A trailer for Season 2 of "Ravu Joto," a Japanese Netflix reality series [Netflix]
A trailer for Season 2 of "Ravu Joto," a Japanese Netflix reality series [Netflix]

Japan's Ministry of Justice has ended its partnership with a popular Netflix reality series featuring cast members with criminal records, following mounting criticism that the collaboration glorified crime.

The ministry's rehabilitation bureau announced Friday (local time) that it was canceling a joint campaign with Season 2 of "Ravu Joto," a Netflix dating reality series, related to its offender rehabilitation and reintegration activities.

"Ravu Joto" follows men and women from the so-called "yankii" subculture — including former yakuza members and motorcycle gang veterans — as they live together and search for romantic partners. Season 1, released last December, topped Netflix's weekly top 10 in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

After the series gained traction overseas, the ministry's rehabilitation bureau partnered with Season 2 on a promotional campaign aimed at raising awareness of rehabilitation programs and encouraging society to support people rebuilding their lives after committing crimes.

Campaign posters bearing slogans such as "Rehabilitation — bring it on!!" and "Rising again is love" featured images of the cast standing together and were distributed to probation offices and related institutions across Japan.

Once the posters went public, controversy erupted as details of some cast members' pasts came to light. The backlash intensified after one cast member confessed in an episode released Aug. 11 that, as a teenager trying to prove he was not a coward, he had "set fire to someone and been arrested."

Viewers questioned whether it was appropriate for the ministry — the body responsible for crime prevention and rehabilitation — to partner with a reality show that prominently celebrates a delinquent subculture. Some also raised concerns that the collaboration could romanticize or trivialize cast members' past crimes and misconduct.

In response, the rehabilitation bureau issued a statement saying the partnership "was never intended to condone crime or delinquency, or to glorify or make light of anyone's past actions." It added that the ministry had "received a great deal of concern and criticism that crime victims may feel distressed," and announced it had decided to end the collaboration.


bbo@heraldcorp.com