ID :
99079
Sat, 01/09/2010 - 21:53
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https://oananews.org//node/99079
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FEATURE: 15 yrs after quake, Kobe radio station still serves foreign community
KOBE, Japan, Jan. 9 Kyodo -
The studio of community station Radio FM YY looks like a miniature version of
the Hyogo western port city of Kobe, home to over 43,000 foreign nationals from
about 120 countries.
''So, how do people in Latin America spend their holidays?'' asks a DJ in
Spanish in one recording booth, and in a booth next door another DJ welcomes a
Thai dancer in Japanese and tells him to introduce himself through simultaneous
interpretation.
The radio station, which broadcasts music, news and other programs in about 10
languages, is based inside a modern-looking church building near the seaside in
Nagata Ward that little reminds visitors of its link to the major earthquake
that hit the prefecture and its vicinity on the morning of Jan. 17, 1995.
The site was an emergency shelter for many foreigners, especially Vietnamese
living in the area, after the magnitude 7.3 quake, known as the Great Hanshin
Earthquake, killed over 6,000 people, injured thousands more and forced many
others into hardships from damaged homes and severed lifelines.
But some foreigners suffered a particular predicament not experienced by many
Japanese in the disaster -- the language barrier.
Roxana Oshiro, the coordinator of Comunidad Latina de Hyogo (Hyogo Latin
Community) who serves as a personality of Radio FM YY's Japanese-Spanish
program ''Salsa Latina,'' still remembers the event 15 years ago vividly.
The quake itself did not harm her or her family directly, but when they
evacuated from their damaged apartment they saw people running on the streets
and heard a police car making what appeared to be an emergency announcement --
but they could not understand it.
Oshiro, a Japanese-Peruvian, came to Japan with her husband in 1991 while she
was in her early 20s, but their Japanese comprehension was still limited. The
only word they picked up in the announcement was ''tsunami,'' and it left them
almost in panic.
''We did not know what to do. The only thing we could do was to follow everyone
around us, blindly,'' Oshiro said in now-fluent Japanese, recalling the
experience that eventually led her to join the radio station.
''It makes a whole lot of difference to have (a radio program) in your own
language, you know,'' Oshiro said.
Her experience was not an uncommon one at the time. The language barrier
effectively prevented non-Japanese speakers from accessing aid information. It
also partially contributed to the rise in some groundless rumors that
foreigners were setting fire or assaulting Japanese.
That was when two radio stations emerged, partially as a defense measure, one
from a group of Koreans and another among volunteers helping Vietnamese people,
which soon united and became Radio FM YY.
The radio stations began airing programs to help non-Japanese speakers get
proper information on aid, and people flocked to station members to ask for
details on how to get it after hearing the radio announcements and also made
requests for information they want to have broadcasted.
In July 1995, the merged radio station was airing programs in Korean,
Vietnamese, Spanish, English, Tagalog and Japanese, and more languages were
added over the years and its contents shifted from disaster information to
cross-cultural materials like music.
Today, over 100 volunteers of different nationalities are involved in running
its operations, which are financed by donations as well as through translation
and interpretation work by its staff.
The radio station has also served as an agent to bring local people including
foreigners and other minorities in the community closer as they have to see
each other and work together frequently to prepare the programs.
''There is great significance in that community radio bridged different people
who previously had no ties and has continued to be an agent for promoting
cross-cultural communications after all these years,'' said Junichi Hibino, the
director of Radio FM YY.
Hibino came to Kobe as a volunteer after seeing on TV news a Vietnamese mother
and a child at an emergency shelter who could not respond to a reporter's
questions. He decided he wanted to help.
Through his work after the quake, the 47-year-old said he witnessed many
moments of reconciliation between Koreans or Vietnamese with Japanese after
talking to each other directly and believes community radio can further promote
such integration of different people.
But Radio FM YY remains a ''special'' radio station in Japan, Hibino lamented,
saying not many radio stations like it emerged after these years due to lack of
public assistance and systematic support.
The plight of another radio station in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, a city
holding a large foreign population like Kobe, was symbolic of the problems.
Hibino said the radio station had been considering establishing multilingual,
cross-cultural programs but failed to realize them until a major earthquake hit
the prefecture in 2004. ''The city faced the same problems we faced,'' he said.
Radio FM YY supported the radio service by providing content it translated in
multiple languages and was honored for its help. But the experience left Hibino
almost furious as it showed that the necessity of such multilingual community
radio had not been understood by people even after the Kobe quake.
''It would be sad if it requires another earthquake for a radio station like
ours to emerge,'' he said.
The radio station has extended its support to other disaster-hit countries and
areas, such as Indonesia, Peru and Taiwan, providing broadcasting equipment
bought with donations and sharing knowledge on how to operate a community radio
station and the role it should play.
Community radio stations play crucial roles at the time of disasters, and they
are also a key to tuning into the voices of minorities and delivering them to
other listeners.
The number of foreign nationals in Kobe dropped over a thousand in a year after
the 1995 quake, from 44,205 to 42,947, but it regained the initial level by
2002.
Noting the rise in the number of immigrants, Hibino cautioned that troubles
between different foreign nationalities will continue to rise, and while a
support system has been organized after the quake, such ''support will be just
support.''
''We are now at a state to create a place that allows everyone to share their
cultures and live their lives without hesitation,'' Hibino said.
==Kyodo
The studio of community station Radio FM YY looks like a miniature version of
the Hyogo western port city of Kobe, home to over 43,000 foreign nationals from
about 120 countries.
''So, how do people in Latin America spend their holidays?'' asks a DJ in
Spanish in one recording booth, and in a booth next door another DJ welcomes a
Thai dancer in Japanese and tells him to introduce himself through simultaneous
interpretation.
The radio station, which broadcasts music, news and other programs in about 10
languages, is based inside a modern-looking church building near the seaside in
Nagata Ward that little reminds visitors of its link to the major earthquake
that hit the prefecture and its vicinity on the morning of Jan. 17, 1995.
The site was an emergency shelter for many foreigners, especially Vietnamese
living in the area, after the magnitude 7.3 quake, known as the Great Hanshin
Earthquake, killed over 6,000 people, injured thousands more and forced many
others into hardships from damaged homes and severed lifelines.
But some foreigners suffered a particular predicament not experienced by many
Japanese in the disaster -- the language barrier.
Roxana Oshiro, the coordinator of Comunidad Latina de Hyogo (Hyogo Latin
Community) who serves as a personality of Radio FM YY's Japanese-Spanish
program ''Salsa Latina,'' still remembers the event 15 years ago vividly.
The quake itself did not harm her or her family directly, but when they
evacuated from their damaged apartment they saw people running on the streets
and heard a police car making what appeared to be an emergency announcement --
but they could not understand it.
Oshiro, a Japanese-Peruvian, came to Japan with her husband in 1991 while she
was in her early 20s, but their Japanese comprehension was still limited. The
only word they picked up in the announcement was ''tsunami,'' and it left them
almost in panic.
''We did not know what to do. The only thing we could do was to follow everyone
around us, blindly,'' Oshiro said in now-fluent Japanese, recalling the
experience that eventually led her to join the radio station.
''It makes a whole lot of difference to have (a radio program) in your own
language, you know,'' Oshiro said.
Her experience was not an uncommon one at the time. The language barrier
effectively prevented non-Japanese speakers from accessing aid information. It
also partially contributed to the rise in some groundless rumors that
foreigners were setting fire or assaulting Japanese.
That was when two radio stations emerged, partially as a defense measure, one
from a group of Koreans and another among volunteers helping Vietnamese people,
which soon united and became Radio FM YY.
The radio stations began airing programs to help non-Japanese speakers get
proper information on aid, and people flocked to station members to ask for
details on how to get it after hearing the radio announcements and also made
requests for information they want to have broadcasted.
In July 1995, the merged radio station was airing programs in Korean,
Vietnamese, Spanish, English, Tagalog and Japanese, and more languages were
added over the years and its contents shifted from disaster information to
cross-cultural materials like music.
Today, over 100 volunteers of different nationalities are involved in running
its operations, which are financed by donations as well as through translation
and interpretation work by its staff.
The radio station has also served as an agent to bring local people including
foreigners and other minorities in the community closer as they have to see
each other and work together frequently to prepare the programs.
''There is great significance in that community radio bridged different people
who previously had no ties and has continued to be an agent for promoting
cross-cultural communications after all these years,'' said Junichi Hibino, the
director of Radio FM YY.
Hibino came to Kobe as a volunteer after seeing on TV news a Vietnamese mother
and a child at an emergency shelter who could not respond to a reporter's
questions. He decided he wanted to help.
Through his work after the quake, the 47-year-old said he witnessed many
moments of reconciliation between Koreans or Vietnamese with Japanese after
talking to each other directly and believes community radio can further promote
such integration of different people.
But Radio FM YY remains a ''special'' radio station in Japan, Hibino lamented,
saying not many radio stations like it emerged after these years due to lack of
public assistance and systematic support.
The plight of another radio station in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, a city
holding a large foreign population like Kobe, was symbolic of the problems.
Hibino said the radio station had been considering establishing multilingual,
cross-cultural programs but failed to realize them until a major earthquake hit
the prefecture in 2004. ''The city faced the same problems we faced,'' he said.
Radio FM YY supported the radio service by providing content it translated in
multiple languages and was honored for its help. But the experience left Hibino
almost furious as it showed that the necessity of such multilingual community
radio had not been understood by people even after the Kobe quake.
''It would be sad if it requires another earthquake for a radio station like
ours to emerge,'' he said.
The radio station has extended its support to other disaster-hit countries and
areas, such as Indonesia, Peru and Taiwan, providing broadcasting equipment
bought with donations and sharing knowledge on how to operate a community radio
station and the role it should play.
Community radio stations play crucial roles at the time of disasters, and they
are also a key to tuning into the voices of minorities and delivering them to
other listeners.
The number of foreign nationals in Kobe dropped over a thousand in a year after
the 1995 quake, from 44,205 to 42,947, but it regained the initial level by
2002.
Noting the rise in the number of immigrants, Hibino cautioned that troubles
between different foreign nationalities will continue to rise, and while a
support system has been organized after the quake, such ''support will be just
support.''
''We are now at a state to create a place that allows everyone to share their
cultures and live their lives without hesitation,'' Hibino said.
==Kyodo
