The Newspapers in Japan



These newspaper sites are classified into three groups according to the availability of English. The first group is national newspapers with excellent English daily newspapers. The second is those with some English available at their sites. Generally this consists of explanations about the company and the area with some news. The third group is that with no English on their home pages. In each group the sites are listed more or less from North to South and West to East. Location information is provided as was available on the web. Some of these newspapers are local. Some are regional. These are based in cities that are important in their regions. All URLs provided without language information are in Japanese. URLs that lead to English pages state English URL. Japan also has a variety of speciality newspapers ranging from those about business to those about sports. These are listed at the very end of this page.


The Japan Times

deserves special mention as Japan's only English language newspaper which is independent of Japanese language newspapers. The other English newspapers available nationally are all owned by a publisher which publishes both a Japanese paper and an English paper. The Japan Times celebrated its centennial in 1997. For the most complete English news in Japan visit The Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/).


National Japanese and English Daily Newspapers

Asahi Shimbun(www.asahi.com/ )may be Japan's best Japanese Newspaper.
Asahi Shimbun English News (www.asahi.com/english/english.html)offers some English News.

Asahi Evening News is their English Newspaper. Subscription information is here (www.asahi.com/information/AENsubscribe.html)
Yomiuri Shimbun (www.yomiuri.co.jp/) is another national daily.
The Daily Yomiuri is their English Newspaper. You can visit the on-line version http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index.html
Mainichi Shimbun (www.mainichi.co.jp/) is another national daily.
Mainichi Newspapers English News is at (www.mainichi.co.jp/index-e.html)


Japanese Newspaper Sites with some English


Kahoku Shimpo (www.kahoku.co.jp/) Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. English URL (www.kahoku.co.jp/eng/index.html).
Hokkoku Shimbun (www.hokkoku.co.jp/) Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Hokuriku Area. English URL (www.hokkoku.co.jp/_e_index/e_index.htm).
Shinano Mainichi Shimbun (www.shinmai.co.jp/) Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture. English URL (www.shinmai.co.jp/shinmai/shim1e.html).
Kyoto Shimbun (www.kyoto-np.co.jp/) Kyoto. English URL (www.kyoto-np.co.jp/kp/index_e.html). Chugoku Shimbun (http://www.hiroshima-cdas.or.jp/chugoku-np/) Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture. English URL (www.hiroshima-cdas.or.jp/chugoku-np/English/index.html).
Sanyo Shimbun (www1.mesh.ne.jp/sanyo-np/) is located in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, but serves Okayama, Hiroshima, and Kagawa. English URL (www1.mesh.ne.jp/sanyo-np/map/japanese_961107.map?545,116).
Minami Nippon Shimbun (www.minc.or.jp/minami/). English URL (www.minc.or.jp:80/minami/minamihe.htm).
Nishinippon Shimbun (www.nishinippon.co.jp/ Kyushu). English URL (www.nishinippon.co.jp/e_index.html).
Okinawa Times (www.okinawatimes.co.jp/ )Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture. English URL (www.okinawatimes.co.jp/index-e.html).
Ryukyu Shimpo (www.ryukyushimpo.co.jp/)is also in Okinawa. English URL (www.ryukyushimpo.co.jp/english/eindex.htm). Spanish URL (www.ryukyushimpo.co.jp/spanish/sindex.htm).
Kyodo News (www.kyodo.co.jp/) is a Japanese news service which provides news to newspapers and magazines. English URL (home.kyodo.co.jp/) includes general summaries of the day's news home.kyodo.co.jp:80/cgi-bin/kwsSummary/General), economic summaries of the day's news (hhome.kyodo.co.jp:80/cgi-bin/kwsSummary/Economic/), and Asia Briefs (home.kyodo.co.jp:80/cgi-bin/briefsStory) If you are looking for Japanese and Asian news in English this is a great place to go. As of January 1998 it is still only in a beta version so there should be a lot more to come!


Japanese Only


Sankei Shimbun (www.sankei.co.jp/cgi-bin/rb/rbdraw.cgi?main) is also a national newspaper, but it is not as large or as popular as the others. They do not have an English URL. Iwate Nippo (www.iwate-np.co.jp/) Morioka, Iwate Prefecture.
Nigata Nippo (www.niigata-inet.or.jp/nippo/) Nigata Prefecture. Kitanippon Shimbun (www.fitweb.or.jp/KN/) Toyama Prefecture.
Toyama Shimbun (www.toyama.hokkoku.co.jp/) Toyama Prefecture.
Fukui Shimbun (mars.vcnet.fukui.fukui.jp/~fprs/) Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture.
Chunichi Shimbun (www.chunichi.co.jp/) Nagoya, Aiichi Prefecture.
Kobe Shimbun (www.kobe-np.co.jp/).
Yamanashi Shimbun (www.sannichi-ybs.co.jp/News/miljan.html) Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture.
Gifu Shimbun (www.jic-gifu.or.jp/np/) Gifu Prefecture.
Shizuoka Shimbun (www.sbs-np.co.jp/) Shizuoka Prefecture. Kii Minpo (www.aikis.or.jp/~agara-km/) Wakayama .Prefecture
Saga Shimbun (www.saga-s.co.jp/) Saga Prefecture.
Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun (www.kumanichi.co.jp/) Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture.
Ehime Shimbun (www.ehime-np.co.jp/) Ehime Prefecture.
Tokushima Shimbun (topics.or.jp/) Tokushima Prefecture. Shikoku Shimbun (www.shikoku-np.co.jp/ )Shikoku.
Kochi Shimbun (www.kochinews.co.jp/) Kochi Prefecture.
Hokkaido Shimbun Press (www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/) Hokkaido.
Shimotsuke Shimbun (www.ssctnet.or.jp/shimo/) Tochigi Prefecture. Ibaraki Shimbun (www1.sphere.ne.jp/iba-news/) Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Saitama Shimbun (www.cyberlink.co.jp/saitamashimbun/) Saitama Prefecture.
Tokyo Shimbun (www.tokyo-np.co.jp/) Minato Ward, Tokyo.
Chiba Nippo (www.cyberlink.co.jp/chibanippo/) Chiba Prefecturese Shimbun.
Ise Shimbun (www.alles.or.jp/~isenp/) Mie Prefecture. Kanagawa Shimbun (www.kanagawa-np.co.jp/) Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Nara Shimbun (www.sphere.ad.jp/nara/) Nara Prefecture.
Nihonkai Shimbun (www.nnn.co.jp/) Tottori Prefecture.
Osaka Nichinichi Shimbun (www.osaka-nichinichi.co.jp/) Osaka-fu.


Speciality Newspapers Japan

also has some newspapers which are speciality papers. We have two here. Also, there are some other publications of interest listed below.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (www.nikkei.co.jp/) is considered Japan's equivalent of the Wall Street Journal. Their English news is at (www.nikkei.co.jp/enews/).
Suponichi (www.mainichi.co.jp/suponichi/index.html) is the Mainichi Sports Newspaper. It is only available in Japanese.


Regional Web Publications in English


The Chubu Weekly (www.eal.or.jp/CW/) is an English bi-weekly news source for Nagoya and the Chubu area.
The Daily News Nagoya (www.eal.or.jp/DNN/) offers daily reports of local news. They also offer a variety of resources including a subway map and local concert listings.
Kansai Time Out (www.kto.co.jp/kto.html) is a monthly English language magazine for the Kansai area. If you will be going there this is worth a look. Their Travel File (www.kto.co.jp/travel/travel_index.html#japan) provides information about areas all over Japan.
Kyushu Central (www.kyushu.com/kcentral/) offers Kyushu based publications, links, and information.
Kyoto Journal (www.nihon-syuuji.co.jp/kj/kjhome.html) is an e-zine published in Kyoto which was started in 1986. They describe themselves as having minimal advertising and maximum reading value. Take a look.
Tokyo Journal (www.tokyo.to/) is the English language publication to find out what is going on in Tokyo.
Merit 5 (www.merit5.co.jp/) is the new website of the City Life News Tokyo (www.merit5.co.jp/cln/cln.html) There are no excerpts from the publication at the site, just subscription information. Their Japanese Culture Info (www.merit5.co.jp/culture/culture.html) and other parts of their website to are worth a look.
Japan Update (www.japanupdate.com/) is an English Language Weekly serving Okinawa.
Hiragana Times (www.gsquare.or.jp/HiraganaTimes/) lets you read their magazine in Japanese with characters, in Japanese with hiragana, or in English. Improve your Japanese reading skills and find out what is happening in Japan and Tokyo today. The describe themselves as Cross-Culture Communication Magazine from Tokyo. Take a look.