Television in Japan

Television in Japan was introduced in 1939. However, experiments date back to the 1920s, with Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering experiments in electronic television.^[1] Television broadcasting was halted by World War II, after which regular television broadcasting began in 1950.^[2] After Japan developed the first HDTV systems in the 1960s, MUSE/Hi-Vision was introduced in the 1970s.

A modified version of the NTSC system for analog signals, called NTSC-J, was used for analog broadcast between 1950 and the early 2010s. The analog broadcast in Japan was replaced with a digital broadcasts using the ISDB standard. ISDB supersedes both the NTSC-J analog television system and the previously used MUSE Hi-vision analog HDTV system in Japan. Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) services using ISDB-T (ISDB-T International) started in Japan in December 2003, and since then, Japan adopted ISDB over other digital broadcasting standards.

All Japanese households having at least one television set, or any device that is capable of receiving live television broadcasts, are mandated to hold a television license, with funds primarily used to subsidize NHK, the Japanese public service broadcaster. The fee varies from ¥12,276 to ¥21,765 (reduced to ¥10,778 to ¥20,267 for households residing in Okinawa Prefecture)^[3][4] depending on the method and timing of payment, and on whether one receives only terrestrial television or also satellite broadcasts.^[5] Households on welfare may be excused from the license fee. Notably, there is no legal authority to impose sanctions or fines in the event of non-payment; people may (and many do) throw away the bills and turn away the occasional bill collector, without consequence.^[5]