The Star

The Allied Occupation of Japan - Part III

In 1946, Japan’s national broadcaster NHK paid a visit to Yokohama. Keen to put the new spirit of democracy into the production of radio programmes, they had put together a competitive singing competition - the Pop Idol of its day, basically - called ‘Proud of my Voice’ (nodo jiman).

Lining up to take part was one Misora Hibari, not yet ten years of age.

During the war her father, a fishmonger, had taken her to listen to the latest records in their local music shop. Foreign musical influences were steadily being erased from Japanese record shops and radio at the time, but the Japanese ryūkōka - ‘popular songs’ - that remained were an international blend in their own right. American jazz, chansons, tango, rumba and Hawaiian music all entered Japan via ocean-liner bands performing in port cities and then leaving recorded and sheet music behind.

By around the age of five, Misora was staging mini song and dance performances at home. She would make family and friends sit down on one side of some fusama (sliding partition doors) and then open them with a dramatic swish, smiling around benignly at her audience before breaking into song.

When her father returned from the war, he formed the ‘Star Misora Band’ as a backing group for his talented little daughter. The name Misora, meaning ‘beautiful sky,’ was chosen for her as a stage name by her mother, Kimie.

NHK was Misora’s big break. Already an accomplished performer, there was no doubt that she would win the competition, thanks to a rendition of Ringo no Uta - ‘Apple Song’. The main tune from a recent hit film, it was a guaranteed tear-jerker. Radio gold.

And yet when Misora began to sing, something strange happened. Her first two verses were greeted with an ominous silence. Then all of a sudden the radio announcer broke in and asked her to stop.

What had gone wrong?

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