著者

太田 美奈子

出版者

日本マス・コミュニケーション学会

雑誌

マス・コミュニケーション研究 (ISSN:13411306)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.92, pp.165-182, 2018

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<p>This paper examines the reception of early television in rural Japan through</p><p>Sai village in the Aomori prefecture. While the first television station in Aomori</p><p>was founded in 1959, most Aomori residents had previously accessed the television</p><p>signal from NHK Hakodate( Hokkaido), established in 1957. The small fishing</p><p>village, Sai village, had the highest television penetration rate in Aomori at</p><p>that time and was known as a 'TV village'. Why did the people of Sai village</p><p>want television? What effect did this desire have? This paper aims to answer</p><p>these questions by tracing the evolution from the first arrival of television in</p><p>Sai village in 1957 to the wide spread availability of television in Aomori in</p><p>1959.</p><p> Interviews and archival documents show that educational motivations, and</p><p>specifically the desire to show the outside world to the children, were funda</p><p>mental to their choices. Through television education in school, the children's</p><p>education flourished and developed into television reception that went beyond</p><p>educational purposes. Matsunoyama village in Niigata prefecture also had a</p><p>similar television reception as Sai village. Sai village represents a key point of</p><p>reference for television reception in rural Japan in that its remoteness preserved</p><p>television's function as an educational visual aid. This paper goes beyond</p><p>the urban-centred narratives about early television reception by accounting for</p><p>the fact that villagers saw a potential for television beyond leisure in education,</p><p>and by exploring how the affirmation of television as leisure also opened up</p><p>children to outside worlds.</p><p> The children's reactions were in line with a McLuhan-esque view of television</p><p>and what happened in Sai village points to the key potentials of television.</p><p>This paper shows how rural areas had a rich television reception during the</p><p>early days of television. In addition, this paper represents the first steps</p><p>towards understanding an era in which television reception forms were still</p><p>mixed.</p>