Ryuichi Hirokawa
Chief Editor, DAYS JAPAN
Tokyo
March 20, 2011

Announcing the Launch of DAYS INTERNATIONAL

The monthly photojournalism magazine DAYS JAPAN (print edition) was launched in Japan on March 20, 2004, a year after the outbreak of the Iraq war. On March 20, 2011 — the seventh anniversary of our magazine’s founding — we are pleased to announce the launching of a new digitalized edition, DAYS INTERNATIONAL, in both English and Japanese.

The print edition of DAYS JAPAN will continued to be published every month in Japanese. DAYS INTERNATIONAL, however, will be composed of different sections, featuring articles that will be updated every week and others that will be renewed on the 20th of every month. Whenever a significant incident occurs anywhere in the world, we will promptly update the website accordingly.

Our aim is to eventually spread this new type of media worldwide and in various languages other than English and Japanese. We are scheduled to launch a Burmese edition of DAYS INTERNATIONAL in May 2011 and a Korean version in September of this year.

Reasons for Launching DAYS JAPAN and DAYS INTERNATIONAL

We were deeply concerned about the way in which the mass media around the world reported on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from the viewpoint of the invading nations, rarely portraying the people who were the real victims of the wars. We saw how easily the mass media could be co-opted to serve as agents of the military and the state.

We are facing circumstances in which journalists who try to report the reality of wars find few news media organizations that will print or televise such coverage.

We therefore strongly felt the need to create a new citizen-focused media that would not be interfered with by governments, militaries or corporations. In order to inform the truth of wars, such a media is essential. This was the primary reason to launch our own media.

But the problem is not limited to just war reporting. We have been hearing from many photojournalists around the world, saying that increasingly they have not been finding the opportunities and venues to present the stories they cover.

Such a phenomena is caused by the decline of the mass media — especially newspapers, magazines and television — as well as the media’s shift to the Internet. Whenever photographs are used on the Web, the photographers are hardly paid anything. Photojournalists are thus forced into circumstances in which they cannot even receive expenses for their coverage. Many journalists are losing work as a result. The second reason, then, for launching a photojournalistic media such as ours is to provide opportunities to present the works of photojournalists so that they can maintain their chosen occupation.

The concerns of journalists about not having places to show their work does not simply indicate the loss of their occupation; it also means that people will have difficulty understanding what really is happening in the world. So, it is our mission to defend journalism itself. This is our third reason.

These are the three firm beliefs that led us to launch DAYS JAPAN seven years ago — and to initiate the new digital DAYS INTERNATIONAL edition in 2011.

Defending Journalism

Two slogans on the front cover of each issue of DAYS JAPAN magazine reassert and reinforce our beliefs: "A single photograph can change the course of a nation" and "One day, the will of the people will put an end to war."

We also host an annual photo contest, the DAYS JAPAN International Photojournalism Awards. The basic criteria for works entered in the contest are:

• Photographs that sharply denounce threats to the dignity of humanity and respect for nature
• Photographs that emphasize the dignity of humanity and a respect for the natural world

We believe that the readers will understand our goals from the above statements. To go into more detail about our policies and intentions in editing DAYS INTERNATIONAL, it is also worth noting that we maintain:

1. A firm denial of all wars. A denial of the occupation of all lands. A denial of solving all conflicts through nationalism. A denial of all forms of discrimination. A denial of authoritarian oppression and control.
2. A common belief that human life is of the utmost importance and value.
3. A constant striving for journalistic coverage from the viewpoint of the victims.
4. Support for journalists who hold a strong will and intention to get stories.
5. Belief in the power of photographs and video footage to change things.
6. The mutual goal of creating a visual journalistic media that publishes top-class photographs from around the world.
7. A strong sense of purpose in establishing a journalistic media rather than merely a media to display photographs. Therefore, we will only carry photographic works that can essentially answer the questions: "What is the journalist defending?" and "What does the journalist have to inform the world?"

 

To Future Editors Wishing to Launch Foreign-Language Editions

Anyone who shares our ideals and policies as noted from numbers 1 through 7 above can set up local editorial offices for DAYS INTERNATIONAL in their country.

For the time being, the main editorial offices of the DAYS INTERNATIONAL English- and Japanese-language operations will be located within the office of DAYS JAPAN magazine in Tokyo. In a few years, though, we aim to have our English-language editorial operations organized locally by editors in English-speaking countries. There are also plans for a Burmese editorial office of DAYS INTERNATIONAL to be located within the Japan branch of the "Democratic Voice of Burma" (DVB) organization.

The contents of the English and Japanese editions are almost identical, though with a few differences. For example, the DAYS GLOBE section of the websites will only be available in English in both editions. About 80 back issues of DAYS JAPAN magazine will also be available at the websites, though all are in Japanese only.

The English- and Japanese-language editorial departments, based at the DAYS JAPAN Tokyo office, will edit the common pages in both languages. However, original pages and articles will be added to each of the editions by the respective editorial offices. For example, when the Burmese version is launched in a few months, the editors can edit their own edition by clicking on the "Burmese" icon on the top page. Here, editors can run advertisements in each language or collect subscription fees from users so as to gain income to handle administrative expenses. Fees for the computer server, translation, personnel, graphic design and royalties for the usage of photographs are all included in the administrative expenses.

The Japanese-language editorial department will handle the administrative expenses of the English- and Burmese-language versions in the meantime.

As for the Japanese edition, we require each user to pay 2,000 yen for a whole year (or 200 yen per month) as a subscription fee to help manage expenditures. We also seek supporters and advertisers to help maintain our office operations.

Further Information

For more details, please go to our "Contact" page for:

• Inquiries on advertising and support
• Inquiries on explanations of each language edition
• Inquiries on contributing photographs and articles
• Inquiries on applying as a volunteer

Please go to our "Donation" page for:

• Inquiries about fundraising and other supportive donations