On January 28th, at the fourth hearing held at the Osaka District Court in Japan, a man who had been arrested and indicted by the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters and the Toyonaka Police Station on suspicion of violating the Copyright Act for selling pirated DVDs of classic black-and-white films that he had unlawfully colourised and […]

At the Wireless Global Congress (WGC) APAC 2026 in Tokyo, Airties, a provider of AI-driven software for ISPs, has revealed findings from a commissioned consumer survey, independently conducted by Qualtrics, of more than 1,000 Japanese households. The survey revealed a potential churn crisis for home ISPs in Japan: approximately one-quarter of households are considering switching […]

Japan’s public broadcaster NHK has announced the appointment of Tatsuhiko Inoue, the current Vice President, as the next President of NHK. Inoue’s three-year term will begin on January 25th 2026, taking over after the current Nobuo Inaba’s term ends. Before Inoue, six consecutive presidents came from outside NHK, and it is the first time since […]

The already award-winning documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Last Days has been further recognised this time with an International Emmy Award. Produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK, the documentary film reported on the death of acclaimed musician Ryuichi Sakamoto in March 2023. As a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakamoto catapulted into international fame with his […]

SES will soon provide more satellite capacity over Japan and across Asia for commercial airline customers following an agreement for the full Ku-band capacity of the geostationary communications satellite Superbird-C2, owned by SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation. The Superbird-C2 satellite will be repositioned from its current orbital location at 144 degrees East to a new orbital […]

The Northeast Asia Video Summit 2025, hosted by the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA), brought together leading media executives, content creators, and technology innovators to explore the future of video in Japan and Korea. Held in Tokyo on October 28th, the summit showcased transformative strategies in global content production, streaming monetisation, and cross-border collaboration. A […]

AST SpaceMobile, which has a Japanese partner with Rakuten Mobile, will have competition in terms of Direct-To-Consumer connectivity. The threat comes from a joint venture between wireless telecom provider NTT Docomo and financial powerhouse Softbank. NTT Docomo and SoftBank are preparing to launch direct satellite communication services for smartphones in 2026, leveraging the Starlink satellite network […]

A spectacular marine documentary, captured in 8K UHD by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, has won an IBC Innovation Award at the 2025 event. NHK’s Deep Ocean: Kingdom of the Coelacanth, which successfully filmed the world’s-first video images of a group of coelacanths and their behaviour indicative of reproduction using 8K HDR and 22.2 multichannel surround […]

A number of Japanese broadcasters are leaving the high-profile BS4K direct broadcasting platform. The satellite platform charges a premium fee over and above the normal TV licence fee. Only three channels remain, including public broadcaster NHK and shopping channels. The five major channels (described locally as part of the BS5 consortium) and named as Nippon […]