| Newspaper Name: |
読売新聞 |
| Newspaper name in English: |
The Yomiuri News |
| Owner: |
Yomiuri Group |
| Country / Region: |
Japan (Tokyo) |
| Language: |
Japanese |
| Format type: |
Newspaper |
| Category: |
General |
| Political alignment: |
Conservative |
| Frequency: |
Daily |
| Publication Years (print version): |
1874 — now (149 years) |
| Circulation: |
9,000,000 (2015) |
| Official Pages: |
|
| Website: |
yomiuri.co.jp [read with translation] |
|
«読売新聞» or «Yomiuri Shimbun» is the leading Japanese national newspaper with a huge daily circulation exceeding 9 million copies. It is published twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, and is distributed in all major cities of Japan. It belongs to the large media corporation «Yomiuri Group». Today it is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in the world. The year of its creation is considered to be 1874, when the local newspaper company «Nisshusha» launched a small small-circulation cultural and social newspaper, for several decades it became more of a literary bulletin, works of local authors were published here, even such famous ones as Ozaki Koyo.
Already in the new century, after the change of leadership, the newspaper found its modern form, there was a news feed that included a detailed overview of all the events of the country, a sports page, a radio program and a poster. The publication mainly focused on residents of the capital and by 1941 it was the most widely circulated newspaper in Tokyo. In 1942, it merged with the «Hochi Shimbun» and was renamed «Yomiuri-Hochi». In 1945, it was at the center of a major scandal involving workers' rights, and the newspaper's editorial staff used strike tactics for the first time in response to the restrictions imposed in the country.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the editorial staff refocused on the TV sector, founding the Nippon TV company and several TV channels. The publication of the newspaper was no longer its main commercial product, but the newspaper continued to develop actively. In 1959, its regional offices were opened in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and 2 years later — in Kitakyushu, in 1975-in Nagoya. An entire company, «Yomiuri Shimbun» of the West, was founded to produce the newspaper in this region. By 1975, it had surpassed its main competitor, the then most widely circulated newspaper, the «
Asahi Shimbun» (朝日新聞), to become the leader in Japan.
The newspaper's political line is mostly conservative, but some critics consider it center-right. The newspaper is also known as the «promoter of the development of nuclear power in Japan», since the 1950s it has always advocated the development of this industry and published many informative and scientific articles on this topic. It also organizes various cultural and sporting events in Japan, for example, from June 29 to July 2, 1966, it presented concerts of the Beatles in Japan.
In 2009, the newspaper began cooperation with the American business newspaper «
The Wall Street Journal», borrowed from this publication (the Asian version) news in translation and adaptation are published in the evening edition. On the basis of this newspaper, a 24-page weekly magazine for schoolchildren and teenagers «The Yomiuri Chukosei Shimbun» (science, sports, technology, educational materials) is published, as well as «The Yomiuri KODOMO Shimbun» for students.
