Asahi Shimbun Kyoto Factory

Highlight

The reader’s hall has letterpress tools from the early Showa period and panels carrying photos of those bygone days

The latest in newspaper printing technology and environmental conservation

Located in the historically famous area of Fushimi, the Asahi Shimbun Kyoto Factory prints and dispatches the daily morning and evening newspapers to areas like Kyoto, Shiga, part of Osaka and Fukui.
Fushimi was chosen as the base because it has good motorway access, so newspapers will get to their destinations quicker. And, thanks to some large-sized rotary press equipment (capable of printing up to 180,000 newspapers per hour) and a leading-edge computer to plate system that makes the most of IT, printing time has been shortened even further to get the paper to readers even quicker. Moreover, a big plus here is the fact that film developing and the disposal of that waste have become things of the past.
Now, here is the good news, this plant is open to public viewing – so, visitors can watch the evening news being printed, visit the reader’s hall, and receive a commemorative edition of the newspaper and ball pen to celebrate their visit.