Japanese originals announced for Netflix

Fuji Television Network will supply the upcoming Japanese subscription service from streaming giant Netflix with two original series.

These will be a new season of Fuji network reality series Terrace House and an original drama, Atelier.

Netflix launches in Japan later this year as part of its global expansion strategy. Original local content is becoming a cornerstone of key launches, with The Crownbeing produced in the UK and Marseille in France.

Terrace House ran on Fuji between 2012 and 2014 and sees six young people share a house. A new 18-episode season from Fuji and East Entertainment will premiere in the autumn on Netflix.

Meanwhile, 13-episode Atelier follows a woman working at a high-end lingerie company. Fuji is producing the show alongside FILM.

The shows will debut on Netflix before launching on Fuji TV On Demand and the broadcast channel.

“We feel that Japanese content is paramount in order for all of Japan to enjoy our service,” said Netflix Japan president Greg Peters. “We are extremely happy that we can be involved in providing original series in Japan with Fuji Television, which has an established reputation in producing content that is especially popular with young people.”

“We have taken [on] this bold initiative as we firmly believe it is a meaningful and significant endeavor in the content of the future of the television business,” said Fuji TV Network’s senior executive managing director Toru Ota. “Even with the evolution of infrastructure and devices, we believe the most important factor in the end is the level of capability in content production.

“These two shows will allow us to demonstrate to the world the high quality of our content and production standards. There are many areas where we feel the same as Netflix, including being proactive in producing original shows such as House of Cards, and attitudes regarding handling of content. These are just some of the reasons behind our decision to undertake this project.”