is a Japanese-English language newspaper based in

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles Little Tokyo (), also known as Little Tokyo Historic District, is an ethnically Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles and the heart of the largest Japanese-American population in North America. It is the largest and most populous of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and is the largest bilingual English-Japanese daily newspaper in the United States. As of February 2021, it is published online daily. In print publication is only on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Founding

The paper began in 1903 as a one-page, mimeographed Japanese-language newspaper produced by Rippo Iijima, Masaharu Yamaguchi, and Seijiro Shibuya. H. T. Komai became publisher in 1922, beginning a family dynasty. He was succeeded by son Akira and grandson Michael. The name of the newspaper essentially translates as "Los Angeles area newspaper" ("''ra''" abbreviated from "''rashogiri''" (羅省枝利), a historic Chinese name for Los Angeles, "''fu''" meaning "

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

", and "''shinpo''", a term for newspaper). See als
"Honoring the 100th Anniversary of the ''Rafu Shimpo''
a speech of U.S. Representative

Lucille Roybal-Allard Lucille Elsa Roybal-Allard (born June 12, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from California from 1993 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ...

in the ''

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Ind ...

'', October 10, 2003, p. 24437. Weekly English sections first appeared on Feb 21, 1926. The English section became a daily feature on January 11, 1932.

World War II and Japanese American incarceration

Togo Tanaka, the editor of the paper's English language section, appealed unsuccessfully to the United States government to allow the paper to continue printing in the event of war with Japan, and oversaw the paper's last edition before he was sent to the

Manzanar Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one ...

internment camp. The paper ceased publication in 1942 due to the incarceration of Japanese Americans at President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

's order. It was revived in 1946, due to Akira Komai's foresight and the loyalty of his employees. Komai had arranged for the paper's rent to be paid during the war and hid the Japanese type under the floorboards. As of 1992, circulation was 23,000. By 1997, “the laborious process of hand setting the several thousand syllabic characters and ideograms used in Japanese, which took up to three hours per page, adgiven way to a rapid computerized operation.”

Financial troubles

In March 2010, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' reported that ''The Rafu Shimpo'' was losing circulation and money, and was the target of community drives hoping to save the newspaper from going out of business. On March 25, 2016, publisher Michael Komai released an "

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

" stating that the paper had lost $750,000 over the prior three years, was projected to lose $350,000 in 2016, and would have to close at the end of that year unless its finances improved. In the hopes of generating 10,000 new subscribers and raising $500,000, Komai introduced an eNewspaper subscription drive in the same "

".Michael Komai
"The State of The Rafu Shimpo: An Open Letter from the Publisher"
''Rafu Shimpo'', March 25, 2016. ''Rafu Shimpo'' is still operating online as of December 2023.

References

External links

''Rafu Shimpo'' Official Site

''Rafu Shimp''o Official Site

''Rafu Shimpo''
from ''Densho Encyclopedia'', Eiichiro Azuma {{DEFAULTSORT:Rafu Shimpo, The Ethnic mass media in the United States Japanese-American mass media Japanese-American press Japanese-American culture in Los Angeles Japanese-language newspapers published in the United States Daily newspapers published in Greater Los Angeles Newspapers established in 1903 Non-English-language newspapers published in California 1903 establishments in California Bilingual newspapers Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

Founding

World War II and Japanese American incarceration

Financial troubles

See also

References

External links