NHK World

I’ve got a few blog posts I’ve been meaning to do recently and as I have a couple of days of work this week I’ll probably put them up. The first one is this, about the TV channel NHK World. I’ve been watching it for around a year now and thought I’d post something about it as it has some interesting programmes. Its available here in the UK on satellite, if you have either Freesat or Sky then the chances are you have it. In short its a Japanese channel, in English, which shows various news and documentary style programmes. It has a certain ‘style’, which I imagine would put some westerners off, but if you have an interest in Japanese culture then I’m sure you’ll find something to interest you. There are two programmes that I particularly like, which are:

imagine-nation – This show is about the latest trends in ‘otaku’ culture, or more specifically its about videogames, anime and manga. They don’t necessarily say anything that you couldn’t read elsewhere online, and it does run at least a month behind (last weeks show was about Comiket in August) but it provides half hour of various information and more importantly interviews that are nicely packaged together. They’ve covered all sort of topics, from events, railway manga, Hatsune Miku etc. I like some of the presenters, the female reporters in particular are good, and its given me new topics to look into which makes it worth watching.

Tokyo Eye – At first when I watched this I wasn’t too keen but now I watch it every week. Essentially its like a tourist guide to Tokyo, but they have covered all sorts of areas, including Akihabara, Nakano, Tokyo Tower, some of the smaller islands, theme parks etc. Its a great way to get ideas about where to visit Tokyo and like imagine-nation they have articles that you just wouldn’t find without seeing them here. I’ve not been to Tokyo but plan to go there now on my next trip to Japan

There may well be other shows worth a watch, if I find anything good I’ll post it here.