Love Is Blind: Japan
ラブ・イズ・ブラインド JAPAN
Discussed in the Journal
JournalWanting a Partner and Wanting Intimacy Are Two Different HungersStoryline
The whole story, ending included.
The pods format in Japanese hands: proposals before faces are seen, then the collision with family, money and real life.
Love Is Blind: Japan brings the American format to Japan. For ten days twenty-four single men and women talk in pods, separated by a wall, able to hear each other but not to see; a couple meet face to face only once they are engaged. The engaged pairs then take a short holiday, live together for three weeks and arrive at a wedding where each must decide whether to say yes. Takashi Fujii and Yuka Itaya watch from the studio. The series streamed in February 2022.
Eight couples get engaged. Nanako, 35, and Odacchi, a comedian of 31, are the first, after he gently receives something she is self-conscious about; in person he wants quiet, and they split early, she says because his work comes first. Motomi, 27, and Ryotaro, a hairstylist of 32, have exchanged letters through the wall; faced with his blond hair she admits he is nothing like she imagined, but the ease they found holds. Midori, 30, wins Wataru, 38, with a tearful presentation, then struggles with the gap between his voice and his looks. Yudai, 23, proposes to Nana, 31. Mori, a dermatologist of 37, chooses Minami, 26. Kaoru becomes engaged to Misaki without telling him what she is self-conscious about. Priya accepts Mizuki. Ayano, 30, after long hesitation, accepts Shuntaro, a consultant of 56, who once suggested they sit in silence together for a minute.
Most engagements do not survive daylight. Priya leaves Mizuki after learning he lied about owning the company he works for; Nana leaves Yudai when she finds he has not been fully truthful; Mori and Minami part after hours of tearful argument; Kaoru and Misaki split too. Ryotaro dyes his hair black to meet Motomi's family. Wataru proposes to Midori again while they are living together, and her mother's advice steadies her. At the altar both couples marry. Shuntaro tells Ayano no, saying they never managed to communicate. Both married couples later had children.
Starring
Takashi FujiiHost
Hosts the experiment from the studio with Yuka Itaya and welcomes the two married couples back at the end.
MotomiParticipant
An advertising saleswoman of 27 who falls for Ryotaro through words and letters, and marries him.
RyotaroParticipant
A blond hairstylist of 32, nothing like Motomi imagined, who dyes his hair black to meet her family.
MidoriParticipant
A business planner of 30 who wins Wataru with a tearful presentation, doubts him face to face, and marries him.
AyanoParticipant
A corporate worker of 30 who accepts Shuntaro after long hesitation and is turned down at the altar.
ShuntaroParticipant
A consultant of 56, the eldest, who proposes to Ayano and says no at the wedding because they could not communicate.
Why it matters
Love Is Blind: Japan runs a provocation, that people could choose a spouse without seeing each other, through Japanese courtship. A columnist writing for Netflix Japan, comparing it with the American and Brazilian versions, noticed how often the Japanese participants asked first about work and titles, and how carefully they avoided being disliked, reading each question for the answer it wanted; one man's remark that the kitchen was a woman's domain drew criticism online. The format runs a marriage agency in reverse. It strips out the profile first and restores it afterwards: families, money, the plain facts of a job title. Several engagements broke on exactly those facts, one on a lie about owning a company. Two held. The series leaves open a question that every arranged or app-made match faces sooner or later: whether the self a person offers in words is one that another person can live with.