The Rafu Shimpo, Oldest Japanese-American Newspaper, Faces Possible Closure

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) -- The oldest Japanese-American newspaper could close in December unless it doubles its subscribers or raises about $500,000 in revenue.

The Los Angeles Times reports The Rafu Shimpo has been struggling to adjust to the changing media landscape and with declining readership.

The newspaper that has chronicled the story of the Japanese American community in Southern California has a print circulation of about 7,800, down from a peak of 23,000 subscribers in the late 1980s.

The Rafu Shimpo is one of the last English-Japanese dailies in the country. It started in 1903, survived World War II when writers and editors were shipped off to internment camps and resumed publishing in Los Angeles in 1946.

The Hawaii Hochi is believed to be the only other English-Japanese daily in the nation.