Issue:
August 2026
Akito Tanaka, Editor-in-Chief, Nikkei Asia/ Editorial Writer, Nikkei
Nikkei Asia began as the Nikkei Asian Review in 2011. In 2020, the Review officially rebranded and changed its name to Nikkei Asia.
Nikkei, Inc. paid Pearson a whopping £844 million in 2015 to buy the Financial Times in what many thought was an inflated price, but the bet may be paying off. The number of paid subscribers to Nikkei's online edition passed 1 million in 2024.
The Nikkei Group, which includes Nikkei Asia, the main Japanese-language Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Financial Times, has overseen one of the publishing world’s more successful transitions to digital platforms, with a claimed total of 3.7 million digital paid subscriptions as of December 2024.
Akito Tanaka is editor-in-chief of Nikkei Asia. A graduate of Drake University in Iowa, he spent his childhood years in Lisbon, Portugal, where he attended the American International School. He has been a reporter with the Nikkei for over 20 years. He was a former Silicon Valley correspondent and Singapore-based senior writer for the paper. He even interviewed Carlos Ghosn in the Tokyo Detention House.
Profile: https://nikkeiforum.com/jia/en/contents/speakers/AkitoTanaka.html?20250110a
Questions
1: Can you describe your job as editor of the Nikkei Asia? What do you see as your priorities?
My job is to oversee the editing and publishing of Nikkei Asia, delivering high-quality journalism to readers around the world, especially across Asia. To do that, I need to lead our global team of editors and reporters, continually raise the quality, and stay ahead of readers by identifying the stories and trends that matter most.
Nikkei Asia is still a relatively new addition to the Nikkei Group, which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year, and in many ways Nikkei Asia has the spirit of a startup. Growth is what we're expected to deliver. My top priority is to expand our readership while also building our international brand recognition.
2: When the Nikkei Asian Review launched its weekly magazine in 2013, Tsuneo Kita, then president and CEO of Nikkei, said the aim was to “change the way Asia is reported in the global marketplace”. Has it been successful in that endeavor?
With a reporting network that spans across Asia, Nikkei Asia is becoming a unique news organization, delivering quality journalism to global readers with an interest in Asia. There was a time when respected publications such as the Far Eastern Economic Review played that role. Today, I believe Nikkei Asia has inherited that and expanded upon it. Our reporters do much more than simply cover the news. Many of them grew up in the regions they report on, have a deep understanding of local culture, and bring a global perspective to their work. They understand not only what's happening on the ground, but also which stories matter most to Nikkei Asia's readers around the world.
3: Japanese newspapers were slow to adapt to digital, partly to protect profitable print. Why do you think Nikkei has been better than most of its rivals at moving away from print and making money from internet subscriptions?
One of the key reasons for our growth is that Nikkei has always had a strong reputation in business and economic journalism. There has long been strong demand from readers for timely access to these categories of news and Nikkei's exclusive reporting. I think that confidence was reflected in the premium pricing strategy Nikkei adopted when it launched its digital edition.
Another important factor is Nikkei's partnership with the Financial Times, which reflects the Nikkei Group's ambition to look beyond Japan's domestic market and compete in the global arena. That is exactly where Nikkei Asia fits into the group's strategy. If you want to compete on a global stage today, there is really only one arena: digital.
4: There was some skepticism when Nikkei Inc took over the FT, and questions about how it would work. How has the merging of these two very different organizations and journalism cultures worked in practice?
First, it's important to clarify that Nikkei and the FT didn't merge. Nikkei is the parent company of the FT, but the two companies operate independently and make decisions that are right for their respective businesses. Most importantly, both newsrooms maintain full editorial independence.
Even so, the partnership has been enormously valuable for both sides. The FT was a pioneer in digital transformation among global media companies, and Nikkei has learned a great deal from its experience, accelerating our digital journey in both business and editorial. We also collaborate extensively on events and other initiatives.
In my view, within the Nikkei Group, Nikkei Asia has benefited most from the partnership with FT. Because we're an English-language media within Nikkei, there's a natural fit with the FT's technology and editorial expertise.
To be honest, I wasn't sure from the beginning that things would turn out this way. I was one of the many Nikkei journalists who was very surprised when the deal was first announced. Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the partnership between Nikkei and the Financial Times, and I believe the success we've seen is the result of a decade of hard work and commitment from people on both sides.
5: Any stories you are especially proud of? What are the big stories right now for Nikkei Asia?
One area where Nikkei Asia has built a particularly strong reputation is its reporting on Asia's technology supply chains. Particularly our coverage of Taiwan's semiconductor industry – an area where Nikkei Asia has long had deep expertise – has become an essential source for investors and business leaders around the world.
One message I consistently emphasize to our newsroom is that we should report on global events through an Asian lens. Take the Middle East crisis as an example. While the conflict is geographically far from Asia, our immediate focus was to analyze its implications for Asian businesses, economies, supply chains and people. A Japanese newspaper will naturally focus on the impact on Japan. A Singaporean media outlet will likely examine the consequences for Singapore. Nikkei Asia differentiates itself by taking a broader Asian perspective.
6: Nikkei Asia calls itself the “voice of the Asian Century”. What does that mean?
As Asia continues to drive global growth and reshape the world economy, the 21st century is increasingly becoming the Asian Century. Nikkei Asia's role is to tell the story of this transformation and bring the voice of the Asian Century to a global audience.
7: In covering Asia, it’s of course impossible to ignore China. But economic cutbacks and political tensions mean many Western news bureaus have struggled to keep bureaus in China in recent years. The Nikkei has an advantage in this respect, right?
Not necessarily. Nikkei is not a Western media organization, but as an international news outlet, we face many of the same challenges in China as other foreign media organizations.
