Another English Newspaper in Japan Bites the Dust

Well, there goes the last decent English language newspaper in Japan. Now, we're left with only the Japan Times, which is, and always has been, a terrible newspaper....

Funnily enough, this report comes from the Japan Times (I wonder if they are gloating?)

The Asahi Shimbun Co. will stop printing on Feb. 28 its English section that currently occupies the last four pages of the International Herald Tribune's Japan edition.

The Asahi Shimbun's English news will only be available on its website as well as on Apple Inc.'s iPad and Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle services, the company said Tuesday. The IHT will be distributed without the Asahi section starting March 1.

The Asahi will become the consigned agent in Japan for printing and distributing the IHT, an international paper owned by the New York Times.

"We will notify our readers in January 2011 about the details of new subscriptions to the IHT newspaper, including how the IHT newspaper will be published solely by the International Herald Tribune and will be printed and distributed by The Asahi Shimbun, and the method by which current subscription contracts to the IHT/Asahi will be handled," the Asahi Shimbun said.

The Asahi debuted the English-only Asahi Evening News in January 1954. It scrapped the publication in April 2001 upon agreement to put its abbreviated English section in the back of the IHT.