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[January 05, 2006]

FEATURE: Japanese woman tries to ease Japan-China tensions via radio+

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Jan. 6_(Kyodo) _ A Japanese woman deeply worried about the growing antagonism between Japan and China wants young Chinese to tune into her radio program, tap into Japanese youth culture and eventually help expand the horizons for Japan-China ties.


On her program "Tokyo Pop Music" broadcast on FM 91.4 in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, Akiko Aoki aims to project better images of Japan and the Japanese people.

"I'm pretty sure we are introducing the real Japan through a music program," she said in an interview with Kyodo News, referring to her program launched in October.

For Aoki, the program is a reincarnation of the previous show she hosted for China Radio International in Beijing for about three years until 2001, in which she enjoyed a good rapport with her listeners.

Ironically, her days in Beijing coincided with the sharp deterioration in relations between the two Asian giants. The situation got worse around the same time she returned to Tokyo, which was around when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office.

Worried about the future course of bilateral ties, Aoki sought to start a radio program again in China, where the image of the Japanese is "terribly bad." Without rectifying these distorted views, she said, there will be "no future" for the two countries.

After twists and turns, she landed a contract with Satellite Radio Guangdong, with some Japanese companies, including All Nippon Airways Co., sponsoring her 40-minute program aired every Friday afternoon.

She was fortunate enough to again work with Zhao Haidong, her Chinese partner on the previous program. "I couldn't imagine a program without him," she said, noting he shares "a sense of mission" with her.

The program is intended to introduce to young Chinese listeners not just J-pop songs but Japanese youth culture as a whole. It offers the latest information about what Japanese youth are really up to, something utterly missing in China.

During a recent program, for example, Aoki and Zhao touched on young Japanese who love to travel to hot springs with friends. Aoki explained this trend in response to Zhao's question about whether most hot spring visitors are elderly people.

Aoki and Zhao both speak each other's language fluently. But Aoki speaks mainly in Japanese as she wants listeners to be exposed to "Japanese spoken by a native Japanese speaker."

The program has so far received little reaction from listeners, partly because no promotional activity has been done in view of the anti-Japan sentiment in China. Koizumi's fifth visit to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo shortly after the program's launch made Aoki and Zhao even more cautious.

And yet favorable and surprising responses have reached the show from Beijing, where the main listening base for their old show is located. Beijingers enjoy the program by downloading it off the Internet. Other responses include requests for songs and questions about Japan.

Aoki believes it is time to publicize the program as three months have passed without a hitch. "My hope is many people will understand a project like ours has been realized in the absence of good news about Japan-China ties," she said.

Originally a nonfiction writer, Aoki became enchanted by China during her trips to that nation. "I visited many countries for information-gathering and I found the most exoticism in China," she said.

With Japan's economy in the doldrums after the burst of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, she was also increasingly depressed. This prompted her to turn a new leaf and study Chinese in Beijing for two years in the mid-1990s, which opened the door to China Radio International later on.

Looking ahead, Aoki wants to renew her annual contract with the Guangzhou radio station and keep the program humming along at least until the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

"I want to continue to host the program until the Olympics, after which I'll pass the baton to a young successor," she said. "It's my duty to train the younger generation who can succeed me."

Satellite Radio Guangdong's website is at: http://www.fm914.com/

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