Protesters March Against Fuji TV

My deepest sympathies to these citizens of Japan who do not have remote controls,  for they must have no way to change the channel. Please, make a donation today and provide a universal remote for those in need.

They should protest more generally about the deplorable state of TV in Japan: vulgarity as a rule, very small place given to news (even my wife this morning complained that they are replacing news by “newstertainment” on morning shows > she now watches BBC to keep up to date with international news), advertisement disguised as programming (most shopping or food shows are paid by the businesses they visit, therefore this is a paid commercial), etc…
And what about the outdated and stupid foreign investment rule? Maybe some industries might not be in such a dire financial state (hospitality business, media, utilities, etc…) if they were allowed a free flow of investment (both ways) and deregulation. Limiting foreign investment in TV channels to such a small amount is a relic of a xenophobic past that should be forgotten.
How do they expect quality programming if the private TV channels are restricted in the way they can finance themselves?

>「韓国ドラマを買い付けると、買い付け額以上の補助金がもらえたときもあった」This is why they protest against Fuji TV. Isn’t Fuji helping dumping and destroying free market?They are against Fuji TV, not against Korea.

a quote from Nikkei Nov 29,2010コンテンツ、官民で開拓　映画や音楽“隣人”へ輸出　韓国の成功
　「プライスウォーターハウスクーパース（ＰｗＣ）の調査によると、日本を除くアジア太平洋地域の 09年のコンテンツ市場規模は05年比50％増の約1838億ドル（約15兆円）で、14年には2860億ドル に拡大する見通し。アジア市場に早くから目をつけ、官民一体で開拓してきたのが韓国だ。韓国は97年のアジア通貨危機後、金大中政権が新たな輸出産業としてコンテンツの輸出を奨励。
 
「韓国ドラマを買い付けると、買い付け額以上の補助金がもらえたときもあった」（台湾のテレビ番組の 輸出入大手、恒星多媒体の林錫輝・総経理）という。

韓国政府はさらに13年までに3100億ウォン（約230億円）を投じ、映画・ドラマなどコンテンツの輸出額を78億ドルに増やす戦略だ。」 (日本経済新聞 2010年11月29日 朝刊 6面 )

Hmmm. Ummm so a small number of people don’t want to watch crappy Korean dramas and crappy K-Pop ? Apparently they would prefer to watch crappy Japanese dramas and crappy J-Pop ? What a dilemma ! Decisions decisions !

Control of major national media is a significant element of national security and the programming content, not simply news and documentaries but the message driven through even casual entertainment, can be easily used to color the perceptions of the population. The general public is highly susceptible to media propaganda, particularly televisual. In the US the show ’24′ helped build support for state use of torture with even Congressmen citing policies they supported as “what Jack Bauer would do”.

The actions, views, attitudes and lifestyles of even fictional characters can have a strong influence on viewers regarding issues that matter. As it stands Japanese people have more than enough to deal with trying to filter the filter the message of the pre-existing media moguls without having pro-Korean/ anti-Japanese messages fed into their programming.

Perhaps more important than this is the question of whether Fuji are doing to this to promote Korean entertainment that they might have lucrative financial ties to. Their championing of Korean music would never be done without considerable remuneration or vested interest and it seems likely that the same can be said regarding K-Drama.

Regardless of the reasons, doing so is causing serious damage to national entertainment industries. Korea has openly stated a desire to supplant Japan as Asia’s cultural nexus (something evident in the flagrant gatecrashing of the Japan-Expo in Paris by more than a dozen Korean anime teams) and Japanese companies shouldn’t be going out of their way to assist them by sidelining homegrown productions and talent.

Imagine the typical British reaction if the BBC decided to shelve its drama division in favor of ‘whatevers popular in the States’.

The majority of people seem to be vastly underestimating the actual significance of this issue in economic and cultural terms (if allowed to gradually grow as it had been doing before Takaoka) and, while there is no need for an extreme response, a proper governmental inquiry into the reasons for Fuji’s policies is more than justifiable in terms of protecting both native entertainment industry and safeguarding national media from foreign influence.

Those writing it off as simply overt xenophobic nationalism are either uninterested and/or unaware of the broader implications. Japan’s response to the far more centralized and fervent nationalism in Korea, China and Russia has been admirably restrained but such restraint needs to be coupled with clear and resolute limits on what will be accepted or Japan’s stance will be taken as a weakness to be exploited.

wow so the conspiracy is that the south korean government is trying to brainwash japanese into becoming korean or something? doesnt make sense…. if the shows arent making money then why would they air it? this is a minority of people that feel that way  and i think it has to do with antikorean sentiment…. japanese people are known to hate koreans and are very nationalistic…. geez just change the channel or something, this japanese actor said something immature and out of line, just like the aflac actor who got fired for making the joke about the japanese during the tsunami…. celebrities need to be careful what they say on twitter

I’m quite sure some of the protesters are xenophobic, but they aren’t (just) upset that Fuji TV is showing exorbitant amount of Korean dramas. They feel that Fuji TV is going overboard, sometimes coming across as sending subliminal messages. Most of hypes/fads are created by media, JPN or abroad. However, a lot of people feel that Fuji has gone overboard, fabricating facts. Also, refusing to broadcast JPN flags and national anthem is simply ridiculous. Celebrities being cut from the network for saying things like “I prefer J-pop over K-pop” is also ridiculous. The protesters feel like Fuji’s journalistic approach is extremely one-sided, and afraid are asking for proper journalism.