Home > History of NHK International Broadcasting

History of NHK International Broadcasting

Overseas Broadcasts in the Prewar and Wartime Period

1935
Jun. 1
Nippon Hoso Kyokai (forerunner of the present NHK) commences a one hour daily shortwave broadcast service for the west coast of North America and Hawaii under the name of Kaigai Hoso (Overseas Broadcasting) with programs in Japanese and English.
1937
Jan. 1
NHK begins one hour daily services for Europe, the east coast of North America and South America, and Malaya/Singapore/Java.
Apr.
French and German languages added.
Overseas service expands steadily for more regions and languages.
1941
Jan.
The public relations magazine, "Kaigai Hoso Bangumi"(Overseas Broadcasts), is given the new name of "Radio Tokyo".
Overseas service becomes better known as "Radio Tokyo."
1944
Nov. 5
Service reaches its largest scale in the pre-war and wartime period with a total of 33 hours 5 minutes per day in 24 languages.

languages: Japanese, English, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, Chinese (mandarin), Dutch, French, Fujian, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Urdu

1945
Aug. 15
As the war draws to an end, NHK gradually reduces overseas service.
Sep. 10
Radio Tokyo announces the end of the war to Japanese people abroad.
At the order of the Allied Powers, NHK discontinues its "Radio Tokyo" services.
  • Ringing the station identification chime
    (Tokyo, 1935)
  • Production work at Radio Japan (NHK Tokyo, 1937)
  • Overseas program schedule for programs broadcast in Japanese, Chinese, English and Spanish (1940)

International Broadcasts in the Postwar Period
- The Growth of NHK WORLD - Radio, TV and the Internet.

1952
Feb. 1
NHK resumes its international shortwave broadcast services under the name of Radio Japan in five regions, North America, North China, Central China, Philippines, Indonesia, and India, with programs in Japanese and English for five hours daily.
1957
Jun. 1
Service expands to 15 regions, 15 hours daily and 16 languages.
1960
Sep. 4
Service area expands worldwide.
(General Service in Japanese and English becomes available all over the world.)
1980s -1990s
Relay broadcasts through transmitting stations in Gabon, Canada, Guiana, Sri Lanka, UK and Singapore begin for better reception.
1991
Apr. 1
The start of the Persian service brings the number of languages to 22.

languages: Japanese, English, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Urdu,Vietnamese

1994
Apr. 1
Daily broadcasting hours reach 65.
1995
Apr. 3
NHK commences international TV broadcasting services for North America and Europe.
1996
Jan.
NHK renames its overseas radio and TV services NHK WORLD.
1998
Oct. 1
NHK World TV and NHK World Premium become available in almost every part of the world.
1999
Oct. 1
NHK World TV and NHK World Premium commence 24-hour broadcasting.
2000
Feb. 4
NHK begins to stream NHK World Radio Japan news on the Internet.
Sep.
Radio Japan on-demand News service becomes available in 22 languages on the Internet.
2007
Oct. 1
Radio Japan in Japanese to North America, Hawaii and Europe are discontinued.
All broadcasts in Malay, Italian, German and Swedish are terminated at that time.

languages: Japanese, English, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Urdu,Vietnamese

  • Listening to the Radio Japan in Antarctica (1961)