Frank Shozo Baba

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Frank Shōzō Baba (フランク 正三 馬場, January 3, 1915 – January 16, 2008) was a

When he was six months old, Frank Shozo was sent to his mother Kiyo's hometown in Ayauta District, Kagawa, Japan. There he was raised and educated until the age of twelve, when he returned to California. Baba studied at Oakland Technical High School and graduated from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He also self-studied Japanese literature and competed in Japanese speech competitions. He lost his job after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, along with many other Japanese-Americans. His parents were confined to the Gila River War Relocation Center, and his father Tamotsu died there. The parents of his wife Fumie were assigned to Heart Mountain Relocation Center.

World War II

After World War II began, the

Immediately you ought to cease the war

You are out-maneuvered by militaristic power, and led in the wrong way.

Baba made appeals such as these in Japanese, and worked for the VOA for three years. His program was titled "Japan versus Japan", and implicated that "Japanese citizen versus militaristic power or government", or that the government was leading Japan in the wrong direction.

When Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration and agreed on the Surrender of Japan, he explained, in plain language, what this meant for ordinary Japanese citizens. When Nazi Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, Baba was able to broadcast in Japanese, after seeing the incoming telex message. This was the first voiced information to the world, with translations for other languages taking 30 minutes.

Post-war

Baba was assigned to the

In spite of GHQ planning, the Japanese government, ministry and NHK resisted strongly. Baba persuaded newspapers, advertising agencies and parts of the private sector to be in support of the plan for commercial broadcasting. At the end of 1949, GHQ grew tired of waiting for the promotion of commercial broadcasting by Japan, and, finally, GHQ was able to get a letter from Douglas MacArthur to Shigeru Yoshida.

There were 74 applications for commercial broadcasting, and 18 stations were approved by the end of 1951. The first commercial stations, Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting and Mainichi Broadcasting System, opened on September 1, 1951, and four more stations opened by the time Baba returned to California for VOA in February 1952.

The Strategic Bombing Survey team left Japan after 2 months of surveying. Baba, however, was recruited by the Japanese broadcasting industry to stay in Japan until the VOA had repeatedly urged him to come back to VOA. He worked for VOA a second time, until returning to Japan for a third time in 1961, assigned to the

He was in Tokyo right after the 1964 Summer Olympics of Tokyo. He worked for the VOA for a third time, as the chief of Japanese Service until finishing a Japanese-language program. Baba's final message was on February 28, 1970. VOA judged that Japan was well-informed enough of the world without VOA in Japanese language.

Other topics

• He took care of Japanese journalists in Washington, D.C. during work for VOA the second and third time, such as arranging translator/interpreter, and took appointment with politicians, bureaucrats or others.
• After VOA ended the Japanese language program with his Sayonara, he moved to United States Information Agency.
• He arranged and was present when John F. Kennedy met NHK vice CEO in the White House on March 25, 1961.
• He received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class (Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon), in 1986. His mother was very delighted with it, at the age of 100.
• At the age of 80, Japanese journalists, who had been taken care of by him earlier in Washington, D.C., celebrated his birthday with his wife in a hotel in Tokyo in 1995. Many people attended and thanked him for his past hospitality. Attendees included: Masaru Ibuka, Tsuneo Watanabe, Tetsuya Chikushi, Nobuhiko Shima and many former foreign correspondents in Washington, D.C.
• He moved to Alhambra, California, after retirement, where his son in law had an apartment business, in 1997.

See also

• Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers
• United States Office of War Information
• Voice of America

References

• Written by Kiyoshi Ishii (石井清司, Ishii Kiyoshi)"日本の放送をつくった男 - フランク馬場物語- lit. Man who made Japanese broadcasting - Frank Baba story" publisher:
  ISBN 4-620-31247-9