NHK, Japan's "Electronic Yakuza"

Above, hotels like the Niigata Dormy Inn may be socked with NHK fees
by the number of televison sets at their facility. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Suppose you're sitting at home reading the newspaper or book (or just napping) and you get a knock on your front door. You answer the door and find standing there a representative from Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The person says that since you own a television set or other device that can receive signals from PBS (whether or not you even watch the local PBS station), you have to pay them a fee and sign a contract.

Sounds crazy, right? Well, that's the situation in Japan when it comes to their version of PBS, NHK.

Recently, a court ruled that a Yokohama resident is legally obligated to pay NHK a fee, regardless of the fact that no contract with NHK was ever entered. But that's what the court ruled.

If you thought that was extreme, another court is taking things way beyond that ruling.

The Tokyo District Court ruled that a hotel management company (who runs three hotels) must enter into a contract with NHK and pay "overdue" licensing fees in proportion to the number of rooms each hotel contains. For residents, the fees are paid by household, not by the number of television sets or devices capable of receiving the NHK signal.

How much do they have to pay? Here's what Rocket News 24 reported:

According to the Asahi Digital, the hotels have approximately 280 rooms with television sets, along with units in the dining area and other locations. Taking these numbers into account, the total unpaid licensing fees that the hotels’ management company must pay adds up to a staggering 6.21 million yen (US$57,851).

If I were the hotel management company, I would definitely file an appeal.

You know what will happen if this ruling is allowed to stand? Japan's hotels in the same situation would pass on the cost of the NHK fees to their guests by raising their room rates.

To read the full article, go here.