The is one of the major

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previously ''Mainichi Daily News''), and publishes a bilingual news magazine, ''Mainichi Weekly''. It also publishes paperbacks, books and other magazines, including a weekly news magazine, ''Sunday Mainichi''. It is one of the four national

newspapers in Japan Japanese newspapers ( , or older spelling ), similar to their worldwide counterparts, run the gamut from general news-oriented papers to special-interest newspapers devoted to economics, sports, literature, industry, and trade. Newspapers are ci ...

; the other three are the ''

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four 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 ...

'', the ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

'' and the ''

Nihon Keizai Shimbun ''The Nikkei'', also known as , is the flagship publication of Nikkei, Inc. (based in Tokyo) and the world's largest financial newspaper, with a daily circulation exceeding 1.73 million copies. The Nikkei 225, a stock market index for the Tok ...

''. The

Sankei Shimbun The (short for ) is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the seventh-highest circulation for regional newspapers in Japan. Among Japanese newspapers, the circulation is second only to ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', Seikyo Shimbun, ''Asah ...

and The ''

Chunichi Shimbun The is a Japanese daily "broadsheet" newspaper published in mostly Aichi Prefecture and neighboring regions by Based in Nagoya, one of Japanese three major metropolitan areas, it boasts the third circulation after the group newspaper Total Yom ...

'' are not currently in the position of a national newspaper despite a large circulation for the both respectively.

History

The history of the ''Mainichi Shinbun'' began with the founding of two papers during the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. The ''

Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.4 ...

'' was founded first, in 1872. The ''Mainichi'' claims that it is the oldest existing Japanese daily newspaper with its 136-year history. The

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

''Mainichi Shimbun'' was founded four years later, in 1876. The two papers merged in 1911, but the two companies continued to print their newspapers independently until 1943, when both editions were placed under a ''Mainichi Shimbun'' masthead. In 1966, the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

office was moved from Yurakucho to Takebashi, and in 1992, the

office was moved from Dojima to Nishi-Umeda. The Mainichi has 3,200 employees working in 364 offices in Japan and 26 bureaus overseas. It is one of Japan's three largest newspapers in terms of circulation and number of employees, and has 79 associated companies, including

Tokyo Broadcasting System formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...

(TBS),

Mainichi Broadcasting System , or MBS, is a radio and television broadcasting company headquartered in Osaka, Japan, affiliated with Japan Radio Network (JRN), National Radio Network (NRN), Japan News Network (JNN) and TBS Network, serving in the Kansai region. It i ...

(MBS) and the ''Sports Nippon Newspaper''. (despite affiliation, the Mainichi does not own the largest stock in TBS nor in MBS) The Mainichi is the only Japanese newspaper company to have won a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

, for the 1960 photograph "

Tokyo Stabbing Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.4 ...

". The Japan Newspapers Association, made up of 180 news organizations, has granted the Mainichi its Grand Prix award on 21 occasions, making the Mainichi the most frequent winner of the prize since its inception in 1957.

Partnership with MSN

On 15 January 2004, Mainichi Shimbun and MSN Japan announced they were to merge their websites. The partnership has been known as , effective since 1 April 2004. On 18 September 2007, Mainichi announced the launch of their new website, mainichi.jp, which would include "heavy use of social bookmarking, RSS and blog parts" and would "pay attention to

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

gers". The new website began operations on 1 October 2007, marking the end of MSN-Mainichi Interactive, being replaced by mainichi.jp. The English-language ''Mainichi Daily News'' also moved to the new website. MSN-Japan switched to ''

Sankei Shinbun The (short for ) is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the seventh-highest circulation for regional newspapers in Japan. Among Japanese newspapers, the circulation is second only to ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', Seikyo Shimbun, ''Asah ...

''.

''WaiWai'' controversy and cancellation

The ''Mainichi Daily News'' column WaiWai, by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

journalist

Ryann Connell Ryann is a female given name. Notable people with the name include: * Ryann Donnelly (born 1986), American musical artist * Ryann Holmes (born 1984), American consultant * Ryann Krais (born 1990), American athlete * Ryann O'Toole (born 1987), A ...

, featured often-sensationalist stories, principally translated from and based on articles appearing in Japanese tabloids. The column carried a disclaimer since September 19, 2002: "WaiWai stories are transcriptions of articles that originally appeared in Japanese language publications. The ''Mainichi Daily News'' cannot be held responsible for the content of the original articles, nor does it guarantee their accuracy. Views expressed in the WaiWai column are not necessarily those held by the ''Mainichi Daily News'' or the Mainichi Newspapers Co.""Analysis of the investigative team"
''Mainichi Newspapers'', 2008-07-20. Nevertheless, ''WaiWai'' content was reported as fact in blogs and reputable foreign media sources.
Telegraph.co.uk, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 2008-7-22 In April and May 2008, an aggressive anti-''WaiWai'' campaign appeared on internet forums including

2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influe ...

. Criticism included "contents are too vulgar" and "the stories could cause Japanese people to be misunderstood abroad.""WaiWai is dead"
''Japan Inc'', 2008-06-22. Critics had accused the WaiWai column of propagating a racist stereotype of Japanese women as sexual deviants with its sensationalist stories about incest, bestiality and debauchery. On June 20, a news site J-CAST reported on this issue. The Mainichi editorial board responded by deleting controversial WaiWai articles and limiting archive access, but the column remained in the ''Sunday Mainichi''.
''Mainichi Newspapers'', 2008-07-20. Citing continuing criticism, Mainichi's Digital Media Division shut down ''WaiWai'' on June 21. Mainichi also announced it would "severely punish the head of the Digital Media Division, which is responsible for overseeing the site, the manager responsible for the column and the editor involved with the stories." On June 25, Mainichi apologized to MDN readers. Some advertisers responded to the campaign by pulling ads from ''Mainichis Japanese site."The Birth of Blog Discourse"
(translation of blog post in ''CNET Japan''), ''Néojaponisme'', November 6, 2008. On June 28, 2008, Mainichi announced punitive measures.
''Mainichi Newspapers'', 2008-06-28. Connell, who remained anonymous in the announcement, was suspended for three months ("issuing three months' disciplinary leave").The writer was Ryann Connell. Justin Norrie

''The Age'', 2008-07-05. Other involved personnel were either docked 10%–20% salary or "stripped of their titles" for a period of one or two months. On July 20, 2008, Mainichi released the results of an in-house investigation. Mainichi announced that it would re-organize the MDN Editorial Department on August 1 with a new chief editor, and would re-launch the MDN on September 1 as a more news-oriented site."Mainichi Daily News to start over again"
''Mainichi Daily News'', 2008-07-20. Mainichi said, "We continued to post articles that contained incorrect information about Japan and indecent sexual content. These articles, many of which were not checked, should not have been dispatched to Japan or the world. We apologize deeply for causing many people trouble and for betraying the public's trust in the Mainichi Shinbun."

Offices

*, corporate headquarters :1-1-1, Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda,

* :3-4-5,

Umeda is a major commercial, business, shopping and entertainment district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, and the city's main northern railway terminus (Ōsaka Station, Umeda Station). The district's name means "plum field". History Umeda was historical ...

, Kita-ku,

* :

Midland Square , officially called , is a skyscraper located in the Meieki district of Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. It opened in early 2007. It is the tallest building in Nagoya and the fifth tallest building in Japan as of 2015. At 247m (810 feet), it ...

, 4-7-1,

Meieki is a major railway station in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Japan. It is one of the world's largest train stations by floor area (410,000 m2), and houses the headquarters of the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). Much of this space is located in ...

, Nakamura-ku,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

* :13-1, Konya-machi, Kokura Kita-ku,

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuku ...

:1314 W. McDermott Dr, Allen (Dallas) Texas USA (Central Region)

Sponsorship

Like other Japanese newspaper companies, Mainichi hosts many cultural events such as art exhibitions and sporting events. Among them, the most famous are the Senbatsu High School baseball tournament held every spring at

Koshien Stadium , commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball park located near Kobe, Hyōgo, Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the High school baseball in Japan, national high school baseball tourn ...

, and the non-professional baseball tournaments held every summer in the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

(formerly held in

Korakuen Stadium was a stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Completed in 1937, it was originally used for baseball, and was home to the Yomiuri Giants for nearly 50 years. For various periods of time, it was also the home stadium of six other professional Japanese baseball ...

) and the end of the fall in the

Osaka Dome The (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. Opened in 1997, the stadium was the home field of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 2005, the stadium became one of the homes of the Orix Buffaloes, a result of the mer ...

. The company sponsors a number of prominent annual

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...

competitions in Japan, including the

Lake Biwa Marathon The was a marathon race held in Otsu, Shiga, Japan. It was one of the prominent marathons in Japan. It was a male only competition and had IAAF Gold Label status.Nakamura, Ken (2010-03-07)Tsegay takes Lake Biwa crown IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-08 ...

and the

Beppu-Ōita Marathon The is an annual men's marathon race that takes place every February between the cities of Beppu and Ōita on the island of Kyushu in Japan. The race has IAAF Silver Label Road Race status and is a listed course of AIMS (Association of Interna ...

References

External links

*
The Mainichi in English
{{Authority control Daily newspapers published in Japan English-language newspapers published in Japan Mass media companies based in Tokyo Publications established in 1872 Centrist newspapers Centre-left newspapers Liberal media in Japan 1872 establishments in Japan Japanese-language newspapers