JANJAN, short for Japan Alternative News for Justices and New Cultures, was a Japanese online newspaper started by Ken Takeuchi, journalist and former mayor of Kamakura, Kanagawa. Launched in February 2003, the newspaper is credited for pioneering citizen journalism in Japan.[1] After registration, anyone was free to post comments on the JANJAN website. However, there were different windows for registering depending on the nationality or ethnicity of the potential poster (i.e. a different one for "Foreigners" (外国の方) and Japanese).
The bulk of the newspaper's revenue came from advertisements by its corporate sponsor.[2] Due a lack of revenue, the newspaper ceased publication at the end of March 2010. In May of the same year, it was replaced by a journalistic blog named JanJanBlog, which was operated until 31 December 2013., articles on both the newspaper and blog are no longer available.