The Sankei Shimbun (産経新聞), name short for lit. "Industrial and Economic News" (産業経済新聞), is a daily national newspaper in Japan published by the Sankei Shimbun Co., Ltd, ranking amongst the top 5 most circulated newspapers in Japan. Together with its English-language paper Japan Forward, the Sankei Shimbun has been described as having a conservative, nationalist, far-right political stance. It has previously published materials downplaying or denying Japanese war crimes.

Corporate profile

The Sankei Shimbun is part of the Fujisankei Communications Group and is 40% owned by Fuji Media Holdings. The company is also the owner of Osaka Broadcasting Corporation (OBC, Radio Osaka).

History

The Sankei Shimbun was created by the merger of two older newspapers: Jiji News and Nihon Kogyō Shimbun. Jiji News was founded in 1882 by author, translator, and journalist Fukuzawa Yukichi, who also founded Keio University. Nihon Kogyō Shimbun, founded in 1933 by Hisakichi Maeda, specialized in business and was published by the Minami-Osaka Shimbun (the South Osaka Evening newspaper). In 1941, the Osaka Shimbun (renamed from Minami-Osaka Shimbun) merged with Osaka Jiji Shimpō (Jiji-Shimpō Osaka edition). The following year, Nihon Kogyō Shimbun merged with other business newspapers in Western Japan, and changed its name to the Sangyō Keizai Shimbun (or the Sankei). In 1955, the Sankei merged with Jiji Shimpō. In 1959, the Sankei and Jiji Shimpō were placed under the Sankei Shimbun masthead. In 1958, the Sankei was acquired by Shigeo Mizuno and Nobutaka Shikanai. After financial difficulties, it changed direction from being liberal to being conservative (Tenkō). Both Mizuno and Shikanai would go on to found Fuji Television a year later. The Sankei Shimbun started two online newspapers in 1996: Sankei Web, in website style, and E-NEWS, in personal digital assistant style. In 2001, the Sankei Shimbun started a new electronic newspaper delivery edition, NEWSVUE. In 2002, the Sankei Shimbun merged with Osaka Shimbun. Both editions were placed under the Sankei Shimbun masthead. In 2005, the Sankei Shimbun added video to its digital edition, suitable for smartphone, and renamed it as Sankei NetView. In 2007, the Sankei Shimbun started a new online newspaper,, in collaboration with Microsoft. In 2014 the Sankei Shimbun rebranded its online news as Sankei News. In 2017, Sankei Shimbun launched the English language online website Japan Forward.

Ownership

Political stance

The Sankei Shimbun is a nationalist and conservative newspaper. Some book and media outlets have called the Sankei Shimbun a far-right newspaper; The Sankei Shimbun has previously published books denying the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.

Controversies

In August 2014, South Korea filed suit against the Sankei for insults against president Park Geun-hye, published in one of the newspaper's articles, and demanded Tatsuya Kato, head of the Seoul Bureau, present himself for questioning. The article in question covered several rumors about Park during the Sinking of the MV Sewol, referring to Korean news reports in the conservative newspaper Chosun Ilbo; however, only the Sankei was charged with defamation, considered an anti-Korean newspaper in Korea. The Japanese media assumed the suit was a warning to the Sankei. Kato, who was eventually acquitted of defamation charges in December 2015, was under prosecution without detention for a year and two months. The South Korean court said press freedoms were taken into consideration in arriving at Kato's acquittal. In December 2014, the newspaper apologized after running an advert for antisemitic books conspiracy theorist Richard Koshimizu. On February 11, 2015, regular columnist Ayako Sono wrote an opinion piece opining that though she considered it necessary for Japan to accept more immigrants to bolster its decreasing workforce, it would also be necessary for Japan to take steps to ensure the separation of immigrants in regards to living conditions, citing South African apartheid as an example of how to achieve this goal. In July 2015, Sankei Shimbun published the history book History Wars: Japan - False Indictment of the Century, which questioned the veracity of claims of Japanese war crimes during World War II. In September 2015, several hundred academics and journalists were sent copies of History Wars and ''Getting Over it! Why Korea Needs to Stop Bashing Japan''. The book mailings were part of a project by right-wing groups such as the Nippon Kaigi to improve international perceptions of Japan. A covering letter from politician Inoguchi Kuniko read in part: "In East Asia, the regional history of the 20th century has been incorrectly distorted (sic) by some individuals due to their current domestic political ambitions, I believe it is important for you, as a highly esteemed member of the academic and policy circles (sic), to look into the books which I am enclosing with this letter."

Sankei Award, Sankei Prize

Philanthropy

Offices

Sankei Group affiliate companies

Notable corporate alumni