Technology, Aural Culture, Language and Nation-Building

摘要

David Harris appraises an unusual radio title, which examines the phenomena of modernity, audio culture, state control and international relations in late 19th Century and early 20th Century Japan.Electrified Voices is a well-researched book, which looks at the early days of Japan's telecommunications, recording, radio and film industry. The author is a cultural historian, and his key argument here is that recorded, or transmitted sound was as transformative as any aspect of visual culture.Japan is a country associated with the electronics industry and has produced many famous firms, including Akai, AOR, Hitachi, Icom, JRC, Kenwood, Panasonic, Sony and Yaesu. With some earlier exceptions, Japan was a closed country until the middle of the 19th Century when first trading contacts with the West were established. The introductory chapter is densely written, and the author lays out his analytic framework. He provides some useful information about how the Japanese language was not unified, in either the spoken or written form, until the 19th Century. This turned out to be a crucial element in building a nation.