On April 20 , 2011 , the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications confirmed that the analog terrestrial TV service will shut down on July 24 in 44 of the 47 prefectures . The three prefectures of Iwate , Miyagi and Fukushima were heavily damaged by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and its related nuclear accidents , and as a result , television stations in those three prefectures shut down their analog signals nine months later on March 31 , 2012
the 9.0 magnitude earthquake
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
List of digital television deployments by country