They do things differently in Japan, and cable television operators there are blanching at the myriad hurdles they would have to surmount before they could start even trials of interactive multimedia services, Reuter reports from Tokyo: as well as a permit from the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications, if they want to offer home banking, they will need a permit from the Finance Ministry, while home shopping requires a Ministry of International Trade and Industry permit, while before you start digging up the roads to lay cable, you need a permit from the Ministry of Transport; and if you decide instead to use telegraph poles, forget it – you need permission from Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, the electricity company and the local police for every pole you want to use.
