OUR regular column from Bolton lass Danielle Hayes who lives in Japan. She was born in Bromley Cross and attended Turton High School. She now lives in the beautiful city of Kyoto. This week as we celebrate Local Newspaper Week, she looks at the media in Japan.

JAPAN is home to some of the most widely circulated newspapers in the world. In 2013, the top three newspapers in the world were Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, and Mainichi Simbun, all hailing from Japan. While there have been claims that the figures surrounding the distribution of these newspapers have been exaggerated, as businesses are often over supplied, there’s no disputing the fact that Japanese newspapers are hugely successful and popular.

Japanese newspapers have a long and interesting history. They began life as printed handbills created to celebrate major social events. The first traditional style newspaper that was printed in Japan was actually created by an Englishman called A.W. Hansard and began life on June 22nd 1861, along with a translation of a Dutch newspaper that was released the same year, these were the first papers in circulation in Japan. But, they were only targeted at foreigners and only contained foreign news. The first paper published in Japan, for the Japanese public was created 10 years later!

For many years now, there have been debates about the impartiality of Japanese newspapers. During the period between 1910-1920, the Japanese government tried to suppress newspapers that were critical of their policies and supported citizens rights; in the 1930-1940’s during war times, there was much more government censorship; then after Japan’s defeat, American occupiers controlled the press more heavily than ever in order to influence the publics views of them. Eventually, in 1951, the freedom of the papers was handed back to the Japanese government, where they would be free to publish anything they wanted now. Despite this, even today there are many claims that Prime Minister Abe’s government is putting pressure on reporters and paper companies to publish stories that agree with government decisions, and not to allow stories that darken the governments reputation.

Nowadays in Japan, there is a very large variety of newspapers to chose from, the most popular English-language paper is The Japan Times and is readily available across the country. It’s also one of the more trusted newspapers for impartiality. Because it is advertised for foreigners, the stories have to reflect this, and if they were all about how great the Japanese government was — it wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular. Sadly, it’s not sold at the convenience store near my apartment, so I’ve never been an avid reader. What I do read regularly though is a local magazine called Kansai Scene. It’s written by foreigners living in Japan and contains a great list of events in and around my city, so is great for planning my adventures! It also has a number of interesting stories printed about life as a foreigner in Japan, traditional Japanese crafts, and local festivals. This magazine is only published monthly, so the rest of the time, I get my news from the Japan Times website instead. Hopefully, in the years to come, the newspaper industry will gain real freedom of speech, and the government will loosen its grip and allow for critique as well as praise within the media.

n Read Danielle blogs at kinkigeek.wordpress.com?