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The Ambassador

Fostering a community of inquisitive learners and independent thinkers, inspired to be their best selves, empowered to make a difference.

Fall/Winter 2024

LOIS LOWRY ’54

2024 ASIJ Alumni Impact Award Recipient

SOF ÍA MARIA BOSCH ’16

ASIJ Young Alumni Changemaker Award

The American School in Japan

MATTHEW GOODMAN ’73

The career of a Broadway clarinetist

JUDY ONGG ’69

Multi-talented artist returns to campus

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08 Telling Stories out of school

Alumni Impact Award

winner Lois Lowry ’54 reflects on her childhood in Japan

14

Young Changemaker Award

Bilingual education Sofía Maria Bosch ’16 17

Strength and Courage Award

Sami Torii ’24 on resilience and the power of positive words

In this Issue

19 Phantom Notes

Matthew Goodman ’73 on his long Broadway career

24 Sunny Side Up

Judy Ongg ’69

KAYOKYOKU AND ENKA

“Kayokyoku” is a form of Japanese popular music popular enjoyed mostly by people over 40. Based on the scales of Japanese classical music, it emerged after World War II as a synthesis of traditional Japanese music with imported music like big band jazz, Hawaiian music, American country-and-western and rhythm and blues.

“Enka” is a style of music, also popular with older people. Similar to kayokyoku except that it incorporates the scales of Western music and sometimes called the country-and-western music of Japan, it features sobbing vibrato-style “kobushi” singing, syrupy string arrangements, and sentimental lyrics. The word enka is derived from “en” (a short form of “enzestu”, meaning public speech) and “ka” ("song").

Female enka singers usually appear in a kimono. The male singer often have greasy hair and sequined suits and look like Japanese version of lounge singers.

History of Enka and the Origins of Popular Music in Japan

In the first half of the 20th century, Western influence on Japanese popular music gradually grew. However, while Western instruments came to be widely used, either exclusively or in combination with native instruments, melodies were still based on the Japanese pentatonic scale. The earliest commercial phonograph records in Japan date from 1907, and during the 1920s an increasing amount of popular music was recorded.

“the 1930s jazz played a significant role developing a popular music scene in bars and clubs. Although it was banned in World War II, since then jazz has continued to have a relatively small but dedicated group of fans and native performers, some of whom (Watanabe Sadao, Akiyoshi Toshiko, etc.) are famous internationally. In the postwar era, Japanese popular music has followed two distinct paths: one being J-Pop, the other being “ enka”.

In 1874, Japan’s first political party was founded, and the call for di