NHK
Encyclopedia
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee
Television licence
A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
.
NHK operates two terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
services (NHK General TV
NHK General TV
is the main television service of NHK . It shows news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime and specials which directly compete with its commercial counterparts. It is well known for its nightly newscasts, regular documentary specials and popular historical dramas...
and NHK Educational TV
NHK Educational TV
is the second television service of NHK . It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, cultural or intellectual nature, periodically also showing anime...
), two satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
services (NHK BS-1 and NHK BS Premium, both now a High-definition television
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
service), and three radio networks (NHK Radio 1
NHK Radio 1
NHK Radio 1 is a Japanese radio station operated by the public broadcaster, NHK. Its programming output, which consists of news, current affairs, and information programming is broadly similar to BBC Radio 4, CBC Radio One, and Deutschlandfunk. NHK Radio 1 is available mainly on AM....
, 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.
History
Until the 1940s, NHK was a national radio broadcasting monopoly.On March 22, 1925, one and a half years after the Great Kantō earthquake
1923 Great Kanto earthquake
The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...
, the Radio Japan produced the first radio broadcast in Japan, transmitting from Atago Hill
Atago Shrine (Tokyo)
The in Minato, Tokyo, Japan is a Shinto shrine built in 1603 on the order of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The current shrine was rebuilt in 1958....
just north of the Tokugawa Tombs in Shiba Park
Shiba Park
is a public park in Minato, Tokyo, Japan built around the temple of Zōjō-ji.The park is located between the Minato municipal offices and Tokyo Tower...
. The first program included Beethoven, classical Japanese music, and a play by ōyō. In the same year, there were also broadcasts from Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
and Nagoya.
NHK was founded in 1926, modeled on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio company of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. 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
Ministry of Communications
Ministry of Communications may refer to:* Ministry of Communications * Ministry of Communications * Ministry of Communications * Ministry of Communications of Morocco...
.
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
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
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
Tokyo Rose
Tokyo Rose was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately a dozen English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The intent of these broadcasts was to disrupt the morale of Allied forces listening to the broadcast...
wartime programs were broadcasts by NHK.
In 1950, post-war three radio rules were enacted including the Broadcast Law (“Hōsō Hō”), and they replaced the pre-war Radio Telegraph Law. Under this law, NHK started afresh as a special corporation to be supported by audiences.
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. 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
Free-to-air
Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
over the Astra 19.2°E
Astra 19.2°E
Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg....
(Astra 1L) in Europe.
As of 28 November 2008, NHK World TV was seen to start Test transmissions on the Eurobird
Eurobird
Eurobird is the name for a set of satellites owned by Eutelsat. The Eurobird satellites provide broadcasting and telecommunication services primarily to the Western and Central European region from orbital positions of 28.5, 25.5 and 33 degrees East....
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. It appears in the Freesat EPG on channel 209.
License fee
NHK is paid for by license feesTelevision licence
A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
(known in Japanese as ). The Broadcast Law which governs NHK’s funding stipulates that any television equipped to receive NHK is required to pay. The fee is standardized, with discounts for office workers and students who commute, as well a general discount for residents of Okinawa prefecture
Okinawa Prefecture
is one of Japan's southern prefectures. It consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island...
.
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. In 2006, the NHK opted to take legal action against those most flagrantly in violation of the law.
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 9News Watch 9
, stylized as news Watch 9 is the flagship evening news program of the public Japanese broadcaster, NHK. It is airs weekdays on NHK General Television and worldwide on NHK World and NHK World Premium and is also available on the networks video-on-demand service. Currently, it is presented by NHK...
, 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. On 2 February 2009, NHK World TV changed and the flagship newscast, Newsline
Newsline (NHK)
NHK Newsline or simply referred as Newsline is the flagship news program, aired on Japanese International English language news and information TV channel NHK World TV. This program broadcasts on the hour, 24 hours a day for 10 or 30 minutes.-History:...
, also changed and is 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 AgencyJapan Meteorological Agency
The or JMA, is the Japanese government's weather service. Charged with gathering and reporting weather data and forecasts in Japan, it is a semi-autonomous part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport...
makes NHK capable of delivering the news in just 2–3 minutes after the quake. They also broadcast air attack warnings in the event of war, using the J-Alert
J-Alert
is a nationwide warning system in Japan launched in February 2007. It is designed to quickly inform the public of various threats. The system was developed in the hope that early warnings would speed up evacuation times and help coordinate emergency response....
system.
All warnings are broadcast in five languages: English, Mandarin, Korean and Portuguese (Japan has small Chinese, Korean and Brazilian
Brazilians in Japan
There is a significant community of Brazilians in Japan, consisting largely but not exclusively of Brazilians of Japanese ethnicity.-Migration history:...
populations), as well as Japanese. The warnings were broadcast in these languages during the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
.
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 NishiyamaMaki Nishiyama
Maki Nishiyama is a Japanese model, and actress. Also called Maki-chan by her fans, Nishiyama has been best known for her modeling work with the Japanese fashion magazine, CanCam.-Career:...
and a cast of 24 children ranging from ages 8 to 14.
Sports
NHK broadcasts the six annual Grand SumoSumo
is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...
tournaments, high-school baseball
High school baseball in Japan
In Japan, high school baseball generally refers to the two annual baseball tournaments played by high schools nationwide culminating at a final showdown at Hanshin Kōshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Japan...
championships from Koshien Stadium
Koshien Stadium
is a baseball park located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on April 1, 1924. It was the largest stadium in Asia at the time it was completed, with a capacity of 55,000.The name Kōshien comes...
, Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
, National Sports Festival of Japan
National Sports Festival of Japan
is the national premier sports event of Japan. The abbreviated name is Kokutai . The 65th National Sports Festival of Japan was held in October 2010 in Chiba Prefecture.- Emperor's Cup and Empress Cup Champions :...
, and a range of other sports. NHK also broadcasts Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
games when Daisuke Matsuzaka
Daisuke Matsuzaka
is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball in the United States. He previously played for the Seibu Lions in Japan's Pacific League. He was selected the MVP of the inaugural and the second World Baseball Classic, and is an Olympic bronze...
pitches. NHK also holds rights to broadcast the FA Premier League in Japan.
News analysis
The network carries in-depth reports on current topics, political debate, and similar programming.Music
The annual Kōhaku Uta GassenKohaku Uta Gassen
, more commonly known as simply Kōhaku, is an annual music show on New Year's Eve produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and broadcast on both television and radio, nationally and internationally by NHK's networks and some overseas broadcasters which bought the program...
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
J-Melo
J-Melo is a weekly Japanese music television program broadcast by NHK. It is recorded entirely in the English language. It began broadcasting on October 7, 2005...
is NHK’s first music program to be recorded entirely in English for international consumption.
The NHK Symphony Orchestra
NHK Symphony Orchestra
The in Tokyo, Japan began as the New Symphony Orchestra on October 5, 1926 and was the country's first professional symphony orchestra. Later, it changed its name to Japan Symphony Orchestra and in 1951, after receiving financial support from NHK, it took its current name...
, financially sponsored by NHK, was formerly (until 1951) the Japanese Symphony Orchestra. Its website details the orchestra's history and ongoing concert programme.
Drama
A sentimental morning show, a weekly jidaigekiJidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
and a year-long show, the ’’Taiga drama
Taiga drama
is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...
’’, spearhead the network’s fiction offerings. But for no special reason, it write wrongly from Emperor's family to Royal family in the Webpage of Taira no Kiyomori that will be broadcast in 2012 as Taiga drama
Taiga drama
is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...
NHK is also making efforts to broadcasting the drama made in foreign countries as "".
Documentaries
NHK has become known for its documentary series, first for the popular mini-series Legacy for the FutureLegacy for the Future
was Japan's first television documentary miniseries.Run on NHK for seventeen installments in 1974 and 1975, the theme of the program was "why civilizations flourished and declined." Footage was seen from over 150 world heritage sites in 44 countries...
, and later for the NHK Tokushu (later known as NHK Special) documentaries series such as The Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
and .
Children
The longest running children’s show in Japan, , still airs to this day on NHK-ETV.Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
was one of the first imports, debuting in 1971. It resumed in 1988, until 2004, when a local adaptation was announced, which NHK refused to be involved in. Teenagers and adults watched the program to learn English (though much later on, a dubbed version was also available). When the American Sesame Street aired on NHK, the channel produced episode guides. In the 2000s, when the show was available in both English and Japanese, Sesame English
Sesame English
Sesame English is a television/video series developed as a collaboration between Sesame Workshop and Berlitz International. Launched in 1999, with Taiwan and China as the debut markets, the series differs from the typical international versions of Sesame Street in that it was devised as a...
was interspersed within the program, first as a replacement for Elmo's World
Elmo's World
"Elmo's World" is a segment of the children's television show Sesame Street featuring Elmo, a small, three and a half year old, bright red monster. It debuted on November 16, 1998. Since then, it has been regularly shown during the last fifteen minutes of every Sesame Street episode...
, but later in addition to it.
Notable programs
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Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is a Japanese animated television series inspired by the works of Jules Verne, particularly Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and the exploits of Captain Nemo... ’’ (1990-1991) Oshin Oshin is a Japanese serialized morning television drama, which aired on broadcaster NHK from April 4, 1983 to March 31, 1984. The series follows the life of Shin Tanokura during the Meiji period up to the early 1980s. Shin was called "Oshin", which is Japanese archaic cognomen.In total, 297... ’’ (1983-1984) Pants Pankuro is the name of a series of animated shorts that aired on Japanese public television from April 2004 until March 2008. The series is geared to toddlers and young children, and most episodes focus on the issues involved with toilet training... ’’ (2004-2008) The Pirates of Dark Water The Pirates of Dark Water is a fantasy animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1991.-Premise:The alien world of Mer is being devoured by an evil substance known as Dark Water. Only Ren, a young prince, can stop it by finding the lost Thirteen Treasures of Rule... ’’ (1993) Planetes is a Japanese hard science fiction manga by Makoto Yukimura. It was adapted as a 26-episode television anime by Sunrise, which was broadcast on NHK from October 2003 through April 2004... ’’ Sesame Street Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The... ’’ (1971-2004) SpongeBob SquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"... ’’ (2002-present) Sports Kyoushitsu Sports Kyoushitsu is a Japanese TV program which main theme is to guide how to coach or play sports by NHK. The program began in 1961 and is ongoing. This program is broadcast every weekend.- List of Sports :Following are the sports broadcast by NHK... ’’ Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series) -Production:At April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III, Lucas stated that "we are working on a 3-D continuation of the pilot series that was on the Cartoon Network; we probably won't start that project for another year." In July 2005, pre-production had begun on the series, according to Steve... ’’ Taiga drama is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music... ’’ Tales from the Darkside Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series produced by George A. Romero; it originally aired from 1983 to 1988. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Tales From The Crypt, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot... ’’ The Nightmare Room The Nightmare Room is an American children's anthology horror series that aired on Kids' WB. The series was based on the short-lived book series The Nightmare Room children's books created by Goosebumps author, R.L. Stine. The Nightmare Room originally aired from August 31, 2001, to March 16, 2002,... ’’ (2002-2003) TV Colosso TV Colosso was a Brazilian children's television series produced by Rede Globo, that began on April 19, 1993, and finished on January 3, 1997. The show utilized puppets, body puppets, remote-controlled animatronics and bluescreen puppets... ’’ (1993-1997) UFO Baby is a shōjo comedy manga by Mika Kawamura, serialized by Kodansha in Nakayoshi from February 1998 to March 2002 and collected in nine bound volumes. The series was adapted as a 78-episode anime television series, produced by NHK and animated by J.C.Staff, which was broadcast between March 2000 and... ’’ (2000-02) Visions of Light Visions of Light is a 1992 documentary film directed by Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, and Stuart Samuels. The film is also known as Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography.... ’’ Yat Anshin Uchuu Ryokou is an anime series produced by Group TAC. It aired on NHK in Japan from October 5, 1996 to September 27, 1997; a second series aired from April 11, 1998 to October 3, 1998... ’’ (1996-1998) |
See also
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NHK Spring Company , commonly called as , is regarded as one of the world's leading spring manufacturers in Yokohama, Japan. NHK also makes seats for automobiles, and suspension systems for disk read-and-write heads for hard-disk drives... |
Additional sources
- Johnston, Eric. (July 7, 2009). Japan Times: 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