Re: [tlug] Recommendation on watching European/American/Independent movies/TV programs in Japan?

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2017-10-07 00:59 +0900 (Sat), yasu@example.com wrote:

> My wife wants to know how to watch
> European/American/Australian/International/Independent movies/TV
> programs in Japan in a “legit” way while willing to pay whatever the
> enterprise for the “rent” they seek.

There's really no one best way to do it; each option has its own
advantages and disadvantages. I've found Netflix to be the best
overall because they're more likely to include all the various
regionally-popular subtitle languages (Japanese, English, Korean, and
possibly Chinese) on a non-English European film. In-region discs
(rented or purchased) come second on this score, and Hulu is very poor
in this regard. That said, there will be other factors; each has shows
you can get (or can't get at a reasonable price) elsewhere. For
example, Hulu tends to have some BBC stuff (such as _Life on Mars_)
that's otherwise available only as import editions.

(For what it's worth, my strategy is to subscribe to both Netflix and
Hulu in Japan, at a bit over ¥2000/month for the pair of them, and
occasionally buy an imported Blu-ray or DVD. I kept my U.S.
PlayStation 2 as much to play region 1 DVD titles as to play its
games.)

On 2017-10-07 00:51 +0800 (Sat), Raymond Wan wrote:

> NetFlix, Hulu, whatever are convenient but one downside is that
> movies and tv shows are usually available for just one of them due
> to licensing agreements.

Not quite as often as you think, in my experience; there's a
surprising amount of duplication between Netflix and Hulu (though Hulu
tends more often than Netflix to be the one that has it a few months
earlier). (This was not the case when Netflix first came out here,
though.)

On 2017-10-07 23:30 +0900 (Sat), yasu@example.com wrote:

> I think this is a niche market worth exploiting...   any bright
> enterprising person working with some venture capital?? 😊

The difficulties in that are enormous, and nothing to do with
technology (except inasmuch as technology made it cheap and easy to
ship information across the globe). For a sense of the problem, see:

  http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/07/some-rambling-thoughts-on-regi.html

On 2017-10-07 16:14 +0100 (Sat), Darren Cook wrote:

> http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

Yup. Here's an older one pointing out the same thing:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/93jx7qnjcug2bln/pirated_dvd_640.jpg

On 2017-10-08 00:11 +0800 (Sun), Raymond Wan wrote:

> When I visit Japan, I find it strange that the same movies
> has no English subtitles at all.  Clearly someone has done
> the work of translating...and the subtitles take up very
> little space...why not include them?

I can think of two reasons off-hand:

1. Including them isn't free. The company has to get hold of them, put
them on their particular image and do the whole release and QC process
for them. Nor is this risk free: they can get complaints from paying
customers and demands for refunds if they mess up the subtitles.

2. They might have to pay another publisher/distributor, or another
subsidiary of a global publisher/distributor, for the subtitles. (See
the Charles Stross blog link above.)

> PS:  Darren, loved the Oatmeal comic!  I, too, have been
> hoping that Game of Thrones would appear on Netflix.......

The first six seasons are available on happyon.jp (once known as
hulu.jp), for what it's worth.

cjs
-- 
Curt J. Sampson      <cjs@example.com>      +81 90 7737 2974

To iterate is human, to recurse divine.
    - L Peter Deutsch