tvN Variety Show "Summer Vacation" Responds To Controversy Over Japanese-Style Home And Similarity To Video Game

The producers of “Summer Vacation” recently responded to viewer feedback regarding the architecture of the house where the show is filmed and potential plagiarism of a video game.

On July 17, tvN’s new variety show featuring Jung Yu Mi and Choi Woo Shik made its premiere. The program is produced by PD (producing director) Na Young Suk and is a “home vacation” reality show about adults who enjoy an everyday vacation in an unfamiliar place in order to heal their tired minds and bodies. These adults, who can come either alone or with friends, will search for a new “everyday life” far away from busy and chaotic city life.

Since its premiere, viewers have expressed concerns about the vacation home being similar to the traditional Japanese-style home with its attic, sliding doors, and the style of its ceilings. The concerns are related to the fact that Korea was made Japan’s imperial colony from 1910 to 1945. Further issues such as Japan’s use of Koreans as forced laborers and “comfort women” (sexual slaves) during World War II are often the reason behind modern-day negative sentiments about Japan in Korea.

Some viewers also questioned the show’s similarities to the Japanese PlayStation game “My Summer Vacation.”

tvN’s full statement reads as follows:

Hello.

This is the production team of ‘Summer Vacation.’ First off, we would like to apologize to those who experienced discomfort while watching.

We will explain the filming set. Ahead of filming ‘Summer Vacation,’ we found a pretty village that was nice enough to live in for one month, and we located the oldest house in the neighborhood. With its attic and three yards, we thought it would be suitable to showcase our cast in a variety of situations.

Since it is an old house built in the 1950s, while preparing for the program, we kept the foundation of the original house and only changed the color of the roof and cleaned up the exterior. We thought that the three yards outside fit our plans for a home-vacation reality show that reflects the current reality in which we are spending more time at home. We did not think much about the house or its interior because we did not think it was very important, and we feel apologetic for not having carefully considered any possible discomfort our viewers might have felt. We also apologize for causing an inconvenience to the elderly couple that owns the house.

After humbly accepting the feedback from our viewers, we are redoing the doors and windows of the house in order to minimize viewer discomfort before we move into our second filming. We will work hard to make a better impression in the future.

Lastly, regarding feedback about similarities to a certain game, we would like to let you know that we do not know the game and did not reference or have it in mind at all.”

tvN’s “Summer Vacation” airs every Friday at 9:10 p.m. KST.

Source (1)