WakuWaku Japan (stylized as WAKUWAKU JAPAN) was a Japanese

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

channel that broadcast Japanese programs to overseas viewers in Asia. The channel broadcast programming in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, as well as translated versions in

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. Subtitles and dubbing are available in some countries. WakuWaku Japan provided programs in various genres of anime, superhero dramas, live-action dramas, culture programs and entertainment programs. On 25 February 2022, it was announced that WakuWaku Japan would cease operations effective 31 March 2022.

History

Before WakuWaku Japan was launched, SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation started the channel project in 2011. WakuWaku means "pleasing" or "thrilling" in Japanese. In order to keep everything on track, the Japanese government allocated funds amounting to billion (or approximately million) to finance the channel. These funds were to be used for the cost of dubbing and making subtitles, as well as the costs of promotion, administration and production. On 22 February 2014, at 17:00 JKT (19:00 JST), WakuWaku Japan officially launched in Indonesia with its first program, ''WakuWaku Japan Music Festival''. On its first broadcasting day, WakuWaku Japan used the 12-hour system. However, when launched in Myanmar, it changed to the 24-hour system. On 29 February 2016, it reverted to the 12-hour system. In Indonesia, the channel was reverted to a 24-hour system on 27 February 2017, however, it reverted to 12-hour system in January 2018. Initially, the channel was only available on Indovision and OkeVision (both of these are now known as

MNC Vision MNC Vision (legally PT MNC Sky Vision Tbk, formerly Indovision) is an Indonesian subscription-based direct broadcast satellite (DBS) or ''direct-to-home'' satellite television and radio service initially in Indonesia. Currently owned by PT MNC Vi ...

). On 1 June 2014, WakuWaku Japan became available on Transvision, OrangeTV, Big TV and First Media. On the same day at 06:00 MMT (07:30 JST), WakuWaku Japan officially launched in Myanmar, although it was only available on 4TV, a Burmese terrestrial pay television service. On 4 March 2015, SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation planned to expand Japanese content to overseas by establishing WakuWaku Japan Corporation. On 1 July 2015, WakuWaku Japan Corporation was officially established, taking over its ownership from SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation. On 6 July 2015, at 17:00

SGT SGT may refer to * Sergeant, a rank in many uniformed organizations * Scotland's Great Trails * Singapore Standard Time Singapore Standard Time (SST), also known as Singapore Time (SGT), is used in Singapore and is 8 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+ ...

(18:00 JST), WakuWaku Japan officially launched in Singapore and it is currently available on

Singtel TV Singtel TV (formerly known as Singtel IPTV and mio TV) is a pay television service provided by Singtel in Singapore. It is transmitted through Singtel's broadband network via an IPTV platform which uses Ericsson Mediaroom (originally develope ...

and

StarHub TV StarHub TV is a pay television service provided by StarHub in Singapore. It has been a subsidiary of StarHub Limited since StarHub acquired Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) in 2001, and was the sole pay-TV operator in the country until 2007 when m ...

. On 26 January 2016, WakuWaku Japan announced that it will begin broadcasting in Thailand on 26 March, through Ch3SD, a Thai terrestrial pay television service. On 26 March, WakuWaku Japan began a temporary broadcast in Thailand until 27 March under the name 'WakuWaku Japan Hour', which broadcast from 09:00 until 10:30. On 28 July 2016, WakuWaku Japan announced that it would begin broadcasting in Taiwan in September. It was officially launched in Taiwan on 1 September 2016, at 19:00 NST (20:00 JST), with its first program, ''Shiki-Oriori: Japan Food & Festival''. WakuWaku Japan becomes the first Japanese entertainment TV channel to launch in Sri Lanka along with its debut on

Dialog TV Dialog TV (DTV) is a direct broadcast satellite pay TV service provider based in Sri Lanka. A fully owned subsidiary of Dialog Axiata PLC, Dialog TV was launched in July 2005 under the name "CBNsat". It was later renamed to Dialog TV in Februa ...

on 7 October 2016. On 8 November 2016, WakuWaku Japan announced that it would begin broadcasting in Vietnam through VTVcab, a Vietnamese cable pay television service. On 1 December, WakuWaku Japan will begin temporarily airing in Vietnam under the name 'WakuWaku Japan Hour', from 18:00 until 21:00 on three different channels are: VTVcab22 LIFE TV, VTVcab8 BiBi, and VTVcab Technical. But on 1 April 2018, WakuWaku Japan officially launched in Vietnam, but available on VTVcab and Next TV. It was announced on 6 January 2017, WakuWaku Japan would begin broadcasting in Mongolia through Univision and DDish TV. On 25 March, WakuWaku Japan officially launched their mascots, Waa and Kuu, to coincide with the premiere of original-produced kids program, ''WakuWaku be Ponckickies''. In July 2017 in Taiwan, WakuWaku Japan became officially available on Taiwan Broadcasting Communications. On 5 April 2021, WakuWaku Japan began broadcasting in the Philippines through

Cignal Cignal (pronounced as ''signal'') is a Philippine satellite television and IPTV provider, owned by Cignal TV Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the MediaQuest Holdings Inc. under the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund. Cignal's prepaid electronic ...

, a Philippine satellite television and IPTV provider. On 2 August 2021, WakuWaku Japan terminated its broadcast on

(since its original launch) and a IPTV service MNC Play. Meanwhile, the network continued to air via First Media, Transvision and UseeTV. The channel ceased operations on 31 March 2022 due to bankruptcy and losses. Its programming can be viewed via OTT platforms like

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

, Amazon Prime Video,

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

, Catchplay+, Viu,

WeTV We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming. As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Ameri ...

iflix WeTV iflix, or simply iflix, is a Malaysian free and subscription video on demand (VOD) service focused on emerging markets. Its global headquarters are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The site serves as a digital hosting and distribution platform fo ...

, iQIYI, Bilibili and

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

/ Disney+ Hotstar across Asia. The feed in some countries ceased operations a few minutes or hours before the closure. The final program aired was a 2020 edition of Summer Vacation with Ariyoshi.WAKUWAKU JAPAN 於 2022/4/1 正式結束營運並停播 cease its broadcasting and live streaming
/ref>

Programming

WakuWaku Japan provides programs associating with music, sports and children's content. Imported programs from a variety of genres are rebroadcast, including anime, superhero programs like '' Kamen Rider'', live-action drama series, culture programs, entertainment shows like ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bui ...

'', sports and documentary series. WakuWaku Japan also re-broadcasts music programs and has a portion of re-broadcast programming set aside for children under the block name ''WakuWaku Kids'', as well as an entertainment block called ''NHK Family Time''.. In the Drama section, currently there are four time slots: ''Drama Woman'', which broadcasts NHK's ''

Asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Take ...

''; ''Drama Legend'', which broadcasts Japanese dramas from the 1990s to the 2000s; ''Drama Hits'', which broadcasts Japanese dramas; and ''Drama NEO'', which broadcasts the latest Japanese drama every Friday night.

Original programming

* ''Music Japan TV'' (2014–2017) * ''WakuWaku Kids'' (2015–2016) * '' J.League Goal Highlights'' (2015–2016) * ''WakuWaku Football Academy'' (2015–2016) * ''Shiki-Oriori: Japan Food & Festival'' (2015–2017) * ''Quiz Surprise!! Japan'' (Indonesia and Myanmar only) (2015–2016) * ''Catch Your Dream! –Study in Japan-'' (2017) * ''Let's Enjoy Japanese! aJapan'' * ''The Asian Judge'' (2016) * ''Tokyo Doki Doki Campus LIFE'' (2016) * ''The Wonder Japan -Takumi-'' (2015) * ''Shiki-Oriori'' (2014–2015) * ''Dream of Red & White Samurai'' (Indonesia only) (2015) * ''Enjoy!

Tokyo Disney Resort The (local nickname ''TDR'') is a theme park and vacation resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just east of Tokyo. The resort is fully owned and operated by The Oriental Land Company under a licence from The Walt Disney Company, who const ...

TV'' * ''Washoku World Challenge 2015''

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.wakuwakujapan.com/en/ Television networks in Japan Television channels and stations established in 2014 Japanese companies established in 2014 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2022 2022 disestablishments in Japan Defunct television channels Defunct television stations in the Philippines