All Japanese analog terrestrial television broadcasting were terminated today at 12:00 p.m. July 24 (Japan Standard Time) as planned, aiming more effective radio wave usage by re-assigning their bands from analog TV to newly introduced digital TV. They have been simultaneously broadcast until today.
All channels stopped in 44 prefectures, besides three prefectures, which suffered by Eastern Japan Great Disaster and given another 7 months to prepare. All channels are airing the end of their analog service and guide of phone number for digital TV. The waves will be stopped completely this midnight.
(TV screenshots by @ichitaso)
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“Anarogu Housou Syuuryo”(End of analog broadcasting) was the buzzed word on Twitter and other social media in Japanese.
Both on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga [J], many net users had uploaded the final moment of analog channels they recorded.
In Akihabara, a electric parts shop ran a funeral of the analog wave, with a portrait of an unofficial analog TV character Analoguma (Analog + guma = kuma = bear), which was converted from a popular 2-channel Ascii-art character bear (he also became Pedobear in English BBS 4chan) to be a rival of an official digital TV support character Chidejika(Chideji = terrestrial digital, jika = shika = deer).
(photo by @LetHis)
I had not heard of analoguma, but of course Chidejika was ubiquitous. Poor analoguma, being perverted upon his entry into the US.