Amid reflections on Japan’s TV culture and New Year programming, the author contrasts shallow media commentary with the true mastery of individuals who dedicate themselves to a craft. Through the AI recreation of Hibari Misora’s voice and the words of Saichō, the essay explores what constitutes a true “national treasure” in modern Japan.
On the other hand, when I learned in the New Year’s special issue of Shukan Bunshun about the existence of a person who had truly mastered a single art, I felt a deep sense of relief.
2020-01-01
In order to watch the “Hibari Misora” program I had mentioned yesterday, I spent last night watching the Kohaku Uta Gassen while also following Ioka’s world title match.
That program is a New Year’s Eve ritual, something like a festival, so in a sense there is no need to say anything about it.
Even so, as I watched, I found myself wondering whether Japanese music can truly be satisfied with what it has become—its lyrics and its sound.
I felt a growing concern that the level of television is directly reflected in the state of Japanese music.
Except for childhood memories of watching Kohaku with my family around the kotatsu, I hardly listen to Japanese popular songs at all.
Now I listen every day to pianists who represent the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Yesterday, in keeping with the season, I also listened to Beethoven’s Ninth conducted by Karajan and Furtwängler.
The program “Hibari Misora Sings a New Song,” which I mentioned recently, was also to be broadcast on tonight’s Kohaku.
It is an attempt to perfectly recreate Hibari Misora’s singing voice using AI and have her perform a new song titled “Arekara.”
What this attempt makes clear is the excellence of Japanese men and women who devote themselves to their respective callings.
The Yamaha engineers who brilliantly reproduced Hibari’s voice all pointed out that the voice they had perfectly recreated on computers was still different from her real voice.
So they sought cooperation from Professor Shinji Yamada’s laboratory at Kanazawa Institute of Technology to analyze her vocalization.
It turned out that she used a complex vocal technique similar to the traditional singing methods of Mongolian singers.
The other day, when the weather was beautifully clear in the morning, I suddenly felt the urge to go to Mount Hiei for the first time in a while.
As always, I took the route from Hieizan-Sakamoto Station to Cable Sakamoto Station and then up the mountain.
The National Treasure Konpon Chūdō was under restoration, as everyone knows, but it was still open inside.
On the corridor on the way back was a plaque bearing the following words of Saichō.
Sacred teachings of Dengyō Daishi.
What is a national treasure?
Treasure is the spirit of the Way.
Those who possess the spirit of the Way are called national treasures.
To illuminate one corner.
That itself is a national treasure.
All those who participated in the attempt described at the beginning are indeed national treasures.
On the exact opposite side stand those who dominate television news departments and the commentators who appear on wide shows.
They are the opposite of national treasures—the nation’s junk.
Therefore, the only thing they can do is harm the country.
For example, there are many female commentators—their number is the largest in the world.
They receive appearance fees so high that ordinary workers could hardly imagine them.
They read the Asahi Shimbun prepared in their dressing rooms and make comments exactly as program producers intend.
For doing only that, they receive enormous fees.
And yet they comment that women are discriminated against in Japan.
They say Japanese women are unhappy.
They read the Asahi Shimbun prepared in their dressing rooms and comment exactly as intended by program producers.
For doing only that, they receive enormous fees.
One globally famous comedian even remarked that he had “earned 50 billion yen so far.”
It is inconceivable that such people read the monthly magazines I continue to mention.
In other words, they know nothing of the truth and merely deliver shallow political remarks in line with television networks’ intentions.
Why?
Because television networks pay them high appearance fees.
For example, they uncritically denounce Prime Minister Abe over the truly foolish and opposition-aligned criticism of the “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party,” accepting it as unquestionably correct.
People like them are the very embodiment of the saying, “When one general succeeds, the nation perishes.”
Such people receive staggering fees unimaginable to ordinary workers.
Displaying momentary tricks on television is the exact opposite of what Saichō called a national treasure.
On the other hand, when I learned in the New Year’s special issue of Shukan Bunshun about a person who had truly mastered a single art, I felt a deep sense of relief.
It was also the moment I was reminded that he is someone for whom “one art leads to all arts.”
Earlier text omitted.
He suddenly appeared in a suit at a place far from the ballpark on the night of November 26.
He visited the official residence together with Orix president Ryo Inoue and SMBC president Makoto Takashima and dined with Prime Minister Abe.
“In fact, Ichiro is a supporter of Prime Minister Abe.
In a February 2013 interview with Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, he said, ‘I’m wholeheartedly cheering for Prime Minister Abe,’ ‘The flow and results of Abenomics in such a short time are amazing,’ and ‘Let’s all support the Abe administration.’
He had long hoped to meet him someday.
It was during the ‘Cherry Blossom Viewing Party’ controversy, but that night as well he reportedly said, ‘The opposition and the media are terrible. There are many more important issues, such as U.S.-China trade friction.’
Prime Minister Abe was very pleased,” said a political reporter.
Text omitted.