Date:July 31, 1872
Source: Work is Public Domain, image is from Library of Congress
On the last day in July, 1872, the delegates visited the office of the New York Tribune. Newspapers were massively popular with Americans, and Kunitake Kume remarked that in other countries he had never seen papers be so habitual. By Kume’s calculations, at least half of all American citizens read one or more newspaper editions regularly. The daily editions were a powerful force for dispensing cultural news, educating the populace, and encouraging moral behavior. They seemed to reach every corner of the country. After the delegation returned to Japan, newspapers took on a similar fashion, becoming increasingly influential in the sphere of politics and culture. In the 1880s, three of Japan’s longest-running newspapers were born, including the Tokyo nichinichi shinbun (predecessor of the Mainichi Shinbun) in 1872, the Yomiuri shinbun in 1874, and the Asahi Shinbun in 1879.
Date:1861
Source: Work is Public Domain, image is from Library of Congress