TOKYO, February 26 /PRNewswire/ --

Starting in February, The Yomiuri Shimbun, the largest newspaper publisher in Japan, will offer a new online database service called Yomidas Rekishikan (History Pavilion).

The commercial database, the first of its kind in Japan, offers users in-depth information about Japan through access to more than 10 million articles carried by The Yomiuri Shimbun over the past 135 years. Stories are accessible from the newspaper's inaugural edition of 1874 through the latest issue.

The database is available for an annual subscription fee of 327,600 Japanese yen (tax included).

Subscriptions are open to anyone wishing to access Yomiuri Shimbun articles from the Meiji, Taisho, Showa and Heisei eras as part of their primary research on various aspects of modern and contemporary Japanese history, society, and changes to the Japanese language.

We are proud that Yomidas Rekishikan will provide a powerful information-gathering tool for colleges and universities, research institutions and public libraries, as well as government offices, corporations and other organizations.

Main contents --Photographs of Yomiuri Shimbun pages produced between 1874 and 1989 --Texts of Yomiuri Shimbun articles published since 1986 --Texts of Daily Yomiuri articles published since 1989 --Japanese-language database featuring about 26,000 contemporary key individuals, their careers and achievements

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/rekishikan/english/index.htm

About The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the most popular quality newspapers in Japan, will celebrate its 135-year anniversary in 2009 from the publication of its premier issue on November 2, 1874. Further, The Yomiuri Shimbun attained Japan's largest morning paper circulation of 7.2 million copies in 1977 and has since maintained the largest circulation in Japan. In addition, the morning paper circulation surpassed 10 million copies in 1994 and has maintained this standing to the present day, when multimedia is getting underway.

http://adv.yomiuri.co.jp/m-data/english/index.html

Contact: Shinichi Satoh Database Department, Digital Media Bureau The Yomiuri Shimbun Tel: +81-3-3216-8513 Fax: +81-3-3217-8262 E-mail: yomidas@yomiuri.com URL: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/rekishikan/english/index.htm

Shinichi Satoh, Database Department, Digital Media Bureau, The Yomiuri Shimbun, +81-3-3216-8513, (fax) +81-3-3217-8262