Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The Mainichi Shimbun marked its 150th anniversary on Feb. 21, after recording history through Japan’s Meiji, Taisho, Showa and Heisei eras and the current Reiwa era.

Recalling its own history, the newspaper printed its first edition in Tokyo as the Tokyo Nichi-Nichi Shimbun in 1872, the fifth year of the Meiji era, making it the newspaper with the longest history as an existing daily in Japan. 

The first edition of the Tokyo Nichi-Nichi Shimbun, was printed during a period of great change after the Tokugawa shogunate relinquished its hold on power to allow the emperor to once again reign supreme. The newspaper was printed on one tabloid-sized page, and around 1,000 copies were made. Four years later, in 1876, another paper from which the Mainichi Shimbun draws its roots, the Osaka Nippo, was founded. The companies merged in 1911 to begin their first steps together as a national newspaper.

Following rapid modernization, in 1943, as war overtook Japan, the mastheads of the Tokyo and Osaka companies were brought together as the “Mainichi Shimbun.”

The English daily edition of the Mainichi Shimbun, The Mainichi, will celebrate its 100th anniversary on April 12. In 2015, the paper saw the addition of its “Digital Mainichi” electronic newspaper service.