Oshigami

Along with the older age of the Japanese population (younger people are less likely to read newspapers),[1] oshigami is one component of the apparent endurance of print circulation in Japan while printed media has seen rapid decline elsewhere with the rising popularity of online media.

This has led to a greater importance on the number of newspapers sold in Japan for the newspaper to turn profit, which in turn has led to distribution networks with very large circulation.

As of 2015, more than 90% of Japanese households are subscribed to at least one direct-to-home newspaper delivery.

[1] Oshigami manifests itself at the regional level, in that the middle man may deliberately order, for example, 3200 newspapers for a neighborhood of 3000, with the excess never being sold.

[2] The practice of oshigami is illegal in Japan as regulated by the Japan Fair Trade Commission,[2] however it is often hard to determine whether overprinting of newspapers occurs deliberately for the purpose of profit or accidentally.