Japan Press Weekly

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2017 January 25 - 31 TOP3 [JCP]

Japan Press Weekly reaches milestone of 3,000th issue

Japan Press Weekly, an English-language weekly which translates articles in Akahata as well as opinions and resolutions of the Japanese Communist Party, marked a milestone with its 3,000th issue published on January 27.

The weekly had been published in print form until several years ago. It is now issued in electronic form, and everyone in the world can read its articles on its official website (http://www.japan-press.co.jp/) for free. The JPW website is linked to the JCP English site.

Based on Akahata, the weekly introduces to a wide range of English-speaking readers a variety of actions being taken in Japan: movements of each class - workers, farmers, small business owners, women, youth and students; public campaigns calling for the total abolition of nuclear weapons, relief and assistance for A-bomb survivors, and the removal of U.S. bases from Japan; and opposition to the overseas dispatch of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. It also reports the JCP views on Japan’s political situation and how the party is working to create a progressive agenda which will positively affect Japanese society.

Japan Press Service Co., the publisher of Japan Press Weekly, was founded in 1957 by former Kyodo News workers who were dismissed in the 1950 anticommunist purge. In 2017, the company celebrates the 60th anniversary of its foundation. In 1956, a year before the company was founded, the first issue of the “Japan Press Weekly Bulletin” came out. It was renamed “Japan Press Weekly” in 1983.

During two decades from 1968, the JPS distributed an English translation of Akahata’s main articles to the world on a daily basis through a radio-teleprinter system. These articles included JCP documents which call for an international joint struggle to oppose the U.S. invasion of Vietnam and to support the Vietnamese quest for independence. These documents attracted attention from foreign readers, including those in Vietnam.

JPW now has readers both inside and outside Japan. Many diplomats and foreign citizens in Japan access the JPW website to obtain Japan-related information which is not covered by mainstream English-language media.

The 3,000th issue of the JPW contains various topics such as: the JCP 27th Congress; JCP Chair Shii Kazuo’s comment on the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump; JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira’s perspective on the Emperor’s abdication issue; the forced landing of a U.S. military helicopter in Okinawa; and public criticism over city employees’ jackets that blatantly insult welfare benefit recipients.