EPICANTHUS

SAN FRANCISCO—First published back in 1899, the Nichi Bei Times (Japan-America Times) was the catalyst that helped the Bay Area’s Japanese Americans endure anti-Asian legislation, the Great Depression and World War II internment. It was the glue that helped Northern California’s proud Nikkei community stay connected throughout the postwar years through the 1980s. But now, beset by a plunge in advertising revenues and flagging circulation figures, it is printing its final edition next month.

In an open letter to its readers Aug. 20, the Japanese-English newspaper’s board of directors announced officially that the venerable Nichi Bei would cease publication after its Sept. 10 edition.

It is with great sadness that we, the Board of Directors of Nichi Bei Times and its many shareholders, have decided to close the newspaper. The Nichi Bei Times will cease publication of its newspapers with the final edition on September 10, 2009.

This decision was not taken lightly. Many hours of consideration and discussion were involved in this decision. Since 1990 the Nichi Bei Times experienced a steady decline in circulation as well as declining advertising revenue. Over the recent years, alternative plans of action and ideas were considered to gain new subscriptions and advertisers. Community service has been the primary consideration of the Nichi Bei Times.

The demise of the proud, old paper, which chronicled the births, marriages, accomplishments and deaths of its readership, merited coverage by SFGate, the online incarnation of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Hearst-owned Bay Area daily which itself is facing closure.

Wrote Chronicle staffer Benny Evangelista:

The paper, which has about 8,000 subscribers, changed in 2006 from a daily bilingual format to publishing three times per week, with one English-language edition inserted in one of the three Japanese-language editions. Board Chairman Ken Abiko said the board planned to give the new format three years to reverse a long, steady decline in circulation and advertising revenue.

But these same problems – exacerbated by the movement of readers to online sources of news – have beset the entire newspaper industry, causing numerous mainstream papers across the country to cut back or close this year.

“The losses were deepening and there was no sense in continuing,” said Abiko. “It was either now or soon.”

Akibo’s grandfather founded the paper’s predecessor, the Nichi Bei Shimbun, in 1899, but it closed when Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II. The Nichi Bei Times began publishing after the war in 1946.

The closure of Nichi Bei would leaves the market to the rival Hokubei Mainichi. But group of Japanese American journalists and community leaders is forming the Nichi Bei Foundation and plans to transform the paper into a nonprofit operation.

• Leaders Try to Save Japanese American Newspaper, SFGate
• Ethnic Media Stung by Recession, Epicanthus
• Out of the Ashes, a Rebirth, Kenji G. Taguma
• A Letter From the Nichi Bei Times Board of Directors
• Nichi Bei Times Decides to Close, Justine Koo Drennan, New America Media
• Hokubei Mainichi, hokubei.com