Newspapers in Japan

I've refered to an article in the Japan Times about Prime Minister Abe's remark regarding "comfort women" in WWII. I didn't intend to stand by any postion about this matter. What I wanted to tell you is that few newspaper in Japan refer to this topic, despite the fact that there's a long article in the New York Times on March 6 by Martin Fackler (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/world/asia/06japan.html?_r=1&ref=asia&oref=slogin). Which makes me wonder what is going on in Japan's media now.

In Japan, there is five big nationwide newspapers:

1. The Asahi Shimbun (朝日新聞)
2. The Yomiuri Shimbun (読売新聞)
3. The Sankei Shimbun (産経新聞)
4. The Nikkei Shimbun (日経新聞)
5. The Mainichi Shimbun (毎日新聞)

Then, except #5 the Mainichi Shimbun, all of the four have its counterparts. Let me explain this.

1. The Asahishimbun corresponds to the New York Times.
2. The Yomiuri Shimbun corresponds to the Washington Post.
3. The Sankei Shimbun corresponds to the Washington Times.
4. The Nikkei Shimbun corresponds to the Wall Street Journal.

Sometimes these Japanese newspapers are actually associated with the American newspapers on the right side. But, they are more like the same as the American ones in their editional positions about politics. (If you believe that all the media are politically neutral, you are a little bit naive.)

Then, basically if the New York Times reports a news item as a big one, so the Asahi Shimbun does. But, it doesn't apply for this time.

Actually, recently the Asahi is said to be changing their political standpoint into more hawkish. So, if you read the Asahi as you read the New York Times, you'll be confused a little bit.

By the way, in case you don't read Japanese, some of the big five chains have English version.

1. International Herald Tribune
2. the Daily Yomiuri
4. The Nikkei Weekly
5. The Mainichi Daily News (On Line Only)