Re: [tlug] Offtopic: Sushi Mockumentary

[Lyle H Saxon <llletters@example.com>]

On 12/14/05, Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com> wrote:
> While we are safely stuck in an off-topic thread (and thus people who
> don't want to see this kind of stuff have already instructed their
> MUAs to disregard this thread), here is an article from today's Japan
> Times about how to handle that pesky NHK guy:
>
> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20051213zg.htm

The article is funny, but the issue isn't funny to me - paying Y1,395
yen a month for something I never ever use.  In this age of broadband,
that's *way* too much money for what is shown on NHK anyway!  If they
are so determined to have everyone pay, they should just use taxes. 
It's wasteful and crazy to have an army of people going around
harassing people into paying for something they don't want or use. 
Y1,395 a month, Y16,740 a year.  That's nothing to most people I
suppose, but it's definitely something to me.  The article says:

     "But with nearly a million Japanese households refusing to put up
the cash, NHK is planning some drastic measures to to crack down on
delinquent TV owners who fail to pay their viewer fees to the pushy
guy on the moped.
     In September, it announced that it may take people to court for
nonpayment."

I find that more scary than funny....  For example, if they see that
you haven't paid for 20 years, I think they can charge you Y334,800!!!
 That's an insanely large amount of cash for something that has been
of zero benefit.  They should just shut NHK down - it's not worth the
wasted money!  If the country must have state TV, they should just do
what they're doing anyway in an up-front way and not call it "public
TV" and not pretend that it's something people are willingly paying
for.

Lyle