No Escape From The NHK Man?

[Taro Toporific]

Tokyo cops: NHK fee collector forcibly kissed woman
March 31, 2017 Tokyo Reporter
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 25-year-old man employed by public broadcaster NHK to collect licensing fees for forcibly kissing a woman at an apartment in Chofu City, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Mar. 30)...more..

NHK-ROMEO.jpg

Takahiro Yoshida is alleged to have kissed a woman in Chofu City while collecting license fees for public broadcaster NHK (TV Asahi)

[matsuki]

Sounds like he's the one that's going to be paying for that visit...

[Taro Toporific]

Duck-tape your bunghole tight and hold on to your fundoshi ...
NHK wants to charge you 2,520 yen every 2 months for using the Internet, grrr.

NHK may offer separate contracts for streaming broadcast service
Mainichi Japan | June 27, 2017
Households may be able to enter into a separate contract with NHK in the event Japan's public broadcaster begins streaming programming online in 2019, according to the NHK committee considering a new reception fee system.
The new payment system was outlined in an interim policy proposal released by the committee on June 26. Under the plan, the fee for the simultaneous online broadcast would be contracted separately and cover an entire household for the same price as terrestrial broadcasts -- 2,520 yen per two months if paid via bank transfer.
More...

Ok, ok, NHK claims this fee will be entirely voluntary (since Japanese courts have already ruled that the mandatory NHK fee is only for broadcast reception). But I am sure the lying, aggressive, on-commission, NHK collectors are going to try to bully people into paying for Internet (smartphones and telematic-style car navi).

[Yokohammer]

This is just to view NHK programming via their app though. I'm sure they'd just love to slap a blanket fee on the Internet, but that won't happen. You're already paying your provider for Internet access. Or someone is.

And thus begins the battle between their attempts to block access for non-subscribers and the technological prowess of a huge hacker army. Good luck with that.

Personally, I can't think of any NHK programming that my life depends on.


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[Taro Toporific]

This is just to view NHK programming via their app though...

NHK's wetdream is lusting after fees for any Internet. Their newest "Logic" is that the broadcast law says that ANY equipment capable of receiving NHK signals requires a contract. NHK streams their shows so they can ask for payment for people just having the Internet (NHK wants to ignore the recent court rulings against this twisted logic/claim).

[legion]

Personally, I can't think of any NHK programming that my life depends on.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/naotora/

Compulsory family viewing with Sunday Dinner, strong woman role models and all that. It's got the guy who was in 誰も知らない in it as some kind of punk yankee ronin. My fave character is this guy http://www.nhk.or.jp/naotora/cast/detail/onomasatugu.html.

[J.A.F.O]

This is just to view NHK programming via their app though...

NHK's wetdream is lusting after fees for any Internet. Their newest "Logic" is that the broadcast law says that ANY equipment capable of receiving NHK signals requires a contract. NHK streams their shows so they can ask for payment for people just having the Internet (NHK wants to ignore the recent court rulings against this twisted logic/claim).

As my old lawschool teacher used to say "Any law without a penalty isn't a law it's a suggestion" From what I understand nowadays is there is no penalty for refusing to contract.

[FG Lurker]

Back in 2013 there was apparently a district court decision saying, essentially, that NHK could force people into contracts. That seems like something that should've been thrown out by a higher court. Does anyone here know if it was? News story link in English or Japanese?

Edit: Too much time on Reddit, forgot FG has a different URL formatting system.

[matsuki]

Considering the Japanese Supreme court has ruled that us non-citizens aren't protected by the constitution, I'm not exactly shocked by the higher courts supporting NHK's bizarre collection demands and methods

[wagyl]

Back in 2013 there was apparently a [district court decision](http://nullrefer.com/?https://japantoda ... icense-fee) saying, essentially, that NHK could force people into contracts. That seems like something that should've been thrown out by a higher court. Does anyone here know if it was? News story link in English or Japanese?

Some background here, in this very thread (actual link suffers from "we don't regard the web as an archive here in Japan" syndrome, but contents are summarised in that post). In fact, the article you just linked has already been linked here.

As to whether there have been any developments, all I can point to is the fact that the NHK have not been going around collecting from people who have never had a contract with them, and I am sure you believe as much as I do, that if they could, they would have done so by now. I tend to not worry about the actual legalities, just in the practical side. There doesn't appear to be a risk at this point in time. And to be frank if an NHK poll tax does eventuate, the risk you face, while galling, will not send your family into starvation and poverty, at 13,990 yen a year, or 24,770 a year if you take their BS.

Going through the wayback machine, I see that the single source, the self-serving NHK article, was pulled by NHK within a month. I haven't done any research into whether that is usual NHK practice or whether there was a silent retraction of the original article in this case. I do recall that at the time, I never found any report at all which did not link back to and originate solely from that one NHK article. Maybe, just maybe, that District Court decision was incorrectly reported by NHK in the first place.

[Wage Slave]

NHK are a disgrace there is no doubt about that. However, it's worth noting what can and does happen to a public broadcasters if their funding is not independent of Government. NHK has the basic structure to be able to speak the truth to power but it chooses not to. I'm not sure a public broadcaster directly funded by Government can ever be free to do so. You might say that there is no need for a public broadcaster at all - I wouldn't agree.

In the meantime I pay my NHK fee because I am not a university student or impoverished. And I live in hope that one day NHK might start doing their job of being independent of Government in exchange for my money.

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/trump-budget-eliminates-public-broadcasting-1202440901/

[Yokohammer]

It seems that every year NHK sends out "warning letters" to a number of homes and organizations that haven't entered into the contract, and have actually followed up with court cases (civil, this is not a criminal issue). They make a big deal about it every time, I assume to show how serious they are and scare a few more people into contracting. There's a standard form letter that they publish to announce this each time. The most recent one that I know of, 14 warnings sent in Miyagi and Fukushima, is linked below (in Japanese).

https://pid.nhk.or.jp/pid99/osk/000000/000038893.pdf



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[FG Lurker]

> And I live in hope that one day NHK might start doing their job of being independent of Government in exchange for my money.

And one day 猪 might fly, but I'm not holding my breath.

I don't pay NHK because I never started paying when I first arrived in Japan. I couldn't speak Japanese and didn't have a TV anyway so it wasn't an issue. It just continued from there and about 15 years ago we told NHK we were not interested in a contract with them. The NHK guy got all huffy about it but they haven't been back since.

[Taka-Okami]

Never understood that payment for NHK. If it's a government run service then surely it would be funded from the tax payer. Wouldn't the simple thing to do is just increase the tax rate if they are so hard up for cash....

[Wage Slave]

Never understood that payment for NHK. If it's a government run service then surely it would be funded from the tax payer. Wouldn't the simple thing to do is just increase the tax rate if they are so hard up for cash....

Have a look at Donald Trump's plan for public broadcasting. And enjoy Fox news.

[FG Lurker]

Have a look at Donald Trump's plan for public broadcasting. And enjoy Fox news.

NHK is the closest thing to Fox news that there is on Japanese TV, no? Very conservative, heavily slanted in favor of the right wing LDP.

Edit: And the J-gov't will always make sure NHK has cash, NHK is their propaganda arm. The US gov't doesn't have to fund public broadcast for that purpose, Fox is doing it already.

[Takechanpoo]

NHK is the closest thing to Fox news that there is on Japanese TV, no? Very conservative, heavily slanted in favor of the right wing LDP.

among japanese, nhk has been notorious as left-winger, liberal and anti-japan since the formation.
you stil havnt watched their recent unit 731 documentary yet?
i guess there exists the left-winger faction and the abe-follower faction inside nhk.

[Coligny]

Sooo... in the Life according to Ga... hem... Takarembe... what the locals consider as too far left is what normal people consider far right..

Just illustrate how deep the shit is on this island...
Have to wait to see what local antifa look like in this bizarro world...

[matsuki]

the J-gov't will always make sure NHK has cash, NHK is their propaganda arm.

I thought that was AKB?

[FG Lurker]

I don't think it is difficult to see how the supreme court will rule in this case. I'd be shocked if they actually rule in favor of the general population over the propagandists.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004047223

Guess we'll find out sometime soonish.

[Takechanpoo]

the propagandists

as i said before, nhk has been regarded for a long time as liberal or lefty or even anti-japan among the japanese nationals.
and its one of the main reasons some of j-nationals have rejected to pay the fee.
actually you havent yet watched their recent documentary about 731? as always, netouyos call the documentary anti-japan.
my guess is that there are "old guard" liberal faction and pro-abe faction inside nhk and the latter is getting to be strong.

[wangta]

It seems that every year NHK sends out "warning letters" to a number of homes and organizations that haven't entered into the contract, and have actually followed up with court cases (civil, this is not a criminal issue). They make a big deal about it every time, I assume to show how serious they are and scare a few more people into contracting. There's a standard form letter that they publish to announce this each time. The most recent one that I know of, 14 warnings sent in Miyagi and Fukushima, is linked below (in Japanese).

https://pid.nhk.or.jp/pid99/osk/000000/000038893.pdf
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What scumbags NHK are - esp considering what Migayi and Fukushima people have been thru since 2011 in the aftermath of those huge disasters. You'd think the national broadcaster would have some understanding that doing this to these people especially, is and looks pretty fucking low.

A gaijin neighbour gets regular letters from NHK stating his name and address, and teling him that his NHK debt is now over 40,000 yen - not sure of the exact figure cause I see the letters in a communal trash bin we have outside our apartment. I don't know the bloke, he looks a bit of a cunt who has a deadset look on his face that tells everybody to not talk to him. But I'm wondering why he's getting personally addressed letters adding up an unpaid NHK bill and I aint.

Pretty sure he never made a contract. Just as I never have here. Maybe the fudosan dobbed him in but in that case NHK would probably be sending letters to nearly everybody here and that's not happening.

[matsuki]

Where's the NHK documentary on NHK collections?

[Takechanpoo]

as of this documentary, even the chinese communist party issued a statement that they highly rate it.

[legion]

It seems that every year NHK sends out "warning letters" to a number of homes and organizations that haven't entered into the contract, and have actually followed up with court cases (civil, this is not a criminal issue). They make a big deal about it every time, I assume to show how serious they are and scare a few more people into contracting. There's a standard form letter that they publish to announce this each time. The most recent one that I know of, 14 warnings sent in Miyagi and Fukushima, is linked below (in Japanese).

https://pid.nhk.or.jp/pid99/osk/000000/000038893.pdf
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

What scumbags NHK are - esp considering what Migayi and Fukushima people have been thru since 2011 in the aftermath of those huge disasters. You'd think the national broadcaster would have some understanding that doing this to these people especially, is and looks pretty fucking low.

If it was the UK they'd be sending letters to plots of land with weeds growing on them close to the sea.
I've been to Ishinomaki.

[FG Lurker]

But I'm wondering why he's getting personally addressed letters adding up an unpaid NHK bill and I aint.

Pretty sure he never made a contract.

If he's getting letters directly addressed to him with a specific unpaid amount then it's likely he put his name down on a piece of paper at some point. He probably didn't understand what he was getting himself into, of course.

[Taro Toporific]

Things are looking grim, depending on whether NHK's newest extortion scheme includes actual penalties and real teeth for enforcement.

Supreme Court: TV owners must pay subscription fees to NHK
asahi.com | 2017 Dec. 6
The Supreme Court on Dec. 6 ruled that all TV owners in Japan must pay subscription fees to Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), a decision that could have major ramifications on daily life.
In the lawsuit heard before all 15 justices, the top court said for the first time that a Broadcast Law provision, which requires individuals who have installed TV reception equipment in their homes to sign subscription contracts with NHK, was constitutional.
The case involved a man who installed a TV at his home in March 2006. In September 2011, public broadcaster NHK asked the man to sign a subscription contract, but the man refused because he felt NHK was biased in its broadcasting...
<snip>
...NHK lawyers said a contract was established automatically when it asked that a contract be signed. Based on that reasoning, the public broadcaster said the defendant should pay subscription fees retroactively from the time the TV set was installed.
The defendant argued that the contract only came into effect with the finalization of a court ruling ordering the defendant to accept the contract, and that the obligation to pay subscription fees only arose after the contract came into effect.
The rulings also concluded that the defendant was required to pay subscription fees retroactively from the time the TV set was installed...more shit...

[wagyl]

I predict a sodai gomi bonanza in electronics!

[FG Lurker]

It still seems that NHK will have to take every non-signer to court (20% of households) if they want to force signups. Besides the impossibility of doing that for the number of households involved it would be extremely expensive for them as Japan does not award legal fees in most (all?) court cases.

[matsuki]

I predict a sodai gomi bonanza in electronics!

Or better screening for unannounced visitors? The baba landlord where I live insists on manually locking the building entrance rather than forking over money for a proper auto-lock system but inevitably it gets left unlocked and the bible thumpers, NHK, and other solicitors weasel their way in.

I've been visited several times in the past couple years and haven't had much of an issue telling them I own a projector and a PC but no TV/TV tuner. They still try the whole 1-seg hail mary by asking if you have a keitai but I always smile and say "aren't iphones great?!" (no 1-seg) More and more people I know in the states are "cutting the cable" and sticking to online streaming so not hard to imagine that happening here...as well as an increase in physical DVD sales