I met Peter Barakan!

Today I went for a cuppa in Shibuya with Tokyo-based broadcaster, Peter Barakan. Peter is probably best known locally for his radio show, Barakan Beat on InterFM (http://www.interfm.co.jp/barakanbeat/) which showcases the best of roots and world music, but he has gained fans around the world as the presenter of the delightful NHK World TV programmes, 'Begin Japanology' and 'Japanology Plus'.

Actually, this meeting was especially exciting for me, as it was thanks to watching Peter's shows semi-obsessively over the past six months or so that the idea of travelling to Japan first began to form in my mind last autumn! As a side note, I would highly recommend that anyone with even the slightest interest in Japanese culture and society should check out the Japanology series which is available in large part on YouTube. Just to get you started, here is a clip of Peter in action, talking about the popularity of radio calisthenics in Japan (SPOILER: there will be more on this to follow!).

Anyway, being something of a shameless fan-girl, I emailed Peter before I arrived in Tokyo to tell him about my project on morris dancing in Japan...you know, just in case he might be interested! Although he wasn't aware of any morris dancing teams, he commented that, 'there are groups of people in this country with encyclopedic knowledge on just about anything you can think of'. This is certainly my experience to date, and for the record, it is FANTASTIC!

Our conversation—over coffee and ginger tea—was wide-ranging and included (but was not limited to!); SOAS (we both studied there), hand towels and Yoko Ono (speaking of which, here is a clip of Peter interviewing Yoko Ono in 1989. It's in Japanese, so I've no idea what they're saying, but still, WOW!). 

However, the big revelation of the day was that Peter recalls learning morris dancing at primary school in London, during the late-50s / early-60s. I'm not sure this was an entirely positive memory, but he was kind enough to pose for some photographs with my morris hankies. What a gentleman and a star!