Period: 28 May 2005 - 7 July 2005. 10  August 2005 - 13 September 2005. Country: Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai
(1) Japanese Media Industries in East Asia in the 1990s
OTMAZGIN, Nissim  (Division of Southeast Asian Area Studies)
Key Words: Popular Culture, Media, Industry, East Asia, Regionalization

(2) My research highlights the cultural aspects of regionalization in East Asia. I focus on the activities of Japanese media industries in the East Asian markets in the 1990s and the dissemination of their products there, arguing that they promote regionalization by facilitating a collaborative and integrative market for culture, and by creating platforms that enable the possible emergence of common identities and conceptions.

(3)  My field research was conducted from May 28 to July 7, and again from August 10 to September 13, 2004, in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. The surveys included: a. interviews; b. market and shop surveys; c. data collection from local sources; and d. observation and evaluation of the local media scenes.
The main results of this specific field research are as follows:

  1. There are a variety of Japanese popular cultural products, which are widely disseminated, popularized and consumed in cities in East Asia.
  2. Japanese music and Japanese TV programs have become an integral part of the local media scenes in Hong Kong and Singapore, within the confluence of American, Chinese and Korean media products.
  3. The Japanese media industries and their products often serve as examples and models for indigenous industries in Hong Kong and Singapore.
  4. The main consumers of Japanese music and TV programs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai are young people, usually between 16 and 24 years old, and are generally of middle-class background.
 
The Japanese section of a music shop in Hong Kong.   A large advertising poster in Shanghai. It is an indication of the city's changing scenery and enrichment, and shows a variety of new images and lifestyle possibilities.
   
 
This picture, taken in Shanghai, shows how both Mao and Doraemon have become pop-culture idols depicted in an everyday consumption product.   The local Japanese-like girl duet "twins" appear in an advertisement in Singapore.

 
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