So i bought a tv a couple months ago, only for the purposes of gaming. Its not connected to anything except my xbox, and isnt intended to be. When i was buying it the guys at joshin offered me a cable set up, and when i told them this, they seemed to nod as if that meant nothing more was required.
However i keep getting mail asking me to set up an nhk tv contract, even though nothing i own can access nhk. Google hasnt been totally clear if the contract is about the device itself, or the ability to connect to nhk. Can i just continue to ignore these? Or is there a chance i might get into trouble?
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I think as long as you have no way to connect to NHK, in a demonstrable way, you should be fine.
But definitely best to consult a lawyer.
Partially I am also a bit confused about the specifics. I think they mentioned that if you have something that can connect to NHK you would have to, even if you didn’t want to. However, if there is a device that can’t, you shoud be fine. Emphasis on should. However, someone came to my door before saying my smart phone could connect so I had to pay, so it depends on a lot. (Though I do believe he was lying).
You would be required to sign up for NHK if you own a TV. Will there be any consequences if you don’t? As of now, no, but looks like that might be changing in the future.
Iirc they can charge you only when a rep visually confirms the possibility of using the service. Or if you voluntarily sign up, which is what they seem to be trying to get you to do
If they show up tell them to piss off
Most people would tell you to just ignore and don’t answer if they knock on your door.
If you ask NHK, they’ll tell you you need to pay even if you have a smartphone or computer, since **technically** you could access their content online.
*bought a tv*
TV as in a box that has built-in receiver that can receive broadcast OTA ? Then, you have to pay NHK . You should buy a display monitor.
Technically it’s required by law if you own a TV.
That’s why some companies started selling TV’s without the antennae installed. That being said, you can just ignore them and not have any penalties.
Have a TV that can hook up an antenna and watch NHK? Then yes, you are required to pay $$$$$ to NHK.
I would recommend tunerless TV or a monitor to stay safe.
Own a car with GPS and built-in TV? Pay NHK! lol
Lmao ignore them and let them cry about it, they can’t barge into your house to see if you have a TV 😂
If the NHK comes to your door, you can’t bust their heads, but one trick is to tell them stories that don’t go anywhere, like the time I caught the ferry over to Chiba. I needed a new sole for my geta, so I decided to go to Kazusa, which is what they called Chiba in those days. So, I tied an daikon to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a sen. And in those days, sen had pictures of dragons on ‘em. ‘Give me ten dragons for a chrysanthemum!’ you’d say. Now, where were we? Oh, yeah! The important thing was that I had a daikon on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white daikon, because of the Sakoku. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.
Nope, you can`t legally as for some years NHK has even regarded cellphones capable of receiving their signal as grounds for paying the NHK – no matter what horseshizz that is. NHK is getting tougher, not easier, and is taking people who repeatedly refuse to pay their invoices to court.
Even tho those people are a select number of cases who signed up and have ignored the invoices for years, it still shows us what NHK is prepared to do. The law requires everybody with a device capable of transmitting the NHK signal to pay up but here`s the deal – if you don`t sign up in the first place, then you won`t get taken to court.
You`ll just get bombarded with payment invoices with the yen amount getting higher and higher as you don`t pay. But if you sign the NHK contract, then it gets tricky. I`ve never seen any collectors, never answer my door to people I don`t know apart from obvious Amazon or Uber deliverers for example and I`ve never signed up.
And hearing about the J fascists on the NHK management board – those people are POS and pushed we never did anything at Nanjing among other far right propaganda. Not everyone on that board does that and not everything NHK does is like that but that was enough for me apart from the fact I see no value in giggling presenters talking about J food, the news service which other stations do better and their favorite gaijins doing the usual Japan is special routines. Yeah I know NHK has a disaster warning service but I get that from my smartphone thanks.
No, I don’t think you need to worry about it. You can ignore them. They might try to sound tough and say “It’s Japanese law” but nah, nothing ever comes of it in my and others’ experience.
If you want to prepare just in case: buy an old broken TV on Merukari. Take it to the city to dispose of it and keep the little receipt / paper. Then if anyone ever asks, you can say you no longer own a TV and provide proof. This is how people cancel NHK contracts they made decades ago as well. It works.
I’ve posted this before but I’ll post again:
If you have an intercom or door camera:
Door: “Bing-bong!”
Me: “Hai!”
NHK: “NHK desu! Matsumoto to moushimasu!”
Me: “NHK desuka? Hai, shosho o machi kudasai.” (Go back to watching TV).
7 minutes later:
Door: “Bing-bong!”
Me: “Hai!”
NHK: “NHK desu! Matsumoto to moushimasu!”
Me: “NHK desuka? Hai, shosho o machi kudasai.” (Go back to watching TV).
Last time it happened the process repeated about 5 times before poor Matsumoto San gave up on that commission.
According to the regulation, if it’s capable of receiving NHK broadcasts you’re supposed to make a contract. If it’s just a monitor without a built-in tuner, then it doesn’t require a contract. Whenever the NHK guy comes around here I tell him he needs to come back when the 大家さん is home.
“Don’t open the door for someone you don’t know or aren’t expecting” is the 100% best advice. Some NHK people are fine and will go away when you say 日本語食べません but others will pull pamphlets in a dozen languages out, aggressively argue with you (“you don’t have a tv? What do you do? Do you have a smartphone?”), and even try to push into your place to look. When I was a student my small-framed Chinese classmate said the nhk guy tried to push past her to look and only left when she screamed for help. She called the police and they told her “yeah they can be aggressive, don’t open the door to them”.
Don’t open the door and you’ll be fine.
Just say you got corona if anyone comes over.
In short, you seem to be safe.
According to the ”Fees for receiving broadcasts” laws, if you have a device capable of receiving NHK, you are supposed to pay those fees. There will be one contract per head of family in the household.
Just fyi, the only people who can get exemption or partial exemption are those with disabilities (under Japanese laws) or those receiving some welfare assistance from the city hall.
I remember having studied a case that the government sued a family back in 2017. NHK won and they likely win in any cases where the head of the family, owning a device that NHK can be watched has never paid at all.
Below is the law:
Section 6 Fees for Receiving Broadcasts（受信契約及び受信料）
(Reception Contracts and Fees for Receiving Broadcasts)
Article 64(1) says *Persons installing reception equipment capable of receiving NHK broadcasts conclude a contract with NHK for the reception of those broadcasts; provided, however, that this does not apply to those persons who have installed reception equipment not intended for the reception of broadcasts or reception equipment only capable of receiving radio broadcasts (meaning broadcasts comprising of voices and other sounds that do not come under television broadcasting or multiple broadcasting;*
Article (2) says *NHK must not exempt the fees for receiving broadcasts to be collected from persons who have concluded a contract pursuant to the provisions of the main text of the preceding paragraph unless the exemption is pursuant to the standards which have been authorized by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in advance.*
Article (3) says *NHK must obtain authorization from the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in advance with regard to the terms of the contract set forth in paragraph (1). The same applies when making amendments thereto.*
Article (4) says *Broadcasts which are simultaneous un-edited re-transmissions of NHK broadcasts are deemed to be NHK broadcasts, and the three preceding paragraphs apply to the broadcasts.*
nihongo tabemasen
I usually just tell them “Sorry I don’t understand. I am on holiday. AirBnB” Seems to work most of the time. I make sure I lay on the Aussie acsent also.
No, you are required to pay them.
Basically the rule is that it must be impossible; or at least non trivial for your TV to receive signal for it to escape the rule. Buying a cable is trivial.
You would need a way to permanently disable it, such as destroying the tuner or soldering up something in the antenna port.
I you don’t have a contract with them there is no penalty for not paying so just say “no thank you” and close the door. You are not obligated to sit and talk with them.
Is the mail addressed to you specifically or just ‘whoever is living at this location’? If it’s the latter, I think it’s just mass-mail from them and can be ignored.
But I do agree with others that you should have bought a good gaming monitor instead…
Don’t worry, the The NHK folks will spend the money on car sex.
Car sex is illegal in Japan!
No! More Crime!
You don’t have to, and if the NHK guys come to your house just say you don’t have a TV in heavy gaijin accent
(sause: me)
Surprised a front door “NO TV” sticker hasn’t been invented yet.
Wow, deja vu. I told one guy that I only use it for my Series X and he said something like “maybe it’s okay”, and he left. Clearly it wasn’t because someone came back a few weeks later, but I didn’t open the door and I haven’t had anyone come by since like June.
After much negotiation, I was able to send them my never used card from the TV I was using as a monitor, but had never connected to their network. I have not heard from them for over 7 years.
I did the same thing (bought a tv for gaming purposes). Never got a knock at my door but I did get a number of letters. After a couple months, they stopped coming. Importantly, I never installed the little chip that would make receiving a signal possible.
My former SO worked in the TV industry and when they came to our door, she would explain that:
1. We will not pay.
2. She would love for them to pursue it legally and create a huge story to cover, which would result in others doing the same.
3. The sooner they leave, the more effectively their time would be spent.
It appears we disappeared from their list.
Lived here for 10 years, just saying I am too busy right now and closing the door works. Or just check the door cam and if it is a dude in a suit ignore it.
They came a knocking a few times, thankfully I live in a mansion building, so they can’t come up unless I open the glass doors at the lobby. I either ignore them, or tell them I don’t speak Japanese. There was once they sent an English speaking person, so I switched to mandarin instead. Works every single time. For the record, I don’t own a TV.
I actually like their services and don’t mind paying….
I’ve been ignoring them for 17 years. Just never answer your door unless you know who it is, if you mistakingly let them in then just speak English and say “no thank you” over and over again then close the door.
Once you sign up they own you, do everything possible to avoid signing anything.
I just told them I don’t get nhk and and my car doesn’t get nhk either. Both true as where I live is just at the base of a mountain. Oddly though there’s a tower on the top of the mountain but I live too close… go figure. Anyways they ended up refunding me for 10 months of paying (from the time I moved there). I’ll be paying again once I move I suppose. I’m totally not against paying for a public non political (well at least not very far one way or another) channel, just wish they just took it out of our taxes as people who don’t get the channel should support the the public spread of knowledge.
“Terebi tabemasen”
I trash the invoices that they been sending to me and I don’t open the door when they come over in the late evening. I am aware that NHK been trying lobby the Government to make it mandatory for all citizens to pay for NHK services… The only time I watch NHK is usually in the waiting room at the local hospital. I watch T.V. (NON-NHK) channels for news only… Rest of the time on the internet or outside..
Y’all open the door for strangers?
16 years and I haven’t had to speak to an NHK guy yet. I’m sure they’ve come by, but if they don’t have food I ordered and aren’t wearing a delivery uniform, I’m not opening that door.
Are y’all just bored and wanna mess with them?
The absolute fastest way to get rid of the NHK guy if they ever happen to knock on your door is to just tell them, politely, 「帰ってください」. As soon as you ask them to leave, them staying for longer than it would reasonably take to leave your premises becomes trespassing, and they know that. NHK is civil (and isn’t necessarily enforced), trespassing is criminal.