Many of Japan's weekly magazines typically publish double issues from the last week in December in order to give staff some time off. Such issues can easily be identified by logos, banners or trim on their covers that appear in gold, although three magazines — Aera, Sunday Mainichi and Friday — have abstained from the practice this year.
From looking at the magazines' contents, you'd never have guessed what a crazy year 2020 has been. However, with many station kiosks closed due to the pandemic, I suspect that their newsstand sales and ad revenues almost certainly declined, and it's to their credit that they're putting up a brave front for readers. Things certainly can't be easy.
So, in recognition and appreciation of the magazines whose contents have contributed to this column over the previous 12 months, we've included short excerpts from all of their New Year's issues, in order of their appearance on the newsstands.