{"id":1245,"date":"2014-11-15T07:22:41","date_gmt":"2014-11-15T01:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oicd.net\/_new\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2019-06-22T15:23:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-22T09:23:23","slug":"nostalgia-for-asian-traditions-and-energy-encounters-with-chinese-and-koreans-in-japanese-tv-dramas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalethnographic.com\/index.php\/nostalgia-for-asian-traditions-and-energy-encounters-with-chinese-and-koreans-in-japanese-tv-dramas\/","title":{"rendered":"Nostalgia for \u2018Asian\u2019 Traditions and Energy \u2013 Encounters with Chinese and Koreans in Japanese TV Dramas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nostalgia for \u2018Asian\u2019 Traditions and Energy \u2013 Encounters with Chinese and Koreans in Japanese TV Dramas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hilaria G\u00f6ssmann, Griseldis Kirsch<\/em><\/strong>
\n Photo coffee shop Aizen by<\/strong> m-louis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction\u2014Television Dramas and the Myth of Japanese Homogeneity<\/p>\n

Since 1953, when Japanese television went on air for the first time, television dramas have played a central role in affecting and reflecting on Japanese society, its identity, and its relationship with others. Japanese television drama traditionally concentrated on the everyday life of \u201ceveryday\u201d (urban) middle class families, Japanese minorities and foreigners remaining very much outside its focus. This lack of focus on the diversity inherent within Japanese society can, in turn, be seen to have contributed to a variety of other reflections on the nature of Japanese society as a homogeneous cultural zone. Indeed, it could be suggested that Japanese television dramas have helped to underpin and reinforce a \u2018myth of homogeneity\u2019 of the Japanese people\u2014a myth also propagated by the nihonjinron (theories on the uniqueness of the Japanese) writing of the 70s and 80s.<\/p>\n

The 1990s, however, saw an increase in foreigners from other Asian countries entering Japan. Other events, such as the end of the Cold War, have served to change the nature of the three-way inter-dependant relationship between Japan, the West and Japan\u2019s Asian neighbours. With the West ceasing to be the main point of reference for Japan\u2019s self-image, Japan\u2019s Asian neighbours have expanded their economic and political relevance, potentially challenging the \u2018self-reference Other\u2019 position of Japan in the world. With \u2018Asian\u2019 artefacts and travel destinations becoming gradually more popular, Japan can now be seen to have entered an \u2018Asia boom\u2019 era in terms of its popular culture. This reorientation of the \u2018Asian Other\u2019 has, we will argue here, begun to challenge the construction of Japan as a homogeneous country. This trend is perhaps first visible in Japanese cinema which has, since the late 1980s, featured growing numbers of \u2018Asian\u2019 characters, taking up the problems of a more regionally relativized society. Japanese television dramas, the subject of this chapter, followed suit approximately a decade later. The aggregative effect of such changes in the reflections on the nature of Japanese society in popular culture, may, we argue, present a possible future where this notion of homogeneity becomes not merely questioned, but potentially almost completely overthrown.<\/p>\n

Japanese television dramas are often praised for their (perceived) closeness to reality\u2014they are seen to be much more than just mere \u2018products of entertainment\u2019 within Japanese society. As Penn points out: \u201cTV dramas provide a window into Japanese society that can be more revealing than a sociology textbook\u201d (Penn 2003: 14). Thus, as Japanese television dramas began to show more characters from other Asian countries, and a more heterogeneous image of society seems to have come gradually accepted within that genre, the appeal for acknowledgement and acceptance of such an image has gone out to the very \u2018grass roots\u2019 of Japanese society.<\/p>\n

While from 1954 until 1994 only five television series featured characters from other Asian countries in leading roles, between 2000 and 2002 it took only two years to achieve the same number of television series, while at the same time, many television films dealing with \u2018Asian\u2019 encounters were broadcast. The rise in the number of foreign, especially \u2018Asian\u2019, characters is therefore highly visible, powerfully reflecting the entry into the recent \u2018Asia boom\u2019. The Football World Championship co-hosted by Japan and South Korea in 2002 furthered the interest in South Korea, a region also growing in popularity in (Japanese) TV dramas. In 2003, the Korean TV drama \u201cWinter Sonata\u201d, one of the first ever on Japanese small screens, became enormously successful and sparked off a \u2018Korea Boom\u2019 (hanliu) in Japanese popular culture which continues today.<\/p>\n

As the \u2018Asia boom\u2019 in Japanese television dramas mainly concentrates on characters from \u2018China\u2019 and South Korea, the focus of this article will be on dramas featuring characters from these two countries\/regions. Before analysing several television dramas depicting encounters with Korean or Chinese characters, we will give a short overview of common patterns used in the creation of the imagery of these two other Asian countries. We will hope to illustrate how the way in which \u2018Asian\u2019 characters are constructed and given meaning within these dramas reveals a great deal about Japan\u2019s present and possible future cultural, national and regional identities. More specifically, we shall be analysing the way in which these small screen encounters with other Asian characters illustrate how ideas of Japanese culture, identity, and self-image are in a phase of significant renegotiation, and again may come to help re-define immediate and long-term possible Japanese futures.<\/p>\n

Asian Essentialisms: Contemporary Japan\u2019s search for \u201cSalvation\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the analysis of media researcher Werner Faulstich, the \u2018Other\u2019 in international film is constructed around notions of \u201cexoticism\u201d, \u201csalvation\u201d and \u201chorror\u201d. While exoticism represents \u201cthe unknown to be discovered\u201d (Faulstich 1996: 414), salvation positions the \u2018Other\u2019 as something to be desired and to seek out for salvation of the self (Faulstich 1996: 417). Lastly, Horror literally portrays the \u2018Other\u2019 as \u201csinister, threatening, even frightening\u201d (Faulstich 1996: 418, English translations by the authors). These patterns of appropriation and othering are very much in existence in portrayals of Asians in Japanese television dramas as well as in other popular genres. However, the degree to which \u201cexoticism\u201d \u201csalvation\u201d and \u201chorror\u201d are respectively employed has changed over time. While in earlier television dramas the patterns of exoticism and horror prevailed, in more recent productions the pattern of salvation has gradually become more dominant\u2014often assuming the shape of Japanese \u2018nostalgia for Asian modernising energy\u2019 (see Gatzen and G\u00f6ssmann 2003: 247).<\/p>\n

\u201cNostalgia for Asia [\u2026] was now an attempt to regain the energy and vitality Japan had lost by identifying itself with the promising land of \u2018Asia\u2019\u201d (Iwabuchi 2002: 176). This theme of salvation becomes most salient in the notion that Japan must save itself from losing precious cultural traditions, attitudes to life, and spiritual resources (energy)\u2014elements that Asia is seen to embody. So, for example, Japanese television dramas involving only Japanese characters often revolve around a common theme of fulfilling a life dream or ambition. Japanese dramas involving other Asian characters, however, apply this genre convention to the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters, while the Japanese characters are portrayed as \u2018aimless\u2019. We see this construction of Japanese salvation through the \u2018Asian Other\u2019 as revolving around three key paradigms of struggle:<\/p>\n

Modern individual vs. Traditional familial. Japanese are constructed as individualist and \u2018modern\u2019 in contrast to family-oriented and thus \u2018traditional\u2019 \u2018Asian\u2019 characters.
\nDisplaced unmotivated vs. Grounded empowered. The \u2018Asian\u2019 characters are constructed as pursuing their (often creative) life dreams, whereas the Japanese seem to have few goals. In the course of cross-cultural encounters, the Japanese are shown to be inspired to define a goal in life as well.
\nMetaphysically and emotionally under-resourced vs. Spiritually endowed. The \u2018Asian\u2019 characters \u2013 with an energy and vitality to overcome difficulties and achieve life success \u2013 serve as role models, even saviours, to Japanese presented as lethargic and unmotivated. They are thus being utilised in order to provide a vital impulse for the development of the Japanese characters.<\/p>\n

We would now like to analyse the small screen encounters with Korean and Chinese characters, illustrating how these constructions of \u2018Asian\u2019 characters represents an attempt to overcome, or to speak about, struggle in each paradigm. The most predominant struggle, which weaves its way through many of the portrayals and storylines, is the first in the list above\u2014the need to portray \u2018Asian traditions\u2019 and family values in Korea\/China in a particular way in order to illuminate the need for Japan\u2019s salvation in this area. Analysis of the \u201cModern Individual vs. Traditional Familial\u201d will thus take up the majority of our discussion. The second two paradigms, one involving the degree to which individuals are able to find a sense of place and motivation in society, the \u2018Other\u2019 gesturing to a spiritual and emotional capacity to face-up to and overcome problems, have obvious overlaps. We therefore propose to turn to deal with these two points of struggle under one heading: \u201cNostalgia for Asian Energy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Modern individual vs. Traditional familial<\/p>\n

The notion of Asia as sharing common \u2018traditions\u2019 is one popularised by several Asian politicians and controversially discussed by scholars throughout the past decade. Be it Ishihara Shintar\u014d or Mohamad Mahathir, these so-called \u2018Asian values\u2019 have frequently been referred to in order to distinguish Asia from a fundamentally different West. In this context, \u2018Asian values\u2019 are often reduced to \u2018Confucian values\u2019 which in turn are understood as placing greater value on the benefit of the group or the family than on that of the individual. This is perceived as the main distinction between a homogenized Asia and its (equally homogenized) \u2018Other\u2019\u2014a degenerating West. The construction of this clear-cut opposition sparked a lengthy debate and fuelled the production of countless publications in the fields of journalism and scholarship\u2014both in Asian and Western countries.<\/p>\n

Although it can be said that contemporary Japanese television dramas do raise socially relevant questions, they in fact tend to avoid politically controversial topics\u2014the \u2018Asian values\u2019 debate is therefore not referred to explicitly. In the this section, however, we intend to illustrate that the portrayal of \u2018Asian\u2019 characters as family-oriented can in fact be regarded as a contribution to this debate. As we will hope to reveal, the Japanese and other Asian characters are constructed in deliberate opposition to one another for the purposes of contributing to the themes of this debate. Indeed, we often see that the Japanese assume a part hitherto reserved for \u2018individualist Westerners\u2019, implicating Japanese society in a Westerner-like devaluation of the family (the frequent occurrence of divorce being one of the signifiers). In contrast, non-Japanese Asian characters are \u2013 almost without exemption \u2013 constructed as clearly family-oriented and presented as living according to the so-called \u2018Asian traditions\u2019.<\/p>\n

Indeed, nowhere does the representation of family values find greater issue within Japanese television dramas than the small-screen encounters with Korean characters. This attitude might not seem surprising when one considers the common stereotype that it is in Korea, rather than China, that Confucianism still plays an important role in structuring familial relations. However, it is also obvious in these dramas that the comparison with Korea underscores the construction of Japan as being particularly \u2018modern\u2019 and therefore \u2018Western\u2019 in its emphasis on individual freedom and choice. All dramas portraying Korean characters are characterised by the Japanese side consisting of \u2018modern\u2019 families with an independent and successful working mother.<\/p>\n

The two hour television film \u201cKankoku no obachan wa erai\u201d (Korean Aunties Are Wonderful, No. 3) broadcast on New Year 2002 also by NHK, centres around one such \u2018modern\u2019 Japanese family. The story starts with Rie, a Japanese woman, who, with her Japanese family, move to Seoul because her husband is transferred there from Japan by his company. In Seoul, Rie intends to continue her work as an illustrator on a freelance basis. However, her professional ambitions are countered by a lack of understanding that she, as a woman and mother, intends to continue working. This notion is especially expressed by an elderly Korean lady called \u201cOmoni\u201d who constantly insists on Rie taking her duties as mother and wife more seriously. Rie suffers because she feels she is only perceived as wife and mother and not as a working woman. Thus, she concludes that \u201cKorea is a country of Confucianism.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result of these reprimands, Rie withdraws herself from her Korean surroundings, which in turn becomes one of the main sources of criticism of Omoni and other Korean neighbours. They claim that she \u201cdoes not open her heart to Korea\u201d (kokoro o hiraiteinai). From a gender point of view her withdrawal can be seen as a kind of (conscious or unconscious) self-protection of her identity as a working woman. To continue working, she guards herself against the country which seems to threaten her own self-fulfilment\u2014important for her, but seemingly worthless in Korea. Gender issues thus become a central pivot on which the intercultural encounter between Korea and Japan is explored and commented upon.<\/p>\n

After professional failure \u2013 one of her sketches is rejected \u2013 Rie\u2019s role as wife and mother is brought entirely to the foreground. Likewise, when her mother visits her in Seoul, Rie becomes aware of her duties as a daughter and realises that she has neglected her mother \u2013 and her own family \u2013 for a long time.<\/p>\n

In addition to its emphasis on gender roles and family values across cultures, \u201cKankoku no obachan wa erai\u201d is one of only a very few dramas to broach the issue of the Japanese colonisation of Korea. When Rie\u2019s mother brings up this subject in a conversation with Omoni by saying: \u201cJapan once did bad things to Korea\u201d, Omoni who is fluent in Japanese due to her education during the colonial time, replies: \u201cIt is difficult between nations. But you cannot hate people you know and cherish since we are all like a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The construction of a dichotomy of Japan and Korea concerning gender and family roles is complimented by a subsequent presentation of the idea that inter-generational conflict can unite the generations across cultural borders. Rie\u2019s mother and Omoni understand each other\u2019s values and worldviews well, and Rie and Omoni\u2019s daughter \u2013 both of about the same age \u2013 are united by their wish for professional self-fulfilment. However, even though these changes within the younger generation in Korea are observed \u2013 personified by Omoni\u2019s daughter \u2013 Korea is presented as a country in which women have to dedicate themselves first and foremost to their families. Significantly, the only woman with professional ambitions is Omoni\u2019s daughter who is divorced and without children\u2014a source of constant reproach from Omoni who can be seen as a representative of the elder generation.<\/p>\n

The Japanese-Korean television film \u201cFriends\u201d (in two episodes, TBS 2002, No. 4), despite being a co-production, also draws heavily on the stereotype of Korea as a Confucian country by emphasising the same (perceived) difference in family values. Here, the emphasis of family values in Korea can be seen as not only a construct of the Japanese producers, but can also be seen to have become part of Korea\u2019s self-image. \u201cFriends\u201d is a love story between the male Korean character Jihun and the female Japanese character Tomoko. According to the producer at the Japanese private station TBS, the Japanese production team aimed to \u201cemphasise the difference between Japanese and Korean families.\u201d For this reason, the Japanese and Korean characters were provided with entirely different backgrounds: the Korean, Jihun, has been born and raised in a rural province which is \u2013 even in Korea \u2013 considered to be exceptionally \u2018traditional\u2019; while the Japanese, Tomoko, is the daughter of a single mother from the Tokyo megalopolis. Therefore, by juxtaposing the heir of a \u2018traditional\u2019 Korean family with a girl from Tokyo, the perceived distinction is much more obvious than if the two main characters were chosen from a similar environment.<\/p>\n

This difference in backgrounds and upbringing eventually lead to a clash between the two main characters. Although Jihun dreams of making films, his father wants him to take over the family business. Tomoko, on the other hand, has no concept of obligation to the family in terms of her career directions. Her mother has been constantly concerned whether Tomoko had dreams or ambitions she wanted to fulfil that her mother could help her accomplish. As she always had to reply that she did not have a \u2018dream\u2019 for herself, Tomoko puts high esteem in people that, in contrast to herself, do have dreams in life. When she urges Jihun not to deny his film-making dream for the sake of his family\u2019s business, Jihun defends his father\u2019s position. Nevertheless, it is important to note that Tomoko\u2019s Japaneseness plays a part here\u2014in identifying Korean culture as an underdog to the Japanese, Jihun seeks to defend and uphold his own country\u2019s culture in the face of the Japanese \u2018Other\u2019. Towards his Korean friends, however, Jihun is much more critical of his father and the family traditions. Such intimate disagreements thus represent the negotiation of power balance on large cultural and national canvases (Iwata-Weickgenannt 2008).<\/p>\n

Although they remain together, Tomoko withdraws emotionally from Jihun who eventually continues to realise his dream to work in film. In \u201cFriends\u201d the common patterns are reversed\u2014even though the Japanese character is able to find a new job in which she can be more at ease with herself, it is not she who is encouraged to live her own dreams, but the Korean character. When Jihun wins a prize for one of his films, his father finally accepts his professional ambitions. When his father then goes on to give him permission to marry Tomoko, the film is brought to a happy ending. Yet, even though differences between the younger and the older generation are emphasised, it is much more important for Jihun than for Tomoko to live in accordance with his family\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

Like in \u201cKankoku no obachan wa erai\u201d, the world view of the younger generation differs from that of the elder. However, in the argument with Tomoko, the Korean character describes it as given that he should seek to fulfil his father\u2019s expectations. Even though \u2013 encouraged by Tomoko \u2013 he decides in favour of his own professional dreams, the harmony with his family is vital for him. By contrast, Tomoko\u2019s relationship with her mother is based on friendship rather than obligation. Her mother even encourages her to find and eventually realise her own dreams. Thus, the contrast between Jihun and Tomoko\u2019s familial worlds is a powerful signifier for the construction of Japanese and Korean cultural difference and identity within the drama.<\/p>\n

The television series \u201cFaitingu g\u0101ru\u201d (Fighting Girl, Fuji TV 2001, No.5) which consists of eleven episodes, portrays a friendship between the 19-year old Japanese Sayoko and the 24-year old Korean Ami whose attitudes differ diametrically. Ami\u2019s moral concepts match those of Sayoko\u2019s father who owns a small manual workshop and thus personifies a more \u2018traditional\u2019 Japan. When Sayoko for a short time enters the fashion business, her father strictly opposes her plans to work in such a fast-moving branch. His own small family business, however, seems to be associated with a \u2018not-quite-as-modern\u2019 Japan. Therefore, through this representative of the elder generation, a more critical stance toward Japan\u2019s modernity is put forward. Due to her friendship with Ami, Sayoko eventually realises that the \u2018traditions\u2019 upheld through her father\u2019s small business are in fact something valuable to be respected.<\/p>\n

Japanese and Korean families in Japanese television dramas are almost always constructed along the \u2018tradition versus modernity\u2019 dichotomy, even when internal inter-generational differences and cross-cultural generational symmetry can be detected and convincingly rendered. The comparison with Korea serves as a means to present the situation in Japan as being far from any Confucian, shared Asian, family traditions. Even though it is made clear that the younger generation in Korea seem to suffer from the limits set by these traditions, family values in general are presented as something positive, something that relate to Japan\u2019s own \u2018traditions\u2019\u2014traditions diluted or even destroyed in part by the effects of \u2018modernization’.<\/p>\n

As the previous focus on Korean characters makes clear, Koreans are nearly almost presented as upholding a \u2018traditional\u2019 lifestyle by placing emphasis on family values. Unlike those dramas portraying Japanese-Korean encounters, however, the dichotomy of \u2018traditional\u2019 versus \u2018modern family life\u2019 seems to be of lesser importance for the construction of \u2018Japan\u2019 and \u2018China\u2019. Although only two dramas deal with the issue of tradition and modernity between China and Japan, this dichotomy is conveyed in a very fascinating and revealing way.<\/p>\n

In Sakuranbo no minoru tani, (The Valley where the Cherries Bear Fruit, NHK 2000, No. 6), a young Japanese salary man encounters life in a minority village in a remote Chinese province. This particular minority, especially the family he befriends, is presented as having led a life far from the benefits and losses of \u2018modernity\u2019 which is posed as spreading throughout China and about to reach the secluded village. This \u2018modernity\u2019 is represented by two Japanese characters who are planning to bring tourists into this area and therefore need to prepare the village according to the needs of visitors from a \u2018modern\u2019 society while at the same time trying to preserve the village\u2019s \u2018primeval flair\u2019.<\/p>\n

The drama sets out to convey the notion that the contact with this kind of \u2018modernity\u2019 will slowly degenerate the \u2018original traditions\u2019 of the villagers. This is personified in the character of one of the Chinese family\u2019s sons who works in a Japanese company. Even though the \u2018traditional\u2019 codes of honour demand that all family members stand together in a moment of desperate need, he refuses to help his family by saying: \u201cThere\u2019s no need for traditions. We live in modern times now.\u201d His sister, on the other hand, sees the necessity to preserve the minority\u2019s lifestyle. She considers it her duty to remain in the village and teach the children the true value of \u2018traditions\u2019. Through her efforts, her brother is eventually able to reconsider the significance of these \u2018traditions\u2019 and finally even turns to help his family.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, in \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d, the boundaries between a supposed \u2018original tradition\u2019 and a \u2018newly intruding modernity\u2019 are not drawn exactly along the lines of \u2018traditional Chinese\u2019 versus \u2018modern Japanese\u2019. \u2018Modernity\u2019 rather seems to be something \u2018infectious\u2019 and threatening for, (although somewhat nostalgically distorted and woolly defined), \u2018traditions\u2019 in general. Whereas the small village in the mountains is presented as having preserved its \u2018traditions\u2019 and continually struggling to uphold its codes of honour, the two Japanese businessmen and the son of the Chinese family apparently represent (Western) \u2018modernity\u2019 in the sense of thinking only about profit and themselves. Nevertheless, the message of the drama seems to be that this development can be stopped if the \u2018modernizers\u2019, be they Chinese or Japanese, are able to find a way back to their own \u2018traditions\u2019 again. This is also illustrated by the Japanese main character\u2019s catharsis: The high esteem given to family values within this minority group leads this character to a healing experience such that he is even able to forgive a grudge against his father which has thwarted him throughout his life.<\/p>\n

Here the approach of the Japanese characters toward \u2018tradition\u2019 is clearly visible. Whereas the two Japanese businessmen seek to exploit the perceived \u2018traditional\u2019 lifestyle of the minority (economically), the Japanese main character who belongs to the younger generation is able to turn his positive experiences into profit for his personal development, profit on a monetary base becomes unimportant for him. The drama thus conveys the notion that Japan\u2019s younger generation is, or at least should be able to, communicate with China and its inhabitants on a more personal basis, without the \u2018corrupting\u2019 influence of economic greed or betterment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d can be read as a plea to uphold and cherish a \u2018nostalgic-traditional\u2019 lifestyle within a strongly tied family bound by codes of honour as well as by affection. The Chinese characters portrayed as being \u2018traditionally-oriented\u2019 serve as role models for the \u2018modern\u2019 characters, regardless of their origin.# Referring back to the \u2018Asian values debate\u2019, Japan thus takes on the part of the individualised and modern West, whereas rural China is \u2013 uncritically \u2013 connoted with \u2018Asian\u2019 values. \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d thus sports a very essentialist argumentation, as the \u2018Western\u2019 qualities of Japan \u2013 individualism and a profit-oriented way of thinking \u2013 are presented as something acquired (from outside?) and thus easily disposed of in the same stroke.<\/p>\n

Unlike \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d which shows a construction of China along the conventional pattern of \u2018tradition versus modernity\u2019, the ten episode television series \u201cHonke no yome” (Nihon Terebi 2001, No. 7) aired by the private broadcasting station Nihon Terebi, however, takes on a different stance within this dichotomy. Whereas the other examples we have mentioned have portrayed \u2018Asia\u2019 as the \u2018traditional Other\u2019 to Japan\u2019s modernity, in \u201cHonke no yome\u201d this pattern is reversed by constructing a \u2018traditional\u2019 Japan in contrast to a \u2018modern\u2019 and international Taiwan. The young female main character of \u201cHonke no yome\u201d \u2013 Nozomi \u2013 is of Japanese and Taiwanese descent, but was raised in the USA. She thus seems to embody \u2018Asian\u2019 as well as \u2018Western\u2019 values which are presented in a more positive way than in \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d.<\/p>\n

So far, Nozomi has led a \u2018modern\u2019 lifestyle pursuing a career as a journalist. Her husband is Japanese and the second son of a honke. When the actual heir leaves the family, her husband is asked to fill the role and Nozomi is put under pressure to divorce, because as a working woman she does not fit in the pattern of a usual honke no yome. Instead of submitting to his family\u2019s wishes, however, she decides to stay and fight for her place in the honke. When she discovers that the traditional lifestyle of her husband\u2019s family deprives the members of the family of their innermost wishes, she decides to put a little \u2018fresh air\u2019 into the old ways of life.<\/p>\n

Unlike \u2018tradition\u2019 in \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d, \u2018tradition\u2019 here is somehow jammed, preventing people from realising their own dreams. \u201cHonke no yome\u201d thus explicitly refers to Japan\u2019s own \u2018traditions\u2019 and even though their \u2018Asian\u2019 background is never mentioned, they are presented along the usual patterns of \u2018Asian familiarism\u2019\u2014therefore implicitly portraying Japan as being part of Asia or at least having the same background. In stark contrast to the dramas featuring Korea, it seems that in \u201cHonke no yome\u201d, \u2018Japan\u2019 is constructed as needing an impulse from outside to make its own \u2018traditions\u2019 liveable again<\/p>\n

This central point is played out through the role of the Japanese-Taiwanese-American character in contrast to that of her Japanese counterpart\u2014the family matriarch whose task it is to \u201cprotect the house\u201d (ie o mamoru). Both are functionalised according to the pattern of \u2018tradition versus modernity\u2019. However, as these two women develop deep bonds despite their different attitudes, the \u2018traditional\u2019 lifestyle of the husband\u2019s family is gradually changed, allowing the members of the family to experience more personal freedom and the advantages of an extended family at the same time.# Unlike other dramas, here both sides profit from the changes: whereas the family matriarch acknowledges the younger character\u2019s wish to modernise the family traditions and gradually finds out for herself, that \u201cprotecting a house\u201d does include the (emotional) welfare of those who live in it, the protagonist comes to respect a traditional way of living.<\/p>\n

Yet, however progressive this drama may seem in its representation of \u2018China\u2019, it is important that the main character is of Japanese descent. She is therefore \u2018close\u2019 enough to Japan to at least understand these \u2018traditions\u2019, but also educated in the West, thus individualistic enough to question the perceived \u2018errors\u2019 of these \u2018traditions\u2019 more directly.# The message of the series thus seems obvious: By inverting the common patterns, it is not a yearning for \u2018Asian traditions\u2019 that is expressed here, but much rather a wish to cherish Japan\u2019s own traditions (again). Yet it remains significant that common ascriptions of \u2018tradition\u2019 and \u2018modernity\u2019 are questioned, and an amalgam between \u2018old\u2019 and \u2018new\u2019 is shown as the most appropriate way of life.<\/p>\n

Family values, be they \u2018traditionally Chinese\/Asian\u2019 or \u2018originally Japanese\u2019 are in both cases presented as holding relevant ideals and are therefore strengthened as legitimate models. However, the messages are achieved under different preliminaries: Whereas in \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d specifically \u2018Asian\u2019 values are portrayed and utilised for the Japanese, the family system presented in \u201cHonke no yome\u201d is entirely Japanese\u2014therefore, a \u2018healing process\u2019 can be also found within Japan itself if its own \u2018traditions\u2019 are \u2018readjusted\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the genre of Japanese television drama, a certain tendency to describe or construct Chinese as not entirely \u2018traditional\u2019 can be observed.# Rather, they seem to oscillate between tradition and modernity. Even in \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d, the ascriptions of \u2018tradition versus modernity\u2019 are not drawn along the lines of nationalities. In \u201cHonke no yome\u201d, eventually, this pattern is entirely dissolved. A reason for these divergent representations of \u2018China\u2019 may be found in its intense economic diversity\u2014it might be difficult to ascribe \u2018tradition\u2019 to the \u2018modern\u2019 parts of the People\u2019s Republic \u2013 such as Shanghai \u2013 as well as to Taiwan which has one of the highest standards of life in Asia.<\/p>\n

Nostalgia for \u2018Asian Energy\u2019<\/p>\n

In most dramas depicting encounters between Japan and other Asian countries, the Japanese are portrayed as lethargic and unable to find their own way in life, whereas the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters are energetic and full of determination. They usually have a certain dream they aim to fulfil, whereas the Japanese characters are seem to aimlessly wander through their lives. The contact with this \u2018Asian energy\u2019 always results in a positive experience for the Japanese, who then are able to define a dream for themselves and consequently become more fulfilled in their new vigour.<\/p>\n

This \u2018Asian energy\u2019 can be seen to manifest itself in different ways. It can either be a determination to work for the betterment of the country or, on a more individual basis, to fulfil one\u2019s personal dreams. This \u2018Asian fortitude\u2019 can also be extended to the well-being of the characters\u2019 \u2013 mostly Japanese \u2013 social\/environmental surroundings, therefore obtaining a more altruistic connotation. The pattern of \u2018Asian energy and determination\u2019, therefore, illustrates a wide divergence of struggle and application which is best analyzed by looking , in turn, at how \u2018dreams of Asian modernisation\u2019, \u2018fulfilling personal dreams\u2019, and \u2018altruism\u2019 are key sub-themes of this portrayal of energy, motivation and salvation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsia\u2019s Dream Will Surely Come True\u201d \u2013 Dreams of Modernisation and Industrialisation<\/p>\n

In the television drama \u201cDoku\u201d aired in 1996, the main character, a Vietnamese exchange student named Doku, comes to Japan in order to fulfil his dream of studying architecture. However, Doku\u2019s own dream was not only to become an architect to have a better life for himself, but to help his own country in its modernisation. The catchphrase of this drama \u2013 Asia\u2019s dream will surely come true (Ajia no yume wa kanarazu kanau) \u2013 hints that \u2018Asia\u2019s\u2019 dream supposedly is one of modernisation and industrialisation, which is reflected in the Vietnamese main character\u2019s own dream. In accordance, the Vietnamese are constructed as more energetic and vigorous than the Japanese who, from their already-modernised position, are fascinated by this power. For the first time, in 1996, the notion that other Asians were more energetic than the Japanese was expressed\u2014a pattern which came to be used more often in the future. It is perhaps important to note that in constructing the \u2018Asian Dream\u2019 narrative, it is the progress of a whole state or even the whole region that is emphasised. This is in contrast to the \u2018American Dream\u2019 narrative, which usually implies a rise \u2018from rags to riches\u2019 focusing on the rise of individuals, and thus in this distinction the \u2018Asian values debate\u2019 is again highlighted.<\/p>\n

In \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d (No. 6), China appears as a country on the verge of modernisation and industrialisation. But unlike in \u201cDoku\u201d, \u2018modernity\u2019 is constructed as something that cannot be helped, not necessarily as something desirable. Yet all characters accept the necessity of modernisation by not opposing the intention of the Japanese businessmen to bring in tourists. The most important stance \u2013 not raised in \u201cDoku\u201d \u2013 is how modernity can be admitted without destroying \u2019traditional\u2019 values at the same time. Even though the drama focuses on the hazards of a too rash a modernisation, it acknowledges at the same time China\u2019s \u2018energy\u2019 which is described as being that of a \u2018modernising country\u2019.<\/p>\n

The approach towards China in the television film \u201cHonkonmy\u014dj\u014dmei\u201d (Fan of a Hong Kong Star, No. 8) also conveys an image of a \u2018modernising China\u2019, though only implicitly. The female Japanese main character works as the Asian marketing director of the Japanese branch of a French shoe brand. Her dream is, however, to get rid of the Western fashion dictate and create something \u2018exquisitely Asian\u2019 by establishing an Asian label. The creative energy for this she finds in the works of a young female Chinese designer. In this, both the Japanese and the Chinese represent certain abilities: whereas the Chinese assumes the creative part, the Japanese possesses the international competence and entrepreneurial skills necessary to make the product a success. Although this drama never mentions a \u2018modernisation\u2019 of China, the \u2018Asian Dream\u2019 is extended to the co-operation between China and Japan within Asia\u2014therefore representing a more thorough emancipation of this region.<\/p>\n

Energy to Fulfil Personal Dreams<\/p>\n

These \u2018dreams\u2019 and the \u2018energy\u2019 necessary to fulfil them cannot only be found on the national level, as has been briefly highlighted above, but also on a personal level by presenting seemingly lethargic and aimless Japanese characters in opposition to their more vigorous \u2018Asian\u2019 counterparts. This is especially visible in television dramas dealing with Korea. These dramas usually contrast a lethargic Japanese character with an energetic Korean determinately working to fulfil his or her dream. Here, the dramas \u201cM\u014d ichido kisu\u201d (One More Kiss, No. 1), \u201cShij\u014d no koi\u201d (Highest Love, No. 2), \u201cFaitingu g\u0101ru\u201d (No. 5) and the Japanese-Korean co-production \u201cFriends\u201d (No. 4) may serve to illustrate this notion well. Each of these dramas features Japanese characters who at the beginning do not know what to do with their lives. In both \u201cM\u014d ichido kisu\u201d and \u201cFaitingu g\u0101ru\u201d the Japanese main characters have left university before graduating, whereas in \u201cFriends\u201d the main character is unsatisfied with her job as a shop assistant.<\/p>\n

In all three cases, the encounter with Korean characters give the Japanese the energy to develop an individual dream or to at least reorganise their lives: through the contact with the Korean pop singer, the male Japanese main character in \u201cM\u014d ichido kisu\u201d is indirectly encouraged to write songs by himself instead of copying others. The Japanese girl in \u201cFaitingu g\u0101ru\u201d discovers her talent in fashion design, whereas the Japanese character in \u201cFriends\u201d starts learning Korean, quits her job and starts organising trips to Korea instead: \u201cthe passive administrator of consumption thus becomes an active administrator of culture\u201d (Iwata-Weickgenannt 2008, translation by the authors). It is, however, important to note, that in this particular drama the Japanese is as vital to the Korean as vice versa. Only through her doing, the male Korean main character is encouraged to realise his own dream\u2014therefore her \u2018female\u2019 energy seems to be as important for him as his \u2018Korean\u2019 energy for her.<\/p>\n

A special form of \u2018give and take\u2019 is also visible in the triangular love story \u201cUso koi\u201d (False Love, No. 9), a series in eleven episodes evolving around the lives of two Japanese and one Chinese character. The young Chinese designer-to-be dreams of becoming one of the pupils of a renowned Japanese designer. For this, she needs a visa, which she obtains by secretly entering the family register of the male Japanese main character as his wife. Although the Chinese character at first glance seems to be a selfish and egocentric person for whom the end seems to justify the means, she is not presented as unsympathetic, but rather as being in a powerless position, a victim of a rigorous Japanese immigration law.<\/p>\n

The Japanese main character \u2013 a photographer \u2013 is a creative person himself, and thus understands the Chinese\u2019s motives better than he would actually admit. He gradually gets to admire her determination and begins to support her dream while at the same time receiving inspiration from her. Here, although the Chinese character seems to be the more determined, her Japanese counterpart(s) are by no means lethargic. All of the characters possess a certain creative energy through which they are ultimately able to articulate through encountering each other. In the end, all main characters have found a way to live their own dreams.<\/p>\n

Altruistic \u2018Asian\u2019 Characters<\/p>\n

Within this overall category of \u2018nostalgia for Asian Energy\u2019, a certain kind of determination to improve a (seemingly hopeless) situation appears as a common sub-theme. Whereas the Japanese characters presented in these dramas seem to be lethargic and submissive in situations they feel unable to change themselves, the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters seem to possess the vitality necessary to initiate change. Strongly related to the sub-theme of fulfilling personal dreams described above, the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters here go further in the pursuit of dreams\u2014not just pursuing individual dreams but dreams which may lead to a better life for all. Again, the main arguments of the \u2018Asian values debate\u2019 can be found here, as this pattern depends on a more group-oriented, selfless behaviour of the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters. In most cases, however, this kind of energy is transmitted to the Japanese characters, whom, after this outside impulse, become more energetic and vigorous themselves.<\/p>\n

One of the most prominent examples is the main character of the series \u201cHonke no yome\u201d. As already noted, the Japanese-Taiwanese-American main character is functionalised according to the dichotomy of \u2018tradition versus modernity\u2019. She therefore does not only represent modernity, but a certain kind of modernising spirit within the traditional honke. Corresponding to her telling name \u2018Nozomi\u2019 (literally \u2018wish\u2019 or \u2018hope\u2019), she strives to help others realise their deepest wishes. In this, she does not seem to have a dream for herself \u2013 having realised most of them already \u2013 but constantly encourages the Japanese characters to believe and stand for their dreams. Her vitality thus seems infectious, as through her doing, the situation of the family does in fact improve. She becomes the driving force within the household, characterised as altruistic and helpful. The truly idealised character of Nozomi is therefore utilised according to the pattern of the \u2018Others\u2019 being \u2018saviours\u2019 for the Japanese.<\/p>\n

Again, however, it is important that she is of Japanese descent, thus rendering the energy not as something exquisitely \u2018Asian\u2019 or \u2018Western\u2019. This is also underlined by the fact that her Japanese husband in fact shares her determination. Like in \u201cKankoku no obachan wa erai\u201d, however, the generation gap gains importance, as both Nozomi and her husband symbolise the younger generation, whereas the family matriarch of course represents the values of the elder generation. Though the two worldviews constantly clash, these differences can be consoled by Nozomi\u2019s determination.<\/p>\n

Another purely altruistic character can be found in the Japanese-Korean co-production \u201cSonagi\u2014Ameagari no satsui\u201d (Sonagi Murderous Intentions after the Rain, No. 10). The Korean main character is a CID officer who puts all his energy in investigating a case which actually has already been closed. A Japanese businessman in Seoul has apparently committed suicide, yet his sister insists that he has been murdered. Becoming witness to her pleading, he decides to believe her rather than his superiors and starts investigating. Owing to his determination, the truth finally comes to light.<\/p>\n

The Korean officer is portrayed as a \u2018lonesome cowboy\u2019, who neither respects traditions nor superior officers. Although he gives \u201cpromotion and ambition\u201d as the main reasons for his actions, it becomes clear throughout the drama that he actually helps the Japanese because of her assurance that her brother is the only family she has \u2013 their parents died in an accident when they were still young \u2013 and that he promised never to leave her alone. Even though he is by far the most individualist \u2018Asian\u2019 character, the Korean seems to have at least a certain understanding of family values. In this drama, the discussion of \u2018family\u2019 concerning encounters with Koreans is only implicitly present and strongly reduced in its dominance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSonagi\u201d probably goes furthest into the realm of political debate by explicitly mentioning problems between South Korea and Japan. However, it is also made clear that other possibilities for communication beyond politics are possible. In a moment of conflict, the Korean main character states: \u201cThe elder generation was right, you cannot trust the Japanese.\u201d In due course however, it is elucidated, that the elder generation was wrong and consequently, the younger generation should able to understand each other on a different level.<\/p>\n

The Chinese and Korean characters are in most cases presented as the more energetic, determinate part within the plot, although in \u201cUso koi\u201d \u2013 and, to a lesser extent, in \u201cFriends\u201d \u2013 the Japanese seem equally energetic. However, the contact with the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters is in all cases vital to the development of the Japanese character(s). The other Asians are therefore being utilised according to their relevance for the Japanese. Here, it becomes obvious that portrayals of Asian characters do not show Japan and \u2018Asia\u2019 as assuming an equal position. Nevertheless, despite the continuance of notions of ranked economic or cultural power, the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters remain as role models for the Japanese. Through a nostalgia for \u2018Asian energy\u2019, problems in the Japanese society are addressed and the audiences therefore encouraged to define for themselves goals in life.<\/p>\n

Conclusion\u2014Youth, popular culture, and a coming asian age?<\/p>\n

The Japanese construction of the Asian \u2018Other\u2019 has been through some important changes. While established patterns and stereotypes do remain, there are efforts at wholly new representations which tap into highly contemporary questions of regional and world place and internal struggles and identities. The ability to blend tradition and modernity, to approach and live life and to embody positivism and energy in one\u2019s pursuit of happiness and success\u2014these are the qualities offered by the Asian characters today.<\/p>\n

As we have mentioned in various examples, there are also important generational factors at work here too. By conveying closeness between Japan and \u2018Asia\u2019 through the relationships of the characters, the \u2018rediscovering\u2019 of Japan\u2019s \u2018lost\u2019 traditions and qualities is \u2018pitched\u2019 to a younger generation. Indeed, almost all \u2018Asian\u2019 main characters are young people who represent a young and vigorous \u2018Asia\u2019 that has \u2013 in various degrees \u2013 managed to hold on to its traditions. These young people are carefully constructed and presented as role models for the younger generation in Japan who are seen to be aligned with \u2018the West\u2019\u2014their individualism and disregard for \u2018family values\u2019 acting as markers for this. Picking up on the antithesis of these Western qualities, elements picked up from the nihonjinron literature and wider \u2018Asian values debate\u2019 are utilised to chastise this younger \u2018Westernised and passive\u2019 Japanese generation, presenting alternative worldviews and identities, seemingly valued as superior by the older producers. As one producer of a television drama featuring a Korean character put it: the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters are there to \u201ctell the younger generation off\u201d.<\/p>\n

If this strategy should work and the younger generation in Japan is indeed encouraged to be \u2018saved\u2019 in the ways that the producers intend, it is interesting to note that their \u2018lost qualities\u2019 are also being simultaneously \u2018rediscovered\u2019 in the younger generation of their Asian neighbors. This is because these dramas are very much part of a region-wide popular culture, increasingly shared among Korea (since lifting of import controls on Japanese popular culture in 1998), Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong (Kondo 2004: 39), to name only the largest markets of Japan-produced popular culture. The role of popular culture itself thus also contributes to this kind of interregional and intergenerational understanding. The younger generation within Asia is presented as consuming basically the same popular culture, one \u2018different\u2019 from \u2018Western\u2019 and\/or American popular culture. The popularity of Korean productions in Japan since the year 2003 underlines this, as Korean dramas and actors seem to have become an inseparable part of Japanese popular culture.<\/p>\n

While most dramas achieve a happy ending for the (Japanese) characters, the understanding between \u2018Japan\u2019 and \u2018Asia\u2019 grows in importance. Even though the \u2018Asian\u2019 characters are highly idealised personae within these dramas and problems arising in the region because of Japan\u2019s dealing with its wartime past are almost entirely left out, it is the younger generation that is presented as being able to communicate regardless of differences, boundaries, or even politics. Thus, a \u2018brighter\u2019 and less troubled future is painted through these dramas\u2014one where shared values to configuring identity and living life override national borders in favour of a shared sense of regional belonging.<\/p>\n

To what extent will these dramas\u2019 \u2018vision\u2019 of a Japan as an integral part of Asia with the region\u2019s youth generation sharing the same values become a reality? There are opposing forces which we see as directing the vision towards and away from influencing the direction of Japan\u2019s possible future. On the one hand, the younger generation is shown as being able to communicate with each other beyond political problems, and this is clearly a model being presented to the very grass roots of Japanese society. On the other hand, however, it remains highly questionable whether a profound understanding can really be achieved by attributing special qualities to \u2018Asians\u2019 while offering no substantial treatment of the political differences and nationalist rhetoric that still haunts this region. Ultimately, the vision of the dramas may only succeed if the viewers can look beyond the characters within them to the expanded opportunities they provide for the younger generation in Japan and the wider Asia to engage in meaningful relationships and dialogue with one another.<\/p>\n

Appendix: Contents of television dramas analysed<\/p>\n

No. 1 \u201cM\u014d ichido kisu\u201d (One More Kiss, NHK 2001)
\nMale Japanese main character (20): breaks off his studies, looks for a goal in his life, finally starts working as a composer
\nFemale Korean main character (24): professional pop singer, dreams of spending her life with the man of her dreams<\/p>\n

No. 2 \u201cShij\u014d no koi\u201d (Highest Love, NHK 2001)
\nMale Japanese main character (in his 40s): suffers under his divorce, gains a more positive worldview due to the encounter with the Korean character
\nFemale Korean main character (in her 20s): constantly believes in the good of the world, sacrifices herself to safe the life of the Japanese main character\u2019s
\ndaughter<\/p>\n

No. 3 \u201cKankoku no obachan wa erai\u201d (Korean Aunties Are Wonderful, NHK 2002)
\nFemale Japanese main character (in her 30s): works as freelance illustrator, rethinks her position within her family
\nFemale Korean main character (in her 50s): considers \u2018family first\u2019 as basic duty for women<\/p>\n

No. 4 \u201cFriends\u201d (TBS, KBS 2002)
\nFemale Japanese main character (in her 20s): unsatisfied with her job, starts learning Korean and finds a dream for herself
\nMale Korean main character (in his 20s): dreams of making films, wants to fulfil the expectations of his father, finally able to fulfil his dreams<\/p>\n

No. 5 \u201cFaitingu g\u0101ru\u201d (Fighting Girl, Fuji TV 2002)
\nFemale Japanese main character (19): breaks off university, starts as fashion designer
\nFemale Korean main character (24): flees from a marriage of convenience in Korea, wants to work in Japan<\/p>\n

No. 6 \u201cSakuranbo no minoru tani\u201d (The Valley Where the Cherries Bear Fruit, NHK 2000)
\nMale Japanese main character (about 35): is transferred to China, encounters the traditions of a minority, rethinks and consequently changes his life
\nFemale Chinese main character (about 25): wants to preserve the traditions of the minority group she belongs to<\/p>\n

No. 7 \u201cHonke no yome\u201d (Nihon terebi 2001)
\nFemale Japanese-Taiwanese main character (25): freelance journalist, wants to change the traditional lifestyle of her husband\u2019s family, learns to cherish
\ntraditions
\nFemale Japanese main character (in her 50s): cherishes family traditions, learns to appreciate a more modern lifestyle<\/p>\n

No. 8 \u201cHonkonmy\u014dj\u014dmei\u201d (Fan of a Hong Kong Star, TV T\u014dky\u014d 2002)
\nFemale Japanese main character (in her late 30s): dreams of establishing an Asian shoe label, able to fulfil her dream<\/p>\n

No. 9 \u201cUso koi\u201d (False Love, Fuji TV 2001)
\nMale Japanese main character (38): photographer, has quit creative camerawork, dreams of working more creatively again
\nFemale Chinese main character (27): dreams of becoming a fashion designer<\/p>\n

No. 10 \u201cSonagi \u2013 Ameagari no satsui\u201d (Sonagi \u2013 Murderous Intentions after the Rain, Fuji TV, MBC 2002)
\nFemale Japanese main character (27): brother murdered in Seoul, urges for solution of the case
\nMale Korean main character (27): Police officer, solves the cases despite his superior\u2019s objections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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