A80 As of October 2006, Japan's daily circulation figures for newspapers, including those for both morning and evening editions, totaled 69.09 million copies. Japan is the world's second-largest newspaper market after China, where in 2004 some 96.55 million

*To Media industry turmoil copies were distributed daily. China has a population more than 10 times that of Japan, so Japan surpasses China in terms of per capita penetration. When newspaper circulation figures are analyzed per thousand adult individuals, Japan ranks top with 634 copies, followed by Norway with 626 copies. The newspaper penetration rate is so high in Japan not just due to Japanese people's love of reading, but also because of the quality and extein of the newspaper distribution system.

However, the spread of the Internet has led to an increasing number of people, particularly the young, no longer reading newspapers on a regular basis. This is especially so in the case of evening newspapers. In the United States, the impact of the Internet has led to a continuing shift away from newspapers, as a result of which quality, influential newspapers are experiencing declining circulation. In Japan, there has not yet been a noticeable slide in circulation, but the Internet has impacted advertising revenues, which are falling. Newspaper companies are responding by experimenting with various online strategies.