Wall Street Journal launches new Japan coverage in English and Japanese

Since the Hatoyama government was elected in September this year, the Wall Street Journal's coverage of Japan has expanded considerably. This has been most notable on their Asia news sections with a daily round of news stories being covered. Prior to this Japan had scant coverage and was overshadowed by China and India coverage. The change in political party has also seen new media opportunities with a new energy shown by the Hatoyama government to open press conferences to a wider audience. Japanese customers are avid newspaper readers and in the past have been very loyal to printed newspapers. But the recent economic downturn has seen newspaper subscriptions for hard copy newspapers shrink. As the Dankai no Sedai generation settle into retirement, newspaper readership online is seen as a potential growth area. Combine the dankai generations love of information with their love of electronic gadgets (the Internet), interest in foreign language and travel. Wow, a new market for news. A news company could build a new loyal base of readers with the right message and content.

The new WSJ Japan page in English has a nice layout, high definition graphics, easy to read headlines and a range of stories that easily get a readers attention. Could we expect a new online News Hub about events in Japan in English or Japanese?This would be fantastic. News Hub is a fast paced video format that would do well in Japan. Their is very little English video content of Japanese news stories by English commentators, so this could be a great opportunity to get new viewers and subscribers, particularly the expats who live in Japan or do business with Japan.

The new WSJ Japanese page in Japanese is here. Lots of visuals, short catchy headlines and a range of interesting content with clickable topic folders at the top of the page and USA news and current Japanese stories.

The new Japanese website in Japanese hits a unique market. It covers local Japanese news and it broadens coverage of international news which will be of great interest to Japanese readers who are hungry for online world content in Japanese. Expanded international news coverage in Japanese we believe will do well. The timing is right as Japan is just about to undertake another cultural shift.

We look forward to the expanded coverage and wish the WSJ Japan the best in their new venture.