Japan broadcast their own version of The Truman Show!
Once he won $10,000 worth of sweepstakes, he would win the show and they would air a segment of it on TV giving Nasubi more fame. Instead, they stripped him naked and locked him in an apartment furnished with pens, a cushion, a coffee table, and postcards.
It took Nasubi 2 weeks to win his first prize, a jar of jelly! He later was able to win a bag of rice, but had nothing to cook it in. He ended up putting water in a can and some rice in it and cooked it next to the stove burner. He ate ½ a cup of rice a day. He lost a lot of weight and the network aired the highlights of each week in an hour segment on Sunday nights without Nasubi’s knowledge.
After 10 months, Nasubi won a bag of toilet paper. He also won a TV, a bike, a tent, and more food. It took him 10 months to reach $10,000 in prizes. Instead of ending the game, the network flew him to Korea where he had to the same thing until he made enough in prizes to buy his airplane ticket back to Japan!
Finally, after another 5 months he was able to make it back to Japan. Nasubi spent 15 months butt naked and in complete isolation. It was finally revealed to him that they’d been broadcasting his situation the whole time.
He had become a hot celebrity and made a lot of money during the show from his journal that was made into a book, a noodle commercial made from footage of him eating, and more.
