Abstract
In 2017, the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted experimental courses using archived NHK programs at four North American universities: Princeton University, Harvard University, and Dartmouth College in the United States and the University of Toronto in Canada. A total of 136 students participated in the courses. The works included war-related programs such as "The Great Tokyo Air Raids," "War Voices from Manchukuo," and "Japanese Americans in WWII," programs showing current Japanese lives and customs such as "Lunch ON!" (workers at lunchtime), and "A Greengrocer Without Borders" (in Tokyo multinational quarter), and humanity documentaries such as "Cyborgs: A Future of Hope" (human story of a robot researcher). These programs were delivered via the internet exclusively to the students and academics. Students watched them in advance and engaged in lively discussions led by the academics.The results of the courses reveal that North American universities are eager to utilize NHK's programs as course materials for at least three purposes: 1) to help study Japan 2) to help learn Japanese language 3) to help understand universal social issues The initial intention of setting up experimental courses were to make the programs useful for university academics specialized in Japan, but as wider needs such as 2) and 3) were discovered, we have come to realize the further potential of NHK programs' international distribution. This article overviews these experimental courses based on our field research, along with the results of surveys of students, and examines the present and the future of program distribution business for educational use.
