Digitized Archive 1879-1999Keyword SearchHow to use

About Contents

Summary

In the Asahi Shimbun Reduced-size Facsimile Edition, it is possible to search on articles from 4 eras: [Meiji/Taisho], [Showa (Pre-World War II)], [Showa Post-World War II], [Heisei].
This is a searchable database that covers editions over a period of 120 years from the inaugural issue of January, year 12 of the Meiji Era (1879) to year 11 of the Heisei Era (1999). In addition to date of issue and heading, it is possible to search on keywords such as personal name, place name and event name by category, which when viewed appear as an image of the actual news page (PDF) that can be re-sized as needed.

It is also possible to search on advertisements.
In addition, the Meiji/Taisho News Page Database was created to commemorate the 130 year anniversary of the Asahi Shimbun. [For more details, click here] (Japanese Only)

  • [Meiji/Taisho], [Showa (Pre-World War II)] are optional contents for users of Asahi Shimbun Cross-Search.

Regarding compilation of news pages

For the Osaka and Tokyo,Seibu,Nagoya,Hokkaido editions, supplements and special editions are also compiled.
The Asahi Shimbun Company is digitizing previously published news pages (on microfilm) by scanning and converting them into PDF documents. As a rule, we use the final edition. However, in some cases the early edition may have been used.

  • Please be aware that some news pages may have smudges or slight damage due to their original condition.

Regarding the Osaka issue

In regards to the Osaka edition, it is possible to do keyword searches on articles and advertisements from the inaugural issue of January 25, year 12 of the Meiji era (1879) until July 10, year 21 of Meiji (1888), as well as from more than 2000 important articles selected from the Meiji and Taisho era.

Regarding 夕刊朝日新聞(the Asahi Shimbun Evening Edition)

夕刊朝日新聞(The Asahi Shimbun Evening Edition) from January 1 of year 24 of the Showa Era (1949) to October 1 of year 26 of the Showa Era (1951) is also included.

Regarding Extra editions

All 110 years of extra edition news pages from the inaugural issue of year 12 of the Meiji Era (1879) until year 11 of the Heisei Era (1999) are viewable.
It is possible to search on date of issue and period of issue for all compiled extra editions. Moreover, 4500 major news articles are searchable by keywords under heading, event name and personal name.
[For more details, click here (PDF)] (Japanese Only)

Regarding news pages of the time

Depending on the time period, the size of the news pages and number of pages included may vary. Regarding Meiji/Taisho Eras, please see the [Creation of the News Pages/Variations in Columns, etc.] (Japanese Only)

For the Tokyo headquarters edition from January 1, year 38 of the Meiji Era (1905) to the end of August, year 15 of the Showa Era (1940), page 1 of the morning edition is full page advertisements, with the articles starting from page 2.

In addition, the Osaka evening edition is issued from October 10, year 4 of the Showa Era (1915) (issued from the 10th, with a printed date of the 11th) and the Tokyo edition from February 1, year 10 of the Taisho Era (1921) (issued from the 1st with a printed date of the 2nd).
Until October 10, year 18 of the Showa Era (1943), the evening edition was delivered on the previous evening of the printed date.
Therefore the correct order for the morning and evening edition was 1) Evening edition 2) Morning edition.
Due to this system, on the day when special editions were issued after the evening edition,

16th Evening edition (Delivered on the 15th PM)
 ↓ 
15th Special edition (Delivered evening of the 15th)
 ↓ 
16th Supplemental edition (Delivered morning of the 16th)

Certain date orders may appear wrong, but this is not an error.
Please be aware that certain aspects of newspapers of that time are different from modern publications.

Regarding compiled material

<Meiji/Taisho>

【Note】optional
Articles made up of rice market prices or stock prices have headings such as 相場[market],市況 [market conditions] or 物価 [prices].

In addition, in the case when the entire newspaper is composed of market conditions, they can be viewed by their headings, 朝刊市況欄[Asahi Morning Market Conditions] or 夕刊市況欄[Asahi Evening Market Conditions].
Shipping information advertisements which ran almost every day, such as Nippon Yusen, Tetsudoin Shipping and Okita Steamer have the headings 船の出帆案内[Shipping Information] appended to them.

As a rule, bibliographic information for small selections of information located near the back of the last page 売捌所[Sole Agency] 本社新聞定価[Newspaper Price] 昨日寒暖計[Yesterday's Temperature], etc., is not compiled and is therefore unsearchable. (It is however possible to view the news page images.)

<Showa Era (Pre-World War II>

【Note】optional
At the top of each page for Home, Reader's Page, Kid's Page and Tokyo Edition will display 家庭/"Home", 読書ページ/"Reader's Page", コドモページ/"Kid's Page" and 東京版/"Tokyo Edition" at the top of each article. For example, a search on 家庭/"Home/" will enable you to browse the Home page.

The Market Conditions page on the 4th page of the evening edition (8th page for the rare times when extra pages were added) have headings 夕刊市況欄[Evening Edition Market Conditions] appended and are viewable.
The majority of regular columns are listed below. These titles appear before a slash, such as [鉄箒/カバン持ち].

  • 学界余談、学界余滴 Academic-themed column
  • 紙ナイフ Book review column
  • サイエンス Science-related column
  • 女性週評 Women-related column
  • 大衆医学 Medicine-related column
  • 大衆科学 Science-related column
  • 鉄箒 Reader Opinion Column. In the current addition called 声 [Voice]
  • 豆戦艦 Magazine review column
  • 透視板 Economics column
  • 体力塔 Sports column
  • 婦人室 Female exercise-related column

As a rule, no bibliographic data is created for the articles below and are therefore unsearchable. (It is however possible to view the news page image.)

  • [東人西人] [青鉛筆] [緩急栓] and other column which do not appear every day.
  • Serialized novels and stories that are the center installment of a series that appears more than 11 times with the same title (The first and last installments are searchable.)
  • Weather forecasts and snow accumulation information
  • Radio program listings
  • Stock tables, market trends
  • Advertisements that have only a few lines

<Showa Era(Post-World War II)><Heisei Era>

The published "The Asahi Shimbun Reduced-size Facsimile Edition" leading article index has been transformed into a database and additionally required keywords are allowed in searches.
Bibliographic data for daily listed weather and stocks are not created. In addition, bibliographic data for serialized novels published daily is only created for the first and last parts published each month.
Occasionally "_" (the underscore) appears in headings, but this indicates the smallest classification for the index of the pocket edition.
(Example)
第七回朝日音楽会_社告
The 7th Asahi Concert_company announcement

Regarding historical keyword

For "Battle of Tsushima" "Meiji Emperor" "World Depression" and other historical events or persons, even if these phrases do not appear in the original text, related article matching is included in "Historical keyword", so that clicking on related words in the text returns related articles. When historical keywords are recorded in the database, they are registered on a chronological chart, along with the 50-character Japanese syllabary, area and person name are extracted.

Searches incorporating synonyms are also possible

Synonyms include terms that have the same meaning yet are written differently, 米国 (beikoku) and アメリカ (America), 百貨店 (hyakaten) and デパート(department store), 五輪 (gorin) and オリンピック (Olympics). For example: a search on 五輪 "gorin" returns results containing both五輪 "gorin" or オリンピック "Olympics". In addition, abbreviations for terms appearing in newspaper articles such as "Japan Fair Trade Commission" and "JFTC" are also taken into account.

For inquiries and questions

The Asahi Shimbun Database Support