News-Info-Alerts

Re: Dumas in Japan

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: January 09, 2003

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A man's search seen in Japan

By MICHAEL LEMANSKI
Norwich Bulletin

CANTERBURY -- Watching himself on a TV newscast is nothing new to Robert Dumas, who is on a highly publicized, 50-year quest to find his missing brother, who disappeared in the Korean War.

For the first time last weekend, though, Dumas was able to watch a tape of himself in Japanese.

Earlier last month, a Japanese film crew from NHK-TV from Tokyo came to rural Canterbury for a couple days of filming to chronicle Dumas' mission to find his brother, Roger Dumas of Plainfield.

On Dec. 26, the 10-minute feature on American prisoners of war from the Korean Conflict was broadcast to tens of millions of households in Japan and southeast Asia.

Last weekend, Dumas was able to watch a tape of what was broadcast. NHK sent him a copy.

"They said it was one of the first times the Japanese broadcast company did a 10-minute report," Dumas said. "Usually, they are five minutes."

Although broadcast in Japanese, Dumas obtained a translation from his son's brother-in-law, who is fluent in Japanese after a five-year stint stationed in Japan with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Language differences notwithstanding, the NHK broadcast looked very much like an American news broadcast, with two anchors, an introduction and then footage of the Canterbury visit.

The NHK broadcast even included newsperson banter at the end of the broadcast.

Dumas said the Japanese television reporters had not heard of the possibility of American POWS from the Korean War still being alive until they saw and read U.S. news accounts.

Once they decided to do a piece, though, Dumas said the Japanese media took to the issue.

"They're pretty good, very thorough," Dumas said. "I liked it. They're not done with it, though. They wanted to get it on the air."

The broadcast opened with a close-up shot of Roger Dumas, then panned to an image of an American flag flying.

Eventually, Robert Dumas' face appeared and he was speaking about the situation, with a Japanese translator speaking in Japanese over Dumas' voice.

All throughout the broadcast, images of Canterbury were visible, with the local post office, as well as some scenic shots of the town's bucolic atmosphere -- all with Japanese lettering superimposed over the images.

Dumas claimed the Japanese piece was longer and more in-depth than any done by the western broadcast media.

Citing the translation he received from his son's brother-in-law, Dumas said the two Japanese anchors openly questioned why U.S. officials have not done a better job bringing POWs home.

He said the Japanese newsmen and women paid particular attention to the black POW/MIA flag seen all over the country.

Said Dumas, paraphrasing the Japanese anchors, "If that flag is flying all over the world for prisoners and those missing, they asked how come we don't negotiate for these men."

mlemanski@norwichbulletin.com
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