The radio was the window to the world.

Qualia Journal

 

When I was about 10 years old I started to listen to Radio Moscow and The Far East Network (FEN).

 

Radio Moscow was broadcast from the Soviet Union, delivered in Japanese, by people who were presumably living in Moscow. It was of course a propaganda machine. I understood that as a child. However, I did enjoy the broadcast from curiosity, feeling like I was getting a glimpse of a far and strange world. I was also fascinated by these Japanese people who ended up in Moscow at that time. I imagined how their lives are like.

 

The FEN was broadcast by the American Forces in Japan. It was mainly pop and rock, with occasional news bulletins. I was particularly fond of Paul Harvey's The Rest of The Story. I was overjoyed when I happened to come across an episode while listening to FEN. I enjoyed the story, and waited for the punchline now you know the rest of the story.

 

When I think about it, as I started to learn English at the age of 12, I must have taken several years to understand what The Rest of The Story was all about. Before understanding I simply listened to it as a sound of spoken music.

 

In those days, the radio was the window to the world.