The Japan News Articles Frequently Cited in University Entrance Exams

Education Network Office at The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:53 JST, September 29, 2025

Articles from The Yomiuri Shimbun and The Japan News, an English-language daily newspaper, are cited in numerous university entrance exams every year. In the university entrance exams for fiscal 2025, 221 articles were cited across 138 universities and junior colleges.

Articles about various topics appeared in the exams of national or public universities such as Nagoya University, University of Tsukuba, Shinshu University, Akita University and Osaka Metropolitan University. Articles were also cited in exams for private universities including Keio University, Sophia University, Meiji University, Chuo University and Doshisha University.

The number of citations by subject was 93 for short essays, 84 for English and 21 for Japanese, with short essays accounting for over 40%. Newspaper articles were used in the geography, history and civics exam, as well as in interviews and group discussions. (Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun, Gakken survey. As of July 14, 2025)

Exam question trends

When breaking down by publication the articles used in exam questions, The Yomiuri Shimbun accounted for 119 items, The Japan News for 93 items and The Yomiuri Shimbun Online, books or magazines for 9 items.

Meanwhile, columns and serialized features such as “Henshu Techo” were the most numerous article type at 35 items, followed by editorials at 32 items and analyses at 15 items.