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75 channels
Japanese television runs on a rhythm that can feel foreign to Western viewers, even if you’ve seen a J-drama. The evening news on NHK, the public broadcaster, is famously sober: no flashy graphics, no shouting, just a steady anchor reading from a script. Commercial networks like Fuji TV, Nippon TV, and TBS, on the other hand, lean into the chaos. Their primetime variety shows are a national institution, think celebrity challenge segments, batsu games, and bizarre talk formats that hinge on reaction shots. Dramas (dorama) air in neat 10-12 episode seasons, often adapted from manga or novels, and they dominate the 21:00 slot. During baseball season, the NPB playoffs can push everything else aside. Foreign programs are consistently dubbed into Japanese; only the occasional Hollywood movie survives with subtitles. That extends to kids' anime, which is always voiced locally. NHK also carries sumo tournaments live, a tradition that’s survived for decades. Late-night belongs to anime and idol shows, and it’s not unusual to find English-language feeds from NHK World or CNN in hotels. Japan’s TV culture remains remarkably robust despite streaming, partly because live events, from music shows to news, still pull the whole family to the living room sofa.