Mainichi Shimbun

Image:First-Issue-Tokyo-Nichinichi-Shimbun-29-March-1872.png

The history of the Mainichi Shimbun began with the founding of two papers during the Meiji period. The Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun was founded first, in 1872. The Mainichi claims that it is the oldest existing Japanese daily newspaper{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}} with its 136-year history. The Osaka 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 office was moved from Yurakucho to Takebashi, and in 1992, the Osaka 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,{{cite web|url=http://www.mainichi.co.jp/corporate/relation/|script-title=ja:グループ会社・団体／友好会社 リンク一覧|trans-title=Group Companies and Organization / Related Companies Link List|language=ja|publisher=Mainichi Newspapers Group Holdings|access-date=April 25, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504055329/http://www.mainichi.co.jp/corporate/relation/|archive-date=May 4, 2016}} including Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) and the Sports Nippon Newspaper.{{cite web|url=http://www.sponichi.co.jp/company/corporate/history.html|script-title=ja:沿革|trans-title=History|publisher=Sports Nippon Newspapers|language=ja|access-date=April 25, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505110821/http://www.sponichi.co.jp/company/corporate/history.html|archive-date=May 5, 2016|df=mdy-all}} (despite affiliation, the Mainichi does not have majority ownership in TBS nor in MBS)

The Mainichi is the only Japanese newspaper company to have won a Pulitzer Prize, for the 1960 photograph "Tokyo Stabbing", which captured the 1960 assassination of Inejirō Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party. 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.

On 15 January 2004, Mainichi Shimbun and MSN Japan announced they were to merge their websites. The partnership has been known as {{Interlanguage link|MSN-Mainichi Interactive|ja|MSN毎日インタラクティブ}}, effective since 1 April 2004.Nihon Shinbun Kyokai, [http://www.pressnet.or.jp/newsb/0402b.html#Anchor-Mainich-18526 Mainichi announces its online news site merger with MSN] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217015827/http://www.pressnet.or.jp/newsb/0402b.html |date=2007-12-17 }} News Bulletin No. 28 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 bloggers". 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.[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/archive/news/2007/09/18/20070918p2a00m0na033000c.html Reliability and openness key features of new Mainichi site] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071004212446/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/archive/news/2007/09/18/20070918p2a00m0na033000c.html |date=2007-10-04 }} Mainichi Daily News, 2007-09-18. MSN-Japan switched to Sankei Shimbun.{{in lang|ja}} [http://www.sankei.co.jp/keizai/it/070918/itt070918000.htm {{lang|ja|産経Ｗｅｂは「ＭＳＮ産経ニュース」に変わります}}, Sankei Shinbun, 2007-09-18.]

{{Excerpt|Hundred man killing contest|Wartime accounts}}

The Mainichi Daily News column WaiWai, by Australian journalist Ryann Connell, 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.{{Cite web |date=2008-09-04 |title=Chronology of problems with English-language site - Mainichi Daily News |url=http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_04.html |access-date=2021-12-13 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904080053/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_04.html |archive-date=4 September 2008 |url-status=dead}} 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."

[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_05.html "Analysis of the investigative team"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904084118/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_05.html |date=2008-09-04 }} Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-07-20. Nevertheless, WaiWai content was reported as fact in blogs and reputable foreign media sources.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2443937/Japanese-newspaper-admits-infamous-sex-column-was-untrue.html "Japanese newspaper admits infamous sex column was untrue"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121064812/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2443937/Japanese-newspaper-admits-infamous-sex-column-was-untrue.html |date=2018-01-21 }} Telegraph.co.uk, The Daily Telegraph, 2008-7-22

In April and May 2008, an aggressive anti-WaiWai campaign appeared on internet forums including 2channel.{{in lang|ja}} [http://sankei.jp.msn.com/economy/it/080624/its0806242018000-n1.htm {{lang|ja|英語版サイトに「低俗」な日本紹介記事を掲載　毎日新聞がおわび}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627113051/http://sankei.jp.msn.com/economy/it/080624/its0806242018000-n1.htm |date=2008-06-27 }} SANSPO.COM, The Sankei Shinbun, 2008-06-24. Criticism included "contents are too vulgar" and "the stories could cause Japanese people to be misunderstood abroad."[http://www.japaninc.com/node/3442 "WaiWai is dead"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627105541/http://www.japaninc.com/node/3442 |date=2008-06-27 }} 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.{{in lang|ja}} [http://www.j-cast.com/2008/06/20022225.html {{lang|ja|毎日新聞英語版サイト　「変態ニュース」を世界発信}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623042936/http://www.j-cast.com/2008/06/20022225.html |date=2008-06-23 }} J-CAST, 2008-06-20. The Mainichi editorial board responded by deleting controversial WaiWai articles and limiting archive access, but the column remained in the Sunday Mainichi.[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_04.html "Chronology of problems with English-language site"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904080053/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_04.html |date=2008-09-04 }} Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-07-20. Citing continuing criticism,{{in lang|ja}} [http://www.47news.jp/CN/200806/CN2008062401000847.html {{lang|ja|毎日が英文サイト一部閉鎖 「低俗」と抗議３百件}}] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120721030108/http://www.47news.jp/CN/200806/CN2008062401000847.html |date=2012-07-21 }} 47NEWS, Kyodo News, 2008-06-24. 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."[http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4977 Mainichi will ’severely punish’ employees who contributed to WaiWai column] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628105919/http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4977 |date=2008-06-28 }} Japan Probe, 2008-06-24.{{in lang|ja}} [http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/2008/06/24/20041.html {{lang|ja|「低俗過ぎる」毎日新聞英語版のゴシップサイトが批判受け閉鎖}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808060836/http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/2008/06/24/20041.html |date=2008-08-08 }} INTERNET Watch, Impress Watch, 2008-06-24. On June 25, Mainichi apologized to MDN readers.[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0625.html "Apology to readers for WaiWai column"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828144543/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0625.html |date=2008-08-28 }} Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-06-25. Some advertisers responded to the campaign by pulling ads from Mainichi's Japanese site.{{in lang|ja}} [http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/NEWS/20080708/310423/ {{lang|ja|「毎日jp」が自社広告だらけに、ネット上に深いつめ跡残る}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103125136/http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/NEWS/20080708/310423/ |date=2016-11-03 }} Nikkei BP, 2008-07-08.[http://neojaponisme.com/2008/11/06/the-birth-of-blog-discourse-pt-1/ "The Birth of Blog Discourse"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081109054634/http://neojaponisme.com/2008/11/06/the-birth-of-blog-discourse-pt-1/ |date=2008-11-09 }} (translation of blog post in CNET Japan), Néojaponisme, November 6, 2008.

On June 28, 2008, Mainichi announced punitive measures.[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0628.html "Punitive measures over Mainichi Daily News WaiWai column announced"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904084448/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0628.html |date=2008-09-04 }} 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, [http://www.theage.com.au/world/japanese-set-the-blogs-on-sleazy-australian-writer-20080704-31w7.html?page=-1 "Japanese set the blogs on 'sleazy Australian' writer"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224005342/http://www.theage.com.au/world/japanese-set-the-blogs-on-sleazy-australian-writer-20080704-31w7.html?page=-1 |date=2009-02-24 }} 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 re-launch the MDN on September 1 as a more news-oriented site.

[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/ "Mainichi Daily News to start over again"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080903182854/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/ |date=2008-09-03 }} 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 Shimbun."

On April 30, 2024, an article was published by the The Mainichi detailing how an investigation found that numerous police departments in Japan had a high rate of incidents involving racial profiling against foreigners.{{cite news |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240427/p2a/00m/0na/019000c |title='We were told to target foreigners': Ex-officer on systematic racial profiling by Japan police |publisher=The Mainichi |date=April 30, 2024 |accessdate=April 4, 2025}} Since 2022, the number of people coming forward with police brutality complaints against Japan's National Police Agency had grown rapidly. One former officer inspector from a west Japan prefecture where local police were ordered by senior officers to target foreigners for questioning, ID checks and searches even claimed to the newspaper that "we were told to target foreigners." According to the former inspector, who used the pseudonym "Taro Yamada" when he spoke to The Mainichi, "Officers around me including my immediate superior often said things like, 'People with Black roots, Southeast Asians and so on study ways to kill people. So use your service revolver if you have to! You have no idea what they're going to do.'" Yamada also stated that officers in Japan "have to be careful patrolling" in an with many Korean residents "because there's no telling what they'll do."

Yamada further stated that whites were not nearly as frequently targeted by Japanese police officers like people with "darker skin" are, stating that "I think that when police think of a 'foreigner,' they're not picturing someone (of European descent), but a person with darker skin, with Black or Southeast Asian roots and so on. I thought that way. Officers assume (light-skinned people) are tourists or have a Japanese partner. But with people with dark skin, they tend to assume they're visa overstayers."

File:Palaceside Building (2018-05-04) 07.jpg

File:Newsroom at Mainichi newspaper.jpg

• {{nihongo|Tokyo Head Office|東京本社|Tōkyō Honsha}}, corporate headquarters

:1-1-1, Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda, Tokyo

• {{nihongo|Osaka Head Office|大阪本社|Ōsaka Honsha}}

:3-4-5, Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka

• {{nihongo|Chubu Head Office|中部本社|Chūbu Honsha}}

:Midland Square, 4-7-1, Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya

• {{nihongo|Seibu Head Office|西部本社|Seibu Honsha}}

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

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

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, and the non-professional baseball tournaments held every summer in the Tokyo Dome (formerly held in Korakuen Stadium) and the end of the fall in the Osaka Dome.

The company sponsors a number of prominent annual road running competitions in Japan, including the Lake Biwa Marathon and the Beppu-Ōita Marathon.

• Yoshiko Miya{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OhkOAQAAMAAJ&q=Yoshiko+Miya |title=Japan Echo |date=1983 |publisher=Japan Echo Incorporated |volume=10 |pages=57 |language=en}}

• {{annotated link|Mainichi Film Awards}} sponsored by Mainichi Shimbun
• {{annotated link|Mainichi Kaasan|Mainichi Kaasan}}
• Mass media in Japan

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Citation |last = Honda |first = Katsuichi |author-link = Katsuichi Honda |editor1-first = Frank |editor1-last = Gibney |editor1-link = Frank Gibney |title = The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_H0JEjAqMcsC&q=The%20Nanjing%20Massacre%3A%20A%20Japanese%20Journalist%20Confronts%20Japan%27s%20National%20Shame&pg=PA126 |access-date = 24 February 2010 |year = 1999 |orig-year = Main text from Nankin e no Michi (The Road to Nanjing), 1987. |publisher = M. E. Sharpe |isbn = 0-7656-0335-7 }}
• {{Citation |url = https://thenankingmassacre.org/2015/07/04/nanking-war-crimes-tribunal/ |title = The Nanking Massacre: Nanking War Crimes Tribunal |first = Masato |last = Kajimoto |date = July 2015 |publisher = Graduate School of Journalism of the University of Missouri-Columbia |at = 172 |access-date = 4 August 2016 |quote = However, as many historians point out today, the stories of hyped heroism, in which those soldiers courageously killed a number of enemies in hand-to-hand combat with swords, couldn't be taken at face value. ... The three researchers interviewed by author for this project, Daqing Yang, Ikuhiko Hata, and Akira Fujiwara said that the contest could have been mere mass murder of prisoners. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150713105631/http://thenanjingmassacre.org/2015/07/04/nanking-war-crimes-tribunal/ |archive-date = 13 July 2015 }}
• {{Citation |last = Wakabayashi |first = Bob Tadashi |title = The Nanking 100-Man Killing Contest Debate: War Guilt Amid Fabricated Illusions, 1971–75 |journal = Journal of Japanese Studies |volume = 26 |issue = 2 |pages = 307–340| publisher = The Society for Japanese Studies |date = Summer 2000 |issn = 0095-6848|doi = 10.2307/133271| jstor = 133271}}

• {{cite book | first = William | last = De Lange | title = A History of Japanese Journalism: State of Affairs and Affairs of State | publisher = Toyo Press | year=2023 | isbn = 978-94-92722-393 }}

• {{Wikiquote-inline}}
• {{Official website}}
• [http://mainichi.jp/english/ The Mainichi in English]

{{Japanese Newspapers}}

{{Portal bar|Tokyo|Journalism}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Daily newspapers published in Japan

Category:English-language newspapers published in Japan

Category:Mass media companies based in Tokyo

Category:Newspapers established in 1872

Category:Centrist newspapers

Category:Centre-left newspapers

Category:Liberal media in Japan

Category:1872 establishments in Japan

Category:Japanese-language newspapers