Current newspapers can offer a great way to see how events are unfolding and discussed in Japan. In this digital age, such resources are thankfully at our fingertips. The present blog shows how advanced readers of Japanese can access Japanese periodicals and newspapers like the Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞, literally “Daily News”) in full print view through an online database called PressReader!
The Mainichi Shimbun is one of the top five most widely read daily newspapers in Japan (along with the Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, and Nikkei Shimbun). In addition to carrying the daily news, PressReader also offers over ten years of full print views of the Mainichi Shimbun dating back to April 2011. (It also offers of other foreign language newspapers, as well as English language newspapers published overseas. For example, readers who prefer reading in English can also access the Japan News, a major English language newspaper published by the Yomiuri Shinbun, on this powerful digital archive.)
Accessing PressReader and the Mainichi Shinbun
To access the Mainichi Shinbun, we recommend starting from the OSU library catalog page for PressReader. From here, you will click on the blue “PressReader” link near the middle of the page. After entering your OSU credentials (name.# and password), you will next be brought to Pressreader’s home page.
If you would like to read the Mainichi Shimbun, you will now have to conduct a search for titles that are published in Japanese. To do this, scroll down past the “Featured” section to the header called “Publications.” Just right of this header, you will see the “All Languages” dropdown button, which you will click in order to find the “Japanese” language. After checking the appropriate box, make sure you click “Done” at the bottom right corner to see the results of this search. (If you click the “X” in the top right corner, you will cancel your selection.)
These steps should bring to you a page with thumbprint images of some of the Japanese Magazine and Newspaper titles available on PressReader.
As suggested in the screenshot above, you will see a thumbnail image for the Mainichi Shimbun under the “Newspapers” heading, and clicking on this thumbnail brings you to the newspaper’s top page.
Browsing the newspaper from here is relatively user friendly. You can either “Read Now” (by clicking the green button) or scroll down to view the latest issues, which appear further down the page. Alternatively, you can click the calendar icon to search by date for a specific back issue.
We hope you will enjoy using the PressReader to access news from Japan, Ohio, or anywhere else in the world. If you would like to know more about other Japanese language options on PressReader, stay tuned! In my next blog, I will cover other tools and options for browsing various periodical titles. If you have further questions about research and resources, please contact the OSU Japanese Studies Librarian, Dr. Ann Marie Davis (davis.5257@osu.edu).
