The controversy over Ubukata Miku's (scriptwriter of "silent") remarks on "Bokura no Jidai"

Actually meant to post this before the end of 2022 but there were so many news and updates towards the end of the month that this had to be delayed till now. The good thing is, I could write this post with more time on hand than trying to rush through it.

In case you haven't heard about this, there was an episode of FujiTV's talk show "Bokura no Jidai" on 18 Dec 2022 which featured the key staff members of the TV station's hit drama "silent" i.e. producer Murase Ken, director Kazama Daiki and scriptwriter Ubukata Miku. This was extremely rare because the show typically features a trio of actors/actresses or mixed with one or at most two people from the production side e.g. directors, producers and scriptwriters etc. Instead of getting the cast of "silent" to appear on this show, the three of them were seemingly puzzled and uncomfortable with being thrust into the limelight like this and joked that it was because the cast was too busy.

The thing is, it wasn't the appearance of the three of them which made headlines but rather what Ubukata said during the show that raised eyebrows.

Essentially, there were two main issues:

1) When Murase talked about the effects of how international on-demand streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime were hogging the limelight and caused less attention to be put on drama series produced by local terrestrial TV stations, Kazama echoed the view that even the financers, creators and viewers are all focused on such productions. 

In response to this, Ubukata said that she likes the dramas on the local terrestrial networks because viewers have to tune in to the dramas at a fixed time every week instead of having the whole series released at one go on such platforms. Using "silent" as an example, she said that the joy and excitement of waiting for each episode weekly cannot be felt if it was launched on such platforms at one go.

2) Ubukata then stated that she doesn't like Korean dramas or Western movies simply because she loves the Japanese language. With regard to "silent", she said that if it was not in Japanese, it wouldn't be able to convey what she had in mind. The Japanese language is unique in the sense that even with the same words, it may come across differently to various people and that's something you cannot convey unless you are using the language. If in the event that her drama gets translated and shown overseas, she would feel sad about it because the translations wouldn't be able to convey entirely what the drama is trying to say. As such, she is only interested in Japanese dramas and conveying the interesting, good and cruel parts of the language in what she writes. Even if one day her work gets shown overseas and she gets congratulated by others about it, she wouldn't feel happy at all since she wants her drama only to be seen by the Japanese and those who know the Japanese language.

While there were people who were supportive of her especially her love for the Japanese language, there was also criticism over how she meant to limit her target audience only to the Japanese and/or those who may not be Japanese but knows the language. Especially considering that sign language featured very prominently in "silent" as a language form and that it required subtitles so that the viewers could understand what the gestures meant, her remarks seemed to come across as having a sense of superiority and elitism by excluding those who didn't know the Japanese language well enough and had to depend on subtitles in their native languages.

Now, here is my personal take on these issues she raised:

1) About releasing weekly or at one go

Thanks and no thanks to the COVID pandemic, I'm sure our viewing habits have changed a lot especially if you are one of those who have been watching dramas released at one go on platforms like Netflix. For current in-season dramas especially the Korean ones, I tend to wait till the entire set of episodes have been released before starting on them, no matter how popular or much talked-about they are. I guess I am becoming less patient about waiting for the new episodes especially when it comes to stories like suspense/thriller where I have to know what happens next quickly instead of waiting for an entire week.

Honestly speaking, if there are creators like Ubukata who feel that the beauty of waiting one week for the next episode is spoiled by this new consumption style of watching at one go, one way to go around this will be to show on the terrestrial network first on a weekly basis and then launching on such portals later. Alternatively, platforms like Disney+ are sticking to the weekly release format so if she prefers, this may be a better platform for her. 

However, to rule out this all-at-one-go broadcasting style totally when it's becoming more of a trend internationally, I think it's too premature for her to limit her options especially since she is just starting out as a scriptwriter. Then again, as the scriptwriter, she can insist on what she feels it's best for her work and not compromise just because everyone else is doing it.

I do not feel that she dislikes those streaming platforms based on what I saw in the show but the issue she had ultimately boils down to how the episodes are released i.e. weekly vs. at-one-go.

2) Not being interested in the overseas market

This is precisely what has been causing a lot of frustration for J-entertainment lovers outside of Japan especially in the years when Korean entertainment has been hogging the limelight, thanks to their government's support of cultural exports. The Japanese government did seem to try doing something similar years ago with the Cool Japan campaign but it just fizzled out without any tangible results.

Region restrictions even for viewing music videos or trailers? How about exorbitant prices for the DVD releases of your favourite dramas? Or how difficult it is to find so-called "worldwide" releases of Japanese dramas/movies on your local Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime? These challenges are definitely not new to those who like and would like to consume Japanese entertainment. 

If many content creators are adopting the same stance as Ubukata, it is no surprise that we will continue facing such challenges of accessing content from legitimate sources. Of course, she isn't solely to be blamed since this is a longstanding issue and seemingly quite widespread since many creators are keen to keep things within the domestic market. 

On the other hand, you have people who are keen to make inroads into the world by having their works seen by as many people as possible, especially those outside of Japan. Just look at "First Love Hatsukoi" and "Imawa no kuni no Arisu" in recent days. When I see these efforts, I'm more than happy to support and promote them in whatever little way I can. However, when the creators themselves are not keen to let people outside of Japan see what they do, I guess there's nothing we can say about that.

3) Japanese dramas only for the Japanese and those who know Japanese i.e. the lost-in-translation issue

Having spent years learning the Japanese language, I know exactly what she means in the uniqueness of this language and the beauty (sometimes frustration) in its ambiguity. And I do get annoyed by translations which obviously take the literal meaning instead of its contextual meaning when it comes to subtitles. I do experience this as well while watching content in other languages I know such as Chinese and Korean (despite a limited proficiency). Well, some people claim that the subs on Netflix are bad but I think my limited exposure to Disney+ for 1 month also gave me the same experience.

There are two ways to look at this: for me who was frustrated with the poor translations I used to see, I saw that as a motivator to learn the Japanese language up to the standard when I no longer needed to depend on subtitles. And believe me, being able to understand it as it is will be really liberating and satisfying.

Then what happens to others who cannot understand the language, are not going to learn the language or are still learning it but not good enough to ditch the subtitles? That's when translations come in to help bridge the gap and allow us to watch more content in languages which we do not know.

I get her concerns about the translations being less than 100% in conveying what she wants to say through her story. However, it is ironical that her story is about using languages (be it spoken or sign language) to communicate and for people to get through to each other via these languages but she seemed to be so against translations that her remarks came across as rather offensive and elitist. Which I think she might not have meant it this way but her inexperience in being thrust into the limelight and being on mass media probably meant that she was being too frank about how she felt.

Sources: Daily Sports / Josei Jishin