The Principal Newspapers

In western Japan this is the Nishi Nippon . Its home office is in Fukuoka, and its market is chiefly on the island of Kyushu. In central Japan is the Chunichi^[*] Shinbun , with its home office in Nagoya. Its market is the ten prefectures between Tokyo and Osaka. Several years ago, the Chu-nichi purchased the Tokyo Shinbun , which it runs almost as a separate entity. Tokyo Shinbun has its home office in Tokyo. Its market is the three prefectures surrounding the capital. In northern Japan is the Hokkaido Shinbun . Its home office is in Sapporo. Its market is the island of Hokkaido. Collectively, these newspapers are known as "the bloc" newspapers. Since their markets do not overlap, the bloc papers have arrangements to share facilities and news. It is not uncommon to see articles by one newspapers's foreign correspondent appearing in another newspaper, though domestic stories are more rarely shared.

The major wire services are Jiji and Kyodo . Their responsibility is to supply news to the regional and local newspapers, though today other organizations as well purchase their services. Initially, these two wires agreed to divide reporting responsibilities: Jiji was to handle the economic and commercial news: Kyodo was to handle the social and political news. This agreement is no longer honored. Both services compete to cover every story.

The nationals make up the final category. These newspapers now have

[2] Asahi Nenkan , 1972, p. 239–241.

their home offices in Tokyo but distribute papers throughout the country. The largest national is the Asahi . It has 263 domestic bureaus and 22 overseas bureaus and almost ten thousand employees, of whom better than three thousand are editorial personnel. It publishes eleven morning editions and three evening editions. The morning editions run twenty-four pages and their circulation is six million; the evening editions run twelve pages and their circulation is three million. A network of sixty-two thousand newsboys delivers 99 percent of the newspapers to the home.^[3] Comparable in facilities but slightly lower in circulation are the Mainichi and the Yomiuri . These newspapers are known as the Big Three.

Another national is the Nihon Keizai . It started out as a financial newspaper much like the London Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal . In recent years, its interests have broadened and its circulation has grown. The fifth national is the Sankei . It started as a regional newspaper serving the prefectures around Osaka but has since moved its headquarters to Tokyo and now distributes almost nationwide. Its circulation has been slipping in the recent past.

In recent years, these nationals have expanded into new fields. All now publish weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual magazines. Most have English language publications and have television and radio stations. They also do outside printing and publish books. Some are in real estate, sound recording, and travel service. Although these ventures seem to be quite profitable, the newspapers remain the core of the empires.

[3] Promotional literature issued by the Asahi Shinbun .

The five nationals, the bloc newspapers, and the wire services constitute the mainstream of written journalism in Japan.^[4] Table 1 gives other pertinent data concerning them. This article examines the national dailies. They dominate the field and I am most familiar with them. Yet most of my remarks will apply equally well to the other members of the mainstream. The regionals do not have the circulation problems of the nationals, but they are quite similar in structure.