2011 Volume 79 Pages 85-108
The aim of this article is to examine the case of the FMYY community radio station located in the multi-ethnic community of Nagata ward of Kobe city and to understand the role that ethnic media plays in Japanese society. Nagata ward was one of the worst hit areas during the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of 1995. In addition, Nagata is home to many ethnic minority groups, including Korean residents, Vietnamese refugees and Hispanic migrant workers, and it is a major multi-ethnic community in Japan. In the aftermath of the earthquake, FMYY was established as an unlicensed radio station by members of the Korean community with the purpose of meeting the critical information needs of survivors in the ethnic community. Presently, FMYY is a multilingual-multicultural community radio station broadcasting in 10 different languages. Initially, FMYY was median ethnic radio station controlled by members of the Korean community. However, after encountering some problems regarding management, the leadership of the radio station shifted towards Japanese activists who strengthened FMYY's multilingual information services to target the wider passive audience of the ethnic-minority community. The main reason for this shift in leadership is that, under Japanese law, foreign residents are restricted from participating in the management of broadcasting media. As a result, community media does not reflect the diverse composition of the multi-ethnic community. As the multicultural and multi-ethnic characteristics of Japanese society continue to strengthen, so too does the need for urgent reform to enable ethnically and culturally diverse members of society to better participate in the management of community media.
