On Tuesday, November 29, I and our project leader Prof. Soichiro Itoda had the opportunity to visit the radio station Radio Café in Kyoto, which pioneered the idea of non-profit community radio in Japan. The story they told us about their trials in achieving this goal was truly amazing and inspiring!



The cafe itself is located in the 1928 building in Kyoto's Sanjo district. It's a very cozy place in the basement, and I strongly recommend a visit (you'll find a map and business hours etc. via the above links). The building was erected 1928, and has a very interesting architecture. It also houses another cafe as well as an art gallery. The actual radio station lives around the corner, looking down from the second floor onto a shopping arcade. Inside you'll find two small studios and an office. But in spite of the humble looks of the place, the story of how it came into being is one of a small miracle.

The original idea was to create a radio station for the locals and by the locals - a non-profit organisation, independent from industry and sponsors. At the time, nobody had heard of such a thing in Japan. Nevertheless, somehow the concept started to catch on at a grassroots level. One after another, people started to offer their support. The movement got stronger and stronger, until a symposium could be held with around 150 attendants to discuss the idea of establishing a community radio station. It ended with everyone voting yes, to the surprise of the originators.

This was the igniting spark, and the beginning of an excruciating process of realisation. As this was in the age before podcasting, a broadcast licence was needed. The application form was not a form - it was closer to "the thickness of a telephone directory" and extremely complex. Short of funds the members had no other choice but to put in the time and effort to fill it out by themselves, something normally done by expensive consultants.

Finally they were able to complete all paperwork and submit it to the authorities, eargerly waiting for a response. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, but still there was nothing. When the call finally came Mr. Toshiji Machida, now general manager, picked up the phone. "The caller simply said, 'you've got the licence', but my heart leaped. It was the happiest moment of my life", he recalls.

The broadcasting licence was a big step forward, but now an even greater hurdle waited. The station had no funding, no staff, and no equipment. "We were told that we would need close to a million US dollars to get started", says Machida. "I could not see how we could ever get that kind of money - the banks were certainly not very helpful."

This is when the second miracle of the story happened. With no other options, the founders started to ask the local population for contributions. Each share was a million yen (circa 13,000 US dollars), not exactly a modest sum. Nevertheless, the idea of the local community having their own, free voice, free of sponsorship pressures, seemed to have strong appeal. Patrons started to line up - virtually all of them retirees with some cash to spare. In the end, 24 people made a contribution; equipment could be purchased, and salaries for a small staff paid. But the voice of the people could still not be heard: when the first investigation was conducted, it was clear that the reception of the signal would be terrible.



With its limited funds, the station could only afford a 20 watt transmitter. Due to the tall buildings nearby the signal would be virtually impossible for listeners to receive. But once again, the project was lucky. Because of its status as a non-profit, the station was able to get access to a spot on the rooftop of a building owned by a foundation, and the transmitter could finally be installed. "When I heard the test signal, again my heart leaped to the sky", says Mr. Machida. The first Japanese radio station run by the locals, for the locals, was a reality.

I can't help thinking that we have many lessons to learn from Kyoto. Envisioning a similar approach to Asakusa and Tokyo, I see opportunities for building a strong local foundation for the Tokyo-Edo Radio as well. I can't wait to get started.

Hans Karlsson
Producer
Tokyo Edo Radio

(Images kindly provided by the Radio Café)

VIDEO CLIP: Mr. Ogawa Byouzou speaks to the participants

The Tokyo Edo Radio successfully held its first workshop on November the 3rd right next to Saruwakacho, one of the spots we have researched in most depth so far in the traditional Asakusa area here in Tokyo. This time the theme was not Kabuki, however, but Tobi - the scaffolding workers of Japan.

In the workshop the world of the Tobi - unknown even to many Japanese - opened in its full depth in presentations as well as a talk by Mr. Ogawa Byouzou, 82, an old Tobi boss. The problem of how to not only convey the facts but also the emotional side of the story to the world was thoroughly discussed. We practiced how this can be done via an English voice over-for Mr. Ogawa - something that is easier said than done. Some of the participants tried to convey his personality in test recordings that were then played back and discussed. We also compared to a professional recording done in Cockney, a London dialect that has some of the same characteristics of the Edo-ben, or Edo dialect, that Mr. Ogawa is speaking.

At the centre of the discussion was the importance for emotion to a story, how audio media can be used to convey emotion, and thereby help to open a new dimension of Japanese culture to a foreign audience who has never seen Japan  - but may be inspired to do so after a listening experience that moves their hearts.

Mr. Ogawa serves as a splendid example of personalities that can inspire across borders, and deserve to be coveyed in the best possible way.

We thank our project leader Professor Itoda for creating this opportunity to demonstrate radio - or, rather, the Internet equivalent - as well as Mr. Ogawa for his wonderful talk. We also thank the participants for their enthuisasm and interest, and their active participation in the discussion.

Today I talked at Venice University to a nice mix of students and staff. I was most encouraged by the reception of the talk, many of the students stayed on afterwards to continue the conversation. Venice University is the premier academic institution for Oriental studies in Italy, with over 1300 people doing Japanese studies. They are also active in radio, and it looks that we can do the same type of arrangement here as SOAS has proposed - integrating radio work with Japanese studies. I am hoping we can build a network of universities in this endeavour, London, Venice, Munich, Wien...

The presentation was video filmed and we will make it available on the Net as soon as possible.

Hans Karlsson

I had an excellent meeting with Mr. Carlos Chirinos (portrait to the left) on Friday here in London.

Carlos is the head of the radio station at London School of Oriental and African Studies. Their studio is located near Russel Square, at the main campus. Here is a video I shot at the studio:

Video from SOAS Radio studio

When I arrived two Chinese students were about to start broadcasting a program about the Middle East in Mandarin. This is how internationalized SOAS is! When you walk into the campus you hear dozens of languages, and see faces and dresses from all over the world. The heavily mixed cultural environments is perhaps one of SOAS's greatest strengths and charm points.

Their college radio station may become an important contributor to our project. The station has two million unique downloads every year, and runs 40 shows. Meeting the students and staff has been an exiting experience for me, and the promise of future co-operation is truly thrilling!

Hans Karlsson
On tour in Europe

Hans Karlsson, Chief Radio Producer at Tokyo-Edo Radio, on Wednesday visited Goldsmiths University to do a presentation for their MA Radio class. The main lecturer for this ambitious course in radio is Mr. Tim Crook, a well known name in British radio broadcasting, and author of widely read books on the subject. Tim Crook is an award-winning journalist and academic, and has authored books on journalism, radio, and media law and researches the rituals and practices of espionage. His fascinating work "The Secret Lives of a Secret Agent" was recently published in a Kindle as well as paperback edition.

During the presentation Hans intruduced the students to the Tokyo-Edo Radio project, stressing the importance of creating new opportunities by using creative sound productions for tourism and city revival. He pointed out the poor state of presentations for foreign tourists in Japan today, and the great waste this is causing, considering Japan's and Tokyo's increadibly rich cultural history, that mainly pass unnoticed by the foreign visitor.

The presentation focused on Asakusa, its culture and problems in terms of tourism. Tim Crook and his students received the talk with great enthusiasm. Mr. Crook expressed his stong interest in the life of Edo, in which entertainment and living for the moment filled a much larger part of people's life than it tends to do today. "The talk contained material for several great films", he said. "It's hard to understand that the Japanese allow themselves to pass such opportunities up."

Mr. Crook expressed his strong interest in our work on kabuki - one of the main features of Asakusa entertainment during the 1800's - as well as the ongoing series on the tobi, drawing parallels with New York's firefighers, who also have a history of roughness and street fighting, much like their Japanese counterparts.

The lively discussion after the presentation indicated strong interest among students to take part in our creative process, as they are program makers and perfectly fit to add insights and an international perspective of our work.

Getting Goldsmiths onboard will without doubt raise the bar for Tokyo-Edo Radio, and we look forward to an active exchange with this famous and resourceful institution.

The Tokyo-Edo Radio will hold a unique event in Asakusa, November 3 (Thursday). Anyone interested is welcome to apply for participation. Please hurry, seats are limited!

• Sound is an excellent medium for conveying feelings and personalities. We want to demonstrate how this can be done in the case of transmitting Japanese culture to the world. 
• In addition, this workshop will allow attendees to directly interact with native experts in various fields and gain an increased knowledge of Japan and its people.

A remix of the second instalment of our Tobi series, featuring international voice talent Stephen Lyons, is now available on this site as well as on iTunes (the republishing process on iTunes make take a day or two).


A word on the voice-over for the tobi boss

People in the Old Town of Tokyo - the Shitamachi - speak a dialect called Edo-ben (Edo is the old name for Tokyo). Ogawa Byouzou - the Tobi boss who is the focus of this program - is a speaker of this dialect, which in some ways resembles cockney. It has a working-class feel to it, a rough but at the same time attractive quality.

Traveler and writer Fynes Moryson stated in his work An Itinerary that "Londoners, and all within the sound of Bow Bells, are in reproach called Cockneys." The edokkos - the Tokyo equivalent of the Cockneys, are equally particular about who may be called an edokko - a "child of Edo" literally - and who may not. Other people have chosen to translate Edo-ben into cockney with success, and I therefor asked Mr. Lyons to give his impersonation a touch of this fascinating British dialect. I think he succeeds very well in conveying Mr. Ogawa's personality to the English speaking audience.

I thank both for their invaluable contributions. It is quite incredible that you can pair a man in Old Tokyo with one in Wales to create a unified presentation of a way of being.

Written and Researched by Paul Tierney

Click here for audio program on Edo Combs.

Copyright Kunisada/Vizpix.com Actors of the Tokaido

“There is a beautiful sight” states the beautiful and alluring O-Tomi as she sees the dissolute Yosaburo in the kabuki play “Yowa Nasake Ukina on Yokogushi.”. It is love at first sight for Yosaburo as well, but there is a slight hitch: she is mistress of a local gang leader. He is the adopted son of a shop owner. Nevertheless, the two begin to exchange letters and eventually meet one night for a tryst, but are found out and events take a turn for the worse…

O-Tomi is always portrayed with a simple comb casually stuck into her hair and this comb captures the essence of her stylishness and allure. This is the yokogushi (lit. “side comb”) of the title and is representative of the importance and function of combs in Edo era Japan. Combs were not just hair care tools, they were vital hair ornaments and indicators of a woman’s social class, economic background, and even profession. (READ THE FULL ARTICLE in our resources section)

For students of the Japanese language: Hiragana Times mentions us on their blog. You can read the post both in English and in Japanese (hiragana only for beginners, kanji for intermediate learners).

The project's latest work, "A World Apart: The Rise and Fall of Saruwaka-cho" is now available in eBook form.  This book traces the history of Edo's theatre district and the reasons for its development.  Like any good drama, there were twists and turns, and there was more going on behind the scenes than the audience realized - power struggles between actors and theatre owners, theatre owners and investors, and conflict between shogunate officials that would ultimately decide the fate of kabuki in Edo.

Much of the information contained in the book is available for the first time in English and scarce even in the original Japanese.  We hope that this book will become a reference source for people looking for a more complete history not only of kabuki, but also of life and culture in Edo as well.

"A World Apart: The Rise and Fall of Saruwaka-cho" can be purchased at Smashwords.com (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/90363) and will be available at other eBook outlets such as Amazon's Kindle shortly.

Touto Meisho - Shibaimachi Han'ei no zu Utagawa Hiroshige Wikipedia Commons