Uses and Satisfaction Afforded by Japanese Animation to Chinese Audiences
2019 年 2 巻 p. 28-43
詳細
2019 年 2 巻 p. 28-43
This study analyzed Chinese audiences’ motivations for viewing Japanese animation and the satisfaction they experienced after the viewing experience. It also examines the influence of cultural proximity and genre familiarity on viewing motivation and satisfaction. A hundred and sixty—two individuals who lived in China and actively watched Japanese animation were sampled. The results of the factor analysis showed that cultural proximity to Japan comprised three factors, including “fondness for Japan”, “fondness for Japanese lifestyle”, and “in favor of Japanese values”. Genre familiarity with Japanese animation comprised two factors: “familiarity with Japanese animation themes” and "familiarity with Japanese animation style”. Four motives for watching Japanese animation were “in order to discover something”, “customary pastimes”, “interest in the content of Japanese animation” and “desire for interpersonal interaction”. Two positive outcomes of watching Japanese animation were “deriving satisfaction from their enjoyment of it” and “acquiring a better understanding of Japanese culture”.
The results also showed that cultural proximity with Japan and genre familiarity with Japanese animation largely influenced diverse viewing motivations and different satisfaction levels. This study also found that the motivation to Japanese animation was related to the satisfaction felt after the viewing experience. To summarize, this study can supply basic but significant insights into, and thus enhance our understanding of the popularity of Japanese animation in China.
With the development of media technology and deepening globalization, people have gained greater access to the cultures of different countries and communities. Global culture is thus in a constant state of transformation and integration. Audiences can access diverse content from foreign countries with ease. As an important part of the cultural industry, the animation industry has attracted worldwide attention, gradually becoming the focus of development in most countries, which represents future development trends in the cultural industry. As animation has developed, so has “animation culture” as the animation industry in countries all over the world sees rapid growth.
Animation with low cultural discounts is circulated widely throughout the world. Japanese animation in particular has had tremendous influence worldwide because of its distinct characteristics. From animated classics like Slam Dunk and Sailor Moon, to the more recent Attack on Titan and One Piece, the Japanese animation industry has built momentum, demonstrates robust growth, and has a competitive presence all over the world. The scale of this industry’s overseas market is expanding day by day, and it has successfully entered most countries and regions of the world. In recent years, the Chinese have grown increasingly fond of Japanese animation. Japanese animation has an absolute advantage and many loyal fans in China. It is also a part of the mainstream Chinese animation market. Up until April 2, 2018, the ranking list of animated programs generated by Baidu, the largest search engine in China, showed that Japanese animation accounted for 12 of the top 20 most popular animated shows in China, and figured extensively in the top six. So, it is not difficult to see why Japanese animation enjoys immense popularity in China.
Part of the reason why Japanese animation is so popular in China is because of its low cultural discounts. It can also be said to be due to the cultural proximity to Japan. Viewers are more likely to select products from their own culture or from countries with cultures similar to theirs. China and Japan are not far apart, and they belong to the Asian cultural circle, so Japanese culture is more easily accepted by the Chinese. Apart from cultural proximity, another important reason why Japanese animation is so popular in China is genre familiarity. Japanese animation has multiple genres. People of all ages and professions can enjoy Japanese animation, with its highly developed technology and style. Characters in Japanese animation also resonate with Chinese audiences. Chinese audiences’ preference for and intimate knowledge of Japanese animation genres are some of the factors that affect viewer motivation and satisfaction. Therefore, this study seeks to analyze why Chinese audiences consume Japanese animation, what their motivations are, and the nature of the satisfaction they receive from watching it. The study also explores whether cultural proximity to Japan or genre familiarity with Japanese animation have an impact on motivation and satisfaction. Animation is a combined concept that refers to both video and comic book animation. For the purposes of this study however, “animation” refers primarily to video animation, particularly TV animation and animated movies, because video is a powerful medium through which to convey popular culture to mass audiences.
The difference in economic and other forms of capital between developed and under—developed countries has resulted in the unequal distribution of information, resources, and talents. There is also an imbalance in cultural output between countries, that is to say, one—way flows of culture from rich countries to poor countries. This phenomenon can be explained using the theory of cultural imperialism (Schiller, 1976; Barrett, 1977). However, with the increase in cultural exchange between countries, a variety of communicative modalities have emerged. The theory of cultural imperialism alone is not enough to explain these phenomena. Scholars have therefore begun to study the demand for foreign programs from the perspective of cultural pluralism (Tomlinson, 1991; Ang, 1985). With the deepening of globalization and the evolution of global media, most animated movies being circulated worldwide have common themes. Viewers also like to watch programs with low cultural discounts.
With the advent of the digital era, the development of new communication technology has given users more choices to use the medium content, and audiences have more chances to select information. In this area, most studies of the demand for foreign programs have focused on what motivates active users and gives them satisfaction. Not only have scholars (Nannan, 2016; Leonard, 2005) studied what motivates and brings satisfaction to consumers of foreign programs, they have also analyzed active users from other angles, such as use patterns. These studies reveal that viewers of foreign TV dramas, movies and animation have diverse viewing motivations, which in turn have differing effects on their viewing satisfaction and patterns.
2.2 Research on Japanese AnimationJapanese animation has unique characteristics when compared to animation from other countries. Through its history, Japanese animation has kept up with the changing times, and timeliness is one of the characteristics of Japanese animation. This timeliness is very obvious in the change of theme. For example, during the Second World War, Japanese animation was mostly war—themed, and became a tool that the Japanese government used to publicize its decrees. After the end of World War II, Japanese animation with anti—war themes appeared. This is because during this period, Japan was busy with postwar reconstruction, and there was an urgent need to for spiritual revival (Xin, 2016). The 1980s saw rapid development of the economy and the progress of Japanese animation technology. Robot and other mechanical themes created a new sensory impact on audiences. Then, at the end of the 20th Century, as human thinking grew more profound and Japanese animation began to pay greater attention to the analysis of realistic and psychological aspects of the human condition, the themes of love and friendship began to appear more and frequently (Xin, 2016). This demonstrates that the themes present in Japanese animation change with time.
National characteristic is another characteristic of Japanese animation. Japanese animation consistently learns and absorbs foreign culture during the development process, but at the same time, it does not abandon those things that make its own nation unique, such as mono no aware complex and the Japanese bushido spirit. These national characteristics ensure that Japanese animation has its own personality. This is one of the many reasons for the popularity of Japanese animation in China (Yuxian, 2007).
Japanese animation has been developing for nearly a century, and its presence in China has also been growing for some time. The history of Japanese animation in China can be divided into three stages: the exploration stage, the acceleration period, and the maturation period (Yang, 2016). Every stage has created favorable conditions for the growth of Japanese animation in China, promoted its development, and has helped shape the world—famous Japanese animation of today.
2.3 Factors Affecting Motivation and Satisfaction of Foreign ProgramsThere are many factors that can influence viewers’ motivation and satisfaction of foreign programs, one of which is cultural proximity, which has already been analyzed. According to Straubhaar (1991), cultural proximity refers to people’s preference for media products from their own or similar cultures. Many scholars have attempted to measure viewers’ “cultural proximity” levels (Straubhaar, 2007; Xiaona, 2017) and have succeeded in defining different dimensions of this phenomenon. Studies of audience demand for foreign programs, have noted the importance of language in deciding audience preferences for different media products (De Sola, 1977; Straubhaar, 2003). Some studies have also shown that language learning is irrelevant to watch foreign programs (Iwabuchi, 1997). These findings cannot confirm that language skills have a significant impact on whether people choose to watch certain programs or if they find them familiar. In addition to language, geographical and cultural factors are also important determinants of cultural proximity (Straubhaar, 1991). The closer they are geographically, the more opportunities countries will have to communicate culturally.
Many scholars have already studied the role of cultural proximity in motivating viewers to watch foreign TV programs (Choi, 2003; Hernandez, Alvaro, & Taiki, 2015). These studies reveal the two main reasons why people watch foreign programs from another country: One is that they feel a sense of cultural familiarity with that country or region. For example, Choi Yang Ho (2003) examined Chinese television dramas My Fair Princess and Old House Has Joy to understand why Korean college students watched Chinese TV dramas. The results of the analysis showed that there was a lot of common ground between the two Chinese shows and Korean TV dramas such as Heojun and Autumn Fairy Tale. The shows had a cultural homogeneity that allowed Korean viewers to notice similarities to Korean TV dramas in terms of plot setting and other aspects. The study found that cultural proximity largely influenced viewing motivations.
Another reason is that viewers see differences between countries and they like these differences. Park Sung Hee (2004) studied Korean audiences’ interpretation and understanding of Japanese drama with cultural proximity as a basis, and found that when Korean audiences watched Japanese dramas, they were aware of the differences between the two sets of dramas. They experienced a sense of fulfillment that they could not get from Korean dramas. This is why they watched Japanese dramas. These studies support the conclusion that people watch foreign programs because they both notice the differences between countries, and like them. These studies are concerned with foreign programs from the perspective of uses and gratification, and cultural proximity. However, in the context of animation, especially Japanese animation, there are few such studies. However, given that animated Japanese TV shows are featured on foreign television, we know that cultural proximity has a great impact on viewer motivation and satisfaction with Japanese animation.
Genre familiarity also has an impact on motivation and satisfaction. There is a wide range of Japanese animation genres. China’s largest search engine, Baidu, has classified Japanese animation genres as follows: inference, family, science fiction, romance, adventure, and campus. There have also been studies examining the influence of the various Japanese animation genres on motivation and satisfaction among Chinese audiences. Min Luo (2010) drew on the concept of the “gatekeeper” to explain why the animation genre has had a great impact on what audiences chooses to watch; for example, parents will not let their children watch violent and bloody cartoons. Fan Xu (2015) analyzed Japanese adventure animation, and found that what Chinese audiences most enjoy about it is the character design, development, and skills. These studies tell us that the animation genre has an influence on audience choice.
Thus, we can see just how important cultural proximity and genre familiarity are in interpreting audience behavior. This provides a theoretical framework for studying the degree of acceptance of Japanese animation in China. Therefore, this study will focus on the two factors affecting audience motivation and satisfaction.
The subjects of this study were individuals who watched Japanese animation actively and independently in China.
An online questionnaire was administered through a platform called Wenjuanxing for the purposes of data collection. Because the study subjects were avid viewers of Japanese animation, links to the online questionnaire were posted on sites such as Sina Microblo, Baidu Post Bar and other websites frequented by Japanese animation viewers. These websites were selected because the possibility of collecting data from diverse groups of people was high.
4.2 The Structure of the QuestionnaireThe survey questionnaire was divided into seven sections. Questions in section one were meant to measure viewing behavior and the amount of time spent viewing. Section two was designed to collect the respondent’s demographic information, while section three focused on viewers’ experience of Japan, the ability to speak Japanese and favorite themes in Japanese animation. Questions in sections 4 to 7 sought to measure four constructs: cultural proximity to Japan; genre familiarity with Japanese animation; motivation behind viewership of Japanese animation; and satisfaction after viewing Japanese animation.
4.3 Participants’ Demographic CharacteristicsA total of 162 questionnaires were collected in a week. The 162 participants consisted of 85 women (52.47%) and 77 men (47.53%). With regards to age distribution, there were 79 people (48.77%), aged 20 to 29, who accounted for the bulk of the participants. The second most populous age group consisted of 53 people (32.72%), aged 30 to 39. Of the remaining 30 people, twenty—eight (17.28%) were under 20 years old and 2 (1.23%) were over 40 years old. With respect to educational background, 80 people (49.38%) had college degrees, accounting for almost half of all the participants. Forty—seven participants (29.01%) had high school degrees or lower, while 35 individuals (21.61%) had master’s degrees or higher. In terms of occupational distribution, 68 participants (41.97%) were students; they constituted the largest occupational category. The student group was followed by company employees: 56 (34.57%); the unemployed: 16 (9.88%); self—employed laborers: 15 (9.26%); and “other”: 7 (4.32%).
4.4 Operational Definition and Major Variables 4.4.1 Cultural proximity to JapanIn this study, cultural proximity is the degree of similarity between cultures as perceived by the audiences themselves, and includes geographical position, practices, customs, living habits and so on. Drawing on prior work by Soh Eun Hee (2006) and Sun Ahram (2010), 10 indicators of cultural proximity were posited and measured using the five—point Likert scale (points 1 to 5 being: “1—Strongly disagree”, “2—Disagree”, “3—Neither agree nor disagree”, “4—Agree”, and “5—Strongly agree”).
To determine cultural proximity to Japanese animation viewers, a factor analysis utilizing principal component analysis and varimax rotation of all 10 indicators of cultural proximity, was conducted. During this process, 3 factors with Eigen values greater than 1.0 were exported. Cronbach’s Alpha, at .845, was high; the KMO test value was .802, and the significance probability of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity reached .000—all of which were conducive to a factor analysis, with statistics showing meaningful results. These factors accounted for cultural proximity variable of 66.608%. The results of the analysis are shown in Table 1.
| Factors | Indicators | Cultural proximity | ||
| Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | ||
| Fondness for Japan | I want to travel to Japan. | .860 | .128 | .118 |
| I want to experience the culture of Japan. | .790 | .223 | .193 | |
| I think Japan is very close to our country. | .660 | .108 | -.021 | |
| I want to make friends with Japanese. | .634 | .210 | .408 | |
| Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | I am familiar with Japanese lifestyles, including things like clothing, food and transportation. | .086 | .828 | .257 |
| I like the Japanese style of dressing. | .271 | .808 | .094 | |
| I prefer Japanese culture to my culture. | .024 | .672 | .347 | |
| I’m interested in Japanese stars, movies and TV serials. | .288 | .616 | .012 | |
| In favor of Japanese values | I am partial to individualism of the Japanese values system. | .032 | .195 | .831 |
| I envy the open —mindedness of Japanese society. | .326 | .226 | .761 | |
| Eigen value | 4.208 | 1.431 | 1.023 | |
| % of Variance | 42.076 | 14.306 | 10.226 | |
| Cronbach's Alpha | .783 | .788 | .726 | |
Looking at the output of the “cultural proximity to Japan” factor analysis process, the first factor was “fondness for Japan”, which included indicators like “I want to travel to Japan”; “I want to experience the culture of Japan”; “I think Japan is very close to our country”; and “I want to make friends with the Japanese”. These four indicators were related to a yearning for first—hand knowledge of Japan and the Japanese, and about how close the users felt to Japan and the Japanese, that is, how close Japanese animation viewers felt to the country and its people. Cronbach’s Alpha of the first factor was .783.
The second factor was “fondness for Japanese lifestyle”. It included indicators such as “I am familiar with the Japanese lifestyle, including things like clothing, food and transportation”; “I like the Japanese style of dressing”; “I prefer Japanese culture to my culture”; and “I'm interested in Japanese stars, movies and TV serials”. Cronbach’s Alpha of the second factor was .788.
The third factor was “in favor of Japanese values”, which included “I am partial to the individualism of the Japanese values system”; and “I envy the open—mindedness of Japanese society”. These two indicators were about whether Japanese animation viewers had a positive impression of Japanese values. Cronbach’s Alpha of the third factor was .726.
Of these three factors, the most significant factor was “fondness for Japan (Eigen value=4.208)”.
4.4.2 Genre familiarity with Japanese animationGenre familiarity in this study refers to Chinese audiences’ preference for the content and style of Japanese animation. Nine indicators of genre familiarity were created and measured using the five—point Likert scale. Points 1 to 5 were: “1—Strongly disagree”, “2—Disagree”, “3—Neither agree nor disagree”, “4—Agree”, and “5—Strongly agree”.
To determine genre familiarity with Japanese animation, a factor analysis utilizing principal component analysis and varimax rotation of all nine measures of genre familiarity, was conducted. During this process, 2 factors with Eigen values greater than 1.0 were exported. Cronbach’s Alpha was .886, which was high. The KMO test value was .842, and the significance probability of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity reached .000—all of which were conducive to a factor analysis, with statistics showing meaningful results. These factors accounted for genre familiarity variable of 69.309%. The results of the analysis are shown in Table 2.
| Factors | Indicators | Genre familiarity | |
| Factor 1 | Factor 2 | ||
| Familiarity with Japanese animation themes | I am familiar with inference theme in Japanese animation. | .815 | .153 |
| I am familiar with family theme in Japanese animation. | .815 | .166 | |
| I am familiar with the science fiction theme in Japanese animation. | .796 | .150 | |
| I am familiar with the theme of romance in Japanese animation. | .733 | .277 | |
| I am familiar with the theme of adventure in Japanese animation. | .731 | .270 | |
| I am familiar with campus theme in Japanese animation. | .696 | .401 | |
| Familiarity with Japanese animation style | I like Japanese animation style. | .216 | .912 |
| I like the technique of expression used in Japanese animation. | .184 | .909 | |
| I am familiar with the characters in Japanese animation. | .284 | .719 | |
| Eigen value | 4.839 | 1.398 | |
| % of Variance | 53.770 | 15.538 | |
| Cronbach’s Alpha | .888 | .860 | |
Looking at the output of the “genre familiarity with Japanese animation” factor analysis process, the first factor was “familiarity with Japanese animation themes”, which included “I am familiar with inference theme in Japanese animation”; “I am familiar with family theme in Japanese animation”; “I am familiar with the science fiction theme in Japanese animation”; “I am familiar with the theme of romance in Japanese animation”; “I am familiar with the theme of adventure in Japanese animation”; and “I am familiar with campus theme in Japanese animation”. Cronbach’s Alpha of the first factor was .888.
The second factor was “familiarity with Japanese animation style”. This factor included indicators such as “I like Japanese animation style”; “I like the technique of expression used in Japanese animation”; and “I am familiar with the characters in Japanese animation”. These three items pertained to whether users could relate to the form and expressive technique of Japanese animation. Cronbach’s Alpha of the second factor was .860.
Of these two factors, the most significant factor was “familiarity with Japanese animation themes (Eigen value=4.839)”.
4.4.3 Motivations Behind Chinese Viewership of Japanese AnimationViewing motivation in this study refers to those factors that motivate Chinese audiences to watch Japanese animation. Drawing on previous studies by Sun Ahram (2010) and Choi Yang Ho (2003), 12 indicators of viewing motivation were formulated. The indicators were divided into the following four categories: “in order to discover something”, “customary pastimes”, “interest in the content of Japanese animation”, and “desire for interpersonal interaction”.
A five—point Likert scale that ranged from “1—strongly disagree” to “5—strongly agree” was used to measure responses.
4.4.4 Satisfaction after viewing Japanese animationSatisfaction in this study refers to whether Chinese audiences felt satisfied after watching Japanese animation. Drawing on previous studies by Jing Li (2010), 7 indicators of the degree of satisfaction were posited. These consisted of “deriving satisfaction from their enjoyment” and “acquiring a better understanding of Japanese culture”. These indicators were measured using the five point Likert scale. Points 1 to 5 were as follows: “1—Strongly disagree”, “2—Disagree”, “3—Neither agree nor disagree”, “4—Agree”, and “5—Strongly agree”.
There was a correspondence between indicators measuring motivations prior to the viewing experience and indicators measuring satisfaction after the viewing experience. However, in this study, instead of comparing satisfactions with corresponding motivations, questions were asked to comprehensively evaluate motivation and satisfaction.
To determine what motivated Chinese viewership of Japanese animations, a factor analysis of all 12 indicators of viewing motivation was conducted using—principal component analysis and varimax rotation. In this process, 4 factors with Eigen values greater than 1.0 were exported. Cronbach’s Alpha at .873, was high. The KMO test value was .854, and the significance probability of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity reached .000—all of which were conducive to a factor analysis, with statistics showing meaningful results. These factors accounted for a viewership motivation variable of 65.970%. The results of this analysis are shown in Table 3.
| Factors | Indicators | Viewing motivations | |||
| Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | Factor 4 | ||
| In order to discover something | In order to understand Japan and Japanese culture. | .862 | .176 | .139 | .177 |
| In order to get useful information. | .807 | .147 | .061 | .225 | |
| To study Japanese. | .761 | .090 | .309 | .082 | |
| Customary pastimes | In order to kill time and prevent boredom. | .036 | .894 | .018 | .014 |
| There is nothing special to do. | .122 | .802 | .213 | .214 | |
| In order to relieve stress, change my mood, and allow me to forget my complicated reality for a while. | .323 | .773 | .207 | .037 | |
| Interest in the content of Japanese animation | Because the OST is irresistible. | .016 | .633 | .830 | .094 |
| Because the dubbing is well done and I like the voice actors. | .209 | .130 | .759 | -.220 | |
| Because the characters in Japanese animation are very kind. | .254 | .208 | .631 | .455 | |
| Because it’s based on my favorite comic. | .316 | .198 | .612 | .318 | |
| Desire for interpersonal interaction | Because family or friends are watching, so they can keep up with popular trends. | .206 | -.052 | .025 | .784 |
| Because watching Japanese animation can provide topics of conversation. | .128 | .231 | .088 | .749 | |
| Eigen value | 4.061 | 1.514 | 1.366 | 1.069 | |
| % of Variance | 38.343 | 12.614 | 11.382 | 8.912 | |
| Cronbach's Alpha | .822 | .821 | .769 | .541 | |
Looking at the output of “viewing motivations behind Chinese viewership of Japanese animation” factor analysis process, the first factor was “in order to discover something”, which comprised indicators such as “In order to get useful information”; “In order to understand Japan and Japanese culture”; and “To study Japanese”. These three indicators drew on the idea that Japanese animation viewers could get the information they needed by watching Japanese animation. For example, they could learn about Japanese culture while watching Japanese animation; they could also study Japanese while consuming entertaining content. Cronbach’s Alpha of the first factor was .822.
The second factor was “customary pastimes”. This factor included the following indicators: “In order to kill time and prevent boredom”; “In order to relieve stress, change my mood, and allow me to forget my complicated reality for a while”; and “There is nothing special to do”. These three indicators were premised on the idea that Chinese viewers watch Japanese animation because they want to kill time, relieve stress, and relax. There are also some people who watch Japanese animation because they don’t have anything else of interest to do. Cronbach’s Alpha of the second factor was .821.
The third factor was “interest in the content of Japanese animations”, the indicators included “Because the OST is irresistible”; “Because the dubbing is well done and I like the voice actors”; “Because it's based on my favorite comic”; and “Because the characters in Japanese animation are very kind”. These four indicators suggest that, compared with animation from other countries, Japanese animation is highly valued because of its charm, good music, excellent dubbing, and attractive characters. Cronbach’s Alpha of the third factor was .769.
The forth factor was “desire for interpersonal interaction” and was accompanied by the following indicators: “Because watching Japanese animation can provide topics of conversation”; and “Because family or friends are watching, so they can keep up with popular trends”. These two indicators were predicated on the idea that viewers watch Japanese animation because they want to talk to others and improve interpersonal communication. With everybody watching the same Japanese animation, they were likely to find a common topic of conversation. Cronbach’s Alpha of the forth factor was .541.
Of these four factors, the most significant factor was “in order to discover something (Eigen value=4.061)”.
5.2 The Impact of Cultural Proximity to Japan, and Genre Familiarity with Japanese Animation, on Viewing MotivationsTo examine the influence that cultural proximity to Japan, and genre familiarity with Japanese animation, have on viewers’ motivations for watching Japanese animation, first, we carried out a correlation analysis to see the relevance between cultural proximity to Japan and genre familiarity with Japanese animation. To find out which of these two factors—cultural proximity to Japan or genre familiarity with Japanese animation—affected the viewing motivations of Japanese animation watchers, a multiple regression analysis was carried out. The low correlation factors of “cultural proximity to Japan” and “genre familiarity with Japanese animation” from the previous output were used as independent variables, while the four factors constituting the viewing motivations behind Japanese animation were used as dependent variables.
The results of the correlation analysis of cultural proximity and genre familiarity are shown in Table 4. The results revealed a relatively high correlation between “familiarity with Japanese animation themes” and other factors. We removed this factor and did a multiple regression analysis with those factors that were not highly correlated, the results of which are shown in Table 5.
| Variables | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 1. Fondness for Japan | 1 | ||||
| 2. Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | .459** | 1 | |||
| 3. In favor of Japanese values | .440** | .482** | 1 | ||
| 4. Familiarity with Japanese animation themes | .538** | .588** | .512** | 1 | |
| 5. Familiarity with Japanese animation style | .405** | .278** | .237** | .526** | 1 |
**P<.01, two—tailed tests.
| Dependent variable | Independent variable | Unstandardized coefficients | Standardized coefficients | t | Sig. | |
| B | Standard error | Beta | ||||
| In order to discover something | Fondness for Japan | .046 | .081 | .042 | .560 | .576 |
| Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | .377 | .069 | .402 | 5.469 | .000*** | |
| In favor of Japanese values | .241 | .066 | .267 | 3.682 | .000*** | |
| Familiarity with Japanese animation style | .073 | .044 | .113 | 1.683 | .094 | |
| R2=.285 | ||||||
| Customary pastimes | Fondness for Japan | .463 | .103 | .375 | 4.514 | .000*** |
| Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | .002 | .087 | .002 | .027 | .978 | |
| In favor of Japanese values | .130 | .083 | .126 | 1.576 | .117 | |
| Familiarity with Japanese animation style | .120 | .055 | .162 | 2.184 | .030* | |
| R2=.419 | ||||||
| Interest in the content of Japanese animation | Fondness for Japan | .026 | .085 | .022 | .309 | .757 |
| Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | .166 | .072 | .159 | 2.292 | .023* | |
| In favor of Japanese values | .213 | .069 | .212 | 3.098 | .002** | |
| Familiarity with Japanese animation style | .372 | .046 | .516 | 8.150 | .000*** | |
| R2=.534 | ||||||
| Desire for interpersonal interaction | Fondness for Japan | -.198 | .105 | -.161 | -1.881 | .062 |
| Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | .078 | .089 | .073 | .875 | .383 | |
| In favor of Japanese values | .300 | .085 | .292 | 3.532 | .001*** | |
| Familiarity with Japanese animation style | .272 | .056 | .370 | 4.822 | .000*** | |
| R2=.265 | ||||||
*P<.05, **P<.01, ***P<.001
These multiple regression analyses demonstrated that cultural proximity to Japan had a bigger influence on viewing motivations than genre familiarity with Japanese animation. The more that people felt like they could relate to the style of Japanese animation, the more they could enjoy the content, and the more likely they were to watch Japanese animation in order to pass time and improve interpersonal communication. And the more viewers liked Japanese lifestyle and values, the more likely they were to watch Japanese animation so as to learn about Japanese culture. And the more people liked Japanese values, the more they watched Japanese animation because they wanted to share these values with others.
5.3 Satisfaction after viewing Japanese AnimationIn order to determine satisfaction of watching Japanese animation, a factor analysis of all seven indicators of the degree of viewing satisfaction was conducted using principal component analysis and varimax rotation. In the process, two factors with Eigen values greater than 1.0 were exported. And Cronbach’s Alpha at .822, was high. The KMO test value was .812, and the significance probability of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity reached .000—all of which were conducive to a factor analysis, with statistics showing meaningful results. These factors accounted for a viewer satisfaction variable of 63.734%. The results of the analysis are shown in Table 6.
| Factors | Indicators | Satisfaction | |
| Factor 1 | Factor 2 | ||
| Deriving satisfaction from their enjoyment of it | The content of Japanese animation matches well with my feelings. | .853 | .041 |
| Watching Japanese animation brings me joy. | .788 | .298 | |
| Watching Japanese animation helps me relieve stress, improve my mood, and allows me to forget my complicated reality for a while. | .760 | .308 | |
| Watching Japanese animation is helpful for me to kill time and prevent boredom. | .712 | .249 | |
| Acquiring a better understanding of Japanese culture | Watching Japanese animation helps me understand Japan and Japanese culture. | .113 | .815 |
| Watching Japanese animation helps me understand Japanese fashion. | .341 | .699 | |
| Watching Japanese animation helps me widen my horizons. | .176 | .684 | |
| Eigen value | 3.419 | 1.042 | |
| % of Variance | 48.845 | 14.889 | |
| Cronbach's Alpha | .827 | .648 | |
Looking at the output of “satisfaction after viewing Japanese animation” factor analysis process, the first factor was “deriving satisfaction from their enjoyment of it”, which included the following indicators: “Watching Japanese animation is helpful for me to kill time and prevent boredom”; "Watching Japanese animation helps me relieve stress, improve my mood, and allows me to forget my complicated reality for a while”; “Watching Japanese animation brings me joy”; and “The content of Japanese animation matches well with my feelings”. These four indicators reflected the emotional satisfaction viewers felt after watching Japanese animation. Cronbach’s Alpha of the first factor was .827.
The second factor was “acquiring a better understanding of Japanese culture”, the indicators being: “Watching Japanese animation helps me understand Japan and Japanese culture”; “Watching Japanese animation helps me widen my horizons”; and “Watching Japanese animation helps me understand Japanese fashion”. These three indicators captured how watching Japanese animation helped viewers find the information they wanted, specifically as it related to Japanese culture and fashion. Cronbach’s Alpha of the second factor was .648.
Of these two factors, the most significant factor was “deriving satisfaction from their enjoyment of it (Eigen value=3.419)”.
5.4 The Influence of Viewing Motivations on the Satisfaction Experienced after Watching Japanese AnimationIn order to examine the influence of viewing motivations on the satisfaction experienced after watching Japanese animation, a multiple regression analysis was carried out. The four factors of “viewing motivations” from the previous output were used as independent variables, while the two factors constituting the satisfaction experienced after watching Japanese animation were used as dependent variables. The results of this analysis are shown in Table 7.
| Dependent variable | Independent variable | Unstandardized coefficients | Standardized Coefficients | t | Sig. | |
| B | Standard error | Beta | ||||
| Deriving satisfaction from their enjoyment of it | In order to discover something | .295 | .080 | .250 | 3.704 | .000*** |
| Customary pastimes | .440 | .065 | .424 | 6.775 | .000*** | |
| Interest in the content of Japanese animation | .311 | .070 | .293 | 4.445 | .000*** | |
| Desire for interpersonal interaction | -.147 | .064 | -.142 | -2.311 | .022* | |
| R2=.534 | ||||||
| Acquiring a better understanding of Japanese culture | In order to discover something | .224 | .070 | .238 | 3.189 | .002** |
| Customary pastimes | .115 | .057 | .139 | 2.006 | .047* | |
| Interest in the content of Japanese animation | .302 | .062 | .357 | 4.903 | .000*** | |
| Desire for interpersonal interaction | .089 | .056 | .107 | 1.579 | .116 | |
| R2=.419 | ||||||
*P<.05, **P<.01, ***P<.001
Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the viewing motivations affected all two types of satisfaction after viewing Japanese animation. The more time people spend time learning about and enjoying Japanese animation, the greater their capacity to feel satisfaction over, and derive pleasure from, their understanding of Japanese culture once they are finished watching the animation. In particular, people with high levels of satisfaction from their enjoyment of it do not watch Japanese animation in order to establish interpersonal communication.
5.5 The Influence of Cultural Proximity to Japan and Genre Familiarity with Japanese Animation on the Satisfaction Experienced after Viewing Japanese AnimationTo find out which of these two factors, i.e., cultural proximity to Japan or genre familiarity with Japanese animation, affected Japanese animation watchers’ satisfaction levels, a multiple regression analysis was carried out. The low correlation factors of “cultural proximity to Japan” and “genre familiarity with Japanese animation” from the previous output were used as independent variables, while the two factors constituting viewer satisfaction were used as dependent variables. The results of the analysis are shown in Table 8.
| Dependent variable | Independent variable | Unstandardized coefficients | Standardized coefficients | t | Sig. | |
| B | Standard error | Beta | ||||
| Deriving satisfaction from their enjoyment of it | Fondness for Japan | .296 | .093 | .231 | 3.190 | .002** |
| Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | .267 | .079 | .241 | 3.396 | .001*** | |
| In favor of Japanese values | .203 | .075 | .190 | 2.716 | .007** | |
| Familiarity with Japanese animation style | .198 | .050 | .258 | 3.979 | .000*** | |
| R2=.455 | ||||||
| Acquiring a better understanding of Japanese culture | Fondness for Japan | .003 | .081 | .003 | .038 | .969 |
| Fondness for Japanese lifestyle | .102 | .068 | .115 | 1.489 | .138 | |
| In favor of Japanese values | .306 | .065 | .360 | 4.707 | .000*** | |
| Familiarity with Japanese animation style | .188 | .043 | .308 | 4.356 | .000*** | |
| R2=.352 | ||||||
*P<.05, **P<.01, ***P<.001
Multiple regression analysis revealed that cultural proximity to Japan and genre familiarity with Japanese animation had a huge influence on the satisfaction that viewers felt after watching Japanese animation.
The purpose of this study was to analyze why Chinese audiences watched Japanese animation and why they felt satisfaction after watching it. This study examined the impact of cultural proximity and genre familiarity on viewer motivations and satisfaction, as well as the impact of viewer motivations on viewer satisfaction. The study found four motivational factors behind the viewership of Japanese animation, including “in order to discover something”, “customary pastimes”, “interest in the content of Japanese animation”, and “desire for interpersonal interaction”. “In order to discover something” was found to be the most significant factor, thus demonstrating that Chinese audiences watch Japanese animation to learn about Japanese cultural mores. Since they watched Japanese animation to learn more about Japan, the satisfaction experienced after viewing Japanese animation, was linked to their “acquiring a better understanding of Japanese culture”, which in turn was tied to motivation.
Furthermore, this study attempted to examine the influence of cultural proximity and genre familiarity on motivation and satisfaction of Japanese animation. The results of this study showed that people with high cultural proximity of Japan and people who like Japanese animation’s style have more motivations to watch Japanese animation. These people will get more satisfaction after watching Japanese animation. Similarly, people who watch Japanese animation with different motivations will get high satisfaction after watching Japanese animation. They will feel joy and release pressure from animation. At the same time, it will also play a positive role in understanding Japanese culture.
An interesting outcome of this study was the realization that “language” did not affect Chinese audiences’ motivation to watch Japanese animation. This is in marked contrast to previous studies where language was analyzed as an important factor that affected viewers’ cultural proximity to foreign content. In this study, most Japanese animation viewers could not speak Japanese. Thanks to subtitles, language is not a major factor affecting viewing motivation since. Japanese animation shows on TV and in Chinese cinemas are accompanied by subtitles. Web-based Japanese animation programs also rely on professional or amateur subtitle groups to provide subtitles. Therefore, people who can't speak Japanese can nevertheless watch Japanese animation without any hassle. While this line of enquiry signifies a departure from previous studies, it has yielded significant research results.
