How Tomoaki "Nasubi" Hamatsu survived Japan's craziest TV show

Japan is known for its weird TV shows. They usually shock foreigners with their crazy scenarios and exploitation of the basest human instincts. But the reality show Susunu! Denpa Shonen (Don't Go for It! Crazy Youth), which started in 1998, is perhaps the most shocking of them all. There was only one person involved - Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, and this guy barely managed to not go crazy.

22-year-old aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu won the right to become a participant in a new television project in the lottery. Everything seemed relatively decent. The guy had to live in a small one-room apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom. He had a table, a chair, writing instruments, a telephone, a radio and a pile of magazines, advertising brochures and postcards.

Tomoaki was given the task of participating in various competitions and lotteries, the conditions of which were in magazines. It was understood that the participant in the show would survive on the prizes they won. The show was planned to end when the amount of winnings reached 1 million yen. Of course, the comedian’s life was filmed by cameras, and the video was broadcast on the TV channel. True, he did not know about the latter.

It seems that everything is quite decent and even fun and interesting. But everything turned out to be completely different from what Hamatsu had imagined. After all the papers were officially completed and the Japanese was about to move into the apartment, all his clothes were taken away. Because of this, the comedian initially walked around covering his genitals with a pillow.

But soon the guy got tired of it, and he threw away the shame. From that moment on, in the broadcast, his private parts were covered with an image of an eggplant. Therefore, he received the nickname Nasubi, that is, eggplant. Why is this so? It's simple - the show's authors decided that the comedian's elongated face resembles this vegetable.

It should be clarified that Nasubi’s nutrition also depended on winnings. The comedian was given only a small piece of bread per day, and he had to earn the rest himself. The guy lost a lot of weight in the first weeks of the show, because food was rarely given as a prize.

There were times when for a long time he did not receive any food at all. Nasubi once had to eat dog food for several weeks. But even after receiving something edible, he could not always have lunch. The fact is that at the beginning of the broadcast, Tomoaki had a stove, but there were no dishes. For example, in order to cook rice, you first had to win a pot in the lottery.

The guy had to improvise. He cooked his first rice in a plastic jelly drink bag. Nasubi poured water over the cereal and placed it near the switched on electric stove. It took a full 3 hours to prepare the food! But over time, food was improved. Some kitchen utensils appeared, and food and even delicacies began to appear more often among the prizes.

Hamatsu later admits that most of all he wanted to win some clothes in the lottery. But, alas, in the 15 months that the show lasted, he did not succeed. And the prizes he received were very diverse. Among them were a bag of rice, a PlayStation game console, cosmetics and even worn women's panties. When boxes of winnings were brought to Nasubi, he showed them off to the camera, sang, danced and made faces.

The reality show "Don't Go For It" aired every Sunday. Its audience was more than 17 million people. During the project, Nasubi kept a diary, excerpts from which were sometimes read out on air. After the show ended, it was published as a book, which became a bestseller in Japan.

One day, Nasubi was woken up in the middle of the night by a firecracker being shot in his face. In this way, the presenters decided to congratulate him on winning 1 million yen. This happened on the 335th day of his life in isolation. The comedian was informed that he was entitled to a tourist trip to South Korea. He was not deceived and Nasubi was soon enjoying the sights of Seoul.

But the joy was short-lived. Soon he was taken to exactly the same apartment as in Japan and locked up again. The guy was informed that now he had to win money for an economy class ticket to Tokyo. Upon learning that his torment would continue, Nasubi completely lost heart:

He himself signed a contract with television people and was completely dependent on their whims. But the daily bullying exhausted Nasubi so much that he decided to terminate the contract. The organizers had great difficulty convincing him to continue filming. It was his mistake. Soon Hamatsu won money for an economy class ticket, but the conditions immediately changed. Now he had to buy a business ticket, and then first class.

As a result, the poor fellow managed to fulfill all the conditions, and he was put on the plane. Upon arrival at home, another mockery awaited him. The comedian was blindfolded at the airport, and when the blindfold was removed, he realized that he was back in his hated apartment with cameras. Out of habit, he completely undressed, but at that moment the walls of the room fell and Nasubi saw that he was in the studio.

Hundreds of spectators looked at him, laughing and pointing at him. The presenters came on stage and congratulated the poor fellow on his victory. Only at that moment did he realize that his life was being broadcast on television and this shocked Nasubi.

20 years later, Tomoaki Hamatsu admitted that participation in the Susunu! Denpa Shonen almost drove him crazy. Interestingly, he could stop his torment at any moment - the door to his apartment was not locked, and no sanctions were provided for refusal to participate.

When asked by journalists why he endured bullying, Nasubi gave an answer that only the Japanese, whose views on life are strikingly different from Europeans, will understand:

After the show ended, Nasubi spent more than a year recovering. Over the course of 15 months, he lost the habit of wearing clothes and forgot how to carry on a conversation. But why did he decide to participate, because the sums he won were not dizzying by Japanese standards. It's simple - Tomoaki Hamatsu was an amateur comedian and dreamed of becoming famous. He realized his dream only partially. Nasubi did not become a comedian, but he became a theater actor. He founded his own troupe and successfully tours the country.

In 2016, Hamatsu conquered Everest. And during the coronavirus pandemic, he appeared on television and shared his experience of life in isolation. A few years after the show ended, he received a call from one of the organizers. He invited Nasubi to dinner and apologized to him for all the suffering he experienced on the project.