Netflix show Terrace House canceled after Hana Kimura death

By Alexandra Heilbron on May 26, 2020 | 20 Comments


Hana KimuraHana Kimura was one of the stars of the current season of the internationally popular Netflix reality series, Terrace House, in which three young women and three young men share a house. Hana, 22, was seen to be a sweet young woman who was hoping to meet someone and fall in love.

However, the premise of the show features six hosts who often make extremely harsh comments about the participants. It comes as no surprise that each of the young people featured on the show then received negative and hateful comments on their social media.

Production had been halted on filming the current season, Terrace House: Tokyo 2019 – 2020 in April due to the coronavirus and it has now been canceled due to Hana’s suicide. Streaming of new episodes of the show has been put on hold.

Although a professional wrestler who came from a wrestling family, it became apparent on the show that Hana was an innocent young woman who had never been on a date or had a boyfriend prior to joining Terrace House. She blushed and often hid her face when a male participant spoke to her.

By May 23 she couldn’t take any more online harassment. She published a series of social media posts that described her pain shortly before her death last Saturday. She wrote, “I don’t want to be a human anymore. It was a life I wanted to be loved. Thank you everyone, I love you. Bye.”

Hana Kimura. Photo: Netflix

That was followed by a photo of her with her cat on Instagram, captioned, “I love you, please live a long and happy life. I’m sorry.” She then took her own life.

Several suicide notes were found in Hana’s apartment where she lived alone during the pandemic, and a note attached to the outside of her door read: “Toxic gas being generated.” She was found on her bed with a plastic bag covering her head, with a container used to generate toxic gas.

Japan’s former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama posted about Hana’s death on Twitter, saying Japan should consider harsh penalties for cyberbullies. Many fans are speaking up against cyberbullying, and asking for Terrace House to be cancelled and/or make a public statement and apology for bullying participants on the show. The production company has not yet acknowledged Hana’s death.

One earlier episode showed Emika Mizukoshi, who shared the house at the same time as Hana, crying as she watched an episode in which she was bullied by the hosts. She made the decision to leave the house that very night, and graciously told the other participants of her decision, commenting that she’d learned so much about herself thanks to the show — even then, she was ridiculed by a host for leaving.

Reina Triendl, the youngest and kindest host on the show, who goes by the nickname Torichan, wrote the following message on Instagram:

“The death of Hana Kimura is a real tragedy and, as a member of the Terrace House team I sincerely wonder whether I could have done more to better protected Hana in some way. Also, I wonder whether it is possible for us all, off-line and especially also on-line, to create a kinder, more loving world in which we do not hurt and damage others, even inadvertently. My thoughts and prayers today are with you, Hana, and with your family and friends.”

If you are having suicidal thoughts, there are many people who want to help. Please click here for a list of international hotlines.



Comments & Discussion

  1. Jordana • May 26, 2020 @ 12:22 PM

    My heart is broken. She was an angel.

  2. Shauna • May 26, 2020 @ 5:12 PM

    I hope all the haters realize what they’ve done. There have been too many suicides due to bullying, and she probably had no one to talk to about it because of social distancing. She couldn’t get together with her girlfriends, or her mother. So sad.

  3. Samira • May 27, 2020 @ 8:18 AM

    Terrace House has deleted all Instagram posts relating to the current season, as if it never existed. What the hell…

    The current post is now from February 2019, the end of the last season.

    What an awful crisis management. It bugs me that I don’t speak Japanese, because I want to know if they have explained it somewhere…

  4. Carrol • May 28, 2020 @ 10:39 AM

    I hope she at least considered having her poor cat taken care of before she decided to do that. Doesn’t say how long she was deceased before she was found — or whether the toxic gas had done the cat in as well. A selfish act.

  5. Denis Joseph hachey • May 28, 2020 @ 10:55 AM

    carrol The only selfish act that she committed was depriving her self of life it already said she posted on Instagram of a picture of her cat which meant she obviously cared for the car which means she probably left some food out and you know the purpose of the plastic bag around her face was to concentrate gas right so an apartment that full of gas think about it and depending on how long she was left alive guarantee you the cat would’ve eaten some bits and pieces so there you go next time you feel the need to call somebody selfish after death maybe think twice

  6. Diana • May 28, 2020 @ 11:28 AM

    Carol your comment was very insensitive. Suicide is in no way a selfish act. Is dying of Cancer also selfish? You obviously have no idea or compassion for anyone in this amount of pain. Calling it a selfish when you don’t know all the details is childish. As for your comment about the cat; it was loved and cared for and will find a new home. Cats are resilient. It’s like that’s all that matters here to you is the cat. I’m sure her Mother has it. You probably have no idea what self isolation and bullying on top of that can do to a young person , especially if they don’t have the resources we are fortunate to have here.
    I just found your comment to be cold and whirl the rest of us a feeling bad for this young woman, you care about the cat. I have a cat and a dog, so it’s not like I am unaware of the responsibility. But seriously, she couldn’t have been in the mind frame right? I hope you stay safe during this quarantine.

  7. Jazmine s • May 28, 2020 @ 11:41 AM

    May you rest in peace🙏❤

  8. Nicole • May 28, 2020 @ 12:21 PM

    This show should be cancelled. How dare they treat people so horribly. Their actions led to the cyber bullying that caused her to take such an extreme act to escape. Anyone who judges her has no right to comment. Let he without sin cast the first stone. We are all flawed have no right to judge anyone. Words are destructive and we need to consider the impact when we speak cruelly.

  9. Stephen • May 28, 2020 @ 2:35 PM

    My condolences to Hana’s family and friends. 💐💐💐

  10. Jon • May 28, 2020 @ 3:56 PM

    cancel the show … in fact 80% of the stupid and insipid reality shows out there need to go
    – most of the reality shows need that bullying to even make them popular in the first place –

    we have ‘progressed’ so far beyond the ‘Laugh-In’ variety-show kind of entertainment of years past that now the public isn’t even slightly interested unless the star’s dirty laundry is out for full scrutiny, with a scandal or suicide in the wings, just waiting!
    – and before you all cry fowl and deny any of this, just look to yourselves, and who you voted in for you president –
    none of any of these tragedies are ever going to change anything … oh, we all feel a bit sad over a death or two but on the whole, behind their little screen, the general public masses are all like “oooh, so when does the next season start? I can’t wait to see who cries and dies next!”

    … just like the countless school shootings, there are so many happening on a regular basis that in six-month’s time this tragedy too will be completely forgotten by most everyone;
    “it’s only just another one”
    o_0

  11. MA • May 28, 2020 @ 5:29 PM

    How sad that a young girl would choose to die in such a horrible way. Social media is a toxic cancer in our world….ANY good it does is wiped out by the evil on it and how it makes it SO easy for people to say hateful things. Sad also that no one noticed her distress. Have not watched the show…do not like reality shows where young women prostitute themselves to the dogs in the house. Maybe THAT was not good for her soul.

  12. Christopher King • May 28, 2020 @ 6:08 PM

    Carrol, congratulations on your successful demonstration on what might have prompted a gentle soul to commit suicide.

  13. Joanne • May 28, 2020 @ 10:49 PM

    So, so sad. She was a bright light on that show. Apparently there was one incident in which she got angry with a guy on the show who shrank her costume accidentally. The episode hasn’t been shown here, but everyone loses their temper sometimes, and it was careless of him. She was just a kid, and they were okay by the next episode. Why don’t the producers provide any support to people on the show? Or even better yet, don’t let the hosts pick on them. Lauren, who was on the Hawaii Terrace House, said the show is totally fake. And you can see that, there’s always someone saying to another one, I want to talk to you and then they ask about who they like, how a relationship is going, etc. It’s obviously manufactured and the people behind the scenes are pushing them to ask intrusive questions like that. This show was extremely successful, but I don’t think it can, or should survive this. The show is responsible for her death.

  14. Patty • May 28, 2020 @ 10:53 PM

    Carrol, it’s sweet of you to think of the cat, but Hana had a note on her bedroom door saying there was toxic gas inside. She obviously loved the cat, and said in her post she wanted a long and happy life for the cat. I’m pretty sure she put the cat in another room and then closed her bedroom door. She didn’t want anyone else to get hurt (hence the note for when people entered). She was a kind, sweet person. After people saw her posts online they rushed to her place, but she was already dead. I doubt the cat was even left alone for very long.

  15. Carrol • May 29, 2020 @ 12:34 AM

    Patty — Thank you. That was helpful & reassuring information. Stay safe. Stay well.

  16. Patty • May 29, 2020 @ 4:49 PM

    You too Carrol. I have a cat and would hate for anything to happen to her. I thought of Hana’s cat too, but realized she wouldn’t have posted her last photo as one of her hugging the cat and wishing her/him a long life if she was going to put her/him in danger. And also I’d like to say to everyone on here, if we disagree with other people, we should take a moment and not attack them, they maybe didn’t mean exactly how you interpreted it and/or are coming from a different place/mindset. People were harsh to Hana for something she said and that’s what killed her in the end and made her feel unloved. I think the whole point of the story is to be kind to each other.

  17. Al • June 2, 2020 @ 5:30 PM

    Very sad the young lady felt that bad to take her own precious life. Only ones to blame are ourselves for not showing her enough love as we should for all. She’s in God’s hands now the only one who has the right to judge her. The pain is gone for Hanna and send my deepest and sincerest condolences to her family for the loss of their child. I love all of the ones who have taken the time to give insight to this tragic loss to our world.

  18. Al • June 2, 2020 @ 5:33 PM

    Very sad the young lady felt that bad to take her own precious life. Only ones to blame are ourselves for not showing her enough love as we should for all. She’s in God’s hands now the only one who has the right to judge her. The pain is gone for Hanna and send my deepest and sincerest condolences to her family for the loss of their child. I love all of the ones who have taken the time to give insight to this tragic loss to our world.

  19. Mitch Kendrick • July 20, 2020 @ 12:38 AM

    I’m so angry right now. She had everything going for her, instead she commits the most selfish act a person can commit in life–SUICIDE. It’s absolutely horrible. She has MILLIONS of fans around the world, and for some ridiculous reason she felt completely and utterly alone. She had a career and won championships, yet for some ridiculous reason she felt like she had nowhere to go.

    Now my favorite reality show is cancelled and likely gone forever because of her selfish act. It makes me so angry. I wish I could turn back the clock 2 months, find her, and be her best friend so she wouldn’t commit such a horrible act.

    The worst part is that she is likely in a worse place now. The Bible tells us what happens to those who reject Jesus in their life, for He is our salvation, and there was zero indication on the show that she believed in His Name.

  20. Yolanda • July 21, 2020 @ 10:32 AM

    So sad, that the pandemic is making people feel so isolated that they have no one to talk to. I don’t think this would have happened during normal times.


Join The Conversation:


Similar Articles


 Change Location