If there’s one thing many observers of Japanese TV agree on, it’s that Japanese TV sucks. Dominated by unoriginal variety programming (I’ll make an exception here for anything starring Matsuko Deluxe) and uninspired dramas, it’s no wonder that broadcast TV in Japan is slowly dying.
So it’s not surprising to see a station attempt to stir up controversy by taking cheap shots at women. What’s funny is that the ploy didn’t work: instead of evoking a strong reaction from women online, it was men who rose up online, invoking whataboutism to gripe about the many ways Japanese TV has disrespected them over the years.
Women, don’t watch!
The show from TV Tokyo is entitled “Women, Please Don’t Watch” (※女性は見ないでください). It’s slated to air on the station starting tonight, June 8th, in the coveted (cough) 12:30a-1am timeslot.
The only member of the cast appears to be Ishikawa Seiya (せいや), a comedian who’s one-half of the duo Shimofuri Myōjō. There have been no stills or reels released for the show, leading to speculation around what it’s even about. Seiya has a reputation for “indecent” on-air gags, which could be what the show’s hinting at.
Whatever it is, the show seems on-brand for TV Tokyo. Japan’s smallest major network, the broadcaster is known for low-budget, boundary-pushing late-night programming. One of its more famous works is the mockumentary/horror work of Ōmori Tokio. That has commentators guessing the new show might be a mockumentary in the same style.
Men vs. strawmen
At any rate, the show is obviously a cheap shot. It’s hinting at some dark, obscene, or otherwise gruesome content that will be “too much” for women’s delicate constitutions to handle.
LiveDoor News wrote about the show’s provocative title, even calling TV Tokyo and asking them what their intent was. The station’s reply? “No comment.”
But if TV Tokyo was hoping that large droves of women would take offense…well, that doesn’t seem to have happened. What has happened is that men on social media site X have risen up in anger at what they perceive as all the previous shows that they say have mocked and belittled them.
Of the comments on LiveDoor News’ post about the show, over half were critiques focused on shows like Husband, Why Won’t You Die (夫よ、死んでくれないか), a 2025 drama about three women who wished their spouses would disappear – and who work together to try to make it happen.
“That got a pass,” one user with 1,000+ likes argued, “so there’s clearly no problem with this.”
“That show’s way worse,” another concluded.
Others referenced dramas such as Uterine Love (which I’ve covered before) and shows such as Five Ways to Erase Your Husband from Society (夫を社会的に抹殺する5つの方法), saying “there are way worse shows.”
Two bits of irony here. First, both Husband and Five Ways aired on TV Tokyo stations. Second, the original novel on which Husband is based was written by a man: Maruyama Masaki.
Also, Five Ways is an odd show to single out here. It’s not simply a “woman hates her husband” story. It’s about a domestic abuser who beats and belittles his wife, at one point inducing a miscarriage. It’s not an “anti-husband” story, it’s an anti-domestic abuse story. But I guess, for some men, those are the same thing.
Others groused that “there are shows like Ueda and Women Howl DEEP into the Night and Talk Queens where female celebrities vent in ways women relate to. So a show where male celebrities vent should be fine too, right?”
Such comments, of course, don’t take into account why women might be howling into the night. Japan ranks near the bottom of the pile as measured by the gender gap between men and women. Women in heterosexual marriages engage in significantly more housework and childcare than their husbands. Sexual harassment remains rampant in the workplace and even in the interview process.
That’s not to say men have nothing to complain about, of course. Punishing work hours and low wages would make anyone cranky. But working women deal with the same inequities on top of the issues caused by this gender imbalance.
In the end, the show’s title didn’t evoke quite the outrage the producers seemed to expect. “I never actually see these supposed ‘complaining women,'” one commenter wrote. “Do they even exist?”
In this case, at least, the answer seems to be: no. The current controversy seems to be just a bunch of angry men screaming at their TVs about the unfairness of it all.
Keep reading
Sources
※女性は見ないでください（テレ東、2026/6/8 24:30 OA）番組情報ページ テレビ東京 公式
テレ東新番組「※女性は見ないでください」6月8日スタート せいや出演の謎トーク番組にSNSで爆発的注目 coki（公器）
テレ東公式、月曜深夜の“謎番組”巡りXでコメント タイトルは『※女性は見ないでください』 ORICON NEWS（河北新報オンライン 配信）
テレ東「回答は控えさせていただきます」新番組名「※女性は見ないでください」巡りスルー一択 日刊スポーツ（Yahoo!ニュース 配信）