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In the US, many of us were educated as children with the mantra of
"We're Number One." But when you learn more about other countries, you
see that they are often superior in various ways.. It's time we start
to better appreciate these ways. If you've traveled or lived outside
the US, the Free Press invites you to contribute to this column.
Japanese Television
by Kazu Sugiura
Recently I came to the United States to study English and Business. I
have experienced many culture shocks, for example, everything is
bigger than in Japan, and to be friendly is very important for
communication here (in Japan it is more important to be polite). In TV
programs also, there are many cultural differences between America and
Japan.
First, here in America there are so many channels and programs if you
are a cable subscriber. You can have wide range of selections. In
Japan, cable TV is not so popular yet, so we usually have eight
channels or less. We don't have all-news stations or all-food
stations. Each TV station in Japan tends to gain or lose its audience
easily because they are very competitive, so every station takes care
of its programs very carefully. I feel that Japanese TV directors
consider viewer feedback to be more vital, so they often do surveys or
contests. I guess the cost of promotion is very high in Japan.
Second, media giants and big networks are quite strong in the United
States. Media giants like AOL Time Warner and News Corporation, are so
strong that they sometimes control their programs, even news stories.
(For good examples of the influence on NBC by parent company General
Electric, see
www.fair.org/extra/9511/nbc.html).
In Japan, there are
networks, and some big companies have a large number of one media
company's stocks, but the compaines are not strong enough to control
programs. Fundamentally, TV stations are independent in Japan and
should not be biased by anybody. A TV station might lose favor in
Japan if we find that it is controlled by any other authority.
Third, there are differences in TV advertising, too. I was surprised
to find food companies seem to be the biggest advertisers here. In
every hour, you can see commercials for food, such as for McDonalds,
KFC, Safeway and so forth. Japan has fewer food commercial but lots of
educational commercials, like for private colleges, cram schools, and
studying materials. Japanese children study from when they are little
and most of them go to cram school everyday, so education is the
greatest target of TV commercial spots.
There is also the difference in the way of thinking about TV. Japanese
people spend less time watching TV than Americans do. According to
international statistics (see
www.csm.com.cn/content/news_events/index/articles/20021012),
the
average time spent watching TV in Japan is about 86 percent of that of
American people. According to a 2001 study cited by the TV-Turnoff
Network (tv-turnoff.org/brockpr.htm), TV-free families spend an
average of 385 minutes a week in meaningful conversation with their
children. This is about ten times the national average. Another
statistic cited on the same website is that forty percent of Americans
watch TV while eating dinner. On the other hand, many Japanese people
still think eating meals while watching TV is bad behavior and many
working people never watch TV during weekdays. Some people consider TV
as lazy hobby. Some people regard TV just as killing time. Many
children are not allowed to watch TV more than two hours a day. I was
told not to watch TV more than one hour while I went to elementary
school. I know some American people think in the same way but I feel
there are more such people in Japan. However, the average time of TV
in Japan is getting longer gradually. Especially when something
unusual happens, like the big earthquake at Kobe in 1999, the World
Cup, or the Iraq war, Japanese people watch TV longer than usual,
according to a survey by NHK, the Japanese public TV network. The
survey shows that Japanese people rely on TV for news about big events
much more than on other media.
I think now the TV industry is kind of stagnant and outworn not only in
America but also in other countries. If media observers learn the
differences of TV styles between countries, TV programs will have more
diversity and be funner. Some perfect examples are "Millionaire" (now
very popular in Japan too) and "Iron Chef" (on the Food Channel,
originated in Japan). Brand new information from other countries can
influence outworn TV programs. Then we might watch TV longer and spend
less time talking with our family. That's another problem, though.
Kazu Sugiura was born and raised in Japan. She has studied sociology
and mass communication in university there. She likes TV but is not a
couch potato.
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