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Import and Export of Japanese Television Programs |
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| The ICFP (International Communication Flow Project)
is a study group that has carried out research approximately every
10 years, beginning in 1980, on the export of TV programs from Japan
and the import of overseas TV programs to Japan. This manuscript consists
of an outline of the changes in the situation over a 20 year period,
centered around the export of TV programs, based upon the results
of the 3rd survey that was carried out during 2001 and
2002. 1. Export from Japan The survey was carried out during the one-year period from January to December 2001 (and in part, from April 2001 to March 2002) on the TV programs for which export contracts were concluded. It investigated TV stations (major terrestrial broadcasting stations in Tokyo and Osaka), production companies, film companies, trading firms (agencies), and other organizations that provide programs to overseas broadcasting stations, and collated the results. The items covered by the survey were program name, program type, number of programs (by title), length of broadcast time, broadcasting country (or region), and type of channel (terrestrial, satellite, CATV, internet broadcast). Broad Increase in Exported Programs The TV programs for which contracts were concluded for export (or overseas provision) during fiscal 2001 included: Number of programs (number of titles) = 1,675 programs (series programs are counted as one program in their entirety) Total length of time (number of program x number of broadcasts x broadcast time x number of broadcast stations in each country) was about 42,600 hours. Compared to the 2 former surveys, (1980, 1992-3), this shows a broad increase in both number of programs and amount of time. (See Figure 1.)
About Half Sent to Asia When considered by area, in terms of both number of programs and amount of broadcast time, those exported to Asia make up about half of the total. Up to the previous survey, exports to the Asia area constituted only about one-fourth of the whole. In terms of number of programs exported to Asia, there is hardly any change, but the amount of broadcast time shows a broad increase. There was a slight increase in exports to Europe, North America, Central and South America, and a decrease in exports to the Middle East. In the survey of 10 years ago, the export of programs to the Middle East made up 20% of the total, but in the present survey, it was only 3%. (See Figure 2.) Figure 2 Destinations of Programs Exported from Japan (fiscal 2001 survey) 
In terms of both number of programs and number of hours, Taiwan in 1st place and America in 2nd place Table 1 shows the top 20 (in terms of number of programs) of the export countries by country/region. Taiwan had the greatest number, followed by America, Korea, and Hong Kong. The reason for America having such a large number is due to the fact that, outside of animation programs, the bulk of the programs exported to America are for Japanese-language transmission targeted at an audience of Japanese-Americans and Japanese citizens residing in America. The financial base has not been calculated in this survey, but considered from the standpoint of program sales prices, it is estimated that, in terms of the financial base, America is the top export target country. (Also, all animation and dramas that have a series format have been counted as one program for each entire series.) Table 1 Export Countries & Areas Upper 20 rankings (fiscal 2001 survey)
In terms of amount of time, animation accounts for about 60% In terms of export program categories, in the realm of amount of time, animation dominates with around 60%. However, in terms of number of programs, documentaries (577) out-strip animation (531). Compared to the 2nd survey (1992-3), there has been a sudden increase of variety programs, centered around the countries of Asia.
Japan provides the largest number of programs overseas The figures from the "Exported Programs Survey Results" include "Governmental Cultural Grant Aid" (81 programs), "Provision of Programs by the Japan Foundation" (84 programs) and "Provision of Programs by the JAMCO" (34 programs)." It has always been said that, "In the realm of aid for broadcasting to developing countries, Japan has extended aid for the construction of broadcasting stations and live-broadcasting facilities through such means as ODA funding, and for the broadcast program production and technological training through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), but very little provision of TV programs, and in this latter area, Germany's TRANSTEL (national organ for providing aid for broadcasting in developing countries) has made far greater accomplishments." But since the latter half of the 1990s, there has been an increase in the above-mentioned overseas provision of TV programs, and that the provision from Japan is by the largest in the overall picture. Reduction in Direct Broadcasting NHK's overseas TV satellite broadcasting is centered around NHK World (gratis) and NHK World Premier (pay, scrambled) in Japanese (with parts in English). Among the private sector channels, up until 2002, Nihon TV carried out satellite broadcasting to America and East Asia, and professional baseball games live. But this was discontinued in 2003 due to a rise in the circuit user fees, and now, the only program that is still broadcast during the professional baseball season is the "Giants game live." Fuji TV is top in terms of volume of provision and sales of programs overseas, but at present, it does not carry out direct broadcasting. Decrease in Co-Production with Foreign Countries as well Concerning the co-production of TV programs between Japan and foreign countries, at the time of the 1st survey during the 1980s, both NHK and foreign sector TV stations were actively carrying out such projects, centered around documentaries, but also in such fields as drama and animation. However, at the time of the present survey (2001-2), there was no sign of active involvement in such co-production projects by either NHK or private sector TV stations. As a result of interviews with the major TV stations, it was found that the only major works that deserve mention are the Japan-Korea co-produced dramas "Friends" (MBC-TBS) and "Sonagi" (MBC-Fuji TV); the documentary "Are you living a happy life? A Report on Salaried Workers in Japan and Korea," and the documentaries titled "Traditional Hues Blown in the Wind" (Korea's KBS) and the "Classroom for the Future Series" (Japan's NHK) that were produced separately and then broadcasted in both countries. Other than these, there are only such continuous regional TV station projects with Korea and America as co-productions, co-sponsoring of events, and exchange of news. 2. Overseas Reaction to Japanese TV Programs Animation Market Expansion Throughout the 3 surveys up to this time, animation constitutes the mainstream of TV program exports from Japan. On the basis of amount of time, animation has dominated the overall export volume at 60%. In spite of the increase in TV program exports, this ratio has not changed, and this means that in the context of the overall increase in TV program exports, the export volume of animation programs has also continued to increase. There is even an estimate (by the Japanese Moving Picture Association) that "Japanese animation accounts for around 60% of the world TV animation market." Alongside animation exports, there has been a sudden increase in sales of popular animation video programs, character goods, animation magazines and books as well. Since the actual figures have not been made public, it is not absolutely clear. But according to test calculations by JETRO (Japan Export and Trade Organization), the scale of the animation market in America alone is thought to have reached an annual (2002) total of $4306 million (about  520
billion).Variety Programs Centered around Asia also on the Increase Exports to Europe are centered around animation, but the increase of drama and variety programs to Asia is reaching a remarkable level. Particularly in Taiwan, almost all variety programs that have been popular in Japan are being broadcast on some channel or other. In the area of quiz and variety programs, a format deal (in which the style of the program and the directorial plan only are sold, and the personalities and the content of the dialogue are created onsite) is also being carried out, and this is contributing to growth in the export volume. The Drama and Documentary Program Market Export of drama programs is mainly concentrated on Asia and America (primarily the Japanese-American channels). In the past, this was centered around "trendy dramas" targeted toward the younger generation, but recently, the target has spread to all age levels, resulting in a large number of exports of period dramas, home dramas, and suspense dramas. In addition, in Korea, broadcast of Japanese-made TV dramas was forbidden for many years, but in January 2004, as the final stage of the "Japanese public culture liberation" measure, the ban was lifted on the broadcast of Japanese-made dramas on CATV and satellite broadcasting. It is predicted that this will give rise to a sudden increase in drama exports to Korea. In the area of documentaries, the greatest number of those handled on a commercial basis are sent to Korea (primarily those produced by NHK). Aside from this, programs sent to developing countries by NHK International and JAMCO account for 70% of the total. Among the exported programs, the number of programs accounts for the largest share, but since most of them are single programs, in terms of amount of time, they make up no more than 3% of the whole. 3. The Balance of the International Flow of Japanese TV Programs So now let us look at just how many TV programs are imported into Japan, and the balance between exports and imports. Imported Programs on Japanese TV The present survey analyzes the imported programs that were broadcast among all the programs broadcasted by the major Tokyo terrestrial and analog TV stations (NHK and private sector TV stations-a total of 7 stations) for 6 months during 2002 (March, July, August, October, and November).
Table 2 The ratio of number of imported programs broadcast and their amount of broadcast time in the context of the total broadcast time
Among the imported programs, the producing country is unknown for 33%, but outside of this figure, the ratio by producing country shows that America is overwhelmingly the highest, accounting for 79.6% in terms of amount of time and 82.6% in terms of number of programs. The United Kingdom is in 2nd place. This order in terms of number of programs was practically the same in the 2 surveys of the past. When viewed in terms of program types, feature films and dramas accounted for 64.7% of amount of broadcast time and 49.4% of number of programs. Compared to 1993, both have decreased considerably. This indicates a trend toward a shift to specialist channels by feature films and drama programs. In the area of documentaries as well, the number of programs was 11.8%, half of the figure for 1993. This shows an increase compared with the former survey, but this increase is mainly made up of live sports broadcasts, centered around baseball and soccer games in which Japanese players are active. Other than this, animation (18.8%) and music (7.0%) are also on the increase. A broad excess of exports in the import-export balance The changes of amount of time both in imports and exports is shown in Figure 4.
During the early days of TV in Japan, imported programs (drama series) were dominated by those from America, but since the late 1970s, there has been a broad-ranging decrease in the import of programs to Japan. In those days (1972), an annual 2,200 hours of programs were exported from Japan. According to the 1st ICFP (ITFP in those days) survey (1980), there was a sudden increase in exports centered around animation, to a total of 4,585 hours, constituting a doubling of the 1972 figure. During the same period, imports amounted to 2,332 hours (4.9% of the total broadcasting time), bringing the trade balance to a 2:1 ratio with an excess in exports. The 2nd survey (1992-3) revealed that there was an intense increase in exports centered around animation as in the previous survey, with a total of 22,324 hours, while, on the other hand, imports had leveled off to 2,843 hours (5.2% of the total broadcasting time), bringing the trade balance to 8:1 with an excess in exports. As always, animation is in the majority, but there was also an increase in drama and variety programs, resulting in an increase of the total amount of time for export programs to 42,600 hours. In contrast to this, since import programs came to 3,036 hours (4.9%), compared to the 1st and 2nd surveys, this is seen to be almost the same standard, and the balance has further increased to 14:1. Program Exchange and International Understanding In this manner, exports exceed imports by a large margin, but even so, it is difficult to say that the information from Japan in these export programs promotes international understanding. TV programs exported from Japan, as mentioned above, are broadly dominated by animation, resulting in "Japanimation" taking the lead in the international market, including TV programs, videos, character goods, and books. At the same time, we no longer hear many complaints concerning the violence and vulgarity that was voiced against this genre in the past, which indicates that Japanese animation has been popularized to the extent that it has gained international recognition. However, since animation is typified by its lack of nationality, it is quite difficult to consider it possible to promote understanding of Japanese society and culture through the medium of animation. Conversely, the types of TV programs that are useful for understanding Japanese society and culture, such as drama, documentary and news, have a very low ratio of export to countries of Europe and America. In the present survey, along with analysis of import and export volume, an investigation was made concerning the ways in which Japan is presented by the TV stations of countries that were selected as examples, including United Kingdom, America, China, Korea, and Taiwan. As a result, it was found that in Europe and America, it was not programs produced by Japan, but rather TV programs created by those countries themselves that played the role of introducing Japan and served to reinforce stereotypical image of Japan in those countries. While there is a great deal of discussion about the necessity for globalization and understanding of different cultures, in view of information dissemination from Japan by means of TV, in spite of an increase of export volume, there is a retrogressive trend in both direct dissemination and co-production. Thus TV program exchange as an aid toward international understanding is in a period of stagnation. However, the rapid progress toward digitalization and conversion to a multi-channel environment that is taking place in various countries of the world raises the possibility of a situation quite different from that currently prevailing. Conversion to a multi-channel environment will increase the demand for new content, and supplement the demand for programs produced overseas. This will stimulate an increase in opportunities for mutual exchange of TV programs, which will hopefully promote increased international understanding. This ICFP survey was carried out as a joint research project with the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, and with aid from the Hoso Bunka Foundation. The detailed results of the survey are to be presented in the Annual Bulletin of NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute that is slated for publication in March 2004. |
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(c) Japan Media Communication Center. 2004 All Rights Reserved.