[5] NHK's earliest forerunner was the Tokyo Broadcasting Station (東京放送局), founded in 1924 under the leadership of Count Gotō Shinpei.

[6] NHK was modelled on the BBC of the United Kingdom,[4] and the merger and reorganisation was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war Ministry of Communications.

[citation needed] In November 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army nationalised all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts via the Information Liaison Confidential Committee.

[citation needed] All published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of World War II.

Japanese-American radio broadcaster Frank Shozo Baba joined NHK during this time and led an early post-war revamp of its programming.

International satellite broadcasts to North America and Europe began in 1995, which led to the launch of NHK World in 1998.

[11] NHK is a dependent corporation chartered by the Japanese Broadcasting Act and primarily funded by license fees.

[23] However, the Broadcasting Act specifies no punitive actions for nonpayment; as a result, after a rash of NHK-related scandals including an accounting one, the number of people in 2006 who had not paid the license fee surpassed one million watchers.

[31] But the network seeks to fill the hole left by non-paying and no-television-watching watchers by collecting fees for a new streaming service planned to start at the beginning of the year.

Their national network of seismometers in cooperation with the Japan Meteorological Agency makes NHK capable of delivering earthquake early warnings seconds after detection, as well as a more detailed report with Shindo intensity measurements within two-to-three minutes after the quake.

[38] Since 1953, NHK has broadcast the Kōhaku Uta Gassen song contest on New Year's Eve, ending shortly before midnight in PIX System.

[41] On 11 July 2008, NHK introduced a ban prohibiting stock trading by employees, numbering around 5,700, who had access to its internal news information management system.

In addition, they stated that they failed in their role as a news media organization, and simply sat idle as many minors became sexual abuse victims.

On 8 September 2023, NHK said in a statement that they took the matter seriously, and that they would "work harder to ensure that human rights are more respected in the broadcasting industry" when it comes to using performers who best fit program content and production.

The public broadcaster added that it did not fully acknowledge the sexual abuse matter despite various weekly magazine articles about the allegations and a Tokyo High Court ruling in 2004.

[47] A few weeks later, NHK announced that it would suspend new contracts with Johnny's performers–including for their annual New Year's Eve television special Kōhaku Uta Gassen–until the company has implemented compensation and recurrence prevention measures.

[50] In October 2024, NHK Chairman Nobuo Inaba announced at a regular press conference that, he had confirmed efforts of Smile-Up to compensate victims and prevent recurrence and the separation of management from Starto Entertainment is steadily progressing, and that requests to perform–including Kōhaku Uta Gassen for current Starto celebrities would resume.

[52] Katsuto Momii (籾井 勝人), the 21st Director-General of NHK, caused controversy[53][54] by discussing Japan's actions in World War II at his first press conference after being appointed on 20 December 2013.

It was reported that Momii said NHK should support the Japanese government in its territorial dispute with China and South Korea.

[55] He also caused controversy by what some describe as the playing down of the comfort women issue in World War II, according to the Taipei Times, stating, "[South] Korea's statements that Japan is the only nation that forced this are puzzling.

"[56] It was subsequently reported by The Japan Times that on his first day at NHK Momii asked members of the executive team to hand in their resignation on the grounds they had all been appointed by his predecessor.

[58] On 27 January 2014,[59] the Viewers' Community to Observe and Encourage NHK (NHKを監視・激励する視聴者コミュニティ) issued a public letter calling for Momii's resignation on the grounds that the remarks he made at his inaugural press conference were explosive.

The letter stated that if Momii did not resign by the end of April, its members would freeze their licence fee payments for half a year.

[60] On 17 October 2014, The Times claimed to have received internal NHK documents which banned any reference to the Nanjing Massacre, to Japan's use of wartime sex slaves during World War II, and to its territorial dispute with China in its English-language broadcasting.

[65] On 9 January 2022, NHK issued an apology over false allegations made in Director Naomi Kawase's Tokyo Olympics documentary.

[67][68] On 13 January 2022, the NHK Osaka director Terunobu Maeda apologized during a press conference, admitting that the captions "should not have been included".