PERSONAL STATEMENT
by
Hirofumi Suzuki
for
The Master of Arts in Communication Studies
California State University, Los Angeles
January 14, 1998
(ここから本文です)
It is my pleasure to have this opportunity to introduce myself and my study plan to you. I wish to enter the M.A. program in Communication Studies in the fall term of 1998.
I have been working as a planner and a writer of TV and radio programs for ten years in Tokyo, Japan. I have a lot of precious experiences and valuable skills to make attractive entertainment.
It was in 1986 that I had my first experience to work on TV, making questions for a quiz show. Although I was a freshman majoring in political science at Waseda University, one of the most competitive private universities in Japan, the new experience fascinated me with its excitement. I had become aware that to create something new is hard but joyful task. Unfortunately, because Japanese universities don't provide practical education for students who wish to work at a media company, I had learned much through this work rather than at campus for four years. I found I was born to be an entertainment creator who is satisfied with making someone delight. So, as soon as I graduated from the university, I started to work as a freelance writer of TV and radio programs.
In Japan, my occupation is called "Housou-Sakka," or broadcasting writer, which fulfills the leading part on creating programs. Not only inventing programs but also writing manuscripts for playbooks or narration is my principal work. For ten years I have invented over 50 new programs and written over 200 programs including news, sports, documentaries, music shows, comedies, and so on. Now, at the point of December 1997, I am in charge of five TV and three radio programs a week regularly and have some irregular programs. Moreover planning several new programs for next spring. I am one of the busiest writers in Tokyo. Mainly covering TV and radio, my works have extended to broader fields. I wrote articles for magazines, designed advertisements, and finally appeared on television as a reporter. You may ask "What is your occupation?" I will stately answer "I'm an Entertainment Artisan!"
Through these works, I have acquired many skills to convey something to people correctly and effectively. That is, "Make difficult things easy" and "Make easy things interesting." I have practiced them all throughout my concerned works. Here I can show you two examples which resulted in great success.
First is the TV program "The General Election '96" (NTV), which was a special program on the election of members of the House of Representatives. In Japan, there are six major TV networks and they broadcast special programs on the voting day night. In this competition, NTV got a rating of 43.3%! This was by far the best score of all six networks, of course exceeding NHK (Japanese public broadcasting network)'s 22.8% rating. In this program, I planned, composed, and wrote many parts of the program and much contributed to its success.
Second is the radio program "Honki de Don Don" (JOQR-Radio), which is a daily news-chase program. For nine years I have been a part of it as a news reporter. And it has received "The Most Valuable Program Prize" from The Japan Broadcasting Federation in 1994 and 1995. It was the first time for a program to win this prize for two consecutive years.
I am very proud of my success, and three letters of recommendation from TV and radio producers who have hired me will prove my ability and achievement.
On the other hand, I am now strongly interested in multimedia because of its great possibility. As you know, in the next decade, this new media will diffuse widely and the present media such as TV, radio, newspaper, and magazine will change dramatically. They may obtain new function called "interactivity." When the brand-new media are made practicable, a new type of entertainment will be born. And the creators who understand the peculiarities of the interactive media will start a revolution on media world. I wish to make the most of my career and skills to play an important role in this revolution. The time is getting close.
I know how to make attractive contents for the present media; however, I am at a loss about how to create for the new media. Now, my current problem is the lack of systematic and theoretical understanding of communication, which I want to acquire to prepare for the next stage. I need the knowledge! My career goal is to create attractive contents for the new media and to entertain everyone in the world.
I need advanced and up-to-date knowledge to solve my current problem, because the media is now exactly developing. Sorry to say, however, universities in Japan do not offer enough curriculums about communications, especially about developing new media. But I found the California State University, Los Angeles provides exactly what I want ! I am confident that I have made the proper decision to consider CSU, L.A my first choice. Moreover, since Los Angeles is a world forefront capital of media and communication, to study in such a stimulative city means a lot for me. I will be able to get something more than knowledge there. Of course I am willing to share my experiences and skills with other students with pleasure.
Thank you very much for your kind attention to this statement.