The Voiceful Voiceless: Rethinking the Inclusion of the Public Voice in Radio Interview Programs in Occupied Japan

Abstract

This article focuses on an interview radio program introduced by GHQ, the US occupation forces, into Japanese broadcasting after World War II. As part of the occupation goal of democratising Japan, GHQ in cooperation with NHK, the Japanese broadcasting monopoly, produced the street-interview program Gaitō rokuon to demonstrate freedom of speech. Despite previous research describing its inclusion of the public voice as the epitome of successful democratisation, this study reveals a process – from planning through recording to broadcasting – through which the voiceless were made voiceful without being properly heard. The episode to be discussed is ‘How to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency Part 2: Girls Under the Railroad Tracks’ broadcast on 22 April 1947; an NHK announcer talks with girls in the sex trade in Yurakucho, Tokyo, where GHQ was established. A close look at an episode transcription gives us a vivid sense of the belonging the girls embraced in Yurakucho, a belonging which does not correspond to any of the broadcasting objectives of GHQ, NHK and the announcer. This article is an attempt to listen to the true voice of the public more than 70 years after the on-air date, and calls into question the nature of democracy practiced and advanced through Japanese broadcasting during the occupation.