Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City — Pursuing Your Dreams
A title cover for Boys & Girls in the City. Photo by Fuji TV & Netflix.
In my previous article, I shared how I was re-introduced to the Japanese reality show Terrace House as well as some of the constructs of the show. There are multiple iterations of the show that you can find listed here. In this article I will focus on Boys & Girls in the City, the first series that I watched in its entirety and the first iteration of Terrace House that was picked up by Netflix and introduced to an international audience.
I will hone in on one main aspect from the show: pursuing dreams. To do this, I will draw on a few key events from the show and reference certain house members. If you have not watched the series yet, I highly recommend you check it out before reading this article, as I plan to reveal a number of spoilers.
From episode three of Boys & Girls in the City. Photo by Fuji TV & Netflix.
Dream Police and Shokunin
Boys & Girls in the City takes place in Tokyo and was released September 2nd, 2015 and continued until September 27th 2016. Each episode is approximately 30 minutes with a total of 46 episodes. The show is filmed, edited, and released in a couple of weeks giving Terrace House cast members still living at the house the ability to watch and analyze themselves on screen. Over the course of a year, seventeen strangers–ages 18 to 29–move in and out of the house making friendships, finding love, and more.
I watched the first two episodes with mild interest, but what really got me hooked into the show was episode three: Dream Police. Everyone has gathered together for Yuki’s birthday party. He’s 28 years old (the oldest member of the initial cast) and a professional tap dancer and instructor. During the party, he questions Mizuki Shida–a 22 year-old barista and office worker–about her goals in life. She responds with the idea of opening up a cafe that gathers her passions together: coffee, interior design, travel, accessories–and getting married in her 30s.
Yuki responds bluntly to her dream, “I wasn’t getting anything even though you’ve talked a lot.” He continues to press her to be clear about her goals which causes her to cry. In a very empathetic moment, Yuriko (aka Yuri), the 23 year old medical student, on the other side of the table begins to cry too.
“What’s wrong, Yuri?”
“Mizuki was trying so hard to talk it out [..] It’s heartbreaking to watch.”
This scene earns Yuki the nickname, Dream Police. Rewatching this scene, Yuki is pushing the conversation, but Uchihara (aka Uchi), the 23 year old hairstylist, also throws in small comments like “It’s unclear” when Mizuki is explaining her goals. Another thing that is sometimes missed is that when Minori–the 21 year old college student and model–is questioned by Yuki about her plans, she states that she’s unclear about what she really wants to do. However, Yuki doesn’t push her to define her dreams.
What may have made Yuki focus-in on Mizuki is that she has at least some idea, but it’s too vague for him. For Yuki, who has been studying tap-dancing since the age of 7, he’s had laser focus on a singular craft. This is commendable, however, it’s not necessarily how everyone should live their life. This theme–of pursuing a clear career path–shows up throughout Terrace House and may be indicative of an aspect of Japanese culture.
The concept of mastering a single craft as one’s career is prominent in East Asian culture–my Taiwanese father has urged me to focus on a single career on more than one occasion–yet it seems even more pronounced in Japanese culture. There’s even have a term for it: Shokunin (職人), which takes the Chinese characters for “skill/duty” plus “person” and is often translated as “artisan” or “craftsman.” However the term is deeper than that as expressed in the film “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” in which master sushi chef Sukiyabashi Jiro shares the shokunin spirit: “You must dedicate your life towards mastering your skill.”
Yuki has dedicated his life thus far to tap dance, Uchi to hair styling, which may be why they would expect others to also have clear visions for their career. But what if one does not have such a temperament?
From episode thirty-five of Boys & Girls in the City. Photo by Fuji TV & Netflix.
Mr. Happy and Mr. Perfect
Arman Bitaraf is a Japanese-Iranian 24 year old aspiring firefighter (a title reminiscent of Tetsuya Sugaya from Boys x Girls Next Door) from Hawaii who enters the house in episode 11. Arman’s work ethic shines in a few episodes such as when he trains for and wins a kickboxing competition and how he helps his fellow housemates Arisa Ohata (25, hat designer) and Yuto Handa (aka Han-san, 27, architect) with their projects.
However, it becomes quite evident after a few episodes that Arman’s aspirations to become a firefighter are not a priority. Through what’s shown on screen, his focus seems to be to reconnect with his Japanese culture and enjoy the Terrace House experience to the fullest: he stays the longest in the house in Boys & Girls in the City and has interacted with every house member except for Makoto (who he replaces).
Han-san–who receives the title of Mr. Perfect from the panelists for his cool, confident demeanor–questions Arman about his goals. He’s been living at the house for a few weeks with Arman and in episode 27 tells Arman that it’s ok to try different things as long as Arman’s working towards his goal as a firefighter. In the series, Arman has expressed that he just wants to surf in the morning, go to work, and then come home to a loving wife and kids.
As the series progresses, Arman and Han-san’s friendship deepens, and Han-san gains a newfound respect for Arman’s way of life. In episode 35, he tells Arman and Misaki by the pool that he’s leaving the house, but before he leaves he wants to let Arman know:
“Stay the way you are. I think your true calling isn’t to become a firefighter. I think it’s to stay happy, just as you are now.”
It’s mentioned in a previous episode how Arman’s chill attitude is in sharp contrast to many Japanese working professionals. This may be partially due to Arman having spent most of his life in Hawaii.
So which path is correct? If we take the shokunin mindset on one side of the spectrum and a jack-of-all trades as the other side: Yuki, Uchi, Arisa, Han-san, Momoko (20, professional ballerina) fall closer to the shokunin side with Minori, Mizuki, Arman, Misaki being more jack of all trades. That said, it is a flexible spectrum with some of them moving in different directions–Han-san post Terrace House has shifted from architecture to designing furniture and has done some modeling work as well.
What the Dream Police episode and Han-san and Arman’s conversations reveal, is that there is no one-size fits all approach to life. If anything, life is a continuous process of discovering who you are and what works for you. As Han-san and Arman highlight, happiness and what that means to each person, should be part of that conversation as well.
There may have been some producer influence into how the events unfolded in the series, as this article indicates (Terrace House spoilers present in the article). That said, for many, Boys & Girls in the City is considered Terrace House at its finest, with or without producer influence. It’s a reality TV show done well and watching this season of Terrace House in the time of the pandemic, has given myself and many others much to contemplate about their own lives.
