Cultural proximity has been used to explain this kind of viewer's identification. For example, Taiwan and Japan share certain similarities; Asiatic (facial) features, certain food, eating habits, the use of Chinese characters in writings, as well as geographical proximity. It is assumed that, cultural recipients that are culturally proximate to the cultural producer (e.g. Japan) would naturally find the cultural product (e.g. doramas) familiar, real, and tangible. Naturally, cultural proximity alone cannot be sufficient in explaining East and Southeast Asian television viewers' identification with Japanese doramas.

As Miller (1992) argues, cultural proximity is considered not as something which exists innately but as something constructed. Taiwan and the Philippines are geographically close but it does not necessarily mean that Taiwanese people feel close to the Philippines. Another example would be the increasing popularity (therefore familiarity and identification) of Korean television drama among Taiwanese viewers. It was only recently did Korean drama become popular in Taiwan, even though both countries had always shared certain cultural similarities.

Viewers identify with doramas because they feel that what happens in the doramas could happen to them. Characters portrayed in doramas are certainly real enough, they could be a hair-stylist, a school teacher, a baker, or a chef not some multi-millionaires or CEO of a conglomerate. In the eyes of a dorama viewer, the characters and the story feels real enough to get "hamaru" to the dorama. A more extreme case of viewer's identification with a television drama could be found in Singhal's study in 1994 concerning the spectacular mass media phenomenon caused by a telenovela, Simplemente Maria that happened almost three decades ago in Peru and in most Latin American countries. A similar phenomenon of that scale is unlikely to happen again due higher education levels, more exposure to the mass media, and other reasons. Nevertheless, many viewers of doramas still find that they could identify with certain doramas and draws inspiration from the characters being portrayed (Leung, 2002).

It is also apparent that there is more variety in the types of roles that are played by women characters in contemporary doramas. Besides the traditional roles of housewife, nurse, and teacher (Dr. Koto's Clinic, Yankee Returns), there are also women astronauts (Loved to Love), lawyers (Beginner), taxi driver (Manhattan Love Story), doctors (Dr. Koto's Clinic, Hito natsu no papa), university students (Boku dake no madonna) and even a female magician (TRICK). In the aspect of position of authority, although it is not a major part of this study as in Elasmar's 1999 analysis , many women characters in contemporary Japanese dorama are found to be portrayed with some position of authority. In contrast, male characters are sometime deliberately being portrayed as "weaker" in order to accentuate the female character's stronger position. Position of authority can be loosely defined as having the power to give command/advice/order to others and expecting it to be obeyed. Surumi (Boku dake no madonna), Reiko (Loved to Love), Saki (Kikujiro & Saki) are explicit examples of characters in position of authority. Such portrayal of women could be viewed as a positive and constructive development in women empowerment.

In this age of globalization or as some would call it "glocalization", media production is no longer immune to outside influences. Japanese television dorama too can no longer be a lone bystander in this glocalization process. In fact, we could say that Japanese television dorama has already become part of the global-local discourse in television production. Ang (2004) calls television d(o)ramas "an integral and ubiquitous staple of the cultural diet everywhere in the world where there is a sizable television industry". Japan is the second biggest economy as well as the second largest television market in the world (Iwabuchi, 2002). In a 2000 NHK survey titled Japanese and Television reported that "television is a medium that 95% of the people surveyed use daily" (Kamimura, 2000). While Japan's economy is still lagging with only a slight hint of recovery in 2004, its cultural presence in other countries has already led many to call Japan a "cultural superpower" (Iwabuchi, 2004; Gatzen, 2003; McGray, 2001). McGray declared in his article "Japan's National Gross Cool" that:

Japan is a re-inventing superpower again. Instead of collapsing beneath its widely reported political and economic misfortunes, Japan's global cultural influence has only grown(McGray, 2001:46)

Clearly, Japanese television dorama is in a unique position to be the alternative or at least the precursor for the emergence of a new cultural source where consumers (especially consumers in Asia) can better relate to than cultural products that are purely western. Ang accurately observes that:

Young people living in Hong Kong or Singapore may be watching American shows such as Ally McBeal or Sex in the City, but they may not identify, in a deeply-felt sense, with the characters of these TV shows whose televisual lives reflect the experiential texture of late-twentieth century Western culture, with its taken for granted embrace of cultural liberalism and individualism, and its preoccupation (if not obsession) with sex (p.307)

Youths in Asia may be eating McDonald's, wearing Nike's latest sport shoes, and dancing to the beat of Beyonce or Eminem, but they are likely to be even more addicted to the latest products of Asian popular culture such as Korean action films , Cantonese pop-songs, and of course Japanese doramas (cf. Iwabuchi, 2002). Natural geo-cultural factor is an advantage for East Asian productions. Even in the Philippines and other Commonwealth countries with a large population of English-speakers, local televisions programs are preferred to western ones. Perhaps, it is because Asians actually do prefer programs that show Asian moral precepts and sensibilities as well as lifestyles that are more tangible.