'Risqué Business: Japan' shares differing views on taboo topic

Television

Published: 03 May. 2023, 16:51 Updated: 03 May. 2023, 17:57

'Risqué Business: Japan' shares differing views on taboo topic

Left, producer Kim In-sik, right, producer Jung Hyo-min, who created and directed the Netflix reality show "Risqué Business: Japan." [NETFLIX]

Koreans are relatively shy talking about sex and like to keep that part of life discreet, for fear of making someone uncomfortable. This essentially became a hard fact when Netflix released “Risqué Business: Japan,” a six-part series that compares Korea's cultural norms regarding sex with Japan, on April 25. The program follows two hosts, Shin Dong-yup and Sung Si-kyung, on a trip to Japan, where they experience and introduce an array of sex toys in large-scale sex toy shops and conduct interviews with popular adult video actors from Japan.

The content itself has made many Koreans’ jaw drop regarding how different Korea is to Japan. But when some of the viewers demanded that Shin step down from hosting the family-friendly program “Animal Farm” on SBS — which he has been hosting for two decades — because his image has now been “tainted,” it was made clear just how conservative Korea still is when it comes to sex.

The producers of “Risqué Business: Japan” — Jung Hyo-min and Kim In-sik — said they want to apologize to Shin.

“It’s fun to engage in various discussions about sex through this program,” Jung said during a recent press conference in central Seoul. “However, we are to blame if the hosts become targets of criticism. People can have different opinions and have different voices when it comes to sex, but if I can speak on behalf of the production team, we focused on conveying the beliefs and thoughts of the people who work in this industry as much as possible. We do not think it’s wrong to introduce a story about one’s way of life or their philosophy. I just hope that the production team’s intentions can be understood sometime or other.”

Main poster for ″Risque Business: Japan″ [NETFLIX]

Jung also added that many people who are criticizing the show or the hosts haven’t seen the whole program and believes that the viewers will come around when they actually see all six episodes and the second season, which will cover Taiwan.

“I think we are all curious about where Korea stands in the world when it comes to sex,” said Jung. “That is the aim of ‘Risqué Business: Japan,’ to give the audience an idea of where our standpoint lies within different perspectives and to provide a window to dissimilar views.”

The program is also facing controversy for promoting the adult video industry in Korea, which is illegal. In one episode, the hosts introduced different pornography filming sites in Japan and one of the hottest production companies. In Korea, though watching pornography is not illegal, the industry itself of filming and producing videos is illegal.

Jung and Kim said they want to compare the stance on such sexually explicit materials to that of drinking alcohol, adding that each country has a different stance on the issue and that it is all a matter of differing perspectives.

“Some countries legalize drinking alcohol at ages as young as 16, while in other countries people cannot drink until 21,” Kim said. “It is the same with pornography and content discussing sex. Some countries will have different perspectives than others, and different countries and regions will have varying approaches to the topic. We wanted to show these differences and open up a platform through which people can discuss them.”

Jung, who also produced the hit JTBC talk show program “Witch Hunt,” a show that is credited with starting open discussions of sex among unmarried couples in Korea 10 years ago when the topic was still very much a taboo, believes that “Risqué Business: Japan” will also open up a new dialogue on sex as much as “Witch Hunt” did.

“I remember ‘Witch Hunt’ also being embroiled in much controversy back then, but now it’s normal for people to talk about sex in unmarried couples,” Jung said. “I hope ‘Risqué Business: Japan’ will have a similar effect on how we talk about sex, adult life and related content.”