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Sakiko Katayama:
TV Announcer Researching & Reporting on DV From Women's Viewpoints

Osaka-based Kansai Telecasting Company has broadcast a series of special programs entitled "Violence from Husbands and Partners" since March 1997. Sakiko Katayama, of the Announcing Division of the Programming Department, planned, organized, gathered the data, edited, narrated and directed the series. She tells us how she got interested in DV (domestic violence) and what she has in mind for the future.

Profile:
Sakiko Katayama joined Kansai Telecasting Company in 1987 as one of the first employees hired after the enforcement of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law. She is a member of the Announcing Division of the Programming Department and has been in charge of the reporting on DV as a member of the News-Reporting Department since January 1998.

Beginning to Investigate into Japan's DV Problem Half in Doubt

I first took an interest in DV when I heard the case of O.J. Simpson in the U.S. He was arrested on suspicion of murdering his former wife. He was found innocent in the criminal trial, but found guilty in the civil trial. I heard the word "DV" for the first time. Then, I began to ask my friends living in the U.S. about DV-related laws and DV shelters and to check Internet homepages overseas dealing with DV. At that time, however, I never imagined that such DV problems leading to murder might exist in Japan.

Shortly after that, in October 1996, a seemingly random shooting with a hunting gun occurred in Miyazaki Prefecture, my hometown. A man broke into a house of an acquaintance who had sheltered his wife. She had run away from his violence. The man shot a person to death and escaped by car with two children.

When I heard the news, I felt shocked and uneasy. I went to Miyazaki to cover the case and started to investigate into DV problems in Japan.

One of the victims of terrible violence said, "I never want others to have as bitter experiences as I did." A woman whose daughter was killed because of domestic violence told me about the heartbreaking tragedy. Some victims hid themselves from cruel husbands or partners, changed their names and gave up everything in order to be free from violence. I felt that it was extremely unreasonable.

I have been encouraged both by victims who summoned up their courage to tell me about their terrible experiences and by the many letters and faxes from viewers. They have impelled me to continue the series. As the reality of DV has been disclosed, the perception of DV by men in my company has also changed.

DV Will Be My Lifework

Three years after I joined Kansai Telecasting Company, I collected data for a campaign program on the prevention of child abuse. The experience may be a remote cause of my interest in DV. Just as many of the women who are cruel to their children are themselves victims of violence, many of the men who employ violence against their families are troubled by complicated problems. The effects of violence on people who were exposed to violence in their childhood are also worrying. DV is both a social and structural problem, which influences marriages, families, and relationships with others.

Covering DV for two years, I have now realized how deep-rooted it is. I feel as if I am assigned important homework to do. I am determined to remain involved in DV as my lifework.

(Interviewed by Haneko Inoue)

As Ms. Katayama wanted to be a counselor, she majored in psychology at college. But as she performed plays in her club activities, she was attracted by the act of conveying a message by words and decided to be an announcer. She says that her knowledge of psychology has been of great help in covering DV.

"Last spring I went to the U.S. to cover DV shelters and police DV units. The report crew was all women except the cameraman. Japanese telecasting companies are changing, too."

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