Mass media in Japan

1. NHK Radio 1, NHK Radio 2
2. Japan Radio Network (JRN)—Flagship Station: TBS radio (TBSラジオ)
3. National Radio Network (NRN)—Flagship Stations: Nippon Cultural Broadcasting (文化放送) and Nippon Broadcasting System (ニッポン放送)
4. Radio Nikkei is an independent shortwave station broadcasts nationwide with two services.

1. NHK-FM
2. Japan FM Network (JFN)—Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co.,ltd.
3. Japan FM League—J-Wave Inc.
4. MegaNet—FM Interwave (InterFM)

• Lists of radio stations in Asia

1. Aera (アエラ) – Centre-left
2. Friday (フライデー) – photo magazine
3. Josei Jishin (女性自身) – for women
4. Nikkei Business (日経ビジネス) – economic
5. Shūkan Asahi (週刊朝日). Liberal.
6. Shūkan Economist (週刊エコノミスト). Economic
7. Shūkan Kinyoubi (週刊金曜日). Far-left.
8. Shūkan Bunshun (週刊文春). Conservative
9. Shūkan Diamond (週刊ダイヤモンド). Economic
10. Shūkan Gendai (週刊現代)　Liberal.
11. Shūkan Josei (週刊女性). For women
12. Shūkan Post (週刊ポスト). Conservative
13. Shūkan Shinchou (週刊新潮). Conservative
14. Shūkan Toyo Keizai (週刊東洋経済). Economic
15. Spa! (スパ!). Conservative
16. Sunday Mainichi (サンデー毎日).　Liberal

1. Bungei Shunjuu (文藝春秋). Conservative.
2. Chuuou Kouron (中央公論). Affiliated with the Yomiuri Shimbun. Conservative.
3. Seiron (正論). Published by the Sankei Shimbun Company. Conservative.
4. Sekai (世界). Progressive.

1. Yomiuri Shimbun (読売新聞). Conservative. First ranked in daily circulation at around 7 million per day. The Yomiuri exchanged a special contract with The Times. Affiliated with Nippon Television. Nikkatsu Film is a grandchild company.
2. Asahi Shimbun (朝日新聞). Liberal, Third way. Second ranked in daily circulation at around 5 million copies per day. Although Asahi does not support any political party politically, Asahi is former symbol of Japanese left-leaning discourse. They are pacifists and pursue Japanese war crimes. So, Asahi has suffered defamation and terrorism by Japanese radical nationalists and historical revisionists. that group companies include Toei (de facto), Asahi Broadcasting Company, TV Asahi, and Asahi Net.
3. Mainichi Shimbun (毎日新聞). Centre-left, Keynesian. Fifth ranked in daily circulation—around 2 million per day. Although the capital tie-up with Mainichi Broadcasting System / Tokyo Broadcasting System has been dissolved, it is still a friendship company that exchanges employees and cooperates with the press. In 2020, the circulation was overtaken by the Chunichi Shimbun alone (Tōkai version), which does not include the Tokyo Shimbun. Deep relationship with Kodansha and Shochiku Film.
4. Nikkei Shimbun (日本経済新聞). Conservative, Economic liberal with more centre-right. Fourth ranked in daily circulation at around 2 million copies per day. Economic paper in the style of The Wall Street Journal. Affiliated with TV Tokyo.

There is the Sankei Shimbun (産経新聞), which is a medium-sized newspaper published in Kansai and Kanto. They were nationwide newspaper until 2020, and considered major paper once.This newspaper publishes Sankei Sports and the tabloid Yukan Fuji. It belongs to the Fujisankei Communications Group, a media conglomerate. They are known as radical right newspaper. Their opinions and columns always blame Korea and China.

Chunichi Shimbun/Tokyo Shimbun (中日新聞/東京新聞). They are largest regional paper. Third ranked in daily circulation at around 2 million copies per day.In the Kanto region, it will be published under the title of the Tokyo Shimbun(東京新聞). Although it is not a nationwide newspaper, it is published in most of the Chubu and Kanto regions, and is a leading newspaper based in Nagoya. Center-left to left-wing, It is also the most liberal and progressive major news media in Japan.

Other nationally known regional papers include Nishinippon Shimbun (西日本新聞) in Kyushu, Hokkaido Shimbun (北海道新聞) in Hokkaido, Chugoku Shimbun (中国新聞) in Chugoku.

Among niche newspapers are publications like the widely circulated Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (The Business and Technology Daily News), the Buddhist organization Sōka Gakkai's daily Seikyo Shimbun (聖教新聞), and Shimbun Akahata, the daily organ of the Japanese Communist Party. Other niches include papers devoted entirely to predicting the results of horse races. One of the best-known papers in the genre is Keiba Book (競馬ブック). Shūkan Go (週刊碁) is a weekly newspaper that covers the results of professional Go tournaments and contains hints on Go strategy.

As in other countries, surveys tend to show that the number of newspaper subscribers is declining, a trend which is expected to continue.

Claims of media bias in Japanese newspapers and the mainstream media in general are often seen on blogs and right-leaning Internet forums, where the "mass media" (masu-komi in Japanese) are often referred to as "mass garbage" (masu-gomi). Signs with this epithet were carried by demonstrators in Tokyo on 24 October 2010, at what was reportedly the first demonstration in Japan to be organized on Twitter.[5] Among the general public, the credibility of the press suffered after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant crisis, when reporters failed to press government and industry sources for more information, and official reports turned out to be inaccurate or simply wrong.[6][7] Kazuo Hizumi, a journalist turned lawyer, details structural problems in his book, 「マスコミはなぜマスゴミと呼ばれるのか？」, "Masukomi wa naze masugomi to yobareru no ka?", ("Why is mass media called mass garbage?"), which argues that a complex network of institutions, such as elite bureaucrats, judiciary, education system, law enforcement, and large corporations, all of whom stand to gain from maintaining the status quo, shapes the mass media and communication in a way that controls Japanese politics and discourages critical thinking.[8]

In Japan, every broadcasting company (except NHK and Radio Nikkei) which performs terrestrial television broadcasts has an appointed broadcast region. In Article 2 of the Japanese Broadcasting Law (放送法), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications defines the fixed zone where the broadcast of the same program for every classification of broadcast is simultaneously receivable. So, the broadcasting company constructs a network with other regions, and with this network establishes the exchange of news or programs. The broadcasting companies which send out many programs to these networks are called key stations.

Presently the broadcasting stations located in Tokyo send out the programs for the whole country. However, although Tokyo MX is in the Tokyo region, it is only a Tokyo region UHF independent station.

Broadcasting stations in Nagoya and other areas are older than those in Tokyo. However, in order to meet the large costs of making programs key stations were established in Tokyo to sell programs nationwide. Some local stations have a higher profit ratio since they can merely buy programs from the networks.

Since the broadcasting stations which assign the head offices in Kansai region (especially in Osaka) have a program supply frame at prime time etc. and sent out many programs subsequently to kī kyoku, they are called jun kī kyoku (準キー局,sub-key stations).