And the enforcement arm had special electronics-equipped trucks that could tell if you had a TV, and then they’d cross-reference that against licenses. Have a TV and no license? Big fine!
Unless the TV was hooked up to a cable, how in the world could they tell if you have a TV? A TV only receives signals and does not transmit them.
When I first moved to Japan, I didn’t have a TV. The TV tax man stopped by and couldn’t believe that I didn’t have one. I let him in to look around, and he left. This happened for several years, and he eventually stopped coming.
That’s when I got a TV.