Japanese Newspapers: Five National Papers and a Delivery Carrier at the Door

Five Newspapers for the Whole Country: Who's Who

The five national publications differ in direction and audience. The Yomiuri Shimbun (founded in 1874) and the Asahi Shimbun (1879) are mass newspapers with the largest circulations. The Mainichi Shimbun traces its history to the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun of 1872. The Nikkei Shimbun grew out of a weekly price journal of 1876 and today remains a business publication. The Sankei Shimbun (1933, originally the industry paper Nihon Kogyo Shimbun) is more conservative in direction.

Why the Country Has Only Five Newspapers in Total

This concentration did not form overnight. During the war the authorities forcibly merged regional publications — it was then, in 1943, that various Tokyo and Osaka newspapers merged into the single brand Mainichi Shimbun. After the war the major publications built their own subscription and home-delivery networks across the country, and for a new publication to compete with such infrastructure became almost impossible.

From 10 Million to Five: Yomiuri's Circulation Over a Quarter Century

The Yomiuri Shimbun's circulation is the clearest example of this story. In January 2001 it reached a historic peak — 10,310,091 copies of the morning edition, and Guinness had already noted the paper as record-holding for circulation in its 1979 edition. By June 2026 the morning circulation had fallen below five million — to 4.997 million copies, that is, it fell by more than half over a quarter century.

A Halving Over a Quarter Century Is Not One Newspaper's Crisis but a Change in Habit

The circulations of the other major publications are declining in the same way, and this is visible across the industry as a whole. The total circulation of all the country's daily newspapers fell from about 53 million copies in 2000 to about 24.9 million in 2025 — more than half over a quarter century. Readers are not switching en masse from one newspaper to another, but are reading the morning edition on paper less and less often.

Sales Shop and Delivery Carrier: How the Newspaper Reaches the Door

Most readers receive the newspaper not at a kiosk but through a subscription. A sales shop assigned to the district (販売店, hanbaiten) signs a contract and sends a delivery carrier who every morning — and where there is an evening edition, in the evening too — puts the newspaper in the mailbox. In the major metropolitan areas — Kanto, Tokai, Kinki, Hokkaido and Fukuoka — newspapers are most often sold as a "set version" (セット版): the morning edition (朝刊, chōkan) and the evening edition (夕刊, yūkan) come as a single set under one subscription.

What the Evening Edition Is and Why It Is Disappearing

The evening edition is not an abridged digest of the morning issue but a separate edition with fresh news and the day's columns that did not make it into the morning run. Where there is no scheduled evening delivery, the newspaper is still published — but as a single "integrated edition" (統合版), without a split into morning and evening. In recent years some districts and publications have been switching to just such a single edition: separate evening delivery costs more, and subscribers to it are becoming fewer.

新聞 — Heard New Things

聞 — значение: to hear, to listen, to ask — онъёми: ブン、モン — кунъёми: き.く、き.こえる — 14 штрих(ов). 聞 — "to hear": this character ends the word 新聞, "newspaper", literally "heard new things".

新聞 is read shinbun and is made up of 新 — "new" — and 聞 — "to hear, heard". Literally — "heard new things": what became known and was passed on in printed form. The same character 聞 also appears in other Japanese words, and in 新聞社 (shinbunsha), "newspaper publisher", the character 社 is added, meaning "company, association".

What the Kisha Club Press Club Is

記者クラブ (kisha kurabu) are associations of journalists attached to ministries and government agencies: the rule allows one such club per institution, and membership is registered not to the journalist personally but to the editorial office as a whole. Their closed nature has been criticized by foreign correspondents, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Parliament — access to briefings and documents is given first and foremost to club members. The Japan Newspaper Association back in 1997 redefined the clubs as bases that facilitate access to information from state institutions, but the closed nature has not gone away since then.

Write 聞 along the guides — the character "to hear", with which the word 新聞, "newspaper", ends.

FAQ

Which newspapers are the main ones in Japan?

Five national newspapers: the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, the Nikkei Shimbun (business) and the Sankei Shimbun — more conservative in direction. Each has its own morning circulation and its own audience, and the concentration around five publications formed back in the 20th century, when the major newspapers built their own subscription and home-delivery networks across the country.

Which newspaper in the world has the largest circulation?

The Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun — but not with the figure that usually circulates. The newspaper was indeed noted by Guinness as the world's highest-circulation newspaper back in its 1979 edition. However, the commonly cited "10 million" is the peak of January 2001 (10,310,091 copies), and by June 2026 the morning circulation had fallen below five million — to 4.997 million copies.

Why are Japanese newspapers losing readers?

The decline in circulation is not one newspaper's problem but an industry-wide story: the total circulation of all the country's daily newspapers fell from about 53 million copies in 2000 to about 24.9 million in 2025. Readers are not switching from one publication to another, but are reading the morning edition on paper less and less often overall.

Why do they publish evening newspapers in Japan?

The evening edition (夕刊, yūkan) is not a digest of the morning issue but a separate edition with fresh news and the day's columns. In the major metropolitan areas it is sold together with the morning edition under one subscription (the "set version"). But in recent years some districts and publications have been switching to a single "integrated edition" without an evening part — separate delivery costs more, and subscribers to it are becoming fewer.

What is the kisha club press club?

記者クラブ (kisha kurabu) are closed associations of journalists at ministries and government agencies: one club per institution, with membership registered to the editorial office rather than to the journalist personally. Their closed nature has been criticized by foreign correspondents, the OECD and the European Parliament — access to briefings is given first and foremost to club members, not to the press as a whole.

What kanji make up the word "newspaper"?

"Newspaper" in Japanese is 新聞 (shinbun): 新 means "new", 聞 means "to hear, heard". Literally — "heard new things". The same character 聞 also appears in other words of the language, and in 新聞社 (shinbunsha), "newspaper publisher", the character 社 — "company" — is added.

Sources

• Japan Newspaper Association: circulation data
• ja.wikipedia.org: article "Yomiuri Shimbun"
• Kotobank: dictionary entry 新聞