Most of Japan's top papers publish English-language editions, which are popular with expats and the many Japanese who are struggling to learn English. Though the English-language editions are popular, they aren't exactly major moneymakers: Yomiuri Shimbun has a daily circulation of 14 million, but sells just 48,000 copies of the English-language Daily Yomiuri. Asahi has a daily circulation of 12 million -- but sells just 41,000 copies of its English-language version. Japan's No. 3 newspaper, Mainichi Shimbun, recently decided that its English-language edition was more trouble than it was worth. It stopped printing the edition in 2001, deciding instead to publish the English-language Mainichi Daily News exclusively online.
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"We are one of the first to realize the importance of the Internet, but I'm not sure that we are using the Internet fully. We haven't understood deeply what the Internet can do." |
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"The decision was made to put resources into becoming the best online English-language newspaper in Japan," says Campbell Hanley, staff writer for Mainichi Daily News.The move has paid off: The Daily News' slick design and tabloid take on the news have made it Japan's most popular English-language daily, with about 3 million page views per day. The Daily News has about 10 full-time employees -- including reporters, translators and rewrite editors. It shares its advertising, sales and business resources with Mainichi Interactive, which has about 50 full-time staffers. One of the site's most popular features is a daily news digest called WaiWai, advertised as "saucy stories from Japan's Wild Weeklies." Recent WaiWai headlines include "Hooker housewives redefine a hard day's work" and "Grotesque gropers gang up to form online orgy teams." Staffers post about a dozen news stories a day -- often quirky crime, scandal and sex news -- along with feature stories, celebrity news, a daily photo slide show, movie reviews, a travel section and coverage of two sports: soccer and sumo wrestling. About 90 percent of Mainichi Daily News? content comes from Mainichi Interactive --the newspaper?s Japanese-language Web site -- but Mainichi Daily News staffers also write original content for the site. One story Hanley wrote -- about strange ice creams -- still gets hits a year after it was first posted. "Salmon, Squid, Wasabe," says Hanley. "I really enjoyed the yaki-imo aisu [sweet potato ice cream], but must admit that after trying the abominable unagi aisu [eel ice cream], I stopped my experimentation. Just the smell of some of them was enough to turn your stomach." Other popular features include: A section that publishes English-language haiku e-mailed to the site from around the globe. Often, the haiku is related to the news of the day. A recent post from Russia read: "Nations at war -- Is it long since we had Hiroshima? Whose turn is it now?" A weekly video from amateur rapper Weston Johnson called Hop Step Rap. Mainichi Daily News videotapes Johnson's rap stylings, then posts the rap with accompanying English text. "It's a great way to teach students English," Hanley says. Geino Gazette, a celebrity news section that tracks the happenings of Japan's pop divas and actors. Hot Property, a real estate section that features properties of the week, video footage, virtual tours, links to real estate companies and real estate news. The Mainichi newspaper is the flagship of a media empire that includes Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS), Megaport Broadcasting (an interactive television service) and Sports Nippon, Japan?s largest sports newspaper.
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"This is the first era in human history in which we can make contact with people on the other side of the world as if they're next door. This should change our way of thinking, but I don't know how. All I know is that we cannot go back." |
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In 1995, Mainichi was the first Japanese news organization to start a Web site, a move that sent its competitors scrambling to follow suit. Since then it has become a leader in experimenting with new media. It recently founded the Mainichi Incubation Center to foster development of new ideas and to form a bridge between industry and academia."Of newspaper companies in Japan, I think we are one of the first to realize the importance of the Internet," says Norihiro Tashima, managing editor of Mainichi Daily News and Mainichi Weekly. "But I'm not sure that we are using the Internet fully. We haven't understood deeply what the Internet can do." In April, Mainichi launched an experimental publication called The Digital Weekly, an English-language education tool that charges users $4.25 per month. The Digital Weekly lets readers "flip" through pages online, zoom in on articles and click a speaker icon to hear the articles read by a native English speaker. The site is rough, but is an interesting start for a traditional news organization looking for new ways to reach readers online. It's one of many experiments being conducted by an industry that is unsure of what exactly it should be doing online, but sure that it has to find a way to compete with and on the Internet. "I think the Internet can change some things -- not only physical things, like newspapers, but our way of thinking," says Tashima. "This is the first era in human history in which we can make contact with people on the other side of the world as if they're next door. This should change our way of thinking, but I don't know how. All I know is that we cannot go back. It's like TV, like cars. It's very difficult to live like the Amish."
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