LAM Peng Er
Senior Research Fellow
East Asian Institute
National University of Singapore
Singapore

As a child in Singapore, I grew up in the sixties and early seventies on a varied television diet which included samurai serials, Astroboy and Ultraman. In my formative years, I received two disconnected images of Japan: one from TV and the other from my dad. Surviving the depravations of the Japanese military occupation of Malaya (Singapore was a political part of the archipelago then), my father often shared with me his vivid and bitter memories of the war.

Through his poignant oral history, I was exposed to images of a fearsome Imperial Japan which audaciously destroyed British colonialism in Malaya but also inflicted untold misery, pain and death on the local inhabitants. Like many young Singaporeans, my first contact with “Japan” was through the war remembrances of our parents’ generation. This first exposure to Japan through the eyes of my parent took place years before I read, as a student, my country’s history textbooks about Japan’s emergence as a modernizing state, the nation’s disastrous road to militarism, defeat and subsequent postwar economic reconstruction and democratic transformation.

Availability and Appeal of Japanese TV programs in Singapore

Despite my dad’s negative sentiments about the Japan he feared, experienced and know, he had no objections to my viewing of Japanese cultural products made for television. Moreover, the Singapore government did not impose any restrictions on Japanese programs on local TV notwithstanding residual memories of the Japanese occupation among the older generation. The primary consideration of the young nation was economic survival and development, and Japan was an important source of trade, investments, technology and tourism. In the quest for national survival especially after Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965, there was no room to indulge in anti-Japanese sentiments like the Mainland Chinese and Koreans. In this regard, Japanese television programs in Singapore were never a casualty of history and politics. Thus, Singapore is different from South Korea which placed a ban on Japanese cultural products due to historical problems until President Kim Dae Jung’s 1998 rapprochement with Japan.

Relishing Ultraman and Astroboy

Before the ogle box as a wide-eyed kid, I would be amazed by: the exaggerated heroics of a single swordsman wiping out a band of bad ninjas; Ultraman who repeated saved Tokyo from being stomped on and destroyed by Godzilla-type monsters; and the cartoon program about Astroboy, an altruistic, sweet and innocent android who helps his friends and saves the world.

While Singaporean children like me might know that these were entertainment products and even morality plays concerning good and evil produced in Japan, we were usually not conscious that these were representations of Japanese “reality”. Rather, these programs projected selected and glamorized facets of an imagined and reconstructed feudal Japan (samurai dramas) or a fictitious world (though stylistically Japanese) full of superheroes and monsters. Simply put, these TV programs reflected Japanese creativity rather than reality.

Oshin Phenomenon: Telling us more about Singapore than Japan

Viewing telecasted images from Japan may also reveal more about Singaporeans, their characteristics, interests, environment and changing values rather than any intrinsic or objective reality of Japan. Supporting this thesis is Oshin, the mega hit in Singapore and other Asian countries about a tenacious Japanese girl who overcame various challenges in life and eventually started the chain of Yaohan supermarket. Oshin, as a TV program, had great resonance among Singaporeans in the 1980s.

I recall visiting the newly established Yaohan supermarket in Singapore in the 1970s which revolutionized shopping for household items in the country. Used to the traditional, small scale mum and pop stores, Singaporeans were amazed by Yaohan’s sheer size, wide range of products and the efficient multi-lanes for payment. Indeed, Yaohan became a household name and the TV serial about its founder Oshin naturally had a captive audience in the city-state.

The 1970s and early 1980s were an era of rapid economic growth in Singapore. Its government then was impressed by the Japanese economic miracle and Harvard Ezra Vogel’s book Japan as Number One, and adopted a policy of “Learning from Japan”. These included: setting up quality control circles and work improvement teams among workers, encouraging house unions and company loyalty and establishing a network of neighborhood police post (koban). Other admired “Japanese” qualities as exemplified by the Oshin program include: a strong work ethic, thrift, long suffering, an indomitable spirit and good cheer in the midst of adversity. Ironically, Oshin projected a romanticized version of a Japan long past which has resonance in a Singaporean state and society caught up in a mood of economic development, frugality and deferred gratification even though Japan itself in the 1980s has already entered an era of post-industrialization, conspicuous consumption and excesses of the bubble economy, and diversity in lifestyle and values.

Advent of Cable TV: Proliferation and Fragmentation of Japanese "Reality"

From the 1990s onwards, the genres in Japanese TV programs expanded rapidly in Singapore. By then, the nation has become affluent and economically developed and its viewers yearn for entertainment often bourgeois and hedonistic in flavor beyond the Oshin-type of serious, preachy and inspirational (to work harder) dramas and children anime. By the 1990, the mass culture of Singaporeans has shifted from capitalist production to consumption. Singaporeans taste for greater diversity in Japanese programs is a reflection of the greater affluence, sophistication and pluralism in their lifestyle and taste.

We should also note that by the late 1990s, Singapore was shifting away from a country with just two channels in its government-controlled television to one with cable television with a myriad of choices from multiple channels with programs from many countries. These include CNN, BBC, National Geographical, Discovery Channel, HBO, Star TV and ESPN Sports (with live telecasts of European soccer matches). Some of these channels do occasionally cover Japan-related topics. Singapore viewers are now truly spoilt for choices. Japanese TV programs in Singapore must now compete with new fads and trends not only from the West but also from South Korea. Drama series from Korea have now taken Singapore by storm just like Winter Sonata did in Japan.

The main genres in telecasted programs from Japan are: romantic soap operas, police and crime dramas, anime (and not just for children), food and culture, and serious NHK news. Given the rise of the middle class in Asia, Japanese fashion and lifestyle projected in its TV programs have a cultural appeal in the region including Singapore. Unlike South Korea whose level of affluence, cultural development and sizeable domestic market have reached a critical mass which can underpin indigenous dramas which appeal even to the region beyond Korea, Singapore, limited by its small domestic market, has yet to produce any TV programs which is appealing to the Japanese.

Given the strict media censorship rules and norms in Singapore, Japanese TV programs which depict excessive violence and eroticism are not screened in the city-state even though they are arguably a facet of Japan, real or imagined. In this regard, the filtering of permissible Japanese programs tells us more about the cultural and political norms of Singapore than Japan.

An Irony: Learning about Singaporeans through Japan Hour

The most popular Japanese program in the city-state is probably the weekly Japan Hour. Again, the mass appeal of Japan Hour can be interpreted as more revealing about Singapore as a society than any objective reality of Japan. This program highlights the best restaurants and food in Japan and places of interests including hot springs, festivals and quaint local culture. To most Singaporeans, the main attraction of Japan Hour is all about food. The Japanese hosts of the program would go through great lengths off the beaten track to find restaurants which produce great ramen, sushi, tempura and other culinary delights. Singaporeans are also impressed by the fanaticism, pride, aplomb, zest and dedication in which seemingly humble Japanese chefs and owners of restaurants and inns often display to prepare a sumptuous and hearty meal.

The national pastimes of Singaporeans are eating and shopping. The motto of some Singaporeans seems to be “shop till I drop” and “I eat, therefore I am”. (This is the baser version of Rene Descartes’ dictim: “I think, therefore I am”). In a tiny city-state, its populace has no opportunities to participate in sports and physical activities such as mountain climbing or water rafting unless they travel to a different country. Moreover, Singapore is not a liberal democracy whose citizens participate actively in politics. As a result of geographical and political limitations, many Singaporeans indulge in the limited yet safe and enjoyable pastimes of shopping and eating. Being a cosmopolitan city with a multiethnic population, dining in Singapore is an experience in many flavors and exotic taste. With no agricultural lobby like Japan and the EU to artificially prop up prices to protect the parochial interests of farmers, the city-state imports food which is really affordable and good.

There is more than a grain of truth in the cliché that many Singaporeans live to eat rather than eat to live. They would often drive from one end of the island to the other just to look for their favorite food. Given this pattern of gluttony in Singapore, it is no wonder that Japan Hour which highlights delicious Japanese food has a mass audience in the city-state. While Japan Hour is undoubtedly an entertaining and lighthearted program, it highlights only a few facets of Japanese reality. It does not cover the harsh realities of Japan’s wrenching transformation since the burst of the bubble economy in 1991.

Refracting Japanese Reality and Fantasy in Singapore

With the exception of somber NHK news on cable TV, the painful erosion of lifetime employment and the seniority system, non-performing loans and bank mergers, the economic stagnation of Japan, the rise of suicide cases, the twists and turns of Japanese politics and the impending demographic decline of that nation are issues not normally covered by the Japan Hour or other genres of Japanese TV in Singapore. Even if Japanese TV programs were to broadcast such issues, they are likely to be considered too heavy, serious and remote to hedonistic Singaporeans who are primarily interested in food, fun and entertainment. Certain important facets of Japan such as the Byzantine complexities of factional politics, the high culture of Noh and sumo wrestling are simply too distant and alien from the lives of ordinary Singaporeans.

While most Singaporeans cannot relate to Japanese domestic politics, knows little about its colorful history or have an understanding of how the world’s second largest economy works, they can relate to certain facets of lifestyle emanating from Japan. In the 1980s, it was very expensive to go to Japanese restaurants in Singapore and they were then few in numbers. However, by the late 1990s, the number of Japanese restaurants including fast food, conveyer belt sushi has exploded and can be found in most shopping centers and residential areas in the city-state. Indeed, certain facets of Japanese “reality” such as sushi, karaoke and cultural totems such as Hello Kitty dolls have become internalized by Singaporeans to the extent that they are no longer foreign or strictly Japanese.

This cultural penetration since the 1990s into the city-state along with J-pop, manga, anime and J-Cool fashion has created a mélange of things Japanese which intertwines with Singaporean lifestyle especially among the young. Paradoxically, Japan as a cultural and pop phenomenon during the years of the post-bubble economy has become even more popular among the Singaporean public than when Japan was an economic juggernaut lauded by the Singaporean state as an economic model to emulate. Even though various Japanese shopping icons (Yaohan, Daimaru and Sogo) in the city-state were closed in the era of Japan’s “lost decade” of economic stagnation, other Japanese retailers still maintain a considerable presence: Seiyu, Takashimaya and Isetan. Thus, Japanese products are readily available despite the collapse of Oshin’s supermarket chain.

The internalizing of things Japanese has made TV programs from the Land of the Rising Sun more acceptable and digestible to Singapore audiences. However, the appeal of Japan as a “soft” power in the region including Singapore should not be exaggerated. This appeal is mainly confined to Japanese fashion and food. Young Singaporeans who like J-Cool are unlikely to be sympathetic to Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine due to residual memories of the Japanese occupation. Simply put, Japanese cultural allure cannot be readily translated into political leadership and influence in Southeast Asia.

NHK news program via cable in Singapore probably gives the most serious and closest approximation of Japanese “reality” in the realm of international relations, domestic politics and economics. However, most households in the city-state do not subscribe to NHK because the additional subscription fees are not cheap and they do not comprehend the programs, most of which are in the Japanese language. For the small number who subscribe to NHK, daily news programs in English do give them a window to other facets of Japan not usually covered by the usual genres of fun Japanese TV programs in Singapore.

Japan Depicted by Non-Native TV Sources

Japanese state and society are multi-faceted and complex and are unlikely to be adequately captured by any genre of TV program. The portrayal of “Japan” in these programs really depends on the perspective, vision, values and interests of individual directors and producers and their paymasters. In that sense, all construction and projection of Japanese “reality” even by Japanese directors is somewhat subjective and interpretive rather than truly objective. At best, these programs can highlight a particular facet of Japan which may be of interest to foreign viewers including those from Singapore. While we may value or question the intellectual integrity and accuracy of programs telecasted abroad, television audience may simply want to be entertained or even transported to a fantasy world rather than to be loaded with and reminded of the harsh realities of the world including Japan especially after a hard day’s work. Given a choice between Hayao Miyazaki’s wondrous imaginary worlds in anime and a serious and objective program about typhoons and unemployment in Japan, most Singaporeans would probably switch their channels to Miyazaki’s alternative universes.

For Singaporeans who want to have different perspectives of Japanese “reality”, they would have to go beyond the menu of Japanese produced TV programs. Viewers in the city-state can easily access news and drama programs from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan through cable TV. Many Singaporean Chinese can understand Mandarin and Cantonese and they will be occasionally exposed to Chinese and Taiwanese perceptions and packaging of “Japan”. Not surprisingly, on controversial historical issues and the 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations in various Chinese cities, the depiction of Tokyo was obviously negative. Again, the depiction of Japan in the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong TV programs available in Singapore may tell us more about Chinese nationalism and their problems with historical issues rather than Japan per se.

The year 2005 is the 60th Anniversary of the Pacific War’s end. American originated programs covering the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was also available on Singapore TV. These American produced programs tend to focus on President Truman’s agonizing decision to drop the bomb and the meticulous training and preparation of the crew to deliver the bomb. Accepted as an article of faith by most Americans in the program was that dropping the atomic bomb was necessary to speedily end the war and save many American lives compared to the costlier alternative of an invasion of the Japanese main islands.

The moral issue of killing civilians and breaching the nuclear threshold is not considered in depth by American television programs, at least those screened in Singapore. However, Japanese-made programs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are likely to highlight the tragedy and sufferings about the victims of the nuclear devastation and not necessarily linking this horrendous outcome to Tokyo’s earlier invasions of China and Southeast Asia.

In this regard, the myths and realities of Japan would come down to national and individual perspectives and convictions. Like Rashomon, the powerful Akira Kurosawa’s powerful movie which portrayed alternate and equally plausible realities, TV programs which cover the Pacific War or other aspects of Japan today would give different interpretations of “reality” which might tell us more about the ideologies and prejudices of directors and audiences rather than the subject of their contemplation.

Depicting Japan and East Asian “realities” in the Future?

The Japanese people may be interested in how their country is (mis)understood in the world via televised programs. Perhaps it is also good for them to think about how the “realities” of their neighbors including China, Korea and Southeast Asia (including Singapore) are being distorted among the Japanese people. Addressing and correcting stereotypes, prejudices and distortions about each other might well be nigh impossible but perhaps joint production such as Sino-Japanese, Korean-Japanese and Singapore-Japanese directors, producers and financiers for a larger audience beyond one’s own domestic audience can help to transcend parochial nationalism and self-declared realities of each state and society.

In December 2005, the first East Asian Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur. How will this event be covered by the television stations of Japan and its neighbors? The EU has certain trans-national TV programs like the Eurovision Song Contest which helps to underpin a European identity. Perhaps television broadcasters in East Asia should creatively construct a new East Asian ‘reality” of a peaceful and prosperous community. Instead of packaging just “Japan” for the region, television broadcasters from Japan should seriously consider how they can work closely with their regional counterparts to produce a new East Asian “reality” which is focused not only on Japan but the larger good.

To move the nascent East Asian Community beyond an elite and politically driven process dominated by a small circle of “wise, old Asian men”, regional broadcasters have an important role to play. Instead of East Asian countries mimicking and aping the US by importing the “American Idol” format lock, stock and barrel, media organizations in this region can join hands to creatively organize an East Asian karaoke contest which can be telecasted into every living room in the region. East Asian audiences can also vote for their karaoke idols. Spearheaded by regional broadcasters in cooperation, this contest would then be a happy blend of popular culture, community and democracy in East Asia.

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Profile

Dr. LAM Peng Er
He is a Senior Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. He obtained his PhD from Columbia University. His research interest includes Japan's Peace Building Diplomacy in Asia, and political change in Japan. Dr Lam has published in journals such as Asian Survey, Pacific Affairs and Japan Forum. His forthcoming edited book is titled Japan's Relations with China: Facing a Rising Power (London and New York:RoutledgeCurzon, 2006).

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