You have been spreading culture across the globe. And as the main presenter of NHK World’s “Japanology Plus,” you’ve touched on many themes, but what kind of reaction did you receive from international viewers?
Well, it’s called “Japanology Plus” now. It started originally in 2003, and it was called “Weekend Japanology.” That was for about four years, I think. And then it was “Begin Japanology,” and that went on for something like seven years…and then it switched again to “Japanology Plus.” So the format has changed a couple of times. We’ve done so many shows over 18 years.
For the first several years, I don’t think there was much reaction. Probably, people didn’t realize this program was on, unfortunately, because a lot of the reports were actually very good.
And then at some point, probably because people around the world were starting to get interested in Japan through manga and anime, I think people were going on the internet and just doing a search on Japan. And then these little videos of “Japanology” would come up by chance. They’d see one, and if they liked it, they’d see another and another and another. And gradually, I sensed that we were getting a kind of following because I would get either emails or messages through social media to me directly saying that people enjoyed the program.
You wrote in a book that you’re sometimes approached by strangers outside Japan, saying that they watched your program on TV.
Yes. I think the first time it happened was probably when my son was graduating from university. He was in Portland, Oregon, on the West Coast of the US, and we’d gone for his graduation ceremony. And I was just walking along the street in Portland, and two young…I was going say boys-they must have been high school students, I suppose-were coming the other way. And they kind of did a double take and said, “Are you Peter Barakan?” And I said, “Yes, I am. But how did you know?” And they said, our teacher shows us ‘Japanology’ videos in school because we’re learning Japanese, and we really like your show.” So that was, you know, obviously very pleasant to have that said to you.
