How Politicians Viewed Television: The Gaze of Takako Doi and Gen Tamura (1970)

How Politicians Viewed Television: The Gaze of Takako Doi and Gen Tamura (1970)

Around 1970, Japan was at the peak of its rapid economic growth, and at the same time, a new "information giant," the television, had risen to the center of people's lives. Color broadcasting became widespread, and the center of family gatherings shifted from the dining room table to the television.

One was Takako Doi. She later became Japan's first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, but at the time she was a member of the Japan Socialist Party's House of Representatives. In the survey, she honestly reveals that she prefers to watch the variety show "11PM," although she says that her viewing time has decreased. She stated, "Because it features my favorite performers" and "Because it fits in with the time I spend at home," revealing the common sense of the people who enjoy the program as "entertainment. On the other hand, he also noted that some TV programs "leave me with the impression of melted soft-serve ice cream," and he did not forget the irony of the quality of the information.

In contrast, Gen Tamura (Liberal Democratic Party, later Speaker of the House of Representatives) is a contrasting figure. He claims that he "hardly has time to watch TV anymore" and distances himself from it, citing his duties as a politician. His lack of viewing habits symbolizes for him not a distance from intellectual and cultural influences, but rather a position that prioritizes the actual reality of politics. Moreover, his style of writing, in which he says, "Even if I did watch it, I don't remember it because I'm in a drunken sleep morass," reveals a certain indifference to and disregard for the media.

The difference in attitude between the two men goes beyond mere personal preference and indicates the difference in distance between politicians and the media. Doi maintained his perspective as "a citizen who is with the TV. Tamura, on the other hand, never lost his perspective as "a nation outside of television.

At the time, television was not only a place for political reporting, but also a vortex of mass entertainment and advertising. Watching television meant being aware of one's "self being projected. Politicians had no choice but to choose their position in this "surveillance" circuit.

In other words, while some, like Doi, blended in and sympathized with television, others, like Tamura, responded with silence and distance. Each view of television was like a mirror reflecting the struggle between popular democracy and the mass media of the time.