Radio Towers

Between 1930 and 1943 over 400 public radio receiver installations were erected by Japan’s national broadcaster in parks around Japan. They intended to bring broadcasting, during this period the voice of state, a wider audience play part home-front mobilisation efforts. The majority seem have been destroyed or shortly after World War Two but roughly 40 are known be extant, these yet receive systematic attention from either Japanese foreign academics, they thus offer fresh focus for research into relationships between interwar state listening publics. This paper aims primarily draw existence little—known objects, it also offers sketch media landscape which emerged, covers two significant contemporary social developments—the growth coordinated mass sport exercise, ‘year 2600’ celebrations 1940—which contributed spread towers.