Number of ASA stations (which sell primarily The Asahi Shimbun) Tokyo Head Office 1,517 Osaka Head Office 656 Seibu Head Office 400 Nagoya Head Office 293 Hokkaido Office 162 Total 3,028 (As of April 2007)

The Asahi Shimbun publishes 8.12 million copies of its morning edition and 3.68 million copies of its evening edition, providing readers with useful daily life information, in-depth reports obtained through exhaustive research efforts, and various topics to make them stop and think. We wish to be of help to as many people as possible - that is the wish we have at The Asahi Shimbun, and the large number of our circulation underpins that wish.

Only a few newspapers in the world boast a circulation of more than 8 million on a daily basis. The Circulation Division works together with some 3,000 Asahi Service Anchor (ASA) stations around the country to support and expand the Asahi Shimbun publications.

They strive to accomplish two important jobs: to ensure that our newspapers are delivered within the predetermined timeframe to families and workplaces nationwide; and to renew or acquire between 700 and 800 thousand subscriptions a month.

"How wonderful that we have an ASA station in our neighborhood!" Such a conversation at home would constitute a success. In order to create these scenes, ASA has changed tack significantly from a circulation-first consciousness to a customer-first attitude. ASA employees flash big smiles to customers and pick up used papers on the basis of a phone call, while ASA stations serve as sites for morning fairs and various lessons. ... Through these activities, ASAs aim to be established information centers in community life.

In tandem with the Editorial Division, ASA stations play a role in gathering community-specific information, research themes to meet readers' needs, and conduct promotions using a range of information papers and flyers prior to running a new series of articles.

The increasing use of the Internet has accelerated a trend away from reading in the Japanese population. Furthermore, our delivery system that has been sustained for more than a century is now endangered due to tighter security systems, particularly in apartments and other collective housing complexes. However, despite being in this time of difficulty, we must focus on strengthening the presence of daily newspapers in print, as well as of reliable community-based ASA stations.