Just say NO!

And the NHK man decided he should come pay me a visit after so long.

Who is the NHK man you ask? Ask any foreigners living in Japan and they'll probably laugh and say yes they know who the NHK man is. He is the guy with a clipboard and some electronic device who goes around knocking at people's doors getting begging them to hand over the money for the national broadcaster's subscription fee, known as 受信料 (jushin'ryou). But NO ONE PAYS anyway. Hardly anyone watches NHK :x I only watch fuji tv and occasionally other private channels. And because it's not enforced by the law. PLUS everyone is angered by the series of NHK frauds and scandals: embezzlement, doctored documents and censoring truth, they stopped paying their yearly fees. And it is unfair that we pay when there are more and more people not paying. So might as well not pay at all. If the local Japanese aren't paying, why are we foreigners paying anyway =_=? Vicious cycle.

Two years ago when the NHK first knocked on my door, I was all thrown off and didn't know what to do and meekly, I agreed to pay because i felt guilty. he shoved me some forms and pamphlets. I readily accepted, being the law abiding gaijin. After checking up on the situation, I found out it's not mandatory since NHK does not have a way to force people to pay with fines or arrests. They go door to door to collect —often with amusing results when they try to collect from foreigners who cannot be bullied or shamed into paying like the pavid Japanese. Most advices were to ignore. In the worst situation, use your foreigner's power and tell him to speak english. They should back off. So I put everything aside and gave myself a pat for saving a few 10 thousands yen ^^;

Today, armed with the knowledge, I'm not so stupid! Though I should have feigned 居留守, which is "to pretend to be out" to make things even simpler. I was careful not to open my door too wide because they are known to stick their foot in the door so you can't close on them. I casually asked him if everyone pays, he said yes without batting an eyelid! That toad, lying through his teeth. When you have paid, your front door will have a sticker pasted on it, indicating that you've paid your fee. I see no such stickers along my whole row of neighbours. (if there were, I would have long gone to steal one and paste on mine HAHAHAHA -_-) You think i foreigner ignorant can bluff huh, Mr NHK man. I got rather annoyed at his lie that the second time he asked "…so can you pay?" I say "NO I CANNOT! SORRY! BYE!" and slammed the door in his face :x Hey, at least i said sorry before suddenly closing the door. Must have caught him by surprise that he didn't have time to put a foot to block me :x

I guess I'll be expecting another visit by one of them soon ^^x