VICTIM OF TRANSLATOR OR. THE CIA?
The. U. s. embassy in Tokyo has denied that. any American authorities in. Japan, including the CIA, had anything whatsoever to. do with interfering with the translation of folk singer Joan Baez's statements during the recent elections in that country. The admissions of her translator Ichiro Takasaki nonetheless remain very damaging despite some rather remarkable backpedaling on. his part.
"When, tapes of Miss Baez's shows were run off, it turned out. that references of the singer. to Nagasaki and Hiroshima were translated as “the show would.be televised." An explanation of the song, "What. Have They Done to the Rain?" dealing with the atomic bomb,-. were translated again as “the show was being televised." Her famous antiwar song, "Saigon Bride," one of ner big hits, was reported to the audience as, "This is a song. about the Vietnam war.
When the scandal broke, the translator told the press he had been pressured by a "Harold Cooper". of the American embassy to change the meaning when Miss Baez made political statements... The reason was to help the Conservative party. "It is a fact that pressure was applied on me by a man who said he was from the CIA," Takasaki was quoted as saying by the February 21 Asahi Evening News. According to the same source, "Harold Cooper" told Takasaki, "If you don't cooperate, you'll have trouble.in-your work in the future." ,
Takasaki said that he decided to cooperate since he felt that.if he refused he. would be denied visas: to the United States where he works two months-out of each year.
"TI met Mr. Cooper once in the presence of a Japan Times reporter, but even in that meeting, he openly demanded that I mistranslate. I tried. to reject the absurd demands -- but he knew the name of my child and the contents of my work very well. I became afraid and agreed."
The report: made such | a sensation in Japan, -that Takasaki immediately found binself in the headlines. Thereupon he began to “reetify" his account. "I never felt I was being threatened or given.orders by this man named Cooper,"-he told the Japan Times - (February 22).: "Lo tell the truth, I was favorably- impressed by hin, whatever kind. of job ‘he may have.." .
Takasaki. also took the rap. He said ‘that Cooper had hinted that it would work unfavorably for him in applying for visas if he did not alter Miss Baez's remarks. "I should say that what he suggested agreed exaetly with what I was thinking myself. It would be inaccurate to say that this man's advice did not come to mind while I was.interpreting for Miss Baez on the stage. But he never threatened me or forced me to do anything."
So why:did Takasaki do it? "I don't believe in political comments at musical concerts and | i determined not to interpret Miss. Baez's comments if they weren't connected to music.! ;
In other words all ‘that was involved was one of the time-honored specialities of the. translating trade which long ago gave rise to the saying, traduttori traditori [translators are traitors].
Seishi. Ishibashi, a Socialist member of the House of Representatives, said it was a clear case of an "excessive action" on the part of the CIA. He was quoted by the Asahi Evening: News as. saying: "Ever since the report by a Japanese newspaper. reporter on the U.S.'s North Vietnam bombing aroused.major repercussions, the U.S. has been particularly concerned about public opinion in Japan -- and it has been making all-out efforts to try to suppress the antiwar mood. .
"I had surmised that the CIA operated through the upper classes -- “but this time, it has appeared even among the people, and this is a noteworthy point.
"Since the CIA has infiltrated the student movement even in America and engages in secret actions, there is no need to be particularly surprised.
"But applying pressure on a Japanese radio producer really is going too far."