Television's Rise — NHK, Commercial Broadcasting & the Birth of J-Drama

Japanese Film & Television

Chapter 7 · Television's Rise — NHK, Commercial Broadcasting & the Birth of J-Drama

Japan's public and commercial broadcasters launched television within six months of each other in 1953 — and nearly four decades later, one network's own scheduling decision, made for entirely practical reasons, turned into the format that defined an entire genre of Japanese drama.

NHK: Japan's Public Broadcaster

NHK's own real origin traces back to Japan's first radio transmission, broadcast by the Tokyo Broadcasting Station on 22 March 1925. By August 1926, the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya stations had merged into a single organization — Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK), the Japan Broadcasting Corporation — explicitly modeled on Britain's own BBC. A real 1950 Broadcast Law reformed NHK into its modern public-broadcasting structure: the law forbade government intervention in programming and, for the first time, allowed private broadcasters to compete. NHK itself launched television service in February 1953, initially airing just four hours a day, funded entirely by audience license fees rather than advertising.

Commercial Broadcasting Arrives — Barely Months Later

Nippon TV, founded by Matsutaro Shoriki, was granted Japan's first commercial television license in July 1952 and launched on 28 August 1953 as Asia's first commercial television station — barely six months after NHK's own television service began. Japan's first television commercial, for Seikosha clocks, aired that same day.

The Birth of "Trendy Drama"

In the late 1980s, Fuji TV producer Ota Toru — then in his late 20s — set out to make dramas targeting women in their twenties. The result was "trendy drama": series built around love affairs between good-looking actors with fashionable lifestyles, prioritizing setting, music, and casting over plot substance. Dakishimetai (1988) is generally cited as an early example of the format taking shape.

Tokyo Love Story, 1991 — The Format's Real Breakthrough

Tokyo Love Story aired on Fuji TV across 11 episodes and one special between January and March 1991, averaging a real 22.88% viewership rating. Its theme song, "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni" by Kazumasa Oda, became the 9th best-selling single in Japan's history. Alongside The 101st Marriage Proposal, it's credited with propelling Fuji TV's own Monday-night 9pm drama slot into the cultural institution it remains today.

A genuinely practical reason behind the schedule — that slot is known in Japan as "Getsuku" (月9), short for Getsuyō kuji, "Monday at 9." Fuji TV deliberately placed its most anticipated dramas there for a real, unglamorous reason: Monday is the one night of the week Japanese professional baseball never schedules games, guaranteeing the slot would never face a broadcast delay across an entire season.

Questions to Sit With

Reflection 1

NHK and Nippon TV launched television service just six months apart, one public and one commercial. Do you think that near-simultaneous start shaped Japanese television differently than a country where one model had years to establish itself first?

Reflection 2

Trendy drama deliberately prioritized style — casting, music, setting — over plot substance. Do you think that's a genuine creative choice, or closer to a straightforward ratings strategy dressed up as one?

Reflection 3

The Getsuku slot's own real origin was about avoiding baseball schedule conflicts, not about picking a culturally meaningful night. Does knowing that practical reason change how you think about "iconic" broadcast slots more generally?

Quick Reference — Chapter 7

  • NHK traces to Japan's first radio broadcast (1925), formally merging as a BBC-modeled public broadcaster in 1926, and launched television in February 1953
  • Nippon TV launched 28 August 1953 as Asia's first commercial television station, barely six months after NHK's own TV debut
  • "Trendy drama" originated at Fuji TV in the late 1980s under producer Ota Toru, prioritizing style and casting over plot
  • Tokyo Love Story (1991) helped cement Fuji TV's "Getsuku" Monday 9pm slot — chosen for the real, practical reason that baseball never airs that night
Next chapter: Where Live-Action Ends — Manga Adaptations & the Boundary With Anime — a real, distinctly Japanese production trend, and where this course's own scope stops.