With the end of analog TV broadcasts on Sunday, Japan has completely switched to digital TV broadcasts, except in three Tohoku prefectures devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami — Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima — where the start of terrestrial digital TV broadcast will be postponed till the end of March 2012.
Outside the three prefectures, people cannot watch TV anymore unless they have purchased digital televisions or digital TV tuners and have UHF antennas installed, or have subscribed to cable TV services. It will become difficult to continue to use analog video cassette recorders and DVD recorders, so there will also arise a need to buy digital DVD recorders.
Looking back, it is regrettable that the government and TV industry decided on the switching to terrestrial digital TV broadcast without public discussions. It is unlikely that all households in Japan are equipped to receive digital TV broadcasts.