TV channels Japan

Japanese television is a crowded, highly organized ecosystem: the public broadcaster at the center, the Tokyo network flagships around it, a dense bench of rolling news services, prefectural stations, live shopping channels and the niches of anime and faith.

The Public Broadcaster

NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, anchors the country's television with its general and educational services, while NHK World News is its international face - the English-language window on Japan and the world from the country's biggest broadcaster.

The Network Flagships

The commercial networks are represented by TV Asahi, the Tokyo flagship of the All-Nippon News Network, and TV Tokio - channel 7 in the capital - best known for its anime specialization. BS Fuji is the satellite arm of the Fuji Network, and TV Osaka carries the TX Network's programming to Osaka and the Kansai region.

The Newsrooms

Japanese television invests heavily in continuous news. NTV News24 is the news channel of Nippon Television, whose origins reach back to August 1953 as Japan's first commercial broadcaster. TBS NEWS DIG is the Tokyo Broadcasting System's digital news service, built for the streaming audience. ANN News carries the All-Nippon News Network's coverage, and FNN - FNN Prime Online - is the Fuji News Network's digital-first news format. The regions contribute MBS News from Osaka, HTB News from Hokkaido Television Broadcasting and KBC News from Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting in Fukuoka. WeatherNews runs continuous weather coverage built on real-time community data, and Bloomberg TV Asia follows the Asia-Pacific trading day from studios in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Prefectural and Internet Screens

Prefectural television is present through TV Shizuoka, serving Shizuoka Prefecture, and Television KANAGAWA - tvk - the terrestrial broadcaster for Kanagawa and its surroundings. netchannel KYO represents the internet-native end of the spectrum, an online station built around music programming.

Shopping, Faith and Animation

Japanese shopping television is an industry of its own. QVC Japan, on air since 2001 from its Chiba studios, carries the global QVC model of live product demonstrations; Shop Channel, operated by Jupiter Shop Channel, is the country's largest home-shopping operator; and GSTV - Gem Shopping Television - is devoted entirely to jewelry, broadcasting live every day. On the faith side, CGN TV Japan is the Japanese service of the Christian network founded in Korea, with worship and Bible teaching in Japanese. And Animax rounds out the country's screen as the dedicated anime channel of Japanese pay-TV.