Mainichi Shimbun

The Mainichi Shimbun is known as Japan’s oldest surviving daily newspaper. Its predecessor, the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, was founded in Asakusa, Tokyo, on February 21, 1872 (Meiji 5). In 1911, the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun merged with the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun, establishing the foundation for a nationwide newspaper, and in 1943, the paper adopted its present name, the Mainichi Shimbun.

On February 1, 1946, the Mainichi Shimbun published a scoop on its front page under the headline “Draft Proposal by the Constitutional Problems Investigation Committee.” The draft it published was almost identical in content to “Miyazawa Draft A,” a relatively liberal proposal prepared within the Matsumoto Committee. The Mainichi Shimbun, however, characterized the draft as “conservative” and “maintaining the status quo.” Other newspapers also took a critical stance toward the government and the Matsumoto Committee, and the Mainichi Shimbun’s scoop is generally regarded as a turning point that prompted GHQ to abandon the Japanese government’s effort to draft a constitutional revision on its own and instead undertake the preparation of its own draft constitution.

In March 2000, the Mainichi Shimbun published an interview with Ryūzō Nishiyama, then a political reporter at the newspaper, who had obtained the draft for the scoop. The interview presented his firsthand account of the events and circumstances surrounding the publication of the article.