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Japan Media Stats

Japan's 49.8 million households bought nearly 47.5 million daily newspaper subscriptions in 2004
http://www.pressnet.or.jp/english/data_e/01circulation.htm

About 94 percent of newspapers in Japan in 2004 were sold by subscription. Less than 5.5 percent were a result of single-copy sales
http://www.pressnet.or.jp/english/data_e/01circulation.htm

Japanese spend 35 minutes a day on average reading the newspaper, mainly between 6 and 9 a.m.
http://www.videor.co.jp/eng/press/020403_1.html

Close to 30 percent of Japanese people read the last page of the newspaper first, while nearly 40 percent read the first page first
http://www.videor.co.jp/eng/press/020403_1.html

Japanese viewers watch the most television in the world at five hours a day.
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp

Some 50 percent of Japanese are Internet users
http://www.gihyo.co.jp/magazine/SD/pacific/SD_0406.html

Only 24 percent of Japanese deem the Internet a reliable and accurate source of information
http://www.gihyo.co.jp/magazine/SD/pacific/SD_0406.html

Internet users in Japan watch 5.4 hours less television per week than non-users
http://www.gihyo.co.jp/magazine/SD/pacific/SD_0406.html

Japanese newspaper advertising revenues dropped 1 percent in 2003, and 8.5 percent in the past five years
http://www.wan-press.org/article4473.html

The most popular Japanese news Web site is Yomiuri.co.jp, which receives more than 6.4 million unique visitors per day: 4 million accessing from home and 2.4 million accessing from the workplace (Japanese only)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/ad/uniqueusers.htm

In a 2003 survey report of 300 Japanese Internet users, half said they visit newspaper Web sites (Japanese only)
http://japan.internet.com/research/20030203/print1.html

The second largest in the world, the Japanese advertising market was valued at $37 billion in 2000
http://adtimes.nstp.com.my/archive/2001/aug12.htm

Books About Japan and Japanese Media

Memoirs of Tsuneo Watanabe, on the president of Yomiuri, Japan's biggest daily newspaper (Japanese only)

DoCoMo – Japan’s Wireless Tsunami: How One Mobile Telecom Created a New Market and Became a Global Force

Media and Politics in Japan, edited by Harvard Japanese politics professor Susan J. Pharr

Broadcasting Politics in Japan: NHK and Television News, by Ellis S. Krauss

Communications Policy in Transition: The Internet and Beyond, edited by Benjamin M. Compaine and Shane Greenstein. A collection of studies and research on telecommunications, wireless and Internet access worldwide.

Closing the Shop, by Laurie Anne Freeman. From Princeton University: “Freeman examines the subtle, highly interconnected relationship between journalists and news sources in Japan … she describes how Japanese press clubs act as “information cartels,” limiting competition among news organizations and rigidly structuring relations through strict rules and sanctions.”

Mass Communication in Japan, by Anne Cooper-Chen and Miiko Kodama

Women, Media, and Consumption in Japan, by editors Lise Skov and Brian Moeran

The Politics of Southeast Asia’s New Media by William Atkins. This text reports there has not been a relaxation of state control or an erosion of national borders as a result of the globalization of news and information. Instead, state control continues in new, more subtle forms.

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture by editor Sandra Buckley. Entries cover literature, film, architecture, food, health, politics, economics, religion and technology.

The Japan Foundation Library holds books, journals and microfilms/microfiches on Japan written in foreign languages. A great starting point when searching for books on Japan, media and technology.

Media Regulation in Japan

Proposed privacy laws: An update (January 2003) on new privacy bills that could limit press freedoms

Japanese broadcast law requires station owners to seek a government license every five years. The law states broadcasters:
1. "Shall not disturb public security and good morals and manners
2. Shall be politically impartial
3. Shall broadcast news without distorting facts"
Those found in violation of the law can lose their licenses.

Japan's radio law (pdf)

Japan's cable law (pdf)

Japan's copyright law

Reports

Newspaper circulation in Japan: Daily circulation rose 0.3 percent between October 2003 and October 2004; the first year-on-year circulation growth in five years.

Newspaper advertising expenditure rose 0.6 percent in 2004 to 1.056 trillion yen ($9.88 billion), the first year-on-year increase in four years, according to the Dentsu 2004 Advertising Expenditure Report (pdf).

The overall share of newspaper ad spending shrank by 0.5 percent in 2004, while Internet ad spending rose significantly by 53.5 percent to 181.4 billion yen ($1.7 billion). This was the first time Internet ad expenditures surpassed that of radio advertising.

In its twelfth straight year of decline, the number of people employed by newspapers and news agencies decreased 2.5 percent as of April 2004.

Newspaper revenue in Japan

Analysis of Japan's mass media

NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute publishes monthly and yearly research reports on broadcast-related topics.

A declaration from the 57th National Newspaper Conference states: “We in the newspaper industry renew our pledge to strengthen bonds with our readers and to live up to their trust through the principles of the [Canon] of Journalism.”

Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association Canon of Journalism

The Internet in Japan: Catalyst for Change?
This academic analysis offers an excellent guide to regulatory and business issues that shape e-commerce in Japan.

Report on DSL in Japan

Young People and Media Literacy

Telecommunications industry report (pdf)

Internet use report

This page was compiled initially by Mike Reilley of Journalist's Toolbox and by JMR staff.

Japan News Sources

English Language

Asahi.com
Asia Times: Japan
Big News Network.com
Economist: Japan
Einnews.com
Foreign Press Center Japan
GLOCOM
Ikjeld.com
The Japan Times Online
Japan Today
Kyodo News Online
Mainichi Daily News
NHK World Daily News
Nikkei Net Interactive
Nipponnews.net
Sankei Seiron
Washington Post: Asia/Pacific