Freelance Announcer Aika Kanda: “Are You on My Side—or Theirs?”

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In mid-August, a total solar eclipse was observed mainly across Europe. That reminded me of an episode from my days at NHK, so I would like to write about it.

A little after 9 a.m. on July 22, 2009, I was on the Pacific Ocean, about 1,250 kilometers south of Tokyo, near Iwo Jima. I had boarded a luxury cruise ship for a total solar eclipse observation tour, where I was to report live on the eclipse—the first total solar eclipse visible in Japan in 46 years.

I accepted the assignment because my section chief told me, “The production team asked for an announcer who can react like a TV personality. That’s why you’re going!” I wondered, What on earth is going on if an NHK announcer is being asked to have a “TV personality” quality? So I went to ask the program supervisor what they were aiming for.

The supervisor explained that experts would also be accompanying us and would handle difficult explanations and technical commentary. He said they wanted the broadcast to have a greater sense of immediacy than previous coverage, emphasizing genuine reactions from people actually witnessing the eclipse.

Indeed, previous broadcasts had been rather static. In all of them, the announcers had their backs to the eclipse and calmly delivered prepared comments. I thought, “Couldn’t you do this from the studio!?”

Once I understood what the supervisor was aiming for, I was prepared to take on the assignment. Still, just in case, I prepared commentary for the broadcast, just as my predecessors had done.

The day arrived. The sky near Iwo Jima was a clear, cloudless blue. It was raining at the other broadcast locations, which meant mine was the only one where the beautiful total eclipse could be captured. There was no room for failure.

When the broadcast came to me, I described our location and the reactions of the passengers. Before long, countless tiny clouds began popping up one after another. The expert explained, “As the moon moves closer to the sun, less sunlight reaches us, causing the temperature to drop and clouds to begin forming.” It suddenly became chilly. The vast ocean, which had been shimmering cobalt blue until then, also took on a deeper shade of blue as the sunlight disappeared. The changes happened incredibly quickly, and I described them as I watched, completely absorbed in the moment.

The expert said, “Let’s watch it through the glasses.” When I put on the eclipse glasses and looked at the sun, the moon seemed to fit perfectly inside it and slowly, a glowing ring appeared.

I opened my mouth wide and let out an enormous, “Oh—!!!” Then it became, “Oh! Oh!! Oh!!!” I just couldn’t stop. I felt that I had to say something, but “Oh!!” was the only thing that would come out.

I felt the vastness of the universe and thought that none of my words, coming from such a small being as myself, could possibly do it justice. Faced with such a sight, there was no point in trying to think of something to say! I decided, “I just have to follow what my heart tells me!”

When I returned to the station, I first went to greet the program supervisor. He welcomed me with a huge smile and a big round of applause, saying, “That was wonderful! When you witness such an incredible total eclipse firsthand, people really do become speechless. I could tell just how deeply moving a sight it was!”

I was happy to know that my decision had been the right one.

Reactions were divided

Next, as soon as I went to the announcers’ office, the section chief called me in. Thinking I was surely about to receive some words of praise, I walked into his office with a goofy grin on my face, only for him to quickly shut the door. Then he said, “An NHK announcer going ‘Oh!!’ is not acceptable. Did you prepare your commentary or not?”

My chest tightened painfully. (Was I wrong? Of course, “Oh!!” alone couldn’t possibly convey what I was seeing. I had been entrusted with such a precious opportunity to report from the scene, yet I had failed to fulfill my responsibility) I was overwhelmed by regret and a sense of pathetic failure, as though I could hear a loud pounding in my head, and I couldn’t recover for several days.

A week later, I received a postcard from a gentleman in his seventies. It said, “I was extremely excited by your broadcast. ‘Oh!!’ is not the kind of word you would expect from an NHK announcer—it is a word that could only come from someone who was actually there. I could feel how deeply moved you were, and it made me feel as though I was there with you. Thank you.”

It felt as though time had stopped. A gentleman I had never even met understood exactly what I had been feeling at that moment. (It reached the people it needed to reach. I really wasn’t wrong after all!) From that moment on, I felt that I wanted to continue working as an announcer while valuing my own convictions and the emotions I experience on the scene when conveying things to others. I still hold strongly to that belief today.

When you work within an organization, I imagine many people have had similar experiences. Are you on my side? Or are you on the section chief’s side?

Aika Kanda was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1980. After graduating from the Department of Mathematics in the Faculty of Science at Gakushuin University, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003. She left NHK in 2012 and became a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly on variety shows and currently appears regularly as the main MC of the daytime program “Pokapoka” (Fuji TV).

★ Her first book, Ōdō tte iu Michi, Doko ni Tōttemasu ka? (“Where Does the Road Called the Mainstream Go?”), which compiles this series, is now on sale to great acclaim!

From the October 2 & 9, 2026, combined issue of “FRIDAY”