When the tape was over she asked me, “Well, what do you think?”
“I think you did a great job. That’ll be a good introduction to the interview.”
“Are you nervous about the interview?”
“A little bit. I’ve never been on TV before, much less live TV.”
“Would you like some hints?” Junko asked.
“I’d love some hints.”
“Well, before the show you’ll be taken to makeup. A lot of people feel foolish having makeup put on them, but just relax and let the technicians do their job.”
“What happens after I’m beautiful?”
She smiled. “Then you’ll wait for your interview. It might seem forever, but the interviews are only a few minutes long, and Nagahara-san and Yukiko-chan will actually fill up a lot of that time just chatting between themselves and reacting to things you say. I’ll be translating from Japanese to English and you’ll have an earpiece so you can hear me. Buzz Sugimoto will translate your answers from English to Japanese.
“Sugimoto-san is doing the translation from English to Japanese so that viewers will hear a man’s voice when you speak. I’m actually a much better translator,” she said proudly, “but viewers sometimes find it jarring when they hear a woman’s voice when a man is speaking.
“When you get on the set, sit on the edge of your chair and lean forward slightly. That comes across on camera like you’re alert and full of energy. Also turn your body about fifteen degrees so your head is at a slight angle to your shoulders. That also looks much better on camera. Smile and relax and just try to be natural. Television is a very intimate medium, and if you just talk to Nagahara-san and Yukiko-chan the way you talk to me, you’ll come across great.
“On News Pop we don’t practice any of the Sixty Minutes-style journalism and we won’t ask you embarrassing questions. Nagahara-san and Yukiko-chan have some scripted questions that they use to kick off the interview. I’ll give you a copy of those in English so you can formulate some answers, but try to answer them as naturally as possible on camera. Don’t work out a speech or anything.
“Nagahara-san will take the lead after the first few questions. I know he looks like an old fuddy-duddy, but he’s actually an excellent journalist. He started his career right after the Korean War and did a lot of coverage of the Vietnam War for Japanese television. He’s an old pro and if you get in any sort of trouble he’ll be able to step in and carry you until the end of the interview. I know you’ll do a great job on tonight’s show. There was quite a bit of interest in Japan about the case you were involved in and this new material you’ve given me on the Toyotomi blades is also very interesting. Remember, just talk to them like you talk to me and the results will be fantastic.”
With that pep talk Junko left me to watch TV or read until it was time to go into makeup. They took me to makeup, and even though I did feel foolish wearing it, I took Junko’s advice and tried to relax. After makeup they put me in the greenroom (which in this case was light blue) where you wait to appear on the TV show. There were only two segments on the show, and I was to be the last segment. Mariko was waiting for me in the greenroom, and I stopped her before she could give me a kiss of greeting.
“You’ll mess up my makeup,” I told her.
“You haven’t even been on TV yet and you’re already turning into a temperamental star.”
Junko had told me that the first segment was on a housewife from Osaka who had organized a group of other housewives to stop fraud from door-to-door vendors. She, her daughter, and her husband were also in the greenroom with me. They were all polite when I came in, but since they didn’t speak any English and we didn’t speak any Japanese, we really couldn’t have any conversation.
It seemed like the time just crawled until the News Pop show started. Right before the start of the show, the housewife was taken from the greenroom to the set. Her husband and daughter waved good-bye to her like she was being taken off to be shipped to a penal colony on Mars.
The opening credits of News Pop are computer graphics that take a fireworks display and swirl the exploding bursts until they form a couple of kanji that I assume mean News Pop. The kanji dissolve and reform over a map of the world. The segment on the Osaka housewife started with a video clip just as mine would and then they cut to the live interview.
I can’t say I understood what the story of the Osaka housewife was all about. Mariko was as baffled as me. It had something to do with very aggressive street vendors who apparently sell Japanese futons, or quilts, door-to-door. It showed a clip of some kind of scientific lab taking a futon apart and measuring it and its contents, so I guess maybe people were being swindled and not getting the quality of quilt they thought they were buying.
The housewife was not very lively during the interview. She sat at the desk with her hands folded demurely in her lap answering the questions with a hai, or yes, and occasionally giggling and putting her hands up to her mouth when Nagahara-san or Yukiko-chan cracked some kind of joke. It didn’t seem like much of a performance to me, but her husband and child seemed delighted. They were understandably glued to the television set in the greenroom, laughing when a joke was made and even clapping their hands together in a sort of applause to her hai’s, as if they were the most eloquent statements in the world.
It’s great to have support and I appreciated Mariko being there. With the simultaneous translation, however, Mariko wouldn’t understand my interview. I’d be opening my mouth but Sugimoto’s voice speaking Japanese would be what was broadcast.
I was pretty nervous when it was my time to go on the show. An aide came to get me out of the greenroom, and Mariko blew me a kiss. The show was in the midst of a commercial and Nagahara-san and Yukiko-chan both bowed politely as I sat down in my seat. I sort of dipped my head. The whole question of bowing is a really involved one, with all sorts of rules about how far you bow, who bows first, and what all the different kinds of bows mean. I realized that the three of us sitting at the desk looked Japanese, but with me the Japanese veneer was literally only skin deep and there were all sorts of things I didn’t know.
The sword I’d brought with me was put on the counter in front of me as a prop. I took a look at it and it looked great. The handle had been rewrapped with glossy black silk cords.
Technicians hooked me up with a mike to my lapel and fitted an earpiece to my left ear, which would be away from the camera. As soon as the piece was in my ear I heard Junko’s voice.
“Are you nervous? Just nod ‘cause they’re not ready to do a sound check on your mike yet.”
I nodded the affirmative.
“Well you look good,” she said in my earpiece. “You shouldn’t be too nervous. You know what questions they’re going to start with, but I want you to know that I did talk to Nagahara-san about all the information you’ve dug up on the Toyotomi blades and he’s very interested in it. It’s likely that he’ll ask you some questions about it. He’s an old-time newshound, and if he senses a story he’s always interested in pursuing it.”
There was a pause, and Junko said, “Why don’t you say something to me so we can get a sound check.”
“Do you think he’ll ask many questions about the Toyotomi blades?”
“I don’t know. We’re doing live interviews and one of the exciting things about live interviews is you can’t predict what will happen. Why don’t you say something else because we want to double check the sound levels.”
“Okay. Testing one, two, three. Testing.”
“Not very original.”
“Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York.”
“Still not original, but certainly classy.”
Yukiko-chan, who evidently spoke some English, looked at me a little surprised and said, “Shakespeare.”