Delve into the economy and discover changes in social mores. Trace the course of a historical incident and find it clouded by politics. Events of the late 19th century foreshadow those of the 21st, and regional stories draw us into the larger world. Everything is connected; facts intersect and reverberate. History is alive at Yomidas.
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Introducing Yomidas
Yomidas is a digital archive covering the entire history of newspaper publishing in Japan. The archive's sections reflect the strengths of the various features. The Meiji, Taisho & Showa Eras section contains high-quality scans of the articles as they appeared during these periods. The Heisei & Reiwa Eras section provides articles in a convenient text view, as well as a clipping view of the original article. Articles dated from January 2023 onward will be linked to the entire one-page image of the search results, in addition to a clipping view of the original articles. Japan News catalogs articles which appeared in our English publication. Contemporary Who's Who allows searching of individuals to retrieve their biological data as well as pertinent articles. And finally, regional articles and pages from the Showa era can be found in the optional Regional Sections (Showa Era) feature. Search Print Editionsection contains one-page images of the newspaper. Articles dated from January 2023 onward will be linked to these pages. You can see at a glance the size of an article on the entire page and grasp the impact it has had on society.
Yomidas stands out as Japan's premiere online newspaper archive for a variety of reasons. Our editors have spent countless hours cataloguing articles, writing headlines for articles which originally had none, and tagging articles with keywords for easy retrieval of pertinent stories. In cases where language usage has changed, we've tagged articles with the modern readings and characters in addition to the original usages, all to assist you in finding the articles you want.
The Meiji, Taisho & Showa Eras
Every page from 1874 to 1989
Search for Meiji-era articles using modern readings and characters, and read them as they were printed
Many articles printed during the Meiji era had no headlines. Our editors have added headlines to these stories and tagged articles with keywords according to modern usage for easy retrieval. These features make it simple to search for articles from our pages in the Meiji, Taisho & Showa eras. Just enter the word or words you are looking for, optionally choose to narrow down the search by date range or other detail, and hit the search button!
Thumbtacks pinpoint your articles
Newspapers from the Meiji era through until the end of World War II often had pages filled with articles printed in small characters and lacking headlines. In order to help you find the article you’ve searched for out of all those appearing in the display of a full newspaper page, a handy red thumbtack marks the spot.
Zoom in, print a full page or just the part you want
When you find an article, it will appear as part of a full newspaper page. You can zoom in on the area you’re interested in by clicking a button or using the scroll wheel of your mouse. You can print the whole page or an enlarged view of just the area you’ve selected.
Regional Sections (Showa Era)
Regional Sections after 1933
2.76 million pages from regional sections are included
The Yomiuri Shimbun’s regional sections contain a wealth of information of interest to residents and visitors, from incidents and accidents to local government budgets and elections, festivals, popular spots to visit and profiles of people active in the community. Yomidas Rekishikan contains 2.76 million pages of these regional sections dating back to 1933, converted from microfilm archives of the original newspapers. This top-notch resource for learning about how Japan’s towns and cities have developed will be useful for those researching these areas.
The Heisei & Reiwa Eras
Articles from 1986 to present
New stories are added every day — 300,000 are added each year
About 300,000 articles are added to Yomidas Rekishikan each year. You can read stories from our regional sections throughout Japan (except Okinawa). Articles are displayed in a full-text format. Articles from December 2008 onward link to a clipping view of the story as it originally appeared in the print edition. Full-text and keyword searches help you find exactly what you want. If you're unsure of the precise kanji character, you can make your entry in hiragana and katakana instead. (Just choose "Keyword Search" instead of "Full-Text Search".)
The Japan News
English-language daily since 1989
Links to original Japanese articles
The Japan News is The Yomiuri Shimbun’s English-language daily. Many stories in this section link to their Japanese originals in the Heisei & Reiwa Eras section, a feature that can help students of the Japanese language. English-Japanese and Japanese-English lexicons make it a breeze to look up the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Contemporary Who’s Who
Profiles of 23,000 noteworthy people
Jump from stories to the people in them, and from the people back to stories about them
We have compiled biographical data on noteworthy people who have been in the news in Japan or overseas in recent times. With one click on an individual’s biographical information screen, you can search for articles pertaining to them. These related articles are linked, so you can gain insights into someone’s character from multiple perspectives. Highlight a name in an article from the Heisei & Reiwa Eras section and click the search button, and you will be instantly taken to their profile in our Contemporary Who’s Who feature. From the biographical data, you can jump to articles about the person by clicking the links to search in either the Meiji, Taisho & Showa Eras or the Heisei & Reiwa Eras.