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The Reception of Japanese Television Programming by Taiwanese Audiences:
Examining the Impact of Cultural Proximity in the Regionalization of Television

Submitted to the International Communication Division,
Association for Education of Journalism and Mass Communication
April 1, 2005

By
Goro Oba
Mass Communication Doctoral Program
University of Florida
G038 Weimer Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611-8400
(352)846-1107
[log in to unmask]




ABSTRACT

This paper explores the applicability of cultural proximity theory to 
intra-regional television programming trade, taking Japanese 
programming in Taiwan as case study. A focus group was conducted to 
address the question of what cultural proximity was found in Japanese 
programs by Taiwanese viewers and what impact the proximity had on 
their viewing. The study found that Taiwanese youth might find 
cultural proximity associated with modernization, such as similar 
lifestyles and consumption patterns, in Japanese programming.

The Reception of Japanese Television Programming by Taiwanese Audiences:
Examining the Impact of Cultural Proximity in the Regionalization of Television



ABSTRACT

This paper explores the applicability of cultural proximity theory to 
intra-regional television programming trade, taking Japanese 
programming in Taiwan as case study. A focus group was conducted to 
address the question of what cultural proximity was found in Japanese 
programs by Taiwanese viewers and what impact the proximity had on 
their viewing. The study found that Taiwanese youth might find 
cultural proximity associated with modernization, such as similar 
lifestyles and consumption patterns, in Japanese programming.
Introduction
It is true that media products, such as television programs, still 
flow largely from the United States to other countries. For instance, 
the United States accounts for at least 75% of all television 
exports, and nearly one-third of what people can watch around the 
world is American programming (Banerjee, 2002; Hoskins, McFadyen & 
Finn, 1997). In spite of the presence of U.S. programming worldwide 
as ever, however, new opportunities for domestic production within 
U.S. trading partner nations have been created, as Waterman (1988) 
once assumed. In fact, as the television production industry matured 
in a country, along with the development of domestic commercial 
infrastructure, U.S. imports were to some extent replaced by domestic 
programs in local competition (Sinclair, Jacka, and Cunningham, 1996; 
Waterman & Rogers, 1994). While not all countries have the capacity 
to develop sizeable, indigenous television production industries, 
television programs also increasingly flow within individual regions, 
which have their own internal dynamics. As Sinclair et al. (1996) and 
Straubhaar (2003) claim, this is in large part attributed to the 
emergence of major producers in each of regions, such as Brazil and 
Mexico for Latin America, Hong Kong for Asia, and Egypt for the Arab 
world. For instance, Brazilian telenovelas, Latin American soap 
operas, became popular among not only viewers at the home country, 
but also the wider television audiences in other Latin American 
countries as well (Straubhaar, 1991).
Sinclair et al. (1996) and Thussu (2000) suggest that there is a 
trend towards the regionalization of television programs to suit 
cultural priorities of audiences. In terms of the role of culture as 
a significant factor to determine the acceptance of television 
programming, Kottak (1990), researching the Brazilian television 
market, observes that the first requirement common to all mass 
culture success, no matter what the country, is that they must be 
pre-adopted to their culture by virtue of cultural appropriateness 
and fit the existing culture. Thus, patterns of regional program 
trade could be to some extent explained by cultural dimensions. 
Culture is interpreted by Hofstede's definition (2001) as the 
collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of 
one group or category of people from another. Given the value 
inherent in members of a culture, a product accepted by them might 
not be accepted by the members of a different culture. According to 
Straubhaar and Viscasillas (1991, p.191), 'A number of scholars now 
argue that popular culture audiences are more nationalistic, or at 
least show more loyalty to local, provincial, and national cultural 
forms and traditions than was thought during the 1970s when cultural 
imperialism theories held sway.' Straubhaar (1991, 2002, 2003) 
further claims that audiences in many countries clearly express 
preferences both for national production and, particularly in the 
smaller countries whose local economies might not be able to support 
national production, for intra-regional imports, seeking great 
cultural similarity or 'cultural proximity' at both levels. In other 
words, the regionalization of television programs postulates that 
audiences prefer media products, which reflect their own culture 
regionally as well as nationally, and regional television production 
industries become mature.
Cultural proximity theory counters the aforementioned, classic 
cultural imperialism theory, which explicates Western countries' 
dominance, in particular the U.S. dominance. Schiller (1969) argued 
that the consequences of the expansion of U.S. media along with 
economy and culture to other countries would displace local 
traditions and impose U.S. values onto other cultures, leading to the 
dependence upon the United States for cultural goods. Cultural 
imperialism theory was very influential in international 
communication research in the 1970s and 1980s but did not adequately 
take on board such issues as how global media contexts worked in 
national contexts, ignoring local patterns of media consumption 
(Thussu, 2000). As Burch (2002) suggests, hegemony, in which U.S. 
media and cultural products are used to set a dominant ideology, may 
not fully explain media preferences of audiences in other countries. 
Opposed to the definition in cultural imperialism theory, audiences 
are perhaps not merely passive receivers but active participants in 
the process of negotiating meanings (Fiske, 1987). Cultural proximity 
theory attempts to explain why viewers accept or reject programs. 
This perspective makes theoretical sense, since behavioral science 
researchers, such as the uses and gratifications school (e.g., 
Blumler & Katz, 1974), have consistently rejected the view of the 
audience as a passive entity (Straubhaar, 2002). The audience's 
selection of television programs is rather perceived as a 
goal-oriented purposive behavior (Rubin, 1994).
This paper explores the applicability of cultural proximity theory to 
intra-regional programming trades, taking Japanese programming in 
Taiwan as case study. Japanese dramas and variety shows have been 
widely accepted in East and Southeast Asian countries, such as 
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, or Thailand. In particular, popularity 
in Taiwan is striking, as many Taiwanese and Japanese scholars (e.g., 
Chin, 1996; Ishii, Su, & Watanabe, 1999; Iwabuchi, 2001; Liu & Chen, 
2003; Su & Chen, 2000) note. Su & Chen (2000) claimed that U.S. 
programs were replaced by their Japanese counterparts in the 
Taiwanese market, as the former were scheduled at less popular 
viewing times than the latter by an arrangement which reflected 
viewers' program preferences. Significantly, as discussed in detail 
later, many Taiwanese and Japanese scholars (e.g. Ishii et al., 1999; 
Liu & Chen, 2003; Su & Chen, 2000) cite cultural proximity or 
similarity as a justification for the popularity of Japanese 
television programs in Taiwan with little in-depth discussion. This 
paper is intended to examine the degree to which the popularity of 
Japanese programming in Taiwan can be associated with cultural 
proximity between Japanese and Taiwanese.

Geo-cultural Market Linked by Cultural Proximity
As language is the most clearly recognizable part of culture 
(Hofstede, 2001), cultural proximity theory is based to a larger 
degree on language, which, as common base, has a potential for 
sharing cultural products, including television programs. Indeed, a 
number of same language groups have developed across national lines, 
reinforcing regionality and forming 'geo-linguistic markets' 
(Straubhaar, 1997). Some languages are certainly coincident with 
geographic regions, such as Spanish in Latin America, Chinese in East 
and Southeast Asia, or Arabic in Middle East. English is no 
exception. Straubhaar (1997, 2002) assumes that the global flow of 
television outward from the United States is probably the strongest 
and best understood in the Anglophone nations of the world, such as 
the United Kingdom, Anglophone Canada, Australia, and the 
English-speaking Caribbean. In contrast, Francophone Canadians may 
prefer imports from France to those from the United States. The 
Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic and the English-speaking Jamaica, 
where limited economies of scale may not permit domestic producers to 
meet national demands, import much of programming from other Latin 
American countries and the United States, respectively (Straubhaar & 
Do, 1996). The importance of language in creating television markets 
is also accentuated from the microeconomics perspective. According to 
a model of international trade of media products by Wildman and Siwek 
(1988, p.68), 'Producers in countries that belong to large natural 
language markets have a financial incentive to create larger budget 
films and programs that will generally have greater intrinsic 
audience appeal, a clear advantage in international competition.' A 
relative large and wealthy population in the English-speaking 
countries, therefore, can be a rationale behind the dominance of U.S. 
programming in international trade, because of substantial cost 
saving realized by spreading the huge fixed costs necessary for 
production over as large an audience as possible.
Yet, given the present practice whereby a majority of imported 
programs are subtitled with or dubbed into languages of host 
countries, it is unclear to what extent the language originally 
spoken in the programming matters to audiences. In regard to this 
point, Wildman (1995) argues that viewers prefer television programs 
produced in their native language due to something of the essence of 
an artistic work always lost in translation. In particular, in large 
natural language markets, where large production industries grew up 
to meet the demand for local production, such as the United States, 
Germany, and Brazil, audiences seem to reject dubbed programs 
(Straubhaar, 1991; Tracy, 1988).
The question now arises: If language is so crucial, why do Brazilian 
telenovelas and Hong Kong's programs become popular among the 
Spanish-speaking populations of Latin America and Chinese-speaking 
populations of East and Southeast Asia, respectively, so as to be 
often regarded as typical cases of regionalized television programs 
by some scholars (e.g. Sinclair et al., 1996; Straubhaar, 2003)? It 
is not clear to what degree language differences between Portuguese 
and Spanish or between Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese hinder 
understanding of television programs. Yet, several Taiwanese people 
told the author that they can hardly understand Hong Kong's programs 
produced in Cantonese without subtitles. Taiwan's official language 
is Mandarin Chinese. It is quite probable that an extremely high 
level of linguistic skill comparative to native speakers is required 
to fully understand imported television programs without translation, 
although it might vary depending on the type of programming. This can 
apply to Taiwanese reception of Japanese programs. Elderly people 
usually understand some Japanese language, as they experienced 
Japanese education under Japanese rule, which lasted for half a 
century until 1945, and youth have been studying Japanese actively. 
Japanese is perhaps the second most popular language behind English 
to learn in Taiwan, as there were 192,015 students of Japanese 
language in 1998, an increase of 19% over 1995, and the number of 
educational institutions teaching Japanese more than doubled to 694 
(Lam & Ja, 2004). Nonetheless, according to Ishii et al.'s survey 
(1999), 15% of people aged 55 or older and only 5% of young people 
aged 15 to 29 in Taiwan admit that they are fluent in Japanese 
language. It is, therefore, likely that many Taiwanese viewers rely 
on subtitles or dubbing to understand Japanese programs. In terms of 
the origins of programs frequently watched by Taiwanese viewers, 
however, Japanese programs (20.7%) were ranked second behind 
Taiwanese programs (56.2%) and much higher than those from Mainland 
China (3.5%), which are produced in Mandarin and, hence, watched by 
Taiwanese people without subtitles or dubbing (Su & Chen, 2000). It 
might be true that the language factor alone cannot indicate the 
degree to which viewers of host countries accept an imported program.
According to Straubhaar (2003), although Brazilians speak Portuguese, 
they have a great deal in common with Spanish-speaking Latin 
Americans in terms of underlying culture inherited from Iberia and 
further developed and hybridized with other cultures in Latin 
America. A Brazilian program, therefore, tends to look far more 
familiar to a Venezuelan than a program from the U.S. As shown in the 
success of Brazilian programming dubbed into Spanish throughout Latin 
America, there are other levels of similarity or proximity than 
languages, based on cultural elements including shared identity, 
dress, gestures and non-verbal communication, definitions of humor 
(i.e. what is considered funny), ideas about story pacing, living 
patterns, religious elements, etc (Straubhaar, 1997, 2002). 
Straubhaar (1997, 2002) claims that a major trend of the last 20 
years has been regionalization of television into multi-country 
markets linked not only by language but also by culture, which might 
be called 'geo-cultural markets.' A good example to illustrate 
geo-cultural markets is Western Europe where a region-wide cultural 
market is created under the European Community in spite of language 
differences, as pointed out by Schlesinger (1991). Geo-cultural 
markets are often centered in geographic regions, as to be called 
regional markets, but have also been spread by colonization, slavery, 
and migration (Straubhaar, 1997). An example can be seen in the 
Chinese geo-cultural market, which is centered in Mainland China and 
nations and regions around it, such as Taiwan and Hong Kong, forming 
greater China (Chan, 1996), but extends slightly further away to 
large Chinese communities in Southeast Asian countries, such as 
Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand, and Chinese immigrants around the 
world. The existence of Chinese populations tied with each other due 
to cultural proximity might offer the key to an understanding of the 
popularity of Hong Kong's programs in East and Southeast Asia.
Many Taiwanese and Japanese scholars (e.g. Ishii et al., 1999; Liu & 
Chen, 2003; Su & Chen, 2000) note that Japanese television programs 
are popular in Taiwan because of cultural proximity. Indeed, not only 
do television programs become popular Japanese cultural products in 
Taiwan, but also many examples of Japanese cultural influence can be 
easily found in popular songs, fashion, fast food, movies, karaoke, 
computer games, books, and comics, all of which form the taste and 
behavior of Taiwanese youth (Lam & Ja, 2004). It is perhaps true that 
Japanese cultural influence is most pervasive in Taiwan, as Ching 
(1996) asserts. Nonetheless, there appears to be little conclusive 
evidence to attribute the popularity of these cultural goods to 
cultural proximity. It is also possible that they are popular because 
of other reasons, such as high quality or interests in Japan and 
Japanese people. According to Ching (1996, p.171), 'The emergence of 
Japanese cultural presence in Taiwan since the mid 1980s can be 
attributed to Japan's ascendancy as the world's prominent economic 
power and to Taiwan's own politico-economic changes.' This might also 
apply to Japanese television programming. Meanwhile, Iwabuchi (2001) 
assumes that the popularity of Japanese television programs has much 
to do with the historical facts of Japanese colonial rule over 
Taiwan. Taiwan was ceded to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War 
(1894-95) and governed as a colony by Japan for 50 years. According 
to Lam and Ja (2004), relatively benign and progressive Japanese 
colonial rule provided the cultural foundation of Japan-Taiwan 
relations, and a sense of nostalgia among many older Taiwanese have 
reinforced the cultural bonds between both countries. In fact, it is 
common that Taiwanese elderly people appreciate traditional Japanese 
cultures. Most Japanese programs available in Taiwan, nonetheless, 
are targeted at younger people (Ishii et al., 1999). Many Taiwanese 
youth have not experienced Japanese rule and, hence, neither have 
sentimental ties with Japanese culture nor understand Japanese 
language. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that it is not until 
they watch Japanese programs that they possibly find cultural 
proximity or similarity, if any. As Iwabuchi (2001) argues, cultural 
proximity does not exist a priori but is something experienced, 
identified, and realized later or a posteriori.

Trend of Japanese Programming on Taiwanese Television
Liu and Chen (2003) summarize the trend of imported programming in 
Taiwan as the following: Taiwan imported many television series, 
movies, and feature films from the U.S. during the 1960s and 70s, 
followed by those from Hong Kong by the 1980s, and in the 1990s 
Taiwanese viewers gained access to Japanese channels carrying movies, 
drama series, and variety shows. It is significant here to review the 
context in which Japanese programs have gained popularity among 
Taiwanese viewers. The permeation of Japanese television programs 
into the Taiwanese market was, aside from demands for them, triggered 
largely by the development of video distribution technologies since 
the late 1980s, the liberalization of related policies in the early 
1990s, and the longstanding of unpopularity of Taiwanese domestic programs.
The Taiwanese television broadcast industry had been dominated by 
three stations, TTV, CTV, and CTS, for around 30 years until a new 
station, FTV, was launched in 1997. Although the three conventional 
stations rely on advertising for the bulk of revenues, they are 
substantially run by the Taiwan provincial government, the Kuomingtan 
(KMT: National People's Party) government, and the Ministry of 
National Defense, which hold large shares in TTV, CTV and CTS, 
respectively, through stocks. As a result, the government 
traditionally exerted a large amount of control over the media than 
many thought healthy (Zenith Optimedia, 2003). As those stations have 
consciously been biased to serve KMT-prescribed ideology (Lee, 1999), 
programming was bound by strict regulations and often criticized as 
less appealing to audiences. The Government Information Office (GIO), 
the regulatory body of media industries, stipulated that the 
percentages of time allocation to newscasts and public information 
programs were to be no less than 20% along with education and 
cultural programs being no less than 20%. Besides, imported programs 
were restricted to less than 30% of total broadcast time. It is 
noteworthy here that after the Japanese government officially 
reestablished diplomatic relations with People's Republic of China in 
1972, the Taiwanese government had banned the broadcasting of 
Japanese language programs until 1993. According to Su (1992, cited 
in Ishii et al., 1999), in 1991 when Japanese programs were still 
banned on broadcast stations, 83.9% of the programs on TTV were in 
Mandarin, followed by those in English (7.6%), Taiwanese (8.1%), and 
other languages (0.4%). In short, Japanese programming had had no 
presence on Taiwanese television broadcasting until the early 1990s.
What brought more program choices to Taiwanese viewers, who were 
dissatisfied with programming available in the oligopolistic 
television industry, might be direct broadcast satellite (DBS) 
services by foreign countries. Taiwan had more satellite dishes than 
most Asian countries except Japan as of 1991, even though many of 
those countries were more populous or geographically larger than 
Taiwan (Lee, 1999). Japanese NHK's DBS service, launched in 1989 and 
consisting of two channels, could be received by Taiwanese homes 
setting dishes as a satellite signal spill-over. Restricted to 
Japanese territory in principle by Japanese law, the service did not 
assume the reception by free riders in neighboring countries, such as 
Taiwan, and the Taiwanese government regarded it as an accidental 
transmission of television signals. Ching (1996) claim that the 
geographic proximity between Taiwan and Japan made the approximately 
20 million people in Taiwan free subscribers to Japan's technological 
ingenuity. The DBS service provided content without any 
customization, such as being subtitled or dubbed, for possible 
audiences in neighboring countries, since it was intended for viewing 
only in Japan. Nonetheless, it became popular among Taiwanese 
audiences. Those who eagerly watched NHK's DBS were elderly people 
who, as noted earlier, educated under the Japanese education system, 
still spoke or at least understood Japanese language, and had 
sentimental ties to Japanese culture (Chan-Olmsted, 1990). NHK's DBS 
service possibly had a certain degree of impact on Taiwanese 
television as a new video distribution outlet, but it is assumed that 
the number of audiences who can enjoy the service was limited because 
of the language barrier. In addition, as most programs offered by the 
service focus on cultural, educational, and high-blow subjects, it is 
doubtful that it worked sufficiently as a vehicle to entertain 
Taiwanese audiences.
Presumably, more important satellite entity delivering Japanese 
programs to Taiwanese viewers was STAR TV, a Hong Kong-based 
satellite video delivery service, which began transmissions in August 
1991. While its footprint, covering 38 nations ranging from the Arab 
world to South Asia to East Asia, represented a very direct challenge 
to several Asian governments, which tended to restrict the inflow of 
information, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Burma, China, or Saudi 
Arabia, the Taiwanese government permitted individuals to receive it 
openly (Chan, 1994). In fact, Taiwan was an important market for Star 
TV, as the satellite service had a higher rate of household 
penetration in Taiwan than elsewhere in Asia (Chan, 1994; Lee, 1999). 
STAR TV targeted audiences more narrowly in terms of genres, 
languages, and culture, responding to an apparent audience preference 
for localized programming. For instance, the Chinese Channel, one of 
channels provided by STAR TV, was mainly aimed at the Taiwanese 
market and, according to Lang (1994), enjoyed a higher rating than 
any of Taiwanese three conventional broadcast stations between 9 and 
11 pm. After the debut in May 1992, Japanese dramas subtitled in 
Chinese became a main feature in the Chinese Channel, occupying its 
prime time slots, and as of 1995, the channel aired Japanese dramas 
more frequently than Hong Kong's dramas (Ishii & Watanabe, 2001; 
Iwabuchi, 2001; Su & Chen, 2000). While the initial motivation of 
STAR TV to begin showing Japanese dramas is unclear, it is possible 
that Japanese programs were expected to meet the needs of Taiwanese 
viewers who were discontent with their domestic programs. According 
to Iwabuchi (2001), there is no doubt that the pioneer in diffusing 
Japanese dramas in Taiwan was STAR TV, as a manager of STAR TV's 
Chinese Channel told that Japanese programs were indispensable for 
its localized strategy.
The demand for satellite dishes, however, had rapidly decreased by 
1993, since most satellite broadcasting channels became available on 
cable television. Taiwan is by far the most cable-developed country 
in Asia with a penetration rate as high as 80%. Cable television in 
Taiwan has been known commonly as 'Channel Four,' a euphemism that 
distinguishes itself from the three state-controlled broadcast 
stations (Chen, 2002; Lee, 1999). Until legalized in 1993 when the 
government introduced the Cable Television Act, cable television had 
been allowed to exist for more than two decades under a policy that 
Chan (1994) calls 'illegal openness.' It can be assumed that cable 
television with much larger channel capacity provided a variety of 
programs and hence became popular, in particular in a country such as 
Taiwan where conventional broadcast stations offered less diverse 
programming. Cable television in Taiwan actually played such a role 
in the late 1980s, offering a wide range of programming, including 
unauthorized Hong Kong soap operas, Japanese variety shows, and even 
pornography, although most of them were pirated videotapes, which 
were rented from local video shops and simply played for cablecasting 
(Chen, 2002, 2004; Tsang, 1991, as cited in Chen, 2002). According to 
Wang (1984, as cited in Ishii et al., 1999), prior to the amendment 
of the Copyright Law, pirated tapes of Japanese programs with 
subtitles were in circulation through many of rental video shops, and 
Japanese detective dramas were the most popular genre on cable 
television. Although it might be true that, as Iwabuchi (2001) points 
out, Japanese dramas exploded in popularity among Taiwanese viewers 
when supplied by STAR TV, what deserves careful attention here is the 
fact that most of the viewers had actually been exposed to and 
perhaps become familiar with Japanese programs on cable television 
for years prior to the launch of STAR TV. In this regard, cable 
television laid the groundwork for Japanese programs to make waves in 
Taiwan of the 1990s.
The Cable Television Act of 1993 authorized cable television whose 
penetration rate was already more than 50%. Article 36 of the act 
mandates that domestically produced programming may not account for 
less than 20% of cable television programming. Iwabuchi (2001), 
nonetheless, suggests that many cable channels obviously do not abide 
by this condition, as they buy all their programming from overseas, 
mainly from the United States, Hong Kong, and Japan. What significant 
impact this legalization had can be explained by the fact that in the 
four years between 1993 and 1997, almost twenty channels exclusively 
offering foreign programs appeared, including seven Japanese channels 
(Su & Chen, 2000). It was not until 1995 that the first Japanese 
cable channels, NHK-Asia, officially entered the Taiwanese cable 
market. Since then, cable channels, which exclusively offer Japanese 
programming acquired from Japanese broadcast stations, have 
proliferated, and as of 2004, there remain three Japanese channels 
other than NHK-Asia: Video Land Japanese, Gold Sun, and Japan 
Entertainment Network (JET). Asking what cable channels Taiwanese 
audiences usually watched, Ishii et al. (1996) found that Video Land 
Japanese and Gold Sun were ranked 6th and 15th, respectively, as of 
1996. In addition, other channels, such as STAR TV's Chinese Channel, 
allocate more or less time slots to Japanese programs, as noted earlier.
The Taiwanese government lifted the ban against Japanese programs at 
the end of 1993, pressured strongly by the three television stations, 
which was losing ground to STAR TV's Chinese Channel taking advantage 
of Japanese programs (Ishii & Watanabe, 2001). These television 
stations started Japanese programs soon after the removal of the ban 
against Japanese programs. Interestingly, there was no controversy in 
Taiwan over lifting the ban, unlike South Korea where a ban on 
imports of Japanese popular cultural products was not easily lifted 
on alert for their possible pandemic and influence. According to 
Iwabuchi (2000), the number of Japanese programs exported to Taiwan 
drastically increased in 1994. The total amount of Japanese programs 
exported to Taiwan in 1992 was around 600 hours, while one Japanese 
broadcast network, TBS, alone exported 1,000 hours of programs to 
Taiwan in 1996 (Iwabuchi, 2000; Kawatake & Hara, 1994).

Taiwanese Response to Japanese Programming
The popularity of Japanese television programming in Taiwan has been 
confirmed thus far. Yet, the question of why Taiwanese prefer 
Japanese programming still remains unexplored in large part. Audience 
analysis is certainly necessary in order to examine how and why 
certain types of programs become popular in a cultural sense. For the 
purpose of exploring the question above, a focus group was conducted 
in November 2004. The respondents are four graduate students of 
University of Florida, who are originally from Taiwan. It is no doubt 
that the focus group is not appropriate technique for gathering 
quantitative data, and opinions by respondents cannot be generalized. 
However, the focus group provides some useful information to consider 
questions for this study, such as 'Does cultural proximity, if any, 
really play an important role in the choice of Japanese programming 
by Taiwanese viewers?' or 'What cultural proximity do they find in 
Japanese programs?'
All respondents of the focus group watched Japanese programs in 
Taiwan roughly on a routine basis. Three of four respondents have 
traveled to Japan at least once. Travel experience can be regarded as 
a key element of cultural capital, which cultural proximity is built 
on. Importantly, cultural capital focuses on the sources of knowledge 
that permit people to make choices among information and culture 
products (Straubhaar, 2003). In terms of the experience of studying 
Japanese language, all respondents have studied Japanese language 
before, aside from differences of length of study and ability among 
individuals. Yet, all of them are not so fluent in Japanese that they 
relied on subtitles in Mandarin when watching Japanese programs. They 
state that they were able to understand Japanese programs almost 
perfectly with subtitles, and subtitles would not hamper their 
viewing. It is likely that they are pretty familiar with subtitles 
because of a relatively large number of programs imported to Taiwan, 
unlike viewers who, having little experience to subtitles, tend to 
reject subtitled programs in countries where program are in large 
part produced domestically and, therefore, do not need translation.
A male respondent, however, mentions that he occasionally could not 
understand something featured in Japanese programs, resulting from 
both cultural distance and the information gap. An example of the 
former is a discomfort that the respondent certainly sensed at the 
relationship between seniors and juniors at schools or workplaces, 
which is important in Japan so as to be depicted in Japanese programs 
oftentimes. This indicates a sort of cultural distance between 
Taiwanese and Japanese societies. In terms of the latter, he states 
that Japanese variety programs sometimes included topics, which were 
broadly and commonly known among Japanese people but not familiar to 
him, ranging from gossip about Japanese celebrities to historical 
facts. In this case, the reason why he did not understand content 
could be ascribed to an information gap between Japanese and 
Taiwanese viewers, rather than to cultural distance between them. 
Yet, the incomprehensibility occasionally yields by-products to him. 
He came to have interests in information regarding Japan or Japanese 
people that he had never known until watching the program, depending 
on the topic. By the same token, a female respondent, who were 
curious about Japanese youth, liked a Japanese variety show, 'Gakkou 
he ikou! (Kids are alright: Groovy after school),' focused on the 
daily lives of Japanese students, in order to acquire knowledge of 
what they did or how they thought. For her, Japanese programs were 
the easiest way to learn about Japanese culture. Although what 
motivates them to watch Japanese programs in these cases are 
interests in Japanese culture, it is necessary to keep in mind that 
whether or not the culture about which they gain or deepen knowledge 
is proximate is not so important in these cases.
Meanwhile, all respondents agree that cultural proximity makes 
Japanese programs attractive for them, emphasizing a sense of 
affinity they had toward the content of those programs. A male 
respondent articulates that Japanese programs were close to his 
identity and taste and, therefore, more appealing than programs 
imported from other countries. A female respondent says, 'In terms of 
reality shows, Japanese ones are more appealing to me because the way 
people on programs react looks realistic to me, and I easily felt 
sympathy for characters in Japanese programs.' She liked a 
reality-type Japanese variety show depicting the process of 
characters going from failure to success in restaurant business. 
Because of a similar work ethic between Taiwanese and Japanese 
people, she thinks that she could identify herself with characters in 
the program. Actually, some respondents mention that they can easily 
see themselves in characters of Japanese programs, leading to 
empathy, and this is deemed as a significant factor behind their 
being attracted by Japanese programs.
The identification with characters is found when they watch Japanese 
dramas as well. Japanese dramas that have become popular in Taiwanese 
youth so far are all too often stories about the romance, friendship, 
and life of young people in Japanese urban setting. They are 
collectively called as 'idol-dramas,' featuring Japanese popular 
culture icons of the day (Liu & Chen, 2003). A male respondent states 
that modern urban lifestyles and fashion shown in Japanese 
idol-dramas were considered close to him, if not exactly the same. It 
is true that Taiwanese and Japanese people generally have similar 
figures and colors of skin, eyes, and hair. The respondent saw people 
who looked, dressed, lived, and suffered like him in Japanese 
idol-dramas. A female respondent likes both Japanese and American 
dramas but thinks that the former reflect her experiences, values, 
and societal norms better than the latter. According to her, the 
setting and story seen in her favorite American television series, 
such as 'Sex and the city' or 'Friends,' bears little resemblance to 
her reality, while she admits the high quality those programs have. 
Indeed, Ishii et al. (1999) and Su and Chen (2000) discover that 
Taiwanese viewers seek high quality in American programs, whereas 
Japanese programs are perceived to be more closely related their 
lives because of the cultural similarities. Yet, the female 
respondent does not like Hong Kong's dramas, to which Taiwanese 
audiences might easily find cultural proximity, stating that their 
scripts are all about hate, money, or power. It is likely that, as 
Iwabuchi (2001) assumes, the difference between programs in terms of 
audience identification lies not only in cultural proximity but also 
in their degree of textual intimacy.
On the other hand, characters in Japanese idol-dramas, who Taiwanese 
youth often identify themselves with, also play a role of models for 
Taiwanese viewers to imitate. A male respondent thinks that it would 
be easier and more suitable for him to dress like Takuya Kimura, a 
Japanese pop star, than Brad Pitt. He also provides an interesting 
opinion: Japanese programs are exotic enough to be attractive but are 
neither too far way from nor too bizarre to him. While cultural 
proximity is seemingly contradicted by the appeal of the exotic 
(Straubhaar, 2004), there is a possibility of exoticism, which can be 
accepted within the bounds of cultural tolerance. Actually, such 
exoticism can be perceived as something stylish or cool. Some friends 
of a female respondent eagerly imitated the way their favorite 
characters in Japanese idol-dramas did, such as how to attract the 
attention of or maintain romantic relations with their boyfriends, 
thinking Japanese styles cool. The fact that they imitate characters 
in Japanese idol-dramas, however, might have more profound meanings 
than something sensuous as merely being cool or romantic. Taiwanese 
viewers, if they want, can afford to purchase clothes and goods, 
which they watch in Japanese idol-dramas, and go to restaurants or 
bars whose setting is similar to those in the dramas. In other words, 
they are capable of meeting their demands for goods or services, 
which are raised by Japanese idol-dramas. This indicates similar 
consumption patterns between Taiwanese and Japanese individuals. 
According to Ching (1996), from fashion to food to leisure, Japanese 
cultural commodities are ubiquitous throughout Taiwan or Hong Kong, 
casting wooing glances at the Orient's nouveaux riches. Whitley 
(1994) cites the major similarities in East Asia, such as the role of 
the family as the primary unit of identity, as basic elements of 
trade in cultural products. It is, however, possible that a cultural 
similarity derived from consumerist integration is more realistic to 
Taiwanese youth than similarities in traditional cultural values, 
such as convention or custom. That is, Taiwanese youth might find 
cultural proximity associated with modernization rather than with 
traditional values in Japanese idol-dramas. Iwabuchi (2001) argues 
that Taiwanese youth are likely to choose and identify with Japanese 
television programs because the Japanese material is seen as being 
more modern where still recognizably familiar within an Asian context 
by successfully adapting or Asianizing U.S. popular cultural genres 
into more localized or regionalized forms. This deliberate adoption 
of foreign models to fit national demands are described as the 
glocalized approach, whose prototype was developed by Japanese 
(Robertson, 1995).
Iwabuchi (2000) claims that Japan's successful indigenization of 
Western cultural influences presents a developmental model for 
producers of cultural products in other industrial Asian countries, 
including Taiwan, to follow. In fact, Taiwanese entertainment 
programs, whether variety shows or dramas, have recently taken to 
borrowing ideas from their Japanese counterparts and, therefore, have 
acquired a more Japanese look (Liu & Chen, 2003). Audiences are 
supposed to prefer nationally produced programs to imported programs, 
other things being equal, in cultural proximity theory. According to 
a female respondent, 'If Taiwanese programs had quality as same as 
Japanese programs, I would have chosen Taiwanese ones because they 
are more related to me and I can understand them better.' Another 
female respondent, however, mentions that Taiwanese programs are 
generally lacking in originality, and considers them merely copycat 
products of successful Japanese programs. Novelty and authenticity 
can often be associated with program quality, which are critical in 
drawing audiences. Su and Chen (2000) found that Taiwanese viewers 
considered the quality of Japanese programs superior to that of 
Taiwanese programs. It is noteworthy that Japanese programs, in 
particular idol-dramas, have been recognized as a new genre, which 
did not exist in Taiwan, while successfully arousing sympathy among 
Taiwanese viewers. That is, Japanese programs are regarded as both 
high quality and something familiar by Taiwanese viewers, unlike 
American or Taiwanese programs, which may provide only one or the other.

Conclusions and Discussion
It has been long time since the regionalization of television 
programming came to the forefront, resulting from the production of 
programs that can compete with U.S. productions in national and then 
in regional markets. It may no longer be accurate to identify the 
United States as the single center of television production. It 
appears that cultural proximity theory, in which viewers are supposed 
to prefer television programs that reflect their own culture 
regionally as well as nationally, has a certain degree of persuasive 
power in the process of regionalization of television. One of the 
significant aspects in the theory is its reference to the 
geo-cultural market, in which countries are tied by shared cultures, 
and, therefore, people can easily empathize with characters in 
programs from the same geo-cultural market. Yet, as the culture 
contains various elements, which cultural elements will strongly bind 
people in different countries, forming a geo-cultural market, may 
vary greatly according to markets. While there are several elements 
that Taiwanese youth find culturally proximate in Japanese programs, 
the important ones may be Japanese lifestyles and consumption 
patterns, which are considered familiar to Taiwanese youth within a 
modern Asian context. This point was proved in the early research by 
Iwabuchi (2001), in which Taiwanese youth were interviewed, and 
confirmed in the focus group for this study. Although it is difficult 
to generalize findings in these qualitative studies, they might not 
be too far from the truth because of the many similarities in 
opinions obtained in both studies.
Another important point found in this study is that Taiwanese viewers 
regard Japanese programs as relatively high quality, and, therefore, 
Taiwanese producers try to imitate them. Taiwanese programs, in turn, 
are increasingly imitated in Mainland China, and, to a lesser degree, 
in Hong Kong and Singapore (Liu & Chen, 2003). It seems that Taiwan 
can possibly become a quasi-Japan in terms of television production, 
expanding its influence to other Asian countries. This phenomenon 
deserves careful attention. Although Dal (2003) finds that 
regional-based television program trade increases rapidly in East 
Asia, the flow in trade is not necessarily two-way. For instance, 
while, as this paper has shown, Japanese programming is widely 
accepted in Taiwan, Oba (2004) discovered that intra-regional program 
trade played only a marginal role in the programming of Japanese 
video distribution services in 2002, as very few programs were 
imported from other Asian countries to Japan. In this sense, the 
regional television marketplace could be likened to a miniature 
version of the global television marketplace where only a handful of 
countries dominate trade as exporters, enjoying an export surplus. 
Whether or not the one-way flow of television programming within 
regional markets would be redressed remains as an issue to be observed further.
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