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Outlet profile

The Japan Times

Japanese centrist, pro-establishment tilt since 2017

Owned byNews2u Holdings, Inc., a Tokyo-based media and PR company whose CEO, Minako Kambara Suematsu, is also a senior executive of Tsuneishi Holdings, a ¥200 billion Japanese conglomerate in shipbuilding, logistics, and energy
FundingSubscriptions, advertising, and digital revenue; also operates under a content-sharing agreement with The New York Times for English-language readers in Japan
On the administrationmixed

Background

The Japan Times was founded on March 22, 1897, by Motosada Zumoto and Sueji Yamada, with the goal of giving Japanese readers access to English-language international news — making it Japan's oldest English-language daily. It underwent several name changes, including Nippon Times during World War II (1943–1956), before reverting to its current title. For decades starting in the early 1980s, it was controlled by Nifco, an automotive fasteners manufacturer under chairman Toshiaki Ogasawara; his daughter Yukiko Ogasawara became chairman in 2016. In June 2017, Nifco sold the paper to News2u Holdings, a public-relations firm with no prior journalism background, for an undisclosed sum. The new ownership drew immediate scrutiny: in November 2018 the paper changed its usage of 'comfort women' and 'forced labor' to formulations closer to the Japanese government's preferred framing, provoking an editorial staff petition and international condemnation. Academic researchers and press-freedom advocates have since characterized the paper as drifting toward a pro-government editorial line on Japan-specific sensitive issues, even as mainstream bias-monitoring organizations such as Media Bias/Fact Check continue to rate its factual reporting as high and its overall bias as minimal on international news. The paper has a publishing agreement with The New York Times and covers U.S.-Japan relations extensively, providing largely straight reporting on issues like Trump-era tariffs and alliance dynamics, framed from a Japanese national-interest perspective.

Sources

  1. The Japan Times – Wikipedia
  2. Japan Times – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
  3. Reinventing the Japan Times: How Japan's oldest English-language newspaper tacked right – Asia-Pacific Journal
  4. A new owner for the Japan Times – FCCJ
  5. Nifco to sell Japan Times to PR firm News2u Holdings – Japan Today
  6. The Japan Times joins the News2u Group – The Japan Times
  7. Japan stands its ground after Trump letter delivers 25% tariff shock – The Japan Times
  8. Japanese favorability toward U.S. falls below 30%, survey finds – The Japan Times

Profile compiled 2026-07-12; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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