The Japanese have somehow managed to squeeze bribes-- er, extortion-- I mean, fees into nearly every aspect of daily life. "Key Money" is a fee (amount varies between 2 to 6 months of rent) paid to your new landlord on top of your first months rent and deposit. Not only does this money help ensure the rental, it also allows you to show your (mandatory) gratitude for being allowed to move in. ATMs charge fees for using them after their normal business hours. (I'm assuming this fee is somehow connected to paying the machine overtime wages.) And car owners beware! When buying a car in Japan, mentally add at least $10,000 to the displayed price because your insurance, inspection, and mandatory repair costs every two years can be thousands of dollars. Even though we have had time now to acquaint ourselves with these various fees, the latest addition to our monthly bills really floored us.
Last Saturday, in the middle of a snowstorm, a man arrived on our doorstop. Our conversation with him went something like this.
Man: Do you watch TV?
Us: Um . . . yes?
Man: Do you have a Broadcast Receiving Contract with NHK?
Us: A-- what?
Man: You owe us money.
Us: HUH?!
Man: Read this pamphlet.
At this point we were given a pamphlet in English with a large "To Television Set Owners" printed on the front followed by a Q&A section. Although there were many questions with very detailed answers, after reading it through very thoroughly we realized there were really only two take away points.
Q: Why should I pay the TV Receiving Fee to NHK simply because I own a TV set?
A: Because I said so.
Q: Great! Where do I sign up?
A: First give me money because I walked all the way over here in the snow. Then give me your bank account number so I can take more money out.
Feeling alarmed, I slipped away from the door and let Tyler talk to the NHK representative so I could look this up online and make sure we weren't being scammed. Unfortunately, this turned out to be quite legit. Apparently there is such as thing as "public broadcasting" paid for by the public as opposed to "commercial broadcasting" which uses advertising for funding and profit. Despite the overall legitimacy of this new fee, I am starting to understand more fully why Japan continues so happily as a cash society -- cash is highly untraceable.
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3 comments:
Wow, check e-mail for comment. ;)
WHAT IF:
What if you owned a big screen would it have cost you more?
What if your TV was on your wristwatch?
What if you were blind and couldn't watch TV but could hear it would you still have to pay?
What if the channels were all lousy do you get a discount?
What if you didn't answer the door would you get a bill in the mail?
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