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This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia. (June 2009) Don't speak Japanese? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|ja|日本放送協会}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)
Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai / Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai
日本放送協会

NHK logo, known as "the NHK eggs". The logo's main structure has scarcely changed since 1953.
Type	Broadcast radio network and Broadcast television network
Country	Japan
Availability	Nationwide and Worldwide
Slogan	まっすぐ、真剣。("Straightforward, earnest")[citation needed]
Area	Shibuya, Tokyo
Owner	Government of Japan (Public Broadcast)
Launch date	March 22, 1925 (radio) 1953 (television)
Former names	Japanese Radio Station (1925-26)
Official website	nhk.or.jp

NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo

NHK Broadcasting Museum

NHK Osaka

NHK (日本放送協会, nippon housou kyoukai; official English name: Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is Japan's national public broadcasting organization.^[1] NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials,^[2] is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.

NHK operates two terrestrial television services (NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV), two satellite television services (NHK BS-1 and NHK BS Premium, both now high-definition television services), and three radio networks (NHK Radio 1, NHK Radio 2, and NHK FM).

NHK also provides an international broadcasting service, known as NHK World. NHK World is composed of NHK World TV, NHK World Premium, and the shortwave radio service NHK World Radio Japan. World Radio Japan also makes some of its programs available on the internet.

History[link]

Until the 1940s, NHK was a national radio broadcasting monopoly.^[2][3]

On 22 March 1925, one and a half years after the Great Kantō earthquake, Radio Japan produced the first radio broadcast in the country, transmitting from Atago Hill just north of the Tokugawa Tombs in Shiba Park. The first programme included Beethoven, classical Japanese music, and a play by Ōyō.^[2] In the same year, there were also broadcasts from Ōsaka and Nagoya.^[4]

NHK was founded in 1926, modelled on the BBC of the United Kingdom.^[2] NHK evolved from the amalgamation of the three regional broadcasting corporations. This merger and reorganisation was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war Ministry of Communications.^[5]

NHK’s second radio network began in 1931, and the third radio network (FM) began in 1938. In 1935 NHK began a shortwave radio service for listeners overseas known as ’’‘Radio Japan’’’ until the 1940s.

In November 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army nationalised all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts via the Information Liaison Confidential Committee.^{[citation needed]} All published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of World War II. The famous Tokyo Rose wartime programs were broadcasts by NHK.^[2]

In 1950, three post-war radio rules were enacted including the Broadcast Law (“Hōsō Hō”), replacing the pre-war Radio Telegraph Law. Under this law, NHK started afresh as a special corporation to be supported by its viewers.^[6]

NHK started General TV in 1950 and its Educational TV in 1959. In 1960, it began broadcasting in colour.

In the 1980s, NHK BS TV broadcasts started.^[7], and in 1995 NHK launched its international arm, ’’‘NHK World TV’’’.

In 2000, NHK started satellite digital TV broadcasts, while in 2003, terrestrial digital TV broadcasts came for three megacity areas. These expanded to cover almost all Japan in July 2011. NHK BS Hi-Vision analogue TV was discontinued in September 2007, and a year later NHK World TV was available Free-To-Air over the Astra 19.2°E (Astra 1L) in Europe.

A few months later on 28 November 2008,^[8] NHK World TV began Test transmissions on the Eurobird series of satellites, Free to Air, at 28.5 Degrees East. The transmissions, on 11.680 GHz (Vertical polarity, FEC 2/3, S/R 27.5MBaud), currently appear only by adding the channel manually on Sky Digital equipment, and the channel is currently recognised by a code number, “51108”. It is not currently known how long this service will be available for, or what the plans for NHK World presently are. It appears in the Freesat EPG on channel 209.

License fee[link]

NHK is paid for by license fees (known in Japanese as reception fee (受信料, Jushinryō^?)). The Broadcast Law which governs NHK’s funding stipulates that any television equipped to receive NHK is required to pay. The fee is standardized,^[9] with discounts for office workers and students who commute, as well a general discount for residents of Okinawa prefecture.

However, the Broadcast Law lists no punitive actions for nonpayment; as a result of this, after a rash of NHK-related scandals, the number of people who had not paid the license fee surpassed one million users.^{[citation needed]} This incident sparked debate over the fairness of the fee system.^[10] In 2006, the NHK opted to take legal action against those most flagrantly in violation of the law.^[11]

NHK domestic broadcasting stations[link]

TV programming[link]

NHK General TV broadcasts a variety of programming. The following are noteworthy:

News[link]

Local, national, and world news reports. NHK News 7 offers bilingual broadcasts on NHK General TV, NHK World TV and NHK World Premium. Its current flagship news program is News Watch 9, also broadcast throughout the whole NHK network. NHK also offers news for the deaf, regional news and children’s news. News Today 30 Minutes is the new name of NHK NEWSWATCH which ran for 6 years. It is an English newscast designed for foreign viewers. On 2 February 2009, NHK World TV changed and the flagship newscast, Newsline, also changed and is currently the flagship newscast on NHK and NHK World TV.

In his book 'Broadcasting politics in Japan:NHK and television news', ES Krauss states:' in the 1960s and 1970s, external critics of NHK news were complaining about the strict neutrality, the lack of criticism of government, and the 'self-regulation in covering events' ' Krauss claims that little had changed by the 1980s and 1990s.^[12] After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 NHK was criticised for underplaying the dangers from radioactive contamination.[2]^[13]

Emergency reporting[link]

Under the Broadcast Act, NHK is under the obligation to broadcast early warning emergency reporting in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Their national network of seismometers in cooperation with the Japan Meteorological Agency makes NHK capable of delivering the news in just 2–3 minutes after the quake. They also broadcast air attack warnings in the event of war, using the J-Alert system.^[14] All warnings are broadcast in five languages: English, Mandarin, Korean and Portuguese (Japan has small Chinese, Korean and Brazilian populations), as well as Japanese. The warnings were broadcast in these languages during the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.^[15]

Education[link]

Education programmes are watched nation-wide at primary schools. Tensai Terebikun MAX (better known as TTK) is a show combining a small amount of education with entertainment. TTK is currently hosted by the Yasuda Big Circus, Maki Nishiyama and a cast of 24 children ranging from ages 8 to 14.

Weather[link]

Weather in detail, nationwide, and international for travellers.

Sports[link]

NHK broadcasts the six annual Grand Sumo tournaments (having done so since the 1953 Natsu Basho), high-school baseball championships from Koshien Stadium, Olympic Games, National Sports Festival of Japan, and a range of other sports. NHK also broadcasts Boston Red Sox games when Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches. NHK also holds rights to broadcast the FA Premier League in Japan.^[16]

News analysis[link]

The network carries in-depth reports on current topics, political debate, and similar programming.

Music[link]

The annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen on New Year’s Eve is the highlight. The weekly schedule includes an amateur hour, and prime-time shows for all ages. Music Japan is shown each week with brand new Japanese pop, and rock acts.

J-Melo is NHK’s first music program to be recorded entirely in English for international consumption.

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, financially sponsored by NHK, was formerly (until 1951) the Japanese Symphony Orchestra. Its website details the orchestra's history and ongoing concert programme.^[17]

Drama[link]

A sentimental morning show, a weekly jidaigeki and a year-long show, the ’’Taiga drama’’, spearhead the network’s fiction offerings. NHK is also making efforts to broadcasting the drama made in foreign countries as "Overseas Drama (海外ドラマ, Kaigai Dorama^?)".

Documentaries[link]

NHK has become known for its documentary series, first for the popular mini-series Legacy for the Future, and later for the NHK Tokushu (later known as NHK Special) ^[18] documentaries series such as The Silk Road and The 20th Century on Film (映像の世紀, Eizō no Seiki^?).

Children[link]

The longest running children’s show in Japan, Okaasan to Issho (おかあさんといっしょ^?, With Mother, 1959 ^[19]), still airs to this day on NHK-ETV.

Sesame Street was one of the first imports, debuting in 1971. It resumed in 1988, until 2004, when a local adaptation was announced, which NHK refused to be involved in. Teenagers and adults watched the program to learn English (though much later on, a dubbed version was also available). When the American Sesame Street aired on NHK, the channel produced episode guides. In the 2000s, when the show was available in both English and Japanese, Sesame English was interspersed within the program, first as a replacement for Elmo's World, but later in addition to it.

Other[link]

Cooking, comedy, exercise, gardening, crafts, anime, igo, shogi.

Notable programs[link]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: NHK

References[link]

Notes[link]

Additional sources[link]

• Johnston, Eric. (July 7, 2009). Japan Times: NHK a fount of info, a lot of it from the government Japan Times, p. 3.
• Seidensticker, Edward. (1990). ’‘Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake.’’ New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-54360-2

External links[link]

• Official website (Japanese)
• NHK official Youtube channel (Japanese)
• NHK official Youtube channel (English)
• NHK WORLD English
• NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories
• NHK/digital

Coordinates: 35°39′55.07″N 139°41′45.41″E / 35.6652972°N 139.6959472°E / 35.6652972; 139.6959472

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Anne Akiko Meyers
Anne Akiko Meyers holding violin in New York on 10 October 2009
Background information
Birth name	Anne Akiko Meyers
Born	(1970-05-15) May 15, 1970 (age 42) San Diego
Origin	New York City
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Solo concert violinist
Instruments	Violin
Years active	1985–present
Labels	E1, Sony, RCA Red Seal, Avie
Website	www.anneakikomeyers.com

Anne Akiko Meyers (born May 15, 1970 in San Diego, California) is an American concert violinist. Meyers has toured and collaborated with a number of symphony orchestras and Il Divo, Chris Botti and Wynton Marsalis. Meyers tours with a 1730 Stradivarius violin called the 'Royal Spanish'.^[1] She is also the owner of a 1697 Stradivarius called the "Molitor", which is purported to have been owned by Napoleon Bonaparte. She purchased the 'Molitor' from Tarisio Auctions on October 14, 2010 for US$3,600,000, the highest recorded auction price for any musical instrument in history^[2][3] until the Lady Blunt was sold on June 20, 2011. Meyers was featured on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann on October 26, 2010.^[4]

Background[link]

Meyers was born in San Diego, California. Raised in Southern California she studied with Shirley Helmick, and then went on to study with Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, California. She then proceeded to study with Josef Gingold at Indiana University and Dorothy DeLay, Felix Galimir and Masao Kawasaki at the Juilliard School in New York City. Combining her junior and senior high school years and graduating early from the Juilliard School at the age of 20, she was touring the world and recorded exclusively for RCA Red Seal.^{[5][unreliable source?]}

Early career[link]

Meyers began studying the violin from the age of four, and when she was seven, debuted with an orchestra. At the age of 11, she was featured twice on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and the Emmy Award Show.^{[citation needed]} She also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, at the age of twelve, debuted with the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta conducting. When she was sixteen, she signed with ICM Artists and began touring and recording. At the age of eighteen, she recorded her first album in London at the Abbey Road Studios, featuring the Barber and Bruch Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Having signed an exclusive RCA Red Seal contract at the age of 21, she went on to record a comprehensive discography. At the age of 23, she was the sole recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant.^[6]

Professional works[link]

Meyers has been a regular guest at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Suntory Hall, Sydney Opera House and a soloist with orchestras such as BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Vienna Symphony and the Warsaw Philharmonic.

A supporter of contemporary composers, she has premiered works by David Baker, Mason Bates, Jakub Ciupinski, John Corigliano, Nathan Currier, Roddy Ellias, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Jennifer Higdon, Wynton Marsalis, Olivier Messiaen, Akira Miyoshi, Arvo Pärt, Manuel Maria Ponce, Somei Satoh, Teddy Shapiro, Joseph Schwantner, and Ezequiel Viñao.

Recently, Meyers asked jazz legend Wynton Marsalis to write cadenzas for her in Mozart's Violin Concerto in G Major, No.3 which she premiered with the Utah Symphony Orchestra.^[7]

Meyers has recorded music on numerous labels. Her debut disc, recorded at the age of 18, included the Violin Concerto (Barber) and the Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch) with Christopher Seaman and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. RPO Records recorded the sonatas of Saint-Saëns and Fauré. Her RCA catalogue includes Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and Bruch's Scottish Fantasy with Jesús López-Cobos and the Royal Philharmonic; the Franck and Strauss Sonatas; the Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn) and a selection of other works with Andrew Litton and the Philharmonia Orchestra; and Prokofiev Violin Concertos with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under Dmitri Kitajenko. Sonata albums include "Salut d'Amour" featuring many encore pieces with classic Japanese folksongs and one featuring works by Copland, Ives, Piston, and David Baker with pianist Andre-Michel Schub.

She recorded works by Debussy, Messiaen, Ravel, Somei Satoh, and Tōru Takemitsu. Two works written expressly for Meyers include a live performance of the Somei Satoh Violin Concerto with Tetsuji Honna and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and "Angelfire" by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Joseph Schwantner with Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.^[8] Naxos Records also released a performance of Jennifer Higdon's piano trio, featuring Meyers, live from the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival; and she recorded the Bruch Concerto live with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa with Maestro Hiroyuki Iwaki.

Smile was released in 2009 with Akira Eguchi.^[9]

In September 2010, Seasons...dreams was released, featuring works by Beethoven, Wagner, Schnittke, Debussy, and Vernon Duke, with pianist Reiko Uchida and harpist Emmanuel Ceysson.

Meyers was the special guest violinist as part of Il Divo's Christmas Tour 2009 ^[10] and toured with Chris Botti in 2010.^[11]

Discography[link]

• Samuel Barber/Max Bruch Concertos (1988) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman
• Gabriel Fauré & Camille Saint-Saëns Album (1989)
• Max Bruch and Édouard Lalo Album (1992) with the RPO and Jesus Lopez-Cobos
• César Franck and Richard Strauss Sonatas (1993)
• Felix Mendelssohn (1993) Violin Concerto and other works with the Philharmonia Orchestra & Andrew Litton
• Salut d'Amour (1994)
• French Orchestral Works (1995)
• Classical Ecstasy (1996)
• American Album (1996)
• Franz Schubert (1997)
• Sergei Prokofiev Album (1997) with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra and Dmitri Kitayenko
• UltraSound Music for the Unborn Child (19990
• Violin for Relaxation (2000)
• Romantic Violin (2001)
• Smooth Classics (2003)
• East Meets West (2004) (Japanese/French album)
• Kisetsu (2002) Somei Satoh Violin Concerto (written for Meyers)
• Angelfire (2001) Joseph Schwantner ‘Fantasy’ for amplified violin and orchestra (written for Meyers)
• Jennifer Higdon Piano Trio (2003)
• Max Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 in g minor Live from Japan (2006)
• Smile (2008)^[9]
• Seasons...dreams (2009)
• Bach Air Album with the English Chamber Orchestra (2011)
• "Pride (In the Name of Love)" from Gems with Michael Bolton (2011)

Television and advertising credits[link]

Meyers' television credits include an A&E Networks telecast from the Casals Festival with the Montreal Symphony and Krzysztof Penderecki, a PBS broadcast with the Boston Pops Orchestra and John Williams and her appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the "Emmy Award Show" attracted national attention. In Holland she was featured performing with Keith Lockhart and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She performed in front of 750,000 people in Sydney, Australia's harbour, celebrating their 250th Bicentennial.^{[citation needed]}

Teaching[link]

Meyers was a panelist, recitalist and teacher at the Juilliard School's Starling-DeLay Symposium in 2006 and in May, 2008 was invited by UCLA as Regent's Lecturer in violin.^[12]

In late 2009, Meyers joined the Butler School of Music at University of Texas at Austin as Distinguished Artist and Professor of Violin.^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official Facebook page
• Myspace page

Claus Peter Flor (born 16 March 1953, Leipzig) is a German conductor. He played the violin as a youth, and later was a conducting student with Rolf Reuter.

Flor served as chief conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 1991. He was artistic advisor and principal guest conductor to the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich from 1991 to 1996. He was principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1991 to 1994, and has been principal guest conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi since 2003.

In the USA, Flor served with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as its third-ever principal guest conductor from 1999 to 2008.^{[1] [2]}

In 2008, Flor became music director of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. His initial contract is for 3 years.^[3] In 2012, he became embroiled in controversy as a large number of orchestra members were effectively sacked, leaving up to thirty vacancies.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Agency biography
• Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra page on Flor

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