Shinbun' which was first issued in Tokyo in early Meiji period became popular to the extent that it became a souvenir of Tokyo, however, this 'shinbun' was directed to the intellectuals and, therefore, it had no furigana (small-sized phonograms put beside Chinese characters to show the sound of those characters) no pictures in it and, therefore, it was hard to read for the general public.
明治初期に東京で創刊された「新聞」は東京土産になるほど流行したが、知識人層向けで振り仮名や絵もなく、一般大衆には読みにくいものであった。