The Japan Times 40,000th Issue

The Japan Times today celebrates its 40,000th issue since its foundation in 1897. We have invited opinion leaders and experts to talk about how Japan has evolved since we reached our 30,000th issue in 1982 — and discuss the way forward.

40,000th Issue Special

Japan adrift in a changing world

Yasuhiro Nakasone

Last year, Japan saw the first full-scale change of government since the end of World War II, with the Democratic Party of Japan ousting the long-running Liberal Democratic Party from power in a landslide victory in the House of Representatives election.

Message

Built to serve a growing community

President Yukiko Ogasawara
and Publisher Toshiaki Ogasawara

Dear readers,
Today, as we celebrate our 40,000th issue of The Japan Times, we would like to convey our deepest gratitude and reverence to all of you.

Foreign relations

Implications for trans-Pacific ties

Kent E. Calder

The U.S-Japan alliance, now celebrating its 50th anniversary in current form, has been remarkably enduring. It has persisted, largely without incident, since the 1960 Security Treaty crisis, for more than twice as long as the other major strategic configuration in Japan's modern history — the Anglo-Japanese Naval Treaty of 1902.

Economy

1985 to 2010: All seems just the same

Noriko Hama

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
This passage from "Nineteen Eighty-Four," George Orwell's pseudo-futuristic satire on the totalitarian state, is a sinister comment on power-hungry men’s attempt to rewrite history.

Society and culture

A new consensus needs to emerge

Roger Pulvers

In the summer of 1982, Nagisa Oshima made his film about the complex interrelationship of captor and captive in war, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence." A large cast from Japan, Britain, Australia and New Zealand assembled on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, to re-enact the arbitrary brutalities and unforeseeable intimacies of the prisoner-of-war camp.

Publishing industry

Japan's publishing industry at a crossroads

Hiroshi Kagawa

Since Internet use spread worldwide, newspapers and the publishing industry at large have been facing many challenges. In fact, just like The Japan Times, many Japanese newspaper companies are also involved in publishing books and other media content, the key heritages of print media that humans invented.

Readers' voice

Readers share Japan Times stories

The Japan Times has invited its readers to share their experiences related to reading our newspaper. The following are some of the essays contributed by longtime readers.

Good reading every morning since 1966

Essential source even during wartime

'Close to English' for over 50 years

Unique features keep the mind sharp

Golden photo opportunities

Lifelong merits of English newspapers

Spark of inspiration from a color image

From foreign teacher to businessman

English language education

Make English a true multicultural language

Nobuyuki Honna

On Aug. 15, 1808, the HMS Phaeton entered Japan's southwestern territory without permission and unconditionally demanded food, fuel and water. The British warship was allowed to stay for three days before leaving Nagasaki, mainly due to the Japanese official translators only knowing the Dutch language.

Media round table

Debating English-language media’s role in Japan today

Over the past three decades, the environment surrounding the media industry has dramatically changed due to new technologies. The Internet has spurred the emergence of blogs and social media, like Twitter and Facebook, enabling people to spread news and communicate with each other anywhere in the world through handy gadgets, such as PCs, smart phones and netbooks. In such a new age filled with advanced technologies, what are the challenges for the media industry? Will the role of English-language media, such as The Japan Times, change? To explore these questions, The Japan Times recently invited three experts on English media and held a round-table discussion.

Media round table

Technology’s influence on journalism

In the second part of the discussion, the experts discussed the challenges that conventional media companies, including English-language media, face with the emergence of advanced technologies and the growth of social media.

"When I think about the role of English media, I often think about the foundation of The Japan Times during the Meiji Era. That was the time when all the foreigners started coming to Japan. The Japan Times people thought that we needed to present a real Japan, the face of Japan, and bridge the gap between the two different perceptions. I think that role has not changed. There is still a gap. Even with the Internet and the latest technologies, we cannot overcome the gap."