You will be charged ¥2,340 a month by NHK for using your television in Japan. Anyone who owns a TV set is required by law to enter into a Broadcast Receiving Contract with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and must pay this fee. But many people, if not most, do not pay this fee, by virtue of the popular 'ignore the NTT' man game. The method of collection is a rather primitive door to door system. So if you are not in, you will get a reminder slip, which you can happily ignore. If they do catch you in it is most likely that they will be so intimidated by the sudden presence of a foreigner that they will excuse themselves and leave.

Play stupid and you may save money. Beating the NHK man is always a fun topic of conversation with your Japanese colleagues. The NHK website offers a host of information on their programming and on Japan.

Japanese TV is probably the worst in the developed world even if you do speak Japanese. Turgid, inane, cheap, junk are words that come to mind. Crappy cooking programs, awful slapstick and variety shows which would be fighting to get a cable TV slot in the US. There are some English programmes on TV such as Ally McBeal, E.R., Beverly Hills 90210 as well as the NHK news where the translators try desperately to keep up with the newscasters. In the mornings you will find the BBC news from around 7:30am till 8:15am and American news in the afternoons.

If your television is relatively modern it will have a bilingual button on the remote which will allow you to switch between Japanese and English for these programmes. The English language newspapers such carry daily details of English programming but for an extensive monthly guide look in Kansai Time Out.

SATELLITE TELEVISION

BS1 & BS2 and WOWOW

You may be able to receive Broadcast Satellite services BS1 and BS2 with your television as many modern sets have a built in decoder. This gives you a couple more channels which often show English programmes. If you can get BS then you can also get WOWOW. You can view this extra channel with a decoder.

This is a satellite channel which offers you access to one channel which shows movies, sports events, music and comedy amongst others and costs ¥2,000 a month. For more details call WOWOW on 0570-008080. If you do cannot receive these channels you will need a dish, a decoder and a clear view of the south-western sky and then you will have to subscribe.

SKY PERFECT TV

There is a very good digital satellite TV service in Japan called SKY PerfectTV offering over 100 channels. If you want to watch English programmes, films, music and maybe most importantly news then this is ideal. It will also help you feel a little less isolated from the western world and a whole lot more informed. You will need a dish, a decoder and a clear view of the south-eastern sky. It is very simple to set up by yourself and the Customer support is in English and is first class.

They will take you through every step should you need any help at all. The dishes cost around 15,000yen upwards and there are a lot of special offers floating around. You can choose from a variety of packages to suit your tastes.

There is a one-off set up fee of ¥2,800 and a ¥290 monthly fee. On top of this you will pay for whatever package you want. There are 11 pay per view movie and sports channels. As well as the following:

SKY PerfecTV have an excellent English customer support network which you can call on 0570-039-888 or 045-339-0202 from your mobile or PHS phone. After the opening message press 9 on your phone to be connected to English customer support. They will explain every step and help you set up your dish and decoder box. It is possible to change your subscription month by month by calling the customer centre. Their English language website explains the sign up process and their range of channels.

TV GUIDES

SKY PerfecTV guides appear in the Monday issue of the Daily Yomiuri. SKY PerfecTV also offer a fax back service giving channel timetables and lists of channels in service. Dial (Tokyo) 03-3662-220 (Osaka) 06-6411-1700 from your fax and press "2 then #" for English operation and follow the voice instructions. There is no charge for this service. There is a programme guide on the SKY PerfecTV website although it is in Japanese only. As a subscriber you will also be sent the monthly programming schedule.

DVD & VIDEO RENTAL

Rental shops are ubiquitous in Japan and you can probably find one within a ten-minute walk from your home or apartment. When renting a DVD or video for the first time at your local store, you will be asked to show your Alien Registration Card and to leave a phone number or copy of your Registration Card. You will be issued with a card. Rental charges vary between ¥300 - 500 depending on the store. Most Japanese video rental stores also rent compact discs of the latest music. A good store to look out for is 'Tsutaya' which has a wide selection of movies and music as well as English language application forms.

Rental stores in Japan are full of Western Hollywood films and often have copies of popular US TV series. DVDs will contain the original soundtrack and you will be able to choose whether you want subtitles or not so you can enjoy your favourite films as you would at home. For video, most films you see on the shelves will be available in Japanese language versions and the original English versions with subtitles. Look for the following Kanji on the box.

If you are serious about watching movies get a DVD player, preferably with multi-region encoding so you can watch DVDs from all over the world.

Japanese Language
English Language with subtitles

CINEMA

You will find a wide selection of Japanese and first-run foreign films at Japanese cinemas, especially in the urban areas. Cinemas in outlying towns typically receive only the most popular, and heavily promoted foreign (mostly American) films. Films arrive on the shores of Japan many months after their release in the West. Most Western films will be in English with Japanese subtitles. Going to the cinema in Japan is very expensive and costs from ¥1,800 upwards but there are a few options to cut this cost:

On the third Tuesday of every month, on 'cinema day', the cinema costs only ¥1,000 for everyone. Every Tuesday the ladies get to go to the cinema for ¥1,000.

Some cinemas also offer discounts for the last showing or for weekday lunchtime showings and a ticket for films after 8pm may cost you only ¥1,300, however check with your local cinema. It is also possible in larger cities to buy discounted tickets or cinema vouchers at discount ticket booths who also sell discounted bullet train tickets.

You will be able to find movie guides in Kansai Time-Out. There are many new western style multiplexes opening in Japan and Warner Brothers and Virgin Cinemas are leading the way. Warner Brothers has a useful website with locations, trailers and movie schedules.