The Asahi Shimbun

The Asahi Shimbun
First issue on 25 January 1879
TypeDaily newspaper
Company type: Private
FormatBlanket (54.6 cm x 40.65 cm)
Owner(s)Repurchased shares (25%)
Murayama family (21.02%; 10% through the KOSETSU Museum of Art)
Ueno family (total 14.22% by Shōichi Ueno's death in 2016)
TV Asahi (11.88%)
Toppan (7.31%)
Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdcorp (2.31%)
Founder(s)Murayama Ryōhei [ja]
Ueno Riichi
FoundedJanuary 25, 1879; 145 years ago (1879-01-25)
Political alignment
HeadquartersNakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan
CountryJapan
Circulation
  • Decrease 4,574,906 (2021)
  • Decrease 5,160,355 (2020)[10]
  • Decrease 5,954,336 (2018)[11]
  • Decrease 6,572,195 (2016)[12]
  • 7,960,000 (2010)[13]
Websitewww.asahi.com (Japanese)
www.asahi.com/ajw (English)
Flag of the Asahi Shimbun Company
Nakanoshima Festival Tower East
Asahi Shimbun Osaka Head Office is on the 9th to the 12th floors.

The Asahi Shimbun (朝日新聞, IPA: [asaçi ɕiꜜmbɯɴ], lit. 'morning sun newspaper', English: Asahi News) is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and 1.33 million for its evening edition as of July 2021,[14] was second behind that of the Yomiuri Shimbun. By print circulation, it is the second largest newspaper in the world behind the Yomiuri, though its digital size trails that of many global newspapers including The New York Times.[15]

Its publisher, The Asahi Shimbun Company,[16] is a media conglomerate with its registered headquarters in Osaka. It is a privately held family business with ownership and control remaining with the founding Murayama and Ueno families.

According to the Reuters Institute Digital Report 2018, public trust in the Asahi Shimbun is the lowest among Japan's major dailies, though confidence is declining in all the major newspapers.[17]

The Asahi Shimbun is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan along with the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Chunichi Shimbun.[18]

  1. ^ "Asahi Shimbun". Britannica. The paper is known for its liberal and progressive views.
  2. ^ Fackler, Martin (27 May 2016). "The Silencing of Japan's Free Press". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 5 March 2020. That announcement capped a difficult year-and-a-half for independent media that saw the largest liberal newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, subdued and other critical commentators removed from the airwaves.
  3. ^ Richard McGregor, ed. (2017). Asia's Reckoning: China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century. Penguin. p. 100. ISBN 9780399562686. In 1980, one prominent critic in the leading left-liberal daily, the Asahi Shimbun, wrote, ...
  4. ^ Louis G. Perez, ed. (2013). Japan at War: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 336. ISBN 9781598847420. ... Accused of disrespect toward the emperor, the liberal-left Asahi Shimbun has repeatedly been the target of violence. ...
  5. ^ "Japan paper Yomiuri Shimbun retracts 'sex slaves' references". BBC News. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2020. In August the left-of-centre Asahi newspaper retracted a series of articles it had published about the comfort women issue based on the testimony of a Japanese author Seiji Yoshida.
  6. ^ "The press in Japan - Gotcha". The Economist. 20 September 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2020. The Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading left-of-centre newspaper, with a circulation of 7.3m, is battling for its reputation after a third embarrassing ...
  7. ^ "Japan PM to overturn pacifist defence policy". The Guardian. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2020. The left-of-centre Asahi Shimbun accused Abe of abandoning Japan's postwar pacifism after minimal public debate.
  8. ^ Saul J. Takahashi (2019). Civil and Political Rights in Japan: A Tribute to Sir Nigel Rodley. "... affiliated with the left of centre newspaper Asahi Shimbun, has been a particular target."
  9. ^ "Japan's Asahi newspaper sacks editor over Fukushima report errors". Financial Times. 12 September 2014. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  10. ^ 朝日新聞媒体資料 Data File 2021 [Asahi Shimbun Media Resources Data File 2021] (PDF) (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun. 4 January 2021. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Strength of The Asahi Shimbun 2018" (PDF). The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  12. ^ "朝日新聞、4年間で発行部数105万減の衝撃…新聞業界、存亡の危機突入へ". biz-journal.
  13. ^ "全国紙の朝・夕刊別販売部数(単位：部)". Yomiuri. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  14. ^ "朝日新聞媒体資料 DATA FILE 2022| 広告朝日｜朝日新聞社メディアビジネス局". 朝日新聞社メディアビジネス局 (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  15. ^ "The New York Times Tops 7.5 Million Subscriptions as Ads Decline". The New York Times. 4 February 2021.
  16. ^ Japanese: 株式会社朝日新聞社, Hepburn: Kabushiki gaisha Asahi Shimbun-sha, logo stylized in kyūjitai as 朝日新聞社
  17. ^ "Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2018" (PDF). Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford. 2018. p. 130.
  18. ^ "PR in Japan: Targeting the Right Newspapers". Japan Industry News. 20 January 2016.