Pressure of Truth
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Outlet profile

The Japan Times

Japanese center-left to center, internationalist

Owned byPublished by The Japan Times, Ltd., a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, a Tokyo-based public relations and press-release distribution company. It bought the paper from the auto-parts maker Nifco in 2017.
FundingCommercial. Revenue comes from digital subscriptions, print sales, advertising and sponsored content, and some events and educational products. The paper is not state-funded. Its owner's PR business is a related commercial interest.
On the administrationmixed

Background

The Japan Times was founded in 1897 by Motosada Zumoto to give Japan an English-language voice for foreigners and overseas readers. During the 1930s and the war years it came under government influence and was merged with other English-language papers. After 1945 it was relaunched as an independent daily and became a standard English source on Japan. Nifco chairman Toshiaki Ogasawara gained control in the early 1980s, and Nifco bought the company outright in 1996. After Ogasawara died in 2016, Nifco sold the paper to News2u Holdings in 2017. Under the new owner it added digital subscriptions, restructured its newsroom and editorial board, and expanded its international partnerships. In 2021 it drew criticism over a change in how it described wartime history, including terms for forced labor and "comfort women", which it later explained and partly revised. Its editorial page is usually seen as center-left or liberal-internationalist, favoring the U.S.-Japan alliance, multilateral trade and civil liberties. Since 2025 its coverage of the second Trump administration has focused on tariffs, such as the cost to Japanese automakers, and on security commitments, with editorials often critical. The news pages mostly report on those effects and on Japan's government responses.

Sources

  1. Nifco to sell Japan Times to PR firm News2u Holdings - Japan Today
  2. The Japan Times sold to Tokyo-based PR company - Nikkei Asia
  3. A new owner for the Japan Times - FCCJ
  4. The Japan Times - Wikipedia
  5. One year on, Trump tariffs continue battering Japan automakers - The Japan Times
  6. Trump builds a new U.S. tariff wall in shakeup of winners and losers - The Japan Times

Profile compiled 2026-10-11; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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