The Okinawa Times

What The Okinawa Times does

The Okinawa Times Co., Ltd. (株式会社沖縄タイムス社) is a privately held regional newspaper company headquartered in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, founded in 1949. It operates as one of the two principal daily newspapers covering Okinawa, with deep editorial roots in prefecture-specific reporting on politics, the U.S. military base issue, local economy, culture, sports, and post-war Okinawan history. The company sells print subscriptions via home delivery across Okinawa Prefecture and has, since 2013, operated the Okinawa Times+ Plus digital subscription platform — a multi-tier offering (Free, Light at 990 yen/month, Standard at 3,000 yen/month, and a Double Plan bundling print at 3,800 yen/month with unlimited digital access) delivered through a web portal at okinawatimes.co.jp and dedicated iOS/Android viewer applications that render a faithful electronic replica of the printed paper.

Beyond core news, the company runs an unusually diversified product surface: the Times+ Eye commentary platform featuring outside experts, e-books serializing selected content, a searchable personnel-changes database for Okinawan companies, an obituary alert service (しまダビ / ShimaDabi), individual and corporate photo archive sales (写真パラダイス and 法人向け写真ライブラリー), a job portal for new graduates (Times Shushoku Navi), supplementary publications including a children's newspaper and real estate weekly, audio news distribution on Voicy, a regional revitalization database, and a corporate clipping/monitoring service. Educational outreach is delivered via NIE/NIB (Newspaper in Education) programs in Okinawan schools and corporate OFF-JT training. The company holds content-licensing and reprint rights through its wholly owned subsidiary Nansei Co., Ltd., and participates in the 47NEWS consortium of Japan's 47 regional papers. The co-developed Okinawa War Digital Archive (戦世からぬ伝言), produced with Tokyo Metropolitan University and GIS Okinawa Research Laboratory, is a signature long-form historical asset.

The business model is anchored in three recurring streams — print home delivery subscriptions, digital subscriptions (now the company's central growth lever), and display advertising — supplemented by licensing/photo sales (B2C and B2B), subscription billing via SP.LINKS across credit card and Japanese carrier payments, and event/community programming. Customers are primarily long-tail individual consumers in Okinawa, with secondary segments in business professionals, educational institutions, and corporate accounts; distribution combines direct home delivery (regional) with self-serve digital access (effectively global). Ownership is concentrated in executive leadership under President and Representative Director Zuikei Hideshige (瑞慶山秀彦), with no disclosed venture, private equity, or strategic investor ownership.

Name

The Okinawa Times

Legal name

株式会社沖縄タイムス社

Website

https://okinawatimes.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Okinawa Times is a privately held regional newspaper company headquartered in Naha, Okinawa, serving Okinawan readers since 1949 with print home delivery, the tiered Okinawa Times+ Plus digital subscription platform, electronic newspaper apps, and ancillary content, photo, audio, and education services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Regional Newspaper

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

National & General-Interest Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Consumer News & Digital Newsrooms (Web/App-First) (MPAJADAD), News & Public Affairs Syndication (MPABAMAF)

Keywords

• Regional newspaper publishing
• Digital news subscription
• Print newspaper delivery
• Local news coverage
• News media services

Headquarters

HQ city

Naha

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscription Revenue: Monthly recurring subscription fees from digital news services through Okinawa Times+ Plus platform with multiple plan tiers including free, light, standard, and double plans
2. Print Newspaper Subscription: Traditional newspaper home delivery service with monthly subscription model, integrated with double plan for existing print subscribers
3. Advertising Revenue: Display advertising and promotional content placement across digital and print platforms
4. Content Licensing: Article and photo reproduction licensing through affiliated company Nansei for secondary use in publications and media

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Okinawa Times is a regional newspaper publisher in Okinawa, Japan, producing daily local news coverage across politics, economy, society, sports, and culture. Its core commercial offering is the Okinawa Times+ Plus digital subscription platform, which provides tiered access to web-original articles, expert commentary, an electronic newspaper viewer, e-books, and personnel information search, alongside traditional print newspaper home delivery via the Double Plan bundle.

Product overview

The Okinawa Times operates a platform-plus-modules digital media portfolio centered on the 沖縄タイムス＋プラス (Okinawa Times+ Plus) subscription platform. The core offering consists of the digital subscription service with tiered plans — Double (紙＋電子), Standard (電子のみ), Light (月100本まで), and Free — providing access to web original articles, the electronic newspaper viewer (電子新聞), e-books (電子書籍), personnel information search (人事情報検索), and game/puzzle content. Supporting products include audio news delivery via Voicy (音声配信), photo sales services for both individual (写真パラダイス) and corporate (法人向け写真ライブラリー) customers, the obituary alert service (しまダビ), and the NIE news literacy training program. A notable digital feature is the Okinawa Battle Digital Archive (戦世からぬ伝言), a co-produced historical documentation project. The company also offers business services including clipping and licensing of articles and photos.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 電子新聞 (E-Paper/Electronic Newspaper): Digital newspaper viewing service for computers, smartphones, and tablets
• タイムス就職ナビ (Times Shushoku Navi)
• タイムス+Eye
• こども新聞ワラビー (Warabi Children's Newspaper)
• ほ～むぷらざ (Home Plus)
• タイムス住宅新聞 (Times Jyutaku Shimbun)

Products and services

• Okinawa Times+ Plus (沖縄タイムス＋プラス) Tiered digital subscription service for individual readers in Okinawa and globally, offering web original articles, expert commentary, electronic newspaper access, and breaking news alerts across Free, Light, Standard, and Double (print+bundle) plans.
• Electronic Newspaper (電子新聞)

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• 47NEWS ConsortiumminorOthersThe Okinawa Times participates in the 47NEWS consortium, a network of 47 regional newspapers across Japan for collaborative news gathering and content sharing among regional media outlets
• VoicyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAudio news distribution partnership through Voicy platform, delivering news content via voice channel under 'サクッと沖縄' brand for convenient mobile news consumption
• Tokyo Metropolitan University - Watanabe Hidenori Laboratory (首都大学東京・渡邉英徳研究室)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration for the Okinawa War Digital Archive project '戦世からぬ伝言' combining testimony, data, maps and digital content to preserve and transmit Okinawa War history to future generations
• GIS Okinawa Research Laboratory (GIS沖縄研究室)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration for the Okinawa War Digital Archive project providing GIS mapping technology and spatial data analysis for historical documentation
• Japan UNESCO Association Federation (日本ユネスコ協会連盟)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for 'Okinawa Experience Trip' program hosting underprivileged students for educational travel experiences featuring traditional arts, peace learning, and cultural activities
• Nansei (南山)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCopyright management and reprint licensing services for article and photo secondary use, handling copyright-related inquiries and content licensing on behalf of Okinawa Times

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ryukyu Shimpo: Ryukyu Shimpo is the other major regional newspaper serving Okinawa Prefecture, directly competing with The Okinawa Times for readers, advertisers, and digital subscriptions in the same Naha-based market with similar local coverage focus.
• Chunichi Shimbun: Chunichi Shimbun is a major Japanese regional newspaper group based in Nagoya operating print and digital subscriptions with tiered pricing, regional news focus, and NIE programs—directly comparable business model to The Okinawa Times.
• Hokkaido Shimbun: Hokkaido Shimbun is one of Japan's largest regional newspapers with extensive digital subscription services, local news coverage, and educational programs—structurally analogous to The Okinawa Times as a dominant single-prefecture newspaper.
• Nishi-Nippon Shimbun: Nishi-Nippon Shimbun is a major regional newspaper serving the Kyushu region with print and digital subscriptions, comparable to The Okinawa Times in serving a defined Japanese region with both legacy print and digital monetization.
• Kahoku Shimpo: Kahoku Shimpo is the dominant regional newspaper serving the Tohoku region with print and digital operations, structurally similar to The Okinawa Times as a long-established single-prefecture daily with digital subscription expansion.
• Chugoku Shimbun: Chugoku Shimbun is a regional newspaper group based in Hiroshima serving the Chugoku region, comparable to The Okinawa Times as a long-established prefectural newspaper with print, digital, and supplementary services.
• Kobe Shimbun: Kobe Shimbun is a regional newspaper serving the Kobe/Kansai region with print and digital subscription offerings, directly comparable in business model structure to The Okinawa Times.

Broad incumbents

• Asahi Shimbun: Asahi Shimbun is a national newspaper with a major digital subscription platform (Asahi Shimbun Digital) serving readers across all Japanese prefectures including Okinawa; broader scope but overlapping digital subscription and news aggregation offerings.
• Nikkei Inc. Nikkei operates Japan's leading business-focused digital news subscription service with tiered pricing and mobile apps, comparable to The Okinawa Times+ Plus in digital subscription architecture but with a national business audience focus.

Others

• 47NEWS (Kyodo News-affiliated consortium): 47NEWS is the consortium of 47 regional Japanese newspapers (including The Okinawa Times) for collaborative news gathering and content sharing; relevant as a peer network participant and content syndication platform.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theokinawatimes
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/TheOKINAWATIMES
• Facebookfacebook.com/okinawatimes
• Instagraminstagram.com/okinawatimes.official/?hl=ja
• TikToktiktok.com/discover/%E6%B2%96%E7%B8%84%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%82%B9
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-okinawa-times

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Okinawa Times