No Escape From The NHK Man?

[Mulboyne]

DHC, huh? Well, they've certainly got infinitely deep pockets, so if anyone has a successful go at Nishimura, it will probably be them.

Definitely. But they might hang back if Debito also has an action because I'm sure they'd rather the gaijin - or in his case, white Japanese guy - took the brickbats from disgruntled 2ch users.

On the NHK fee, I mentioned before that if non-payment is judged by the courts to be an offence then most FGs will have no choice but to pay since a conviction would jeopardize your visa status.

[Taro Toporific]

On the NHK fee, I mentioned before that if non-payment is judged by the courts to be an offence then most FGs will have no choice but to pay since a conviction would jeopardize your visa status.

Gee from what I read, I was under the delusion that this summary court (kan'i saibansho) action NHK has initiated is to collect fees via a civil suit, not a criminal suit. It turns out that civil vs criminal suit distinction in a lot cloudier in Japan.

As of yet, no one has actually gone before the court for non-payment of NHK fees. However, I mistakenly thought the result would be just a monitary judgement and lien, not a "conviction" and fine (criminal). Saaa, I know nothing about Japanese law.

[quote] Summary Court

There are 438 Summary Courts throughout Japan. All cases are presided over by a single Summary Court judge. The Summary Courts’]

[Taro Toporific]

The noose tightens....


NHK to seek court order for non-paying viewers
Japan Today, Wednesday, November 29, 2006 at 07:15 EST
TOKYO --Public broadcaster NHK said Tuesday it will file a request with the Tokyo Summary Court on Wednesday seeking a court order for 33 households in Tokyo to pay their subscription fees that the broadcaster says remain unpaid despite its requests for payment.
After this first ever legal action to be taken for the nonpayment issue, NHK said it will begin targeting similar households in Kanagawa and Osaka prefectures by next spring before enforcing the policy across the country. Failing to comply with the demand will pave the way for a court-enforced collection of unpaid fees after certain procedures are followed, it said.

[FG Lurker]

It's going to be interesting to watch unfold.

They're going after people who have entered into contracts to pay but have stopped paying, right?

I've never paid an NHK fee and have specifically told the collector on many occasions that I will not enter into a contract with NHK (from many years ago). This pisses them off to no end, it's quite funny. I wonder how long it will take them to get around to the no-contract people like me...

[Taro Toporific]

I.. specifically told the collector on many occasions that I will not enter into a contract with NHK (from many years ago). This pisses them off to no end, it's quite funny. I wonder how long it will take them to get around to the no-contract people like me...

It may take forever because NHK announced (I heard just a bit of it on their TV news in Japanese) last week that in 2007 they will stop all door-to-door collections and reassign those personnel.
That sounds gr-r-reat but.... I can guess that NHK is planning to a change in the law that will force payments and those reassigned personnel will form the backbone of a new NHK enforcement arm.

[Taro Toporific]

5 households go to court against NHK fee nonpayment
japan today > japan > national
Saturday, December 23, 2006 at 07:27 EST
TOKYO ---NHK said Friday that five of the 33 Tokyo households from which it sought payment of viewership fees through a summary court have lodged a protest, and lawsuits against them have been filed to seek the payments. The five households include one that offered to pay fees due in installments but no details have been given about the remaining four households....more ...

[Captain Japan]

NHK subscription fees to be made mandatory, cut by 20%: Suga

(Kyodo) _ The Japanese government will introduce a bill to the regular session of parliament that convenes on Jan. 25 to make the payment of NHK subscription fees mandatory, while the fees will be reduced by roughly 20 percent, communications minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, the minister said the mandatory payment of fees to watch the national broadcaster's television services will be implemented from the business year that begins April 2008.

"We must establish a transparent structure. If things go on unchanged, there will be no sense of equality and uncertainty will spread," he said in an apparent reference to the large number of people who refuse to pay monthly dues to the public broadcaster.

Suga also revealed plans to call on the broadcaster to draw up business improvement plans that include spinning off its sports and entertainment divisions into separate companies.

There's no word on how they plan on collecting these fees.

[Taro Toporific]

NHK subscription fees to be made mandatory, cut by 20%: Suga

There's no word on how they plan on collecting these fees.

My guess is the first step NHK will take is to send a mandatory to all people they have a billing address from a former contract. At the same time they could just put a bill in everyone's mailbox asking them to "confess" and sign up or else be fined 10zillion yen.

IHT/Asahi: January 12, 2007)
....The payment rate has dropped from around 80 percent to 70 percent. Government officials shared a view that NHK could further anger the public with the compulsory viewer fees, so they came up with the price-cutting plan for color terrestrial subscription contracts, sources said.
When paying directly to NHK fee collectors, the current monthly rate is 1,395 yen.
With the legal revisions, the ministry estimates that the payment rate could be improved to 80 to 85 percent in five years. NHK could then expect an increase of 75 billion yen to 120 billion yen in annual revenue.
With that increase in mind, the ministry decided to ask NHK to reduce the fees by about 20 percent.
But if the subscription payment becomes mandatory at a reduced rate, the increase in payments might not cover the losses stemming from the reduced fees in the initial stage. That would force NHK to make further efforts to cut costs.(IHT/Asahi: January 12, 2007)

[GomiGirl]

How is it collected in the US or are all the networks privately funded?

In Australia and the UK, it is a tax.

[Taro Toporific]

How is it collected in the US or are all the networks privately funded?

In Australia and the UK, it is a tax.

Oh you poor people---you've never had to enjoy a PBS or NPR pledge drive.

PBS (Wiki ref)is the US public broadcasting television service, a non-profit. PBS stations are commonly operated by non-profit organizations, state agencies, local authorities (e.g., municipal boards of education), or universities in their community of license. The Federal government kicks in 30%, the public freely donates 40% and corporations make tax write-off donations for the rest. Despite the "disruptive fundraising" of pledge drives (parodied on the Simpsons), as a whole the system works "good 'nough" despite the bleating of the right-wingers (PBS and NPR can be anti-government liberal leaning).


DISCLAIMER: My family and I have worked for PBS and NPR (radio) as volunteers for decades.

[GomiGirl]

Well the ABC (Australia) and the BBC in the UK make fantastic programs - drama, current affairs and of course news - TV and radio. As the programming is so good and professional, I have no qualms spending extra tax on this.

The commercial channels have their place too of course, but if you want serious news, one always looks towards "Auntie".

[capsule]

Everytime the NHK dude has come to my door I simply tell him I don't have a TV.
Case closed. I don't believe they can force entry into your home/apartment to search for one now can they? Or atleast not yet.

[Taro Toporific]

The NHK man was just at the entrance hall of my condo, but I just said a polite, "No thank you" (keiko desu).
I was under the impression NHK had already stopped their door-knocking campaigns and they are planning to start to force payment at the end of March.
I just went online I found this ray of hope.
[INDENT]NHK fee tug-of-war begins / Public broadcaster resisting ministry's push for 20% fee cut
DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri) Feb. 9, 2007
....A bill the [Internal Affairs and Communications] Ministry will submit to the current Diet session to revise the Broadcast Law likely will incorporate a plan to make fee payments obligatory in fiscal 2008 to stabilize NHK's finances.
[ministry head] Suga said that as the compulsory payments would increase revenues, NHK should return the profits to viewers, including the expenses it cuts. Suga asked that NHK cut the fee by 20 percent when the fee payment becomes obligatory.
.....the draft bill to revise the Broadcast Law does not include punitive measures for nonpayers, it remains to be seen whether the payment rate will increase rapidly....
[/INDENT]

[mercury]

These fools cant figure it out. They should make it subscription if you want to watch the bullshit. Just like star channel, wow wow and the rest. If you dont watch it why should you pay...jeeesh dumazzez


State to drop mandatory NHK fee push for now

The government will scrap plans to make NHK subscription fees mandatory during the current Diet session, government sources said Thursday.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has judged it difficult to include the provisions in a bill to be submitted to the Diet because NHK refused to present fee cuts and management reform plans at an early enough date. The current Diet session ends June 23.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga said NHK needs to cut subscription fees by 20 percent and to promote management reforms before the fees can become mandatory.

The ministry asked NHK to present its plan as a condition for making the fee payments mandatory under revisions to the Broadcast Law during the current Diet session.

"We'd like the ministry to wait until September," NHK Chairman Genichi Hashimoto said of the requested plans at a news conference Thursday.

Households and businesses with TV sets are required to sign subscription contracts with NHK under the current Broadcast Law, but the law does not specify that viewers are required to pay subscription fees.

The law also does not carry penalties for failing to make payments.

The fees make up most of NHK's revenue.

Scandals at NHK, including embezzlement by a producer and alleged censorship, have prompted hundreds of thousands of viewers to refuse to pay the subscription fees in recent years.

NHK last year started legal action against targeted nonpayers, hoping the move would get others to pay up.

[AssKissinger]

The word BULLSHIT is traditionally written in all caps on FG, often in boldface. Also, there's lots of threads about this. That being said, I couldn't agree with you more. NHK's collections policy is like an English teacher sitting next to someone on a bus, chatting with them and at the end of the deal charging them for a lesson they didn't ask for in the first place. I never paid them a cent ever.

[Taro Toporific]

These fools cant figure it out. They should make it subscription if you want to watch the bullshit. Just like star channel, wow wow and the rest. If you don't watch it, why should you pay...jeeesh dumazzez


State to drop mandatory NHK fee push for now.

My guess NHK is waiting for Japan to all-digital for terrestrial broadcasting in the summer 2011(?) and then they will plug on anybody who doesn't pay.

[Captain Japan]

NHK enjoys revenue, profit rise
Kyodo News/Japan Times

NHK has said both its revenue and profit rose in business 2006 for the first time in three years thanks to a recovery in subscription payments.

Revenues, more than 95 percent of which come from subscription fees, rose by 8.8 billion yen during the year to March 31 to 643.2 billion yen, while expenditures were cut by 10.2 billion yen to end up at 619.8 billion yen, NHK said.

I don't have any idea why people would decide to start paying again.

[rooboy]

They're gonna make all fucked gaijin and fucked Japanese pay for tv broadcasting in 2011. The switch to all digital will provide the excuse needed for a shift to a user pays system for all the tv stations in Japan.

I can't imagine there will be free to air tv in the real sense of the word after 2011, especially as Japan has a raft of fees and charges that you don't have to pay in your home country - neighbourhood fees for a start, all sorts of extra charges for everything you use etc. Betya you'll have to subscribe to stations like KBC etc as well as NHK, for ordinary shows.

In NHK's case they'll just pull the plug on those who don't pay the fee, whether they're refusing to pay or refusing to sign up. Lucky us!

[IkemenTommy]

I seem to be on NHK's excrement list because the NHK man always come ringing my doorbell when they have the chance. Now, I am so paranoid that I will never answer the bell to let them in the auto-lock unless I am expecting a package.

[Taro Toporific]

[SIZE="4"]PROOF [/SIZE]there is "No Escape From The NHK Man"....
[INDENT]
NHK fee collector arrested for chopping up ex-wife's body
MSN-Mainichi---June 14, 2007
A fee collector for public broadcaster NHK who turned himself in to police, saying he had chopped up his former wife's body, was arrested Thursday along with a female roommate on suspicion of mutilating a corpse, police said.
Investigators said the fee collector, Koji Shiga, 47, turned himself in at Takenotsuka Police Station at about 1:50 a.m. on Monday, saying, "I've cut up my former wife's corpse."....[/INDENT]

[IkemenTommy]

[SIZE="4"]PROOF [/SIZE]there is "No Escape From The NHK Man"....
[INDENT]
NHK fee collector arrested for chopping up ex-wife's body
MSN-Mainichi---June 14, 2007
A fee collector for public broadcaster NHK who turned himself in to police, saying he had chopped up his former wife's body, was arrested Thursday along with a female roommate on suspicion of mutilating a corpse, police said.
Investigators said the fee collector, Koji Shiga, 47, turned himself in at Takenotsuka Police Station at about 1:50 a.m. on Monday, saying, "I've cut up my former wife's corpse."....[/INDENT]

This was all over today's morning wide-show. This NHK man was living with his new wife under the same roof with his ex-wife and their kids. This is typically something you hear back in the US. Pretty fucked up.

[Greji]

This NHK man was living with his new wife under the same roof with his ex-wife and their kids. This is typically something you hear back in the US. Pretty fucked up.

I think that would be pretty fucking great if you could pull it off. That is providing that you can still keep all portions of your own anatomy intact and attached!

[GomiGirl]

Dismemberment is really fashionable amongst murderers these days isn't it???

[Mulboyne]

Dismemberment is really fashionable amongst murderers these days isn't it???

It's a metaphor for a divided society.

[Taro Toporific]

[SIZE="3"]NHK considering 3 plans to cut subscription fees[/SIZE]
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 16:52 EDT
Japan Today - News - TOKYO----- Public broadcaster NHK is examining three plans to reduce monthly subscription fees for households, informed sources said Wednesday.
Under one of the three plans, the broadcaster, which also goes by the name of Japan Broadcasting Corp. in English, is considering making a 100 yen cut...more...:banana:

[Captain Japan]

[Captain Japan]

Genichi Hashimoto, seeen here in 2006, the head of Japan's public broadcaster NHK announced his resignation on Monday to take responsibility for reporters' alleged involvement in insider trading. (AFP/File/Toshifumi Kitamura )

[Greji]

NHK President Hashimoto to resign over insider trading by staff
Kyodo

So the guy offers to resign two days before his retirement?

Of course. However, it is so much more than simply just an early retirement. It is a magnificent gesture of taking responsibility on his part by forfeiting two whole days of his career to be subtracted from his million dollar-plus retirement settlement!

[james]

[SIZE="3"]NHK considering 3 plans to cut subscription fees[/SIZE]
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 16:52 EDT
Japan Today - News - TOKYO----- Public broadcaster NHK is examining three plans to reduce monthly subscription fees for households, informed sources said Wednesday.
Under one of the three plans, the broadcaster, which also goes by the name of Japan Broadcasting Corp. in English, is considering making a 100 yen cut...more...:banana:

i'd just as soon go for and "opt-out completely and not watch this stupid crap" option if it were available. for now i'll just do the latter and not pay any fees.

[DrP]

The NHK guy basically stalks my house. I told him we have at least 7 TV's and watch all of them continuously. Though, none of them are used for terrestrial broadcast reception - only direct connection to stb's, DVD/HD players, vod adapters and cctv.