How People Watched and Perceived Ama-chan, an NHK Morning Drama Serial: Examining the Viewers’ Passion and Behavior through Four Surveys* January 2016 Kensaku SAITO, Wataru NIHEI, Satoshi SEKIGUCHI Media Research & Studies Keiko MITSUYA Public Opinion Research NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute _____________________________ *This article is based on the same authors’ article “Asadora’Ama-chan’ Wa Do Miraretaka~ Yottsu No Chosa Wo Toshite Saguru Shicho No Hirogari To Shichonetsu~” [How People Watched and Perceived Ama-chan, an NHK Morning Drama Serial ~ Examining the Viewers’ Passion and Behavior through Four Surveys~], originally published in the March 2014 issue of “Hoso Kenkyu to Chosa [The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research]”. Full text in Japanese may be accessed at http://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/research/report/2014_03/20140302.pdf 1 Introduction Asadora (Serial Televised Novels) Asadora is the abbreviated Japanese term used to refer to televised morning dramas that are broadcast as a part of NHK’s daily morning schedule (from asa “morning” + dora[ma] “drama”). They are officially known as “serial televised novels” (renzoku terebi shōsetsu), so-called by analogy with the serialized format of novels printed in daily installments in newspapers, and are also sometimes positioned as the television edition of the serialized radio dramas of an earlier era. The “novel” nomenclature also derives from the fact that these series heavily rely on narration so that viewers could follow the story even without watching the screen continuously during the busy morning routine. Since the broadcast of the first production Musume to Watashi [My Daughter and I] in 1961, new series have been produced and broadcast every year or every 6 months. March 2014 marked the broadcast of the 89th asadora series. The first production was broadcast on weekdays, five times a week in 20-minute installments, whereas a six-day (weekdays and Saturdays), 15-minute format has continued since the second series. Episodes are frequently rebroadcast, which allows viewers to keep up with the story even when they miss an episode, and these many viewing opportunities are a feature of the format. Currently, in addition to the main broadcast at 8:00 on the General Television (sogo terebi) channel, there is an advance broadcast from 7:30 on the BS Premium channel, and rebroadcasts at 12:45 on General Television and at 23:00 on BS Premium. It is thus possible to watch an episode up to four times daily. Because the main target is viewers who can watch the 8:00 morning broadcast at home, namely housewives, the programs in many cases comprise biographical portrayals of their female main characters, and there are no more than approximately five series with main characters who are men. The theme constantly reflects the period in which it was aired, which portrays the various family, community, and social issues facing the main characters. Early series often featured “biographical” narratives exemplifying the ideal of the “woman who endures,” which depicts the lives of main characters born in the early 20th century, lose their husbands in the Pacific War, and happily live out the balance of their years as old women in the present day. In step with social advances made by women in the real world, the ideal symbolized by the main character considerably transformed, which evolves from the “pioneering woman” venturing for the first time into professional roles traditionally dominated by men, through the “career woman” active in society on an equal basis with their male counterparts, to the “everyday woman” whose experiences realistically portrayed the everyday lives of women in an era where gender equality has become commonplace. In addition, the series also have significance for many viewers across the nation. One of the features of the programs is how the locale providing the setting changes with each new drama, and by 2009 had extended to include all of Japan’s prefectures. However, in practice, other than a small number of location shoots, most filming takes place in NHK studios in Tokyo or Osaka. 2 The heroines of the dramas are often selected by auditioning actresses approximately 20 years of age. Since the programs often end up featuring novice actresses with little acting experience surrounded by veteran actors, the programs also in that sense become an apprenticeship in acting for their stars, and audiences can also enjoy watching the development of the star’s experience in parallel with the personal growth of the heroine they portray on screen. That said, there has been a trend in recent years toward casting actresses who, although still young, have already established strong acting abilities and careers. Ama-chan Broadcast over 156 episodes lasting from April 1 through September 28, 2013, Ama- chan represented NHK’s 88th morning serial drama production. The story was principally set in the fictional town of Kitasanriku in Iwate Prefecture, which is located in Japan’s Tohoku region. In the summer vacation of 2008, the heroine, a Tokyo-born high-school student named Aki Amano (Rena Nonen), pays her first visit to Kitasanriku, which is the hometown of her mother, Haruko (Kyoko Koizumi). Aki’s grandmother Natsu (Nobuko Miyamoto) is a working ama, as the Japanese women who dive for sea urchins and shellfish are known, and Aki is enthralled by the sight of her grandmother fearlessly diving into the sea. When Aki resolves to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, in a remarkable turn of events, she gains popularity and, as a local celebrity, becomes a symbol of the revitalization of the town. Aki struggles after she is scouted as a member of a pop idol group made up of local celebrities and returns to Tokyo to become a pop idol on her own. As events unfold, it is revealed that Haruko had herself left home to become an idol in the 1980s, which was the reason behind the long silence between Natsu and Haruko, and the tension between mother and daughter eventually finds a resolution. When it seems as though Aki’s career as an idol is about to take off, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurs, mirroring the real-life tragedy. Aki returns once again to Kitasanriku, searching for a path in life, where she becomes involved in the post-disaster reconstruction as a local pop idol. With an original story written by popular scriptwriter Kankuro Kudo, the series marks the first time that Kudo has composed a script for NHK. The title, Ama-chan, conveys two meanings, simultaneously referring to ama, the sea urchin divers of Japan, and to the personal development of a “sweet” (amai) and “spoiled” (amaenbo) heroine. The three generations of women in the Amano family and their existence as local celebrities can also be regarded as a cross-generational relay drawing on the biographical themes of womanhood, which have endured as a proven formula for serial morning dramas. In contrast, one of the characteristics of this particular series, in addition to referencing many real-world celebrities and performers in the drama as themselves, is its incorporation of a wealth of references, parodies of, and tributes to the celebrity pop idols, television programs, and hit songs of the past. Kudo’s intimate familiarity with the nuances of koneta (small jokes referring to pop subculture) and the casting of former pop idol and movie star from the 1980s, such as Kyoko Koizumi and Hiroko Yakushimaru (who plays the actress Hiromi Suzuka in the series), in roles reminiscent of their actual selves evoked a sense of parallel reality that met with considerable acclaim. 3 Koneta As opposed to its normal sense of “a minor, trivial topic,” the term koneta was used in the online discussion about Ama-chan to refer to nuggets of knowledge and related information or else homages and tributes that alluded to old television programs and music. At a glance, these were irrelevant to the main thread of the drama. While many such references were written in the screenplay by the screenwriters, several other references came about as a result of a playful spirit on the part of the directors and art staff and their nomenclature as “koneta” emerged more or less naturally as they became a topic of online discussion among perceptive viewers. We can also take the example of an episode mentioned in this article. When the ama women were meeting at a café to plan their performance for a summer event and everyone suggested Lady Gaga, it seemed that the performances might overlap. However, one diver, who was dressed as Freddie Mercury from the rock band Queen, said “I’ll perform ‘Radio Ga Ga’—those who get it will know what I mean.” In fact, the event that being discussed in this scene was not itself depicted in the program, which means that the actors and staff also put considerable time into costumes and make-up for Lady Gaga and Freddy Mercury that had nothing to do with the costumes for the regular drama, but simply for the scene with this meeting. The message “those who get it will know what I mean” can be seen as another way of challenging viewers with the question “Do you get it?,” a ploy that roped in more and more fans. 4 In 2013, Ama-chan attracted considerable public attention, as exemplified in the choice of the term “jejeje,” which is an exclamation of surprise in the Tohoku dialect, as one of Japan’s Buzzwords of the Year for 2013. However, compared to Hanzawa Naoki,1 which is another serial drama produced by the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) that attracted similar attention and garnered extremely high audience ratings of over 40% of households, Ama-chan’s ratings remained at approximately 20% of households, which is more or less the same level as Doctor Ume,2 which is a serial drama broadcast the previous year. What explains this gap between Ama-chan’s considerable acclaim and its audience ratings? To clarify how Ama-chan was watched and perceived, we conducted the following four surveys: (1) Audience ratings analysis: To compare Ama-chan with recent morning dramas, thereby to identify their respective features in terms of audience ratings. This section was written by Kensaku Saito. (2) Public opinion survey: To clarify how Ama-chan was watched and perceived from an overall, nationwide perspective. This section was written by Keiko Mitsuya. (3) Internet questionnaire survey: Since Ama-chan is said to have become a major topic of discussion online, we identify the characteristics of the viewers among Internet users who have watched frequently. This section was written by Wataru Nihei. (4) Social listening survey: We shall analyze the actual conditions of how Ama-chan was discussed online through comments made on blogs and Twitter. This section was written by Satoshi Sekiguchi. 1 Hanzawa Naoki was a drama created by TBS and broadcast from July to September of 2013. The drama featured a screenplay written by Hiroyuki Yatsu based on the novel by Jun Ikeido and starred Masato Sakai in the main role. Set against the backdrop of a large banking corporation, the series followed the exploits of a sympathetic main character Hanzawa, valiantly and freely slashing his way through the factional rivalries. The program maintained soaring viewing figures, with the final household viewing ratings (Video Research Kanto Area) reaching a record figure of 42.2%. Additionally, Hanzawa’s catchphrase “double payback” (bai-gaeshi) also won the title of Buzzword of the Year. Ama-chan’s catchphrase “jejeje” was a co-winner of the same prize. 2 Doctor Ume was broadcast over 156 episodes from April 2 to September 29, 2012, becoming NHK’s 86th morning serial drama. Set against the charred ruins of Tokyo’s Kamata neighborhood in the aftermath of the destructive air raids of the Pacific War, the series follows the heroine Umeko (Maki Horikita), the youngest of three siblings who, despite constant feelings of inferiority toward her gifted brother and sister, is deeply impressed by her physician father’s medical career at a university hospital and aspires to become a doctor herself. To care for the lives of local citizens full of vitality and determined to rebuild and revive after the destruction of war, Umeko devotes herself to community medical practice. She grows to eventually become known affectionately as “Doctor Ume,” the community doctor. Original screenplay by Masaya Ozaki. 5 I. Audience Ratings Analysis 1. No Improvement in Audience Ratings over the Previous Year Although Ama-chan was invariably described as a hit series across various types of media, average audience ratings remained consistent with those for Doctor Ume, which was broadcast the previous year. How might we interpret the apparent contradiction wherein audience ratings remained constant despite the fact that Ama-chan was a hit? To answer this puzzle, we have been forced to conduct an investigation using a variety of research methods. Although the average household audience ratings did not exceed that of Doctor Ume (Video Research Kanto Area), a detailed analysis of the audience ratings can probably identify the elements that are proof of a “hit” status. At least, this is what we initially believed. However, our findings indicate that regardless of the approach adopted concerning audience ratings, Ama-chan’s performance remains more or less on a par with that of other asadora serials in recent years. 2. Signs of a Recovery in Asadora Audience Ratings As shown in Figure 1, there was long-term decline in audience ratings for morning serial dramas from the mid-1980s to the end of the first decade of the 2000s. This trend can be seen to begin to recover somewhat in 2010 with the move of the broadcast schedule to 15 minutes earlier of ‘My Husband is a Cartoonist.’ During this period, Doctor Ume achieved an audience rating for a morning serial drama of over 20% for the first time in nine years, followed by Ama- chan, which also exceeded 20%. In other words, it might even be possible to interpret Ama- chan’s favorable reception as the manifestation of a larger trend toward the overall recovery of morning serial drama ratings. As of this article’s writing, this interpretation is further supported by the audience rating achieved by the latest series, ‘Bon Appetit!’ (the value on the graph representing average ratings for the initial three months of the series). 6 Figure 1: Serial Televised Novels – Trends in Household Audience Ratings (%) Oshin 60 50 40 Ama-chan 30 20 10 0 '60s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s '10s 7 (Source: Household Audience Ratings, Video Research Kanto Area) Italicized text reflects the series’ original Japanese titles, while non-italicized text indicates translated English or transliterated titles adopted for selling programs overseas. 8 3. No Evidence for a “Hit” a. Slight Increase among BS Viewers There was some expectation that even if there were no large increase in audience ratings for the 8:00 morning General Television broadcast, there might be some increases for the other broadcast time slots on other services such as the Broadcasting Satellite (BS) channels. Comparing the audience rating for Doctor Ume for additional broadcasts (Figure 2), we find that the ratings for the General Television noon-hour broadcast of Doctor Ume are indeed higher. Conversely, Ama-chan is slightly higher for all other broadcasts on the BS channels. Figure 2: Average Audience Ratings for Additional Broadcasts 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (%) 7.3 General TV channel 12:45 (repeat) 6.8 4.8 BS Premium channel 7:30 (advance) 5.5 0.6 BS Premium channel 23:00 Doctor Ume (repeat) 1.0 Ama-chan (Source: Video Research Kanto Area) While morning and noon-hour broadcasts on General Television are well suited to senior citizens and housewives, the BS broadcasts are easier for workers and students who have to commute. It was expected that since Ama-chan was watched by an even wider audience than the traditional asadora viewership, its ratings on the BS services should be relatively higher. The summary of results shown above to some extent confirms this prediction. However, the difference is not of a scale that would justify calling the drama a “hit.” b. A “Slight Increase” among the Social Media Generation Examining the audience ratings by age cohort from the results of NHK’s Nationwide Survey on Individual Audience Ratings (Table 1), we find that while there was a slight decrease among older viewers compared to other series in recent years, there were some increases in the younger generation, particularly among girls aged 7‒12 and women in their 30s. It may be possible to regard this as a partial shift from older to younger viewers. 9 Table 1: Audience Ratings for Men and Women by Age Cohort (NHK Nationwide Survey on Individual Audience Rating, Conducted Annually in June) Average Values from Monday to Saturday for the Period of the Survey (%) However, while it was anticipated that “since Ama-chan was so well received on so-called social media, it was heavily watched by those core users,” there was no corresponding growth of audience ratings in these cohorts. Figure 3 shows that the results are not as high as to stand out markedly from the data from the last decade. Rather, it seems more natural to regard this more as an expression of the overall trend toward recovery indicated earlier. Figure 3: Viewing Trends for Women in their 30s (NHK’s Nationwide Survey on Individual Audience Ratings: First Half of Broadcast Content for Each Year) 8 (%) 8 7 6 6 6 6 5 4 4 4 4 3 2 0 10