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Shogakukan's Shōgaku Sannensei, Yonensei Magazines End

Shogakukan announced on Thursday that it will end publication of its Shōgaku Sannensei (pictured right) and Shōgaku Yonensei (pictured left) magazines with their March issues in February. Shōgaku Yonensei (literally, "Elementary Fourth-Grader") launched in 1924, and Shogakukan began publishing Shōgaku Sannensei ("Elementary Third-Grader") with Shōgaku Ichinensei ("Elementary First-Grader") and Shōgaku Ninensei ("Elementary Second-Grader") in 1925. Shogakukan will continue printing the Shōgaku Ichinensei and Shōgaku Ninensei school learning magazines.

The April 1973 issues of Shōgaku Sannensei and Shōgaku Yonensei reached the magazines' highest circulation with 1.02 million and 820,000 copies. However, this year's printing fell to about 40,000 to 50,000 copies for Shōgaku Sannensei and 30,000 to 40,000 copies for Shōgaku Yonensei. A Shogakukan public relations representative cited the changing needs of modern elementary school students as one reason for the magazines' failure.

Publication of the sister magazines Shōgaku Gonensei and Shōgaku Rokunensei ("Elementary Fifth-Grader" and "Elementary Sixth-Grader") ceased with their respective February 3 and December 28 issues in 2009.

Source: Yahoo! Japan News