electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies
Conference and Seminar Papers“Images of Asia in Japanese Mass Media, Popular Culture and Literature”
Papers Presented at ICAS 2, Berlin, Germany, 9-12 August 2001

NHK’s Visions of Asia

Barbara Gatzen
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Keywords:
Japan, Japanese, media, television, TV, documentary, documentaries, NHK, publicbroadcaster, broadcasting, Asia, China, Korea, Meeting a New Asia, Asia Human
Highway, Asia Crossroads, Asia Who is Who

1.

Acknowledgements

The research for this paper was conducted as part of the research project Japan’s‘Orientation towards Asia’ Respectively Japan’s ‘Return to Asia’ in Literature, Mediaand Popular Culture which is being funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft(DFG), the central public funding organization for academic research in Germany. The
project is based at the University of Trier, Germany. The research presented in this paper
is work in progress.

2.

Summary

The aim of this paper is to establish the breadth and depth of Asian coverage on Japanese
television, with a particular focus on Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. NHK’s Asian
documentary program series features the whole of geographical “Asia”, including Arabnations, Central and East Asia as well as those countries in the South Pacific. Asian

Barbara Gatzen

1countries closer to Japan receive more attention than those on the Asian periphery do.
Analysis of topics shows that there is a strong focus on personal stories, introducing
individual people and their dreams and aspirations for their lives and futures. Economy isa major recurrent topic covered extensively on NHK’s main Asian program of the late
1990s, Meeting a New Asia. This is not surprising given that the so-called “Asian
economic crisis” had a major impact on the region during the second half of the 1990s. In
contrast, political issues received far less attention over the same period of time. A
general focus on economic and social issues and a limited interest in political issues was
also re-confirmed by video samples taken over 2000 and 2001.
NHK’s approach differs from the coverage of Asia presented on television in “Western”
countries, such as Australia, where the coverage of political and often controversial topics
tends to take predominance. The final discussion considers possible implications thedifferent approaches taken by Japanese and Australian television may have on viewers’
perceptions of Asia.

3.

Asia on Japanese Television

Japan’s “Asia discourse” is slowly making its mark on Japanese television, with anincreasing number of fictional and non-fictional television programs featuring (nonJapanese) Asian people and Asian countries. NHK’s media and audience research
provides some evidence for popular demand for such programs. For example, a NHK
public opinion survey on the way Japanese, Chinese and Koreans view each other (Haraand Shioda, 2000) found that Japanese audiences claimed they were interested in the two
Asian neighbours Korea and China, while at the same time acknowledged a lack ofknowledge about these countries. The survey also found that television is regarded as themost important means of receiving information about these countries. Apart fromJapanese news programs – which tend to have a limited coverage of foreign affairs with astrong focus on issues directly related to Japan 1 – the survey named television
documentaries as one of the most important genres for learning about other countries.2
Since the mid-1980s, NHK has been broadcasting regular documentary programs
exclusively focussing on Asian issues to compensate for the limited coverage of Asia on
television news programs. In 2000 and 2001, NHK broadcast three weekly documentary
series on Asia, namely Meeting a New Asia (Shin Asia hakken) (on terrestrial TV), Asia
Crossroads (Ajia jôhô kôsaten) and Asia Who is Who (Ajia who is who) (on BS 1). Of
those three programs, Meeting a New Asia was NHK’s flagship Asia program until early
2001, when it was superseded by a new, but similar program called Asia Human Highway(Ajia ningen kaidô).3 Meeting a New Asia (and later Asia Human Highway) are also the

Barbara Gatzen

2only programs broadcast on NHK’s regular terrestrial service which reaches a far greater
audience than NHK’s BS satellite broadcasters. Furthermore, Meeting a New Asia also
features prominently on NHK’s Internet site, where an archive with schedules andsummaries of all 116 editions broadcast between April 1998 and March 2001 can beaccessed.4 In addition, a similar web site was added in mid-2001 for the new program
Asia Human Highway.5
NHK’s documentary programs represent the public broadcaster’s endeavour to educate
Japanese audiences about Asia. Educational documentary programs tend to attract
smaller viewer numbers than blockbuster programs combining documentary andentertainment.6 Hence the private stations are less motivated to produce programs with
the intent of public service and public education and only broadcast the occasional ad-hoc
programs which usually focus on food or travelling. NHK is the only network offering
regular programs on Asia.
However, viewer numbers alone say very little about the follow-on effect such programs
may have. For example, TV documentaries may well be used for school education
purposes, which would create a significant multiplier effect. Unless we know who
watches these programs and what audiences do with them, viewer ratings alone are only
meaningful in a very limited sense. To date, such data is not readily available in Japan.
Therefore, I would argue that the programs discussed in this paper have the potential toplay a significant role in shaping people’s perceptions of Asian countries, particularly
given that they are the only regular source of televised images on Asia. In addition, thesignificance that Japanese audiences attribute to documentary series in the survey quoted
above is another good reason for media research to analyse the images provided on these
programs.

4.

Data

The data for this paper consists of official summaries of all editions of one of the
documentary series, Meeting a New Asia, broadcast on NHK television between 1998 and2001. In addition, all four documentary series produced by NHK were received via
international satellite television and samples were recorded on video at the Department ofJapanese Studies at the University of Trier, Germany, in May 2000, September 2000,
October 2000, April 2001 and May 2001.7 There is some overlap in the data as Meeting
New Asia continued to be broadcast throughout most of the sampling period. This does
not affect the analysis as the two sets of data are discussed separately.

Barbara Gatzen

3

The summary data of all editions of Meeting a New Asia provides an insight into theoverall coverage of Asia on one of NHK’s flagship documentary programs by examining
which countries were presented and how frequently they were covered. The paper willthen focus on two countries, China and Korea, by examining both the summaries of
Meeting a New Asia and the video tapes recorded during the sampling period.
To allow for an intercultural comparison, summaries of the weekly Australian foreign
affairs documentary program Foreign Correspondent, broadcast on Australia’s publicbroadcaster ABC between 1998 and 2001, were accessed and downloaded from the ABC
Internet site.

5.

Structure of NHK’s Documentary Programs

Asia Who is Who as well as Meeting a New Asia and its follow-up program Asia Human
Highway follow a similar format. They tend to focus on one main topic and conform to a
relatively strict narrative framework. The individual stories usually start with a short
introduction of the main topics, followed by a general overview with backgroundinformation. The main topic is then exemplified in the form of a human interest story
documenting the experiences of one or two individuals. In many stories, these individuals
undergo a process of personal growth and development. As a result, the story format ofthese documentaries has some resemblance to fictional drama. Their strength lies inallowing viewers to identify with the main character and thus overcome cultural or
national boundaries on an individual inter-human level.
Asia Crossroads, on the other hand, is a mixed documentary and news program inmagazine format, which is presented and commented by an older, male presenter and ayounger, female co-presenter. The program usually starts with a short conversation
between the two anchors who discuss an “Asian object”, such as a saxophone made frombamboo, or an Asian spice not commonly known in Japan. The introductory conversation
is followed by up to three main features which, in contrast to the other programs, tend to
focus on general issues rather than the fate of individuals. After the main features, there isa short news segment with approximately five news items from the Asia-Pacific region,
followed by another short section with film footage and music, but without text. Most
features in this section cover visually pleasing Asian events such as festivals or
traditional ceremonies. At the end of the program there are one or two short generalfeatures, followed by a section called “Bazaar”. “Bazaar” is presented by theanchorwoman and often includes a Japan-related topic, such as an “Asia festival” inShinjuku, the visit of an Indian dance ensemble to schools in Tokyo or the work of aJapanese “fair trade” organisation in Nepal. In contrast, the great majority of the other

Barbara Gatzen

4features in Asia Crossroads and in the other two programs contain no references toJapan.8

6.

Quantitative Analysis of Data

6.1

Regional Distribution of Coverage in Meeting a New Asia

The complete set of summaries of all Meeting a New Asia programs broadcast between
1998 and 2001 allows an overview of NHK’s coverage of Asia during that period.
Meeting a New Asia covered almost the entire geographic region of Greater Asia from
Asia Minor and the Arab world to East Asian countries. Not surprisingly, there was asignificantly stronger focus on Japan’s closer neighbours in East and Southeast Asia
(Chart 1), with three quarters of all programs focussing on this region.
NHK’s focus on East and Southeast Asia is in line with official Japanese foreign politics,
as outlined by Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi at the “Future of Asia” conference
dinner hosted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on 7 June 2001. In his speech, Koizumi said:“In Asia, it is necessary to promote multi-tiered dialogue and bilateral or multilateral
cooperation, taking into account the diversity that exists in this area. First, we have todevelop and maintain even closer relationships with our nearest neighboring countries;
the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea, in order to further ourcommitment to global friendship. As a partner for peace and prosperity in East Asia,
Japan will make efforts to increase cooperation with ASEAN member countries,
which have developed regional cooperation through diversity.”9Stories featuring Japan’s three neighbouring East Asian countries (South Korea, China[including Hong Kong] and Taiwan) make up for 33 per cent of all programs. The elevencountries in the Southeast Asian region account for 42 per cent of programs. Among
those, the northern, predominantly Buddhist countries of East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia) make up a significantly larger proportion, namely 26 per cent of total
coverage compared with 15 per cent for non-Buddhist East Asian countries (Philippines,
Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor and Malaysia).
The remaining 25 per cent are shared by South Asia (9 per cent), Mongolia and Asian
countries from the former Soviet Union (8 per cent), Arab countries (5 per cent), andisland countries from the South Pacific (3 per cent).

Barbara Gatzen

5Southeast
Asia (S) 15%
South Asia
9%
Ex-USSR&
Mongolia 8%Southeast
Asia (N) 26%

Arab
Countries 5%
Pacific
Islands 3%

East Asia
34%

Chart 1: Regional distribution of Asian Coverage on Meeting a New Asia

6.2

Variation of Coverage within Sub-regions

Within the individual regions, some countries received more coverage than others. For
example, among the countries in East Asia, more than half of all programs (21 of 39)
focussed on China (Chart 2), followed by Korea (13 programs) and Taiwan (5 programs).

25

21

20
13
15
10

5

5
0

China

Korea

TaiwanChart 2: Coverage of East Asian Countries in Meeting a New Asia

Barbara Gatzen

6

A similar pattern emerges with regard to the two South East Asian regions, as shown in
the following charts (Charts 3 and 4). Among the group of northern East Asian countries,
Thailand receives the widest coverage with 15 programs (or approximately 47 per cent ofSouth East Asian countries in that region), ahead of Vietnam and Cambodia (7 programseach) and Laos (2 programs). Burma (Myanmar), which would also fit into this category,
was not covered at all.

16

15

14
12
10
7

8

7

6
2

4

0

2
0

ThailandCambodia

Vietnam

Laos

Burma
(Myanmar)Chart 3: Coverage of Countries in the Northern Region of Southeast Asia
Among the remaining Southeast countries, the Philippines comprise 58 per cent (11 of 19
programs) of the coverage, followed by Indonesia (21 per cent) and Singapore (10.5 percent). Malaysia and East Timor were each covered once, whereas Brunei received nocoverage at all.

Barbara Gatzen

7

11

12

10

8

6
4
4
2
1

2

1
0

0

Philippines

Indonesia

Singapore

Malaysia

East Timor

Brunei

Chart 4: Coverage of countries in the Southern Region of Southeast Asia
There are no apparent reasons for the variation in the amount of coverage of different
Southeast Asian countries, in particular for the high level of coverage given to Thailand
and the Philippines 10 , although in some instances it may well reflect NHK’s general
reluctance to present controversial political topics. 11 For example, Malaysia saw thehighly controversial trial of its former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in 2000, yetnone of the issues surrounding the trial nor the trial itself were mentioned in NHK’s
documentary programs.

7.

Coverage of China and Korea

China and Korea receive a significant amount of coverage across all Asian documentaryand magazine programs on NHK. The following paragraphs will outline the topics
covered in Meeting a New Asia with regard to these two countries and then provide amore detailed summary of Chinese and Korean topics covered on NHK’s Asian programs
during the sampling period.

Barbara Gatzen

8

7.1

China

7.1.1 China Coverage 1998-2001 - Meeting a New Asia
On the whole, with approximately 38 per cent of stories (8 out of 21), social issues
dominate coverage of China, featuring topics ranging from family issues such as
marriage, divorce and older people (a total of 4 stories) to minorities, community
problems and helping the poor (one story each). The second largest group of stories (28.5
per cent) related to the economy, mostly focussing on business opportunities in a “NewAsia” (5 stories) and one story dealing with the effect of the Asian economic crisis on
two individuals.12 The environment featured in four stories (19 per cent), of which threestories described survival after environmental disasters and one story showed an exampleof environmental activism in China. The remaining three stories featured a range of
unrelated issues from studying Western classical music in Beijing to women looking after
live cargo on express trains to Hong Kong.
The issues covered provide a wide-ranging and multifaceted image of China. However, it
is interesting to note that very few if any programs deal with political issues in relation to
China. The extent to which political issues are left out becomes particularly evident whencomparing NHK’s China coverage on Meeting a New Asia with the coverage of Chinese
topics in documentary and news programs from other industrialised democracies. For
example, between 1998 and 2001, Australia’s public television ABC focussed on several
controversial Chinese issues in its program Foreign Correspondent, including:- the fate of Chinese dissidents such as Harry Wu,- the controversy surrounding the Falung Gong sect,- the existence of an underground union movement in China,- the tenth anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre of 1989, and- the continued Tibetan opposition to the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
By contrast, none of these issues received in-depth attention from NHK’s flagship Asian
documentary program, even in cases where the storyline would invite an examination of
the broader political or social context. For example, the Meeting a New Asia series
included a story featuring the Chinese-Tibetan town of Zhong Dian, which is
predominantly inhabited by Tibetans (Meeting a New Asia, July 1999). According to thesummary on the Internet, the story described how Tibetan folklore and costumes are
successfully marketed as tourist attractions for the town, yet no mention is made of thepolitical controversy and conflict surrounding the on-going Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Barbara Gatzen

97.1.2China Coverage during Sampling Period (2000/01)

The collective China coverage of all NHK documentaries during the sampling period isdominated by four topics, namely urban society, modern life and modern culture (6stories), tradition, exotic culture and beautiful scenery (5 stories), business and related
economic topics (3 stories) and social issues (1 story). The following table (1) lists all
Chinese stories broadcast during the sampling period.

Urban
Society,Modern Life, Modern
CultureNew fashion show inaeroplanes (AC)Tradition,
ExoticCulture,Beautiful
Scenery
The secret of old age: afamily of centenarians(AC)

Business

Social Issues

End of internet bubble
in Hong Kong (AC)A travelling doctor
looks
after
poor
villagers in a remotearea in far western
China (AHH)

Police reality TV in
Nanjing (AC)The simple traditional
life of a 109-year old
woman (AC)Dragondancecompetition (AC)New business chances
for Chinese/N. Koreanborder region (AC)The “Chinese dream” - ayoung man (16) isdetermined to become
China's
Bill
Gates
(AHH)

New electronic billboard
service to announce
engagement (AC)New sea funeral service
in Shanghai (AC)New “variety bars” openup (game bars, internet
bars, pottery bars etc)
(AC)
Portrait of a Chinese
pop singer (AWiW)

Chinese fashion show aspart of China's Olympicbid (AC)
Traveldocumentary:
The “Venice of China”(AC)

Table 1: Chinese Topics covered during Sampling Period13

7.1.2.1 Urban society, Modern Life, Modern Culture in China
Most stories under the category “urban life”, with the exception of the portrait of a
Chinese pop singer on Asia Who is Who, focus on unusual or exotic aspects of life inmodern China, usually with little or no reference to historical or political issues.
For example, the short documentary on a popular police reality TV show in Nanjing on
Asia Crossroads features the work of Mr Yo, who is not only a policeman, but also thecameraman and producer of a police show on Nanjing television. The police show is
broadcast three times a week and has average ratings of around 15 per cent. The

Barbara Gatzen

10

documentary slowly builds up tension, first showing Mr Yo and his team in the studio,then (unsuccessfully) waiting for a criminal, until finally Mr Yo is called in to join otherpolice in meeting with a blackmailer. The drama unfolds as the Chinese police and theircamera team and the Japanese documentary crew reach the location where theblackmailer is expected. The commentary by the Japanese documentary maker, “It is
him! No doubt! … Watch out! He’s got a gun!” captures the excitement of the moment as
Chinese policemen overwhelm the blackmailer in front of Mr Yo’s television camera.
The documentary explains that corruption and the damaged public image of the police
originally led to the development of the TV show. However, the topic of corruption is not
explored in any further detail and remains a minor issue which is left aside in favour ofpresenting the excitement of making police TV shows.
Similarly, many of the other features in that section (see Table 1) highlight interestingsnippets of life in China and are presented in an entertaining way. However, stories suchas these may only provide limited insight into normal, everyday life in modern suburban
China.

7.1.2.2 Tradition, Exotic Culture, Beautiful Scenery
The focus on somewhat “exotic” aspects of modern China in stories in the previous
section is complemented by a romanticised view of Chinese traditional lifestyles. Twostories of centenarians bring home the renowned longevity of the Chinese which is being
attributed to a pre-modern rural lifestyle, the local water and the consumption of
traditional Chinese vegetables. Interestingly, no mention is made of the environmental
problems faced by modern China, which include increasing water pollution, particularly
in many urban regions.
Other stories in this category show the famous (and almost stereotypical) Chinese
tradition of the dragon dance, the use of classical Chinese robes in a colourful fashion
parade as part of the Chinese Olympic bid and a travel documentary with information on
local foods. The coverage of China in stories within this category is comparable withJapanese television programs on “exotic Japan”.14
7.1.2.3 Business and Social Issues
By contrast, stories in the business section discuss modern China and the business
opportunities the Chinese market holds for Japan. There also is a comparison of China
and Japan in one story portraying a young Chinese computer expert who is hailed as the“Chinese Bill Gates”. In this story, China appears as a force which may well soon
overtake Japan in the IT sector.

Barbara Gatzen

11

The one story in the “social issues” category focuses on the personal sacrifice andheroism of the main character. The story depicts the life of a doctor in a remote region ofChina who sacrifices his own health to care for the many poor patients who are often
unable to pay for his services. However, there is no explanation as to why there is aseverely limited health service in that region or why the people in the area have no accessto state health funds or some kind of health insurance. The focus on the heroism of theprotagonist thus hinders an understanding of the broader social and political context of
his life and work.

7.2

Korea

As in the previous section, I will once again analyse the two sets of data separately,
beginning with the coverage of Korea in the program series Meeting a New Asia (1998 to2001). This is followed by the analysis of video data recorded in 2000 and 2001.

7.2.1 Korean Coverage 1998/2001 - Meeting a New Asia
The coverage of Korea in Meeting a New Asia is dominated by three topics, namely
North-South related issues (4 stories), Korean contemporary art and popular culture (4stories), and the impact of the Asian economic crisis (3 stories). The remaining twostories dealt with computer education in schools (1 story) and teaching Confucian values
to Korean children (1 story). Two of these stories were broadcast during the sampling
period and also appear in Table (2) below, indicated by the acronym “MaNA” forMeeting a New Asia.
It is interesting to note that several Korean stories have a direct connection to Japan. This
is noteworthy given the relative lack of Japanese topics in the coverage of other countries,
including China (with the exception of a total of three stories on Meeting a New Asia
which feature “Japanese in Asia” and some shorter segments in the “Bazaar section” of
Asia Crossroads).

7.2.2 Video Sample of Korea Coverage, 2000-2001
The video sample recorded over 2000 and 2001 contained a total of 8 Korean stories. The
coverage during the sampling period was again dominated by three sets of topics (Table2). Issues related to the relationship between North and South Korea dominated Korean
coverage throughout the sampling period. The stories in this category provide a generally
positive outlook for the future of inter-Korean relationships and focus strongly on
Barbara Gatzen

12individual experiences in slowly overcoming some of the limits and restrictions that keep
the two Korean states apart. The other two main topics were “tradition and modernity”
and “life of young urban Koreans” (2 stories each). The one remaining story is listed inTable 2 below as “other”.
North-South issue
Live interview with aSouth Korean singer after
she gave a concert in North
Korea (AC)A famous mountain range
in North Korea is now
open for limited andstrictly supervised travel
by South Korean tourists.
(AC)

Tradition
andModernity
Confuciansummercamp to instil Confucianvaluesin
Koreanchildren. (MaNA)
A blended family uses
traditional music as awayofbonding.
(AWiW)

Life of Young Urban
Koreans
Efforts of a young
female fashion designer
to set up her own store
in Seoul (MaNA)
Struggle of a young
femaleprofessional
Internet game player
who
had
been
successful until the IT
bubble burst and there
were no longer sponsors
for playing Internet
games as a profession
(AHH)

Other
A Korean woman runs
a homestay boarding
house for Japanese
students. (AWiW)A South Korean meets his
North Korean brother who
was among those allowed
to visit Seoul during theofficial family reunion
visit organised by the two
Korean governments in2000 (MaNA)

Table 2:

Korean Stories during Sampling Period15

7.2.2.1 “Tradition and Modernity”
The stories in the “tradition and modernity” section are particularly interesting incomparison with stories on Chinese tradition. While the coverage of China tends toprovide a romanticised view of exotic and pre-modern Chinese traditions, Korean
traditions are shown as a means of overcoming modern problems. For example, the story
about the Confucian summer camp begins with an introduction into the modern social
problems emerging in Korea which are familiar to Japanese audiences: The young havelost respect for the older generation and children do not follow their parents’ advice any
more. A summer camp run by Confucian traditionalists instils a strict Confucian moral
and behaviour code in the children attending the camp. For most children, the experienceis a very hard one, as they are forced to follow orders, cook their own meals and wash
their own clothes, sit still and study for hours on end, with little or no opportunity tocomplain or contact their parents. Yet, the overwhelming message in the documentary is

Barbara Gatzen

13that despite the hardship forced upon the children, it is a valuable and positive experience
which helps them grow into more mature and responsible human beings.
In a similar way, the second story in this category first refers to social problems
increasingly apparent in both Korea and Japan, namely the breakdown of families, agrowing number of divorces and re-marriages, and an increase in blended families. One
such family, whose children stem from previous relationships, the current relationshipand from adoption, is portrayed in the story. To create a feeling of family unity, the father
and the children play traditional Korean music together. According to the father, thismusic helps them to express their own individual feelings and at the same time creates acommon sound. The family is now a successful music group in Korea.

7.2.2.2 “Life of Young Urban Koreans”
The “Modern Life” section portrays two young urban women trying to find their place inmodern society. Both are struggling. One young woman is a would-be designer who has
to overcome her lack of knowledge and experience to make a mark in Korea’s fashion
world. The other woman, a professional computer and Internet game player, had asuccessful career start-up during the IT boom, but finds herself fighting against economic
odds following the downturn in the IT sector both in Korea and internationally.
The story in the category of “Other”, about a middle-aged woman who runs a homestay
boarding house for Japanese students, is rather unusual as it addresses the issue ofJapanese-Korean relations and the need for Japanese to learn about and understand the
Korean experience during the Japanese occupation. This is also the only story in which
wartime Japan is referred to. The Korean woman takes her students to meet an older
Korean woman who had suffered under Japanese occupation. In a key scene, the woman
says, “If Korea had invaded Japan, then the Koreans would have done the same thing.”
While other older Koreans interviewed for the documentary may not support this notion,
the woman’s friendliness and openness towards the young Japanese visitors opens up a
Korean-Japanese dialogue about the past. At the end of the documentary there is aconsensus among the Japanese students that they need to learn about Korean history andthe effect of the Japanese occupation on the Korean population.

7.3

The Gender of Chinese and Korean Protagonists on NHK Documentary
Programs

One remarkable feature of NHK’s Asian documentary programs is the overall genderimbalance in the coverage of most Asian countries, including China and Korea. For

Barbara Gatzen

14example, 61 per cent of Chinese stories on Meeting a New Asia focussed on maleprotagonists, 22 per cent on female protagonists and 17 per cent of stories featured bothmale and female central characters (see Chart 5). In the case of Korea, 50 per cent ofstories presented men in the main roles, 37.5 per cent women and 12.5 per cent had bothmale and female protagonists.

70.0%
61.0%

60.0%
50.0%

50.0%
37.50%

40.0%
30.0%

Male
Female
Both

22.0%
17.0%

20.0%

12.5%

10.0%
0.0%
China

Korea

Chart 5: Distribution of Male and Female Protagonists in the Coverage of China andKorea in Meeting a New Asia
The gender imbalance does not necessarily reveal itself on a program-by-program basis,as there are many individual programs featuring women as protagonists. It is only whenlooking at the total number of programs that a clearly gender-biased pattern emerges.
Whether the bias that is apparent on a numerical level also translates into a consistentbias with regard to gender roles requires further research and will need to be discussed ina separate paper.

8.

Summary and Discussion

NHK documentary programs provide a variety of topics and images of Korea and China.
China is depicted as a country with great diversity and a multifaceted cultural life.
However, at least during the sampling period, there is a strong focus on unusual or exotic
topics both in relation to Chinese tradition and to modern life in contemporary China.
Men are featured more frequently than women. Overall, human interest stories dominate,

Barbara Gatzen

15

with comparatively limited information on broader social or economic issues. Also, there
are hardly any stories about the life of the urban middle class and no political stories at all.
As a result, the coverage of China may invoke interest and curiosity among viewers, yet
it does not provide the kind of background information that may be necessary tounderstand the political, social and economic situation in China or China’s relationshipwith Japan.
By comparison, the coverage of Korea appears more in-depth, with less focus on exotic
and superficial topics. The gender bias is slightly less pronounced than in the case of
China. Tradition is seen as a way of addressing the problems that Korea and Japan havein common (e.g. young people, family breakdown etc.), rather than something exotic andforeign as in the sample of China stories. To some extent, coverage of Korea also
includes political issues due to the inherent political nature of the stories about therelationship between North and South Korea. Some programs on Korea include generalcomments on government policies, mostly in the form of criticism voiced by theprotagonists. However, overall political coverage is also limited, with little backgroundinformation about government officials or internal political affairs that would highlight or
explain the Korean political landscape.
One might argue that NHK’s choice of topics may be a reflection of viewer preferences.
Audiences’ information needs were also of concern for NHK, and questions about viewer
interests were included in the 2000 NHK public opinion survey quoted in the introduction
to this paper (Hara and Shioda, 2000). The survey identified “scenic spots”, “way of
thinking”, “politics”, “the economy” and “the military” as topics of high interest to
Japanese viewers (Table 3).
Korean Topics of Interest to JapaneseChinese Topics of Interest to JapaneseScenic spots
Korean way of thinking
Politics
EconomyMilitary

Scenic spots
Politics
Chinese way of thinking
EconomyMilitary

34.8 %
30.4 %
26.3 %
24.7 %
21.0 %

43.1 %
34.4 %
31.8 %
27.1 %
24.8 %

Table 3: Topics of Interest to Japanese Audiences, according to Hara and Shioda, 2000,
Table 5.
A comparison of the topics of interest revealed in the 2000 NHK survey with the data
analysed in this paper shows that NHK only partially meets viewer interests expressed in
the public opinion survey. Topics covered extensively include “scenic spots”, “theeconomy” and people’s “way of thinking”. For example, there are several stories
featuring “scenic spots”, such as the story about a Chinese city described as “the Chinese
Venice” or the story about a trip to a famous mountain range in North Korea. The
economy also receives proportionate attention in many NHK documentaries, both on

Barbara Gatzen

16

Asia in general and Japan’s East Asian neighbours in particular. People’s “way of
thinking” is dealt with in many of the Korean stories. By contrast, the Chinese “way of
thinking” was not explored to the same extent during the video sampling period, but thesummaries of Meeting a New Asia suggest that this topic may have received ample
coverage over the last three years.
The two topics where NHK does not meet viewer interests, at least with regard to China
and Korea, are the areas of politics and the military. This is particularly true for thecoverage of China, but also to some extent for Korea. By almost completely blending out
political issues, NHK takes away a significant part of the framework in which theprotagonists of its documentary programs live and work. As a result, NHK presents asomewhat distorted and sanitised depiction of these two as well as many other Asian
countries.
As indicated earlier, the lack of interest in political and controversial issues evident in the
coverage of China and Korea on NHK is the greatest difference between NHK’s Asian
documentaries and the television coverage of Asia in many other industrialised
democracies. This is not to say that a single-minded focus on controversial politicalissues would provide a better understanding of those countries than NHK’s approach. For
example, Lowe (1995, pp. 90-91) criticises Australian media coverage of Asia for being
overwhelmingly interested in controversy and political aberrations which he interprets as
indicative of a cultural superiority complex:“[Australian m]edia images of South-East Asia are crowded with the scowling visagesof evil men and women. They are oppressive dictators, corrupt and greedy politicians,
bellicose generals, murderous guerillas, vicious criminals. For each country in theregion our media have particular antiheroes to rail at. [...]
By shining the spotlights on the bogymen [sic.] of South-East Asian societies theAustralian media are informing their audiences that these countries are primitive andbackward in their leadership and government; that they have a long way to go to catchup to us, the custodians of the proud and superior tradition of Westminster. And thatthe problem with leadership in Southeast Asia is also a moral one; those who climb tothe highest rungs of power do so not to serve their people but to serve their own selfish
ambitions for wealth and power.”
By contrast, Japanese documentaries focus on individual stories which evoke
identification with the main character/s. According to Kilborn and Izod (1997, pp. 231232), “the appeal of [..] “personal documentaries”, which have a long tradition in thehistory of the genre, lies [..] in that the wider social implications are deliberately downplayed and the human dimensions of the problem or situation emphasised […].”

Barbara Gatzen

17

Through the means of personal documentaries, NHK takes on a leadership role ineducating Japanese audiences about Asia by challenging the negative images Japanesehold of other Asian countries. According to NHK, “Meeting a New Asia is a program thatwill present a new, and more vivid Asia.” 16 NHK’s new documentary program Asia
Human Highway continues with a similar focus on a “new century” in Asia, “the voyage
and challenge of the people”, and “pulsation of life [in Asia]” 17 . In contrast to theAustralian media which, according to Lowe, tend to portray “Asia” as the morally corrupt
and inferior other, NHK constructs an image of “Asia” as a multifaceted and colourfulplace with future-oriented and energetic people who work hard at fulfilling their dreams.
This presentation of Asia is a reflection of what Iwabuchi (1999, p. 219) described as
Japan’s “nostalgia for a (different) Asian modernity”. Through identification with themain characters in NHK’s documentary programs, Japanese viewers are invited to takepart in Asia’s “vitality” and the “Asian dream”. However, the question is whether NHK’s
depoliticised documentaries can provide Japanese viewers with the information andunderstanding needed to improve relations and co-operation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Bibliography
Gatzen, Barbara, 2001, Fernsehnachrichten in Japan: Inszenierungsstrategien iminterkulturellen Vergleich mit Deutschland (Japanese Television News: An Intercultural
Comparison of Presentation Strategies in Japanese and German News Shows),
Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Hara Yumiko and Shioda Takehiro, 2000, ‘Images of the Other Country and Media
Coverage. Public Opinion Surveys in Japan, Korea and China’, NHK Broadcasting
Culture and Research, No 12, Early Summer 2000 (Online), Available World Wide Web,
URL: www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/BCRI-fr/h12-f1html (Accessed 7 July 2001.)
Iwabuchi Koichi, 1999, Returning to Asia: Japan in the Cultural Dynamics ofGlobalisation, Localisation and Asianisation. Unpublished PhD thesis, University ofWestern Sydney, Nepean.
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1998, ODA Annual Report 1998 (Online), World
Wide Web, URL: http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/summary/1999/d_g2_02.html#c_2_3.
(Accessed 4 September 2001.)
Kilborn, Richard and John Izod, 1997, An Introduction to Television Documentary:
Confronting Reality, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.
Krauss, Ellis S., 2000, Broadcasting Politics in Japan: NHK and Television News,
Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Lowe, Barry, 1995, Media Mythologies, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.

Barbara Gatzen

18Summaries of Television Programs Available Online (URLs current as of
18.02.2002):
ABC, Foreign Correspondent, URL: http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/.
NHK, Meeting Asia, (1995-1998) URL: http://www.nhk.or.jp/asia/old/asia.htm
NHK, Meeting a New Asia, (1998-2001) URL:
http://www.nhk.or.jp/asia/old02/english/top.htm
NHK, Asia Human Highway, (2001-present), URL:
http://www.nhk.or.jp/asia/english/index.html

About the Author:
Barbara Gatzen received her PhD from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, in 1999.
She is a visiting research fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra and a
post-doctoral fellow at Trier University in Germany, and the author of a recent study on
Japanese television news (Fernsehnachrichten in Japan. Inszenierungsstrategien iminterkulturellen Vergleich mit Deutschland. Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen, 2001.) She isalso a research editor (media and popular culture) for the Electronic Journal ofContemporary Japanese Studies.
1

Cf Gatzen, 2001.
The survey subjects were asked to name the kind of programs they had watched about Korea and China(multiple answers possible). 56.1 per cent of interviewees said they had watched news programs about
Korea and 23.8 per cent had watched documentary programs. The numbers for China were similar for news
programs (59.7 per cent) and somewhat higher for documentary programs (35.2 per cent), see Hara and
Shioda, 2000, Table 4.
3
In fact, Meeting a New Asia is the follow-up program of an earlier documentary series called Meeting
Asia (Ajia hakken), which was transmitted from 1995 until 1998. The archives for Meeting Asia are alsoavailable on the Internet.
4
URL: http://www.nhk.or.jp/asia/old02/english/top.htm, accessed on 18-02-2002.
5
URL: http://www.nhk.or.jp/asia/english/index.html, accessed 18-02-2002.
6
For the challenges documentary makers face in targeting audiences, see Kilborn and Izod, 1997, pp. 215239.
7
With the exception of a small number of programs, most programs were broadcast at approximately thesame time in Japan and on international satellite television. The 2000 sample contained editions of Meetinga New Asia, Asia Crossroads and Asia Who is Who. The 2001 sample contained editions of Asia
Crossroads and Asia Human Highway. There is some overlap between the two sets of data since those
programs of Meeting a New Asia which were recorded during the sampling period in 2000 are also
accounted for in the program summaries.
8
One edition of Asia Who is Who in the sample contained a story about a Korean woman who runs ahomestay-style boarding house for Japanese overseas students in Seoul. No edition of Meeting a New Asia
in the sample contained Japan-related stories, however, the Internet archives revealed that there was a seriesof approximately three programs featuring Japanese living or working in other Asian countries.
9
The text of Koizumi’s speech is available online, (World Wide Web), URL:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/future/remark0106.html (Accessed 4 September 2001).
2

Barbara Gatzen

19

10

For example, while some of the frequently covered countries (e.g. Thailand and the Philippines) belong
to the top ten countries receiving official developmental aid (ODA) from Japan – which could be seen as apossible ‘political reason’ for a special focus on those countries – the country receiving the most generous
amount of ODA among Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia, gets comparatively little coverage. In 1998,
the top ten countries receiving Japanese ODA were (in US$ million): China (1,158.16); Indonesia (828.47);
Thailand (558.42); India (504.95); Pakistan (491.54); Vietnam (388.61); Philippines (297.55); Sri Lanka(197.85); Bangladesh (189.05); Malaysia (179.1). Source: Japan’s ODA Annual Report 1998, (available
online), World Wide Web, URL: http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/summary/1999/d_g2_02.html#c_2_3(Accessed 4 September 2001).
11
Cf Krauss, 2000.
12
There are, of course, many overlaps between the different categories. In particular, economic issues also
play a significant role in many stories on social and environmental issues, making the economy a central
theme throughout the coverage of China on Meeting a New Asia.
13
The acronyms in brackets after each topic indicate the program they were broadcast on. AC stands for
Asia Crossroads, AWiW stands for Asia Who is Who, MaNA stands for Meeting a New Asia and AHH
stands for Asia Human Highway.
14
During the sampling period, China was predominantly covered by Asia Crossroads (AC). As indicated in
the introduction, Asia Crossroads is a program which often features exotic and unusual topics. This may be
one reason why there is a relatively strong emphasis on exoticism throughout many of the programs.
15
See endnote 13 for the acronyms.
16
http://www.nhk.or.jp/asia/old02/english/top.htm; (Accessed on 29.11.2001.)
17
See NHK’s promotional text for Asia Human Highway on http://www.nhk.or.jp/asia/english/index.html;(Accessed on 29.11.2001.)

Barbara Gatzen

20