Nasubi From Hulu’s ‘The Contestant’ Explains Why He Didn’t Sue: “There Was Nobody Who Taught Me That Was a Human Rights Violation”

When he was 22 years old, Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu became a star. Millions of Japanese viewers were tuning in to watch him—naked, alone, and trapped in a tiny apartment—on Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes, a Japanese reality show before “reality TV” was a thing. And he had no idea. Now, over 20 years later, the reality star reflects on that traumatizing, inhumane experience in a jaw-dropping new Hulu documentary, The Contestant, which began streaming today.

Nasubi means “eggplant” in Japanese—a cruel childhood nickname mocking the shape of Hamatsu’s face, and one that he reclaimed in pursuit of a comedy career. In 1998, that pursuit led him to audition for Denpa Shonen, where he was randomly selected as the lucky contestant. He was instructed to strip down naked and apply for magazine sweepstakes contests, and see if he could “live on prizes alone.” His room came with a bathroom, a kitchen, running water, and a rack of magazines—but no food or clothes. Those, he had to win. If he won a million yen worth of prizes—or about $7,575 U.S. dollars, using the exchange rate from 1998—he was told he would win the game.

“At the very beginning, the TV producer did inform me there’s a telephone in the room,” Nasubi, now 48, told Decider in a recent interview, which was conducted in person via a translator. “I was told, ‘You always call and say I’m gonna give up.'”

But Nasubi didn’t give up. He endured starvation, malnutrition, and isolation for 15 months. Though he knew he was being filmed, he had been told the footage would likely never air. In reality, the footage was being broadcast to millions of viewers, who eagerly tuned in to see Nasubi’s increasingly emaciated form—his hair wildly untamed, his genitals censored by a cartoon eggplant. And though the first episode A Life in Prizes aired in Japan at least six months before the theatrical release of The Truman Show in the U.S., Nasubi had his very own, real-life version of Ed Harris’s chilling portrayal of a sociopathic, god-like TV producer: Japanese TV mogul Toshio Tsuchiya.

Tsuchiya is featured in the Hulu documentary, and expressed little remorse for his actions to The Contestant director Clair Titley. “[Tsuchiya] doesn’t express regret in the way that we would like him to, or the way in which we expect him to,” said Titley, a British filmmaker who first heard Nasubi’s story on an episode of This American Life. “Strangely, his biggest ‘apology,’ in inverted commas, is him taking part in the film itself.”

Years after Denpa Shonen, Tsuchiya helped to crowdfund Nasubi’s dream of climbing Mt. Everest, and assisted Nasubi’s charity work in his hometown, Fukushima, which was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Decider sat down with Titley and Nasubi to talk about Tsuchiya’s version of amends, Nasubi’s financial compensation, his reluctance to sue, and more.

Note: This interview was conducted in person via a translator, and some nuance may be loss in the translation from Japanese to English.

DECIDER: Clair, tell me about your original pitch for the documentary to Nasubi. What your angle was initially, and how did it change over time, if at all?

CLAIR TITLEY: I came across the story, doing some research on other projects and went down one of those internet rabbit holes where you kind of go, ‘This is a great story!’ But I found that most of the things that I found online about “Denpa Shonen” didn’t really go into much depth about Nasubi’s side of the story. Part of what I wanted to do, and what, I suppose, I pitched to him was I said that I really wanted to tell his story. That was something that was very important. As I got to know Nasubi and talk to him more, I learned more about his life, post-Denpa Shonen.

We made a decision that we really wanted Fukushima to play a big part of the movie. That was very important. I think films always change so much from start to finish. It was always supposed to be a film about Nasubi, not necessarily about reality TV as a whole. That’s one of the themes. I started off feeling like maybe this was a film about forgiveness. Maybe this was a film about strength of character. And while it is all of those things, I think in the end, I realized that actually, it was a film about connection—about Nasubi searching for connection maybe in his youth, and looking for it in different places, maybe the wrong places, and finding it somewhere completely unique.

Nasubi, first I want to say, I’m so sorry this happened to you, and thank you for sharing your story.

NASUBI: You’re welcome.

Did you immediately want to do the documentary when Claire approached you or did you take time to think about it?

N: Even before Clair approached me, there were a lot of foreign press approaching me—interviewing me for TV, radio, magazine and so on. So I was kind of exposed. But when she approached me, she wanted to make a documentary film. So I thought that this would be a different access to my life. That’s how I felt. Of course, I wasn’t sure 100 percent— I had a little fear about it. But so many foreign press usually focused on, “Why did you not sue?” The foreign press was treating me as “crazy Japanese.” But I did not want to make a whistleblower movie. It’s something different—it’s not too accuse the wrong-doing people. That was my approach and that’s something that I agreed with, that she presented. 

Clair, you’ve said you wanted to reserve judgment when it came to Denpa Shōnen producer Toshio Tsuchiya. How did you manage that? Were there any tough questions he didn’t want to answer?

CT: For starters, there was nothing that Tsuchiya didn’t answer. And there’s nothing that we didn’t ask about—we didn’t hold back, should I say. He’s a filmmaker himself. He’s not naive. He knew that we were going to ask him all the most difficult questions. I actually have a lot of respect and admiration for him, at how brave he was at taking part in this film, without any caveats, or anything. I didn’t feel like I needed to outright tell the viewer that what he did wasn’t right. I felt like he incriminated himself enough. I felt like it’s much more interesting to be able to maybe feel some nuance towards him, to allow him to explain himself—not necessarily justify himself, but to explain it. I don’t feel like me telling the audience that what he did was right or wrong is really contributing a great deal. 

He doesn’t seem to express much regret in the film, at least not in so many words. Is that the impression you got through your interviews, or your translators’ interviews?

CT: Yeah, I think he doesn’t express regret in the way that we would like him to, or the way in which we expect him to. Whether that’s a cultural thing, or whether that’s just a Tsuchiya thing, it’s hard to tell. Strangely, his biggest “apology,” in inverted commas, is him taking part in the film itself. Him doing that was part of his redemption, part of his apology, without having come right out and said it. In the same way that part of his apology to Nasubi was supporting him, and helping him through Everest. I think part of his way of redeeming himself, in some way, was taking part in the filming, in the interview, and being and being so open and honest about it.

Nasubi, how did you feel watching the completed documentary, especially the interview with Tsuchiya?

N: There are so many ways I can watch [the film] through. I did not want to make a film to accuse Tsuchiya. When I have asked him [about a Life in Prizes], he really doesn’t change. He just accepts it. He just honestly talks about what was in his head at that time. It was very interesting. The thing is, he apologized to me. And that’s why he said, “Whatever you want to do, I will help. iIf you want to make this film, I’ll help.” That was very interesting, and a big things for me. It doesn’t change opinions. While he is being interview, if the viewer looks at him as evil, he can accept that, as the way it is. But he did change, because when I saw the interview—when he said he can maybe give his life for me—that’s when I realized that he has changed. Humans can change. That was very meaningful to me.

Just to clarify— even though he doesn’t say “I’m sorry” in the movie, he did apologize to you, Nasubi, in private?

N: Yes, he apologized to me. He did say, “I’m so sorry that I gave you such a hardship, at that time. But if you ever need my help, you know, I’ll be there.” That’s how he apologized to me in person.

Yes, there is this moment that you bring up where he says he will do anything for you, including giving his life—is there anything you want from him?

N: At that time when the TV show just ended, I had no idea that he would [ever] apologize to me. And he himself didn’t even think about apologizing to me. To us, he was a god. I was very surprised, because we never thought he would be regretful for that. But when the Fukushima [earthquake] happened I was struggling, it was a hard time. And he’s about the only person that actually reached out and helped the situation. So, I was very surprised. I was stunned at how much he could change. He also feels like, for all the young comedians that he gave such a hardship, [he’s giving them] a chance—it’s kind of like cleaning up his past.

But is there anything else you want from Tsuchiya that you haven’t yet gotten?

N: I don’t have expectations from people. I want to be recognized, I want people to say, “Oh what a good job.” But I don’t really have that feeling you know—like a need to be recognized. It’s not give and take, in my view. By giving something to somebody, maybe as a result, you get something back. But I don’t really have a sense of expecting people to give me something.

I suppose it’s a very Western attitude to expect that give-and-take, the compensation. But I know everyone will want to know: Were you paid? Presumably the show made money.

N: I didn’t do this to gain money. Have I gotten a reasonable amount that I deserve? No, probably not to your standard. I haven’t received that. The sum amount of money that I have received was way more than an amount than a college kid could earn in a year. At that time, that was massive. But looking back, did I get enough? That, I’m not sure. 

How much did you get?

N: [Laughs.] I don’t know if I can tell. OK, 10 million.

In yen?

Yes. 10 million yen.

[Using today’s exchange rate, that translates to about $64,713 U.S. dollars. Using 1998’s exchange rate, it’s closer to $100,000 U.S. dollars.]

CT: And he got to keep the prizes. As worthless as they were!

Have you ever considered suing? Why or why not?

N: At that time, to me, it was an achievement. People recognize me now. People were giving me words of encouragement, like, “Oh, you did such a great job.” The experience itself—I took it as some type of advantage. Not so many people were mentioning about suing. I didn’t even think about it. At that time, it wasn’t really an option that I felt like was there. The was nobody who taught me, “Oh, that was a human rights violation. You should sue.” There was nobody who actually came up to me and told me that. Japanese media at that time—that was just the way it was. 

CT: It was the Wild West, really back then—anything went, in terms of producing TV. They weren’t really contracts—people weren’t signing contracts or anything. It was anything goes. But, secondly, Japan, even now, is a much less litigious society than even the U.K., much less compared to the U.S.

At what point did the narrative change for you? When did people begin to tell you, “This was wrong?”

N: Several years later, when foreign press started asking questions, in that regard. That kind of woke me up. “Oh, that’s how I should look at it.” I was told many times, “If you sue, you can win. You should speak out against this.” But to me, just to gain money—that wasn’t it for me.

Clair, is there anything that didn’t make the final cut that you think might be interesting for people to know about?

CT: Oh, there’s so much. There were a lot more characters. We heard from more of Nasubi’s friends. One of the most difficult and  interesting things about making the film was that it’s such a roller coaster. What you see is just the tip of the iceberg. There were other crazy twists and turns that happened in the show, that we weren’t able to include, just because of time. One of the craziest things was—they took him on a holiday to a desert island. They took him to this desert island, and there was nothing there. They delivered some of his prizes that he had, but he had to basically forage for food by himself. He was there for a few days—he’ll be able to tell me how many days. They sort of said, nobody is collecting your prizes back in the room, so opted to go back to the room for that. [To Nasubi] How long were you on the desert island for?

N: Maybe one or two nights. 

I’m so sorry.

[Laughs.] No, it’s OK. I don’t even remember.

It’s actually very difficult to watch the footage because you see how emaciated you are. How much weight did you lose?

N: I’m like 70 kilograms right now. But I went to 40 kilograms, at one time. I am 180 centimeters, my height. It went even below 50 kilograms, at one point. 

[About 155 pounds now, down to about 88 pounds. He is just under 6 feet tall, and his weight fell below 110 pounds.]

What kind of medical problems did you have?

N: Two or three times, a doctor visited. Maybe I’m just like such a healthy person—no disease, nothing was detected. If I was very sick, then of course a doctor would have stopped the show. At the very end, the final doctor checkup, I was told, “You lack nutrition. So please eat well.” [Laughs.]

CT: One interesting thing, not so much medical, but that we don’t go into I think enough in the film is when Nasubi came out, he found it quite uncomfortable just wearing clothes. He felt like everybody was watching him. He didn’t know what was real, and what wasn’t real. Psychologically, that side of things, we didn’t have the space to kind of go into as much. 

Nasubi, you say in the documentary that you lost your faith in humanity because of A Life in Prizes. I don’t blame you. Was that faith ever restored? 

N: I realized that humans cannot live by themselves. So that’s something that I live by. And of course, I lost a lot of things by doing this. However, there are some things I gained. I became a celebrity. So wherever I go, I can make people smile. So that was a big thing. And that helped me. And helping people in the Fukushima situation helped me. In the beginning, what I lost was way bigger, but as the time goes, the things that I have gained, got bigger and bigger. 

Where can people find more about your work in Fukushima, and just you in general?

N: Social media. I’m on X and Instagram.