The
Asahi Shimbun (????, Asahi Shinbun?, IPA&_160;[asaçi ?imb??]) is the second most circulated out of the five national
newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 8.27 million for its morning edition and 3.85 million for its evening edition as of April 2004, was second behind that of
Yomiuri Shimbun.
The newspaper has alliances with the International Herald Tribune, which is owned by the New York Times. Together, they publish International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun as their English edition, which has replaced Asahi's previous Asahi Evening News. Asahi also has a partnership with the People's Daily, (Chinese ????; pinyin Rénmín Rìbào) which is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China.
In 1994, after conducting a survey, Le Monde considered Asahi Shimbun one of the eight best daily newspapers in the world, along with The New York Times (United States), Financial Times (United Kingdom), Izvestia (Russia), People's Daily (China), Al Ahram (Egypt), El Espectador (Colombia), and Times of India.[3]
One of Japan's oldest and largest national daily newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun began publication in Osaka on January 25, 1879 as a small-print, four-page illustrated paper that sold for one sen (a hundredth of a yen) a copy, and had a circulation of approximately 3,000 copies. The three founding officers of a staff of twenty were Noboru Kimura (owner), Ryohei Murayama (company president and publisher), and Tei Tsuda (managing editor). The company's first premises were at Minami-dori, Edobori in Osaka. On September 13 of the same year, Asahi printed its first editorial.
