Cross-cultural communication （115）　

115) Random thoughts on NHK language programs
In July 2021, I read the autobiographical work of English education researcher Ms. Kumiko Torikai, “The Postwar History as Seen by Interpreters: From the Moon Landing to University Entrance Exams, Shinchosha Publishing”. Torikai is only five years older than me, and as someone with an interest in English, I was able to read it with great interest as we had lived through almost the same era. In the book, Torikai also wrote a lot about the English language TV and radio programs she was involved with. I used these programs quite frequently during my years of cramming for university entrance exams and in the first few years after entering medical school, so there were some interesting episodes. I would like to introduce some of these here.

There was an English expert called Mr. Masao Kunihiro who appears in the book a number of times. I think it was around the beginning of the 1970s. He had a half-hour English interview program on commercial TV. At the time, NHK also had several levels of English language TV courses, but these were all taught using skits (short plays) featuring native speakers. However, Kunihiro's program was a dialogue in which he and his interviewees would exchange rapid-fire English almost entirely off the cuff. I think there was probably some degree of prior discussion, but that's the same for Japanese language interview programs too. What I'm trying to say is that this was the first English language TV program of its kind in Japan at the time. At the time, it was not possible to watch English language TV programs like CNN (which didn't even exist yet) in Japanese homes, so I think I watched Kunihiro-san's program religiously.

After entering medical school, I started going to the YMCA English school night classes three times a week, so I started watching Kunihiro-san's program less and less. Instead, I started watching and listening to German and French language courses on both NHK TV and radio. As German and French were my first foreign languages, the NHK language courses were extremely useful for beginners.

There was a popular German guest on the German language course. I was one of his fans and still remember his full name. His name is Michael Munzer. He appeared on both NHK's TV and radio German language courses, which were divided into two sections: a basic course and an advanced course. One day, I was watching a French language course on TV, and to my surprise, Mr. Munzer was also appearing there. He was playing the role of a German tourist who speaks a few words of French in a skit in the French language course. Munzer is truly a force to be reckoned with. By the way, I had one morbid concern related to Munzer. I wondered if he had any personal quirks or errors in his German syntax or pronunciation that he wasn't even aware of, and if so, whether all the Japanese beginners learning German at the time would make the same mistakes. Is that really my morbid obsession? Thank you, Kumiko Torikai, for reminding me of this trivia that no one else in Japan knows about.

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