The Huffington Post has launched in Japan after announcing plans for a new site in Germany last week.
The site, founded in the United States by Arianna Huffington, is also active in the UK, where it launched in 2011, as well as Canada, France, Spain and Italy.
Huffington said in a blog post: “The launch of Huffington Post Japan represents the fulfillment of our goal of inviting ever more voices from around the world to join our growing global conversation.
“And it's living proof – since Huffington Post Japan is 'live' as of today – of the way 21st century media have transcended once-formidable barriers of geography, language, and culture.”
She also said the Japan site is expected to be read by a lot more mobile users than in any other country, quoting HuffPo CEO Jimmy Maymann as saying: "In most markets, around 20-25 percent of our audience is coming from mobile, but in Japan that will be so different. Mobile Internet in Japan is 'internet."
The Japan website is being run by HuffPo in association with The Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
Japan’s editor-in-chief Shigeki Matsuura said: "The Huffington Post Japan hopes to be the place where we have an honest conversation about the future of Japan, and our editors will work to bring your voices and ideas onto our pages to achieve this."
Last Monday it was announced that HuffPo is to launch in Germany in partnership with digital media company Tomorrow Focus.
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