First Japanese TV show in the US

[Brian Ruh]

I'm doing a bit of writing for my dissertation and I want to assert that "Astro Boy" was not only the first Japanese anime program shown on US television, but also the first TV program from Japan shown in the US.

The first point is pretty easily supported, but I can't seem to find any sources to back up my assertion in the second part.

Does anyone know if there were any Japanese TV programs that aired in the US before Astro Boy (September 1963)? I haven't come across any, but it's difficult to turn that around into a positive statement.

Thanks!

== Brian