Sesame Street

The American children's television series has a long history in Japan, airing for three decades as a dubbed program, and recently restarting as a local co-production. There was also a manga published from 1990 to 1992 unrelated to this. Japanese dub (1971-2004, 2020-onwards) Sesame Street has been one of NHK's most successful children's programs and one of the first to be imported from overseas. Sesame Street first aired on November 8, 1971, but was taken off the network in the early 1980s. It resumed from 1988 until the end of March 2004, when production on a local adaptation was announced, which NHK refused to be involved in. While Sesame Street is primarily designed for preschool children, teenagers and adults watched the program as a guide to learning English, though much later on a dubbed version was available. NHK also co-produced the 1988 PBS special, Big Bird in Japan. The original show aired on NHK Educational TV until April 2004.