Abstract
The reception of Japanese animation in East Asia is a topic of special interest in social sciences; however, little empirical research has been performed that explicitly examines the determinants of its audiences in different countries using quantitative methods. This article studies historical, social and cultural factors that affect the reception of Japanese animation in East Asia, and investigates its determinants among audiences in Taiwan, South Korea and China using a logistic regression analysis model to analyse the data of the East Asia Social Survey 2008. The authors’ findings primarily indicate that higher schooling and the consumption of other cultural goods such as Chinese movies or South Korean dramas are positive factors concerning Japanese animation. In contrast, older audiences have a negative attitude towards Japanese animation. These variables and the self-assessment of community are discussed in the context of previous research. Through empirical analysis, the authors’ findings support this previous research, confirm possible new tendencies and suggest a possible transition in the concept of ‘Japan’ in the context of East Asian cultural consumption.
Keywords
Introduction
In this article, using the East Asia Social Survey (EASS, 2008), we examine the reception of Japanese animation (anime) in Taiwan, South Korea and China by following the complexity of the cultural flows in the East Asian region and we investigate some determinant factors. Japanese animation, alongside many related media such as Japanese comic books (manga), videogames and toys, is known as an important cultural influence, especially among young people, and its study has been widely approached from different social science perspectives. Therefore, although Japanese animation industry performance in the global market has also received attention and is recognised as an important economic force (particularly in East Asian markets), the interest remains most strongly related to the social or cultural characteristics of its audiences and their consumption practices. For example, Napier (2007) and Allison (2006), each from a different perspective, depict the reception of Japan cultural products in Western countries in relation to the nature of Japanese texts, narratives and the industries which produce the cultural goods, focusing on social, cultural and historical elements. More recently, Steinberg (2012) and Condry (2013) detail how Japanese cultural industries work and how strongly this work is closely related to the active participation of audiences or fans. In Europe, Bouissou, Dolle-Weinkauff and Pellitteri have performed a considerable amount of empirical work on the research into how Japanese comic book manga are received in several European countries. Their analysis, based on large-scale questionnaire research performed in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland (Bouissou et al., 2010), is a good example of the empirical study of manga fans’ consumption, the status and development of the market in many European countries and the social characteristics of fans, their motivations and ways in which they relate to manga. In the case of East Asia, there is a similar focus on the practices of Japanese animation audiences and their approach to Japanese cultural goods in particular historical, cultural and social contexts. The representative work of Iwabuchi is a valuable example of analysis of the cultural consumption of Japanese products in East Asia in relation to the historical image of Japan and its ambivalent role in the region (Iwabuchi, 2002, 2005, 2014).
However, this interest in the influence of Japanese cultural goods contrasts with the picture that emerges from research on the Japanese animation market’s size and industry. The Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO, 2005), the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA, 2013a, 2013b) and private research companies such as HUMANMEDIA Inc. (2011) certainly detail a market struggling to recover after a recent period of contraction, and research such as that of Aoki (2006) and Taniguchi (2010) does not depict a ‘cultural empire’ of Japanese animation, but rather a small and fragile industrial structure. This gap shows a disproportion between the size of the market and the real cultural influence possessed by the Japanese cultural industries. A sign of the major role that the cultural influence of Japanese animation and its audiences play, particularly in East Asia, can be found in the attention accrued in Japan and overseas by the strategic appeal of the image of Japan around the world under the ‘Cool Japan’ policies and its alleged ‘soft power’ (Mihara, 2014).
However, when the impact of Japanese animation is viewed from a cultural or social perspective, there are still few empirical analyses that encompass statistically representative quantitative data gathered from different countries and regions. Therefore, the goal of this study is twofold: firstly, to examine the reception and influence of Japanese animation in East Asia from economic, historical, social and cultural perspectives; and, secondly, to investigate the determinant factors of Japanese animation audiences in Taiwan, South Korea and China using a logistic regression analysis model based on the data from the East Asia Social Survey (EASS, 2008). The logistic regression analysis model permitted us to estimate the probability of watching anime among the populations studied, depending on certain variables analysed. We believe that this contextualised examination of a precise quantitative analysis will contribute to strengthening the empirical basis of further studies on audiences of Japanese animation as a social phenomenon in East Asia. In this regard, our analysis confirms some of the tendencies addressed in previous research and also adds some details. This leads us to suggest a possible change in the role of the concept of ‘Japan’ in the context of cultural consumption in East Asia from 1980 onwards. However, this suggestion remains a subject of further empirical, historical and cultural research.
The Japanese animation industry market and structure and its place in East Asia
The Japanese cultural industry has also been termed a ‘soft power’. 1 As Aoki (2006) and Ishizaka (2005) indicate, the financial success of the Pocket Monsters franchise and Spirited Away (2001) in the mass market came to represent the global success of Japanese animation. The general market of the Pocket Monsters franchise was estimated in Japan to be worth ¥1,000 billion, and approximately ¥2,000 billion in foreign markets (Aoki, 2006: 29). According to the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters of the Japanese government, the general scale of the content industry market, including animation, had risen to ¥11,000 billion by 2005, twice the estimate for the steel industry, as Ishizaka (2005) highlights. In addition to this success, the high valuation of the quality of some Japanese animation in occidental markets, mostly represented by the film production of Studio Ghibli, drew the attention of Japanese policymakers. Hence, the idea of Japanese animation as a ‘cultural ambassador’ of Japan became a central point in the cultural policies that were created in relation to the Cool Japan initiatives.
Supporting this enthusiasm there was indeed a market boom in the Japanese animation industry, mainly between 2002 and 2005 (AJA, 2013a). 2 However, a more detailed description of the market and production system reveals a fragile industrial structure and a relatively small primary market for animation companies. These companies operate in a general environment of financial struggles and conflicts concerning some of the different actors in the Japanese animation production scene (Aoki, 2006; Ishizaka, 2005; Kanzawa, 2006; Taniguchi, 2010). As Taniguchi describes, the anime market’s highest period of growth ended in 2006. From 1995 to 2000, the animation market experienced its first period of growth, followed by a second period of growth from 2000 to 2006. 3 From 2005, many new anime companies were established, and they enjoyed a small period of success known as the ‘anime bubble’ (Taniguchi, 2010).
According to data from the Association of Japanese Animation, a general estimate of animation industry sales in Japan and overseas shows a growth from 2002 to 2005, and a fall from 2006 to 2009 4 with a small period of recovery from 2010 onwards (AJA, 2013a). In 2012, the general market had an estimated value of ¥172.5 billion (AJA, 2013a). However, besides TV animation income, the areas analysed included income from many other categories such as movie theatres, DVDs, and licences. From these categories, income from TV is still the highest, but it is clear that from a general perspective the anime market is indivisible from multiple secondary uses of the primary text. This situation has prompted the creation of industrial practices concerning the use of the same resource (like animation or comic books’ narratives or characters) in the greatest possible number of media and platforms. This system is usually referred to in the Japanese industry as ‘media mix’ and ‘character business’ (Odagiri, 2010; Steinberg, 2012), and encompasses the activities of a multiplicity of players such as creators, many small studios and different sponsors, whose interests are not necessarily always identical (Aoki, 2006; Ishizaka, 2005; Kanzawa, 2006; Taniguchi, 2010).
Tanaka (2009) has described this production system as ‘horizontally dispersed’, which means that it is composed of many small companies that share the production risks and benefits. Under this system, it is easier to develop franchises that utilise the same content over different media, thereby encouraging a licence business. However, concurrently, this makes the management and protection of the licences more complicated and, in many cases, this becomes the major obstacle in promoting the spread of licensed Japanese content to overseas markets (Tanaka, 2009).
Furthermore, in general, the animation industry’s income is only one small part of a broader content market. According to the estimates of HUMANMEDIA Inc. (2011: 12), the anime market represents only 1.8 per cent of the total domestic Japanese content industry. In comparison, for example, the manga market is estimated to represent approximately 3.4 per cent (p. 55) of the total and the videogame market approximately 9.6 per cent (p. 58). This shows that while, in most cases, the domestic TV animation market has the biggest economic impact on the anime industry, areas such as licences and ‘character business’ in the domestic market also play a major role, and areas such as overseas markets remain small. This fact plays a crucial role in the mainly domestically oriented attitude of the Japanese animation industry, an attitude that often conflicts with economic policies, such as those of ‘Cool Japan’, which are oriented towards the external market, but are at odds with the structure of the Japanese animation industry and its needs. 5
Regardless of this domestically-oriented industry, East Asia has emerged as the major overseas market for Japanese animation. In 2005, the overseas market was estimated at ¥31.3 billion (its highest point) and in 2012 at ¥14.4 billion (which shows a general decrease) (AJA, 2013a). Here, Asia represents the major percentage (49.8%) of the total number of contracts for Japanese animation distribution in 2013, followed by Europe (24.8%) (AJA, 2013b). According to the AJA report, the biggest market for Japanese TV animation in the world by country was as follows: (1) South Korea (114 contracts); (2) Taiwan (104 contracts); (4) Hong Kong (66 contracts); and (10) China (39 contracts).
It is noteworthy that, from what we can observe here, although these figures cannot reveal much detail about the characteristics of Japanese animation consumption in East Asia, the structure of the Japanese animation industry and its market, which we have addressed above, clarifies that its impact in the East Asian region derives more from cultural dynamics closely linked with the particular conditions of reception outside Japan than from export-oriented strategies. The transnational flows of cultural goods such as piracy and the spread of Japanese animation on the internet, which has played a central role in its popularity in East Asia and the world, is also a sign of this.
Studies on Japanese animation in East Asia
If we are to summarise the general flow of the discussion on Japanese cultural content in East Asia and its influence, whether economic, political or cultural, there are certain topics that are prominent and converge on the role that the concept of Japan has played in different historical and cultural contexts. Examples of these topics include: the focus on the historical process of the flow of Japanese content to Asia; the political context concerning the rejection or acceptance of Japanese cultural goods in Asian markets; the reflection of changes in restrictive policies towards cultural goods such as in China, South Korea and Taiwan; the reflection of changes in ideologies towards consumption and lifestyle in East Asia along with the role of new technologies in the formation of the tastes and orientations of different generations of audiences of Japanese cultural goods; and the current status of cultural consumption in East Asia and its relationship with the complex dynamics of the configuration of different cultural identities as well as the tensions generated by nationalist approaches to these dynamics, symbolised by the interest and concern surrounding Japanese soft power in East Asia.
The flow of Japanese animation to Taiwan, South Korea and China
The historical process of the flow of Japanese content to Taiwan, South Korea and China has been determined largely by political contexts, such as the banning of Japanese cultural products after the Second World War, and the later emergence of new open policies that ended this direct restriction. In the case of mainland China, the broadcasting of Japanese animation began after the open-door policy initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. The first Japanese animation formally aired on Chinese television was Astroboy (1963–1966, 1980–1981), in December 1980. It was not only the first Japanese animation but also the first foreign animation aired in China (Nakano, 2002; Zhu, 2011). In Taiwan, martial law ended in 1987 and was followed by a period of fast democratisation. The broadcasting of Japanese popular TV shows was formalised after the legalisation of cable television in 1993 and the removal of the restrictions on imported Japanese audio and video products in 1994 (Davison, 2003; Lee, 2004; Wang, 2010). In Korea, the normalisation of political relations and cultural exchange with Japan began after the Japan-ROK Basic Relations Treaty in 1965, although the official cultural exchange was sporadic and control over Japanese cultural goods remained until the official removal of the ban in 1998 (Hyun, 2014; Kim, 2011).
The process of formal legalisation of Japanese animation in East Asia was supported by a widespread practice of unlawful distribution and consumption of Japanese cultural goods. During the years of restrictions, this was almost the only method of Japanese cultural product distribution and, in many cases, the consumption of Japanese popular culture such as manga, anime, or music involved a nuance of implicit or explicit criticism towards the government by the consumers of those products, as has been described in the cases of Taiwan, South Korea and China (Hyun, 2014; Kim, 2011; Lee, 2004; Wang, 2010). The success of the spread of Japanese animation regardless of the control policies is also closely connected with the spread of new technology and media environments that ensured the consumption of content without government supervision. As Wang (2010) has shown in the case of Taiwanese BBS (bulletin board systems) based networks, Kim (2011) has demonstrated in relation to South Korea’s rapid spread of broadband internet and Zhu (2011) has shown in relation to new generations of internet users in China, internet communities have played an essential role in the spread of Japanese TV dramas and animation in East Asia.
The distribution of cultural goods outside legal frameworks is addressed by Iwabuchi (2002) as a process of content transnationalisation, which formed the basis for the current condition of the consumption of Japanese cultural goods in East Asian markets, developed under a context of growing consumerism and a market-oriented regionalisation of cultural industries in the region (Otmazgin, 2005). This, as Iwabuchi explains, is a complex process that transcends legal, institutional, or political frameworks and therefore is beyond the scope of national policies.
Furthermore, in the case of the distribution of Japanese cultural goods among mandarin speaking audiences, it is important to highlight the importance of the geographical, political and cultural situation of Taiwan, Hong Kong and certain cities in mainland China, such as Shanghai (Hua, 2012; Nakano, 2002). Hong Kong has played a key role as an entrance point for new influences to mainland China and has been regarded as ‘the place where many Chinese turn for the latest trends, especially with regard to Japanese pop culture’ (Nakano, 2002: 245). However, the internet, along with new technology and piracy, has made mainland China the principal source of Japanese animation for Hong Kong people (Ng, 2010). Taiwan, which is one of the most important hubs for the consumption of Japanese popular culture in East Asia, has also historically played a key role. As a former Japanese colony, Taiwan maintains a complicated position of proximity and distance between mainland China and Japan, and has been one of the most important entrance points for Japanese cultural products into the mandarin speaking world, particularly in the 1990s when the internet in mainland China had not yet been widely disseminated (Zhu, 2011). During the colonial period, Japanese cultural goods were commonly consumed by the Taiwanese and this situation has not changed for many people, notwithstanding the ban on Japanese cultural goods that was imposed under the rule of the Kuomintang, the ruling party. As Lee (2004) has shown, these historical conditions were the basis for a huge boom in Japanese mass culture products, such as TV dramas, after Taiwanese democratisation and the deregulation of Japanese cultural goods. However, Lee contrasts the new generation of ‘Japanophiles’, who embrace trendy Japanese lifestyle and fashion, with the older generation who seek a nostalgic image of the past. The new generation, who were young Taiwanese at the time of the complete removal of restrictions on Japanese cultural goods in 1994, are sometimes called ‘harizu’. They have been one of the main forces in the spread of Japanese cultural goods into Taiwan and therefore into the mandarin speaking world (Lee, 2004; Nakano, 2002; Zhu, 2011).
In South Korea, as in the case of China and Taiwan, the flow of Japanese cultural goods had also been initiated by unlawful distribution before the complete removal of restrictions on Japanese animation in 1998 (Hyun, 2014; Kim, 2011). As Hyun highlights, after the normalisation of political relations in 1965, the cultural flow was rather sporadic with several requests from the Japanese side to obtain more open access for Japanese culture in South Korea. By the second half of the 1960s, as part of the cultural exchange policies, there was a technology exchange agreement concerning animation production which initiated a joint Japanese/Korean animation production, followed by an important role played by Korea as subcontractors in the production of Japanese or US animation. By the 1970s, this system had made South Korea the biggest subcontractor of animation production in the world. The co-production of animation between Japan and Korea made it easy for some animations to be broadcast on Korean television at low prices, but it was necessary to erase any ‘Japanese flavour’ in the animation (Hyun, 2014). By the second half of the 1980s, Korean production of TV animation had accelerated and the level of broadcasting of Korean animation on TV based on original Korean comic books increased. However, concurrently, South Korea joined the Universal Copyright Convention and, under a freer political environment, became capable of importing not only Japanese cultural goods, but also cultural goods from many other countries to South Korea as commodities protected under this convention. This background, along with the underground activities of Japanese animation fans in South Korea, initiated the process that led to the official removal of the ban on Japanese cultural popular culture such as animation in 1998 (Hyun, 2014; Kim, 2011; Otmazgin, 2005).
Cultural flows and identities in East Asia
The differing appropriation of Japanese cultural goods and animation among different generations of audiences reflects the path of the cultural flows under changing political, economic and technological conditions. These generational differences also encompass the formation of niche markets and particular audiences of Japanese content and media. Many authors have focused on the configuration of young people (mainly born after the 1980s) deeply involved in the consumption of Japanese animation and related content, such as drama, comic books, or videogames. This focus converges with the study on the identity of these people as fans, ‘otaku’, ‘harizu’, or ‘dong man zu’, among other categories, as well as a broader focus on the influence of the Japanese modernity imaginary on East Asia. From this perspective, animation audiences are not presumed to be just children, but also teenagers and university students who engross themselves in Japanese animation consumption and other cultural activities as a lifestyle. Studies on playful activities and appropriation of the cultural content as a dynamic process of mixing, imitation and creativity have also shown how Asian youth incorporates this cultural consumption into their daily reality and aspirations. For example, cosplay culture in Taiwan (Chen, 2007, 2012) and in mainland China (Hua, 2012); amateur comic culture in Taiwan (Kawada, 2012); ‘otaku’ culture (Kim, 2011) and ‘anime-song’ communities (Hyun, 2014) in South Korea; trendy Japanese drama fans; ‘harizu’ (Lee, 2004) and internet fan community activities (Wang, 2010) from the early years of the Japanese pop culture boon in Taiwan; and the ‘dong man zu’, which, since 2000, has come to represent the latest cultural communities of ‘Japanese popular culture lovers’ in mainland China (Zhu, 2011).
This current general scene of cultural consumption in East Asia can be approached in the context of the region’s accelerated industrialisation, the growth of the middle class and the expansion of cities and their role as melting pots and sources of cultural innovation for new cultural industries and new trends, without losing sight of the strong influence of Japanese industries. As Otmazgin (2005: 11) describes, besides the poor progress in the political area, a heavily ‘market-driven’ regionalisation of East Asia has come to shape a cultural confluence, where ‘now, more than ever, many East Asians share popular culture products, as well as consumption habits, leisure activities and lifestyle trends.’ It is important to emphasise that this does not connote a cultural homogeneity in Asia, but ‘rather, it decentralizes East Asia’s cultural structure, highlighting local production and appropriations’ (p. 517).
Production and consumption have diversified, given the current impetus of local industries where before there was only an overwhelming domination of US or Japanese cultural goods. This ‘decentralisation’ has become a leading force in a new dynamic where it is becoming difficult to draw a clear distinction between each particular cultural industry and its national identity. As previously noted, consumption of Japanese animation is closely related to comic books, music, TV dramas and specific fashion trends, and many local industries may also be involved in localising these products. The famous case of the Japanese comic for girls, Hana Yori Dango (Shueisha, 1992–2004) is a good example. It was adapted into an animated TV show and film by Toei Animation (1996–1997) in Japan and was also adapted many times as a TV drama in different countries: Meteor Garden (2001) in Taiwan, Siapa Takut Jatuh Cinta (2002) in Indonesia, Meteor Shower (2009) in China and Boys Over Flowers (2009) in South Korea (Otmazgin, 2005: 510).
The popularity of Hong Kong movies, the ‘Korean Wave’ (hanliu) and what Otmazgin (2005: 512) terms ‘pan-Asian Chinese pop music’ are also good examples of some of the important trends that shape the everyday landscape of media consumption in East Asian markets. Nevertheless, the key role of Japanese cultural industries as pioneers in the reconfiguration of occidental capitalism and modernism in an East Asian context, introducing new lifestyles, fashions and trends that have shaped the basis for today’s consumerism has often been stressed (Iwabuchi, 2002, 2005; Lee, 2004; Nakano, 2002).
Once again, these multiple Asian modernities raise the question of cultural identity, not only in regard to particular audiences engaged in particular cultural consumption, but also now from a broader perspective. This perspective is related to the role of Japanese animation and cultural industries in the complex, dynamic and often contradictory process of reflecting the meaning of Japan in Asia along with the cultural construction of Japan itself in relation to Asia. Iwabuchi (1994, 2002) addresses this process as a ‘return to Asia’, and describes how Japanese identity has been defined by tensions between the negation of the cultural similarities with Asia along with an emphasis on these same cultural similarities. Drawing from these central ideas of Iwabuchi and other authors, Lu (2008) has analysed the internalisation of Japanese animation in its textual expression and depicts three ‘kinds of cultural politics’ that exist in animation. Lu describes how Japanese animation has come to play an important role in the cultural and political identity of East Asia through ‘de-politicized internationalization’. This is a reference to Japanese animation deprived of ‘oriental signifiers’ (p. 173); ‘Occidentalized internalization’, referring to ‘stereotypical depictions of supposedly Western characters, usually in a negative sense’ (p. 176); and ‘self-orientalized internalization’, which can be understood to signify ‘depicting Japan as akin to the West so as to help promote a certain kind of hegemony over the rest of the East’ (p. 180).
Here is an interesting point with which to discuss the opposition between the processes of transnationalisation, which we referred to earlier, and the process of internationalisation (Iwabuchi, 2002). Unlike transnationalisation, where cultural consumption transcends national barriers, the internationalisation of cultural goods is set against the backdrop of the nation. It is linked directly with cultural policies and the construction of a national identity. The legal framework of cultural trade and national marketing policies, such as Cool Japan, are examples of internationalisation because they are attempts to take control of the complexity of cultural flows. This driving force based on national frameworks then implements the institutional structures within which Japanese cultural products such as animation are produced and exported overseas.
Analysis of Japanese animation audiences in Taiwan, South Korea and China
Regardless of the previous research performed on Japanese animation audiences, some of which has been referred to above, few empirical analyses have been performed on a statistically representative sample from different East Asian regions, as in this study concerning Taiwan, South Korea and China. In the majority of the previous cases, the conclusions and considerations regarding the characteristics of the consumption of Japanese animation in these regions are based on small or medium scale research such as first-hand observations, interviews and small or medium questionnaire surveys. In this article, our purpose is to contribute to the previous research and studies through an analysis of Japanese animation audiences in East Asia that is based on the data from the East Asian Social Survey Data Archive (EASSDA), and discuss our findings in the context of the previous studies presented above. The data analysed in this article have been obtained from the East Asian Social Survey, which was conducted in 2008 (EASS-2008) and published and distributed by the EASSDA in 2010. 6 The EASS-2008 is a social survey project based on a cross-national network which consists of the 2008 Japanese General Social Survey (JGSS), the 2008 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), the 2008 Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) and the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) (EASS, 2010).
Our study has been preceded by that of Sun (2010) who also analysed the EASS-2008 database but only compared the Taiwanese (TSCS) and Japanese (JGSS) databases. Sun focused on the social characteristics of the respondents such as gender, age, self-assessment of community, type of work and marital status; and stereotypical Japanese animation audiences such as people who remain indoors, parents who watch animation with their children and maniacs or enthusiasts (p. 176).
In the conclusions, Sun discussed some of these stereotypes; for example, although many people believe that Japanese animation audiences aged over 18 are mainly male, in the sample there was a slight tendency to find female audiences. There were also differences in Taiwan and Japan in relation to the preferences of the age groups. Japan has a larger older audience than Taiwan, and an important part of that audience is composed of parents who watch animation with their children. This differs from Taiwan where the majority of the audience is composed of high-school students (Sun, 2010). We found that Chinese and South Korean audiences have similar tendencies to that of Taiwan, which seems to reflect the historical conditions we addressed above.
Sun’s analysis is precise in its statistical details and is a good reference among the few empirical studies that have been performed on the topic. However, the assessment of the social and historical conditions that directly affect the analysed audiences is very narrow. The range of ages analysed is also too wide and includes segments of respondents who, in the case of Taiwan, South Korea and China, do not watch animation at all.
The sample
In our analysis, we used the data for TSCS (Taiwan), KGSS (South Korea) and CGSS (China) from the EASS-2008. Table 1 presents a description of the data used in our study (EASS, 2010). All the data were collected by the EASS team through face-to-face interviews using multistage stratified probability sampling and include a nationally representative sample of respondents aged 18 and older. The targets of the original survey were chosen randomly and were not restricted to audiences of Japanese animation; however, in our analysis we only included respondents who stated that they watched animation. As a result, the sample for this study was restricted in each database to persons aged 39 or younger, since none of the respondents older than 39 watched Japanese animation. Hence, our sample is composed of 864 persons from Taiwan (TSCS), 651 persons from South Korea (KGSS) and 1309 persons from China (CGSS).
Description of the data used in the analysis. a
Elaborated upon by the authors based on the 2008 CULTURE Module Codebook (EASS, 2010). The table shows details of the samples analysed.
Analysis method and models
We used the logistic regression analysis model to investigate the determinants of Japanese animation consumption in our sample. Logistic regression analysis is a method of estimating the probability of an event occurring by using a dummy variable as dependent variable. A dummy variable is a variable with 0 or 1 categories or levels. In this analysis, the dependent variable was whether persons had experience of watching Japanese animation. Specifically, a 0 category or level meant they had never watched animation, a 1 category meant that they had.
The seven independent variables included in this analysis were grouped into two major categories: (1) the basic social characteristics of the respondents, and (2) the relationship between Japanese animation consumption and other popular cultural products on the market, such as South Korean TV dramas and Chinese movies. The measures used for the basic social characteristics included age (1. under 25, 2. 25–29, 3. 30–34, 4. 35–39); gender (1. male, 2. female); years of schooling; self-assessment of community type (1. a big city, 2. the suburbs or outskirts of a big city, 3. a town or small city, 4. a country village); and working hours per week. Factors regarding the consumption of other popular media included two dummy variables concerning Korean drama consumption and Chinese movie consumption.
Findings
Descriptive statistics
The descriptive statistics of all of the independent variables are shown in Table 2. Since the ratio of a country village in South Korea was extremely small, we had it correspond with the ratio of a town or small city. Compared with Taiwan and South Korea, in China the ratios of a town or small city and a country village are lower. This may be due to a lower urbanisation process in China than in the other two countries.
Descriptive statistics of all independent variables (%). a
Descriptive statistics elaborated upon by the authors based on the data of the East Asia Social Survey 2008 (EASS, 2008). The table shows all the ratios for each variable analysed.
In South Korea, the ‘yes’ percentage in regard to the dummy variable concerning Korean drama consumption was 86.2 per cent, which suggests that persons in South Korea have a tendency to favour their native country’s popular culture regardless of whether they watch Japanese anime or not. In a similar fashion, in the case of the dummy variable regarding Chinese movies, the ‘yes’ percentage in China was 63.7 per cent. In addition, Taiwanese respondents showed almost the same percentage (60%) towards Chinese movies. This percentage is not as high as that of South Korea; however, it suggests that a high number of the population tends to support native popular culture, similar to South Korea.
Years of schooling and working hours per week are quantitative variables. Hence, the means and standard deviation are shown. Compared with South Korea and Taiwan, where the years of schooling are approximately 13 years, the number of years of schooling in China is lower (10 years).
Regarding working hours per week, China has the highest number (37 hours), followed by Taiwan (34) and South Korea (27).
Logistic regression model
The result of the logistic regression model is presented in Table 3 in the form of odds ratios. These indicate the probability of an event occurring, in this case in relation to watching Japanese animation, by showing the level of increase or decrease in odds. For example, the odds of persons aged between 35 and 39 in Taiwan watching Japanese animation were close to half (0.570 times lower) of those aged under 25, which was our reference category. In short, this essentially means that, in Taiwan, the probability of individuals in their late 30s watching animation is approximately 43 per cent compared to those under 25.
Result of the logistic regression model. a
p < .001 **p < .01 *p < .05 †p < .10
The results of the logistic regression analysis model. The table was elaborated upon by the authors on the basis of the results of the data of the East Asia Social Survey 2008 (EASS, 2008).
Analysis results: Taiwan
As the examples given above show, respondents aged between 35 and 39 were less likely to watch Japanese animation when compared to the reference category, while the variable years of schooling had a slightly positive effect.
Living in the suburbs or outskirts of a big city, town or small city was positively associated with anime watching in comparison to the reference, which was a big city. This finding indicates that people living in a suburb, town, or small city were more likely to watch Japanese animation than those living in a big city. Therefore, compared to those living in a big city, people living in the suburbs or outskirts of a big city were 1.565 times more likely to watch Japanese animation, and 1.585 times more likely than those who live in a town or a small city. In addition, the two dummy variables regarding watching Korean dramas and Chinese movies were significant and positive, especially the latter. People who watch Korean dramas in Taiwan are 1.388 times more likely to also watch Japanese animation when compared to those who do not watch Korean drama. In addition, people who watch Chinese movies are 2.583 times more likely to watch Japanese animation compared to those who do not watch Chinese movies.
Variables of gender and working hours per week were not significant. Therefore, they cannot be considered determinants in Japanese animation consumption in Taiwan.
Analysis results: South Korea
In the respondents, age groups between 30 and 34 and between 35 and 39 had a significantly negative effect. Persons aged between 30 and 34 were 0.623 times less likely to watch Japanese animation compared to those aged under 25 years. In addition, respondents aged between 35 and 39 were 0.522 times less likely to watch Japanese animation. Respondents with more years of schooling were significantly more likely to watch Japanese animation. As in the case of Taiwan, in South Korea, the dummy variable of watching Chinese movies also had strong effect. Compared with those who do not watch, respondents who watch Chinese movies were 2.619 times more likely to watch Japanese animation.
Contrarily, variables of gender, self-assessment of the community, working hours per week and the dummy variable regarding Korean drama consumption were not significant.
Analysis results: China
In China, greater age has a more negative effect on watching Japanese animation. Compared with Taiwan and South Korea, we found a greater negative impact in older ages since all variables were significant in this category. Compared with those aged under 25, respondents aged between 25 and 29 were 0.405 times less likely, those aged between 30 and 34 were 0.293 times less likely and those aged between 35 and 39 were 0.225 times less likely to watch Japanese animation. In contrast, years of schooling had a positive effect. Our analysis shows that watching Japanese animation is more likely among those respondents with the highest rate of schooling.
We also found significant results in self-assessment of community. Compared with living in a big city, respondents living in the suburbs or outskirts of a big city, a town or a small city, or a country village were less likely to watch Japanese animation. Respondents living in the suburbs or the outskirts of a big city were 0.423 times less likely, those living in a town or a small village were 0.737 times less likely and those living in a country village were 0.647 times less likely to watch Japanese animation. Higher scores of working hours per week had little effect in decreasing the proportion of Japanese animation consumption. In addition, both of the dummy variables regarding watching Korean dramas and watching Chinese movies were significantly positive. Respondents who watch Korean dramas were 2.302 times more likely to watch Japanese animation compared to those who do not, and watching Chinese movies had 2.920 times more positive effect compared to those who do not watch. The variable of gender was not significant.
Discussion and conclusion
We can say that some of the general trends and social characteristics related to the consumption of Japanese animation in Taiwan, South Korea and China that we approached in this article from previous research are reflected in our analysis. Moreover, against this backdrop, we can also highlight certain details concerning the reception of Japanese animation in East Asia. These details may suggest the need for a different approach to the concept of Japan in the context of cultural consumption in East Asia as well as further research of media audiences in the region, which should not be only restricted to Japanese content.
Departing from this context, among all the analysed variables, those of age, self-assessment of community and the dummy variables of watching Chinese movies and Korean dramas hold particular interest. All these variables were clearly positive as determinants in regard to Japanese animation consumption in Taiwan, South Korea and China in a nationally representative sample, and can also be related to some of the central topics in the studies summarised above concerning the reception of Japanese animation in East Asia. For example, the historical process of the flow of Japanese content, the formation of new audiences in new historical and social conditions, and the role of the concept of Japan, as posed by Iwabuchi, in the process of transnationalisation and internationalisation.
In all cases, people younger than 25 years old were the reference category. All the respondents were born after 1983, which, in the case of China, was after Japanese animation first aired. In the case of Taiwan, they were approximately 10 years of age when the ban on Japanese cultural products was lifted, and in South Korea they were aged approximately 15 years. Negative tendencies towards Japanese animation in older age groups, mainly in those born before 1973 (35 years old at the time of the survey) also confirms the important influence of the formal acceptance of Japanese animation by Taiwanese, South Korean and Chinese governments, even though Japanese popular culture had been consumed previously. The case of China, which was the first to accept Japanese animation and, at the same time, is the only country in which all of the older generations have a determinant negative tendency, seems also to support Zhu’s (2011) observation on the important role of the internet in mainland China and in relation to younger generations. The same might be said about South Korea or Taiwan. However, as all the respondents in this study were aged over 18, this survey fails to reflect the characteristics of younger audiences.
A high school rate is also a determinant which positively reflects many former observations on the social life of Japanese animation audiences in East Asia. In the case of self-assessment of community, the influence of urbanisation and the middle class has been suggested to be related to those generations involved in the consumption of imported cultural goods (Otmazgin, 2005). This can be observed in the case of China, where all categories except living in a big city were negative, but in the case of Taiwan, living in the suburbs or outskirts of a big city, a town, or a small city has a significantly positive influence. It is likely that differences in the urbanisation process between Taiwan and China affect the orientation of the audiences, but further observations are required.
Finally, the determinant influence of popular media, such as Korean dramas and Chinese movies, suggests that Japanese content is consumed as simply one more cultural object in a context of a general and broader environment of popular cultural consumption. The development of local cultural industries in East Asian countries and the localisation of Japanese goods in this new environment may suggest an increasing importance in the relationship between local and other popular cultural industries in regard to Japanese animation audiences in East Asia.
Therefore, in addition to the place that Japanese animation holds among the many other cultural goods of different nationality that are consumed by the East Asian middle class youth, we must take into account the place of Japanese animation as a mainly domestically-oriented and fragile industry whose popularity exceeds the size of its market. This characteristic seems to indicate the important role of piracy in the process of transnationalisation, although within the context of a formal acceptance of Japanese popular culture in East Asian markets (as addressed above regarding Iwabuchi and internationalisation). Here, it is important to note that the East Asian Social Survey question ‘How often do you watch Japanese animation?’ (EASS, 2010: 12) does not specify if the respondents watch Japanese animation through legal means or not.
The entire picture emerging from this is complex but, in very broad terms, depicts a generation born approximately after 1980 that actively consumes Japanese animation from an increasingly diverse and growing media environment. Although further observations are needed, it is possible to suggest that for this generation, the reception of Japanese animation as a distinctive cultural commodity among others might indicate a transition of the idea of Japan in the East Asian context of cultural consumption. As the intentions of the ‘Cool Japan’ policies may reflect, the concept of Japan behind Japanese animation consumption in current East Asian markets seems to operate similarly to a brand which differentiates Japanese animation and ensures its place in an increasingly diversified cultural market. Our analysis shows the need for further empirical and historical research on cultural reception in these East Asian markets. This should include younger generations than those born after 1990 along with a wide range of cultural industries in order to reflect the new tendencies that might elicit a different picture of the status of Japanese animation in the scene of cultural consumption in East Asia.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
The East Asian Social Survey (EASS) is based on Chinese General Social Surveys (CGSS), Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS), Korean General Social Surveys (KGSS) and Taiwan Social Change Surveys (TSCS) and is distributed by the EASSDA. The authors are grateful to the EASSDA for allowing us to use the data for the analysis presented in this article.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.