Japan

JAPAN is an island nation off the east coast of China.

Profile

Country Number (48?)	1978	SECOND and THIRD WAVE
Region	Asia
Television commenced	1951
Colour System	1960	NTSC
Population	1978	111 million
TV Sets	1978	27 million
Language/s	English	Japanese (Bilingual)

Television Stations / Channels

Japan began its television service in 1951. Colour transmissions began in 1960 using the NTSC colour broadcast system.

The main national broadcaster in Japan is Nippon Hoho Kyokai (NHK).

The country is also served by over a hundred privately owned terrestrial, satellite and cable television stations.

Doctor Who aired on private cable networks and NHK.

Language/s

The principal language is Japanese; although a lot of the television aired in English, especially broadcasts on cable channels.

The newspapers we accessed stated that "all foreign TV and feature films are dubbed in Japanese unless stated otherwise". Doctor Who was marked as being in English or "bilingual".

DOCTOR WHO ( ドクター・フー ) IN JAPAN

Japan was the 48th country to screen Doctor Who (see Selling Doctor Who).

In Japanese script, the programme is called ドクター・フー

BBC Records

DWM 147 - Sale to Japan

The 26 April 1966 edition of The Daily Mirror reported that, with the popularity of Doctor Who spreading across the globe, the BBC was dubbing the series into Japanese (see Peter Haining's The Key to Time, page 48). However, there is no evidence that the series aired in Japan in the 1960s.

The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(3)" stories (by 10 February 1987).

In DWM, Japan is identified in only one story Archives: EEE, with a sale dated as being 1978.

Other BBC documents indicate the stories bought were BBB, CCC and EEE. Indeed, the fact that 18 episodes aired in 1978 supports this.

In the Gallifrey Guardian news page of DWM issue #147 (April 1989), a brief announcement with the heading "LAND OF THE RISING WHO" reported that "Overseas sales of Doctor Who received a boost in January when Season 24 was sold to Japan".

Peter Cushing Movies

Japanese Video: Dr Who and the Daleks

Japanese Video: Dalek Invasion Earth 2150AD

We assume that the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies were released theatrically in Japan in the 1960s.

Both films were later released on home video in Japan. As far as we can determine, the first film was fully dubbed into Japanese but the second was only subtitled.

• 怪人ダレクの惑星 (which apparently translates as Forbidden Planet Frankenstein!)
• 地球侵略戦争2150 (Invasion of Earth War 2150)

Stories bought and broadcast

JON PERTWEE

Three stories, 18 episodes:

BBB	Doctor Who and the Silurians	7
CCC	The Ambassadors of Death	7
EEE	Terror of the Autons	4

Japan therefore bought part from GROUP B and C of the Jon Pertwee stories.

The programme was supplied as NTSC colour video tapes with English soundtracks.

TOM BAKER

Unknown (five?) stories, 22 episodes:

4A	Robot	4
4E	Genesis of the Daleks	6
	unidentified	12

Japan therefore bought GROUP ONE and GROUP TWO of the Tom Baker stories.

The programme was supplied as NTSC colour video tapes in English but dubbed into Japanese to enable bilingual broadcasts in both languages.

SYLVESTER McCOY

Four stories, 14 episodes:

7D	Time and the Rani	4
7E	Paradise Towers	4
7F	Delta and the Bannermen	3
7G	Dragonfire	3

Japan therefore bought GROUP A of the Sylvester McCoy stories.

The programme was supplied as NTSC colour video tapes in English but most likely also dubbed into Japanese to enable bilingual broadcasts in both languages.

PAUL McGANN

One movie:

TVM

The TV Movie

1

Transmission

Japan JCTV listing in Japan Times

1978 Japan Times listing, Dr Who 7.45pm

1978 Japan Times listing, Doctor Who 7.30pm

1993 Japan Times listing, NHK 1

1993 Japan Times generic listing

JON PERTWEE

18 episodes aired on JCTV-2, which was a closed circuit English language television service that could be seen at major hotels and apartments in Tokyo only.

This run of episodes commenced on Friday, 3 March 1978, at 7.45pm, running on a weekly basis. From the sixth episode onwards, the series shifted to Saturdays, at 7.30pm. The run ended on 24 June 1978.

TOM BAKER

Fifteen years later, Doctor Who returned to Japan television, now on the national broadcaster, Nippon Hoso Kyokai's satellite channel BS11 NHK 2.

From Tuesday, 1 June 1993, aired a run of 22 episodes, screening weekdays, at 5.00pm. There was a one week break on 9 June to allow for coverage of the Royal Wedding (ROYAL WEDDING). The run ended on Thursday, 1 July 1993.

These episodes appear to all be from Tom Baker stories: two of these are known to have been Robot and Genesis of the Daleks. For the Japanese dubs, new sound effects were added, and new rather jaunty music was added, replacing the Dudley Simpson original score.

• CLIP FROM ROBOT PART 1 IN JAPANESE

(Clips from Japanese dub of Genesis of the Daleks part six had also been available on YouTube, but have since been removed due to copyright issues...)

• GENESIS IN JAPANESE

In Japanese, Genesis of the Daleks was called "ダレク族の誕生 その", which translates as "Birth of the Tribe Dareku".

SYLVESTER McCOY?

A few weeks later, a 14 week run commenced on Tuesday, 20 July 1993, airing weekdays at 5.00pm. The final episode screened on Friday, 6 August 1993.

Given that this run consisted of 14 episodes, this was probably season 24, the first year of the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. (Although DWM reported the sale of these stories was back in January 1989, we could not find any additional airdates at all for Doctor Who between 1989 and 1993, which suggests that season 24 had been held over for four years.)

Alternatively, was this 14 week block a run of further Tom Baker stories, continuing on from where the previous run left off?

There is no clear record that Japan screened classic Doctor Who again.

PAUL McGANN

The TV Movie aired on a NHK channel in 1997.

TV listings

TV listings have been obtained from Japan Times, an English-language newspaper.

For the 1978 run, the series was listed as "Dr Who" for the 7.45pm episodes, then "Doctor Who" for the 7.30pm episodes. No story titles were given.

For the 1993 screenings, the series was listed as "(B) TV Series: Dr Who", with the (B) tag indicating a bilingual broadcast. The timeslot given for the first run was only 23 minutes; for the second, it was a full 30 minutes.

The paper stated that "All foreign TV and feature movies are dubbed into Japanese unless stated otherwise."

Novelisations

Japanese novelisation: The Daleks

Japanese novelisation: Spearhead from Space

Japanese novelisation: The Silurians

Japanese novelisation: Doomsday Weapon

Japanese novelisation: Day of the Daleks

Five of the Target Doctor Who novelisations were translated into Japanese, and released by Hayakawa Publishing Inc in 1980:

• 時空大血闘! / Jikuu Dai Chi Tataka! (Space-Time Big Bloody Battle! or The Big Bloody Battle in Space-time!) (The Daleks)

• オートン軍団の襲来! / Oo-ton Gundan-no Shuurai (The Auton Army Invasion) (Spearhead from Space)

• 戦慄! 地底モンスター / Senritsu! Chitei Monsutaa (Shuddering! The Underground Monsters or The Terrifying Underground Monsters) (Doctor Who and the Silurians)

• 恐るべき最終兵器! / Kowaru Beki Saishyuu Heiki! (Be Fearful of the Ultimate Weapon!) (The Doomsday Weapon / Colony in Space)

• ダレク族の逆襲! / Dareku Joku-no Gyakushyuu! (The Dalek Race's Counterattack!) (Day of the Daleks)

The book covers feature a black banner, which says DOCTOR WHO SERIES, then the title, under which is the name of the author and the translator.

The books are adorned with fold-out dust-jackets, which list the main cast of characters on the inside cover flap.

VIDEO and DVD

Japanese Video: Revenge of the Cybermen

Japanese Video: Pyramids of Mars

Japanese Video: Robots of Death

DVD: TV Movie

Japanese Video: TVM Video

Chinese Laser-Disc: TV Movie

Three Tom Baker adventures were also released on home video in the late 1980s; these were published by Pony Video, and had Japanese subtitles rather than being dubbed.

• サイバーメンの復讐 / Saibaman-no Gyakushyuu (The Cyberman's Counterattack, or The Counterattack of the Cybermen) (Revenge of the Cybermen) (1983)
• 火星のピラミッド / Kasei-no Piramiddo' (Mars' Pyramids) (Pyramids of Mars) (1985)
• 死のロボット / Shi-no Robotto (Death's Robots) (The Robots of Death) (1986)

Clips from part one of the Revenge of the Cybermen release can be seen HERE.

The Paul McGann TV Movie – with the title "DOCTOR WHO – THE MOTION PICTURE" was released on video, DVD and laser-disc. It is believed that the DVD may have been a Hong Kong release, which included Japanese subtitling as an option. Likewise, the laser-disc cover shown here is a Hong Kong / Chinese printing, but with Japanese subtitles.

Websites

We are grateful to the following sites for the information about Japanese book and video merchandise:

• TARDIS HASSHIN – DOCTOR WHO IN JAPAN
• JAPAN VIDEOS
• JAPAN NOVELS
• JAPAN – OTHER DR WHO STUFF
• WIKIPEDIA IN JAPANESE

Japan in Doctor Who

• There is a T-Mat terminal in Tokyo (The Seeds of Death)
• Tokyo is mentioned in The Ambassadors of Death
• New Tokio is named in Frontier in Space
• Harrison Chase is critical of the Japanese artistic practice of bonsai (The Seeds of Doom)
• The Doctor is menaced by an armoured samurai warrior in the Matrix dreamscape (The Deadly Assassin)
• The Japanese are said to have a monopoly in electronics (Image of the Fendahl)

Links

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