The program being partially funded by public money is "Hadaka no News Station
(Nude News Station)," a Friday night program on adult-oriented satellite
channel Paradise TV where the female newscaster removes one item of clothing
with each news piece presented until she is fully nude.
It's a five-minute segment of the program that is earning it the government
money targeting those who want to buff up, literally, their signing skills.
This segment is called "Hadaka no Shuwa News (Nude Sign Language News)" and
features Miyabe Fujino, who dexterously sheds her clothes while presenting the
news in sign language. Text runs along the bottom of the screen outlining what
Fujino is signing.
Fujino also presents another segment called "One Point Sign Language Lessons,"
where she teaches viewers the sign language for such terms as "kiss me."
Public funding for the program is being provided by the National Institute of
Information and Communications Technology (NICT), an independent organization
funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. NICT is
committed to subsidizing TV programs that promote text messaging for deaf
viewers, much to the delight of Paradise TV.
"We only get about 140,000 to 150,000 yen a month in subsidies," a spokesman
for Paradise TV tells Shukan Shincho. "But we're absolutely thrilled that the
national government officially recognizes our programs."
Paradise TV's website now proudly boasts of how its nude news is sponsored by
the government.
NICT, however, wishes the adult channel would get nicked.
"We are paying directly to the Broadcast Programming Center of Japan, a charity
corporation. The center has a contract with Paradise TV to make a sign language
news program," a NICT spokesman tells Shukan Shincho. "We really wish Paradise
would stop going around telling everybody that it's being funded by the
government."
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