Nasubi

Nasubi lived in front of the camera, with only the possessions he won via the sweepstakes (save for basic utilities such as running water, heating and electricity), and the stacks of postcards and magazines required for entering the sweepstakes. Due to his nudity, an eggplant cartoon graphic covered his genitals when Nasubi was standing on camera. Nasubi is a Japanese word for "eggplant"—the nickname was chosen due to his 30 cm long face shaped like a Japanese eggplant. Nasubi believed that he was being recorded and the show would be re-broadcast later once the footage had been gathered. In reality, the experiment was being livestreamed, with footage compiled and re-aired each week, complete with sound effects present at frequent intervals, especially to highlight his sadness and frustration. At first, he received no food at all, drinking only water and losing weight. Eventually, he won some sugary drinks from his sweepstakes entries, then a bag of rice, and eventually survived for weeks on dog food he won. He carried on conversations with a stuffed animal he adopted as his sensei. He never won clothing he could wear (only ladies' underwear, that was too small), nor did he ever win anything to trim his growing facial hair. He also won other prizes he was unable to use, like movie tickets and a bicycle (both of which would have required him to exit the apartment to utilize). When he won a television set, it was initially useless as there was no cable or antenna hookup in the apartment (intentional by the producers out of fear he would discover he was already on TV), but it became useful when he later won a VCR (for the two videotapes he had won previously) and a Sony Playstation (for the games and controllers he had won previously).

Nasubi was challenged to stay alone, unclothed, in an apartment for Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (January 1998 – March 2002), a Japanese reality-television show on Nippon Television, after winning a lottery for a "show business related job". He was challenged to enter mail-in sweepstakes until he won ¥1 million (about US$10,000) in total. He started with nothing (including no clothes), was cut off from outside communication and broadcasting, and had nothing to keep him company except the magazines he combed through for sweepstakes entry forms. After spending 335 days to reach his target, he set the Guinness world record for the "longest time survived on competition winnings".

Tomoaki Hamatsu (浜津 智明 , Hamatsu Tomoaki, born August 3, 1975) , better known as Nasubi (なすび , "Eggplant") , is a Japanese comedian.