When The Japan Times was launched 110 years ago today, its first editorial, titled "Our Raison d'Etre," said, "His Majesty's subjects and the foreign residents remain to this day virtually strangers to each other." This was partly because of the system of extraterritoriality the great powers imposed on Japan through unequal treaties in the 19th century.
The foreigners and Japanese referred to in the editorial were, of course, living in this country. But these days, newspapers reach people virtually anywhere in the world through the Internet -- and instantly at that.
Although the circumstances surrounding newspapers have completely changed, our first editorial contained a point that remains valid. It said, "The real Japan has still to be revealed." This concerns not only the question of what kind of information Japan's mass media must send out, but also the question of what kind of image today's Japanese should hold of themselves.
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