Nippon Hoso Kyokai Research Articles

Emperor Hirohito’s Post-Surrender Reflections

Abstract This essay introduces readers to the recent discovery of the personal papers of Grand Steward Tajima Michiji. These documents capture the post-surrender reflections of Hirohito, Japan’s Shōwa Emperor, and record him speaking on such issues as his war responsibility, as well as the culpability of prewar politicians such as Konoe Fumimaro and General Tōjō Hideki. In August 2019, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) (nhk) announced that it had gained privileged access to the papers. Acting on advice from scholars, it then released extracts from Tajima’s audience records. Drawing not on the Tajima papers themselves, but on what the nhk has made available, the documents demonstrate that Hirohito, after Japan’s surrender, experienced anguish and over the war and its outcome. He continued as emperor because he accepted “moral responsibility” for the war that required him to help his nation and its people endure occupation and reconstruction. This article also describes Hirohito’s postwar reflections on several issues, such as Japanese field officers and subordinates in the 1930s initiating without authorization acts of aggression, the Rape of Nanjing, and Japan’s postwar rearmament. While the Tajima papers will not resolve the ongoing debate over the emperor’s responsibility for Japan’s path of aggression before 1945, they do provide valuable insights about his role in and reaction to events before, during, and after World War ii.

AI-Driven Smart Production

Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation), has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven broadcasting technology called “Smart Production” designed to quickly and accurately gather and analyze diverse types of social information and deliver information to a wide range of viewers. Smart Production uses AI to analyze information obtained from social media and open data as well as the know-how related to program production possessed by broadcast stations. This approach makes it possible to extract events and incidents in society and present the results of the analysis to producers. In particular, image analysis technology for recognizing objects in video and speech recognition technology for generating transcripts of interviews enable metadata to be automatically generated for video footage. Additionally, research and development are progressing on technology for automatically converting broadcast data into content that can be easily understood by viewers with special needs.

Relationship Between Use of Media and Radiation Anxiety Among the Residents of Fukushima 5.5 Years After the Nuclear Power Plant Accident.

We aimed to investigate the relationships between use of media to obtain information on radiation and radiation anxiety among community residents in Fukushima, 5.5 years after the nuclear power plant accident. A questionnaire survey was administered between August and October 2016 to 2000 randomly sampled residents in Fukushima prefecture. Radiation anxiety toward health and regarding discrimination and prejudice were assessed with 4- and 3-item scales, respectively. Participants nominated their most-used media for acquiring information on radiation by choosing up to 3 sources from 12 information sources listed (eg, local newspaper, TV news, websites, social networking sites [SNS], local government newsletter, word of mouth). We investigated associations of most-used media types and radiation anxiety, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and anxiety regarding radiation's health effects immediately after the accident, using multivariate linear regression analyses. Valid responses were obtained from 790 (39.5%) residents. Acquiring information about radiation by word of mouth was related to higher radiation anxiety toward health. Regarding radiation anxiety concerning discrimination and prejudice, SNS use was related to higher anxiety, whereas acquiring information through Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) TV news was related to lower anxiety. Interpersonal interactions rather than gaining information from media - characterized by unidirectional information exchange - may increase radiation anxiety.

Abstract P6-11-01: Final results of the randomized trial of exercise intervention vs. usual care for breast cancer patients with aromatase inhibitor to prevent and improve the aromatase inhibitor induced arthralgia

Abstract Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) have been used in the adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive early breast cancer as a consequence of the significant benefit in DFS and OS when compared with tamoxifen. However the patients who receive AIs have an increased risk of arthralgia, at most 50% of patients did not take AIs and the 20% of the discontinued patients were within the first year of use. The HOPE study demonstrated that exercise was effective in improving AI-induced arthralgia. We conducted the AIAI (Arthralgia Improvement for the patients with Aromatase Inhibitors) study using wider eligibility criteria that the HOPE study to assess the impact on AI induced arthralgia in breast cancer patients. Patients were randomly assigned, in a 3:1 ratio, to exercise intervention or usual care. Following randomization participants could choose from 3 types of exercise including group 1 (120-150 minutes per week of walking or running), group 2 (daily NIPPON HOSO KYOKAI: NHK broadcast exercise in Japan) and group 3 (going up the stairs- frequency, etc). The primary endpoint was the arthralgia change at 6 and 12 months, which was assessed using the BPI (Brief Pain Inventory). Secondary endpoints included the BPI according to the completion rate of exercise (70% and more or less than 70%), the BPI change of the patients with arthralgia (the patients who had arthralgia at the time they enrolled this study; BPI worst pain 3≤), the BPI of the each exercise group, the BPI according to the duration of AIs therapy (24 months and more or less than 24 months), the correlation between the BMI change and the BPI change, adherence of AIs and safety. 102 were randomly assigned to exercise intervention group (22 patients dropped out of this study) and 37 to usual care group (9 patients dropped out of this study).Trends for differentiations of pain interference at 12 months was detected between exercise intervention group and usual care group, but the differences did not reach statistical significance (p = .067). There was statistically better pain interference of the 70% and more exercise completion group than the usual care group at 12 months (-0.29±1.22 for exercise intervention group and 0.33±0.88 for usual care group, p= .002). The change of pain interference was statistically better for the exercise intervention group than the usual care group at 12 months (p= .017, -0.61±0.69 for exercise intervention group and 1.14±1.56 for usual care group). There was statistically significant difference of pain interference between group 1 exercise intervention group and the usual care group at 12 months (-0.14±0.68 for group 1 exercise intervention group and 0.33±0.88 for the usual care group, p= .009). Tendencies were detected in the AIs therapy less than 24 months group. Trends for the correlation between BPI and BMI were detected in worst pain at 6 month, pain severity at 6 month and pain interference at 12 month. There was a statistically significant difference of AIs adherence between the exercise intervention group (99%) and the usual care group (92%) (P=0.03). Exercise may be effective in improving and preventing AI-induced arthralgia. Citation Format: Tamaki K, Takaesu M, Nagamine S, Terukina S, Kamada Y, Uehara K, Takigami N, Arakaki M, Yamashiro K, Miyashita M, Ishida T, McNamara KM, Tamaki N, Sasano H. Final results of the randomized trial of exercise intervention vs. usual care for breast cancer patients with aromatase inhibitor to prevent and improve the aromatase inhibitor induced arthralgia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-11-01.

Readying for UHDTV Broadcasting in Japan

NHK, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), is going to present highly realistic broadcasts of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo via 8K Super Hi-Vision (also known as ultrahigh definition TV (UHDTV)), the world's most sophisticated broadcasting system. Here, we describe our preparations for the 8K broadcasting, particularly for the test broadcasting via satellite that began in 2016. In particular, we describe our activities related to standardization and development of program production equipment, play-out, and a distribution system for the 8K broadcasting. Regarding the production and distribution systems, we present the results of experimental satellite broadcasting performed in 2016. We also discuss the current status of the high dynamic range function for the 8K system, the multiformat production workflow, and remaining issues.

Abstract P5-12-01: Randomized trial of exercise intervention vs. usual care for breast cancer patients with aromatase inhibitor to prevent and improve the aromatase inhibitor induced arthralgia

Abstract Purpose: Arthralgia sometimes occurs in the breast cancer patients treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs). It is one of the most important reasons for poor AIs adherence. Background; The HOPE study previously demonstrated that exercise was effective in improving AI-induced arthralgia in breast cancer patients. However, recruitment to this study was limited to severe cases (Criteria; physically inactive, >6 months AT treatment, >2 months arthralgia). To asses if these findings were more generalizable to all breast cancer contexts we conducted a randomized trial of exercise intervention using wider eligibility criteria that the hope study to assess the impact on AI induced arthralgia in breast cancer patients. Methods: We examined Japanese breast cancer patients operated at Nahanishi Clinic, Okinawa, Japan. Following the informed consent the patients were randomly assigned to a 3:1 ratio to exercise intervention or usual care, . Eligibility criteria included receiving an AI for 0-4 years, no metastases, any arthralgia level and any exercise habits. Following randomization participants could choose from 3 types of exercise including strong (120-150 minutes per week of walking or running), intermediate (gentle calisthenics (daily NIPPON HOSO KYOKAI: NHK broadcast exercise)) and weak (going up the stairs- frequency). Arthralgia was assessed using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), in which the patients completed a baseline, 6month and 12 month BPI assessment. Primary endpoint was BPI change at 12 months. Results: Among 227 women screened, we randomized 108 women, with 80 to exercise intervention (46 of strong, 19 of intermediate and 15 of weak) and 28 to usual care. Base line BPI were well balanced between exercise intervention and usual care. Overall exercise intervention reduced BPI scores relative to control. The BPI changes of worst pain, least pain, average pain and pain right now were 0.09, -0.25, -0.14 and 0 for exercise intervention group and 0.21, 0.46, 0.07 and 0.61 for usual care group, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference of AIs adherence between exercise intervention group (99%) and usual care group (92%) (P=0.03). Conclusion: Exercise intervention tends to improve the AI-induced arthralgia and has a positive effect on AIs adherence. Citation Format: Tajaesu M, Tamaki K, Nagamine S, Kamada Y, Uehara K, Arakaki M, Tamatsu Y, Yamashiro K, Miyashita M, Ishida T, Ohuchi N, McNamara K, Terukina S, Sasano H, Tamaki N. Randomized trial of exercise intervention vs. usual care for breast cancer patients with aromatase inhibitor to prevent and improve the aromatase inhibitor induced arthralgia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-12-01.

Evaluating the Product Portfolio of NHK, the Japanese Public Service Broadcaster: A Propensity Score Matching Approach

ABSTRACTPublic service broadcasters (PSBs) around the world are restructuring their constituencies to meet the new challenges of increasing media diversification. New PSB management approaches include the diversification of transmission channels and development of contents. The optimum deployment of distribution channels and content genres, referred to as Portfolio Management, is now a major management priority and will provide the most efficient strategic allocation of management resources. In this article, we take NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai), Japan’s PSB, as a research target and analyze and evaluate its portfolio management. NHK has introduced the Value for Money (VFM) index through the measurement of WTP (Willingness to Pay), and has initiated channel-genre matrix management. This study aims to estimate the WTP of viewers’ reception fees from viewer surveys, and then distribute these WTP values to the channel-genre matrix. We then use Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to evaluate how NHK’s channel-genre matrix management is oriented toward public service value by dividing the sample population into high citizen orientation and low citizen orientation groups, and examining how the distributed WTP to genres differs between the two groups.

Fenomena Muen Shakai dalam Dua Novel Jepang

On January 31, 2010 NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) reported that 32 thousand people died each year alone and buried by the local government. The news immediately raised the interest of the problem called disconnected society (muen shakai), that Japanese people live in less socializing with relatives or neighbors. This research examined the muen shakai phenomenon in two Japanese novels, Grotesque and Umibe no Kafka. The approach used in this research is sociology of literature, that literature is not only artworks but also real representation of the social state. Descriptive analytical method was used through library study by describing and analyzing data to derive a conclusion. Research found that muen shakai exists in both Grotesque and Umibe no Kafka. The phenomenon is due to changes in Japan’s family system, from Ie to kaku-kazoku.

Justice and Dialogue in Japan's Top Press: Philosopher Michael Sandel as Cultural Authority

In April 2010, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK: Nippon Hoso Kyokai) began broadcasting Justice With Michael Sandel, a highly popular lecture course by the Harvard political philosopher. Despite its serious content, the program has enjoyed much popularity and has been rebroadcast several times. In this article, I analyze how Japanese major newspapers have discussed the lectures and the scholarship of Michael Sandel. The analysis reveals that the popularity of Sandel's lectures reflects the feeling of uneasiness shared among the public about the current social climate in Japan. Sandel's political philosophy and educational practice seem to have offered the Japanese public a means to address moral political issues facing the country.

Demonstration of optical communication network for ultra high-definition image transmission

In order to overcome the limitation of low-power-consumption and communication capacity of the equipment forming the present communication network, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has carried out a demonstration of a new prototype optical path network to support the super HD large-capacity image contents era, in collaboration with five IT- related companies and with the support of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Nippon Hoso Kyokai Science and Technology Research Laboratories (NHK/STRL) . The experiment was a trial to demonstrate the performance of the dynamic optical path network developed mainly by AIST under practical conditions, using a network testbed of field optical fiber links connecting Akihabara, Otemachi and Koganei offices in Tokyo. The demonstration included the cross-border-connection with the optical packet and circuit integrated network realized by NICT and transmission of super HD video signals developed by NHK. In this paper, we describe the objectives, targets, technology syntheses based on the elemental technologies for the demonstration, and outcomes.

Television and Violence in the Economy of Memory

The present paper aims to consider the cultural function of television as a technology for the creation of a public memory. The television system records past images, preserves them, and broadcasts various historical programs. A viewer owns the public memory jointly, through watching/consuming programs. However, the process of production and consumption of programs is linked with the exclusion of other historical memories from the public space. After all, the creation of public memories in depth is related to social power. Through the analysis in concrete terms of a series of programs of Project X and the second episode of the Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK; Japan Broadcasting Corporation) series, Special Edition: Judging War, the relationship between the organization of public memories and social power is explored. Project X depicts the challenges of engineers of middle standing who initiated new industrial and technological developments in the 1960s and 1970s. Special Edition: Judging War is based on coverage of the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery. This program was subjected to revision on the eve of its broadcast. What forms of expression were eliminated? These two programs should help us define more clearly what the Japanese media selects for incorporation into the public memory.

The Beginnings of Electronic Music in Japan, with a Focus on the NHK Studio: The 1970s

This article continues the account begun in the previous issue, which examined electronic music in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s (Loubet 1997). As with the previous article, the historical information here derives primarily from interviews I conducted, in many sessions over the period between 1986 and 1995, with the distinguished composers Toshiro Mayuzumi, Makoto Moroi, Minao Shibata, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Yori-Aki Matsudaira, Joji Yuasa, Katsuhiro Tsubono, Yuji Takahashi, Takehisa Kosugi, Mieko Shiomi, Shiuko Mizuno, Keiki Okasaka, Isao Tomita, Michiharu Matsunaga, and Satoshi Sumitani; as well as with former sound engineers at Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), the national radio and television network of Japan: Hiroshi Shiotani, Yoshinori Ando, and Shigeru Sato; and, finally, with the former director of the electronic music studio at NHK, Wataru Uenami. The information from the interviews was supplemented by the documents listed in the References list, among others. [A more complete bibliography will be found in issue 22(2).-Ed.]

The Beginnings of Electronic Music in Japan, with a Focus on the NHK Studio: The 1950s and 1960s

This article is based primarily on acoustic experiences associated with the research of sound documents, which is part of my task as an independent multimedia producer. The historical information here derives primarily from interviews I conducted, in many sessions over the period between 1986 and 1995, with the distinguished composers Toshiro Mayuzumi (1986), Makoto Moroi (1992), Minao Shibata (1986, 1987, 1989a, 1989b, 1991, 1993, 1994), Toshi Ichiyanagi (1989), Yori-Aki Matsudaira (1987, 1991), Joji Yuasa (1987), Katsuhiro Tsubono (1987, 1993, 1994), Yuji Takahashi (1987, 1993), Takehisa Kosugi (1993), Mieko Shiomi (1993), Shiuko Mizuno (1993), Keiki Okasaka (1987), Isao Tomita (1993), and Satoshi Sumitani (1992); as well as with former sound engineers at Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), the national radio and television network of Japan: Hiroshi Shiotani (1988, 1990, 1992), Yoshinori Ando (1988), and Shigeru Sato (1992, 1993); and, finally, with the former director of the electronic music studio at NHK, Wataru Uenami (1986, 1988). Once collected, this information was completed and verified by consulting the documents listed in the References list, among others. It is, however, possible that errors have slipped into the article, because the stories of composers and engineers, on the one hand, and the writings of different periods, on the other hand, sometimes contradict one another, making it impossible to determine which version of the facts is correct. What is more, witnesses of this period are increasingly rare, and objections to existing historical data even more so in a society where debate, discussion, and objection are not recognized social values. Sound documents and interviews are the basis of this article. Besides the tapes preserved in the NHK Studio, few sound documents are available. I have thus kept almost exclusively to works realized in the NHK Studio.

HDTV and the computer industry

In the 1940s, television and radio combinations like the one on the left were the precursors of today's "entertainment centers ." About 25 years later, black and white television gave way to color. The next leap, high resolution television coupled with CD quality stereo may be coming soon. Last April, in the deep hours of the night, NBC, Channel 4 in New York City, announced a test: viewers would witness the first broadcast of the Sarnoff Research Center's Advanced Compatible Television system. The program of choice: the Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Researchers at the Sarnoff Center in Princeton, NJ, watched the signal, which emanated from WNBC at the World Trade Center in New York, on experimental high-definition monitors. The Sarnoff group, along with ABC and General Electric's consumer electronics division, has invested $60 million to develop a system that has twice the lines of regular TV screens (1050), scans at the same rate (29.97 frames per second), and enhances the current standard signal. A planned two-step approach to advanced television, the second phase would provide greater detail to those who bought wide-screen monitors, but it still would be compatible with today's TVs. The Sarnoff system is one of 20 advanced television research projects under way in this country, including those of the Zenith Electronics Group in cooperation with AT&T Microelectronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Advanced Television Research Program, the New York Institute of Technology, the Del-Ray Group, and North American Philips. Many have applied for matching funds from DARPA, which has earmarked $30 million for the next three years—half slated for transmission research and half for display technology. As of August 1989, five companies had been granted money for display technology. Newco Inc. of San Jose, CA, Raychem Corporation of Menlo Park, CA, Texas Instruments Inc. of Dallas, TX, and Projectavision Inc. of New York will receive money for projection display systems. Photonics Technology Inc. of Northwood, OH, was selected for flat panel display technology. More money may be forthcoming, as pressure is exerted to create systems to compete with or to supplant high-definition television (HDTV) as offered by Japan's national broadcasting organization Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) and Europe's Eureka systems.

Simultaneous occurrence probabilities of rainfall among nine locations in Japan

Observation of rainfall has been performed at nine sites in Japan by NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, i.e. Japan Broadcasting Corporation) during the BSE (Japan's medium-scale broadcasting satellite for experimental purposes) experimental period (1978–1981). The simultaneous occurrence probabilities of rainfall were obtained for 36 pairs of combinations among nine distant locations in Japan, and showed a clear dependence on the separation distances. It is found that this dependence of simultaneous rainfall probabilities on the separation distances is much larger than that of Italy.

HOUSEHOLD USES OF TIME — TRANSITIONS FROM 1960 TO 1980

Studies of time‐use in Japan were reviewed by Tanaka at the Uppsala Conference,1 followed by a review of time‐input for household work given by Matsushima at the Bulgaria Conference.2 This paper will study the changes of household work with data based on past national 5‐year interval surveys, the NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) Japan Broadcasting Corporation surveys of 1960, 1965, 1970, (1973 interim), 1975 and 1980. The latest 1980 survey has been summarized by Nakanishi.3

Technical Aspects of The Japanese Broadcasting Satellite Experiments

After a successful launch of the Japanese Medium-Scale Broadcasting Satellite for Experimental Purpose (BSE) Yuri in April 1978, check-outs of the satellite and the transponder were conducted by the National Space development Agency of Japan (NASDA) for three months. In July, Radio Research Laboratories (RRL) of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MOPT) and Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK: Japan Broadcasting Corporation) initiated various kinds of satellite broadcasting experiments which will be continued for three years. This paper presents brief description of the BSE program and the preliminary results of the experiments.

School Broadcasts NHK- Japan. Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso Kyokai)A Survey of Japan's Educational and Industrial Film Activities. Eiichi Kanazashi

Previous articleNext article No AccessFilm NoteSchool Broadcasts NHK- Japan. Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) A Survey of Japan's Educational and Industrial Film Activities. Eiichi Kanazashi George Z. F. BeredayGeorge Z. F. Bereday Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 8, Number 2Oct., 1964 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/445073 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.