34 Facts About NHK

1.

Japan Broadcasting Corporation, known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster.

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2.

NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.

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3.

NHK operates two terrestrial television channels, four satellite television channels, and three radio networks .

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4.

NHK provides an international broadcasting service, known as NHK World-Japan.

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5.

NHK was the first broadcaster in the world to broadcast in high-definition and in 8K.

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6.

NHK was modelled on the BBC of the United Kingdom, and the merger and reorganisation was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war Ministry of Communications.

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7.

NHK began shortwave broadcasting on an experimental basis in the 1930s, and began regular English- and Japanese-language shortwave broadcasts in 1935 under the name Radio Japan, initially aimed at ethnic Japanese listeners in Hawaii and the west coast of North America.

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8.

NHK started television broadcasting in the same year, followed by its educational TV channel in 1959 and color television broadcasts in 1960.

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9.

NHK opened the first stage of its current headquarters in Japan's capital city's special ward Shibuya as an international broadcasting center for the 1964 Summer Olympics, the first widely televised Olympic Games.

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10.

NHK began digital television broadcasting in December 2000 through BS Digital, followed by terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in three major metropolitan areas in 2003.

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11.

From 1963 to 1999, NHK published the journal Studies of broadcasting: an international annual of broadcasting science.

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12.

NHK is a dependent corporation chartered by the Japanese Broadcasting Act and primarily funded by license fees.

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13.

NHK World broadcasting is funded by the Japanese government.

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14.

The annual budget of NHK is subject to review and approval by the Diet of Japan.

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15.

NHK is managed on a full-time basis by an executive board consisting of a president, vice president and seven to ten managing directors who oversee the areas of NHK operations.

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16.

NHK is funded by reception fees, a system analogous to the license fee used in some English-speaking countries.

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17.

The Broadcasting Act which governs NHK's funding stipulates anyone with equipment able to receive NHK must pay.

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18.

However, the Broadcasting Act specifies no punitive actions for nonpayment; as a result, after a rash of NHK-related scandals including an accounting one, the number of people who had not paid the license fee surpassed one million watchers.

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19.

In 2006, the NHK opted to take legal action against those most flagrantly in violation of the law.

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20.

News on NHK BS1 is aired at 50 minutes past the hour except during live sport events.

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21.

NHK offers news for the deaf, regional news and children's news.

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22.

Under the Broadcasting Act, NHK is under the obligation to broadcast early warning emergency reporting in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

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23.

Since 1953, NHK has broadcast the Kohaku Uta Gassen song contest on New Year's Eve, ending shortly before midnight.

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24.

NHK is making efforts at broadcasting dramas made in foreign countries as overseas drama.

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25.

NHK banned short-term stock trading completed in periods of six months or less for all other employees.

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26.

On 24 July 2013, a reporter at NHK Metropolitan Broadcasting Center died of congestive heart failure.

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27.

Ryoichi Ueda, the chairman of NHK, visited the reporter's parents' home and apologized to them.

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28.

NHK has occasionally faced various criticisms for its treatment of Japan's wartime history.

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29.

Katsuto Momii, the 21st head of NHK, caused controversy by discussing Japan's actions in World War II at his first news conference after being appointed on 20 December 2013.

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30.

One of the groups, the Viewers' Community to Observe and Encourage NHK, issued a public letter asking for the resignation of Momii on the grounds the remarks he made at his inaugural press conference were explosive.

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31.

On 10 June 2020, NHK apologized and took down an 80-second video about the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd protests that was criticized for its "crude" animation of protesters and its focus on economic inequality rather than police brutality.

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32.

On 9 January 2022, NHK issued an apology over false allegations made in Director Naomi Kawase's Tokyo Olympics documentary.

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33.

NHK Osaka cited "editorial oversights" and "deficiencies in research, " issuing an apology.

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34.

NHK denied that the footage was deliberately fabricated to mislead the public.

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