Short answers, pulled from the story.
Mainichi Shimbun traces its origins to two separate papers: the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, founded in 1872, and the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun, founded in 1876. The two companies merged in 1911 but did not publish under a single Mainichi Shimbun masthead until 1943.
Mainichi Shimbun is the only Japanese newspaper company to have won a Pulitzer Prize. It received the award for the 1960 photograph "Tokyo Stabbing," which captured the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party.
WaiWai was a column in the Mainichi Daily News written by Australian journalist Ryann Connell, which translated sensationalist stories from Japanese tabloids. In 2008, critics accused the column of spreading racist stereotypes of Japanese women. Mainichi shut down the column on the 21st of June 2008 and issued a public apology on the 25th of June 2008, acknowledging that articles "should not have been dispatched to Japan or the world."
On the 28th of June 2008, Mainichi announced that the journalist responsible received three months of disciplinary leave. Other involved staff were docked between 10 and 20 percent of their salary or stripped of their titles for one to two months. The paper reorganised its Digital Media editorial department and relaunched its English site on the 1st of September 2008.
Japan has four national newspapers: Mainichi Shimbun, the Asahi Shimbun, the Yomiuri Shimbun, and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The Sankei Shimbun and Chunichi Shimbun have large circulations but are not currently classified as national newspapers.
Mainichi Shimbun sponsors the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament, held every spring at Koshien Stadium, and non-professional baseball tournaments at Tokyo Dome and the Osaka Dome. It also sponsors major road races including the Lake Biwa Marathon and the Beppu-Oita Marathon.