Kyodo News on April 1 will launch an English-language photo data service that will allow customers to search and download photos via the Internet.
The photo database, Treasure, contains about 400,000 photos with Japanese captions collected by Kyodo News since August 1993, and 13,000 photos with English captions posted since November 1997.
It will also offer a daily selection of 200 photos with Japanese captions, and some 20 photos with English-language captions, in real time.
The photos are printed with electronic watermarks to protect Kyodo's copyright and prevent illegal use of the photos.
The launch of the English database follows that of the Japanese service, which began in early February.
Customers in Japan who are interested in the service can contact Kyodo's Tokyo head office via e-mail at [email protected].