[27] Together with its English-language paper Japan Forward, the Sankei Shimbun has been described as having a conservative, nationalist, right-wing to far-right[20][21][22] political stance.

[28] The Sankei Shimbun is part of the Fujisankei Communications Group and is 40% owned by Fuji Media Holdings.

[32] In August 2014, South Korea filed suit against the Sankei for insults against president Park Geun-hye, published in one of the newspaper's articles, and demanded Tatsuya Kato, head of the Seoul Bureau, present himself for questioning.

In December 2014, the newspaper apologized after running an advert for antisemitic books conspiracy theorist Richard Koshimizu.

[42][43] On February 11, 2015, regular columnist Ayako Sono wrote an opinion piece opining that though she considered it necessary for Japan to accept more immigrants to bolster its decreasing workforce, it would also be necessary for Japan to take steps to ensure the separation of immigrants in regards to living conditions, citing South African apartheid as an example of how to achieve this goal.

The book mailings were part of a project by right-wing groups such as the Nippon Kaigi to improve international perceptions of Japan.

[32] A covering letter from politician Inoguchi Kuniko read in part: "In East Asia, the regional history of the 20th century has been incorrectly distorted (sic) by some individuals due to their current domestic political ambitions, I believe it is important for you, as a highly esteemed member of the academic and policy circles (sic), to look into the books which I am enclosing with this letter.