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The story
It has emerged in reporting on the 21st that NHK has resumed door-to-door sales visits carried out by outsourced companies — a practice it had scrapped back in 2023. The move comes against a backdrop of continued deficits since that year’s license fee cut, and NHK plans to pilot the program first in urban areas like Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, with expansion to other regions under consideration. NHK says it will also address past criticism of unannounced visits by sending written notice in advance. On 5ch, reactions centered on whether the sales pitch commonly used in these visits — that a device can detect from outside whether a household owns a receiver — is even true, along with the legality of pretending not to be home or keeping doors locked, and regional differences in payment rates.
It has emerged on the 21st, through reporting to NHK, that the broadcaster has resumed outsourcing door-to-door sales visits aimed at signing new viewers to receiver contracts. NHK had ended outsourced door-to-door sales in 2023, but with deficits continuing since that year’s license fee cut, it is now strengthening its sales operations in hopes of boosting license fee revenue.
NHK explained that it “decided to expand face-to-face approaches on a trial basis.” Given that door-to-door sales have previously drawn criticism over sudden visits and how they were handled, NHK says it will send written notice in advance and proceed only with the resident’s understanding.
According to those familiar with the matter, the resumption of outsourced visits will begin in urban areas such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, with expansion to other regions to be considered going forward. Compensation will reportedly be paid based on sales results, though at a lower rate than before the program was scrapped. Some within NHK reportedly doubt it can return to its former scale, so how far it spreads remains uncertain.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Wow, these guys have absolutely no clue what they're in for…
Brazen as hell, like straight-up criminals lol
He's been in custody for 10 months on defamation charges.
There's no such device that can tell which houses are receiving a TV broadcast from the outside — that's flat-out fraud.
Of course it's fraud.
It's technically impossible to begin with.
Meanwhile in Tokyo not paying is basically the default.
Guess that's another education-level gap, huh?
Out in the countryside people treat NHK and the post office like they're the law.
NHK license fee payment rate: highest is Akita at 96.5%, lowest is Okinawa at 46.3%… national average 76.9%, down slightly [Shokou-san★]
https://asahi.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/newsplus/1782215031/
First published in 2012
without any fact-checking,
never issue a correction or apology,
and now they're going to hire thugs to do door-to-door sales?
That's basically organized crime.
If they start lecturing me on my own property, I'm calling the cops.
Pressuring someone into signing a contract can count as coercion, so I'll report every single NHK visitor who shows up.
Makes you wonder what would've happened if it hadn't been.
If they're not outsourcing anymore, does that mean it was an actual NHK employee?
And they keep coming back regularly, too.
Seriously, this.
'I don't have a receiver' — end of conversation.
Nothing more to say.
Engaging with them is just a waste of time.
Forget just playing dead — except for friends who've told me in advance, I never open the door for anyone, not even deliveries.
Even if they yell 'I can hear you in there! Open up!' and pound on the door, I just leave it until they get tired and go away.
There is zero obligation to open the door.
We live in a world where even a regular person could get abducted or killed for opening up.
Anyone who shows up when only kids are home is basically a criminal just for that alone.
AI has already drafted a manual for handling NHK home visits.
Even Japanese people barely watch TV anymore — you think foreigners are watching it?
Even people who claim they never watch it will turn straight to NHK the moment there's a disaster or an election.
I don't even have a TV, and online election live-streams are more than enough for me.
Excuse me? I don't want to watch it.
Don't need it.
I don't even want a TV because of NHK.
Just scramble the damn signal already.
Apparently for apartment renters, they're planning legal action demanding personal info from property management companies, then forcibly collecting from everyone one by one.
They can't even get past building security to reach the front door — how the hell are they gonna collect, genius lol
It's not 'collection.'
What are you even thinking?
It's a contract, isn't it?
To begin with, 'collection' is a word that only applies to forced seizure by public authority.
That's not a term His Majesty NHK — supposedly built on voluntary contracts — is allowed to use.
Are you an idiot? Even if you're not home when the complaint gets served, they can use public notice service, get a default judgment against you, and enforce it anyway.
If you own a smartphone, you're obligated to sign a contract.
If you own a computer, you're obligated to sign a contract.
If your car has a nav system, you're obligated to sign a contract.'
What am I supposed to do with that?
Call ALSOK." (a major Japanese private security firm)
Just tell them 'go ahead and sue me' — that's all you need.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
NHK’s license fee revenue has been running at a deficit ever since the fee cut in 2023. The outsourced door-to-door sales program being revived now is the same one that was scrapped that same year, and this restart is limited to a trial in urban areas like Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya — whether it returns to its former scale remains uncertain. Opinions in the thread split mainly on two points. One was whether the sales pitch claiming there’s a device that can detect from outside whether a household has a receiver is even real — most commenters agreed it’s technically impossible. The other was how to handle these visits: several posts agreed that pretending not to be home or keeping the door locked is legally fine, and that there’s no obligation to respond to demands for a contract or payment. Meanwhile, claims about forcing disclosure of renters’ personal information or compelling payment through legal action are easy to misunderstand — worth remembering that the license fee is a voluntary contract, not a tax-like ‘collection.’ Regional gaps in payment rates (Akita at 96.5%, Okinawa at 46.3%, etc.) also came up, but that data is from a 2012 release, so it should be read with caution when drawing conclusions about regional character today.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “[NHK] Door-to-Door Sales Visits Return: Outsourced Canvassing Scrapped in 2023 Is Back.”
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