Japan Times to disappear behind a paywall

[wagyl]

The Japan Times, long troubled and with patchy content, is going behind a paywall. You will still be able to be outraged five times a month for free, or twenty times a month if you give them some contact details to harvest and sell on, but I can't help thinking this will be another nail in the coffin. Not that it really matters that much, many of the previous nails were stakes through the heart.

Editted out their muthafucking link tracking url element

[matsuki]

The Japan Times, long troubled and with patchy content, is going behind a paywall. You will still be able to be outraged five times a month for free, or twenty times a month if you give them some contact details to harvest and sell on, but I can't help thinking this will be another nail in the coffin. Not that it really matters that much, many of the previous nails were stakes through the heart.

Photographer guy I know that works there is way too confident that they (well, printed media in general) will survive decades longer because all the old people here "can't use the internet to get their news." With all the cheap and insanely easy to use tablet options coming out recently, I don't agree.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

It will take enormous effort to get the company out of the quagmire it's caught in. I kinda hope it makes it, but most of me hopes it goes under for turning itself into a soapbox for fuckwits like Deadbeato.

[havill]

Photographer guy I know that works there is way too confident that they (well, printed media in general) will survive decades longer because all the old people here "can't use the internet to get their news." With all the cheap and insanely easy to use tablet options coming out recently, I don't agree.

The problem with that reasoning is that the same people who "can't use the internet to get their news" also "can't use English to get their news."

His statement applies to the printed version of the Yomiuri and Asahi. Not Japan Times.

[matsuki]

LOL, you're right, I got the newspaper names mixed up.

[omae mona]

I agree with havill. By the way, that reminds me. Since JT started making the likes of Debito their mainstay and their mantra became "publish twice as many half-truths, and voila, you have the whole truth", I have tried to move to Japanese language online news sources for my local news. Problem is I have trouble finding more than limited online contents outside of paywalls. I'm just about ready to cave in... Anybody have recommendations on which newspapers have reasonable prices that include mobile access? Nikkei costs a fortune.

[havill]

It will take enormous effort to get the company out of the quagmire it's caught in. I kinda hope it makes it, but most of me hopes it goes under for turning itself into a soapbox for fuckwits like Deadbeato.

The Japan Times is like a professional sports team; most pro sports teams (at least in the U.S.), with a few elite exceptions, lose money. Their billionaire owners run it as a hobby and a prestige item.

The Japan Times is owned by Nifco <http://www.nifco.com/>, which is better know for making:

• Industrial plastic parts and components
• Bedding and furniture

... not newspapers. The Japan Times operating profit and revenues is embedded/hidden/merged into the catch-all column of "Other" on Nifco's financial reports with other niche businesses it owns. That "Other" section, while barely in the black most (but not all) quarters, comprised just 1.4% of Nifco's business as of 13Y3Q. Last quarter, the "Other" category (Japan Times & Co) ran a operating loss of ¥55M. But that was more than offset by the operating profit by their main businesses.

So, owning the Japan Times is a bit of a non-lucrative side hobby for Nifco. It doesn't make money, but it doesn't matter for the owners as long as its losses don't show up too big on the master balance sheet.

Most of Japan Times subscriptions are from places like foreigner oriented tourism oriented places: hotels, airlines, etc. The second largest market for the Japan Times is Japanese learning English. Most of its side businesses are English-learning related.

[Dreamy_Peach]

I find the Japan Times infinitely more readable than the Japan Today website.

Some of the articles are pretty interesting and well put together. For instance, in today's paper there is something about the reopening of a "beach" (for want of a better word) in Tokyo and the difficulties the NPO endured trying to get it open. It's worthwhile journalism.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/0 ... gR4jRbOa04

Sure, Debito is an embarrassment, and they do themselves no favours by including that kind of pseudo-intellectual foray into exaggerated tales of gaijin victimhood, but overall I like it.

Now, whether I like it so much as to want to pay for it is another question. Generally, I don't mind paying for things so I already pay for the FT and Nikkei, and have started thinking of getting the Telegraph in the UK as they sometimes have some interesting stories. With the JT, I'm just not sure if they have enough there. It's pretty content thin overall.

Unfortunately I guess the Japan Today website, where each comment seems to be ghost written by Debito himself, is now where most people will (or already do) go to get their JP news.

[Russell]

Finally a comment that is not all-negative about the Japan Times.

Yes, I agree that it is enjoyable. I even sometimes buy it at the newsstand when I am on a business trip. I always choose them, because I read their web site frequently. Well, if they close their web site for free access, I do not need to buy the paper version then anymore, I guess...

Debito: I do not always agree with him, but he has a useful function in this society. I think the strong point of the Japan Times is that they provide a variety of opinions, with which you can agree or not, but at least it is good to know that there are opinions like that. The whole concept of demanding that a newspaper should be 100% agreeable, is a typical American concept methinks.

[omae mona]

Peachy and Russell, after stepping back for a moment, I think you both have really good points. I just scanned today's JT pages, and there is actually some good and interesting reporting, as well as columns. A huge portion of it is just newswire stories, but there is a reasonable amount of local reporting too.

The problem for me is that as a non-subscriber I usually only get referred to the JT when somebody posts a link, and it's usually a link to something hideous. Even when I try to read other material, the garbage from the likes of Debito and Stuart Braun have left such a bad taste in my mouth that I can't stop thinking of it. It's similar to the sensation I get while reading the Wall Street Journal (to which I subscribe). The editorial content is so ridiculous that even though I only look at it for a laugh, I feel like I have to hold my nose while reading their news content. And it makes me a lot more suspicious of the accuracy and impartiality of the reporting. To Russell's point, you can't expect 100% agreeable content in a newspaper, and that's why I subscribe to the WSJ anyway.

But for some reason (a personal psychological problem, I'm sure), the Debito content has a much bigger effect on me than the crap editorial content of the WSJ. In other words, when I see the Japan Times now, even though I know it has lots of good content, all I can think of is DEBITO. I can't get his name out of my head while I am reading any JT article. I have JT's identity completely linked to Debito, for whatever reason. It takes all the enjoyment away.

[Coligny]

I find the Japan Times infinitely more readable than the Japan Today website.

Yeah... pretty much the understatement of the century...

JTimes is readable...
JToday is vomit inducing, and that's not even including the comments section who makes youtubes comments look like a Nasa brainstorming session...

[wagyl]

Good one. I had planned to review this thread a day after I started it, and was all prepared to say "well, another indication of how irrelevant the Japan Times has become (or is that 'always was' except for classified ads on certain days) is that there is nobody lamenting that they will no longer be able to read it."

Instead, we have some opinions here suggesting that there is something of value in the paper. I am in fact glad that this thread has drawn out that support. I agree with omae mona that the paper does seem to go a long way out of its way to look like it shouldn't be taken seriously. That said I had problems with all of the English language offerings, but as was noted above, we are not the market for JT or indeed for any other of the English language papers: they are aimed at the local who wants to internationalise themselves.

I am not sure that the support for the paper is enough to actually pay money to look at it online. That will be the big test for them.

As to online sources of news on Japan, it is a sad indictment of reporting nowadays but I actually come to a site called fuckedgaijin.com as an aggregator of news events in Japan, as a starting point. If it is important enough, it will generally be here, or else on a few judiciously chosen twitter accounts.

[sublight]

Right now it's 朝日新聞 for my Japan news, FG for the gaijin-interest news, and links to the Japan Times for the occasional PALATI.

[Coligny]

Ok, maybe the Jtimes is a bit unreadabul too... At times...

The latest gyaru-go: The top 10 words for gals on the go

Just 10 more reasons for me to ignore that pidgin...


http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/0 ... on-the-go/

[Taro Toporific]

The Japan Times, long troubled and with patchy content, is going ...

Japan Times to disappear...(selling off their only asset, their building)

Turning a new page
The Japan Times | 2018/09/08
The Japan Times is saying goodbye to Shibaura, the district in Minato Ward, Tokyo, that has been home to our company for the past 52 years. We are moving to a new office in the Kioicho district in Chiyoda Ward...
...When the 14-story building that we’re now vacating was completed in 1989, it towered over much of its immediate neighborhood. Now it is dwarfed by the high-rise condominiums and office buildings that have shot up one after another amid the area’s redevelopment...
...When the 14-story building that we’re now vacating was completed in 1989, it towered over much of its immediate neighborhood. Now it is dwarfed by the high-rise condominiums and office buildings that have shot up one after another amid the area’s redevelopment {the JT's real estate is worth much more than the newspaper itself}...
... our move closer to the heart of Tokyo will help us do a better job {<snark>}...
...More...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Sad to see the JT atrophying