Northern California's KTSF web site

[Andru]

Sorry, I spoke too soon regarding the change in KTSF's NHK World weekday schedule on 26-2/cable 174. The morning block was not only extended one hour to 11am, but it also starts one hour earlier at 6am! On my DVR, this overlaps the recording I had set for KCSM's one-hour NHK World dose at 6am M-F on channel 60-2, but I've noticed the MHz Worldview Network has been altering the programming for the second half of that time period anyway...for example instead of showing "At Home with Venetia in Kyoto" they will often apparently switch to a recording of "Today's Close-up" (despite their indication elsewhere that they only show live feeds), so in other words, it's a good change in my book! The 4pm start time of KTSF's evening block of time also overlaps KCSM's 5:30pm half-hour time slot on channel 60-2, but again, it seemed to be a recording rather than a live feed. That's just as well since it simplifies the timer settings on my DVR. So again to summarize the weekday schedule for NHK World on KTSF's 26-2/cable 174:

Mon-Fri 6am-11am & 4pm-11pm (plus enka CD infomercial until 11:30pm)

I'm curious whether the weekend schedule has changed too. Check back here for updates! BTW, the schedule for 26-2 on the TTV website doesn't yet reflect the weekday change, so I don't trust it to show the weekend's schedule timely or accurately either.

[Andru]

OK, here's my update on the weekend schedule for NHK World on 26-2/Cable 174

The evening blocks of time also now start at 4pm, like it is now on the weekdays. The end times are the same as they were before. Surprisingly, the schedule for NHK World on the TTV website was updated, and it showed the morning blocks on the weekend starting at the usual time of 9am but extended to 2pm instead of 12pm. However, this was only actually true on Saturday, while Sunday's block ended at 12pm. Maybe the Sunday technician didn't get the memo and flipped the switch to the "Total Info" graphics at the usual time. We'll see what happens next weekend.

So, again, you might want to change the timed recording settings on your DVR/VCR for weekends to:

NHK Word on Channel 26-2/Cable 174 during weekends:

Sat 9am-2pm & 4pm-11pm
Sun 9am-2pm & 4pm-12am (w/NHK News7 @ 12am followed by Hello Restaurant)

On Sunday at 12am, my DVR switches to KCSM's channel 60-2 to record NHK World there for one hour. The NHK News7 at 12am on 26-2 is a repeat of the one that is shown at 8pm earlier in the evening anyway. Ditto with Hello Restaurant.

BTW, with all these extra hours of NHK World, there is mostly just more repeats of programs that were already available at the existing times. The only NEW programs are on weekdays at 10:15am after the news: "Nihongo Quick Lesson" (10min) and "Sense of Japan" (5min).

Also, during the usual programming on the main channel 26/cable 8, I caught an announcement that starting August 16, they are going to show FCI's Morning Eye on 26-2/cable 174 weekdays from 6pm to 7pm, apparently switching off NHK World for that one hour. When Morning Eye is shown in the morning at 7am, it it only a half hour show, so I'm wondering what the second half hour will be. I think when the 7am news show was an hour long many years ago, the first half was news about Japan, and the second about the US.

Although it is only news, this addition of programming from FCI on 26-2/174, gives me hope that they indeed might try more FCI programming at other times. So maybe we'll see a return of shows like Hey, Hey, Hey, What a Cool We Are, and Moshimo Tour!

[Andru]

CherKell wrote:

Better or worse, at least Tanoshii is FINALLY done and dusted, but damn did the next asadora HAVE to be the Quintuplets? Oy.

Now, now, there! Banging your head against the wall may have been better than 65 weeks of Tanoshii Yochien, but the Quints are now quite a refreshing change!

CherKell wrote:

Loving the NHK World programming so far, especially the "Harumi's Kitchen" segments from Monday mornings. I have all her cookbooks and some of her magazines, some autographed during one of her book signings from my last trip to Japan. I was the only gaijin in the audience!

So, Harumi ACTUALLY is a well-known chef? I was wondering if the opening sequence was just all hype. The show seems a bit lame, though, you know, compared to the lively cooking shows we have in the US. (I think Rachel Ray drinks way too much coffee or something! )

CherKell wrote:

Here's a local Brush With Greatness: A friend of mine used to date Chris Peppler, the host of "Tokyo Eye;" in fact, he dumped her hard and she moved to the States to heal her broken heart. She is not too thrilled to see his face on the telly here in San Jose...

LOL! You know, my first impression of him was that he was probably a real jerk!
Your friend certainly has my sympathy! Although we all might run into our Xs from time to time over the years, very few of us have to see their faces on TV!

[CherKell]

Andru wrote:

Now, now, there! Banging your head against the wall may have been better than 65 weeks of Tanoshii Yochien, but the Quints are now quite a refreshing change!

Welp, ya got me there. Saturday's episode was actually entertaining. Go figure... Anyone know how many weeks this round will go on?

What has got me transfixed is the Kataku no hito (House on Fire) movie. Seeing how much of a train wreck Dan Kazuo's life is being portrayed, I had to wiki his works to see if any have been translated into English -- not yet, darn it! And Harada Mieko (who plays Keiko the mistress) just appeared in a few episodes of this Abe Hiroshi dorama (Shinzanmono) that I've been watching via Keyhole TV. Small world, ne?

And now that Jin has ended, the next offering for Sunday nights looks interesting -- Ueto Aya meets CSI Tokyo: Zettai Reido http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Zettai_Reido. I might have to get my DVR repaired in order to catch this one...

CK

[CherKell]

Onegai shimasu -- I didn't know if I should post in this forum, but the show did air on KTSF and I could not find an appropriate thread on JDorama at all. Googling my query came up blank as well, but I figure one of my fellow otaku might know the answer.

There was a guy who popped up on IQ Sapuri every now and then who had spiky blonde hair and played the bass when Ito-sensei quizzed the contestants about their knowledge of Japan geography sites. That segment came up in conversation today, and for the freakin' life of me, I cannot remember his name!! Argh, it sucks getting old...

Anyone remember who that gentleman was? And gomen nasai in advance if there is a thread and my feeble mind just overlooked it.

CK

[Andru]

CherKell wrote:

Onegai shimasu -- I didn't know if I should post in this forum, but the show did air on KTSF and I could not find an appropriate thread on JDorama at all. Googling my query came up blank as well, but I figure one of my fellow otaku might know the answer. There was a guy who popped up on IQ Sapuri every now and then who had spiky blonde hair and played the bass when Ito-sensei quizzed the contestants about their knowledge of Japan geography sites. That segment came up in conversation today, and for the freakin' life of me, I cannot remember his name!! Argh, it sucks getting old... Anyone remember who that gentleman was? And gomen nasai in advance if there is a thread and my feeble mind just overlooked it. CK

That was Hanawa. I never knew his name but googled "Japanese comedians bass guitar." There isn't much in English on him, although there is a Wiki stub:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanawa

And a video on Youtube, although he's playing an acoustic guitar instead of the bass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q81M-qcGeSk

I don't think your feebleness is due to old age but probably from banging your head against the wall!

[CherKell]

Andru wrote:

I don't think your feebleness is due to old age but probably from banging your head against the wall!

LOL!! And there's been a lot more banging these days, as I had been without Comcrap service for two weeks until this afternoon due to the cable lines being cut during some local street construction. I missed the end of "Fire on House" and the start of the latest '80s chopped-up movie, so what's the name of the latest flick?

I knew one of you guys would come through -- domo arigatou gozaimasu, Andru! I would have never remembered for the life of me -- I kept thinking his name was Shogo Hamada. WRONG.

CK

[Andru]

CherKell wrote:

LOL!! And there's been a lot more banging these days, as I had been without Comcrap service for two weeks until this afternoon due to the cable lines being cut during some local street construction. I missed the end of "Fire on House" and the start of the latest '80s chopped-up movie, so what's the name of the latest flick? I knew one of you guys would come through -- domo arigatou gozaimasu, Andru! I would have never remembered for the life of me -- I kept thinking his name was Shogo Hamada. WRONG. CK

Now, now, CherKell, hitting your head with a hammer may not hurt as much as banging your head against the wall, but I don't think your therapist would call that progress!

The latest butchered movie is a tearjerker called "Memories of You," aka "Rabu Sutori o Kimi ni," with Kimiko Goto and Toru Nakamura, made in 1988. BTW, you would have loved it when, once again, they used the same transition from the movie opening to the first commercial break as the previous week, that is "Fire On House" suddenly appeared as the title, thoroughly confusing anyone who wasn't paying attention (especially someone who might have been busy hammering their head.... or maybe someone else's ).

Well, I still have the first part of that movie on the DVR, and have all 5 parts of "Kataku no Hito" burned onto a DVD already, along with the first 5 episodes of "Quints," that I haven't sent to my sister in Philly yet, so I can easily copy the segments you need onto another DVD and send it to you. PM me if you want me to do that.

BTW, your therapist urged me to offer my help... otherwise he thinks psych meds might be in order soon!

[gaijinmark]

To quote Stephen Stills, "for what it's worth" it looks like they will broadcasting Fuji-Sankei "Morning Eye" on KTSF starting on Aug. 16th, from 12p-1p and again from 6p-7p.

"Morning Eye" is a news show out of New York, has news, sports, some features from Japan.

[Itazura ichiban]

One question: How do I get rid of my satellite service?
_________________

- Douglas

[Andru]

The multi-part predictable tear-jerker on Saturday, "Memories of You," concluded this past weekend. Next up: a Sayuri Yoshinaga vehicle from 1984 "Station to Heaven" (aka "Tengoku no Eki: Heaven Station").

This one actually looks quite good: 1985 Japanese Academy award for Best Actress (obviously a better job than in the disaster "Ballad of the Sea of Genkai") as well as nominated for Best Pic, Screenplay, Art Direction, Lighting, Cinematography, Supporting Actor, and Sound.

[Andru]

gaijinmark wrote:

To quote Stephen Stills, "for what it's worth" it looks like they will broadcasting Fuji-Sankei "Morning Eye" on KTSF starting on Aug. 16th, from 12p-1p and again from 6p-7p.

Thanks Gaijinmark! While I did catch the announcement for the 6pm-7pm time slot Mon-Fri on 26-2, I had missed the part about 12noon-1pm.

And, perhaps to make up for the loss of one hour from the NHK World programming in the evening, they started the day's schedule one hour earlier at 3pm.

KTSF's 26-2 programming on weekends was also extended to start at 7:30am, but it is only 90 minutes of American kiddie shows and not NHK World, which still starts at 9am.

To summarize the current schedule on 26-2 for NHK World/Fujisankei News:

Mon-Fri: 6am-11am, 12noon-1pm, 3pm-11pm (+enka infomercial)
Sat: 9am-2pm, 4pm-11pm (+enka infomercial)
Sun: 9am-2pm, 4pm-12am (+NHK News7)


Current NHK World schedule on KCSM's 60-2?
Well, this is in addition to the schedule on 26-2 (eliminating overlaps):

Mon-Fri 1pm-2pm, 12am-1am, 3am-3:30am
Sat-Sun: 12am-1am, 3am-4am

Note: sometimes the overlapping time slots have different programming than 26-2 because the MHz network apparently shows some recorded shows rather than simply carrying the live feed from NHK World.... Newsline always seems to be live, however.

[Andru]

Itazura ichiban wrote:

One question: How do I get rid of my satellite service?

Well, you could try shooting that satellite down!

And give it one more wallop after it crashes!

Be sure you clean it all up afterwards, though:

Then again, you could just cancel that darn contract:

And switch to Comcast cable so you can get channel 174.

Or put the money into a really good antenna, so you can pick up 26-2 free off the air.

[CherKell]

Andru wrote:

Note: sometimes the overlapping time slots have different programming than 26-2 because the MHz network apparently shows some recorded shows rather than simply carrying the live feed from NHK World.... Newsline always seems to be live, however.

Newsline is definitely running live, but I can't say the same thing about the TTV "Dailies" programming playing in between the actual NHK shows. They've been running the same news cards/weather/sports/horoscopes for over three weeks now! Case in point: there is an entry stating Chipper Jones blew out his ACL on 10 August, but if a casual viewer had just tuned in, they would think the injury had just happened that day (and is probably rushing to trade him off their Fantasy Baseball league). Again, someone at KTSF 26.2 is asleep at the switch!!

The only complaint I have about the new 26.2 station is that all the shows are from late 2008 or 2009. Hopefully they'll add more relevant programming soon, as I can only watch the same five or six "Nihongo Quick Lessons" before -- wait for it -- banging my head against the wall. (That one's for you, Andru... )

And thanks for the heads-up on the new Saturday night movie. Work seems to have settled down for the moment, so I'll catch up on the previously-DVR'd shows to make room for the new stuff coming soon!

CK

[dochira]

CherKell wrote:

The only complaint I have about the new 26.2 station is that all the shows are from late 2008 or 2009. Hopefully they'll add more relevant programming soon, as I can only watch the same five or six "Nihongo Quick Lessons" before -- wait for it -- banging my head against the wall. (That one's for you, Andru... )

There were only 30 Nihongo Quick Lessons created:
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/nihongo/archives.html

And about 45 Sense of Japans:
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/senseofjapan/archives.html

Though they do tend to repeat airings rather than run them from top to bottom and back to top.

[CherKell]

dochira wrote:

There were only 30 Nihongo Quick Lessons created: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/nihongo/archives.html And about 45 Sense of Japans: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/senseofjapan/archives.html Though they do tend to repeat airings rather than run them from top to bottom and back to top.

That would explain why they've run the "When to use arigatou gozaimasu" episode six times now... Sheesh.

Looks like the Quintuplets dorama and cut-up Movie are going on hiatus for a week -- during last Saturday's broadcast, KTSF announced its annual Fall Movie Special will be Suisei monogatari,* and will air on 16 October from 9:00 PM. Adapted from the Miyamoto Teru novel of the same name, this is a TBS tanpatsu originally aired on 3 December 2007. The story follows a Hungarian man studying in Japan for a year and living as a foreign exchange student with a large family who just took in their divorcing daughter and her children. For more info, here's the DramaWiki link: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Suisei_Monogatari

Looks like a nice little slice-of-life breather in between whiny teenagers and the Yoshinaga Sayuri marathons of late... but the main reason I'm very interested in this is that it stars Itô Shirô from IQ Sapurii fame!! I sooo miss that show -- to the point that I ended snatching up the unsubbed DVD set from Mitsuwa just so I could get my fix!

And Harumi is cooking ebikatsu on NHK World right now... I hope my trip to Japan next April comes off as scheduled!!

CK

* I figured the rough translation of this as "Comet Novel/Short Story." Any other thoughts, or am I taking this too literally?

[Andru]

CherKell wrote:

Looks like the Quintuplets dorama and cut-up Movie are going on hiatus for a week -- during last Saturday's broadcast, KTSF announced its annual Fall Movie Special will be Suisei monogatari,* and will air on 16 October from 9:00 PM. Adapted from the Miyamoto Teru novel of the same name, this is a TBS tanpatsu originally aired on 3 December 2007. The story follows a Hungarian man studying in Japan for a year and living as a foreign exchange student with a large family who just took in their divorcing daughter and her children. For more info, here's the DramaWiki link: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Suisei_Monogatari Looks like a nice little slice-of-life breather in between whiny teenagers and the Yoshinaga Sayuri marathons of late... but the main reason I'm very interested in this is that it stars Itô Shirô from IQ Sapurii fame!! I sooo miss that show -- to the point that I ended snatching up the unsubbed DVD set from Mitsuwa just so I could get my fix! And Harumi is cooking ebikatsu on NHK World right now... I hope my trip to Japan next April comes off as scheduled!! CK * I figured the rough translation of this as "Comet Novel/Short Story." Any other thoughts, or am I taking this too literally?

They didn't seem to specify whether the "Fall Special" was going to pre-empt the regular shows or extend the whole evening's line-up, which they've done sometimes. Just in case, I've programmed my DVR to record another coupla hours past the usual end time on that day. Of course, the FujiTV website is still years out of date (which, BTW, they still list "Food for the Brain" from 11pm to 12m... ah, the "good ole days"), and they rarely bother to update the TV listings, especially for short-term changes!

With regard to the title of the TV movie: I think "monogatari" is most commonly translated as either "tale" (as in "Genji Monogatari" aka "Tale of Genji") or simply "story" (I recently remembered the dorama "Driving School Story" aka Kyoushuujoo Monogatari when I saw an NHK documentary about an actual driving school "camp"... BTW, I also thought of that dorama when I heard of the passing of Kei Tani a couple of weeks ago and remembered the various things I had seen him in over the years. Old timers on this thread may also remember him as a regular on the comedy show "Silly Go Lucky' aka "Adventures of the Laughing Dog" or "Warai inu no boken" ... he played the trombone in the band. He fell and hit his head in a household accident. Sad.).

With regard to Harumi: My sister and I have had a few laughs over some funny things in her show. For example, the special guest whose last name was "Enema" (!!!), as well as her two strange alternating co-hosts, especially Daniel Kahl. We've also exchanged some funny comments about Harumi herself, but CherKell, since you seem to be a fan, I'll won't share them here!

[Andru]

Hey, head's up gang! The multi-part movie on Saturday, "Station to Heaven" finally concluded last weekend and this weekend will start "Lost in Time" aka "Kiri no Shigosen" (Meridian of the Fog?). It's yet another Sayuri movie, made in 1996, and also stars Shima Iwashita. Tamaki Koji has a small part in it too.

Oh, and I was right about the Fall Special on the 16th. The regular weekly shows will follow, and therefore the evening's programming will run until 12:30am. Set your DVR or VCR accordingly!

And another interesting thing to note. Over on KTSF's subchannel 26-2, on Sunday 10/24, TTV will be interrupting their usual NHK World programming at 7pm and show a TV movie called "Saga no Gabai Baachan 2" (aka "Granny Gabai"). However, it doesn't appear there will be English subtitles.

I guess it is encouraging though that TTV is continuing to show more than just NHK World and "Total Info" on 26-2 (Morning Eye @ 12noon and 6pm weekdays, as well as a couple of infomercials and a Christian show). So maybe they will surprise us one day with a subtitled dorama!

[CherKell]

Andru wrote:

Hey, head's up gang! The multi-part movie on Saturday, "Station to Heaven" finally concluded last weekend and this weekend will start "Lost in Time" aka "Kiri no Shigosen" (Meridian of the Fog?). It's yet another Sayuri movie, made in 1996, and also stars Shima Iwashita. Tamaki Koji has a small part in it too.

Konbanwa minasan! And the chopping-up continues, with the second part of "Kai" �J�� ("Oar") airing earlier tonight. Another Ogata Ken vehicle from 1985, I'm finding it hard to figure out the plot! Something about Ogata-san as a yakuza, his wife is a bit of a nutter, several geishas popping in and out, plus a HUGE time jump in the film to where all their children have aged 10 years in 5 seconds and are now drinking in a waterside bar. Yikes! This one will go on for another two weeks at least, since the original running time was 134 minutes.

So that begs the same question we all asked last year around this time: Do you think KTSF will actually run the 2010 Kohaku broadcast, or will they run and hide again? I really enjoyed having the free week of TV Japan shows back in October, but I'm not willing to give Comcrap an extra $29.99 a month just for the privilege of watching Kohaku that way...

CK

[CherKell]

Minasan, konbanwa!

Next up on the Chopped-Up Toei Movie Hit Parade is another one of Director Gosha Hideo's works. From 1984, it's Kita no hotaru (Fireflies in the North). I actually own this movie on DVD, so here's the synopsis: "Set in the frigid wilderness of Hokkaido during the early days of the Meiji era, this film stands out for its mixture of brutality, sexuality, romance, and bloody violence. Nakadai Tatsuya (from "Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World") stars as the brutal warden of Kabato Prison, where the convicts were sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory." Clocking in at 123 minutes, I'm sure KTSF will censored it to shreds and serve it up to us over the next four weeks as well. Sigh.

Also, since it's already been announced that Channel 18.2 in SoCal will be showing Kohaku this year, we here in NorCal have our fingers crossed that 26.2 will carry it as well....

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving -- mata ne!

CK