Harlequin ichthyosis is a serious, incurable skin disorder from which one in 300,000 suffers. It is a congenital disorder characterized by skin over the entire body appearing like fish scales that flake off, causing severe itching.

Gaku Hamaguchi, a second grader in Mie Prefecture, is battling this condition. Strangers seemed to think that he was being abused by his parents. Wanting people to learn about her son’s disorder, Yui began a blog and agreed to TV coverage. She described her mental state at the time of his birth, on her blog: “What did I give birth to?”

CBC Television began covering the family in 2020, spotlighting the many difficulties faced by the child: the appearance of his skin, the itching, how he can’t be in the sun for long, etc. The videos streamed on YouTube have been viewed over 170 million times. True, people have become more educated on this disorder, but meanwhile, the child has suffered insults and defamation on social media, which have led to several arrests.

In these five years of coverage, what has been learned?