[Sangetsu]

The fee is 4000 yen, but I'm not sure if that is for the month or the year, I don't care to find out one way or the other. I have a slingbox at home in America, so I can watch American cable tv on my pc wherever I can get online.

For those of you who are in Japan and want to do the same thing, you need to find someone in America who has cable and broadband internet. The slingbox is a one-time purchase, and runs from $100 to $250 depending on the version you get. Once hooked up to the broadband modem, you can access the modem from anywhere you can get on the internet. There are no monthly fees, just the initial purchase. Installation is fairly straightforward, just follow the directions on the included cd rom, or download the directions and program from slingbox directly.

Video quality depends on the connection speed. With my fiber-optic internet in Japan, the resolution is excellent.