Programs broadcast by NHK are assets belonging to the public, but if we do not know which programs have aired in the past, we cannot know where those assets are. Ideally, metadata about the programs should be searchable, but as a first step, even just being able to search past program schedules makes a considerable difference.
NHK’s current main website, “nhk.jp,” has a link to the program schedule search from its home page, but it can search only recent listings. By contrast, NHK Chronicle lets you search older listings.
As a test, let us search for “Saito Kinen.” A huge number of search results then appear in reverse chronological order. I was looking for a program that I remembered had aired in 2007, so I went back through the results chronologically to around that point.
This time, I clicked the page numbers at the upper right and gradually worked backward, but it also seems possible to jump to a page by entering something like “&page=14” in the URL. By doing this, I found that the program I wanted to know about had aired on December 29, 2007.
That said, as you can see from the image above, this page alone does not tell you what kind of program it was. I therefore clicked “Program Details” for each result in turn and discovered that this was the program.
This is actually an extremely valuable recording from the Saito Kinen Festival, where Dutilleux himself came to Japan and “Le Temps l’Horloge” was premiered. It shows the composer himself applauding. I also think that a recording of “Mystère de l’instant” is quite rare.
The URL for this details page is “https://www.nhk.or.jp/archives/chronicle/detail/?crnid=A200712291800001301000.” This “crnid” appears to be the identifier for this content. (← I made sure to bring up an ID topic!)
What if you do not know when it was broadcast? You can also perform an AND search!
Above, because I remembered when the program had aired, I could use the technique of searching by working backward through the listings. If you do not know when it aired, however, the search becomes very difficult. An AND search such as “Dutilleux Saito Kinen” would narrow the results considerably. I tried it, and it worked. It appears that you can search by separating keywords with a half-width space.
We can see that it aired 2 times that year. The one I actually watched was the live broadcast on September 8, since it was immediately after the actual performance. Let us look at the program details.
Remarkably, this one has more detailed program information! It lists not just “Mystère de l’instant,” but its full title, “Mystère de l’instant (for 24 strings, cimbalom, and percussion)1.” The broadcast on December was a rebroadcast, so the content should have been the same, but the program information differs. It seems best to check each entry individually.
It Does Not Appear in Google Search (updated 5/20: it now does)
NHK Chronicle is useful for searching in this way, but unfortunately it has one drawback: it does not appear in Google search results. Try searching for “site:www.nhk.or.jp Mystère de l’instant (for 24 strings, cimbalom, and percussion).” As of March 18, 2024, it returns no results. This is because crawling is prohibited by robots.txt.
User-agent: *
Figure: Chronicle is blocked by robots.txt (Source) https://www.nhk.or.jp/robots.txt
Disallow: /*.cgi$
Disallow: /*.cgi?
Disallow: /*/api/
(omitted)
Disallow: /chronicle/
From the standpoint of public convenience, this feels rather unfortunate. I would like them to allow it here. 2
So, NHK Chronicle is useful. But because it cannot be searched through Google, you have to go directly to NHK Chronicle and search there. That is the story. The remaining question is how people can gain access to the materials found this way. This involves not only progress in digitization but also rights clearance, and I hope these materials will become easier to access.
Footnotes
- my wife Junko Sakimura plays the cimbalom
- I wonder whether there is a reason they cannot. I may ask about it next time.
Related posts
(April 7 at half past 11 p.m.) Professor Matsuo, Who Supervised and Appeared in NHK’s “Rapid Web3 Explainer,” Reporter Asakawa, Editor of “An In-Depth Examination: Will Blockchain Make Humanity Happy?”, and I Will Discuss the Program
The NHK program Manga Artist Ienaga’s Super-Definition of a Complex Society, airing on Friday, April 7 from 11:15 p.m. for 30 minutes, will cover “Web3.” Its…
You must be logged in to post a comment.