Major national newspaper Asahi Shimbun Co. will jointly publish an English-language newspaper in Japan with the International Herald Tribune, the Japanese daily said Thursday.
The first edition of the new publication, to be called the IHT/Asahi, is scheduled to appear on April 2. It will replace the Asahi's current English daily, the Asahi Evening News, which will fold at the end of March, the daily said. The new newspaper will also replace the IHT currently being sold in Japan.
According to the plan, the first section of the joint paper will be edited by the IHT and the remainder provided by the Asahi Shimbun, with a focus on domestic news.
Founded in 1887, the Paris-based IHT is jointly published by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Online tieup with Nikkei
Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. (Nikkei) and the Asahi Shimbun have agreed to join forces in the online media business, the two newspaper companies said Thursday.
The agreement, the first of its kind among major Japanese newspapers, requires both companies to develop news services based on mobile phones and tailored to the needs of individual readers or customer groups, they said. Service will begin in spring.
Under the agreement, Asahi will provide news stories carried in its newspaper to the Nikkei Telecom 21 database service. The joint database service will begin operating Tuesday, the two firms said.
Both companies will also distribute news jointly via digital news boards on Japan Railway trains and on the street, the two said.
Nikkei and Asahi will also call on their group publishers to participate, with Nikkan Sports News -- an Asahi group company -- in providing Nikkei with sports and entertainment news.