Watching Japanese TV online

Hi,
I have without result tried to find an online source with live Japanese TV broadcasting abroad, paid service is fine too. I have no provider here to get it on my TV or no satellite reciever so I have to see it through the internet.

I know NHK world (and NHK world premium) but only English language is spoken (except for premium).

I wish to see channels like NHK BS 1, BS 2, FUJI-TV, TV Tokyo, etc...

There is this " service" called Keyhole TV but is neither reliable and I am not sure if it is legal anyway.

I use a streaming box (similar to a Roku) that I bought online which gives me 36 channels of Japanese TV, with up to 7 days of backlog on each channel (some only have 5, most are 7). It's called 'iHome', and can be purchased on an auction site called "Ali Express". Not cheap, but for what you get it's well worth it. You can usually get one for around $300 which includes one year of service. Yearly renewals are about $200. If you watch it as much as I do, it's a much better deal than a typical cable subscription here in the US (I pay about that much or more for just a couple of months of cable, which I hardly ever watch anymore).

If you search on Google for "Japanese TV iHome", you'll probably find links to them on the Ali Express site. Shop around a bit on that site, as there are usually a lot of them available at varying prices.


Hope that helped.

Thank you for your reply.

Seems like a nice deal but I am not sure I can afford it at the moment. I happened to find another place by random called JLTV (I think) doing live broadcast through London on cable, satellite and web. Costs 50 euro though (roughly 6500 yen) per month.

As I will not watch very much of Japanese TV (it is most for learning purpose), probably on the mornings and evenings some days, I had hoped for some... well... cheaper option.

Isn't $200-300 per year less than 50 euro per month...

Hi,
Looks interresting.
Anybody experience with the iHome or IP900 in Europe?

B. Slager

"iHome tv" is in China. it seems to violate Japan copyright laws.