Terrace House, a Deeper Dive: Ten Things You Will Not See On Terrace House

One occasionally useful approach to defining and understanding something is too consider what it is not. In Orthodox Christian theology it is comparatively common to approach a definition of God by investigating what God is not. This approach is called apophatic or negative theology. In this analysis we consider what Terrace House is not in order to get a clearer view of what it is.

More specifically we will look at what does not occur in the course of the episodes, and in particular the kinds of things that we would expect to occur based on our experience of similar reality TV shows and in our own lives. Let me be clear at this point: the fact that these things do not exist in the Terrace House universe as presented to us is almost always a good thing. The show would be markedly worse in almost every case if these things were brought up on screen.

And so here are ten things you will not see on Terrace House:

1. Abrasive Reality TV Tropes Many of us are attracted to Terrace House because it does not contain a lot of things we are used to seeing on reality TV. No hair-pulling cat-fights, or testosterone-fueled fist fights. No saying, "I'm not here to make friends". And, as far as we can tell, no producer-instigated drama at all (though we always fear that the producers might be staging some of these events). Almost every positive article about Terrace House mentions the absence of these things, and comments on how supposedly boring the resulting show becomes before concluding how addictive and refreshing the show is.
2. Confessionals and Cast-Interacting Hosts There is a simple reason why confessionals and hosts shepherding the cast are ubiquitous on reality TV: creating a narrative is much much easier when you have a narrator. The panel on Terrace House does fill this role to a certain extent, but they like us are limited to what the producers show us, and the producers are limited almost entirely to what the housemates say to each other on camera. I am guessing that prior to their coming on the show that the producers make it clear to each housemate where the fixed camera set-ups are in the house (dining table, living room, rec room and both bedrooms) and that no story will make it on screen unless they talk about it. And so they are encouraged to gather in those spots regularly to talk about what is happening particularly around any dates which are planned or have happened.
3. Housemates Discussing the Panel The show can get pretty meta since the housemates can and do watch the show while their on the show. If you get a chance to watch the original B&GND, you will learn that in the earliest episodes the turn-around time was mind-boggling short. There is at least one instance of several housemates being shown watching the show and seeing what was said in the previous week(!). But while the show exists in the universe of the housemates, and even the reactions to what is happening on the show in social media is (rarely) discussed, the housemates never acknowledge or discuss what is said by the panel. In the universe of the housemates, the panel does not exist.
4. Politics And I'm sure we're all thankful for that fact.The house exists in world with neither Japanese nor any other political discourse. Furthermore, no housemate engages in any kind of political activism on any side of any issue. IIRC, The Real World went there early on, but I do not know how much that became a continuing feature of the lives of the cast-mates as they appeared on the show.
5. Housemates Discussing Popular Culture We know that they occasionally watch One Piece, and various movies in and out of the house. But you never see them discussing popular culture or sports unless it directly relates to their jobs and aspirations.  Interestingly, the panel is much freer in that regard and they often contextualize what is happening within the house in terms of other shows and, occasionally, pop-songs. The panel serves a collective psychopomp escorting the spirit of what happens in the highly circumscribed reality of the housemates as they are presented into a much wider world of culture and experience.
6. Casual Friends Dropping by the House This fact is perhaps the furthest deviation from a more normal existence. Terrace House is not Big Brother: housemates go out into the world and can even voluntarily leave the show. But Terrace House is, nevertheless, isolated. It's a big deal when a family member or former Terrace House personality crosses that doorway and enters the space. No one on Terrace House ever has a friend come over or even pick them up for an activity.
7. House Parties There is, in fact, one such party early on in B&GND, but for the most part the housemates are never shown using these multi-million dollar homes to host a party. There may be pools at the B&GITC and AS houses, but you'll never see anyone outside the house in them. It would not be hard to have PAs at the door getting releases as people come in and licensed music playlists or aspiring bands given a song on-screen. Other shows can and do feature larger social events in their living spaces, but not here on Terrace House. The housemates are required to be monks and nuns of romantic possibilities or, at least, vocational goals and must focus their devotions thereon whilst on the show apparently.
8. Casual Text Oh, there's always the chalk-board for notifications and allocating chores. And Makoto does smoke and brood over his phone in that one scene. And there are occasional notes and goodbye letters. And, of course, a "coward" written on an omelet, as you do. But, by and large, the communication between the housemates never occurs via the written word or by texting. The producers almost certainly want and need things verbalized, and so there are no screen-shots even when there are texts essential to the narrative. Instead, a housemate must say what happened out loud or it does not happen in the context of the show.
9. Panel Insets As far as I can tell, commentators are relatively common on Japanese and other Asian TV, but they are frequently shown as insets commenting and reacting simultaneously with the action on the screen. This technique is more commonly used for comedic commentary and certainly draws focus away from the main screen. It is shocking in B&GND when You and Tori are inset during the introduction of the newer panelists, but it's understandable: the panel is the comedic universe and the house is the dramatic universe of the show.
10. Household Product Placement There are the cars, of course. But this show is not brought to you by green tea Kit Kats or Zojirushi rice cookers. The show gleefully leverages and endorses celebrities, bands, magazines and restaurants, but it is not a show which pushes consumer wares. The focus is on what the housemates can do with their lives and not on what they buy. They are certainly interested in fashion and style, but they are interested in way that excludes the blaring advertisement of pedestrian consumerism.