When Namie Amuro announced that she would be retiring in 2018, even those who weren't hard-core fans were shocked to hear that the pop star who had been an influential part of their seishun jidai (coming-of-age) would be leaving the music industry.
The news came less than a year after SMAP's official retirement and as the idols that have dominated the entertainment industry for the past 10 to 20 years start to bow out of the limelight, television is looking for a way to attract its target audience.
Several networks appear to be using nostalgia to woo an older crowd, rebooting shows that were once popular in the 1990s and 2000s. "Tokyo Friend Park II," a popular variety show on TBS that ran from 1994 to 2011, returned to the airwaves with a three-hour special on July 3. What's more, "Amazing Animals," another variety show on TBS that aired from 1993 to 2009, was revived for a three-hour special in 2016 and returned to regular programming from July 1 this year.