do you want to pay for NHK?

The other night a man come around to my door to ask me to pay for viewing NHK.

I have heard of this happening before, and in fact they came to our house in Ebisu once too, so i played dumb and pretended that i didnt speak japanese. Why should i pay nearly $20 a month for a channel that i dont even watch.

I looked it up on the net to see what it is really all about and found this site, RECEIVING FEE SYSTEM

Apparently, Article 32 of the Broadcast Law tells me that
Any person who has installed receiving equipment capable of receiving the broadcasting provided by NHK shall conclude a contract with NHK with regard to the reception of its broadcasting. However, this shall not apply to those who have installed receiving equipment not intended for the reception of broadcasting, or receiving equipment solely for the reception of radio broadcasting or multiplex broadcasting (broadcasting of voice and other sound transmissions not coming under television broadcasting and multiplex broadcasting classifications).

So does that mean that just having a TV means i have to pay? or does the line "this shall not apply to those who have installed receiving equipment not intended for the reception of broadcasting" mean that if i dont watch NHK and only use my TV for watching movies from my computer, that i dont need to pay...

I dont know if we can play dumb again if they come around again. I might just stop answering the door in the evening.

Luckily i have found another artilce from the Japan Times that tells me "there is no punishment for nonpayment" and because a large number of people are not paying, NHK is having huge trouble with its budget.

I think that if a fee like this was introduced in Australia, noone would pay it. But i did read that in the UK, BBC has a similar system and it has a penalty of 1000 pounds if it is not paid.

Well i think i can continue to avoid it, but i also heard that they always send around people who are good at getting your sympathy...