Japan's first experimental television broadcast was made by scientists in 1939, but the Pacific War shut down research on television, and interest did not re-emerge until the early 1950s, when two stations, NHK(Nippon Hoso Kyokai) and NTV(Nippon Television) began broadcasting. While the cost of television receivers remained high in the 1950s, NTV decided to increase the total number of viewers by placing TV sets in public places; railway stations, street corners, and plazas. Restaurants, barber shops, and bars began to do the same. Television thus gained popularity rapidly in Japan, and the "plaza TV" phenomenon continues to be a prominent feature of downtown landscapes. Imported American programming formed a large part of Japanese broadcasting in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but by 1965 networks began to develop their own programming. By 1981, Japan imported less than 5% of programming annually, 90% of which was from the United States. Virtually 100% of households in Japan own at least one television, and according to recent reports from NHK, at least one set is turned on for 7 to 8 hours each day.

Japanese television broadcasting consists of two systems; commercial and public. The public broadcasting system, NHK, began as Japan's first radio network in 1926, as part of the pre-war government's efforts to control and censor the fledgling efforts of radio. Following the war, the Occupation authorities (SCAP) issued three post-war directives aimed at decreasing government control over broadcasting; the Radio Law, the Broadcast Law, and the Radio Regulatory Commission Law. These directives continue to form the basis for all regulation of broadcasting in Japan. As a result of the rulings, NHK is legally independent from the government and is funded chiefly by mandatory consumer fees. NHK is divided into two networks, one of which, NHK Sogo, broadcasts news, cultural and entertainment programs. The second network, NHK Kyoiku, broadcasts chiefly educational programs. NHK is justly famous for the quality of its newscasting and historical dramas, and for its role in publicizing and promoting traditional Japanese culture and arts. The service often makes special efforts to broadcast bilingual versions of its programming that can be listened to in either Japanese or English.

Commercial stations are supervised by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, which reviews licensee stations every three years. Four nationwide commercial networks, each developing most of its own programming, are anchored by key stations based in Tokyo. Fuji Television (Fuji TV), Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Asahi News Network (TV Asahi), and Nippon Television (NTV) are key stations; a fifth broadcasting station (TV Tokyo) also sends programming to several stations around the country, but is not considered a major station. The most popular network of the mid-90s is Fuji TV, which in 1992 had three of the top ten dramas, seven of the top ten quiz and variety programs, and six of the top ten animated programs, all in prime time.

Chief among successful types of programming on stations supported by advertising is the "wide show," a melange of reporting on true-life scandal, crime, celebrity gossip, and tragedy broadcast daily in the mornings and afternoons on each of the four major networks. Other types of programming include variety spectaculars (often centered around holidays and special seasonal occasions), game/quiz shows, news and information, comedy shows, dramas of various types (chiefly samurai period pieces, domestic dramas, and modern love stories), children's shows (including cartoons), sports programming, and documentaries. Although panel talk shows of various sorts have been popular for many years, open discussion of controversial news topics has only very recently begun to appear on television, following the electoral overturn of the ruling party (LDP) in 1992.

Commercials are one of Japanese television's most interesting features: well-produced, creative, daring, and increasingly shorter in length. In a nation with very little corporate or government sponsorship of the fine arts, Japan's young art students tend overwhelmingly to enter giant advertising firms such as Dentsu and Hakuhodo, which together control approximately 80% of all advertising in Japan. It has been claimed that television commercials are the only Japanese art form flourishing in the late 20th century.

Another interesting aspect of Japanese television is its emphasis on seasonality and culturally appropriate festivals and activities. Traditional Japanese culture places great importance on the transitions between seasons, and adherence to the appropriate sets of colors, foods, greetings, and customs remains a subtly important ritual feature of daily life in schools, restaurants, department stores and businesses. Television also adjusts to the changing of the seasons in its own fashion; commercials tend to depict primarily seasonally appropriate activities, clothing and food, while annual holidays and festivals are the occasion for local and national televised events and coverage. The New Year, in particular, (celebrated on January 1 according to the Western rather than the Chinese system), is the occasion for a three-day televisual marathon of special events, including the famous Red vs. White singing contest, which pits popular male and female singing stars from a variety of genres against each other. This popular event is watched by approximately 70% of the nation each year, according to annual newspaper reports.

An additional feature of Japanese television that may enhance the overall effect of seasonal time flow within the televisual world is its general avoidance of syndicated reruns of popular programs. While some rerunning of programs (particularly older period dramas) does exist during daytime hours, in general, production costs are kept relatively low in order to produce a high volume of television programming meant for one-time viewing. The most popular twelve-part dramas, such as Hyaku-I-Kaimei-no-Puropozu, (The One-Hundred-and-First Marriage Proposal), Tokyo Love Story, and New York Monogatari, (New York Stories) are occasionally made available for video rentals, but will only be aired again as vignettes in retrospectives on the works of a particular actor or time period. This may be in part because of the centrality of the element of suspense to the narratives of these dramas, as in soap operas.

Another factor may be the relatively short half-life of young Japanese stars who tend to feature in these dramas. The enormous and efficient Japanese star system maintains close ties with the music industry. These stars (known as talento) also appear frequently on talk shows, quiz shows, comedy, variety and game shows. It is often uncharitably suggested that talento are in fact generally talentless, and owe their success to attractive appearance and clever marketing; nevertheless, some few stars do manage to keep their appeal over a considerable length of time. But the generally rapid turnover in the star population in Japan may preclude the possibility of rerunning many shows that feature talento, as last year's star adds little appeal to any type of programming.

While talento may be famous, however, part of their appeal for some lies in their "ordinariness," and their normal behavior. As Andrew Painter and others have noted, the appeal of many programs seems to stem from the creation of a world of "quasi-intimacy," an in-group composed of hosts, guests, technical crew and studio audience that may be accessed simply by switching on the television. The use of informal language directed to one another and to the camera, openly enthusiastic participation in conversation and activities, and even some self-ridicule by the hosts of programs and by the talento themselves may work to provide a respite from the highly formal and structured day-to-day social interactions of most Japanese. Other elements that add to this sense of intimacy are frequent on-camera in-jokes referring to writers and producers and crew members of the show, and very occasional breaking of the camera's illusion of a "fourth wall," (i.e. comments made to crew technicians, audience members and home viewers by those who are onstage).

Violence, sex, and scatology play significant roles in much of Japanese television. The day-time "wide shows," focus much of their attention on scandalous sex relations and violent or anti-social acts performed by both celebrities and ordinary Japanese, hinting suggestively at their existence when proof cannot be produced. Cartoons for children often feature references to or jokes about sex and scatology. A 1980s cartoon was entitled Machiko Maitchingu-Sensei (Machiko, the Giving-in Teacher), about a voluptuously-drawn elementary-school teacher who every week would be groped and fondled by her male students. A current example is the animated cartoon Crayon-Shin-chan that features a kindergarten boy whose main interest is adult women, although the version produced for television is considerably toned down from the comic version. Samurai dramas feature sword fights and occasionally some authentic traditional tortures, while the recently popular genre of police dramas such as Abunai Dekka, and Motto Abunai Dekka (Dangerous Cops, and More Dangerous Cops) includes abundant gun and fist fights.

Predictions on the future of Japan's televisual technology are cautiously optimistic, but Bruce Stronach points out in his introduction to Japanese television in the Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture that several cultural factors have combined to slow down the introduction of new technologies and types of programming in Japan. These factors include the conservative nature of Japanese society and bureaucracy, and internecine struggles between the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry over regulation and control of new media. Cable television had made few in-roads by 1994. But despite setbacks in the late 1980s, efforts continue toward developing HDTV technology, as well as making satellite dishes affordable to a majority of consumers. One satellite cable system, WOWOW, began broadcasting regularly in 1990, offering one channel of chiefly movies and sports for a monthly fee.

-Jeanette Fox