Week 3: Global Media Empire

Globally, there are many international companies today, for example, McDonalds, KFC, SONY, Walt Disney, Google, Facebook, Apple and others. Those companies provide their service, products, ideas and conceivable things for people worlwide. This post will focus on SONY as an example of a Global Media Empire.

SONY is a Japanese multi-industry company and one of the leading companies of electric products worldwide. 
After the portable music player, WALKMAN was introduced by SONY in 1979, the style of listening to music and music culture were changed worldwide (Kasahara 2003: p.41). Music was being listened to by people at home or at concert halls before the WALKMAN was provided; however, people could enjoy music anytime, anywhere after the WALKMAN was introduced. This was a big change in music history and influenced many people worldwide.

In other words, SONY succeeded in globalising the world by one single media product. Today, the WALKMAN is not as popular as the iPod; however, the achievements mentioned above will never disappear.

Globalisation is supported by many companies worldwide and those companies have power in world economics. For example, the total assets of SONY groups are ¥13.29 trillion.

Culture is always changing in human society; however, if culture would be changed by economic power, this could cause a negative effect in human society such as a gap between the rich and the poor. Therefore, people should be more considerate about the power of global media empire today.

Image source:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/07/notable-and-crazy-sony-cassette-walkman-editions/
http://cambridgeforecast.wordpress.com/2010/11/

Reference:

Kasahara, T 2003, ‘Culture and the Walkman’, Kyoto Sosei University review, Vol.3, pp.41-46, retrieved 31 July2012,  <http://ci.nii.ac.jp/els/110004677359.pdf?id=ART0007407260&type=pdf&lang=en&host=cinii&order_no=&ppv_type=0&lang_sw=&no=1343798233&cp=>

Week 2: What is missing from the definition?

The word ‘GLOBALISATION’ is defined in many different ways.

There are many opinions about globalisation; therefore it is hard to judge the good opinions from the bad ones. In other words, globalisation could be a positive word and also a negative word; therefore, nobody could decide whether it is good or bad.

There is one particular definition according to Smith, Owens & Baylis (2011, p.8), “Globalisation is mostly simply (or simplistically!) defined as a the process of interconnectedness between societies such that events in one part of the world increasingly have effects on peoples and societies far away. A globalised world is one in which political, economic, cultural and social events become more and more interconnected, and also one in which they have more impact.”

The definition is clear but human society is not only made of those five elements.

There are over 200 countries in the world and every country has a different political system, economic situation, culture, ethnic groups, religions and social events; however, those elements are only the ostensible appearance.

This is because every single person has their own way of thinking. In other words, everyone has a different sense, taste and opinion. They are not only depending on politics, economics, culture and social events but also depend on own experiences and the environment.

Globalisation is the process of interconnectedness between societies. 
Although, if one person's own way of thinking is changed by an event that happened far away, this could lead to more thorough globalisation.

Image source: http://borderbuster.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/do-not-fear-globalization-of-higher.html

Reference:

Baylis,J, Smith, S & Owens 2011, the globalization of world politics An introduction to international relations fifth edition, Oxford university press, Oxford, NY

Other definitions:
What is globalisation? Jeffery, S 2002
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/oct/31/globalisation.simonjeffery


Defining globalisation  Global Policy Forum 
http://www.globalpolicy.org/globalization/defining-globalization.html

Week 1 The flows of globalisation: Globalisation and Food

Many people might be reminded of “ McDonald's” when thinking about the connection between globalisation and food. No doubt, McDonald's is one of the synonyms of Globalisation today. However, apart from McDonald's we could also eat many different kinds of international food in a local area today.

Sushi rolls are part of the most popular Japanese food in Australia. However that SUSHI ROLL is very different from Japanese sushi. This is because a lot of sushi restaurants or take-away shops are owned by non-Japanese. According to Shimemura (2002,p.85), one of the processes of globalisation is not being conservative and being flexible with local culture and customs such as the McDonald's philosophy.

The SUSHI ROLL is not traditional Japanese sushi anymore but it is still Japanese food and a good source of globalised Japanese culture.

Incidentally, why has the SUSHI ROLL become popular worldwide? According to Bestor (2005, p.15), a lot of positive information of Japan such as the average life expectancy of Japanese people is the longest of all countries were reported by the media worldwide; therefore, many people believe that there is the connection between good health and Japanese food.

As mentioned above, the SUSHI ROLL in Australia is totally different sushi from Japanese sushi; therefore, it might be no longer healthier than other foods. However, a lot of people still believe sushi is healthy because the positive impression is supported by the media.

Cultural flow is an important part of globalisation such as performance, fashion and food (Moore 2012). Multicultural foods are eaten in a local area today. Therefore, food might be one of the most familiar examples about flow of globalisation today.

Image source :http://whatscookingamerica.net/Appetizers/CaliforniaRoll.htm

References

Bestor, C 2005, ‘How sushi went global’, in Watson, L,Caldwell, L(ed.), The cultural politics of food and eating: a reader, Blackwell Publishing, Carlton, Victoria

Moore, C 2012, ALC215 Lecture, Deakin University, retrieved 21 July 2012, <https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=31220&tId=1594120>

Shimemura, Y 2002, ‘Globalization vs. Americanization: Is the World Being Americanized by the Dominance of American Culture’, comparative civilizations review, Vol.47, pp.80-91, retrieved 18 July2012, < https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/CCR/article/viewFile/12818/12682>

Wikipedia 2012, retrieved 20 July 2012, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi#Western-style_sushi>

Wikipedia 2012, retrieved 20 July 2012, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy>

Hi World!

Welcome!

My name is Kanako from Japan. I am studying Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University.
This blog  for ALC215 Globalisation And The Media.

I am a international student so I hope I will  use my background and experiences for this study.


Happy blogging!!


kanako