Evening star., 1906-02-17
THE NEWSPAPERS OF JAPAN.
Some Of the Difficulties of Setting Type
With 80, 600 Characters.

From the London Express
In the matter of circulation the news
papers of Japan cannot compare with those
of London. There are. however. quite a
number of daily journals published in To-
kio and Osaka which boast of daily issues
running well into six figures. The journal
with the best circulation in Japan is the
Osaka Mainichi. which sells to the extent
of 10000 copies a day The Asah pub
lished in the same town. has nearly as
large a circulation.
In Toxic the newspape" most widely read
is the Hochi Shinbun Ghe Bulletin News),
which sells 100000 copies daily. The Hochi
is the great opposition journal the organ
of Count Okuma, eX-premier. and 'he most
infiuentiel journal OF the elder statesmen.
Then there is the Jill Shimpo, the NichI
Nchi, the Kokumin and the Ashi of Toxic
all with crculations of between 10000 and
10000. The kokumin is the government
organ, and it will be remembered that when
peace was signed the angry inhabitants of
Toxic, enraged at It's attitude and acquies-
cence with the peace treaty, attac.ed the
offices and nearly caused a serious out
break
When l say that the Hochi is the oppo-
Sition organ, 1t must not be understood that
my paper showed any opposition to the
government during the w4lh Russia.
In point of fact, from the time when our
relations with Russia were broken off the
newspapers of Japan, without any excep-
ton. supported the government and the ma
ton.
The Jill Shimpo is owned and edited by
the son1n-law of Viscount Hayashi. the
Japanese minister in London while the
Nichi Nichi is now the property OF Mr..
Kato. formerly minister to England. and
its editor is Christian, Mr.. Yokoi, who is
a member of the japanese parliament
The daily newspapers OF Japan are much
cheaper than are those of London even
in these days of the ascendancy of the half
penny press. Most subscribers pay for their
favorite newspaper monthly, and their sub
Scriptions work out in some cases at frac-
ton Of a farthing a Gay. and in none at
more than a half-penny "A day. This not
withstanding that advertisement rates in
our papers are considerably lower than they
are here. For small advertisements the
highest rate / have heard of is 1 shilling
per line, while for large advertisements I
have never heard of more than sl25 a page
being paid for one insertion.
On occasions when we receive news of
very great Importance it is customary to
issue special editions, but these are not (as
they are here) complete copies Of the paper.
They are. on the contrary. merely leaf
let's containing nothing but the particular
item OF important news. These are sold
on the streets by newsboys at prices vary
ing from / to IL and cents.
The recent Introduction or the Serial story
into English papers has been q feature OF
the Japanese press for thirty years past.
1t will doubtless amuse English people to
know that the serial system is, In our press.
frequently applied to the publication of
leading articles and important political SUBJ
jects. For instance, we may publish
column OF a statesman's speech today
mark 1t ITO be continued" give 1t
other column tomorrow and keep this up
until II IS finished week later. Similarly
with leading articles the same practice Is
frequently adopted
Gated though 1t is IN England is much
more so In Japan. We cannot use the llno-
type machines for setting up articles. This
must be done by hand, and when / tell
you that in the japanese language there are
some $1,000 different characters, g. which
2S, ,oO0 are In common daily use. you Will
understand that the compOsitof has to be
a man of no small skill and ability.
The type room OF a Japanese newspaper
is a large compartment, with shelves AL
around the four walls, and in setting copy
the compositor has to run round and round
the room picking out from the thousands
of little receptacles the type he requires.
1t is at one and the same time both mental
and physical exercise or pretty strenu-
Gus description.
As an instance of the manner in which
Japanese newspaper Is conducted / may
state that the stan Of the Hochi consists