Japan re-opens Treasure Box

Japanese broadcasters have picked their top formats to showcase at MipTV next month, as part of the country’s Treasure Box initiative.

Among the new formats is Nippon Television’s A-Ha! Experience, a gameshow that tests the power of contestants’ brains by manipulating various images in front of them and asking them what they see.

Meanwhile, TV Asahi is bringing No Brainer, the general knowledge quizshow currently being remade in the UK by Shed Media-owned Wall to Wall.

Tokyo Broadcasting System is taking Athletic Fire, a sports variety programme in which atheletes compete in physical challenges, while Japanese pubcaster NHK will be offering BrainFlash!, a format in which contestants must use their imagination and communication skills to succeed in randomly selected verbal and gesture games.

Other formats being pushed include What’s Daddy (TV Tokyo), Clockhanger (Fuji TV), Far Away Neighbours (Asahi Broadcasting) and Hometown Pride (Yomiuri Telecasting).

This is the second time Japanese broadcasters have come together in Cannes to pitch their formats, following the first Treasure Box event at Mipcom last year.

Mikiko Nishiyama, sales director art Nippon Television Network, told C21 that “because of the buzz created by Treasure Box, there is certainly an increased interest in Japanese formats as a whole.”