Sometimes it seems my mailbox is a place for complaints. Today it is NHK fees. Wednesday's column will consider NTT's high initial charge for phone service. Don't look for ways to avoid the inevitable; your daily life entails certain obligations.

A gentleman writes, "What's with NHK? We have guys coming to the door and calling on the phone asking for payment. We also receive mail telling us how easy it is to pay at a bank or post office. My wife says we must pay; it is a rule and everyone else does. I disagree. I don't watch NHK which I don't like and subscribe to a cable company so I can watch what I do like. If it is a tax, why are people coming to the door to collect? I have never heard of a government anywhere imposing a tax and then not making sure it had a way to get its hands on the money. But then, maybe Japan is unique," he speculates, as many have before him.

I first wrote about NHK fees in 1975 when the cost was 315 yen a month for black and white sets and 465 yen for color. Then people complained because almost nothing was available in English. Many avoided payment either because they didn't know about the fees or they used the familiar language-barrier excuse. In those early days of TV, in addition to sharp-eyed inspectors who patrolled neighborhoods looking for antennas, there were low-flying search helicopters sent out on the same mission -- this in a day when some people put them up even when they didn't own a TV, to impress their neighbors. It didn't matter then and it doesn't now whether or not you watch NHK. If you own a set, you owe the money.

This is the rationale. Japan's 1950 broadcasting law was based on the concept that TV should be available to everyone. It demanded an enormous investment but in a relatively short time TV had reached even the most remote mountain village. It had a tremendous effect. It smoothed out regional accents and brought the country closer together. When the Crown Prince, the present Emperor, married in 1959, it seemed that everyone in Japan turned in his black and white TV for a color one. And what an emotional high the nation enjoyed that day as they viewed the ceremony. I will never forget the future Empress in her multilayer robes and traditional hair arrangement walking along what seemed to be an endless corridor. We were there!

And what supported the lavish covering of this event and many memorable programs since, among them the outstanding series that took us along the Silk Road, one of the world's most romantic highways, long before it became known as an exotic tourist destination, with special music composed by Kitaro? Then there was no shortage of money. According to the law, NHK would be supported by fees collected from the people; commercial stations would be supported by sponsors.

Then Japan was generally viewed by foreigners as a homogeneous nation whose people for the most part accepted that they were the governed and that the government would take care of them. There were very few public complaints about regulations even though foreigners, comparing them with what they had at home (and forgetting advantages they didn't have at home) were often quite vocal. Few Japanese had lived anywhere but Japan and could not make comparisons, but even if they could, they were willing to accept controversial regulations as a part of the system that made Japan a very special country with values foreigners could neither appreciate nor understand. They paid their fees.

There is a penalty for those who do not: three months' fee for every month the bill is not paid. NHK would be solvent for years to come if it were enforced because people, both foreign and Japanese, are increasingly reluctant to pay.

Foreigners point out that there has been no noticeable increase in NHK English-language programs nor decrease in voice-over ones while there are far more choices with cable TV, and that they never signed a contract for the service for which they are required to pay. However, if you have read this far, you can no longer rely on the language barrier to avoid paying your bill. NHK is part of living in Japan. The next time the collector comes, invite him in for tea. What a surprise that will be for an overworked, unwelcome bill collector.