Speed Replaces Tradition

Rafu Shimpo, Los Angeles’ daily Japanese newspaper that is published in English and Japanese, will end an 89-year tradition today when it converts its typesetting operation to computers. The change is historic because Rafu Shimpo is believed to be the last Japanese-language newspaper in the United States to convert to computerized type. The English portion of the paper was converted to computers in the mid-1980s.

Unlike many typesetters who have been retrained for new jobs as the transition takes place, Satoru Ryono, left, the 64-year-old onetime foreman of the paper’s typesetters, will be retiring from what he says is an old and venerable profession. But, Ryono said through an interpreter, “the new way is going to be faster, many times faster.” There are 3,000 leaded Japanese characters, plus different sizes of each character, all of which must be delicately set by hand, above. A page of type now takes at least three hours to prepare. After today, the computer will do the same page in half the time.

Japanese-language newspapers in the United States generally have been slow to change from handset type to computerized type, but those in Japan have not. The vast majority of newspapers in Japan have been computerized for many years. The Los Angeles newspaper has a circulation of 23,000.