Fans Remember Hana Kimura As Terrace House Episodes Are Suspended In Japan

This weekend, Terrace House star and professional wrestler Hana Kimura died at the age of 22 years old. Fans around the world were saddened to hear of her sudden passing.

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Hailing from a wrestling family, Hana made her debut in 2016, and one of the reasons why she wanted to join the popular Terrace House series was to get people interested in wrestling. Stardom, the wrestling organisation to which Kimura belonged, issued a statement about her passing and while the cause of death hasn’t yet been officially announced, as of writing, it’s believed she died by suicide.

As the current Terrace House season aired, Kimura experienced online harassment, which is thought to have contributed to her death. As Deadspin points out, this has brought new attention to cyberbullying. According to Asahi News, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama tweeted that Japan should consider punishment for targeted, severe online bullying.

Kimura appeared on the latest season of Terrace House, which is set in Tokyo. Production was halted in April due to the novel coronavirus virus and has once again been suspended after Kimura’s death. According to the show’s official Japanese Twitter, episodes 43 and 44 were slated for Japanese TV on May 25 and 26 but won’t be aired. These episodes were also scheduled for Netflix, but according to the Netflix Japan account, the streaming of future episodes will be suspended. The US-based Netflix Twitter has yet to make a statement on the status of Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020.

Sponichi Annex quotes one Japanese TV insider as saying that considering the circumstances it will be “difficult” for the show to continue airing even on Japanese TV, something another TV insider also pointed out.

Terrace House cast members have written lengthy, emotional messages to Kimura on their social network accounts. Reina Triendl, one of the show’s hosts, wrote the following message in both Japanese and English:

View this post on Instagram

花ちゃんの訃報に関して、 何らかの方法で花ちゃんを守ってあげることができたのではないかと、心を痛めております。  そして、人が人を不用意に傷つけることなく、もっと愛のある優しい世界をつくることはできないものだろうかと、考えています。  心よりご冥福をお祈り申し上げます。   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.

A post shared by トリンドル玲奈 / Reina Triendl (@toritori0123) on

The wrestling world has reacted to Kimura’s sudden passing:

Fans have been remembering Kimura with tributes and illustrations. 

May she rest in peace. 


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