Japanese reality television hit by new tragedy after Maria Hamasaki takes own life
Japanese media has reported that reality television star Maria Hamasaki has died of an apparent suicide.
Hamasaki was the 23-year-old star of AbemaTV’s Suddenly, Marriage, a show that purportedly chronicles that first 30 days after a man and a woman have registered their marriage. The popular web TV show had just started broadcasting its fourth season at the start of August. Its production and distribution has been suspended.
Hamasaki, a model who also ran a business delivering South Korean cosmetics, also appeared in one of the seasons of another web TV reality show, Bachelor Japan, on Amazon Prime Video.
AbemaTV made a statement on August 28 announcing Hamasaki’s death and offering its condolences. No other information has been released, however.
In April, Hamasaki attracted some online controversy by posting pictures to her Instagram account showing her out and about without a face mask when coronavirus infections were on the rise in Japan.
This is the second high-profile such death since wrestler and Terrace House star Hana Kimura took her life following cyberbullying earlier this year, an event that led to the cancellation of the show and the exposure of its manipulative practices.
