Media

TV - Radio - Books, Newspapers & Magazines - Movies - Video Stores
Computer and Internet Access

TV

There are a number of TV stations available in Sendai, and if you're lucky you can get the (technically!) two free-to-air NHK Broadcast Satellite (BS) stations as well. The number of English-language programs and movies on these stations are limited, and you will need to purchase a TV with a bilingual function to take advantage of the English transmissions.

What's on TV? Well, apart from a bunch of children and teenagers' shows, programs include Ally McBeal, Baywatch, Beverly Hills 90210, ER and some other news services. In addition, some stations screen English language movies over the weekends. Some of the Japanese news broadcasts (notably the 7 and 9PM bulletins of the NHK news) are transmitted in English. Those with the BS facility can watch more English-language programs including CNN Headline news and BBC news bulletins, movies, documentaries and sport.

If you wish to go to the expensive (and it is an expense) of installing and subscribing to satellite pay TV (i.e. Perfect TV, WOWOW), your options are widened, but not dramatically. The other alternative is getting videos from home.

Radio

If you want free-to-air English broadcasts, forget it. Even those with shortwave radios have difficulty picking up the BBC Worldservice or Voice of America. Some radio broadcasting is now available through the Internet, but when you consider that you're paying for each second due to the tolled local calls in Japan, it's an expensive way to listen to the radio!!! Another option is cable radio, but it is quite pricey.

Books, Newspapers and Magazines

If you want to keep reading in English, make sure you bring along a selection of popular reads - books, magazines and newspapers, whilst available here - are not cheap! The Daily Yomiuri and The Japan Times are the English language dailies available here, with the former being the best bargain at ¥2,400 a month, delivered to your home. Some international newspapers (usually the Sunday editions) are available at Tower Records and can even be reserved each week.

Magazines are also plentiful at Tower Records (where they can also be put aside for you), Maruzen and E Beans (main bookshop floor). Tower's selection is restricted, but they have the best prices. If you are magazine junkie (like me - Tony), it might be wise to organise a subscription to your faves after you know your new apartment's address.Whilst Tower Records in Sendai has no books in English (the Tower in the Shibuya area of Tokyo is joy to behold, however!), Maruzen and E Beans contain a good selection of English texts and for recreation and education. For those of you wanting to visit The Mall in Tomizawa, there is a branch of the reputable Kinokinuya chain which has books and magazines in English.

If you want to save the cost and storage issues associated with buying and owning reading matter, there are other alternatives. The first is the library and reading room at the Sendai International Centre which contains a wide selection of newspapers, magazines and books, the latter two you can borrow free of charge! There is also a JET library where you can pick up some reading matter, and at our regular ALT meetings at the Board of Education we have the occasional book swap.

Movies

There are not that many movie theatres in Sendai, and those that exist are quite small in size. In addition, a regular movie will set you back ¥1,800 (¥1,500-1,600 if you buy a discounted ticket from a third party store). At those prices, you have to really be serious about seeing a movie! Fortunately, on the first day of each month, movies are ¥1,000, but as you can imagine, the lines to get inside the theatres can be quite long. In Japan, movies can also be released a long while after their release in other countries - some of these 'lags' have been up to 12 months!

Video stores

A cheaper alternative is the video stores around Sendai. The Tsutaya chain of 'media' stores have a good range of movies, but at ¥400 for new and old releases, even a video night can be expensive. Some people, as noted elsewhere in this site, have home-made and commercial videos mailed over to them - it's not such a bad work-around. These videos some times make it around the local ALT circuit, so be on the look-out for them.

General computer and Internet access

Many schools do have computer facilities, but they will be using Japanese Windows, and it might be hard to (1) get access to the computer and (2) use the operating systems. If you want to keep in touch with friends via email, there are free-of-charge public access centres (AER building) available for short periods of time (usually 30 minutes).

If you haven't got one already, get a web-based address (Hotmail, Geocities, Yahoo etc) so you can get access straight after you arrive. If you bring a computer notebook with you (highly recommended!), there are a range of Internet Service Providers in Japan, with Asahi-Net and Global On-Line (GOL) being two of the most popular. They charge between ¥2,000-3,000 a month for access with a sign up fee of around ¥3,000-5,000.

As noted earlier, local calls are tolled, and long sessions on the 'Net can prove to be expensive. A way around this is the telehodai system. By paying an extra fee to the telephone company of around ¥1500 a month and registering two contact phone numbers, you can connect to your ISP for a flatrate between 11PM and 7AM each day.

 

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