A Tokyo Murder Radio Play

[Mulboyne]

BBC Radio 4 will be airing a play over three days called "A Tokyo Murder", starting on Tuesday. On the website, the plot descriptions of three parts are as follows:

Detective Inspector Julie Hill is sent to Tokyo to investigate the disappearance of British teacher Daisy Whitelock. Working with the Tokyo police, who are reluctant to have a foreign officer interfering with the case, she has to overcome cultural and bureaucratic obstacles as she attempts to untangle what really happened at the foreign language school where Daisy taught.

Daisy Whitelock arrives in Tokyo to teach English at a foreign language school. Her desire to explore beneath the surface of Japanese society leads her to shun the companionship of the other expat teachers in her shared apartment and exposes her to the terrifying reality of a disturbed mind.

Jennifer and Peter Whitelock arrive in Japan to help find their daughter’s murderer. Frustrated with the progress of the police investigation, Peter puts his trust in TV producer Norio Ito, who promises to champion their cause on his popular "news and entertainment" show, while Jennifer tries to discover what her daughter’s life in Tokyo was like. Then she starts getting calls from a man claiming to be the killer

It might be interesting, although if you aren't in the habit of listening to radio plays, then the format could be off-putting. Some BBC radio broadcasts are restricted to the UK but the Afternoon Play is usually available worldwide. The link above ought to let you listen live or at a time of your choosing for a week after the broadcast. Of course, it could be terrible and not worth the effort but I'll probably give it a go.

[Taro Toporific]

Originally Posted by Mulboyne

BBC Radio 4 will be airing a play over three days called "A Tokyo Murder", starting on Tuesday. On the website.
... the Afternoon Play is usually available worldwide. The link above ought to let you listen live or at a time of your choosing for a week after the broadcast....

Hey thanks!

All the other segments of "THE AFTERNOON PLAY" play for me here in Japan just fine (even on a Mac).
I will just wait until Thursday when all three parts will be available on the BBC website (programs are available for seven days after broadcast) to listen to them.

Checking around many of the BCC Radio resources are available in Japan such as "BOOK OF THE WEEK".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/book_week.shtml


As an aside....
Finding affordable (free) audio books in Japan has always been pain. I have listened to almost everything of value on http://librivox.org/ and audio text on the Internet Archive Commuting 2 hours a day with my iPod really burns up material---especially since I have already have read (and taught) a lot of the classics.


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[Mulboyne]

Originally Posted by Taro Toporific

Checking around many of the BBC Radio resources are available in Japan such as "BOOK OF THE WEEK".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/book_week.shtml

The BBC radio stations also make some material, rarely any drama productions, available as podcasts. Some programmes which do have podcasts but are not currently broadcasting also to be available longer term in the archive in streaming format. "In Our Time" has dozens of 45-minute programmes in its archives, many of which are fascinating. Oddly, such material is available through the BBC radio sites but often not through the popular iplayer.

[Mulboyne]

I listened to the first part and it's coming across like a radio version of "Black Rain". The British detective goes out to investigate a missing persons case but her Tokyo contacts just want to take her to Nikko rather than let her get involved in the investigation. It's interesting to see what kind of Japan the writers depict. We've already had maid cafes and dutch wives popping up in the dialogue.

[Mulboyne]

I just listened to the second part today. There's quite a large Japanese cast and it turns out that the play was recorded on location in Tokyo. For instance, they used Phoenix English school in Shinjuku for the eikaiwa scenes and some pictures of the production via that link show them recording in Roppongi and Yoyogi Park. It is clearly inspired by the the Lindsay Ann Hawker case and, without hearing the concluding part, I think I can say it's worth a listen if you find the time.

[Mulboyne]

The third part just played today. The play doesn't follow a linear narrative. Instead, we get a look at the situation from the perspective of a visiting detective, the victim herself and the victim's parents. The situation closely resembles the Hawker case while the tense relationship between the parents mirrors that between Lucie Blackman's parents. This was the weakest part as the play began to throw plausibility out the window. The parents are manipulated by a news and variety show which would just never happen. You won't come away with any emotional insights but, overall, the play is interesting for the way it chooses to depict Japan and the foreigner experience.

[Taro Toporific]

Originally Posted by Mulboyne

... We've already had maid cafes and dutch wives popping up in the dialogue...
...overall, the play is interesting for the way it chooses to depict Japan and the foreigner experience.

I would say its rather "Orientalist", especially in the drama's ending music* and choice of the overly-cute Japanese announcer.

Listen to the last 10 seconds of the dialogue of Part 1 and 30 seconds of the closing credits with "Asian"* music.

*Asian-esque gamelan style music in not Japanese any more than
Turkish belly dancing music sounds like Irish folk songs.

__________________________________

I made an old-school cassette recording of the entire 3-part radio drama which you can listen here-->

[Mulboyne]

Here's a 90 minute radio version of "You Only Live Twice", the James Bond story set in Japan.

[Taro Toporific]

Originally Posted by Mulboyne

Here's a 90 minute radio version of "You Only Live Twice", the James Bond story set in Japan.

"You only live twice:
Once when you're born
And once when you look death in the face."

--after Basho

(Epigraph explained)

[Mulboyne]

Here's another play with a Japanese theme. It's slightly odd to hear Japanese characters with Scottish accents but it isn't too bad.

Julia Dover's adaptation of a short story by Yasutaka Tsutsui, set in modern-day Japan. Cantankerous novelist Haruki, the world's last smoker, is hounded to a fate worse than death by do-gooders and self-righteous journalists, as they try to eradicate smoking once and for all.

Haruki ...... John Byrne
Haruki's wife ...... Eileen McCallum
Yumi ...... Madeleine Worrall
Kuskabe ...... Stewart Conn
Doctor on the train ...... Madeleine Brolly

Translated by Andrew Driver
Directed by Matt Thompson.

The play runs for 45 minutes and you can listen to it here. There's alsoa recent interview with the author here.