Ch. 4: The war as a current affairs issue

Synopsis

This chapter takes the major war-related media issues during the postwar (as listed in general chronologies of Japanese history) and illustrates the diversity of stances concerning these issues in Japan's national press. The reporting of the textbook, Yasukuni, apology and repatriation issues (among others) in the Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi, Nikkei and Sankei newspapers is compared.

General Sources

For basic newspaper industry data, see The Japan Newspapers Publishers and Editors Association webpage and industry data on the website of the Yomiuri Shinbun. Also cited in the chapter is industry data from the Nikkei Shinbun. Links to many of the regional papers are at Daily Earth. Japan's newspapers in comparison to other international newspapers (2005 data) can be seen at the World Association of Newspapers website. There is also a newspaper museum in Yokohama called Newspark.

The three sites giving background information on the 'comfort women' issue referred to (in footnotes) in the chapter are:
Asian Women's Fund
The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan
Comfort Women.org

The main quality national newspapers are listed below. The comments refer specifically to war-related reporting in the period under study (to 2005) and not necessarily stances on other social and political issues (in addition to chapter four in Japan's Contested War Memories, see my paper in Japanese Studies for a detailed case study of these newspapers' reporting on the 'comfort women issue').

 

Japan's Newspapers

Circulations are given for 2005. Comments refer to the conclusions made in the book about the period under study (up to 2005). There may have been changes since then.
 

Newspaper Circulation Comments
Yomiuri Shinbun 10.08 million Conservative: close to the LDP government
Asahi Shinbun 8.22 million Progressive: campaigner for conscientious historical views. A large publisher of war-related articles.
Mainichi Shinbun 3.96 million Progressive(-leaning): but not so active in Asahi-style campaigns.
Nikkei Shinbun 3.02 million Business paper with low war history interest: slightly more progressive than the LDP government.
Sankei Shinbun 2.16 million Nationalistic: critical of the LDP government from the right wing.
The Japan Times 47,500 English-language paper directed at the expatriate community. Progressive in Japanese readership terms.
The Daily Yomiuri 40,000 Translated articles from the Yomiuri Shinbun are ofter conservative. Other articles frequently progressive.
Asahi/International Herald Tribune 41,100 (in 2001) Progressive in both translated articles from the Asahi and English-language articles.

 

Updates

I have done more work on the stances of the Japanese press in various subsequent papers including my chapter in John Breen's book Yasukuni, the War Dead and the Struggle for Japan's Past and the paper in Japan Space ('The Centenary of the Annexation of Korea in the Japanese Media') about the apology issued by Prime Minister Kan in 2010 on the centenary of the annexation of Korea. Sometimes the above positions shift slightly, depending on the exact topic under discussion. The most important shift happened in 2005 when the Yomiuri changed its stance on Prime Minister Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visits from support to opposition. See my chapter in John Breen's book.