13th JAMCO Online International Symposium./Japanese TV Dramas that Go Beyond 'Japan': Introduction

Japanese TV Dramas that Go Beyond 'Japan': Introduction

Koichi Iwabuchi
Symposium Coordinator
Assistant Professor
International Studies Division
International Christian University

In excess of one hundred million people currently live in Japan, the second-largest economy in the world. Japanese people enjoy an extremely high ratio of domestically produced programming -- the benefits of a massive TV market. From the inception of TV broadcasting in 1953, Japanese TV production capacity developed rapidly alongside indigenized American TV culture. Since the latter half of the 1970s, the ratio of domestically produced programs has reached about 95%. Recently, the expansion of media globalization has stimulated both the internationalization of the Japanese market and the influx of numerous overseas media products. Nevertheless, from the viewpoint of the composition and actual content of terrestrial broadcast programming, it can be argued that the Japanese TV market remains remarkably self-sufficient in the midst of globalization.

      Meanwhile, the Japanese TV industry is deeply involved in media globalization in terms of the export and transnational circulation of programs. Non-profit organizations as JAMCO have introduced Japanese TV programs to many parts of the world through program exchange schemes that have endeavored to promote international mutual understanding. However, the bulk of TV programs that are sent outside of Japan are either distributed commercially, or are products of illegal trade, rather than having distribution through official channels such as JAMCO. Above all, there is a significant and constant increase in the diffusion of Japanese TV programs to such East Asian markets as Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China. Aside from animation, TV dramas are particularly popular and the majority of youth, especially those in urban areas, will watch the latest Japanese dramas on a daily basis. The export of Japanese TV programs to these areas is not a recent occurrence, having been initiated during the 1970s, although the trade intensified during the early 1990s. Media industry tie-ups and market linkages have progressed greatly in East Asia, resulting in the well-organized, regular, and often real-time circulation of Japanese TV programs.

      A significant point to note is that the transnational traffic in Japanese TV programs has been stimulated to a great extent by commercial activities of business located in countries and areas outside Japan. It is therefore "local" initiatives overseas, rather than strong promotional activities on the part of Japan interests, that has resulted in the circulation of a broad range of Japanese programs through satellite broadcasts, cable television, internet, video and VCD. For example, the vigorous and highly effective promotion activities of media businesses in Taiwan and Hong Kong have played an important role in the increase in volume of exported Japanese TV dramas. STAR TV, based in Hong Kong, was a pioneer in the popularization of Japanese TV dramas, and it has programmed "Japanese Idol Drama Hour" on prime time as a major feature of its Chinese-language channel since 1992. Likewise, the development of cable television in Taiwan saw the development of highly segmented multi-channel viewing patterns, with a number of exclusively Japanese-language channels being launched through the efforts of local enterprise. This dispersion of Japanese programming is further accelerated by VCD and the associated (pirate) software market. This gadget, which is ubiquitous among Chinese-language audiences, although hardly known in Japan, plays a more significant role in the transnational distribution of Japanese TV dramas in term of actual volume than legal trade. In any case, these examples clearly demonstrate that the transnational circulation of Japanese TV programs has increased dramatically and diversified, conversely while Japan has taken less of a role in promoting its programs (for more intensive discussions on this phenomenon, please refer to my book titled Recentering Globalization: Popular culture and Japanese transnationalism, which was published from Duke University Press in 2002).

      The increase in trans-border circulation of Japanese TV programs via initiatives outside of Japan is revealed with clarity, and sometimes complexity, in the ways that Japanese TV programs are consumed and localized overseas. In this context, the 13^th JAMCO International Symposium, "Japanese TV Dramas that Go Beyond 'Japan': Their Transnational Significance and Influence", considers the reach and impact of Japanese TV programs, along with the influences exerted by Japanese TV dramas. It does this through an examination of how audiences receive Japanese TV dramas in their social and historical contexts. With the transnational circulation of Japanese TV dramas being more commonplace than exceptional, we see that these programs are viewed in diverse ways -- ways that were never imagined by the producers who make the programs for domestic Japanese audiences. The result of this is the acquisition of greatly varied significance as well as the emergence of a new TV culture hybridized with local cultures of the region. By empirically examining specific cases, we hope to not only verify existing findings but also to reconsider socio-cultural influences. At the same time we inquire into the publicness of those Japanese TV programs that have ceased to be the property of "Japan" within the process of globalization.

      Before we move on to the papers presented for the symposium, I'd like to provide a brief introduction here. Let me begin with the paper of Yumiko Hara. This will be the final presentation. Hara provides an overall picture of the import and export of TV programs in Japan, based upon the most recent data collected in the 2001-20 survey. This large-scale survey has been carried out approximately every ten years since 1980. Hara reveals that Japan still is a net exporter of TV programs; she has also compared the data from the past 20 years to analyze the trends in that area.

      While Hara's voluminous quantitative analysis is extremely valuable, Yano, Lee, and Leung respectively provide qualitative research concerning the reception and influence of Japanese TV dramas that have crossed national boundaries. Christine Yano analyzes the critical manner in which Japanese-American viewers residing in the U.S. (Hawaii and California) viewed the NHK morning TV drama series "Sakura" (broadcast in 2002) that depicted the life of a young Hawaii-born Japanese-American woman who stayed for one year in a rural area of Japan. With the scattering of viewers through many parts of the world thanks to the development of media technologies as satellite, cable, and video, NHK is becoming more active in international co-productions and international satellite broadcasts, and has the existence of its overseas audiences in mind. However, Yano points out that in spite of the fact that NHK producers conducted on-site research and shooting in Hawaii concerning the actual lifestyle of Japanese-Americans, the production of "Sakura" was predominantly directed at domestic "Japanese" viewers, resulting in the reproduction of stereotypical images of the Japanese-American. Through in-depth interviews, Yano clarifies the disapproving reception of Japanese-American audiences residing overseas whose life is depicted in the program. She reveals their diverse readings of the drama series, readings that are significantly different from those of Japanese audiences. Thus Yano critically interrogates the public responsibility of Japanese TV dramas that go beyond "Japan."

      A point that deserves special mention in relation to developments in the trade of Japanese TV programs over the past few years is the deepening of the relationship with Korea, where restrictions had existed upon the import of Japanese TV programs for a very long time. Korea still bans the import of Japanese TV programs, with some exceptions such as animation programs, but since the end of 1998, a step-by-step liberalization of regulations has been conducte, and this year it is expected that the ban will be entirely lifted. The papers of Lee and Leung focus upon the evident and increasingly closer correlation between Japanese and Korean TV dramas. Lee Dong-Hoo's paper analyzes the production of the Korean remake of the Japanese TV drama "Yamatonadeshiko" (broadcast by Fuji TV in 2000). Production of dramas targeting youth began to develop with great rapidity around 1990 in Japan. Subsequently, they have not only been sympathetically viewed within Japan but also in various parts of East Asia and, furthermore, they have exerted a considerable influence on the production of TV dramas in those areas. In Korea, the cultural influence of Japan, the former colonialist nation, has been an extremely sensitive issue, which engenders complicated and often negative social reactions -- as exemplified by accusations that Korean drama producers were imitating Japanese TV dramas. However, the burgeoning global prosperity of what is now known as the "format business", that is, the dealing in production know-how of TV programs that had achieved success in a particular country (the global spread of the quiz program "Millionaire" is a case in point), saw Korean broadcasters recently obtain the legal rights to remake Japanese TV dramas. In this process, Korean producers were able to make dramas not only for the domestic Korean market, but also for the Chinese market. Lee's paper uses "Yamatonadeshiko" as a case study to show the dynamics of transnational cultural flows and the process of cultural hybridization between East Asian countries.

      As indicated in Lee's paper, Japanese TV dramas have provided a certain stimulus to Korean TV drama production. However, it is a misconception to regard Korean TV dramas as mere imitations of Japanese counterparts. The relationship between Japanese influences on Korean TV drama production is not straightforwardly unilateral. In the context of Korean society during the 1990s in which the drastic inroads of (American-led) globalization was felt in the realm of media culture, Korean TV drama production accomplished unique developments due to stimulus from Japanese TV dramas. This revealed a multi-layered cultural hybridization. The reception of "Winter Sonata" last year in Japan was symptomatic of the high popularity of Korean-made media culture in the East Asia region. During the past few years this phenomenon has come to be known as the "Korean Wave". While comparing it with the case of Japanese TV dramas, Lisa Leung provides a multifaceted analysis of the spread of Korean TV dramas in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, through their distribution, textuality, and reception. In fact, the popularity of Korean dramas has even surpassed Japanese TV dramas. By analyzing how Korean and Japanese dramas respectively represent modernity, the urban cultural environment, romance, and family relations, and the manner of reception in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, Leung brings into clear relief the intertwined co-existence of cultural commonality and difference in East Asia as well as the sort of mutual perceptions of other Asian cultures that articulate the blended sense of cultural distance and closeness. The result is fresh insights into the meanings and significance of Japanese TV dramas, as well as the context by which East Asian media flows are becoming more and more multi-vectored and intensified through the processes of globalization.