COMPLETION REPORT
Representation and Reality: Media Influences on Japanese Attitudes towards ChinaDr.Yau Shuk Ting
Lecturer
Department of Japanese Studies
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
This report describes the results of my research activities during the period from April 1, 2017 through March 31, 2019accomplished with support of the Sumitomo Foundation’s Fiscal 2016 Grant for Japan-Related Research Projects. The title ofmy project is “Representation and Reality: Media Influences on Japanese Attitudes towards China.” It aims to investigate
portrayals of China and the Chinese people in Japanese media such as newspapers, TV news, TV drama, and cinema since theend of 2012, focusing on sources that have particularly wide viewership or readership, in an attempt to detect any general trends
in the positive or negative character of such portrayals and to see if they correlate with the results of surveys of attitudes among
the general population. By analyzing the nature and background of images of China and the Chinese people presented inJapanese media, especially under the new Abe Regime, the project seeks to promote a more balanced and comprehensive
understanding of attitudes in Japanese society towards its gigantic neighbor -- China.
Between April 2017 and May 2018, I reviewed a large number of relevant academic publications, newspapers, magazines,
films and TV programs in order to acquire a deeper understanding of the background and development in the ways China andChinese people have been represented and reported by Japanese media since the normalization of their diplomatic relations in
the early 1970s. In particular, I analyzed data regarding and trends in the Japanese people’s perception of China and the main
sources of such perception as reflected in various public polls. In June 2018, I made a research trip to Tokyo to collect literaturematerials and interview Japanese university teachers and students regarding their impression towards China and Chinese people.
In addition, I presented a paper titled “China-Japan Relations as Seen through Films and Other Media” in a workshop organizedby the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies on June 22, 2018, in which, I received constructive comments from the audience. InNovember 2018, I attended a 2-day international conference and some of my research findings were presented andsubsequently published in the proceedings. In February 2019, I presented the rest of my research findings at a workshop
organized by Harvard University; furthermore, I submitted a 36-page paper to the prestigious Journal of Contemporary East
Asia Studies in January 2019, which is currently under review. In the paper, I concluded that the lack of positive depictions ofand reporting on China and the Chinese people can be considered one of the major reasons accounting for the lack of any
significant improvement in impression of China and the Chinese people held by the Japanese, despite there having been amarked increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan as well as the existence of close economic and trade ties
between the two countries since Abe has become the Prime Minister of Japan again.

Publication of the Results of Research Project
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
Feb 6, 2019
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, Boston, USA
Japanese Language Program Workshop Series“Japanese Cinema and Its reception in Hong Kong in the 21st century”
Yau Shuk Ting
Nov 15-16, 2018
Kyoto, JapanThe 20th International Conference on Japanese Studies (ICJS)“Representation and Reality: Media Influences on Japanese Attitudes towards China”
Yau Shuk Ting
Jun 22, 2018
Graduate School of Global Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan
Workshop on Translation of Film and Literary Works“China-Japan Relations as Seen through Films and Other Media”
Yau Shuk Ting

Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies [See Attachment 1]
Submitted in January 2019, currently under review“Japanese Media and China-Japan Relations: From the Normalization of Diplomatic Relations to the Second Abe Regime”
Yau Shuk Ting
Proceedings of International Conference on Japanese Studies (ICJS 2018) [See Attachment 2]
Nov 15-16, 2018
“Representation and Reality: Media Influences on Japanese Attitudes towards China”
Yau Shuk Ting

Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)
I have plans to publish a book which covers the research achieved in this project.