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Does NHK fee collector keep knocking on your door for money?

JerseyBoy

Back in town
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I heard about NHK reps walking around for the fee collection. One of them got around to my new place where I moved in recently after having come back to Japan. I told him I don't have time for him and I don't watch NHK; I think he will come back as he said he would just leave a reading material in my mail box and come back later.
Here are my positions:
1. I don't watch Japanese TV programs (I only watch TV programs in English).
2. I don't watch NHK (naturally because of the #1).
3. I don't pay for things I don't use as one of my many principles.
4. I don't want to get bothered with this type of fee collection and any sales call.
Someone told me that they will keep at it quite persistently. If that is so, then, I have to be extra firm with him in the New York City style I picked up from years of my stay there (or, start speaking in English so that I get him confused to no end). Can someone tell me if NHK reps have a reputation of being persistent?
 
Oh!! i was just gonna make a post about that. The NHK guy, same guy everytime, literally is at the door EVERDAY in the evening, today it was morning. I never answer the interphone when I see him because my bf told me not to; if I do he won't leave until paid...

So persistant they are...
 
Thank you, Pika La. It seems what I heard about them is correct. In that case, when he wastes my time again next time, I will be a New Yorker I used to be up until a few months ago. I will be firm and I will speak with a little stronger English accent (I already have an English accent with my native tongue Japanese) to get a point across to him I only watch programs in English only and I don't watch his programs.
 
I have heard that if your cable (antenna) is attached to your TV, then you are obligated by law to pay the fee. I hear that if you disconnect your TV from the antenna (cable) you are no longer obligated to pay.

By the way, it is a legal obligation; a kind of tax, if you will.

In my case, when the guy came, I just told him in Japanese, "actually, I really don't watch TV." The guy took a look at me and said, "No, I guess you wouldn't , would you?" and that was the last I ever heard of him.
 
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Mikawa Ossan said:
By the way, it is a legal obligation; a kind of tax, if you will.
Click to expand...
Is it really a legal "obligation?" If so, I believe they will try to get the money deducted from the paycheck like the rest of the taxes. I believe NHK's fee is for people who actually watch those programs. Since it is impossible for them to track down who watches those programs, NHK just goes after everyone who has TV "assuming" those people will watch NHK. Assumption does not go well in the legal terms.
Well, I will just tell him I have no use of NHK programs as I don't watch them, provided I have a chance to answer the intercom.
Oftentimes I don't answer the intercom unless I know I have someone I am expecting to see in advance. So, I guess he won't have a chance to even speak with me for years to come. (the reason I answered the intercom is I just moved in less than a month ago; now I have a hang of this place and I go about doing my own business)
 
Give me some time, I'll try to look it up for you.

You read Japanese, right?
 
Yes, it is a legal requirement as long as you have a TV at home/office, though NHK is less harsh and cheaper than BBC in the UK. NHK is just looking for the BBC's way of collecting money without correcting their biased news coverage.
 
I am just not buying it is a legal obligation to pay NHK if I don't watch their programs. There should be a way for a tax payer/subscriber to opt not to get any NHK channel. I am sure I would opt for that option in a heart beat (as I don't watch it because it is just one of those Japanese TV programs). Just reading the broadcast law in Japanese gives me a headache (I am so used reading things in English).
In that case, I will change my story and I will tell this guy I don't watch TV (no need to get him confused by saying I watch CNN, Discovery, and History channels).
 
（受信契約及び受信料）
第32条 協会の放送を受信することのできる受信設備を設置した者は、協会とその放送の受信についての契約をしなければならない。ただし、放送の受信を目的としない受信設備又はラジオ放送（音声その他の音響を送る放送であつて、テレビジョン放送及び多重放送に該当しないものをいう。）若しくは多重放送に限り受信することのできる受信設備のみを設置した者については、この限りでない。

Here is the part of the law most important. Notice the part in red. It basically says, if you have a TV, this applies to you, whether you watch it or not.

EDIT: Sorry, about the edit, but notice that there is an exception inherent in the law. Unfortunately, I don't think that it covers your situation...
 
Well, technically you're not obligated to pay anything until you enter into the contract with NHK. If you look at the law more closely, your actual obligation is not to pay them moeny per se, but rather to enter into a contract with NHK. If they ever choose to take you to court, it will be for not entering into a contract with them rather than for not paying them.

It's a small but significant point, I think.
 
These guys are funny. One of them visited me once. He was like:
- Um, hello, I'm from NHK, do you have a TV?
- Well, yeah. So what?
- Do you watch NHK?
- Um, sometimes.
- Well, you need to pay fee to watch it.
- Watch what?
- NHK.
- I don't,
- But you have a TV, everybody with a TV must pay this fee.
- What TV?
- You just said you have one...
- No, I don't. Go away.

Just say you don't have a TV or whatever. It's not like you're breaking a law or something.
 
Just say you don't have a TV or whatever. It's not like you're breaking a law or something.
Click to expand...
Like Mikawa san said unless you can prove you dont have a TV technically you are required to pay for the service.

Believe it or not they, NHK, also wants a household to pay for each television that is in the house, for example where I live we have 6 TV's and NHK actually wanted payment for each TV that was in operation at the time.

We pay by direct deposit and ever since we set that up NHK no longer comes to the house asking for payment.
 
Hmm i like the guy who said "its not like breaking the law or anything"
haha yeah it is. I guess your from america but like pipokun rightly said in the UK we pay the BBC every year and the reality of not paying them is a £1000 fine and having to still pay them. and its a yearly bill. I dont think NHK is that harsh but in essence if you have a TV its more like your paying for a signal rather then the channel. If i only watched the english news id not use a TV but just use the internet. Like with the BBC the only option to not paying is not having a TV which you have to prove...somehow lol. I know it sucks cause i dont watch any of the basic channels but use cable and i still have to pay but thats life. I have to pay for national insurance but ive never used that either.

Little side story i read about a man who bought a widescreen TV for £2000 but then said in court he couldnt afford a TV lisence lol. It goes without saying he got his fine and still had to get a lisence.
 
In all the times I have been cornered by these crafty people I have always just ignored them pretending I wasn't home when they rang the doorbell. In six years though I did pay once and only once... she was kind of hot, what can I say...
 
Kinda of lucky to get away with it haha. In the UK we must pay it. they even have vans that drive around and KNOW when your using a TV set....
Like Diceke alot of countries get the BBC free also which is quite annoying for those that pay it lol
 
What I was told:
1: It is a law, you have to pay if you have some type of antennae in your house
2: There is no repercussion for breaking this law.
 
In my years in Japan this never really came up as an issue for me, so i'm not sure what i would have done - my apartments had had gaijin residents before me, (who had presumably refused to pay), so the NHK man never called.

I suppose many would say that morally one should pay the subscription. However, there's obviously a real problem with the law here if nothing can be done if someone refuses to pay. Why, I wonder? Are there any plans afoot to toughen up the laws?

My instinct is that if a law has no authority over me unless I myself choose to allow it, then it's entirely up to me whether or not I obey it. In this case (paying money for a TV service I barely understand, don't use or even want - and one, in fact, that many Japanese themselves are refusing to pay for) I think I'd be inclined not to pay.

My goodness, if they had that system here in the UK, I don't think anyone would pay! The system here is very strict, but it makes things clear - pay or be prosecuted. I think Japan needs to go the same way if it's serious about having a national broadcaster.

mos
 
And "we" gaijin wonder why we get a bad name? I don't agree with the forced fee, but that is the way it is. Just pay it, its only 4000 yen.

Oh and BTW, the "I don't watch TV" line is a load of crap, b/c how much of the tax that you pay to the government is used that will never, ever benifit you or used to build a building/facility that you will never use?
 
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There actually were plans last year to introduce a bill in Parliament making payment mandatory after too many subscribers stopped in protest citing a series of embezzlement scandals involving NHK higher ups....In the end, though, it was withdrawn after those misappropriations plus other crimes and cases of questionable ethical judgement made it too embarrassing even for supporters to champion.


I don't know precisely where the situation stands now, but at the very least, it was good to learn why they would rather not be taxpayer funded and subject to all that government oversight...
 
FrustratedDave said:
And "we" gaijin wonder why we get a bad name? I don't agree with the forced fee, but that is the way it is. Just pay it, its only 4000 yen.
Click to expand...

Dave sir, it's not forced in the sense that there seems to be no real legal weight behind it. And I was never asked for it at all when I lived in Japan! I can see it's forced in the sense that, by some accounts, some collectors can be extremely persistent or even become unpleasant, but that is even more reason for me not to play along with a system I think is at best deeply flawed.

FrustratedDave said:
Oh and BTW, the "I don't watch TV" line is a load of crap, b/c how much of the tax that you pay to the government is used that will never, ever benifit you or used to build a building/facility that you will never use?
Click to expand...

To paraphrase your post, imho it's not 'nonsense' to argue the 'I don't watch TV' line. Here in the UK, if you can prove that your TV isn't capable of receiving live broadcasts (for example if you modify your set) then you don't have to pay. From what some posters have written, it seems you might be able to do the same thing in Japan. But really, when there is no comeback, why go to the trouble of modifying your TV or removing any sort of antenna from your premises - just don't watch TV, and refuse to pay on that basis when the collector knocks. The Government have made it that easy for you!

The comparison with tax again doesn't work on that basis. Taxes are most certainly backed up by the full force of law - and if they weren't i'm sure you'd find plenty of people would stop paying them. Still, some folk refuse to pay taxes they disagree with as a matter of principle, and are imprisoned!

Elizabeth san many thanks for that information, it's very interesting to read about why many Japanese refuse to pay the fees.
 
I don't know if the collectors are paid on commission like traditional sales people, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're getting a handsome cut of their day's bounty.


It isn't up to me to make a decision, fortunately....--I love NHK radio programs + web site (on which, to their credit, they've been remarkably forthcoming about all this) but they can't prove I don't have an internet connection. Plus, it's all free here, anyway !
 

It is the law , as I just went through the process of having one of my facilities go through the compliance in regards to how many TV's it had and which had to be paid for. In the end I have to pay for 9 TV's due to this law. Yes people refuse to pay and the government does nothing about it, but that is the way this are handled here. On top of that as Elizabeth said , there was the scandles last year which turned a lot more people off paying too.

I just get sick of hearing people(gaijin) say "why should I pay for it?", then gloat about it like they did something really funny, well if you have a TV and it is hooked up, you should pay. But then again, I am just a grumpy ***** who cares to much about Gaijins image here in Japan! This is my oppinion and I won't take offence if anyone chooses not to pay, b/c it is not that big of a deal , really....

And one last thing, no none of the workers are on commision, they are all salary based and just trying to do their jobs.
 
While i understand Made of stone's reasons for not paying i agree with Dave still. Like him i worry abit about how Gaijins portray themselves as how you act effects the next Gaijin who comes in your place.
That being said i cant believe the fee is only 4000 yen im sure thats what we pay monthly for the BBC. If i think of it like this; eat at a restaurant on friday or pay the fee and eat ramen at home then i dont think id be giving up alot just to pay it. I can understand americans not wanting to pay. As far as i know you guys dont have anything like a TV lisence back home so why should you pay for one in another country? but then they say when in rome ^-^
Stealing chocolate from a shop wont have you put in jail but its still wrong and im sure none of us do that.
 
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