Report of 1st Research Meeting of Research Approach (4) of 2012

Date: 5th July 2012

Time: 18:30-20:40

Venue: Hosei University Ichigaya Campus, ’58 Building 2F Research Center for International Japanese Studies Seminar Room

Speaker: Shelley Brunt (Lecturer, School of Media and Communication, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)

Theme: ‘Let’s Connect Through Songs’: Performing the Nation in NHK’s Kouhaku Utagassen
(Important Notice: Official Language of this research meeting is English and translated to Japanese)

Translator: Pat Savage (Tokyo University of the Arts)

Chair: Shin Abiko (Director, Hosei University Research Center for International Japanese Studies; Professor, Hosei University)

Executive Summary
With its extravagant stage designs, exquisite costumes, and blizzards of paper snow, Kouhaku remains a highlight on Japan’s popular music calendar. While the theatricality of the televised song contest is memorable, the most captivating aspect is the depiction of unity between the competing teams—a far cry from a ruthless battle between rivals. This presentation examines the strategies employed by the broadcaster, NHK, to construct the program as an intimate occasion where the singers, and Japan, come together to remember a shared musical past and, to quote the theme of the 60th Kouhaku (2009), ‘connect through songs’ (歌でつなごう). I adopt a historical perspective of this contest by drawing from first-hand fieldwork undertaken over 10 years, and analyze archival footage of key performers including Misora Hibari (美空 ひばり) and Jero (ジェロ). In doing so, I argue that the construction of ‘nation’ begins with the depiction of the teams as an amicable ‘performing community’ which unites for one night. Ultimately, this study reveals Kouhaku’s intended function as an invented tradition (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983) that transmits patterns of culture (Shils 1981) between past and future generations.