VIEWPOINT: Happy Broadcast Day!

Happy Broadcast Day!

Yes, today is Broadcast Day. It marks the day in 1925 when the Tokyo Central Broadcasting Corporation (NHK's predecessor) began broadcasting from a temporary radio studio in Shibaura, Tokyo. Broadcast Day was established by NHK in 1943. On March 22 NHK awards the 'Broadcast Culture Prize' at NHK Hall.

Can't make it to NHK Hall? Well, tomorrow visit a department store and contemplate a mannequin. The 24th is Mannequin Day, marking the mannequin's Japanese debut at an industrial promotion fair in Ueno Park in 1928.

Too busy to go out? Then gaze at the light above your head on the 25th. On this day in 1878 fifty arc lamps flared on at a celebration marking the opening of the Central Telegraph Station at Ginza Kobikcho. These were Japan's first electrical lights. In 1927 the Japan Electric Association declared March 25 Electricity Day.

The Japanese calendar is dyed in red-letter days. Not all have roots in historical events. Some days are selected from word play.

Take, for example, Jazz Day. It is January 22 because that month and the word jazz share two initial letters and 'zz' looks like '22.'

Then there are those days resulting from neither a pun nor historical event.

This past Tuesday was LP Record Day and also Electric Calculator Day. The LP and calculator were both products for daily life made with the latest technology and later superseded by devices bundling their functions. The first LP pressed in Japan reached stores on March 20, 1951, and the long-playing record was eventually replaced by the compact disc, which debuted in Japan in October 1982.

Calculator Day was declared by a trade group in 1974 to mark Japan's ascension to the summit of the product's manufacturer. Today, because all electric devices with keys and a display have computation ability, there is no way to come up with a total figure for calculators.

The hellacious war of the calculators, in which companies continually released new products and slashed prices in a last ditch effort, is now a favorite tale of economic profs and others hoping to instill the dark moral of a price war. When the CD debuted, there were as many as 70,000 different kinds of LPs in Japan. These were swept aside at lightning speed, and now distribution over the Internet is poised as the LP's avenging agent.

The 'Nikkei Shimbun,' Japan's largest financial daily, contacted relevant companies and trade groups to confirm the origins of LDP Record Day and Calculator Day. 'According to our company history, our first LPs when on sale on March 21,' said one spokesperson. As for Calculator Day, 'people in the industry created the memorial day after deciding among themselves Japan was the global leader in calculator production.' There is no way they could know the day Japan became global leader. Dubious assertions acquired the cachet of historical fact.

Anyone for creating Truth Day?

March 27th is Cherry Blossom Day, established by the Japan Sakura Association in 1992. The 27th is a nice conjunction of pun and cultural association. 'Sa' of 'sakura' suggests 'sa' of 'san' (three) and likewise ku 'ku' (nine). Their multiple is 27, when the cherry blossoms look their best, leastways in the Kanto Region. On this day the Japan Sakura Association plants cherry trees in school grounds.

You can skip Silk Road Day (the 28th) and forget Spherical Moss Day (the 29th). But do get out on the 27th. The bloom will ravage you.

-- Burritt Sabin editors@japaninc.com