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The Japan Times

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The Japan Times
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)News2u Holdings, Inc.
PublisherTakeharu Tsutsumi
EditorHiroyasu Mizuno
Staff writersApproximately 130
FoundedMarch 22, 1897; 128 years ago (1897-03-22)
LanguageEnglish
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Circulation44,000
OCLC number21225620
Websitewww.japantimes.co.jp

The Japan Times is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper.[1][2] It was founded on March 22, 1897, by Motosada Zumoto [ja] with the aim of providing Japanese readers with a platform to read and discuss news in English to better engage with the international community.[3]

During World War II, The Japan Times name was temporarily changed to Nippon Times (1943–1956) due to a ban on English-language sentiment and served as an outlet for the Imperial Japanese government's communication.[3][4] It reverted to The Japan Times in 1956.[5]

The paper was long owned by the Ogasawara family following a major acquisition in the 1980s. In 2017, it was sold to News2u Holdings, Inc., a Tokyo-based PR firm.[6]

Controversy

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The Japan Times, Ltd. publishes the daily broadsheet The Japan Times, the weekly The Japan Times On Sunday, and the bilingual weekly The Japan Times Alpha. Since 2013, the paper has been printed and sold along with The New York Times International Edition.[7]

In 2018, following its acquisition by News2u, the paper faced criticism after it announced changes to its editorial style guide for sensitive historical terms.[8] The paper stated it would use "wartime laborers" instead of "forced labor" and change the description of "comfort women," a move that drew immediate criticism from readers and staff who viewed it as aligning with conservative political positions.[9][10] The paper later apologized for undermining trust with its readers and staff.[11]

References

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  1. Yoshihara, Nancy (January 25, 1990). "A Growing Japan Export: News : Media: The English-language Japan Times is expanding and revamping its overseas edition". Los Angeles Times.
  2. "Media: The Japan Times". World Eye Reports. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Kamiya, Setsuko (August 13, 2011). "Japan Times not just wartime mouthpiece". The Japan Times.
  4. "New Resource Available: Japan Times Archives (1897-2014) | Yale University Library". web.library.yale.edu. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  5. Ishii, Hayato (February 24, 2015). "Wartime naval cadet recalls the twisted history of English in Japan". The Japan Times. Kyodo News. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  6. "小野寺優・ニフコ社長--自動車用にとどまらず、工業用ファスナーを軸として切り口増やしたい" [Yu Onodera, President Nifco--I want to increase the number of cuts by using industrial fasteners as an axis, not only for automobiles]. toyokeizai.net. Toyo Keizai. April 26, 2010.
  7. "Tozen". Tozen. August 7, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  8. Saito, Mari; Miyazaki, Ami (January 24, 2019). "'Fear' and 'favor' chill newsroom at storied Japanese paper". Reuters. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  9. "South Korea's top court orders Mitsubishi Heavy to pay compensation for wartime labor". The Japan Times. November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  10. McCurry, Justin (November 30, 2018). "'Comfort women': anger as Japan paper alters description of WWII terms". The Guardian. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  11. "ジャパンタイムズが慰安婦と採用担当者の「強制的な」表現に打ち負かされた理由" [Why The Japan Times was defeated by the "compulsory" expressions of comfort women and recruiters]. ITmedia. December 13, 2018. Archived from the original on October 15, 2020.