to release anything if they don’t want to.

As for the encouragement claim, it’s inconsequential. Hana was playing a character or filling a role required by the company that was based on her personality and experiences. Most would say she did voluntarily and backlash by fans were a planned reaction.

I fail to see what the production company did that contributed to Hana’s suicide.

As much as I dislike these stupid reality shows, they are not the guilty party here. The mother should have raised the daughter to be more resilient to social media gossip.

A young woman died. Suicide. The twaddle assessing blame, accusing profiteering by her Mother and other nonsense doesn't even reach the level of rhetorical. It was simply and completely tragic. The lack of empathy in numerous comments is noteworthy.

Ultimately, I see Fuji and the production company settling with Hana’s mother. The issue goes away, the mother is compensated but gaged, and allows everyone to move forward.

Most here won’t like the reasoning behind these actions but the alternative is going to trial where all of Hana’s faults are put on display in an attempt to sway a court, something the mother may not want to do.

…….

Here is a bigger rub; if the case goes all the way to the end, a precedent will be set. The level of responsibility a production company has in protecting a performer’s health and mental state post production has never really been explored. It reminds me of the Heath Ledger and the “Dark Knight” filming and furthermore the child actors in the entertainment industry.

philly1Today 09:01 am JST

Hana was a lovely girl with a zest for life, an endearing fierceness and shattering naivety. A tragic loss. God rest her tortured soul.

What a fantastic eulogy, strikes just the right tone and is not at all creepy.

Thank you, Ego. Hers is such a complex and multi-faceted story which I choose to view from a point of compassion (as well as the insights gained over a much longer lifetime than she enjoyed). So many factors play into this tragedy. Personality, mental health, social/cultural expectations, family dynamics, the entertainment industry, online freedom to abuse others and more. Even the most famous global superstars are not free of these challenges. What surprises me most as I read the comments thread and view the +/- clicks is how divisive the story is.

The other members of the same season are still traumatized but life goes on for them.

And there is new Japanese reality show something like Blind Date on Netflix. Prepare to get cringed.

RT.

You just can't change human nature by taking away freedom.

I think you’re mistaking what “freedom” means. It does NOT mean an absence of responsibility for your own actions.