NHK

Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK)

Type	Broadcast radio network and Broadcast television network
Country	Japan
Availability	Nationwide and Worldwide
Slogan	まっすぐ、真剣。("Straightforward, earnest")
Area	Shibuya, Tokyo
Owner	Public Broadcast
Launch date	March 22, 1925 (radio) 1950 (television)
Former names	Japanese Radio Station (1925-26)
Official Website	www.nhk.or.jp

Availability
Terrestrial
General TV	Analog–Ch 1 (Tokyo) Analog–Ch 2 (Osaka) Analog–Ch 3 (Nagoya) Digital- Ch 1 (Tokyo, Osaka) Digital- Ch 3 (Nagoya)
Educational TV	Analog–Ch 3 (Tokyo) Analog–Ch 12 (Osaka) Analog–Ch 9 (Nagoya) Digital- Ch 2 (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya)
Satellite
BS-1	Analog–Ch BS 7 Digital-Ch 101
BS-2	Analog–Ch BS 11 Digital-Ch 102
BS-Hi	Digital- Ch 103
NHK WORLD	TV, Radio Japan

NHK (日本放送協会, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, Official English name: Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is Japan's national public broadcasting organization.^[1] NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials,^[2] is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.

NHK operates two terrestrial television services (NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV), three satellite television services (NHK BS-1, NHK BS-2, and NHK Hi-Vision, a High-definition television service), and three radio networks (NHK Radio 1, NHK Radio 2, and NHK FM).

NHK also provides an international broadcasting service, known as NHK World. NHK World is composed of NHK World TV, NHK World Premium, and the shortwave radio service NHK World Radio Japan. World Radio Japan also makes some of its programs available on the internet.

Contents 1 History 2 License fee 3 NHK domestic broadcasting stations 4 TV programming 4.1 News 4.2 Emergency reporting 4.3 Education 4.4 Weather 4.5 Sports 4.6 News analysis 4.7 Music 4.8 Drama 4.9 Documentaries 4.10 Children 4.11 Other 5 Notable programs 6 Notes 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

History

Until the 1940s, NHK was a national radio broadcasting monopoly.^[2][3]

On March 22, 1925, one and a half years after the Great Kantō earthquake, the Radio Japan produced the first radio broadcast in Japan, transmitting from Atago Hill just north of the Tokugawa Tombs in Shiba Park. The first program included Beethoven, classical Japanese music, and a play by ōyō.^[2] In the same year, there were also broadcasts from Osaka and Nagoya.^[4]

NHK was founded in 1926, modeled on the BBC radio company of the United Kingdom.^[2] NHK evolved from the amalgamation of the three regional broadcasting corporations. This merger and reorganization was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war Ministry of Communications.^[5]

NHK’s second radio network was started in 1931. And in 1935, NHK started a shortwave radio service for listeners overseas, which was known as ’’‘Radio Japan’’’ in 1930s and 1940s.

In November 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army nationalised all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts through the Information Liaison Confidential Committee. All published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of World War II. The famous Tokyo Rose wartime programs were broadcasts by NHK.^[2]

In 1950, post-war three radio rules were enacted including the Broadcast Law (“Hōsō Hō”). Under this law, NHK started afresh as a special corporation to be supported by audiences.^[6]

NHK started General TV in 1950 and the Educational TV in 1959. It aired its first color television broadcast in 1960.

In 1980s, NHK BS TV broadcasts were started.^[7] And in 1995, NHK started ’’‘NHK World TV’’’.

In 2000, NHK started satellite digital TV broadcasts. And in 2003, terrestrial digital TV broadcasts were started for three megacity areas, which are to be expanded to cover almost all Japan by July, 2011.

NHK BS Hi-Vision analog TV was stopped by September, 2007.

Since End of September 2008, NHK World TV can be received Free-To-Air over the Astra 19.2°E (Astra 1L) in Europe.

As of 28 November, 2008,^[8] NHK World TV was seen to start Test transmissions on the Eurobird series of satellites, Free to Air, at 28.5 Degrees East. The transmissions, on 11.680 GHz (Vertical polarity, FEC 2/3, S/R 27.5MBaud), currently appear only by adding the channel manually on Sky Digital equipment, and the channel is currently recognised by a code number, “51108”. It is not currently known how long this service will be available for, or what the plans for NHK World presently are.

License fee

NHK is paid for by license fees (known in Japanese as reception fee (受信料, Jushinryō^?)). The Broadcast Law which governs NHK’s funding stipulates that any television equipped to receive NHK is required to pay. The fee is standardized,^[9] with discounts for office workers and students who commute, as well a general discount for residents of Okinawa prefecture.

However, the Broadcast Law lists no punitive actions for nonpayment; as a result of this, after a rash of NHK-related scandals, the number of people who had not paid the license fee surpassed one million users. This incident sparked debate over the fairness of the fee system.^[10] In 2006, the NHK opted to take legal action against those most flagrantly in violation of the law.^[11]

NHK domestic broadcasting stations

TV programming

NHK General TV broadcasts a variety of programming. The following are noteworthy:

News

Local, national, and world news reports. NHK News 7 offers bilingual broadcasts on NHK General TV, NHK World TV and NHK World Premium. Its current flagship news program is News Watch 9, also broadcast throughout the whole NHK network. NHK also offers news for the deaf, regional news and children’s news. News Today 30 Minutes is the new name of NHK NEWSWATCH which ran for 6 years. It is an English newscast designed for foreign viewers. In 2 February 2009, NHK World TV change and the flagship newscast Newsline is also change and currently the flagship newscast on NHK and NHK World TV.

Emergency reporting

Under the Broadcast Act, NHK is under the obligation to broadcast early warning emergency reporting in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Their national network of seismometers in cooperation with the Japan Meteorological Agency and skip-back cameras makes NHK capable of delivering the news in just 2–3 minutes after the quake. Their skip-back cameras are equipped with a back-up power supply in case the electricity is cut-off and are able to rewind fast to show the first moment of the shaking. They also broadcast air attack warnings in the event of war, using the J-Alert system.

Education

Education programmes are watched nation-wide at primary schools. Tensai Terebikun MAX (better known as TTK) is a show combining a small amount of education with entertainment. TTK is currently hosted by the Yasuda Big Circus, Maki Nishiyama and a cast of 24 children ranging from ages 8 to 14.

Weather

Weather in detail, nationwide, and international for travellers.

Sports

NHK broadcasts the six annual Grand Sumo tournaments, high-school baseball championships from Koshien Stadium, Olympic Games, National Sports Festival of Japan, and a range of other sports. NHK also broadcasts Boston Red Sox games when Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches.

News analysis

The network carries in-depth reports on current topics, political debate, and similar programming.

Music

The annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen on New Year’s Eve is the highlight. The weekly schedule includes an amateur hour, and prime-time shows for all ages. Music Japan is shown each week with brand new Japanese pop, and rock acts.

J-Melo is NHK’s first music program to be recorded entirely in English for international consumption.

Drama

A sentimental morning show, a weekly jidaigeki and a year-long show, the ’’Taiga drama’’, spearhead the network’s fiction offerings.

NHK is also making efforts to broadcasting the drama made of the foreign country as "Overseas Drama (海外ドラマ, Kaigai Dorama^?)".

Documentaries

NHK has become known for its documentary series, first popularized by the mini-series Legacy for the Future, afterwards, "The Silk Road" in NHK Tokushu (NHK Special at later years^[12]), and "The 20th Century on Film" (映像の世紀, Eizō no Seiki^?) in NHK Special.

Children

The longest running children’s show in Japan, With Mother (おかあさんといっしょ, Okaasan to Issho^?, 1959 -^[13]), still airs to this day on NHK-ETV.

Sesame Street has also been one of the network's most successful children's programs, and one of the first to be imported from overseas. Sesame Street first debuted in 1971, but was taken off the network in the early 1980s, but resumed in 1988, until the end of March in 2004, when production on a local adaptation was announced, which NHK refused to be involved in. While Sesame Street is primarily designed for preschool children, teenagers and adults watched the program as a guide to learning English (though much later on, a dubbed version was also available). When the American Sesame Street aired on NHK, the channel produced episode guides for educational use. Some episode guide pages on Muppet Wiki use information from these NHK episode guides. In the early 1970s, the NHK episode guides covered parts of every episode. They included transcripts and Japanese translations of selected scenes. By the late 1980s, the NHK episode guides changed format. They skipped over many episodes, but they had complete transcripts, Japanese translations, and screen shots for every scene in the episode. In these later years, although the NHK broadcasts were largely the same as the U.S. airings, NHK replaced Spanish language segments with other segments that were in English. The Sesame Street Episode Guides on Muppet Wiki created from the NHK episode guides reflect the Japanese airings and therefore may lack Spanish language segments originally in the episodes, and may include NHK's replacement segments which were not originally aired in the episode. The 1980s issues also include cartoon versions of scenes from the episodes, coloring pages, and local "Sesame Club" fan letters, news, and photos. The issues covering season 20 also include interviews and biographical sketches (in Japanese) of people who worked on Sesame Street. In the early 1980s, an original closing credit sequence ended each episode. The first one points out of a companion book/guide that is available, along with a mailing address and pricing options, followed by a cast list. These credits also depicted illustrations of the Muppets, some holding numbers and letters, and was accompanied by the theme (one from the Original Cast album, though it cuts off to the last few notes of the closing harmonica solo). Characters seen include: The Count, Sherlock Hemlock, Professor Hastings, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert, Kermit the Frog, Grover, Roosevelt Franklin, Herry Monster, The Amazing Mumford, and an Anything Muppet old woman. The entire sequence ends with a shot illustration of Cookie, Ernie, Bert and Grover poking out of a curtain with the Sesame Street sign (and its Japanese translation above) and the NHK logo. At some point in the 1990s, each episode ended with a segment entitled "Sunny Day Club", which began with a still illustration of Elmo and Grover walking in the park, and Elmo's voiceover introducing the segment. These segments, accompanied by a female voiceover, showcased original artwork sent in by viewers, with Sesame music playing in the background, including Honk Around the Clock and The Happiest Street in the World). Also included were brief clips of sketches and episodes. The segment ends with a shot illustration of several characters (varied from time to time) with the words "The End". In the 2000s, when the show was available in both English and Japanese, Sesame English was interspersed within the program, first as a replacement for Elmo's World, but later in addition to.

Other

Cooking, comedy, exercise, gardening, crafts, anime, igo, shogi.

Notable programs

’’Allison & Lillia’’ (2008) ’’Big Wolf on Campus’’ (2002-2003) ’’BuBu ChaCha’’ ’’Caillou’’(1998-present) ’’Cardcaptor Sakura’’ (1998-2002) ’’Dynamic China’’ (2007-) ’’Doctor Who’’ ’’Dungeons & Dragons’’ (1996-2002) ’’Eigo de Shabera Night’’ (2002-2009) ’’Futatsu no Spica’’ ’’Future Boy Conan’’ (1978) ’’Guardian of the Sacred Spirit’’ (2007-) ’’Goosebumps’’ (1998-1999) ’’J-Melo’’ (2005-) ’’Kaitai-Shin Show’’ ’’Kōhaku Uta Gassen’’ ’’Kyo Kara Maoh!’’ ’’MAJOR’’ (2004-2009) ’’Minna no Uta’’ (1961-ongoing) ’’Morizzo and Kiccoro’’ (2005 Aichi World Expo season) ’’Mujin Wakusei Survive’’ ’’Mysterious Cities of Gold’’ (1982-1983)

’’Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water’’ (1990-1991) ’’Oshin’’ (1983-1984) ’’Pants Pankuro’’ (2004-2008) ’’The Pirates of Dark Water’’ (1993) ’’Planetes’’ ’’Sesame Street’’ (1971-2004) ’’Shibawanko no Wa no Kokoro’’ ’’Shirasu Jiro’’ (2009) ’’Snow Princess’’ ’’Spongebob Squarepants’’ (2002-present) ’’Sports Kyoushitsu’’ ’’Star Wars: The Clone Wars’’ ’’Taiga drama’’ ’’Tales from the Darkside’’ ’’Ten Minutes Box’’ ’’The Nightmare Room’’ (2002-2003) ’’Tsubasa Chronicle’’ ’’UFO Baby’’ (2000-02) ’’Visions of Light’’ ’’Yat Anshin Uchuu Ryokou’’ (1996-1998) ’’Zettai Shonen’’ (“Absolute Boy”) (2004-2005)

Notes

See also

NHK World Welcome to the NHK! ISDB STRL UHDV

Japanese television programs Japanese media Domo-kun NHK Spring Company Hobankyo - Organization based in Japan that enforces Fuji Television copyright issues Japan Prize Contest (NHK)

References

• Johnston, Eric. (July 7, 2009). NHK a fount of info, a lot of it from the government Japan Times, p. 3.
• Seidensticker, Edward. (1990). ’‘Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake.’’ New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-54360-2

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• NHK
• NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories
• NHK/digital

Terrestrial television networks in Japan Commercial All-Nippon News Network · Fuji News Network · Japan News Network · Nippon News Network · TXN · Independent UHF Station NHK NHK General TV · NHK Educational TV

Broadcast radio networks in Japan Commercial AM JRN (Japan Radio Network) · NRN (National Radio Network) FM JFN (Japan FM Network) · JFL (Japan FM League) · MegaNet (Megalopolis Radio Network) Shortwave Radio Nikkei NHK (Public) AM Radio 1 Radio 2 FM NHK-FM