This morning I encountered someone who was boasting that he did not pay his NHK fee. The NHK is a public Japanese television channel, much like the BBC except better. But foreigners often do not pay their fees. They share tips about how to avoid the NHK investigators who come to inspect houses. They also share any number of reasons why they are proud not to pay the fees. Maybe there are too few foreign programs, or too many; not enough coverage of America, or too much for their tastes. Maybe the way the NHK spends its money is not to their tastes. It does not matter how many or how few reasons they have, because any reason will do.
I pay my fee, because it’s the law. But it occurs to me that those who don’t pay NHK fees might want to start their own website, or make logos to boast about it, or invent imaginary TV channels which they would prefer to pay their fees to. Or maybe they could start complaining about the fees on Facebook whenever their Japanese friends post about the NHK. They need to get out the word that you can be a good person without paying your fees, a statement with which I wholeheartedly agree for relativist definitions of “good” and “person”.