The Japan Times Digital Archive

Since 1897, The Japan Times has reported daily in English on the people, places and goings-on in and beyond Japanese society. The Japan Times was launched on March 22, 1897 during the Meiji era. This was a time when Japanese society experienced political, social, and industrial revolution, from being an isolated feudal society to emerging as a great power on the world stage. Fundamental changes took place, to social structures, internal politics, economy, military, and foreign relations. The Japan Times has offered a unique point-of-view, different from other Japanese language newspapers, since its first issue. This is a rare resource of media during the Meiji and Taishō eras, available in English.

With the mottos, “All the News without Fear or Favor” and “The World’s Window on Japan”, The Japan Times newspaper is an independent publication, not associated with the mainline Japanese-language publications. As the only English-language Japanese newspaper archive of this depth, The Japan Times Digital Archive delivers over a century of news and history on world affairs from a Japanese perspective. Articles found in The Japan Times often included information that was not published in the Japanese-language press. Some articles influenced not only the Japanese government, but also foreign entities.