OSAKA -- An exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of The Japan Times started April 9 at the Big Man square near Hankyu Umeda Station here in Kita Ward.

The newspaper was inaugurated on March 22, 1897.

Local businesspeople and students browsed through 70 panels presenting front pages from the newspaper's first 100 years as well as the history of English language newspapers in Japan. Charles Shores, a professor at Osaka Gakuin University, said he was excited reading the front page from Dec. 8, 1941. "This is the first time that I've ever read the point of view on that day printed in a newspaper from Japan," he said, referring to the day after Imperial Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack and brought the U.S. into World War II.

Shores also was intrigued by the panel on the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy because he grew up in Dallas, where Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. Koichi Tsutsui, a lecturer at a preparatory school for college entrance exams, said newspapers before World War II were interesting and could teach him about foreign affairs at the time.

The exhibition is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Sunday. Admission is free.