The roots of the Nikkei started with an in-house newspaper department of Mitsui & Company in 1876 when it started publication of Chugai Bukka Shimpo (literally Domestic and Foreign Commodity Price Newspaper), a weekly market-quotation bulletin.

According to Shusuke Murai and Reiji Yoshida from The Japan Times, critics say the Nikkei is "depending too much on leaks — apparently provided by corporate insiders — and the paper is often seen as reluctant to bluntly criticize Japanese firms.

"[10] The New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi said the Nikkei's purchase of the FT "Worrying", further stating that "[The] Nikkei is basically a PR machine for Japanese biz; it initially ignored the 2011 Olympus accounting scandal (which FT broke).

Nikkei has also hardly covered the Takata airbag defect; almost no investigative work on that issue whatsoever.

Nikkei is Japan Inc."[11]On August 10, 2020, three Hong Kong Police Force officers visited the Hong Kong branch of The Nikkei with a court order amid investigations over an advertisement placed in the newspaper a year prior calling for international support for the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.