Japan’s justice ministry said Friday it will cancel a collaboration with a controversial Netflix dating show featuring ex-juvenile delinquents, following backlash against what some called the glorification of crimes.
Earlier this month, the ministry launched an unusual partnership with the streaming giant’s Badly in Love, releasing a poster starring its Season 2 cast members, including heavily tattooed men.
Badly in Love spotlights Japan’s so-called “yankii” (delinquent) subculture by lodging together young men and women with wild and often criminal pasts, including former yakuza gangsters and motorcycle gang members.
Since its release in December, the show has proven an unexpected global hit, with Netflix saying its Season 1 maintained a weeks-long top 10 presence in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The ministry’s rehabilitation bureau had justified the campaign on grounds that the show’s depictions of participants’ harsh upbringing, atonement and personal growth jibe with its belief that “a person can change”.
