Tokyo in Television Documentaries : Programs in the 1950s to 1960s

Abstract

The majority of research on television in Japan has concentrated on its influence and effect as a medium. There has been little research about content ; i.e., the television programs themselves. This research demonstrates the potential of studies into television utilizing television archives. Through extensive use of the NHK archives, it focuses on the way television, especially documentary programs from the 1950s to 1960s, have portrayed Tokyo as an urban space. The transformation of these images of Tokyo from the 1950s to 1960s is demonstrated through an analysis of the content of television programs and their context. The television documentaries of the late 1950s portrayed Tokyo as an urban space of the lower classes. The first television documentary series, entitled Nihon no Sugao [The Real Japan] (1957-64), presented images of Tokyo from the viewpoint of the lower classes. In other words, this series featured the lives of people living in the outskirts of Tokyo, portraying them in a condescending way. In the early 1960's, the images of Tokyo in documentary programs underwent a great transformation, as these programs began to take on the character of public relations. The reason for this change was that the 1964 Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo and its image needed to be clean and orderly so as to portray Tokyo as a city ready to host the Olympic Games. Thus, following the announcement of the decision to hold the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the images of Tokyo began to shift from internally oriented to externally oriented ones and images of Tokyo as an urban space of the lower classes were excluded. The analysis of archival television images of Tokyo from the 1950s to 1960s reveals the historical context by whether or not the images portray the city from the viewpoint of the lower classes.