Blog 13: Conflict and Peace/War Journalism in Asia

*In this week, we focused on media in international conflicts. Related with this topic, I learned about Peace Journalism , which would help to avoid media conflicts. Through reading, I recognized how Peace Journalism helps the less-conflict in the international media. Of course, I don't mean to that Peace Journalism is everything that avoids conflicts between countries, but at least it helps a lot for right judgement, not to slant in one side. I think the power of domestic TV is still huge. Now has a lot of ways of getting information. Especially internet and SNS include a lot of people or organization's opinion and view points, so it seems the information is expanded more than before and selected media is of course. However, I want to say that there are still people who get information only from TV news or radio, which are relatively expanded more than internet. Internet and SNS are really active selecting of media, so we should know that there are also passive audiences. If we focus on these people, the War Journalism on TV or News papers is really dangerous, which leads to misunderstanding and conflicts so easily. During the discussion, I was thinking about the conflicts and Peace Journalism in Asia, so in this blog, I want to show some aspects of these.

-Thinking about Peace or War Journalism, in my sense the number of War Journalism is more than Peace Journalism. As one element for War Journalism, zero-sum game was picked up in our discussion, and reflecting my media experiences, zero-sum game is everywhere. "War or Peace Journalism? Asian Newspaper Coverage of Conflicts" did the survey that is based on a content analysis of 1,338 newspaper stories from 10 English-Language daily newspapers from the 5 Asian countries involved in the 4 regional conflicts: India, Pakistan, The Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Of the 1,338 stories, 1,018(76.1%)were "hard" news stories; 134(10.0%)were features; 121(9.0%)were opinion pieces including editorials; and 65(4.9%) were others that included letters to editor and speech transcripts. Only a small number of stories-137(10.2%)- were produced by foreign wire services such as AP, CNN, BBC, Reuters, and AFP. That  the majority(1,201 or 89.8%) were produced by local sources was unsurprisingly given the conflicts' local nature. As it says, the majority of news included War Journalism aspect and there is no ending of conflicts between these countries.

-Now, shift eyes just a little bit to East. Japan and South Korea has a huge conflict called DOKDO(Korean name)/TAKESHIMA island(Japanese name) problem, which both countries claim that island as their sovereign territory.  According to FAR EAST PEACE? JAPAN, KOREA MEDIA CONFLICT & DOKDO/TAKESHIMA ISLANDS, each countries always tell a story from own country side. In other words, both countries insist that my country is right and another is wrong, which is definitely leading a zero-sum game or War Journalism. There are a lot of things that is not covered by Japan or South Korea to justify themselves. This shows perfect example that news creates some slanted perception to the people. War Journalism is so dangerous, but actually everywhere in the world.
-There are a lot of causes of many amounts of War Journalism, and in the discussion, we came up with the idea that zero-sum game is so simple that people can understand easily, that's why it happens. In addition that, I think that Media Free also leads such a journalism. Of course, because of Media Free, people can tell and know many kinds of information, but at the same time Media Free means easiness to be controlled by journalists, media persons, or even country itself. Everyone likes own country, hope own happiness, and believe their justice. If they were said that Media is free, and they can say anything they want, they definitely would claim that my country is justice and right. According to Conflict, Terrorism and media in Asia, in the freer media in the region, the origins of this failure, or deliberate bias, are also a result of deficiencies in media practice. In particular, reporters often fail to question and assess the material that they receive from official sources.(P120) It indicates that Media Free's weak point and one of causes of War Journalism, I guess.
-In sum up, present international media world is still filled with War journalism. But it is also true that Peace Journalism exists and many people are trying to construct it. Only some decades ago, our world had actual war everywhere, and now it is occurred in the media world. Now is just a beginning, it should be taking a time for Peace Journalism to be expanded everywhere, such as actual Peace. However, Globalization would help this Peace Journalism movement, because it means cooperate between countries. At least I believe it and hope, after some decades, Peace Journalism will be of course in the world.

Blog 12: US news in East Asia

* This week, I learned about the US news in other countries. The video, which is  people from all over the world are interviewed about the image of America, was really interesting. Of course, the perception is really different from each people, but as I learned in class, I agree with that the main image of America is powerful, military based or violence. And I think, these images are created from news a lot. I cannot say all of images, but still a lot of parts of images were born from news' reports. For discussion, I looked up US news in  East Asia from Watching America. I didn't know there is the web site that every countries' news about US are translated in English, but I think it is really US peculiar thing because enough news are needed to make such a page from all over the world. I tried to search the same kind of web page in Japanese, but I couldn't find out. In my opinion, the reason why so many countries have US news is that US definitely has a lot of strong connections with each country, economically and politically. That's why the topic related with government is more than culture. And the relationship with US influences people around the world, because the relevant with people is huge reason why international news are dealt with, as I mentioned in Blog 11. In this blog, I did a little more research about the relationship between US and East Asia.

- I looked up 5 news from Watching America, which are 2 from South Korea, 2 from China, and 1 from Japan. The interesting thing was that each countries mentioned about the power relation between US and China. Right now, the superpower of China is a big topic, especially in Asia. I saw an article saying even "China is a new leader of global economy." I guess the reason why South Korea and Japan picked up this same topic, even though they are not related with directly,  is that these countries have many connections with each China and US. So the tension between China and US influences South Korea and Japan a lot.

-From South Korea: They say that we are in the middle, neither US nor China stand. Their biggest anxious is the issue of Korean Peninsula. The good relation with both of US and China is important for protect themselves. They don't want to be against the superpowers, because if South Korea choose one side, it means creating huge enemy. They need to focus on North Korea's power so they hope stable relations with both countries.
-From Japan: Japan is relatively standing US side. If you see Pew Research Center's report, it is accurate that the view of US in Japan is positive, like 85% people said favorable US in 2011. Also Japan's stand point is calmness, like not slanted to neither US nor China. China states that their superpower is new and US is old, but Japan insists that China's economic development or political value are still old style so US doesn't need new slogan toward China.
- Pew Research Center article provides interesting survey about "How Americans and Chinese view each other". It says " Over the past year, public opinion survey in US and China have shown evidence of rising tensions between the two countries on a host of issues." Some research shows each negative perception of economic and trade policies, which creates the difference of conveying news in each country.

- As I expected, the relationship between countries are affecting the way of conveying the news about US in each country. These differences have danger of leading misunderstanding about country or people. We have a lot of choices and ways to get information, so we need to be careful not to misunderstand from only one source or slanted view point.

Blog 11: International news in the US

* In this week, we learned and discussed about international news in the US. This topic was really interesting for me because I had never watched the news with such a view point. But once I payed attention about the international news here in US, I noticed some trends. I have a lot of ideas and interesting about this topic, but I cannot tell everything here so I will focus on the question, " Why is there a difference of the amount of information depend on the regions?"

-In the class discussion, many classmates suggested the answer that relevance or potential involvement influence the difference. I really agreed with that, because generally saying, the reason why people are trying to get news informations, included both of domestic and international, is that they need to know these informations in order to avoid the danger, which is a human nature to survive. Thus, people tend to seek the informations that relate with them directly or indirectly.  For the discussion, I was going through the NBC international news wed page, and counted the number of countries dealt in this page. Not only NBC, but also another main news networks' web sites have the trend that the news about Europe or Middle East are much more than other regions, such as Asia, Oceania, Africa or even Latin America.
-Why was it happened? Because the amount of relationship is really different depend on the regions. I think there are some elements to decide the quantity of relationship with US.  First of all, the physical distance influences a lot. So the Europe news in US is huge and Asia and Oceania are a little. Next suggestion about the element of difference of international news is the weight difference of influence to the US. Latin America and Africa are less information, even though their physical distance are near enough. This suggestion explain the reason, I think. At first, I felt weird about the less news of latin America and Africa because these places are near to US and I guessed there is a relevant enough. But then, I listened to other's opinion and the reason why I could understand this situation was because these regions is not against US a lot, which means less danger to US people, and these countries are still developing and there are not so much influence to US. This element shows the less involvement, so it did make sense of a little information of Latin America and Africa in US. Finally, I want to inform about the reason why many news of Middle East is happened in US, even though the physical distance is big like Asia or Oceania. I researched and found the interesting suggestion. Global Connection. U.S. Foreign policy explains the reason of strong connection between Middle East and US. It says "For most of 20th century and now into the 21st, the US has had global interests and a global reach to match. In the Middle East, the US has made itself a key player by using its diplomatic, economic, and military power in support of its national interests" Following this explanation, there are a lot of proofs of historical and cultural connection. This is the final element about relationship that I want to mention in this blog. Middle East and US are connected strongly by some cultural backgrounds so naturally news about Middle East are getting bigger. In sum up, US is physically near to Europe and culturally near to Middle East, therefore the international news about these regions are relatively more than other places.

-As the proof that it isn't happen only in US, I looked up Japanese news network, NHK's international news page, and watched how different between countries. The news of US is the most followed by China, South Korea, Iran and Myanmar. Almost the Asia dominants the international news in Japan, which is because these are physically near and historically have many relations as well. The biggest number of news is about US, and this is because Japan has strong historical or cultural connection with US, such as ally of US, even though there is a long distance.

-Of course, these trends were found out from only one day's news, but I guess these trend would apply generally because at least people pay attention to the news of countries that have strong relation with own countries, just like I mentioned earlier in this blog.

Blog 10: Colombia's public Relations

* In this week, I learned about Latin America media. My image of Latin America is just cheerful countries. Of course, the place is near to America, which has a lot of kinds of huge powers, so the influence from US is big.  But, throughout the reading, I was impressed by the power of public relations in Colombia inside. I learned from reading that public relations influence not only inside of country but also outside of it. If the public relation toward the international would be successful, it means also the domestic market would be benefit from that. I think this is really important dimension of public relations. So in this blog, I will continue to talk about the circumstances of Colombia's public relations.

- I did a small research about public relations in Colombia, and I was surprised about huge amounts of materials. As reading saids, for Colombia, the public relations is a key word especially to gain the trust from civilizations or even from the world. Colombia's public relations problem article says, "At a recent show the British library in London showcasing pre-Colombian gold, a Colombian diplomat noted that his countrymen were "very concerned about their image and public relations." Until decades ago, Colombia was mostly associated with guerrillas and drug kingpins such as Pablo Escobar. All of that has changed. " Like it says, public relation in Colombia is necessary for changing Colombia's bad image and also get the trust from Colombians.

-I was wondered that actually what is the problem related with public relations in Colombia. Global Public Relation  says that high levels of poverty and illiteracy affect the types of messages publics may receive and  a lack of trust in organization and apathy toward civil engagement following the failures of previous government administrations. (P 214) Throughout these reading, the biggest problem is a lack of trustworthy from civilizations. I think the trustworthy about product or market itself is necessary for country's growth. If people can fully trust about their own products and even proud of that, these are exported to the world and also these can get authentic from the world too. What the label of "made in Japan" or "made in America" are guaranteed high quality is good ( A little extreme but easy to imagine)  example of that. The people are proud of their own countries' products and they guarantee the quality, and then Japan or America are actually huge economic countries. To get worldwide trustworthy, at first domestic authentic is needed. Thus public relation in Colombia is very big deal.

-Just like David Public Relation, there are a lot of public relation companies to help Colombian products. In reading discussion class, there was a question that if the public relation campaign of Juan Valdez coffee helps Colombia itself or not. In my opinion, I think it helps Colombia. Actually it is difficult to judge it, but at least it helps to gain the domestic trust about Colombian company. The way of campaign is a little too much, but the quality of Colombian brand coffee is trustworthy. The long run of campaign is quite the proof for that.
I think Colombia has a lot of possibility of world market and the public relation would help these development a lot.

Blog9: Germany's powerful media

* In this week, I learned about West European media world. Though I don't need to mention that because everyone knows, the West Europe has huge influence to all over the world. Historically, the countries in West Europe had great powers one by one and colonized around the world. Throughout every class of MMC4302, I really feel about the power of language and actually their languages, such as English, French or Spanish, are spoken in a lot of countries because of colonialism history. I really knew the fact that their power toward outside, but I didn't know the West Europe's inside media influence. The big feature of West Europe itself is of course EU, which is the official connection between countries. EU works for not only Economic but also politic. So , by this week's reading about Germany media, I really understand the influence to media from other countries. For this blog, I will focus on some questions about Germany media by reading.

-First of all, I was really surprised about print media, especially newspaper, is still having a  big power in Germany. After economic crisis in US, Germany also experienced the decline of print media but still the number of readers is as same as online readers, which is really surprised for me because I understand that decline of print media and increasing of electronic media is developed worlds' trend. Inter nation web page says, "Although German newspapers come in an extraordinarily large and diverse number of titles, they are currently going through hard times. Owing to strong competition from TV and online media, German newspapers have been pressing and selling lower and lower numbers for the past couple of decades." Like it says actually Germany newspapers are getting decreasing but it is yet leading Germany media, such as 23 million newspapers are sold everyday and newspapers reach an audience of about 70% of population older than 14 years old. According to Com Score web page, Germany's 12.9 million online newspaper readers spent a combined total of 4.9 million hours reading content on online newspaper sites in April 2009. And with 13 million monthly readers, online newspapers currency attract one-third of the total German internet audience. These facts show that Germany people's behavior toward newspaper and online-news sites. Actually, number of newspaper readers are decreasing and online users are increasing, which is the same trend with other countries. However, the different point in Germany is its trend doesn't illustrate the online news's exchange with newspapers. In Germany, newspapers have taken an important role from long time ago, and I think people are proud of their history of newspapers and more familiar with paper news forms than online version. I guess that the coexistence of print newspapers and online news site prevents newspapers from drastic decline of readers.

-So I really understand how print media has huge impact in Germany and then , as usual, I was curious about how about Germany electronic media? Does it also have a power somehow? I did small research and I felt TV or radio have more entertainment aspects than information providing.  The German Language and the real world indicates some points about electronic media in Germany. It says electronic media makes the distance between countries closer(P 348) and includes many entertainment elements, like "Reality TV", which is human everyday lives etc, is broadcasted in prime time. (P 350) This is actually what I was looking for because I felt why there is no mention about electronic news media in Germany, because it is always compared with print media and online media. The reason why electronic media didn't appear in reading is because of the different role. In Germany, print or online media take a role of information providing and electronic media takes a role of entertainment.
-Throughout all information about Germany, I feel the coexistence of many shapes of media is a big characteristic in Germany. Each form of media has each role and people are using  any kinds of media along with their needs. And also I guess newspapers in Germany would keep their power because nothing can be alternative media with their long history and strong power.

Blog 8: Ukraine frustrated between Russia and West

* Ukraine, where located between Russia and other European countries, is frustrated between Russia and West. Throughout this week's reading, it is accurate that Ukraine has a lot of connections with Russia even after dismantlement of Soviet union. But also unlike post-Russian traditional trend, Ukraine is going ahead toward West world. Therefore, inside of Ukraine, there are still both supporters of Russia and West. I have heard about the problem between Ukraine and Russia sometimes before, so I was wondered that now what's going on inside of Ukraine related with Russia and West countries, and then I researched a little about Newspaper in Ukraine because the reading talked about Ukraine and Russian's TV today a lot and I wanted to focus on other aspect of media.

- I didn't know about Ukraine a lot actually, like I even didn't know where the Ukraine is. But I have heard about conflict between Ukraine and Russia. It is easy to coming up problems between neighbor countries, such as Japan and Korea, because they usually have connection historically and these harness is difficult to remove at all. As we read for reading discussion, soon after dismantlement of Soviet, Ukraine tended to relay on Russian media. It was surprised for me, because they supposed to hope independent from Soviet( past-Russia), but in fact they couldn't independent at all from their leader country, Russia. But it is also said that throughout 2000s, Ukraine started going forward to more global and more West side media format. Then I was curious about what's going on Ukraine and found the word of " Ukraine Crisis ". This site shows the timeline of Ukraine Crisis, and it started in November 2013 and still goes on right now. The main cause of this is conflict between government who were failed to sign trade deal with EU acting, and protesters who are support of Westernize. A lot of victims were born from Ukraine Crisis and it is going to continue from now on. Also Foreign Affairs' article says Ukraine Crisis is the West's fault. It says " United State and its European Allies share most of the responsibility for the crisis. The taproot of the trouble is NATO enlargement, the central elements of larger strategy to move Ukraine out of Russia 's orbit and integrate it into the west. " So NATO and west side of Europe are try to get rid of Ukraine from Russian orbit. I feel this crisis was happened because both of Russia and NATO(West) want to get Ukraine, as if the  reproduction of Cold War.

- So about the Newspaper in Ukraine, I was wondered that which language is used a lot in the newspaper because there are a lot of outside impacts. Wikipedia says newspapers include three kinds of languages, Russian, Ukraine, and English. I think it really describes the frustration of Ukraine. This site shows top 20 newspaper in Ukraine, and many sites of this are using Russian or Ukraine. Some papers are only Russian or Ukraine, so the impact of Russia is still huge. Their history of one parts of Soviet where is Russian speaking country in the past reflects a lot to today's media in Ukraine.

- In my opinion, Ukraine needs more time to decide their standing point. The foreign influence toward Ukraine is too huge to being controlled by Ukraine itself. The relation is really complicated still, so government should have more communication with a lot of civilizations' voice.

Blog 7: Brief of Ghana's media

*In this week, I learned about African media. For me, African continent itself is not familiar with myself, and I noticed my stereotype-image about African Media. Actually, I was surprised about the freedom of media in Africa. Especially last week I learned a lot about media limitation in the Middle East so I was more surprised about free media in Africa, even though both countries have a history of colonialism from European countries. In addition to my stereotypical image about Africa, a lot of African countries  are still developing countries and have many poor people so media access is not as big deal as other areas. However, for real, it was wrong, rather their lives are improving along with the media developing. Throughout the reading, I feel such  a strong power of language. I had no idea about that, because I have never felt such a power of language in Japan, where there is almost only one ethnicity. Also, in the class of reading discussion, the guest speaker, Naa from Ghana, told us a lot of interesting facts in her country. Then I was interested in some points about Ghana media, in this blog I want to show the brief of media facts in Ghana and media power there.

- According to GHANA EMBASSY HP, Ghana has 75 different ethnic groups. About the language, the official language is English but school uses both English and nine other local languages. The most widely spoken local languages are Ga, Dagomba, Akan and Ewe. In terms of education, Primary and secondary school are free and compulsory between the age of 6 to 14. In 1996, 76% of primary-school aged children were enrolled, but only 31% of secondary-school aged children entered school. Higher education is provided by University of Ghana etc.
- I think these facts relate with media developing in Ghana. Ghana is the country which has media diversity, such as broadcasting TV, Radio, print media, and internet. As Naa said in the class, getting internet access is not as expensive as we think. So I think the biggest influence for media diversity is education level. When people try to get information from print media, they have to being able to read and understand English, which is common thing with internet but Education is needed. However, in terms of TV or radio, which is almost run by local, people can get information even if they can only understand local African languages, which Education is not necessarily. In fact, the rates of radio owning is highest in Ghana. And then, it was really making sense that Naa said in even university, internet is not big deal because it is not indispensable for people. Their lives' central media is radio or TVs rather than internet. I think this is really good trend because easy radio access make more and more people possible to get information and it connects to Ghana itself's development. If you see this Modern Ghana HP, you can tell how their online-media is developed and expanded. It shows the level of people who are taking advantage of internet because it should fulfill the demand of users who are educated.

-From the Press reference HP, I learned how important for Ghana's developing the media influence is.  The head of article says "Ghana has vibrant press that plays a key role in political discourse, national identity, and popular culture. " in 19th century, the media worked as civilization's voice and this role is still continuing now. It helped the developing democracy in Ghana. Throughout entire statement inside this homepage, media takes an important role at every aspects of Ghana development.
-I could know media is indispensable element for Ghana. Media helped a lot of changing such as democracy acting or  campaign for independent. I didn't know these facts before this week's lecture, discussion and my small research. Because of my stereotyping, I was blind about rapid changing in Ghana or other African countries. Now I really know in the near future African countries would have big powers because they have a media free, which promotes the countries development, or more media free is necessarily for countries' growth.

Blog6: Media in Syria

* In this week, I learned a lot of countries' media in Middle East. In common, media in Middle East is strict controlled by government. Then, I was wondered what is civilizations' entertainment in such a restrained media countries. Generally speaking, now is the media-entertainment generation. Of course, media is one of methods of getting information but I think the entertainment aspect is really important. From the class lecture, Syria is the one of most media controlled countries. So, I am interested in Syria's entertainment TV channels. In this blog, I will show the Syria's media control,  one of Organizations which is making efforts toward media free, and finally Syria's entertainment channel.

-According to BBC news's Syria media profile, Syria was the world's deadliest country in 2014. Syria is actually " enforce an information dictatorship" country. The government and ruling party operate broadcast and print media. Media in government-controllled areas are strongly supportive of the president. While, Satellite TV is the most popular medium and non-Syrian TVs have big audience. Also, radio and internet are key platforms for Syria's opposition media. Some radio stations are run by NGOs, with Western support. In the terms of Internet, there are 5.9 million users, by 2014. There are heavy government controls like filtering but still internet service, such as Facebook, is used to platform for journalists or some dissenting civilizations.
-I could know how strict the government restraint media is, especially TV broadcast and print media. On the other hand, I could know that people are using media for entertainment too, like Satellite TV. Also a number of watching un-Syrian TV programs show people's interest out of country. Radio and internet take really important rules because people who are challenging media free need methods of transmitting or exchanging opinions, even though these media are still watched by government.

-Related with acting toward media free, as I mentioned, there are a lot of victims, who are  heroes fighting with enormous knowledge and courage against government or other forces. I found an organization homepage, Free Syria's Silenced Voice. This is an organization gathered by some international, regional and Syrian organization in order to the campaign for the release of civil society activities, media and medical workers arbitrarily detained forcibly disappeared in Syria, through  documentation, raising awareness, advocacy and mobilization. Inside the page, there are many heroes' photos with explanation about the date they are arrested, abducted or even killed. This is really shocked for me. They didn't do anything wrong! They were just trying to get media free which is of course the right for citizens! At the same time, I was surprised about this strong messages because if people say something against government, they are always exposed fear of death. I just want everyone outside of Syria to know these fact and their courage.

-Finally, as I said, I was interested in Syria's entertainment channel. I searched and found one of some, which is Syrian National TV. The introduction says that it is Syrian Satellite Channel which providing a variety of general-interest programs. The channel is owned by RTV Syria and broadcasting mostly Arabic but also English or some languages. This shows the entertainment aspect of Satellite TV. Also showing the people's connection with other countries because they can watch some foreign programs. In my opinion, civilization needs outside power to get their media free. In order to that, the TV broadcasting is going to be the entrance for Syria's connection with other countries. I hope finally people could get media free in the near future.

Blog5: Bollywood's Influence

Introduction

    I read"The 'Bollywoodization' of the Indian Cinema: Cultural Nationalism in a Global Arena" (2008 by New York University), and there are a lot of interesting discussions in the book. It is said that Bollywood is" Indian pop culture"or Cultural Industry. The element of cultural representation is emphasized a lot. I really agree with it and I think Bollywood is actually the biggest Cultural Industry in India.

   Then, in the reading discussion on Wednesday, I came up with some ideas about the question of " Does Bollywood work as preventing people or government  from conflict between countries or is it just under covering the conflict?" I think this is really interesting to think about and I will try to find an idea for that.

Some elements for Bollywood
- According to India Together , Indian culture  is difficult to say like this is India. Rather there are many varieties of civilizations, beliefs, religions,values and cultures. These diversities influence to Bollywood movies because, as I mentioned, Bollywood is Cultural Industry in India. Movie is basically an entertainment for citizens so normally it is allowed to many varieties, but Bollywood should include some certain cultural elements as an Indian Culture representation toward the world. So cultural diversity makes making film in Bollywood a little difficult. However, it is also said that there is a common sense of Indian, which are very direct and open, like they wear their hearts on their sleeves. And also it says " You can recognize "Indianness" by tuning into People's hearts rather than by their external trappings." We can see it through Bollywood movies. The explanation of feeling by dancing and singing, which is the feature of Bollywood movies, is actually common points of all movies of Bollywood. This is cultural thing in India, at least Japanese people don't explain their feeling like that, and they have never tried to change this point. I guess it shows "Indianness" such as obeying their hearts, even if Bollywood movies are created toward the world consciously, and explanation of feeling by dance and song is not common all over the world.
- Also India is famous of diversity of religion. The biggest religion here is Hinduism, 84 present people have beliefs, and India is the biggest hinduism country. Religion influences culture and people's lives. The people who have another religion beliefs or don't have anything have no idea about other beliefs. Bollywood movies reflect some aspects of Hinduism. So it also shows what Hinduism is. People knows the diversity in India so Indian people are flexible about difference of religions and can enjoy as an entertainment.

Conclusion
  Bollywood movie is actually very popular all over the world.  This article says that Bollywood movie is full of action, music, dance, drama, romance, or fashion and these things are all family-friendly. I think this is one of important points of Bollywood. People from children to adults can enjoy Bollywood movies together on both of inside and outside of India. And then, throughout movies, people out of India can know Indian culture. As one idea for question of " Does Bollywood prevent India from conflict?", in my opinion, based on some research in this blog, at least Bollywood works as one of great industries that shows Indian culture. I cannot say Bollywood prevent India from conflict with other countries, which is over my small research, but it is certain that these movies make country of India more open and create opportunity for people in other countries to feel familiar with India. Perhaps, these small occasion would become linked to conflict-free. 

Blog4: Japanese Media system( from presentation)

*Japan's relationship with foreign countries.

-3 countries that influences to Japan by historical facts.-

South Korea: Japan occupied once and there are arguing about South Korea's injury from Japanese dominant.

China: Japan also occupied once and from that time to still now the two countries have a Senkaku Island Ownership dispute.

USA: Japan is an ally of USA after WW II. Okinawa was the place for terrible fighting at that time, so it has sad memories a lot. And still Okinawa is military base of USA and then sometimes protestant actings occur.

Japan x South Korea

-Korean wave

Japan has experienced huge Korean waves two times. The first Korean wave was 2004. The Korean Drama, Winter Sonata, was big hit in Japan and 50~60 women were crazy about Korean stars. At that time, Korean wave was old women's stuff so young generations were not interested in it at all. Then in 2005~2010, the number of watching Korean drama was increasing constantly then some K-pop groups are coming into Japan. One part of young generations are starting to have some interest about Korean music. Finally, in 2010~2011, this is called 2nd Korean wave. It includes both of K-drama and K-pop. This is like kind of  social phenomenon. The word of K-pop was expanded quickly and many broadcast stations competently made special program about K-pop or k-stars. Naturally, wave is calming down after some times, and from 2012, K-pop was forgotten by social. But still there are core fun of Korean culture, so I can say there is still Korean cultural soul in Japan.

Japan x China

-United movies

These two countries sometimes make united movies. One of succeeded movies is Red Cliff in 2008. The origin of movie is the Chinese old stories, The romance of the three Kingdom. So the director, many actors or filming place are almost China, and also language inside the movie is Chinese. But it also includes Japanese actors or staffs. In addition, it was published in both countries at almost same time. It means this is united movies. Japan and China are making movies together because their history's relation is really deep.
-China is famous about imitation of Japanese stuff in Japan. Their imitation is so accurate that everyone is laughing at that, rather than angry. The expansion of imitating is so big, like from Animation character to Clothing shops. More funny point is that their way of pretending is really rough and Chinese people don't feel guilty about that at all. I can say this is one of funny relationship between Japan and China.

Japan x USA
-Japan is ally of USA after defeat of WW II. The biggest relation is Okinawa and USA. Okinawa was the actually fighting place of Asia & Pacific theatre of WW II and dominated by USA. It has many sad memories about war here and still is one of military base of USA. Then sometimes protestant actings occur even now a days.
-I can say the huge connection between Japan and USA is Internet. In Japan, twitter, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are so famous and the center of Internet life. Every companies are from USA but there are also Japanese version, like Amazon Japan or Facebook Japan. It reflects cultural difference. The difference between Japan and USA is so huge that these companies needed to make Japanese branch to satisfy the Japanese people. For example, in terms of Facebook, the privacy setting was born in FB Japan. Japanese people hate the total exposure of their information, then FB Japan started the privacy setting service. This is also expanded all over the world now. I think the relationship of Japan and USA is really good balance inside of internet world.

* An extraction from Presentation on February  6th, Friday.

Blog3: Hofstage's cultural Orientation in Japan

* Continuing of my research for my presentation, I investigated about cultural norms.
According to THE HOFSTAGE CENTER WED SITE, I could know about each 6 cultural features in Japan. In this Blog, I chose 3 dimensions: Individualism, Masculinity, and Uncertainty  avoidance

1. Individualism or collectivism
=The score is 46, which is less than half, so Japan is more collectivism than Individualism.

-I could say there is the tendency that Asia is likely to be Collectivism. Why is the area related to difference of Individualism or collectivism? I would say this is because this norm depends on family oriented so much. Of course, there are some difference among same areas but there are also common sense in the basis of family forms. Asian countries are sharing common sense about "extended family system". So South Korea and China, which have a lot of connection with Japan, are famous about collectivism countries as well. I want to show an example about Japanese collectivism.This is from WEB SITE and this survey was done as a high school's class activity in 2005.

Question: How can you be happy?

1) Unique 2) Competitive 3)Corporative 4) Honest

Question:Please choose the most appropriate word to express yourself

1)By getting many good statuses in school or in the community

2)By having many good relationships with friends

3)By keeping your privacy

4)By winning the competition with others

- Also I think the consideration that they are saying inside this page is interesting. One thing that I agree with them is that "Generally speaking, it is said that the society in which people make a living in agriculture has values collectivism". As I said, there is a tendency that Asia is collectivism society and I can say one common thing is that traditionally agriculture is center of people's lives. To take care of  farms, people should divide works and cooperate with members. This is for living, which means they had to do for survive,  so I think this is good examination that agriculture is one of roots for Asian collectivism.

-However, Japan is not as collectivism as most of Asian neighbors. There are some explanation about this reality, which are on the page of THE HOFSTAGE CENTER, one of points showed in it is company loyalty. Definitely, in Japan, getting great job means success in life. I think this is not too much saying, actually job haunting is called like a war. Of course, we are free to choose job so it shows the evidence of less collectivism than other Asia areas. 

-Throughout some research about individualism or collectivism, now I really agree with the score of 46. Japan is still strict about family or group harmony but has also the aspect of individualism. Especially, people think company loyalty as important things and it leads this result.

2. Masculinity

=The score is 95, Japan is one of the strongest Masculinity country.

-I can understand it feels like a contradiction with Collectivism. So did I. However now I can tell Japan is actually strong Masculinity country after seeing the explanation in THE HOSFTAGE CENTER. It says there is a difference about idea of competitive between Japan and other countries. In Japan, competition means not individual one, rather group one. Actually the education system includes the thought of group competition, traditionally. Almost every elementary school, junior high school, and high school have traditional competition events every year. These are, for instance,  sports competition, choral competition, or long-distance relay road race. And every events are competition between school classes. Students are taught how important to work hard in order to win and award for their classes. My efforts is not for myself's victory, but for my group's success. This idea leads strong competitive society in Japan. In fact, I have a strong feeling about triumph, which is not just for my self, rather for my family, some group members, or my community.

-I found some elements of strong Masculinity countries at business scene  

If you are working or doing business in a country with a higher masculinity score than yourself then:

. To succeed in this culture you will be expected to make sacrifices in the form of longer work hours, shorter holidays and possibly more travel.
. Be aware that people will discuss business anytime, even at social gatherings.
. Avoid asking personal questions in business situations. Your colleagues or prospective partners will probably want to get straight to business.
. People are not always interested in developing closer friendships.
. Communication style that is direct, concise and unemotional will be most effective in this environment.
. People will use professional identity, rather than family or contacts, to assess others.
. Self-promotion is an acceptable part of the business culture in this competitive environment.

-It is so interesting for me, because this is quite real in Japanese business world. Japanese business men/women are called "workaholic", which means their lives are dominated by work a lot, and it describes how people spend many times at work and work hard with sacrificing their leisure time. Now I cannot understand the reason why people work so hard that they cannot have much time out of work, but maybe I will be this kind of person in the future if I obey social flow because it is the life style in the strong masculinity country.

-For the conclusion this norm, I can say Japan is exactly strong Masculinity country. People are educated to compete with other groups by cooperating with own group members, which shows both aspects of collectivism and masculinity. Especially in business world, people think it of course that they are working hard for success of own companies, not just for themselves. For their groups' success, they don't mind making a lot of efforts, even if they lost their leisure times. These thoughts connect with the strong competition society in Japan.

3. Uncertainty Avoidance

=Japanese score about this norm is 92, which is one of the most highest country on earth.

- I can predict this result because it is so scary without certainty that people tend to avoid it naturally as human beings. But of course there are some difference of scores depends on countries. I read the explanation in THE HOFSTAGE CENTER, I was persuaded that why I, as one of Japanese people, tend to avoid uncertainty. The big cause for Japanese people to avoid unpredictable things is that people are constantly threatened by nature disasters from earth quicks, tsunamis, typhoons to volcano eruptions. Japan is famous for many nature disasters, and actually many people experienced some huge accidents. For example, I have experienced Eastern Japan Earthquake in 2011. It was so scary, which is not enough to tell just in words, that I felt like Japan would totally break off. After this disaster, each house were preparing some prevention of damage tools for in case that another one would come again. I think there is no more scary things than I cannot expect. Once I can know something would come, I can prepare fully not to heart myself or what is around me. This idea is nearly common sense all over the world, but especially in Japan, people have actual experience so they are more sensitive about uncertainty.

-I chose educational scene as an example of showing Uncertainty avoidance in Japan.

This shows how student and teacher tend to act in classroom in the society of uncertainty avoidance.

STRONG UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE SOCIETY

1.students feel comfortable in structured learning situations: precise objectives, detailed assignments, strict timetables
2.teachers are expected to have all the answers
3.a good teacher uses academic language
4.students are rewarded for accuracy in problem solving
5.teachers are allowed to behave emotionally (and so are students) 
6.teachers interpret intellectual disagreement as personal disloyalty
7.teachers consider themselves experts who cannot learn anything from lay parents – and parents agree 

-I can say this is actual Japanese educational situation. We are always desired well prepared before classes. If student doesn't prepared, this is him/her fault and it means starting collapse for him/her future. Japanese people think career in business as one of preference things in life and education from elementary school to university is everything for getting good job, and this also shows how people expect their future. We are sometimes said to Perfectionism as Japanese character, and then this is because we are always seeking perfection about any things in order not to see uncertainty.   

-Japanese people had no way not to be uncertainty avoidance because of their unstable circumstances and naturally they became to avoiding unexpected things. Also educational system makes students well prepared people about everything. People are taught like that way and they just obey this flow, of course without recognizing. 

Throughout 3 dimensions and another result on THE HOSTAGE CENTER, I can understand Japanese national characteristics and also I have some actual experiences which are said in explanation parts. I think one of the biggest influence is Traditional Education system. It can be same things all over the world because people get and make identities through education. I want to research more about relationship between education and media.

blog 2: Media System In Japan

* I chose East Asia for my presentation and also selected Japan as particular nation in East Asia.
This is why I am from there and want to introduce how interesting the my country is, of course, but also I also want to know about my country's realty of media, which is my most interesting business world. So in this Blog2 also I searched about media system in Japan.

-Basic Information of JAPAN-

-This is the nation's flag and shape(shape is showed instead of A on this pic)

-This is the world map used worldwide, which the center of map  is where the prime standard meridian is. This is because Japan is called the Far East Place or East Asia.

-Instead of upside worldwide map, we are using this map. If you come to Japan, you would see this map everywhere. This map shows kind of selfcountry-centerd view of the world, which there is all over the world and Japan is not exception. 

-Capital: Tokyo

-National Language: Japanese

-Population: 126,659,683( Japanese: 98.3 Korean: 0.5 Chinese: 0.4 Others: 0.6)

-Religion: Shintoism: 83.9 Buddhism: 71.4 Christianity: 2 Other: 7.8

-Analysis throughout 3 dimensions of 7 about Comparison of Media System-

1. Government System( a little about political culture)

= part of Democratic politic system and Polarized culture

-The Japanese Government, a constitutional monarchy, is based on parliamentary cabinet system.

-Executive power is vested in the cabinet, which is constructed by prime minister and other 17 department 

- the system is showed by image below

-As you can see, people has an ultimate  power and also power is divided by a lot of branches. Under this constitution, the separation of powers- legislative, administrable, and judicial power- is related. The Japanese principle of  constitutionalism is based on the sovereignty of the people, fundamental human rights, and  pacifism. Under the constitution and principle of democracy, the freedom of media  is fully guaranteed.

-Democracy is big feature of Japan. Citizens are guaranteed free speech at usual points so we can enjoy no censorship mass media. It means we can get any information about all over the world, if there would be some censorship from government, we cannot do like that way anymore. I think too much censorship prevents people from great creation or new thought about world. Democracy is necessary for developing, I think.

2. Media culture

= Japan is part of concurring countries

-Japan is composed by 47 prefecture that are the largest administrative units of the Japanese local government. This administration system is directly associated with the current Japanese mass media system such as TV and radio broadcasting system, local newspaper system, and the distribution system of media industries. 

-One more big feature of media culture is the Tokyo, which is capital of Japan, -centered system. Tokyo is not only the center of economy or political but also culture one. The Japanese mass media has a distinct form of central and peripheral structure, that is, Tokyo and other region. Despite of deference of medium, traditionally, informations are transmitted from Tokyo to local area. 

-Japanese mass media is changed rapidly, like big economic waves after WWⅡ or bubble economy. So there are a lot of problems related to Media, such as Media education, the public nature of Media, and Media literacy. The key point, it is said, is how to educate young generations.

-In my opinion, it is good idea to be a capital-centered media culture. Now is the time that everyone can get a lot of information from media and if there are some difference between regions, it's gona be big problem at some point. For example, about Political election, TV broadcast should be equal to every diet, in order to that, they should be equal about way of broadcasting. In Japan, Tokyo is centered and when nationwide things happen, capital can control every parts of Japan, it means we can see same thing everywhere. I think this is one of good points of capital-centered system.

3. Media Orientation

= I cannot mention every forms of mass media because Blog is not like a paper. So this time, I choose the TV's media orientation, which is said that Japan has tendency of Commercial oriented.

-Japanese TV broadcasting includes dual system: Public broadcaster and commercial broadcaster 

-NHK( Japan Broadcasting Corporation): this is the only example of Public Broadcasting, which derives its revenue from the reception fee. And also this is the first company broadcasting TV in Japan in 1953.  NHK is endowed with a special status under the broadcast law enacted in 1950. It avoids any political interference and market competition by financing itself from the reception fee paid by each households that owns TV set. 

-NTV( Nihon Television Network): this is the first Commercial broadcaster company, which followed   to NHK so this is first one as Commercial oriented, also in 1953. 

-There are 127 commercial broadcasting TV stations in Japan until 2004. Each station belongs to one of the five nationwide news networks that focus on five key station in Tokyo. They broadcast programs from Tokyo or local original. The five key stations are called: NNN, NTV, JNN, TBS, and FNN. 

- As you can see, Japanese TV broadcasting system is constructed by one Public broadcast and five commercial broadcasts. In my opinion, People are usually enjoying commercial broadcasts' programs as their joyful and using Public one as the tool of getting serious information or education. So I think Dual system is really succeeded in this country.  

Conclusion

 I am searching about Japanese mass media through 3 dimensions about media system, and then I know the key point are Freedom of speech and structured system. The big difference about media system between countries is whether there is limitation or not. If people can show their opinion freely, everyone has some chances to change the nation's thought. But it is also true that free speech is fear about government, this is because Chinese government is strict about censorship. So this is really important to keep balance of limit and freedom. I would say success of Japanese mass media is thanks to very organized media system. As I mentioned, there is capital-centered system and also TV broadcasting is also organized by capital. Center of country is supporting every parts, so we can enjoy mass media without anxiety.

*Sources*

Government/capital system

Japanese Media System

Asian Communication System 2008 (Japan)

Introduction

Hello, this is my blog for the class of MMC4302.

first of all I will tell my basic information and then I'll answer the following questions.

My name is Akari Yanagisawa. I'm from Japan and now studying abroad here as an exchange student. I'm staying here for whole year,two semesters, and Spring2015 is second and also final semester for me. 

☆questions

Where you are from

- I'm from Japan as I said. My university is in Tokyo, where is capital and the place everyone may know. My home city is called Tochigi Prefecture. It is really rural area just like Gainesville and about 2 hours far from Tokyo. the place is a little inconvenient but I really like there because this is the place I was born and grew up :)

What experience you have in the media field

- I'm really interested in media world and now thinking about getting a job in that business world. I always watch TV for free time and also enjoy radio, magazines, internet and movies. My life goes along with the media every time and, honestly saying,  I can't live without media. I think now in the global world, it's not too much saying that the biggest connection between countries is MEDIA, such as TV, Movie and Internet. I really want to be a bridge of my country and other world so this world is so attractive for me :)

Any experience/interest in other countries
-As I said, now I'm inside of the different country and culture. Actually I experience different customs, foods, and people everyday. This is the first time for me to come to America but before I have been to South Korea as travel and Australia for short home staying. My memory of Australia is so impressive for me, so I had decided to do long studying abroad to English speaking country someday since I was 12. It is so attractive for me and makes me grow up that I spend some time outside of own country. I really love my country but love other countries as well, so I want to be the person who are standing between countries.

Your field of study

- My major is intercultural/English Communication in Japan and now Im studying communication and media here. My interesting is words of "Intercultural", "communication", and "media". World communication System is so impressive for my curious that I'm looking forward of taking this class.

Your post-graduation plans

- I will get a job, which is really common in Japan, especially students of humanity major. So I need to think about my future job almost now, and looking for the job in media world, like broadcasting place, advertising or internet companies. But also I want to continue studying languages, especially English, Chinese and Korean. Learning language and communicating people with their language is so impressive foe me :)

Your hobbies/interests

- I have some hobbies, like playing sports, going to karaoke, listening to music and so on. Especially I really like to listening to music from all over the world, like Japanese, western countries, and South Korea. These musics have each characteristics and I enjoy each of them. My most interest is of course WORLD and COMMUNICATION. I like to talk with people from different countries and about their own culture or another. it is so interesting, isn't it? ;)

Something else you want to share

-Finally I want to show the Japanese media's peculiar trend in 2014. A lot of trending things are born every year at Media world, and Japan has an award for trending word, which is given to the most effective word for Japanese people in a year. Then I introduce 2014's Top Prize. Look at this picture. ⇩

These 2 women got a Top award in 2014. I really know you have no idea about them at all. They are female comedian. The right side, which has the white face women and smiling man (Just in case, people in these two pictures are same), is their style for making people laugh. As I said, they had an award of trending word, so they have a impressive spell word. That is "Dameyo, Dame, Dame~" It means " No way, no,no~" Just it. In my opinion, in Japan, simple word more tend to be trending somehow.  I think it's interesting for other countries' people especially, because the sense of humor depends on culture so much. So I wanted to share a little bit of my country's humor.

If you are interested them, I will put the movie's link which they challenged to translate their show into English. First part is Japanese original version and then they try to translate into English version.(around from 4:10) The thing is their Skill of English is terrible. hahaha  

Japanese comedian trended in 2014