Asahi
In a farming area of Iwate Prefecture, a fee collector for Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) makes his lonely trek across snow-covered roads on his motorcycle. He hopes he won't face any problems at the next door he knocks on.
No such luck.
``There are many people who do not pay the viewer fees, aren't there?'' a woman asks the NHK collector. ``I feel deprived for having paid.''
Right there, she joins the growing list of people who refuse to pay their NHK fees. But instead of outrage over embezzlement scandals at the public broadcaster, more nonpayers these days are questioning the fairness of the fee system itself. Citizens, industry groups and academics are calling on NHK to change what they say is an inadequate system.
``Even people who paid out of the same consciousness as paying taxes have begun to change their way of thinking,'' the NHK fee collector says. ``They learn about the rapid increase in nonpayers, even people close to them, through conversations at the workplace and in their neighborhoods.''
The boycott in fees started last year after a series of scandals surfaced over inappropriate use of funds by NHK employees. At the end of January, about 400,000 households were refusing to pay....the rest...
