New York Times, Sunday 10th January 1954 (Section 2 page 15)

A YEAR OF TELEVISION IN JAPAN
By RAY FALK, Tokyo

    JAPANESE television programming is about to graduate from its seventeen inch diapers and celebrate its first anniversary of scheduled telecasting. It's a wonderful pot pourri of shabbiness and captivating make-believe, of artistry and $500 musicals, of exciting remotes and slow motion discussion panels, And underlying it all is that perennial Japanese problem: how to fuse the old arts into the new.
    The fat sumo wrestlers did for Japanese TV what the American networks have done for the moan and groan trade. The man mountains of sumo in their circular arena fitted perfectly onto the convex screen. With the referee in ancient costume chanting his weird instructions and with the peanut munching sports fans as a natural backdrop, sumo caused congestion on many a Tokyo thoroughfare as neck-craning crowds overflowed the sidewalks. Watching store window television sets has become the capital's favorite afternoon pastime, drawing sidewalk superintendents and pinball addicts away from their old haunts.
    JOAK-TV, the Tokyo station of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, carries more remotes than any single United States station, covering college rugby, ice hockey, and actual theater performances. Because of its limited studio facilities remotes are preferred. The corporation puts together six hours of programming daily with fifteen cameras in three studios, two of which were converted from radio studios and the other carved out of an office.
    Ted Allegretti, who has worked at JOAK-TV during the last year as an instructor-director, has had some of his Radio City ideas blunted, but he is tolerant enough to realize that traditions should not be tampered with.
    "To me TV here is static, but to the Japanese it isn't. I always want to get in more movement. But what you actually are destroying is a great tradition, a lot older than TV," the former N. B. C. director explained.
    "In the historical drama the director is limited by tradition. The lord must sit here. The woman cannot touch him, To make a change would be as unacceptable as having Jesse James wear a top hat on a train robbery."

Studio Shortage

    JOAK-TV, Japan's first commercial station, specializes in musicals and discussion programs. The first thing that strikes you when the "on the air" sign flashes are the singers and musicians whose lips go through the motions but whose larynx don't project a note. The entire musical from opening bar to closing announcement has been pre-recorded. At air time the cast goes through the motions for the benefit of the camera, synchronizing their lip movements to the recording. This procedure became necessary because of the shortage of studio space.
    At round table discussions of which Japanese editors are so fond, the mike is hidden by the inevitable bowl of flowers. Apparently the purpose is to appear casual, for many a public figure looks downright bored. There are no fiery oral exchanges or sharp questioning. Gentleness and apathy prevail.
    Japanese TV men have a definite sense of inferiority when, asked to make a comparison with American programming. To a great extent Japanese TV is still visual radio; but bigger production budgets and another year of experience should see the new art in long pants.