NHK World-Japan

NHK World-Japan (also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese state-controlled public broadcaster. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-service broadcasters such as the British BBC (BBC World Service, BBC World News, etc.), France 24 or the German DW, among many others. Contents are broadcast through shortwave radio, satellite and cable operators throughout the world, as well as online and through its mobile apps. It is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

NHK World-Japan
CountryJapan
Broadcast areaWorldwide
SloganWidening Horizons[1]
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Programming
Language(s)Japanese, English
Picture format1080i 16:9 (HDTV)
Ownership
OwnerNHK
(Government of Japan)
Sister channels
History
Launched1 April 1998 (1998-04-01)
Links
Websitewww3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital terrestrial television
(United States)
Streaming media
NHK World-JapanWatch live (available worldwide)
NHK World Radio JapanListen live (available worldwide)

NHK World-Japan currently provides three main broadcast services: an English-language current affairs TV channel of the same name, a multilingual radio service (NHK World Radio Japan), and a Japanese-language general/entertainment TV service (NHK World Premium). NHK World-Japan also makes most of its programming available through its website (either live or on demand).[2][3] A Chinese version of the news TV channel, NHK华语视界 (NHK Huayu Shijie), which essentially provides news and select programs from NHK World-Japan in Mandarin dubbing and/or subtitles, was launched on 15 January 2019[4] and is only distributed online.

The branch was rebranded from its former name of NHK World in April 2018.[5]

Television

NHK World-Japan (rolling news channel)

NHK began international TV broadcasting services for North America and Europe in 1995. On April 1, 1998, then-called NHK World Television started broadcasting. Today's NHK World-Japan is a current affairs and cultural channel that broadcasts internationally via satellite and cable TV. Programming is produced in English only. It began as a news channel in February 2009. NHK World-Japan's free-to-air broadcasts have been available in high definition by satellite since then, and NHK World-Japan HD currently broadcasts from 105.5°E, 68.5°E, Astra 28.2°E, Astra 19.2°E, 58°W, and 99°W.[6]

Some of the shows are produced by production studio JIB TV, which is 60% owned by NHK, with the remaining 40% owned by private investors like Microsoft and Japanese bank Mizuho. The "NHK World-Japan" DOG logo is not used at all when shows produced by JIB TV are aired as a paid programming.

NHK World Premium (entertainment channel)
Main article: NHK World Premium

NHK World Premium broadcasts a mixture of news, sports and entertainment in Japanese language worldwide, via satellite and cable providers, as a subscription service mostly targeted at Japanese expatriates.

It is marketed with that very name in several regions of the world, including Asia, Oceania and Latin America. In Europe, NHK World Premium's contents are shown instead on JSTV-branded subscription channels run by NHK Cosmomedia Europe and headquartered in the UK. The service is known as テレビジャパン (TV Japan) in the US, which is run by NHK Cosmomedia America. Contents generally do not carry English subtitles.

Programs

TV programs by NHK shown on its international outlets include:[7]

  • Cool Japan: Hosted by Shoji Kokami and Risa Stegmayer; some aspects of Japanese customs are considered "cool" by foreigners. Cool Japan is a television show that illustrates the quickly changing Japanese culture and how it is perceived by the international community that have recently made Japan their home.
  • J-Melo: A music program hosted by May J., featuring the latest developments in Japanese music, selections of hit songs, and diverse material from a wide range of different music genres - pop, rock, jazz and classical.
  • NHK Newsline: A news program with updates every hour, covering world events and business-related news, as well as providing global weather forecasts.
    • Biz Stream: A weekly business news program featuring the main stories of the week with guest expert analysis.
  • Somewhere Street: A travel program which explores a different city each episode, from a tourist's perspective walking through a city.
  • Today's Close-up: dubbed current affairs program from the NHK's domestic network.
  • Begin Japanology and Japanology Plus: A Japanese culture and lifestyle television show with Peter Barakan.[8]
  • Japan-easy: An educational program used to learn basics of the Japanese language using English language. The program is available in both curriculums, latter known as Japan-easy II. Each curriculum has 24 episodes.[9]

Radio

NHK World Radio Japan (RJ) broadcasts a weekly lineup of news, current affairs, cultural and educative radio program focusing on Japan and Asia, for a daily total of 65 hours of broadcasts.

Radio Japan provides two main feeds:

  • The General Service broadcasts worldwide in Japanese and English.
  • The Regional Service broadcasts to specific geographical zones in 17 languages: English, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Both services are available on shortwave (SW) as well as on the internet.

Radio Japan's shortwave relay stations

NHK World Radio Japan runs a domestic SW relay station:

It also leases or owns several external relay stations:

Internet service

NHK World-Japan programs and content are available online.

  • NHK World-Japan: online news (text) and live HQ video stream of the rolling news channel
  • NHK World Radio Japan: live radio streams, podcasts and archive programming
  • Learn Japanese: re-edited versions of series such as Basic Japanese for You and Brush Up Your Japanese.

Only a limited number of programs are available online for free.[10]

See also

References
  1. "NHK WORLD-JAPAN: Promotional video". www.youtube.com. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  2. http://nhk.jp/world
  3. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/radio/about/
  4. "New Chinese Service 'NHK Huayu Shijie' Promotional Video". www.nhk.or.jp. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  5. "New Programs of NHK WORLD-JAPAN for 2018" (PDF). www.nhk.or.jp. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  6. Lyngsat - NHK World TV Accessed July 27, 2016
  7. NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). "TV Programs". NHK WORLD. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  8. "TV Programs - NHK World". NHK. Archived from the original on 2017-05-21. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  9. What's Japan-easy? - Japan-easy II, Japanese lessons - NHK WORLD - English, retrieved 2017-12-25
  10. NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). "FAQ - NHK WORLD - English". NHK WORLD. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
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