Henry Laurence
Associate Professor
Government and Asian Studies
Bowdoin College
USA

Introduction

The conventional wisdom goes something like this:most Americans are appallingly ignorant about Japan.What they know about current events in the outside world comes primarily from the television, but it comes in the form of infrequent, highly selective and often biased programming.TV networks caught in fierce ratings battles prefer to give their audiences what they want – stories about conflict and simplistic stereotypes that make Japan look bad and allow Americans to feel good by comparison – rather than what they need, which is a broader, more nuanced and more accurate depiction of what Japan is really like.Negative images thus persist, resulting in mutual animosity and damaging bilateral relations.

In this article I will play “Devil's Advocate” and suggest that this view is mistaken.A brief survey of American TV coverage of Japan, divided into three categories - news, documentaries, andpop culture - suggests that the premises about news and documentary coverage are broadly true, though with important caveats. But while it is relatively easy to examine TV programming and find instances of bias or stereotype the more important question is, how do viewers respond?An examination of what Americans actually think about the Japan suggests the conclusion to the argument outlined above – i.e. that the presence of negative stereotyping on TV has led to negative feelings about Japan – is at best unproven, and is in fact contradicted by much of the available evidence.This does not mean that the US TV media's coverage of Japan could not be improved considerably, but it does suggest caution inassuming that there is a close causal connection between negative or slanted TV images and negative feelings.

Japan on American Television

Trying to learn about Japan by watching American television would quickly reveal a paradox.On one hand, over the past 15 years or so prime time news about Japan has vanished to almost nothing.In addition, serious factual documentaries about Japan are few and far between. Moreover, they tend to concentrate on a very few familiar subjects, such as World War Two or Samurai.The brief flurry of documentaries in the early 1990s charting – and often lamenting – Japanese economic power have disappeared.But on the pop culture side, there have probably never been so many Japanese-made programs on American TV, from children's anime to adult hits such as Iron Chef.

News

Television remains the single biggest source of news about the outside world for most Americans, even in the age of the internet.¹ Unfortunately,interest in international news among the big networks has been declining steadily for the past 15 years, with the exception of “war on terror” stories.² What news there is almost invariably hasa U.S. connection, and is increasingly sensationalistic,often dealing with conflict or natural disaster.Stories about Japan have beenno exception. The recent Diet Elections (September 11th 2005) were of vital importance to Japan's future, but went barely noticed on American TV.As recounted at the 2004 JAMCO Symposium, CNN's former bureau chief in Tokyo resigned because she was unable to get her Head Office in Atlanta to find time for reporting on Japan.³ She recounts how she interviewed Prime Minister Koizumi about his decision to send the SDF to Iraq. The interview was aired widely on CNN International, but no part of it ever aired on CNN USA.She was later told that she needed to be filing more stories that might appeal to a primetime US audience and that “the main problem with my recent reporting was that my ‘depth of knowledge' about Northeast Asia was getting in the way of doing the kind of stories that CNN USA is likely to run.”⁴

Bias in the choice of news stories about Japan is regularly reflected in Harris Poll studies.The two most closely followed stories about Japan between 1990 and 2004were former Prime Minister Nakasone's comment that Japanese workers were lazy, a story closely followed by 34% of Americans, and the50th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 1991, closely followed by 31%.⁵ The next two most closely followed items were the Gas attack in Tokyo (26%) and the Kobe Earthquake (25%).⁶ The stock market crash, the trade disputes and thevarious political scandals of the mid 1990s were some of the least followed international stories of the period.Despite its huge symbolic value, just 9% of Americans followed the 1991 takeover of MCA by Matsushita, while the 1993 political scandals were followed closely by just 6%.

Documentaries.

A crucial difference between Japanese and American media is Japan's public broadcaster, the Nihôn Hôsô Kyôkai (NHK), an exceptionally well-funded, well-equipped and well-staffed resource for producing documentaries.Moreover, since NHK is not subject to commercial pressures, producers are freer to tackle important issues that may not appeal to mainstream viewers.As a result, great documentaries are still a well-watched feature of Japanese Prime Time.The situation is very different in America, where competitive pressures have rendered serious documentary-making almost a lost art.Instead, documentaries tend to follow popular tastes, often produced to capitalize on interest generated by such popular Hollywood movies as “Pearl Harbor,” or “The Last Samurai”.WWII documentaries are still the staple for commercial stations.In the week in which I write, the History Channel has a dozen differentdocumentaries concerning Japan: every single one is about WWII.Interest in Pearl Harbor, always strong, has been particularly intense since 2001 because of the parallels drawn with the 9/11 attacks, the 50th Anniversary, and the release of the blockbuster movie.⁷ References to kamikaze pilots have become more frequent in documentaries dealing withsuicide bombers

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), funded by public money, and voluntary donations from charitable foundations and individual viewers, is the network least subject to competitive ratings pressure.Accordingly, it should be the network where it is most likely that more broad images of Japan would be aired.Yet here again, there are few serious attempts to go beyond familiar themes. Recent PBS documentaries include: “An Untold Triumph” ((2005) about the role of Filipino-American troops in WWII; “Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness (2005) about the Japanese consul who helped Jews escape the Nazis; “Japan's War in Color” (2004), WWII as seen from Japanese film footage; “Avoiding Armageddon” (2003) about man-made destruction, and including a detailed section on Japan's germ warfare against China; and a 2002 profile of Akira Kurasawa.In addition, the subject of the WWII internment of Japanese-Americans is tackled with “Rabbit in the Moon” (1999) and the earlier “Days of Waiting” (1990).Documentaries tacking Japan's economy and society were common only at the start of the 1990s.“Heartbeat of America” (1993) chronicled the difficulties Japanese competition caused General Motors, while the“Challenges to America” series (1994) devoted an entire section to Japanese education.

However, while the subject matter of many documentaries seems to conform to stereotype, the content itself is by no means always or even mostly one-dimensional or stereotypical. Indeed, rather than being simplistic glorifications of American moral superiority,many portray morally complicated issues such as war-era anti-Asian racism.Recent coverage of the atomic bombings has been noticeably even-handed, not hesitating to show the effects of the bombs on the victims, nor to silence the voices of either the victims or those who argue against the use of the weapons.⁸ “Japan's War in Color” includes horrifying shots of atomic bombing victims and US Marines shooting unarmed Japanese sailors.⁹ The same goes for the flurry of recent Samurai documentaries.While their subject matter is perhaps stereotypical, many are thoroughly researched and insightful works.

Pop culture

The anime phenomenon is well-known.¹⁰ Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh have each become staples for American kids, with the latter being America's most popular children's TV cartoon.Also, adult series such as Cowboy Bebop and Adult Swim are gaining cult late-night followings.In addition, Japan's pop culture is increasingly visible in adult programming such as Iron Chef or zany game-shows “Hey Spring Trivia!” and“Takeshi's Castle.”Finally, of course, many Americans are familiar with baseball players such as Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui.In fact,there is a growing recognition within America of Japan's “National Cool.”¹¹

There's a catch, however.While some of the hippest and most widely-watched TV shows in America were made in Japan, there's usually little in them about what Japan is really like. The most successful imports – usually set in the most generic locations in the first place - have been stripped of any lingering Japanese identity by dubbing and the changing of names, etc.I suspect many Americans have no idea where they come from.I was talking to a class of 2nd graders recently, and told them I'd just come back from Japan.Blank stares and uncomfortable fidgeting.“Where Pokemon comes from” I added.Instant smiles of recognition, whoops of delight, and an entire classful of newly-alert 7 years-olds hanging on my every word.So it is questionable how much Americans directly learn from anime other than that Japan is very good at anime.However, what is clear is that the trend is stimulating a great deal of interest among young Americans in learning more.Japanese language teachers at my collegereport what appears to be a national phenomenon: in the late 1980s it seemed that most American teenagers studying Japanese wanted to go into business.Now, many enroll because they love Anime.¹² And there are other, less measurable benefits: when I began teaching 15 years ago, any discussion of Japanese education would solicit the stereotype: “But the Japanese aren't creative...”I no longer hear that comment.

In summary, what Americans could learn about Japan from watching news and documentaries, would be accurate as far as it goes: in fact, many documentaries present Japan in a much more balanced light than may be expected.But thecontent itself is too often restricted to presenting a familiar few of the multiple facets of Japan.Awareness of Japan is growing rapidly through pop culture,however, though the kinds of knowledge to be gleaned are also limited.

American Attitudes towards Japan

Viewed narrowly, such selective media coverage of Japan might seem to result in the persistence of either negative images or ignorance.In 2001 97% of Americans identified Japan as “the nation which began the attack at Pearl Harbor and was the aggressor”.¹³ But knowledge of Japanese politics and current events is very poor: in 1989 only 12% of Americans, given the name Noboru Takeshita, could identify himas Prime Minister.¹⁴ For the past 15 years I have given a quiz on the first day of my Japanese Politics class.My students are mostly upper-level college students. Never have more than 20% of the class been able to identify the current Prime Minister, and the figure is usually much lower.This year, of 100 students, 15 could name “Koizumi.”In the same quiz, on 5% of students could identify author Haruki Murakami, and only 10% were aware that a national election was occurring within one week of the test!Fewer than 3 in 10 knew that Japan had sent military personnel to Iraq.

But I want to make two points to put this evidence of negativity or ignorance into context.First, the average American's ignorance about the outside world is by no means limited to Japan.Only 10% knew that John Major was Prime Minister of the UK and only 70% could name their own Vice-President.¹⁵

Second, and much more important:most Americans generally think well of Japan, although attitudes have varied over the years.The favorable impression has become more noticeable since9/11 and Prime Minister Koizumi's decision to join the “Coalition of the Willing” in the Iraq war.But throughout the 1990s, Japan has regularly been listed near the top of any list of the closest allies and friends of the US.Perhaps only Canada and Britain have been held in higher esteem for so long. According to a Japan Times poll in 2005, 81% of Americans had a “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” view of Japan, whereassignificantly fewer Japanese (68%) thought the same about America.And while 52% of Japanese distrust the American government, only 41% of Americans distrust the Japanese government. Many more Americans (25%) than Japanese (3%) believed that US-Japan relations will improve in the years ahead.And more Americans (69%) than Japanese (65%) supported Japan becoming a permanent U.N. Security Council member.¹⁶ Moreover, these striking differences cannot be attributed to Japanese opposition to the Iraq War:in the same poll, the numbers of respondents who opposed the Iraq war were almost equal – 56% in Japan and 55% in the U.S..

Other recent surveys have found similar results: a 2004 Gallup Poll found 68% of Americans thought Japan a good and dependable ally.¹⁷ Once again, Japanese support for the “War on Terror” is at best a small part of that perception, since the number has increased only marginally from the 60% in 2000, before the “9/11” attacks.¹⁸ In other areas, too, Japan is well regarded.In 2001 Japan was ranked 10th of all the countries in the world as a country where Americans would most like to vacation.¹⁹ Americans impression of the quality of life in Japan is on a par with their impressions for countries such as France, Italy and Germany.²⁰ And American consumers have voted Sony the “best brand” for the past six years, with Toyota and Honda also in the top 10.²¹

Returning to the highly informal and unscientific poll of 100 of my students, we also see that the associations of Japan held by these young Americans are more a reflection of their everyday experiences than of their television habits.(See Appendix).Asked to list the three things they most closely associated with Japan, references to great technology topped the list, cited by 43%, with “Sushi” or food second at 32% and references to cars at 22%.World War Two followed at 17%, but the number of Americans who identified Japan with the Atomic bombings (17%) was double those who thought of Pearl Harbor – clearly the stereotype of Japan as aggressor is not as powerful as that of Japan as victim.And more students listed Anime than other more “traditional” and stereotypical things such as Samurai, Geisha or the Tea Ceremony.Similarly, baseball greats Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui easily beat out PM Koizumi, Emperor Hirohito, (or Iron Chef Sakai) as the Japanese individuals found most interesting or admirable.

Conclusion

What explains the paradox that although Americans view many stereotypical or negative news reports about Japan, their overall impression of the country and their associations with it are,relative to almost all other countries in the world, very favorable.I suggest of four reasons.First, Americans simply don't believe everything they see on the TV.Levels of trust in the media have been declining sharply.²² By a ratio of 58% to 22% Americans do not trust television,²³ and the single most trusted network in America, CNN, is believed “all or most of the time” by only 32% of viewers.²⁴ Second, it may be that the beneficial effects of the globalization of Japanese pop culture are outweighing the negative feelings engendered by biased news.Third point: people form their impressions of Japan from a wide variety of sources.Americans love sushi, buy Japanese cars, and cheer for Japanese baseball players on Japanese-made TV screens.Finally,we must bear in mind that media “spin” (positive or negative) can only go so far in obscuring or distorting underlying realities.Most Americans like and admire Japan because there is much to like and admire, as well as some to condemn.They regard Japan as a good friend and ally because Japan has been a good friend and ally.And as keenly as Americans remember Pearl Harbor, they also realize that this event does not define contemporary Japan.Ultimately, attitudes reflect realities.

Can US Coverage of Japan be Influenced?

Two central questions for this JAMCO symposium are (1) does AmericanTV encourage stereotyping and distrust of Japan?And (2) if “misleading or negatively biased”images persist, what can be done to deal with them?Having suggested acautious “no” to the first question,I once again suggest caution in how those of us who are committed to the advancement of mutual understanding should proceed.This caution stems from my skepticism that people's minds can be changed as easily as it is to change TV channels.As an Englishman who has lived in America for 15 years, I can attest that stereotypes and misperceptions about Britainabound –despite massive cultural exchange,a shared language, andUS airwaves are filled with TV shows from or about Britain.

I certainly do not think the problem can be much influenced by officially-sanctioned and produced programming from Japan – this would feel like propaganda and be unlikely to reach more than a very small audience.The U.S. government's attempts to improve its image in Middle East with its al-Hurra TV network have been an expensive failure.In any case, although it is easy to identify “misleading” or “negative” coverage, it is not always easy to imagine what more “accurate” or “positive” images would look like, not least because these things do not always go together, and because there are deep debates within Japan about such issues.How should the political role of women in Japan be covered, for example?Would a news item or a documentary about the Japanese NGOs demanding compensation for the Comfort Women be more or less “misleading” or “negative” to American eyes than one dwelling on the Government's denial of legal responsibility or the views of the Society for History Textbook Reform?As the recent spat involving NHK's documentary “How Should War be Judged” shows,the job of satisfying all interested parties in a single “right” way to cover a story can be impossible.

I therefore advise against attempting the impossible task of changing American mass-media for the better – a task that has in any case proved beyond the abilities of many Americans.Instead, leave reality to its own devices, and allow all of Japan's manifold strengths and weaknesses – political, economic, social and cultural – speak for themselves.

Appendix: American College Students' Perceptions of Japan

What three things to you most associate with Japan?
Technology/electronics 43%
Sushi 32%
Cars 22%
Atomic Bombings/Hiroshima/Nagasaki 17%
WW2 17%
Economy/business 16%
Anime/video games 12%
Samurai 9%
Pearl Harbor 8%
Sumo/martial arts 5%
Geisha 3%

Name three Japanese individuals you find interesting or admirable
Ichiro Suzuki 17%
Hideki Matsui 11%
Jun'ichiro Koizumi 6%
Emperor Hirohito 4%
Iron Chef Sakai 3%
Akira Kurasawa 2%

General Knowledge
Percentage of Correct Answers:
Name the Prime Minister of Japan
(A: Jun’Ichiro Koizumi or “Koizumi”)15%
Who is Haruki Murakami
(A: an author)5%
When is the next national election
(A: Sept 11th or “next week” or “soon”)10%
Does Japan have military forces in Iraq?
(A: yes)27%
(The questionnaire was given on September 2nd 2005 to 100 students at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME.)

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1. Harris Poll 2004 No. 35 (May 19)
2. Ken Auletta “Battle Stations: How long will networks stick with the news?” The New Yorker Dec 10^th 2001
3. Rebecca MacKinnon “Priorities of American Global TV” The 14^th JAMCO On-line Annual Symposium Nov/Dec 2004
4. Ibid. See also Rebecca MacKinnon “The World Wide Conversation” Shorenstein Center for People and the Press Working Paper 2004-2
5. Potomac Associates “Americans Look at Asia” (Luce Foundation Project), 1999)
6. Pew News Index
7. Emily Rosenberg 9/11 Through the Prism of Pearl Harbor” Chronicle of Higher Education December 5^th 2003
8. This is not to say that self-censorship or even direct political pressure are unknown in the US. See Henry Laurence “Censorship at NHK and PBS” Japan Policy Research Institute Critique April 2005, available at <www.jpri.org>
9. Ted Mahar “Japanese Color Footage of WW2 is Scarce” The Oregonian July 7^th 2004
10. For statistical details See JETRO “Japan Animation Industry Trends” Japan Economic Monthly June 2005
11. See, for example, Douglas McCray “Japan’s Gross National Cool” Foreign Policy May/June 2002; “Is Japanese Style Taking Over the World?” Business Week July 26^th 2004
12. See also Anthony Faiola “Japan’s Empire of Cool” Washington Post December 27^th 2003
13. Harris Poll 2001 # 31 August 10^th
14. Pew Research Center for People and the Press. “The Press Index” (May 1997)
15. Ibid
16. “52% of Japanese Don’t Trust U.S. Government.” The Japan Times Online July 24^th 2005
17. “The Image of Japan in the United States: 2004” Gallup Poll Survey, commissioned by the MOFA available at <http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/survey/summary2004.html>
18. The same poll also found that 47% of Americans thought favorably of Japan while only 7% had an unfavorable view. Ibid.
19. Harris Poll 2001 No. 3
20. The Harris Poll #56, August 4, 2004
21. Harris Poll 2005 No. 60 (August 2005)
22. David Jones “Why Americans Don’t Trust the Media” Harvard International Journal of Press and Politics Vol. 9 No. 2 Spring 2004
23. Harris Poll 2005 No. 4 (Jan 13)
24. Pew Research Center “News Audiences Increasingly Politicized” June 8^th 2004

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Profile

Dr. Henry Laurence
He is an Associate Professor of Government and Asian Studies at Bowdoin College in Maine, USA.  His current research compares the BBC, PBS, and NHK.  He is the author of Money Rules: the New Politics of Finance in Britain and Japan   (Cornell University Press 2001) and has published articles on  the economics and politics of public broadcasting and satellite television.  He received a PhD from Harvard University and was an Abe Fellow in 2000.

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