The NHK (日本放送協会, or Nippon Housou Kyoukai. In English, it translates to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is a big presence in Japanese daily life, for many people. The NHK provides a national broadcasting service that you are automatically able to access if you have a television set. They broadcast a lot of content, both entertaining and informative. Most importantly, they also broadcast emergency information in times of natural disasters. With recent events going on, they've been pretty good with updating the viewers on the current situation.
Unlike the USA's PBS channel, it isn't run on dues or donations, and unlike Canada's CBC, it isn't funded by taxes. The average Japanese resident has to form a subscription in order to pay for the service. This is, as an assumption, to allow those with no way of accessing the broadcast a way out. This looks good in writing, but in practice, it can get pretty complicated, especially if one doesn't want any part of their service.
The NHK hires a third-party contractor to go around and get people to subscribe to the service. If you have a television set, you are bound by law to pay for the broadcast, even if you don't watch it. Many of the non-Japanese people that I work with have told me that they don't answer the door when a collector comes. Other stories involve the collector being incredibly pushy and actually trying to get inside the apartment.
Even native Japanese people have a problem with these collectors, with someone designing a filter for the television set to avoid paying the company. The NHK is supposed to ensure neutrality, and that's why they are the only broadcasting company in Japan that collects money from subscribers. The guy designing the filter says he believes they aren't so neutral. There is even an anti-NHK political party, formed by a former employee of the broadcasting company after he witnessed and exposed corruption within the company (the party itself is a bit of a mess, however, with some questionable perspectives on problems.)
Theoretically, though, you don't have to subscribe to the NHK, and therefore, you don't have to pay. The NHK hasn't really done much to punish those that don't pay, even if they are subscribed. Legally, there is a clause where anyone installing equipment capable of receiving broadcasts is required to enter a contract with the NHK (Section 6, Article 64 of the Broadcasting Act,) and that was made all the way back in 1950. The only thing the collectors have done to get money is to actively harass people.
And there are quite a few stories of harassment out there. I've had an American colleague tell me a story of when she was visited by an insistent collector who demanded that she pay up the fee. He told her that he wouldn't leave until she paid up and he kept repeating she was obligated by law to pay for the service. This guy even put a foot in the door as she closed the door on him, prompting my colleague to threaten to call the police. That was the only thing that got him to leave.
As of writing this post, I've just started paying the NHK. I didn't have a television set when I first came to Japan, and I don't open the door to strangers unless they were in some sort of uniform, as I was raised that way. That meant that in my first apartment, I never paid a single yen to them. Now that I am in a new apartment with a TV that's on for background noise for a large portion of the time, I feel like its only fair to pay up.
How does payment work? The NHK gives a few options for paying them. Their preferred method is by automatic bank transfer or credit card, but they can be paid by taking a bill to the convenience store. Payments can be done every two months, every six months, or once a year. The annual payment is the most expensive, but slightly cheaper in the long run as the subscriber saves about 2000 yen over the year.
The prices vary by the payment method and the reception method. Paying for satellite reception through bills mailed to an address is a bit more expensive than paying for a land-line by automatic bank transfer. I imagine that this is to promote a more reliable source of income, and the land-line is easier to keep track of.
Thanks for reading!
Comments