TVmobile--Love or Hate?

Everyone who has taken the public transport over the last seven years would have known this thing called the TVmobile. It was founded in the year 2001 and became the first broadcaster in the world to deliver commercial digital television programme on public transport. It has also been voted as “the most engaging, entertaining outdoor media in Singapore”. However, there are also many criticisms pertaining to its necessity and the noise created by it.

In addition to Today, The Straits times, TVmobile provides us with morning news shows like “ Primetime Morning” which offer a great start for the day. With its imagery and auditory functions, TVmobile provides us with entertainment news and movie releases among others. Together with the radio station FM 89.3, it becomes more accessible and keeps people informed when they are on the move. TVmobile is a localized media since it is targeted mainly at the Singaporean public commuters. However its ability to reach and influence the public should not be underestimated.

From what I observed, TVmobile has been very interactive as the public can share exam tips with others, send greetings during Christmas and other occasions to others via sms. The first Local Talent Showcase Project showcasing students’ creative works was broadcast via TVmobile too. TVmobile has a great number of advertisements, since it is an outdoor advertising media in the first place. Through repeating certain advertisements, it raises importance of issues in the public's mind, for instance the "Yellow Ribbon Projects" and "Be a teacher--Ministry of Education".

TVmobile has revolutionized the way we watch television. It gives commuters a different travelling experience. Normally television is watched at home and seldom in the public, however, now you share a common space with others when watching the same programmes on the buses. At home, you can switch off the television set if you do not like the programmes, however, on the bus, you cannot do so.

Some consider TVmobile entertaining during long trips, however some view it as irritating due to the noise it creates. One commuter is quoted as saying, “Tvmobile is a nuisance adding unnecessary noise to our already stressful living environment”. This view is echoed among many others who feel that they deserve a quiet time on the bus journey. These people feel that TVmobile does not add meaning to their trips or make the trips more pleasant. Some go to the extremes of avoiding SBS buses with TVmobile altogether. From here, we can see the reactions of different people originating from the same media.

Personally, I feel that TVmobile is not brought about by public demand, rather it is being “thrown at us”, and so we had no choice but to accept it. The bus is a public transport after all, so we cannot demand for peace and quiet as we like.


Whatever it is, as communications technology continues to expand, the future to outdoor advertising media will continue to evolve, and it will not stay at the TVmobile now. There will be many more innovative applications of the digital television. As TVmobile generates advertising revenue for Mediacorp, it is definitely here to stay as an outdoor advertising media. It will continue to influence us whether we like it or not.

Matsuri Festival

The other day, I saw an advertisement in a brochure saying that Central Shopping Mall is holding the Authentic Japan Fair known as the Matsuri Festival. The fair showcases traditional arts, dances and ceremonies, music and street culture of modern day Japan. The festival spans across three weeks. There are three categories to this festival, namely Cultural Week, Fashion Week, Music and Dance Week. Each week offers a wide array of interesting activities for the public.

Just by looking at the brochure, I noticed that whereas each week offers very different activities (like cosplay and Singapore Japanese Idol), traditional activities like Origami Workshop, Tea Ceremony and Japanese flower arrangement are available throughout the whole of three weeks. This shows that although Japan is a fast-evolving nation with its wondrous array of popular culture, it still values and regards its traditional culture highly.

This Authentic Japan Fair is targeted mainly at non-Japanese, since Japanese would already have known about their culture well enough. All the activities in the fair allow foreigners like us to get a glimpse of Japanese culture and the exquisiteness of its traditional culture.

Being an “outsider” of Japanese culture, I was curious to find out more about Japan’s traditional culture, so I attended the Tea Ceremony this evening. I noticed many fascinated faces around me during the tea ceremony, which was demonstrated by a Japanese lady in Kimono on a stage laid with Tatami, a straw matting commonly used in a Japanese house. I always have the perception that Japanese culture bears a large resemblance to Chinese culture, so I had assumed that the steps in the Japanese and Chinese tea ceremony should be more or less the same, however I realise that the two cultures, although share similarity in some aspects, are actually largely different.

I observed that the steps in the tea ceremony were very particular; every step was deliberate and exact and they exude some form of cultured elegance. The tea ceremony also reflects about the Japanese culture in general--that Japanese are very particular about details. The tea ceremony was very silent and implicit. As an “outsider” of the culture; one may not understand the different steps in the ceremony just by watching it. For the purpose of the public to understand, there was an explainer at the side of the stage to explain the various steps while the tea ceremony was ongoing on stage. We can infer from here that Japan culture is a high context one—subtle cues are more important than actual words spoken. Japanese see explicit communication style as rude, coarse and insensitive. In eastern culture especially, more things are left unsaid and many a times, it is up to the viewer to figure out by themselves what is happening.

No matter how many activities are lined up in this festival, it only provides a brief glimpse of the Japanese culture. One may not fully understand about another culture just by watching it, especially for high context culture. In this fair, only a few aspects of the Japanese culture are portrayed at best. For one to fully understand another culture, one has to immerse himself in the local community for quite a long period of time.

We tend to perceive and interpret other culture from our own culture’s perspective. As a result, we may form stereotypes about certain cultures. We also like to draw conclusions based on the few things we noticed about the culture. Actually, aspects to any culture are more than meets the eye. In order to enhance understanding about other’s culture, we need to keep an open mind and understand the culture in its entirety and not in parts only.

Live it, don't analyse it!

I came across this quote from the internet which I find quite meaningful—“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook”. I think it is quite relevant to our day-to-day communication, especially communications between couples.

When couples first date and fall in love, the emphasis is on all the things they have in common. Often you feel like you have discovered your very own soul-mate and the blending and compatibility are marvelous. The euphoria of new love is a madness of love that lasts only a short while. However, as you start to get serious about each other, you start to get analytical. Constant analysis can kill a very good relationship.

It is better, in my opinion, to focus on how you are feeling at the moment, and stay in the moment. When you start questioning how things are going to be in future, you are sacrificing the real for the unreal. If you think about it, anything can happen in the future, many things will happen which you could not possibly predict. It is likely the things you are imagining will never happen, and things you could never imagine will happen, so there is no use in considering too far into the future.

The important things to know about is how this person makes you feel, and if your values and attitudes towards marriage match. Accept the fact that people will change over time. Also, do not expect the person to share every interest in common with you. You will have to overlook some things, like bad habits or idiosyncrasies, in order to sustain the relationship and prolong good communication with each other.

Relationships do take work and the work of a relationship is being understanding and forgiving, overlooking unimportant things and being positive and loving. It is not about picking the relationship apart or finding faults.