The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-04-27
HOW the JAPANESE
NEWSPAPER is MADE
Some of the Difficulties of Set
ting Type With %, 900
Characters.
WALKING ~coMPoslToRs
The Production of an extra" Which
in This Country Requires But a
Few Minutes, lakes from
One to Two Hours.
From the London Express.

From the London Express.
in the matter OF circulation the news
papers OF Japan cannot compare with
these of London. There are, however,
quite a number of daily journals pub
lished in Toxic and Osaka which boast
of daily issues running. We'll into six
hSureS. The journal with the best cir.
culation in Japan Is The osaka Main.
ichi, which sells to The extent of go, 00(
copies a day. The Asahi, published in
the same Town, has nearly as large q
circulation.
In Toxic the newspaper most widely
read is the lIochi Shimbun (the Bulle.
tin News, Which sells 100000 copies
daily. The Hochi is the great opposi.
ton journal. the organ OF Count Oku.
ma, eN-preimer, and the most influen.
tial journal of the elder statesmen
Then there is the Jill s;hinpo, the Mich.
N!chl, the konumin and The Asahi OF
TOXIC. all with circulations OF between
$4,000 n $50, ZOO. The Kokumin is the
government organ, and il will be re.
melnbered when peace was signed the
angry inhabitants OF Toxic, enraged al
ltS attitude ana acQuiesceilce With the
peace treaty, attacked the offices anG
nearly caused a serious outbreak.
When i say that the Hochi is the op
position organ. it must no be under.
100 SA'S iHS PplpCi soiioMS GU 3iiS W
position to the government during the
VIZ with Russia. In point of fact. from
the time when our relations with Rus.
STA were broken off the newspapers in
Japan, without any exception, sup.
ported the government and the nation
The Jill Shimpo is owned and edited
by the Son-in-laW OF Niscount Hayashi
the Japanese minister in London, while
the Nichi Nichi is NOW h property OF
MI. kato, formerly minister to Lon
don. and its editor is Il Christian, MI.
1okoi who is II member of the Japa.
nese parliament.
h daily newspapers of Japan ar,
much cheaper THAI those of London
even in these days CT the asceadency
of the half-penny press. Most sub.
scribers pay for their favo-;te newspa
per monthly, and their subscriptions
work o in some cases at a fraction
under a farthing Il day, and in none
at more than a half-penny a day. This
Notwithstanding that advertisement,
rates in our papers are considerably
lower than they are here. For small
advertisements the highest rate | have
heard of is one shilling per line; while
for large advertisements ! have never
heard of more than S125 Il page being
paid for one insertion.
On occasions when we receive news
of very great Importance. it is GUS
tomary to issue special editions, hui
these are not (as they are here) COM
plete copies of the paper. They are, on
the contrary, merely leaflets, contain
ing nothing, but the particular item of
important news. These are sold on the
streets by newsboNs at prices varvine
from one to one and one-half cents.
II recent Introduction of the serial
story into English papers has been a
feature of The Japanese press for thir-
ty Years past. Ii will doubtless am,.se
English people to know that the serial
system Is, In our press, frequently APP
piled to the publication of leading ar.
tlcles and important political subjects,
For instance. we may publish a coll
m of a statesman's speech TODAY.
mark it ITO be continued" give it an
other column tomorrow, and keep this
up until 1t is finished a week later,
Similarly With leading articles the same
practice is frequently adopted.
The production OF a COM
pllcated though it is in England, is
much more so in Japan. We cannot
use the linotype machines for "seytinn
up" articles This must be done by
hand, and when l tell you that in the
japanese language there are some
700 are in common daily use, you will
understand that the compositor has to
be a man of no small skill ard ability.
Inc typeroom of a Japanese newspa-
per is a large compartment. with
shelves all around the four walls. and
in setting copy the compositor has
to run around and round the room
picking Out from the thousands of lit
Tie receptacles the type he requires. 1t
Is at one n the same time both men
tai and physical exercise of a pretty
strenuous description.
As an instance of the manner in
which a Japanese newspaper is con-
Quoted, may state that the staff of
the Hochi consists of siXty-three edi-
tors. sub-editors and reporters. The
staff is divided into some seven or
eight departments, viz, army, navy,
political, financial, economical, city, ar.
tistic and translating. Work begins
much earlier than it does on the Lon
don ape We cannot, as YOU do in
England. print news within a few min
utes of Its arrival in the Office. From
1he tlme OF an item of news being writ
ten 70 Its appearance in print we re-
quire one or two hours, while Won can
10 1t in a few minutes.