
The sixth season of "Emergency Room Doctor" starring Nanako Matsushima has taken the lead in using AI to generate explosion scenes and aerial shots.
AI-generated summary
Fuji TV established an AI center in July this year and set up an "AI Sandbox" experimental base at Wangan Studio in September.
Is the Japanese TV industry going to change? Japan's Fuji TV officially announced today (5th) that it will comprehensively expand the application of generative AI in Japanese drama production. Starting from October 2027, the 16 prime-time dramas it produces each year will be able to use AI technology according to plot needs.
In fact, this project has already been secretly launched. The classic medical drama "Emergency Room Doctor" (Emergency Ward 24 hours) starring Japanese drama queen Nanako Matsushima and Yosuke Eguchi was revived after 13 years. The explosion scene in the first episode of the sixth season and even the aerial scenery were confirmed to be created out of thin air by AI.
According to official announcements from Japanese media "Nikkan Sports", "Sports Japan" and Fuji TV, the TV station established an AI center in July this year. In September, it set up an "AI Sandbox" experimental base specializing in generative AI at Wangan Studio, officially bringing AI into the drama shooting scene.
"Emergency Room Doctor" was the first to test the water temperature. When arranging the explosion accident in the first episode, it did not actually send a photography team to the scene to take aerial shots. Instead, it first used AI to generate a fictional city scene that did not exist at all, and then used post-production to synthesize thick smoke to create aerial shots of the accident scene.
Fuji TV confirmed that after actual testing, generative AI can save up to 70% to 80% of working hours compared to traditional methods in some image production processes, and the efficiency is amazing. However, the TV station also specifically clarified that this data is only limited to specific production links, and does not mean that the budget or shooting time of the entire Japanese drama can be directly cut by 80%.
The person in charge of the TV station emphasized that the introduction of AI is not to let it do all the work, but to combine live-action shooting, CG and traditional visual effects to give the crew more ways to achieve scenes that would otherwise be difficult to shoot.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Starting from October 2027, Fuji TV’s prime-time Japanese dramas will fully apply AI technology.
Very likely · Within months

The Toba Aquarium in Mie Prefecture, Japan, announced that the popular female sea otter "Kira" died of respiratory failure on the morning of the 5th at the age of 18. Kira was loved by fans for her cute appearance helping the keepers pack up the props during her lifetime. After her death, there was only one sea otter left in captivity in Japan.
The 2026 China Radio and Television Quality Creation Conference and TV Drama (Online Drama) Forum was held in Beijing. Focusing on the nine ecological dimensions of industry, business, technology and copyright, the representatives discussed the path for the high-quality development of Chinese TV dramas and emphasized the importance of building a "creation-friendly ecology".
The 20th Hangzhou International Cultural Expo opened on November 5. The "three new things" such as online literature, games, and film and television dramas went overseas and became the focus. Expert Zeng Fanwen pointed out that cultural exports have shifted from product competition to ecological competition, and it is necessary to achieve sustainable development by strengthening IP, improving industrial ecology and improving cultural translation capabilities.

Yang Yaowen, the father of Yang Dazheng, the lead singer of the Fire Extinguisher Band, passed away due to recurrence of lymphoma. Yang Dazheng revealed his father's condition at the Taipei Arena concert in July this year. He originally expected to share the performance with his father at the Kaohsiung Arena at the end of the year, but now he regrets that he cannot realize his dream. The band held a farewell ceremony today.

Huang Xujie, a millionaire YouTuber known for exposing transnational fraud, was reported to have taken a large amount of drugs after an argument with his wife at home on the evening of the 4th, and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. The current physical condition of the two people and the detailed cause of the incident still need to be further clarified.
The 20th Hangzhou Cultural Expo opened in Hangzhou on November 5, with the theme of "Creative Hangzhou·Connecting the World". A number of cultural and creative achievements were released on site, and a cultural and creative guidance fund was signed with a scale of 5.7 billion yuan. The exhibition focuses on the "three new things" of culture and the integration of culture and technology, bringing together more than 6,000 brands from around the world.