A day for town information

Today, and January 29th annually, is Town Information Day タウン情報の日. It commemorates the 1973 launch of Nagano Jōhō, Japan’s first town‑information magazine. It is a regional publication focused on local life and culture. I have written on City-cost before about the Moteco magazines in Saitama Prefecture that not only share town information, but also provide several discount coupons for local restaurants and services.

The day was established by the “Town Information National Network” (TJN), a coalition of regional publishers that continue to distribute free papers and online content such as Nagano Jōhō NEXT, keeping the tradition of hyper‑local reporting alive. Town‑information magazines highlight events, shops, travel ideas, and community news tailored to specific cities or clusters of neighboring municipalities, and many belong to the TJN network.

The genre has since expanded to include well‑known series like Walker and Jalan, as well as a growing number of free‑paper formats that have become a familiar part of local media across Japan. However, there has been a big shift to online versions, which are more ecological and I imagine economical for the publishers, who relied on advertising to survive when they published in print form.