the 50hz/60hz is irrelevent, that the power frequency. What is the deal is NTSC/PAL (see wikipedia) everything in th US+canada in NTFS, which everything else is PAL, these two are incompatible. To get around this you can use a computer tv-tuner card, which generally work with both, or you can use a PAL (international) TV.

notice: 50hz/60hz things is irrelevent here, japan is actually split down the middle with 50hzand 60hz and things work on both sides.