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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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