From fast paced offices to the smell of ink and paper, The Kyoto Shimbun has been distributing news related to the region, mainly in Kyoto and Shiga prefectures in Japan, for over 140 years.
When it was initially established in 1879, it was called the Kyoto Shoji Hayabure, and then it was named Hinote Shimbun. Sixty-four years later, it was renamed the Kyoto Shimbun, and it’s been the same ever since. The Kyoto Shimbun publishes a total of 400,000 newspapers every day: 310,000 for the morning edition and 90,000 for the evening version.
After an early morning of traveling, SJMC Japan students arrived in Kyoto and met our guide, Midori Dei-san, who with the help of Michio-san gave us a tour of the printing facility as well as give us more explanation of how the process of printing newspapers works.
She explained to us the history of the newspaper and the its coverage of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that gave students a deep dive on how a newspaper is created as well as highlighting the newspaper’s dedication to accuracy and speed.
In 2011, newspapers across Japan, including The Kyoto Shimbun, faced severe operational issues. The sudden failure of power grids, internet outages, and destroyed printing presses in the disaster zones catalyzed a shift toward more digitized, real-time crisis reporting and rigorous fact-checking. As the public lost access to physical delivery networks, the tragic natural disaster marked the exact turning point where newspaper companies fully embraced online news, mobile platforms and official social media accounts to broadcast vital emergency updates.
Despite the rise of the internet and social media, students watched a quick video on what it’s like to send a newspaper out into the world, SJMC Japan students are shown a bit more insight on the very detail-oriented and efficient process that is the world of print media.
Before the tour, Dei-san gave everyone a demonstration of how color works when it comes to print media. Only using cyan, magenta, yellow and black, also known as the CMYK method, she showed us how with only those colors layered on top of each other, they can make fully colored images in newspapers.
After the demonstration, the official tour began, where students were shown Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) which are self-guiding carts that shuttle around the rolls of paper in the factory until they are ultimately fed into the printer. Despite the amusing jingle that it plays to let workers know that they are coming to avoid collisions, they are capable of carrying rolls of paper that weigh 1.5 U.S tons.
After the amusing shenanigans of the AGVs, students were able to witness the amazing sight of the newspaper printers in action. The smell of paper and ink was prominent yet comforting as hundreds of newspapers for the evening issue were getting churned out by conveyor belts at impressive speeds and then later packed and readied for delivery.
While it seems somewhat of a simple process, it is easy to forget that copies need to be revised thoroughly to avoid any errors. The info that is printed is sent from headquarters in the center of Kyoto to the printing factory to be reviewed and later printed.
Eventually, when the tour came to a close, students were presented a gift from The Kyoto Shimbun: a special newspaper with SJMC Japan’s group photo that they took upon arrival on the front page, with the headline being a warm welcome to Kyoto. Closing the experience with a thoughtful gift and a new point of view.
The Kyoto Shimbun is a cultural business that has been documenting the history and evolution of Kyoto and the Shiga region for nearly 150 years. Its dedication to excellent journalism, technical innovation and public service makes it an essential component of Japanese media.
As it adapts to this new digital era, The Kyoto Shimbun is committed to its purpose of providing accurate news to its readers, both in print and digital format.
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